Are You Looking to Turn Your Passion into Your Full-Time Gig? What You Should Know First:

“My struggle with chronic pain led to a passion for telling stories through jewelry, a passion for helping other women feel strong, beautiful and confident.” ~ Kristin

So you’ve got a side hustle. Or maybe an idea for a side hustle? Maybe it’s simply a hobby that you are super passionate about. Whatever it is...is turning your passion into a full-time gig constantly on your mind?

Well, It was for me.

I am a former high school English teacher, and I truly thought I would spend my entire career teaching until I retired. But, spoiler alert (!) that isn’t how my career path turned out.

The universe had something different in mind for me.

Leaving teaching was a very difficult decision for me. I loved my job and my students. (And you may love your work, too.) But ultimately, I had to leave because of my health. I had grown very sick with chronic debilitating headaches and pain throughout my body. My weight had dropped dangerously low for me (less than 110 lbs) and I simply could not make it through the day as a teacher.

Being diagnosed with fibromyalgia was a low point in my life. I had no idea what was next or where to go from there. It was then that I started making jewelry on a card table in my spare bedroom as a creative outlet. While I was making jewelry primarily as a hobby to stay busy, I was shocked to find that my friends and family were loving my pieces.

A lightbulb moment struck me. This could be a business.

Simple as that, right? Well...not really. After a ton of research, trial and error, crazy late days and nights, lots of doubt and struggles in between, I slowly turned my passion into my full-time gig.

If you have a passion and truly feel you want to turn it into a business, here are my top pieces of advice (from someone who’s been there!):

Do your homework: understand that passion isn’t all it takes. Is your business idea viable? Are you ready for the hours of commitment and dedication it will take to start a business? Think about your season of life and how feasible it will be for you to carve out time to work on it.
Create a business plan. Every great idea should have a plan behind it. Make sure you think through your goals and strategies before turning that hobby into a business.
Determine how you’ll make a profit. Ask yourself is it a profitable way to make money? Making money isn’t everything, but successful businesses will have people interested in your product or service. Do some crowdsourcing of your ideal target market. Ask them if they would buy your product or service and how much they would be willing to pay for it. If you aren’t making a profit, you really have a hobby, and you need to know the difference.
Don’t doubt yourself. I’m my least creative and productive self when I start to question my talent and my worth. You need to trust in your talent and strengths and charge accordingly. Don’t sell yourself short.
Lean on others. Sometimes it’s hard to ask for help — we think it makes us incompetent or weak. But no success is accomplished in a vacuum. My friends and family have helped with my kids, have helped me put stickers on bags and boxes, sort beads, set up and take down booths and displays, and much more. I could never have gotten this far without them.
Ask the advice of other business owners. They are great resources and will end up being some of your best friends! Collaboration over competition, friends! We’re all in this together and there is space for all of us and our unique businesses. Take the advice of others who have been there.
Don’t be afraid to hire! It may seem scary to invest money in outsourcing parts of your job, but it is the only way to grow. You can’t do it alone. Figure out the aspects of your business that you hate or aren’t very good at, and find someone who loves it and is good at it. Going it alone is a sure fire way to burn out and hate your job!
Set a schedule AND stick to it. This is so much easier said than done, but write it down. List your goals and to-do items in your calendar and cross them off as you accomplish each one.
Don’t be afraid to fail. It’s inevitable that you will fail along the way. This is part of the learning process, and it’s essential. Failing is the only way to grow. Some of my hardest moments were when I had designs that never even sold! Not one. But I was resilient and went right back to the drawing board.

Try, try again.

Remember: every single passion you have doesn’t need to turn into a side gig.

Just because you love something doesn’t mean you should feel pressured to turn it into a business. Keep in mind that if you love something and try to make a profit from it, you may end up really disliking that former passion.

How can you know? The only way is to start. I believe that you NEED to truly love what you do. After all, we only have one life to live and we need to live it to the fullest.