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Posts Tagged ‘hobby’

One of the first articles I posted on this site, over 1 year ago now, was about the prospects for monetising a hobby. I wrote that article as a result of re-newing a hobby of my own, which was sea fishing. I remembered a guy ( a friend, named Allan) who set up a small business from home selling pre-tied rigs, and other bits and pieces of terminal tackle for sea anglers via the post (pre-internet days).

That little business, which he started in a spare room at home, turned into a nice gold mine for him. First he moved out of the spare room, into an extension he had built onto the side of the house. From there, he moved into a small unit on an industrial estate. The next step in his progression was to add a fishing tackle shop, which he eventually did. All that was achieved in under three years from his idea of monetising a hobby.

Keeping bees; a fine hobby you can monetise

Allan retired 12 years ago now, selling his business as a going concern for a tidy sum. His profit paid his mortgage off, and left him more than enough to enjoy his retirement, alongside his long suffering wife, and just carry on enjoying his hobby.

Just recently, whilst researching another article. I came across an item about a fellow in London, England, who has done exactly the same thing, and set about monetising a hobby. Neil Mathews’ hobby is all things Star Wars, and he has turned that hobby into his dream job.

Mr Mathews, 36 had a variety of jobs, from working in the retail sector to being a nightclub door man before he found himself unemployed. After a year of unemployment, he discussed turning his love of all things Star Wars into a business with an advisor. The advisor helped Mr Mathews to develop his idea of monetising a hobby, and develop it into a career.

He set up a repair service for replica props from the Star Wars movies, launching London-Sabers in February this year. As well as saber repairs and servicing, he has set up a service offering design, fabrication and assembly of unique custom items too. Since he set up his website, Mr Mathews has been receiving orders from all over the UK, and even as far afield as France.

The above two examples will hopefully serve to arouse your interest in exploring the possibilities of monetising a hobby. Like I stated in the previous article, it may not get to the level these guys have taken it to, it may grow beyond all expectations, but until you explore the possibilities, you will never know. Remember this, mighty oaks from little acorns grow! You can read the previous article here.

Why not take a look at Neil Mathews’ site, London-Sabers.com

Until the next time, keep your chin up, and stay wise.

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Image by m_bartosch, courtesy of freedigitalphotos.net

On last New Years eve, I bumped into a guy I’ve known for quite a while but hadn’t seen for a few years. A successful businessman,  Alan was a part owner of a bar I used to frequent, but he was also the owner of a couple of other bars and a hotel. He also owned and rented out a number of homes.

A few years ago, I used to run my own landscaping and gardening business, and I used to do the maintenance on the garden at his home for him. He used to keep ducks as a hobby, there was around 9 or 10 of them if I remember correctly. Whilst we were talking, I asked Alan how the ducks were faring. His answer totally surprised me. That 9 or 10 ducks was now over 350 strong, and growing! He includes some rare breeds in his flock too.

Just after I had to quit the landscaping business due to injury, Alan was having problems running all of his own businesses. The main stumbling block that kept creating his problems was his bar businesses. Eventually, he sold off those parts of his portfolio, and employed somebody to do the lions share of the work at the hotel. That change eased the stress, as Alan was spending more time at home with less to worry about.

After a short while, he started to feel a little bored. To ease the boredom, he went out and bought another dozen or so ducks to add to his flock, then another dozen or so. It was during a conversation he had with an associate that got him thinking about monetizing his hobby. He told his friend about the ducks, mentioning that he was now getting so many eggs from them, he didn’t know what to do with them. His friend asked him why he didn’t take them and sell them to store owners in the surrounding areas.

Kerching! A new business idea was born. Now he doesn’t make a fortune with this business, but as he says, if it was his only means of living, he would be making enough to pay himself a decent wage. Take the initial expense of building a couple of barns to house the ducks, and the initial purchase of stock (both paid for from proceeds of the sale of the bar businesses), he reckons it pays enough to look after itself financially, including wages for an assistant. Alan’s growing the business still, but, he says he knows when the growth is going to stop. And importantly, it’s still his hobby. The hotel and property portfolio are his pension, and most important of all, he’s stress free.

I got to thinking about this, not as a money earner, but as a stress busting hobby, and why not? We could all do with something to take us away from the stress of modern living, right! Looking in to it further, There’s no reason why a lot of us couldn’t do something similar.

If like me, you live in an apartment, then we’re screwed on this one. However, there are a lot of people out there who do have a house with a garden area or yard. You don’t have to make it ducks either. Raising poultry isn’t confined to ducks. How about chickens, or geese. Makes a change from the usual dog or cats huh! The added benefit is; you get your own free range eggs, and chicken/duck/goose for the freezer. Not to mention getting to escape from your stress for a while.

I’m looking to move out of my current apartment at some point in the future, and I think I’ll be looking for a house with a decent garden area. My 7 year old daughter loves the idea of having pet chickens and ducks to raise, and do you know what, I’m with her on that one.

If this is something that could interest you, then Below are a couple of links to publications you can take a look at.

The first is mainly concerned with raising chickens, and is by Karl Caden, also known as – The Chicken Coop Guy.

Amazon also have a good selection for you to take a look at, but the link here is to my own preference from that selection, and covers poultry in general, it is by Harvey Ussery.

The Small-Scale Poultry Flock: An All-Natural Approach to Raising Chickens and Other Fowl for Home and Market Growers–With information on building … feed, and working with poultry in the garden

Until the next time, keep your chin up, and be wise.

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Paul.

This current financial crisis that’s sweeping the world has had me thinking of countless ways to try and earn an extra income. I know I’m not alone in that thought, there’s a countless number of people all thinking the same thing!

I don’t know about you, but I’m finding the whole thing very stressful. A while ago, my ex-partner and mother of my daughter and I, were having a chat about how Aimee was doing at school, the weather, what we need to do to plan for Christmas etc. It was a nice little tete a tete over a cup of tea. She turned to me and said that I looked and sounded a little stressed. My reply was that she also came across in the same way, “us and millions of others around the globe”, I commented.

After a minutes thought, I said that I may take up sea fishing again. I mentioned that it was quite a good way to decompress and gather your thoughts. Her response was that, “every one should have some sort of hobby, no matter how meaningless it would appear to other people. If it just provided a little escapism from the real world for just a few short hours each week, then it’s got to help”.

I have been on 4 or 5 little fishing trips since that conversation, and each time I’ve returned feeling refreshed, and enjoyed a good nights sleep. It’s got to be the sea air. However, whilst I was out fishing, I also got to thinking that there are plenty of activities out there a person could do as a hobby, that could also help to bring in a little money, a hobby that earns money! It sure sounds good to me. It may not make you a fortune, or enable you to whack your boss on the head with a rolled up newspaper as you walk out of the door saying, “stick your job, I’m off!” But….

If you can earn yourself just $25 per week from your little hobby, that is going to translate into $1300.00 at the end of the year! Think about it, how much of a difference would that make? It would certainly cover a good portion of your Christmas expenditure, if not all of it! What about that family holiday? would $1300 cover all or most of that cost? Now, has that got you thinking about taking up a money earning hobby, or monetising a hobby you practise now?

If you keep your initial goal at a reasonable level, and I think $25 per week should be fairly achievable, you could be on the path to a little gold mine, and from something you’re getting pleasure from too! And that’s an important point! We all need some pleasure in our lives, pleasure plays an imortant role in our quest for our wellbeing. Who knows where it could finish up. Remember, tall oaks, from little acorns grow!

Until the next time, keep your chin up and be wise.

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Paul.