How To Turn Your Hobby Into A Profit Making Endeavor

There are hundreds of people who have a leisure time activity and spend all their free time indulging in these fun-filled fulfilling activities. But these activities need not be over once the leisure time is over, with a little experience and confidence and faith in your ability, you can actually turn your hobby into a successful money making endeavour.

What can be better than turning something that is a great source of job into something that also gets you remuneration?


Think about what your hobbies are and does any one of them have any business potential. For example if you love fishing than you could become a fishing guide or consultant. Here's how a dog lover turned his hobby into a lucrative career.

Judi Carson, a breeder, trainer and exhibitor of pure breed dogs commenced a productive business during a chance meeting, years ago with Rae Tanner, a woman she met casually during a dog training class who during the course of conversation asked her if she would like to join hands with her and use their contacts in the dog world and start a business doing something that they both loved and were good at doing.

Together they developed a logo for a new dog hobby called "Agility", a sport brought over from England and it quickly became very popular in the US. Agility is running dogs through an obstacle course against the clock.

Both the ladies invested $500.00 each. They contacted an artist to refine their logo idea and to turn it into printable art. They then decided that their products would be T-shirts, sweat shirts, magnets, bumper stickers, note tablets, dog bone shaped pencils and a few other "doggie things."

The first thing that Judi did was to go to her employer and inform him of her intention to do this part-time job along with her full time job. She knew that it would not be fair and unethical doing it without his knowledge and his support was crucial to the success of the program. Moreover, since she would be buying the products through his company, he would also ultimately benefit.

They started out selling at their own local dog club's Agility workshops. They did so well that they turned to selling at as many other workshops and competitions as they could find, traveling hundreds of miles in each direction from home. They set their sights on travelling to England to see and sell at the English Agility events at the Cruffs Dog Show, a 4 day show with more than 25,000 dogs competing , one of the most prestigious dog event in the world, knowing full well that they would be able to sell a large volume of their Agility products there.

As they grew, they started advertising on a monthly basis in a national Dog Obedience newspaper. Through this advertising exposure and their own networking contacts with dog show people it became known that they could also imprint other products or the same products personalized with a dog club's name. Many of these products could be used as judge's gifts or prizes for competitions. Additionally, they always let people know that they were in the imprinted advertising specialty business and could provide imprinted giveaways for their business or hobbies.

The arrangement worked extremely well for her. She networked her hobby contacts for her job and her hobby business provided revenue for the company she worked for.

As her friends assumed more and more responsibilities within their clubs and were more involved with the organization of events, they thought of her. They would often tell their national or regional breed show committees that "they knew someone in the business" that could get them trophies, gifts or hand-outs for up-coming shows.

Why Judi managed to run such a successful venture based on her love for dogs, was that her reputation as "a dog show person" gave her credibility in her networking. In selling conversations, people understand that she knew about dogs and was able to ask the right questions. Moreover she took personal interest in other peoples' dogs and dog show trials and tribulations.

As people returned from different dog club functions they showed their fellow hobbyists the products produced by Judi and her friend, which they had received at the regional or national shows. Often they or their friends would then call them when they needed their services. From year to year, as the job of organizing a show was passed from one person to another, Judi's name was passed along, too. Her network grew as a result of unique products, good service and reputation. It seemed that for every breed of dog there was a potential dog club to sell to.

However, the real proof of success for her part of the business was when, having worked with different people on dog show events, they came to her to supply imprinted items or corporate gifts for their businesses. All of the networking and doggie talk had paid off for Judi in a financially meaningful way.

Their weekend t-shirt business also took off. Their trip to England also materialized and while they were there at the prestigious dog show, they sold all of the products they brought with them to the National Agility Workshop and brought orders back to be filled when they returned.

What a thrill! Today, the network has spread and the business continues to grow. Rae recently moved to Chicago, and the partnership flourishes both there and here in the Philadelphia area. Rae and Judi each need to find someone new now to travel to dog shows.

And to think that it all started with a casual friend and a phone call...and net working with a fellow hobbyist. The results are a new, fun business, extra money and a substantially enhanced friendship.