I feel like there are two types of people out there: people who allow their hobbies and interests to become their work and those who keep them separate.
I watched a video clip a few years ago of (liberal) blogger Ezra Klein who was being interviewed about a restaurant in the Washington, D.C. area. At this point in his career he had started to write from time-to-time for the food/drink/restaurant section of the Washington Post. This writing was in addition to his regular job of blogging about politics for the Post.
Something he said in this interview has stuck with me. The other reporter/interviewer in the segment was asking what made him start writing and working on the food/drink section of the paper and he said “my hobbies have a way of becoming my work.”
Ezra Klein didn’t become a political blogger overnight. He had a few different websites and live-blogged some political conferences. He started this not as a way to make money, but because he was interested in politics. It’s the same reason I started a political blog, though I obviously didn’t end up blogging about it at the Washington Post.
What about you? Do your hobbies become your work?
I like to think I’m the kind of person whose hobbies become their work. While I wouldn’t say that accounting and financial forecasting are my “hobbies”, they do allow me to work in an area that interests me. So I guess my career is a bad example, at least for now.
There are a few hobbies I’ve been able to turn into profitable gigs, and I’m always actively trying to find new ways to turn my hobbies into my work. Here’s a few examples:
- Poker – I played a lot of poker my senior year of high school and couldn’t play at a casino until I turned 18 the Summer after I graduated. My freshman year of college, though, my friend and I went to the casino almost every weekend. I also played online quite a bit and read a lot about strategy.
This never made me a ton of money, but it was a nice side gig for a college student. At that point in my life I really couldn’t think of what would be better than to be a professional poker player. It doesn’t hurt that I knew someone who won over $300k. In one tournament.
- Blogging – I was a political blogger in college and never made significant money pursuing it. I think if I had really been dedicated to making money in that area I could have started to gain some freelance jobs that would have led to more freelance jobs. Plus my site had potential but it just never took off.
A personal finance blogger found me through my political blog and I actually ended up working for him part-time during college doing SEO, marketing, and blog commenting. It was a great gig for a college student and I learned a lot about blogging and business.
I waited until July of 2012 to start my own personal finance blog. Since then I’ve made a decent chunk of (hard-earned) change and landed a great weekly freelance job over at the FeeX blog. I don’t actively look for more freelance writing jobs, but I don’t say no if someone offers me one and is willing to pay my non-negotiable payment per post.
- Websites – I’ve always had an interest making money online. The idea of making money just by sitting on my laptop is extremely appealing to me. I’m an introvert so I get energized by working by myself, as opposed to extroverts who get energy from other people.
Anyway I’ve had a number of website and small business failures. They all relate to things that are hobbies/interests of mine. Blogging has allowed me to (successfully) make money online to a degree, but I’m always looking to start new websites that have potential to pay off.
These are a few examples of how my hobbies have become my work. My most recent hobby that has potential to become work is daily fantasy football. I won’t get into too many details right now, but I already have a domain name for a potential site and a friend who already has an established website in this niche has been emailing with me back and forth to discuss daily fantasy football strategy.
While I personally think it’s exciting to think about how your hobbies can become your work, some people want to keep their work their work and their hobbies their hobbies. There’s nothing wrong with this and we need people in this world who are able to separate the two. In fact, I think it’s much more common to take this approach and a very tiny minority of people actually try to make their hobbies their work.
What about you? Do your hobbies become your work? Do you actively try to make your hobbies a source of income or do you like to keep them separate?
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Yes! My blogging hobby has become work. While this isn’t a bad thing, it certainly was unexpected. I don’t actively try to make my hobbies a source of income or keep them separate. I let them take their natural course and if the money starts flowing, then great!
Yes, I suppose that my hobbies turn into work too. I have never had a hobby that couldn’t be profitable in some way.
Some hobbies turn into my work, while others remain just hobbies. I enjoy working on cars, but I have no intention on making it my work. Other things like blogging, website management, and other online things turn into my work. It can be hard to choose which one I want to turn into my work, but that is the nature of the game.
I can see how that could happen. if you are great a sewing, crafts, landscaping, etc, you could certainly make money at those. I’m not sure if blogging was a hobby for me when I started or just more of an outlet. My other hobbies are not likely to make much money unless someone wants to pay me to read books or go hiking.
Yes, blogging used to be a hobby of mine, but now it is work and it’s a part of my business. It’s been great so far thankfully though.
For me my passions/hobbies tend to result in earning income from it. I usually don’t start out thinking how I can make money from it but the thought eventually creeps up. Sometimes I get offered payment when I wasn’t necessarily looking for it. I think it’s a nice balance to get paid to do what you really enjoy and would do for free!
Holly at ClubThrifty That brings up an interesting question – are there ANY hobbies that can’t be turned into some sort of profitable business? I think it would be tough to think of one. But yeah obviously your hobbies have turned into work with blogging, which is awesome to see.
theFinancegirl It seems like you really have “dove in” to the whole blogging gig so I’m happy to see you succeed. It’s interesting that you don’t actively try to turn your hobbies into income – I would have guessed the opposite.
DebtRoundUp Some hobbies can turn into income a lot easier than others it seems like. Then again, you could have just as easily started a car maintenance blog or some other auto-related blog and combined the two. I know that has been done many times with politics, cooking, and pretty much every other topic.
Eyesonthedollar Haha that would be great to get paid to read or go hiking! I hear you, though. Reading is one of those things that probably will never be profitable. I can’t even get paid book reviews on here, nor do I really anticipate that income stream ever developing into something bigger.
SenseofCents I think you’re a good example of hobbies becoming your work. You clearly have the income to back up the idea that hobbies can grow into big income streams.
Kassandra @ More Than Just Money I think it’s great too. One thing I like is that blogging and other side incomes/side hustles are just that – side things. I don’t think I would ever want 100% of my income to come from a hobby.
Writing was a hobby for me years ago, and my blog began primarily as a hobby, so by chance, they have turned into work! I really wish I had known about blogs while I was in college, as I also enjoy working by myself. Virtual work is so less stressful than being in an office environment for me (I hated dealing with the phones!), and it has more earning potential than my previous jobs did. I’d like to work more on making my other hobbies (graphic design and helping others in the form of coaching) become paid work.
Erin @ Journey to Saving Thanks for sharing your experiences, Erin! I did hear of blogs in college, but I only did political blogging and for whatever reason did not start my own personal finance blog. I wish I had started sooner, but even more so I wish I had pursued freelance writing more in college. I’m the same as you when it comes to working by myself. I prefer it over working in an office and it takes less energy out of me.
For me that’s the dream. I think getting paid to do your hobbies, whatever gives you enjoyment, is the ultimate goal. When work doesn’t feel like work, you wouldn’t get burned out as quickly, in theory at least. I’ve known people who pursued hobbies as careers and it unfortunately backfired. It’s a shame to have a hobby ruined because of something work related, but I’d be willing to give it a shot if the opportunity presented itself. Now, to find someone to pay me to travel…
I definitely think hobbies have the potential to become your work or at least earn some income for you. Some people probably want a clear separation because when hobbies become work, then it could potentially take some of the enjoyment away or at least the relaxing nature of your hobby. The Heavy Purse feels like a more natural extension of what I do, so I don’t really consider that a hobby. Running, volunteering and reading, etc are more hobbies and things i do for pure enjoyment.
I love the concept of your hobbies becoming your work. For me, my biggest hobby is reading and I can’t quite think how I can translate that to work other than creating a reading blog; however, then I am afraid that reading would become too much like work and I wouldn’t enjoy it as much as I do now.
My hobby is reading minimalizing, organizing, and frugalizing blogs. Making money at that would be the icing on the cake! :)
Yes, some of them have become my work, although never amounting to something I could live off completely. Obviously my blog and writing have become two of those things, but I’ve also made money coaching beach volleyball, something that was only for sure a hobby 5 years ago.
I think it’s a good idea to turn your hobbies into businesses if you can do it. In today’s economy it doesn’t hurt to have a little side gig going.
In most cases my hobbies turn into a small bit of work with blogging and eBay, but I don’t make money playing basketball or walking my dog in the park, so it ultimately depends.
I managed to get paid to travel and write reviews about places and things to do, which was really cool, but I had a hard time separating fun, holiday time from work time. In the end, traveling wasn’t that cool. Now that I don’t have to write about it, I enjoy it again.
I’ll quote ‘The secret of success is making your vocation your vacation.’ Mark Twain and I feel that this is right. If you have a hobby that you enjoy and can start to monetize that hobby I’d say that it would not really feel like work.. Then again there’s the argument that too much of a good thing could lead to you eventually disliking it :)..
Personally I wouldn’t mind being a pro poker player either haha.. What sort of qualifications/authority do you need to get involved in FeeX blog out of interest? Or is this purely personal finance freelance writing? I actually enjoy personal finance and work in finance but not sure I’d have enough authority to blog about it or perhaps I do haha
BudgetandBees Getting paid to travel sounds amazing! That’s assuming you have some control over what you do when you travel, versus just sitting in an office building all day and then flying home.
ShannonRyan I know what you mean. I think the reason I’m enjoying blogging and writing so much is because it’s not my full-time gig. I do think if you are able to make a living from your hobby it’s something worth considering, though.
blonde_finance I think reading blogs are impressive. It takes so long to read a full book, and then to write a review…I know some people do this every day and I’m really impressed.
kay at frugalvoices Well, there are certainly a lot of people who make money writing and consulting on those very activities!
Beachbudget You seem better at monetizing hobbies than most people. I think it’s really cool that you made money coaching beach volleyball. I know someone else who works a regular full-time job and then refs high school football on the side, which I think is somewhat similar. There is a lot of money in sports.
Practical Cents I agree. There is a lot of risk with any income stream these days. The economy changes quickly.
EvenStevenMoney I hear you. I think a lot of people turn blogging into income because there is an easy way to do it. To make money dog walking you’d have to get clients, coordinate schedules with them, etc. Online income is just easier.
RFIndependence That’s a great point, and something I’ve thought about. I have said many times I wouldn’t like travelling for work. But I think if I was just reviewing things it would be okay, since I’d have control over my schedule.
mycareercrusade I agree that sometimes if you can do something you love then it doesn’t feel like work. As far as FeeX, since you’d be competition for me for writing gigs I’d recommend you look elsewhere ;) Haha but seriously you can reach out to the editor if you want. I’m not sure if they are looking to hire more writers right now or not.
I have pretty significant overlap between my work and my hobbies, which is fine with me. I’m all about playing to my strengths and, I only have so many strengths so I think it makes sense that I’m fairly consistent in my pursuits. I plan to have no real delineation between work and hobbies once I hit early retirement–I hope to just spend my days working on things I love.
Mrs. Frugalwoods I would hope you only spend your days doing things you love in retirement! But I would say that there are things I love and don’t love about my 9-5 job. Anytime you have a corporate job I think there will be things that you aren’t 100% excited about and love, but I do things that I enjoy for the most part. I definitely wouldn’t say financial forecasting is my hobby, but I think in my spare time the hobbies that I do have quickly become a type of work for me.
I’m able to keep them separate. Blogging was always meant to be a “side hustle.” Although it’s grown far larger than I ever thought it would. My other hobbies (running, working out, and BBQ) are strictly in the “hobby zone.”
Hi! New reader here! I think everyone should try to make their hobbies become work. After all, that brings truth to the saying, “If you do what you love, you’ll never work a day in your life.”
Writing and personal finance are my two huge passions outside of my family. I’ve been freelance writing for over two years now, but not in finance. While I’ve done a few things here and there with PF writing, I decided to start my own blog so I could get all my ideas out there! So yes, I absolutely will try to turn every hobby of mine into a way to make money (but I’m also fascinated w/ finance…so maybe that’s why us PF bloggers try to monetize everything!).
Anyways, happy to be following along!!
Sarah Brooks Glad to have you here, Sarah! I just read your freelance writing post and left a lengthy comment. It’s something that I’ve been pursuing to a greater degree and I really hope to gain a couple more clients before the end of the year.
DebtChronicles I think you have a good balance. I need to embrace and spend more time on hobbies that won’t become income, such as reading and working out.
This post made me literally laugh out loud because I struggle with this so much! I recently realized that I had no actual “hobbies” because everything that might fall into that category ends up being part of my work. I’m trying to do more things just for fun now, but it’s a struggle — I’m really not good at relaxing and taking time off anymore!
I agree with you everyone should make their hobbies into work. In my opinion, It is the great way to make money doing the things which we love. :)
MarkRobin Some programs such as PADI make it easy to move your hobby into a career.