It won’t be exaggerated to say that most of us dream to turn hobby into career and a successful one. It sounds like a fairy tale because we genuinely like pursuing our hobby but sometimes deadlines, meetings or extra workload refrain us from striding our way to the ultimate joyride. Marching towards our ultimate dream of a perfect life, we tend to dampen that inner voice because who will pay the bills if we won’t work? You are right. We need a job or a steady income to make our ends meet.
Job or profession helps economically but hobby gives a moment of solace in the chaos of this economic activity.
The real catch
We all seek job satisfaction and there are very few who actually receive that in return for their hard work. We all keep complaining about the less time that we get from work to pursue our hobby but what if we could actually pursue hobby and even get paid for it? Well here is 'the 7/3 formula' through which you can actually turn hobby into career.
This method has helped me turn my hobby into a good happy career but at a much later stage of my life. I had to analyze the correct method to pursue my hobby as a career to find out this 7/3 formula that has worked wonders for me. I am sure this method will save a lot of your time in the quest to turn hobby into career. Most of us fail to do that turn hobby into career because of the lack of proper method or simply an unawareness of a few simple steps that can help us.
we want to turn hobby into career but we don’t know the actual method that works in the long run.
There are multiple examples of people leaving their jobs to turn hobby into career but a few months or years later they end up either being broke or again join a new company as an employee. There are also many examples of people leaving their jobs for their startups and a few years later they end up selling a part of their company or sometimes the entire ownership to some big gun of the business world and become employees in their own companies.
Few succumb to the financial situation and few, to the fierce competition but most fail due to lack of long-term planning.
The 7/3 Formula
7/3 plan refers to seven steps with three questions. All you have to do is ask those three questions to yourself given in each step and you are good to go. If you have multiple interests and hobbies that are confusing you to make the first move, you can follow the 5DP where a full proof plan of finding your real interest is explained in detail. If you already know which hobby you want to turn into career then fasten your seatbelts mate, we are going to take off.
1. The potential exchange
The first step to turn hobby into career is to find out whether your hobby can be exchanged for money or not. Demand and supply are two important factors of any economic activity. There has to be a demand in the market to buy it in exchange for money. Ask these simple questions to yourself to find out whether your hobby has the potential for the exchange of money or not.
- Can this hobby help me financially?
- Can someone actually pay me in return for my hobby?
- Is there any mechanism or any firm that can pay me for rendering them services based on my hobby?
2. Value for money
Now that you know your hobby can actually have the potential to earn money, its time to evaluate the value for which it can be exchanged for. In the first step we understood the method of knowing whether it can earn some money, in this step we will know the range of value for which it can be exchanged. Ask these questions to find out.
- How much someone has spent in history or how much can someone spend on the services I render based on my hobby?
- What is the range of amount that this hobby be exchanged for money?
- How much any mechanism or a firm has spent or can spend on my skills related to my hobby?
3. Nature
You must know the nature of your hobby. It means whether the earning potential is seasonal or perpetual. To find out, ask these questions-
- What is the time in a year that my hobby has a higher demand?
- What is the time in a year that my hobby has less demand?
- When will my hobby experience no demand?
4. Back up
There are rare chances that your hobby will have equal demand throughout the year. To cover the time when there is less or no demand you will need to create a back up to balance your cash flow. Don’t worry follow 7/3 formula here again.
- What are the other branches of my hobby that can be exchanged for money?
For example- if you play guitar in concerts but now there are no concerts happening for some time due to any reason, then the other branch is you can teach someone in exchange for money instead of playing it in concerts until you get one.
- What is the mechanism or platform through which I can exchange my hobby for money?
For example- A guitarist can either teach online or actually in a classroom. Few websites even pay for freelance teachers as well.
- Will my back up help me chicken out the crunch period?
It means to analyze whether the outshot of the backup is really worthwhile to help you survive the slack period or not.
5. Lifestyle
Adjusting our spending habits with our income is quite a task for most of us. Therefore, analyzing your monthly spending and earning patterns become enormously important. Ask these three questions to yourself to find out-
- What is the minimum amount that I need to survive in a month?
Now everyone has a different definition for surviving. It really depends on one’s choice of living a lifestyle.
- Can my hobby help me earn the minimum amount of my survival each month?
Sometimes you get paid monthly or weekly or even after 2 months unless your hobby is a monthly job at a firm. So, take the average of this income and divide it into your monthly requirements.
- Am I mentally and financially ready to change my spending habits?
This is the most important question because initially your hobby won’t fetch you the amount that you are earning in your job. It may pay you way lesser than your actual salary. When you leave your actual high paying job, you need to be prepared to shift your spending patterns and expensive lifestyle if you have any to a minimal one until your hobby helps to earn that extra moolah you get at a fixed job.
6. Your job – A consistency saviour
Yes, your job plays a vital role to turn hobby into career. It will not only help you pay your bills but also will help you invest in your hobbies to learn the skills you need by paying for your class fee. You will have to be consistent in your efforts to actually start earning out of your hobby. It is a long journey, a journey of persistent efforts. The answer of the next three questions has to be a Yes to be profound about your choice of hobby.
- Am I ready to continue this hobby even after facing multiple failures without affecting my performance at a job?
- Will I devote a fair amount of time to my hobby every day irrespective of a bad day at work?
- Am I ready to sacrifice some of my weekend plans if my hobby requires my time?
Don't leave your job at this stage. Stick to it, hang in there. I know sometimes its frustrating but trust me if you survive this stage then the reward is beyond your imagination. Keep mounting your feet towards your ultimate goal of living your dream until you crack the seventh and the last step in the 7/3 formula.
7. Time to leave your job
Success is always about taking a calculative risk. This is the decisive moment in the journey to live your dream of pursuing your hobby as a career. Let’s follow the 7/3 formula one last time to find out the answer. Ask these three questions to yourself before leaving your job for your hobby.
- Is the average income earned through my hobby is on par of my salary or nearer to it?
- Do I have enough savings that can help me survive an entire year if I don’t get paid for a year?
- Can my monthly income earned through my hobby help me support my basic needs?
If the answers to these above questions are no then you will have to continue your efforts to work on your hobby along with your current job but if the answer to these three questions is a Yes then congratulations, you have mastered the 7/3 formula to turn hobby into career. This formula has helped me change my life and I am happy that I am pursuing my hobby as a career.
You are important
Apply this formula and do let me know about your thoughts on this article in the comment section. You can also read another article How to choose a profession that will keep you happy to master the Six days plan. I use thebestuknow.com to enhance my English language skills. I hope it will help you as well. Thank you
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