Monetizing hobbies

If you are so obsessesed with optimizing your life (most of us on HN are) and want to monetize your hobby, pick a job so interesting and open ended that your job becomes your hobby.

You are killing two birds with one stone in that case

> You are killing two birds with one stone in that case

Achievement unlocked: Dennis the Menace

The author has some good points.

What can look like a hobby to some people can be seen by the creator as part of their mission in life, or a calling card that is part of what makes the creator unique.

If you feel that way about something that doesn't monetarily pay off, does that make it a hobby or something else?

A company in a tangential space approached me the other day for a second time to discuss whether I could collaborate with them on something that would make their service offering more complete.

For years I have been building an on-line resource that provides information about an avocation of mine that I thought the on-line world needed. Currently, that resource is very poorly monetized, and its existence is financially supported by other consulting and advisory work that I do for which I am fairly compensated.

At one level, this is totally a hobby. But at another, I always believed that if I built this on-line resource that a group of people and/or companies would find my work important, and I would find a way for the work to pay off.

If a collaboration produces revenue in any amount, it's a confirmation that my work has utility and value to others who certainly are making money from a larger service offering.

I've monetised my hobbies three times so far.

All three times it has become lucrative, but none of them are hobbies any more.

One of the important things along the way I've learned is that what makes hobbies relaxing and fun isn't about the specific task you're doing but the fact that it's about enjoying the process of making/doing rather than feeling pressure to deliver the end result.

That's not to say I have any regrets about what I did - it's turned into a pair of businesses that are interesting and challenging in their own way while bringing in some serious coin - but the whole adage about "do what you love and you'll never work another day in your life" doesn't apply to running a small business.

As someone with a somewhat successful side project, I highly recommend monetizing it. However, you should choose a small enough price that you don’t feel like you owe customers fast support or every feature they ask for. (In some cases a donation button may be better)

Also, when you start expecting your project to meet income requirements, it can take the fun out extremely fast. Part of the fun is being able to work on it as much or as little as I want.

Benefits of monetizing (from my experience):

Extremely validating, what you enjoy doing has value to others.

Offsets costs, even if your only cost is time, a few bucks really helps.