Boss-babes of the world are out there on the internet convincing people left and right to start businesses and follow their bliss. But being in business isn’t for everyone! And if you monetise your passions and turn your hobbies into a money-spinner, you might actually become quite resentful. In this episode I’m exploring why you might want to start a business and what you should think about before you go ahead and put a price tag on your creative expression.
Links I mentioned in this episode:
5. Monetizing your Passions – Transcript
[00:00:00] Hi, there I’m Bec McFarland the host of the Pop Your Career Podcast. As a career coach, I’m most passionate about helping my clients to discover their own personal flavour of career fulfillment. In this podcast, we are going to be exploring ways that you too can feel more fulfilled by your work. So strap yourself in, get ready for the ride. The tips around here are fast and in abundance.
[00:00:29] Hello hello. It’s Bec McFarland here helping you do better and be better in your career. I hope that you are having an amazing week. I wanted to just pop in today and do a little bit of a rant about monetizing your passions, because this comes up for me so often on the Pop Your Business side, as well as on the Pop Your Career side, [00:01:00] seems like every man and woman and their dog are all looking for ways to start businesses and start to monetize some of the things that maybe they’re already doing as hobbies, but they’re not always going about it in the best way.
[00:01:16] So, I thought I would do a quick episode where I talk about the pros and cons of monetizing your passions and why sometimes it can be a really great idea and why other times I would suggest for you to just let your hobbies be hobbies. Many people these days seem to be surprised to you from me when I tell them, you know, it’s okay to just have a hobby that you don’t make money from. Right. I mean, everyone back in the day had hobbies and now it seems like there’s so much pressure to make money from every single thing that we do. I don’t know. It’s crazy.
[00:01:54] So let’s talk about starting a business. A lot of people come to me and they say to me, you know, I [00:02:00] want to start a business. Tell me how do I go about it? And I always think it’s a really interesting discussion, especially when we dive into why they’re looking to start a business. If you are looking to start a business because you want to make money or you want to like have some kind of get rich quick scheme or something like that.
[00:02:18] I’m sorry to burst your bubble, but I would just say don’t. There is no such thing as an overnight success. I’ve been in business now since 2015, and I am still trying to work it out. And I can just guarantee you that a lot of the overnight successes that you see on the internet are actually people who have been working their butts off behind the scenes for many, many years prior. So if it is because you are craving that short term success, maybe look at a different angle.
[00:02:49] If you’re looking to start a business, though, because of the fact that you have a craft, you have knowledge expertise, something like that, something that you are [00:03:00] passionate about and you just feel so compelled to share it with the world, that it would almost be wrong not to, that’s a great time to start a business. And for me, that’s what it was all about when I was looking around on the internet back in 2015 for career advice, I found that it was all really boring. In fact, you might have heard me describe it over the years as being quite stale or even suggesting that all the career advice around would just bore my socks off. I don’t think that career advice has to be boring.
[00:03:37] So I knew that there was an opportunity in the market for me to be able to share my expertise, to do it with my own bubbly personality and my own kind of different way of teaching things.
[00:03:50] And that this was going to be a really great way for me to actually share my message with the world and do it in a way that I could also make money. And [00:04:00] absolutely, that’s what I’ve done. And that is how I started my second business, Pop Your Business. And even the third business that I’ve started, BizCBR, it’s all kind of gone down the same track.
[00:04:11] Whenever I’ve seen clients though, who have gone about things the other way, and they’ve decided that they want to start a business first, and then they’ve tried to think of an idea about what they want their business to be later. It never seems to work out. I know that I’ve said before that business doesn’t have to be hard.
[00:04:30] And I do believe that I think that definitely there are loads of things that we can do to make business as easy and as much in flow as possible. But I’ve got to tell you, it can be really challenging and often the challenges come when you least expect. Much like they do in every other area of our lives as well. Right? Always when we are not expecting.
[00:04:58] The thing about [00:05:00] business, and especially when you’re starting business, is that you do need to wear loads of different hats. And what I find this means for my clients is that they’re often spending more time doing the actual business stuff than they are doing the actual thing that they wanted to go into business for.
[00:05:18] Now, this is why I have my business coaching practice. My passion is definitely around auto automations and systems and outsourcing and helping business owners to get the business stuff under control so that they can focus on the work that truly lights them up. But that doesn’t necessarily happen over time. And it’s a lot easier to actually find the time to do some of that stuff.
[00:05:38] When your business is a little bit more established and you’re moving. Scaling stage rather than in the growth stage. Unless of course you’ve got loads of time, right up front to get some of those systems and automations in process before you even open the doors. So about monetizing your passions, right?
[00:05:56] When it comes to starting the business, you can see already that there are a [00:06:00]couple of hurdles that you might need to get over. And there are a couple of reasons that you might want to actually reconsider it. Another one that springs to mind that I talk about with a lot of my clients, particularly those who are creative is that when we monetize our passions or when we turn our hobbies or our interests into a business, we change our relationship with it.
[00:06:24] So rather than it being something that we do, because we enjoy, it becomes something that we have to do in order to make money and put food on the table. And with that shift often comes a lot of resentment. I have seen so many artists, so many people in the creative field who, you know, just absolutely loved what they did and they just were so desperate to have more time to be able to fulfill their creative passions and do all of the things that they really enjoyed. But as soon as they went full time in their craft, they found that there was so much [00:07:00] added pressure that was laid on that particular activity, that it started to become less and less and less enjoy.
[00:07:09] I think sometimes when we have a hobby, particularly when it is in a creative field or something like that, you know, we do it because of the fact that we have that creative drive. We do it because of the fact that we want to see how things pan out.
[00:07:24] But when you monetize your passions, particularly if you are in an artistic or creative world, often you’re actually not necessarily creating what you feel called to create, but you’re creating what the client wants. And I’ve seen this happen even in my own business where I think, ‘oh, wow. I’d love to deliver a topic on X, Y, and Z. But that’s not necessarily what my clients need’.
[00:07:52] And so I end up going down a different avenue and creating something else that I know that they need and that they’re going to find really valuable, [00:08:00] but maybe it’s just not something that lights me up as much. So that it has to be that balance between doing it for the love of it and kind of doing it because that’s what your customers or your clients need at the other end.
[00:08:15] This episode is brought to you by the Career Clarity Quest, my absolutely free, seven day program, which is designed to support you in getting so much clearer about your next steps. Find it at PopYourCareer.com/quest.
[00:08:34] Now, you might think that from everything that I’ve said so far, that I’m a little bit anti-business and I’m definitely not. I love business. I’m actually a rare kind of business owner that I love the business stuff. So when I talk about my business owner, clients, getting that business stuff under control so that they can focus on the work that truly lights [00:09:00] them up. Often that stuff is the work that truly lights me up.
[00:09:06] So it’s no surprise that I might go down a rabbit hole and end up working on a client’s business, automations or integrations or helping them set up email marketing or something like that. I get so much enjoyment out of it. What I will say to you is that I have been in business now, as you know, since 2015, and it’s been a really, really wild ride.
[00:09:31] There have been a lot of challenges and they continue to be a lot of challenges. And I can tell you that on more than one occasion, I have definitely thought about throwing in the towel. Now it might sound privileged. Maybe it sounds like I’m a little up myself. I don’t know. But one of the reasons that I am in business doing what I’m doing is because I feel.
[00:09:57] Like, this is what I was put [00:10:00] on this earth to do. I told you, right? It might sound a little bit self-interested. But I feel like my mission in life is to help others to do better and be better in their careers and businesses. So it doesn’t really make sense for me to do anything else.
[00:10:20] The other thing is I do absolutely love what I do, but I have to find that balance between the thrill that I get from being able to work my dream job and focus on the activities that I really want to focus on.
[00:10:35] And then, all of the challenges that come with business. There’s a whole lot of financial stuff. There’s a whole lot of risk. There’s stuff that comes along with being a leader and taking on team members. And even though I do have a team, I still have to wear lots and lots of different hats. And can I tell you I’ve got what you would call a fat head. I don’t [00:11:00] think there’s a polite way of saying it, but my head wasn’t made for hats. So it’s a little awkward when there are so many different hats from me to wear in my business. I hope this episode’s given you a little bit of food for thought. I definitely didn’t record this because I wanted to influence you either way.
[00:11:20] I didn’t want to tell you that you should go out and follow your bliss and monetize all of your passions and have a great time. I think there’s enough of that kind of rubish on the internet already. I also don’t want to say to you that you shouldn’t go out and, and start a business and do the things that you enjoy.
[00:11:37] What I would say is spend some time really thinking about what it is that you want to do. Are you starting a business because of the fact that you want to start a business and be your own boss and make money? Or are you starting a business because you are really, really passionate about something and you feel compelled to share it with the world?
[00:11:55] I’d also consider what financial responsibilities you have. [00:12:00] Now I’ve shared previously in other platforms that I do have a lot of privilege and when it came time for me to leave my full-time job and go into my business full-time I was very well supported. So I’ve talked very briefly about my husband before his name is Mac and he is an IT contractor.
[00:12:20] He is also the most incredibly supportive, wonderful, caring, loving, intelligent and just insanely clever man. I am very, very, very lucky to have him in my life and I absolutely adore him. And to be honest, I will never ever get over the gratitude that I have for him because of the fact that he is the one that has allowed me to do this.
[00:12:53] He basically said, you want to do this thing? You want to see if it’ll work? Go. I’ll support [00:13:00] you. And with that, I was able to leave my full-time job, going to business full-time and know that we were not going to starve and we were not going to have trouble paying our bills. Now, I don’t tell you this because I want to brag about the fact that I have the most amazing husband around.
[00:13:19] I just tell you, because I want you to be realistic. There are a lot of stories of people out there on the internet who are taking the leap and they’re quitting their full-time jobs and they’re going into business. But I know that a lot of them have seamless support systems that I do. And I know that perhaps they’re not being as transparent about it as they could. And unfortunately, I think that’s can be quite detrimental to people who aren’t getting the full story.
[00:13:44] Side hustling is a really great way to get started. If you do decide that you want to start your business. I side hustled for three years and I would always recommend it. I think it’s such a great way to be able to test the waters and just see what’s out there [00:14:00] and see whether you do actually enjoy being in business after all.
[00:14:03] There are very minimal risks. There are loads and loads of opportunities. And it does mean that you have a little bit more control over how quickly or how slowly things start to happen. The beauty is as well that if you do have a flexible workplace and they are open to people working part-time then as your business grows, if you find that you need a little bit more time, then maybe you can start to cut your hours in your day job.
[00:14:29] That’s how I did it. And it worked really, really well for me. And I know that it also works really, really for a lot of my other clients. I think this whole concept of side hustling that has become more and more popular does give you that chance to actually, just try it, you know, try to monetize your passions and see what starts to come from it, but just be careful and just notice if you do sense any of that resentment coming up, because if you are beginning to resent your craft and you are not [00:15:00] enjoying it as much, because you feel like there is pressure or expectation around it, then maybe it’s not the right move for you. Or maybe it’s time to work on your money mindset and that my friend is a totally different episode for another day.
[00:15:18] As I said, I hope this has given you some food for thought. I hope it’s shared some of my ideas, both on the business side of monetizing your passions and on the idea of actually keeping your hobbies as hobbies. I would really love though to hear what you think about it? Have you already monetized your passions? How did it go? Is this something that you’ve been thinking about? And if so, what’s holding you back, jump over onto social media and start a conversation with me. You can find me everywhere at Pop Your Career. I would absolutely love to hear from you.
[00:15:53] And until our next episode, I hope that you take it easy. And I look forward to seeing you again very, very [00:16:00] soon. Bye-bye now.
[00:16:01] Thanks so much for listening to the Pop Your Career podcast. I hope that you’ve enjoyed today’s tips and that you found value in what I’ve shared with you. If you like your career advice quick and entertaining, I would love for you to subscribe. Also leave me a rating and a review. If you want to continue the conversation, come and join me over on social media. You can find me everywhere at Pop Your Career. I’ll see you soon.
[00:00:00] Hi, there I’m Bec McFarland the host of the Pop Your Career Podcast. As a career coach, I’m most passionate about helping my clients to discover their own personal flavour of career fulfillment. In this podcast, we are going to be exploring ways that you too can feel more fulfilled by your work. So strap yourself in, get ready for the ride. The tips around here are fast and in abundance.
[00:00:29] Hello hello. It’s Bec McFarland here helping you do better and be better in your career. I hope that you are having an amazing week. I wanted to just pop in today and do a little bit of a rant about monetizing your passions, because this comes up for me so often on the Pop Your Business side, as well as on the Pop Your Career side, [00:01:00] seems like every man and woman and their dog are all looking for ways to start businesses and start to monetize some of the things that maybe they’re already doing as hobbies, but they’re not always going about it in the best way.
[00:01:16] So, I thought I would do a quick episode where I talk about the pros and cons of monetizing your passions and why sometimes it can be a really great idea and why other times I would suggest for you to just let your hobbies be hobbies. Many people these days seem to be surprised to you from me when I tell them, you know, it’s okay to just have a hobby that you don’t make money from. Right. I mean, everyone back in the day had hobbies and now it seems like there’s so much pressure to make money from every single thing that we do. I don’t know. It’s crazy.
[00:01:54] So let’s talk about starting a business. A lot of people come to me and they say to me, you know, I [00:02:00] want to start a business. Tell me how do I go about it? And I always think it’s a really interesting discussion, especially when we dive into why they’re looking to start a business. If you are looking to start a business because you want to make money or you want to like have some kind of get rich quick scheme or something like that.
[00:02:18] I’m sorry to burst your bubble, but I would just say don’t. There is no such thing as an overnight success. I’ve been in business now since 2015, and I am still trying to work it out. And I can just guarantee you that a lot of the overnight successes that you see on the internet are actually people who have been working their butts off behind the scenes for many, many years prior. So if it is because you are craving that short term success, maybe look at a different angle.
[00:02:49] If you’re looking to start a business, though, because of the fact that you have a craft, you have knowledge expertise, something like that, something that you are [00:03:00] passionate about and you just feel so compelled to share it with the world, that it would almost be wrong not to, that’s a great time to start a business. And for me, that’s what it was all about when I was looking around on the internet back in 2015 for career advice, I found that it was all really boring. In fact, you might have heard me describe it over the years as being quite stale or even suggesting that all the career advice around would just bore my socks off. I don’t think that career advice has to be boring.
[00:03:37] So I knew that there was an opportunity in the market for me to be able to share my expertise, to do it with my own bubbly personality and my own kind of different way of teaching things.
[00:03:50] And that this was going to be a really great way for me to actually share my message with the world and do it in a way that I could also make money. And [00:04:00] absolutely, that’s what I’ve done. And that is how I started my second business, Pop Your Business. And even the third business that I’ve started, BizCBR, it’s all kind of gone down the same track.
[00:04:11] Whenever I’ve seen clients though, who have gone about things the other way, and they’ve decided that they want to start a business first, and then they’ve tried to think of an idea about what they want their business to be later. It never seems to work out. I know that I’ve said before that business doesn’t have to be hard.
[00:04:30] And I do believe that I think that definitely there are loads of things that we can do to make business as easy and as much in flow as possible. But I’ve got to tell you, it can be really challenging and often the challenges come when you least expect. Much like they do in every other area of our lives as well. Right? Always when we are not expecting.
[00:04:58] The thing about [00:05:00] business, and especially when you’re starting business, is that you do need to wear loads of different hats. And what I find this means for my clients is that they’re often spending more time doing the actual business stuff than they are doing the actual thing that they wanted to go into business for.
[00:05:18] Now, this is why I have my business coaching practice. My passion is definitely around auto automations and systems and outsourcing and helping business owners to get the business stuff under control so that they can focus on the work that truly lights them up. But that doesn’t necessarily happen over time. And it’s a lot easier to actually find the time to do some of that stuff.
[00:05:38] When your business is a little bit more established and you’re moving. Scaling stage rather than in the growth stage. Unless of course you’ve got loads of time, right up front to get some of those systems and automations in process before you even open the doors. So about monetizing your passions, right?
[00:05:56] When it comes to starting the business, you can see already that there are a [00:06:00]couple of hurdles that you might need to get over. And there are a couple of reasons that you might want to actually reconsider it. Another one that springs to mind that I talk about with a lot of my clients, particularly those who are creative is that when we monetize our passions or when we turn our hobbies or our interests into a business, we change our relationship with it.
[00:06:24] So rather than it being something that we do, because we enjoy, it becomes something that we have to do in order to make money and put food on the table. And with that shift often comes a lot of resentment. I have seen so many artists, so many people in the creative field who, you know, just absolutely loved what they did and they just were so desperate to have more time to be able to fulfill their creative passions and do all of the things that they really enjoyed. But as soon as they went full time in their craft, they found that there was so much [00:07:00] added pressure that was laid on that particular activity, that it started to become less and less and less enjoy.
[00:07:09] I think sometimes when we have a hobby, particularly when it is in a creative field or something like that, you know, we do it because of the fact that we have that creative drive. We do it because of the fact that we want to see how things pan out.
[00:07:24] But when you monetize your passions, particularly if you are in an artistic or creative world, often you’re actually not necessarily creating what you feel called to create, but you’re creating what the client wants. And I’ve seen this happen even in my own business where I think, ‘oh, wow. I’d love to deliver a topic on X, Y, and Z. But that’s not necessarily what my clients need’.
[00:07:52] And so I end up going down a different avenue and creating something else that I know that they need and that they’re going to find really valuable, [00:08:00] but maybe it’s just not something that lights me up as much. So that it has to be that balance between doing it for the love of it and kind of doing it because that’s what your customers or your clients need at the other end.
[00:08:15] This episode is brought to you by the Career Clarity Quest, my absolutely free, seven day program, which is designed to support you in getting so much clearer about your next steps. Find it at PopYourCareer.com/quest.
[00:08:34] Now, you might think that from everything that I’ve said so far, that I’m a little bit anti-business and I’m definitely not. I love business. I’m actually a rare kind of business owner that I love the business stuff. So when I talk about my business owner, clients, getting that business stuff under control so that they can focus on the work that truly lights [00:09:00] them up. Often that stuff is the work that truly lights me up.
[00:09:06] So it’s no surprise that I might go down a rabbit hole and end up working on a client’s business, automations or integrations or helping them set up email marketing or something like that. I get so much enjoyment out of it. What I will say to you is that I have been in business now, as you know, since 2015, and it’s been a really, really wild ride.
[00:09:31] There have been a lot of challenges and they continue to be a lot of challenges. And I can tell you that on more than one occasion, I have definitely thought about throwing in the towel. Now it might sound privileged. Maybe it sounds like I’m a little up myself. I don’t know. But one of the reasons that I am in business doing what I’m doing is because I feel.
[00:09:57] Like, this is what I was put [00:10:00] on this earth to do. I told you, right? It might sound a little bit self-interested. But I feel like my mission in life is to help others to do better and be better in their careers and businesses. So it doesn’t really make sense for me to do anything else.
[00:10:20] The other thing is I do absolutely love what I do, but I have to find that balance between the thrill that I get from being able to work my dream job and focus on the activities that I really want to focus on.
[00:10:35] And then, all of the challenges that come with business. There’s a whole lot of financial stuff. There’s a whole lot of risk. There’s stuff that comes along with being a leader and taking on team members. And even though I do have a team, I still have to wear lots and lots of different hats. And can I tell you I’ve got what you would call a fat head. I don’t [00:11:00] think there’s a polite way of saying it, but my head wasn’t made for hats. So it’s a little awkward when there are so many different hats from me to wear in my business. I hope this episode’s given you a little bit of food for thought. I definitely didn’t record this because I wanted to influence you either way.
[00:11:20] I didn’t want to tell you that you should go out and follow your bliss and monetize all of your passions and have a great time. I think there’s enough of that kind of rubish on the internet already. I also don’t want to say to you that you shouldn’t go out and, and start a business and do the things that you enjoy.
[00:11:37] What I would say is spend some time really thinking about what it is that you want to do. Are you starting a business because of the fact that you want to start a business and be your own boss and make money? Or are you starting a business because you are really, really passionate about something and you feel compelled to share it with the world?
[00:11:55] I’d also consider what financial responsibilities you have. [00:12:00] Now I’ve shared previously in other platforms that I do have a lot of privilege and when it came time for me to leave my full-time job and go into my business full-time I was very well supported. So I’ve talked very briefly about my husband before his name is Mac and he is an IT contractor.
[00:12:20] He is also the most incredibly supportive, wonderful, caring, loving, intelligent and just insanely clever man. I am very, very, very lucky to have him in my life and I absolutely adore him. And to be honest, I will never ever get over the gratitude that I have for him because of the fact that he is the one that has allowed me to do this.
[00:12:53] He basically said, you want to do this thing? You want to see if it’ll work? Go. I’ll support [00:13:00] you. And with that, I was able to leave my full-time job, going to business full-time and know that we were not going to starve and we were not going to have trouble paying our bills. Now, I don’t tell you this because I want to brag about the fact that I have the most amazing husband around.
[00:13:19] I just tell you, because I want you to be realistic. There are a lot of stories of people out there on the internet who are taking the leap and they’re quitting their full-time jobs and they’re going into business. But I know that a lot of them have seamless support systems that I do. And I know that perhaps they’re not being as transparent about it as they could. And unfortunately, I think that’s can be quite detrimental to people who aren’t getting the full story.
[00:13:44] Side hustling is a really great way to get started. If you do decide that you want to start your business. I side hustled for three years and I would always recommend it. I think it’s such a great way to be able to test the waters and just see what’s out there [00:14:00] and see whether you do actually enjoy being in business after all.
[00:14:03] There are very minimal risks. There are loads and loads of opportunities. And it does mean that you have a little bit more control over how quickly or how slowly things start to happen. The beauty is as well that if you do have a flexible workplace and they are open to people working part-time then as your business grows, if you find that you need a little bit more time, then maybe you can start to cut your hours in your day job.
[00:14:29] That’s how I did it. And it worked really, really well for me. And I know that it also works really, really for a lot of my other clients. I think this whole concept of side hustling that has become more and more popular does give you that chance to actually, just try it, you know, try to monetize your passions and see what starts to come from it, but just be careful and just notice if you do sense any of that resentment coming up, because if you are beginning to resent your craft and you are not [00:15:00] enjoying it as much, because you feel like there is pressure or expectation around it, then maybe it’s not the right move for you. Or maybe it’s time to work on your money mindset and that my friend is a totally different episode for another day.
[00:15:18] As I said, I hope this has given you some food for thought. I hope it’s shared some of my ideas, both on the business side of monetizing your passions and on the idea of actually keeping your hobbies as hobbies. I would really love though to hear what you think about it? Have you already monetized your passions? How did it go? Is this something that you’ve been thinking about? And if so, what’s holding you back, jump over onto social media and start a conversation with me. You can find me everywhere at Pop Your Career. I would absolutely love to hear from you.
[00:15:53] And until our next episode, I hope that you take it easy. And I look forward to seeing you again very, very [00:16:00] soon. Bye-bye now.
[00:16:01] Thanks so much for listening to the Pop Your Career podcast. I hope that you’ve enjoyed today’s tips and that you found value in what I’ve shared with you. If you like your career advice quick and entertaining, I would love for you to subscribe. Also leave me a rating and a review. If you want to continue the conversation, come and join me over on social media. You can find me everywhere at Pop Your Career. I’ll see you soon.
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