At some point, all of us dream about turning our passion into profit, but if you’re ready to take the first step toward making that dream a reality, this guide is for you.
There’s nothing I love more than finding new ways to make money doing the things I love, and I’ve spent years experimenting with all kinds of passion-based side hustles.
Below, I’ll draw on this experience to show you the exact steps you need to take to turn your passion into a viable business enterprise.
8 Steps to Turn Your Passion Into Profit
1. Don’t Give Up the Day Job (Yet)
Even if the stress and drudgery of the 9-5 are the whole reason you’re looking to transition into a passion-based business in the first place, now isn’t the time to take a leap of faith and give up the security of your day job.
The truth is that few businesses are an overnight success, no matter how passionate, talented, and committed the people behind them may be.
In the early days, turning your passion into profit often takes time and patience. Many people start a business in search of financial freedom, but that doesn’t happen overnight.
Having the cash flow to pay your personal bills is critical to your success, so unless you have six months to a year’s worth of savings to fall back on, keeping that day job means you spend less time worrying about paying the bills and more time growing your business.
Related: 10 reasons why you should start a side business
2. Explore the Money Making Potential of Your Passion
Ultimately, there are five main ways to use your talent and knowledge to make money.
A. Delivering Services
I’ve always been passionate about writing, so it made sense to start a freelance content writing business, making money by creating everything from blog posts and landing page copy to ebooks and video scripts.
Depending on what you’re passionate about, you could do the same with your skills.
For example, if you’re passionate about cooking, you might consider starting a catering business on the side or offering your services as a personal chef.
If it’s music, selling in-house entertainment services to bars, restaurants, and similar locations could be an effective business strategy.
B. Selling Products
If your passion involves making things, then selling them is a no-brainer.
For arts and crafts, start selling on Etsy and at local art fairs.
If you love growing your own fruit and vegetables, baking, or creating homemade treats like chocolates or oils, start booking tents at local farmers’ markets and sell them via an eCommerce store such as Shopify.
C. Creating Content
Becoming a content creator is a popular option for many would-be entrepreneurs.
This is partly because, even though competition can be stiff, there’s a low barrier to entry for getting started.
With all the tools you need readily available online, you could stop reading this now and get right into starting a blog or newsletter, creating YouTube videos, or launching a podcast.
All of the tools are readily available online, and many of them are free or at least low-cost.
Of course, it’s precisely because it’s so easy to get started that competition can be fierce.
As such, you’ll need a unique take or an established reputation in your niche to stand a decent chance of success.
D. Teaching and Creating Courses
With sites like Teachable, you can create and sell your own online courses, while Skillshare allows you to sell video classes on an almost never-ending list of subjects.
Elsewhere, you could use an online platform such as SuperProf to provide online tutoring on everything from oil painting to public speaking, chess to computer science, and more.
Don’t neglect those offline teaching opportunities, either. You can always offer your services as a private tutor or collaborate with a community space to offer classes.
E. Consulting
Finally, if you have a lot of experience and expertise in your niche, you could make a good income as a consultant.
This is where you take what you know and use it to provide advice and guidance to businesses in your industry, providing them with bespoke solutions to the problems and challenges they face.
See our guide to starting a consulting side business for tips on how to get started.
Related: See our Business Idea Library with over 300 types of businesses
3. Set Time Aside to Work on Your Passion Project
Since you’ll likely be keeping your current full-time position for the time being, you’ll need to set regular time aside to get your new venture off the ground.
The best way to do this is to consider what free time you have in your schedule and when you’re most likely to be productive.
If you read my beginner’s guide to starting a side business, you may recall how I make it a habit to set an hour or two aside to work on my passion projects before clocking in at the day job.
However, if you’re not exactly a morning person, evenings or weekends may be a better option for you.
4. Visualize Your End Goal
By now, you should have a good idea of what kind of passion business you want to run and when you’re going to work on it.
The next question is, what do you want to achieve from all this?
Are you looking to make a complete career change and do this full-time?
Save enough for retirement?
Whatever it is, define the end goal and spend some time thinking about what that would look like.
Here, you might want to do a written visualization exercise where you describe in detail what your life would be like when you’ve achieved the main goal for your passion project.
To show you what this might look like, here’s a brief example for someone passionate about fitness.
“It is X years since I started my side business as a fitness coach. I now have X regular clients and make $X per month, meaning I can finally hand in my notice at my job. I now have greater career satisfaction and a lifestyle that allows me to do what I love on my own terms and my own schedule.”
5. Set Milestones and Targets
The next step to getting your big project off the ground is to take that large, overarching goal you just set and break it down into manageable chunks by setting milestones.
Let’s say you gave yourself three years to leave your job and pursue your passion full-time.
So, where would you need to be in two and a half years to make that happen?
How about two years?
This time next year?
In six months?
By the end of this month?
By the end of this week?
Breaking your larger goal into actionable chunks like this can make the whole thing seem more achievable.
You don’t have to worry right now about how you’re going to get enough clients to quit your job. You only have to worry about hitting the small milestone you set for this week, and then this month, and so on.
6. Create a Business Plan
So, you know where you’re going, and you even know what you need to get there. The next step is to create a business plan where you figure out how you’re going to make it all happen.
Here are a few things to consider:
1. Your Unique Selling Point
What do you have to offer that your competitors don’t?
A flare for delivering world-class customer service?
More experience or expertise?
More sustainable products?
This Unique Selling Point (USP) is what will help you stand out and grow your clientele base.
2. Your Weaknesses
Your USP defines your strengths. Now it’s time to think about what you’re not so good at.
If administrative tasks, like bookkeeping and invoicing, are going to give you a headache, would outsourcing those tasks to someone else be a better way to manage your passion business? There are only so many hours in the day, and it’s important for a small business owner to focus your time and energy on the best things you can do.
3. Your Income and Expenses
What tools and equipment do you need to start your new venture?
How much is that going to cost you?
How much will you need to charge for your products or services to have a profitable business?
If you only focus on one part of your business plan, answering these key financial questions should be it, as they’ll prove invaluable for ensuring your business doesn’t cost more than it earns.
For more in-depth advice, check out How to Write a Business Plan.
7. Focus on Your Marketing
With everything in place, it’s time to come up with an effective marketing strategy to capture people’s interest and convert them into customers.
That USP you defined in your business plan will help you come up with an overall marketing message that demonstrates what you offer and why people should buy it from you.
You can then begin to spread this message by developing a strong online presence, networking, and advertising.
8. Analyze What’s Working and What Isn’t
Your work isn’t done once your marketing takes effect and your inbox starts filling up with orders and bookings.
By paying attention to what’s working and what isn’t, you can ensure that the limited time you have to spend on your passion business is invested in a more significant way.
Are you selling Product A by the truckload but can’t seem to give Product B away?
Are you making good money at art fairs but hardly anything from Etsy?
If so, take it as a sign that this is where you should be focusing your efforts.
After all, the more time you waste on products, services, or strategies that aren’t making you money, the longer it’s going to take you to achieve that big goal of yours.
8 Steps to Turn Your Passion into Profit: Final Thoughts
If you’ve followed the step-by-step guidance above, you’ve got all the knowledge you need to start turning your passion into profit.
To recap, you now know to:
Use your current salary as a safety net while starting your passion-based business.
Break big goals into smaller steps that are easier to manage
Create a business plan and marketing strategy
Fine-tune your approach by identifying what works and doing more of it.
With all that said, I’d like to leave you with one of the best pieces of advice I’ve ever received:
The most successful entrepreneurs never stop looking out for new money-making opportunities.
OK, so you may be determined to turn your passion for a business into a successful new career as an in-demand online business coach, but if the opportunities to start a podcast or write a book as well are there, seizing them can only help you realize your dreams in a much shorter amount of time.