20 July 2020

5 Easy Tips To Turn Your Hobby Into A Business

We’ve seen many Indigenous businesses take over our social media feeds and show us what they’re made of. From weavers and sand artists to jewellery makers. The bar has been set! As we’ve seen this all unfold, many of their stories have inspired us to take the leap of turning our passion into a business! If you’re thinking about taking that next step, here are a couple of tips that can help you jump start your business!

Set your goals

One the most basic questions you should ask yourself before you begin your business journey is “what is my goal?” Where do you see this business going? Do you just want to do this as a side gig? Or are you planning to quit your day job and make this a full-time business? Once you know your goal, you can write a plan and set your plan in motion – which leads us into our next tip!

​​​​​​​Write a business plan

If you’re not a planner, writing out your goals and how you can achieve this, can be a tedious task. But trust us when we say that it’s all worth it! Having a plan will give you a solid understanding of how you’ll make an income, who your competition is, how you’ll get your product/service out there and when you can realistically achieve this. Having a plan can set you up for success before you even sell any products. Your plan can be one page, or twenty pages. It doesn’t need to be a huge plan in order to set you up for success. Start writing anything down that inspires you and keeps you on track!

​​​​​​​Change your mindset

It can be really hard to switch your mindset from something that you do for leisure and fun to something that pays your bills and keeps you afloat. Treat this as a job. Give yourselves deadlines, create schedules, do whatever you would do if you were working for someone else. If you’re inspired to do this, change your mindset and give it a go!

​​​​​​​Get your first customer

Selling your first product is one of the most amazing feelings, even if you don’t earn a profit. The fact that you’ve created a product and someone has bought this off you is an achievement in itself. It can give you a sense of great achievement and will push you to achieve bigger and better goals. Get that first win on the table and watch how it inspires you to do more.

​​​​​​​Use your time wisely

Starting any business is hard and it can be particularly hard if you’ve never worked for yourself before. The responsibility to stick to deadlines and create a quality product is solely on you as a business owner. This is what makes it extremely important to be self-disciplined and use your time wisely. Time is one of our most precious resources that we all can utilise and profit from, if used wisely. Create a schedule, use your phone to set timelines and create alarms – however you do it, maximise your time to help you achieve your goals.

If you would like to turn your hobby or passion into a business, get in touch with the Yarpa team today. Want to take the leap? Join us for our online Intro to business workshop, designed for Indigenous people that are interested in turning their hobby into a business.