The Little World

With the advent of the inexpensive colour copier and the inkjet printer, it should be easy for a modern hobbyist to make money. He would be wise to choose where he tries to pass it, however, and not go back to the same shop twice. Producing bills in denominations of $ 7.00 and $ 13.50 may seem to be a good way to get in where the government has gone slack, but tends to make you nervous if people look closely at them.

And if you are going to print your own money, resist the temptation to replace the heads on the bills with Micky Mouse. The Australian Treasury may be slow to take umbrage but Disney has some fierce lawyers!

No, making money with your hobby is what we’re talking about. Lots of people have tried it and many have succeeded in making enough to retyre on. They have not ended up with enough cash to quit work, but they have been able to buy a new tyre for their bicycle…

And that’s the thing. If you are doing something that you would pay money for, and think that others would do the same, ask yourself whether they are as much of a sucker as you. Sometimes this is so, in which case you make whatever it is, advertise it, and ship it off to them. If you figure up your costs and freight accurately, and you are not eaten up by people complaining about the quality of the goods, you may have a viable hobby business.

I know – I made leather goods for several years for re-enactors and ended up with money in hand for it. If I figured my time to do it, it was a dead loss…but my time was hobby time and the doing of what I did was rewarding as well. When it became a fatigue, I found another person who could do the tasks and gifted the business to him.

And there is the deal – when you are doing something for money, the return has to be enough money to compensate you for the work. Not just barely return costs or buy you a drink – it must actually be a paying proposition. So few hobby activities actually achieve this level of success.

And when they do…well, you take time out from doing them to relax and find a new hobby…