“Nancy, I’d really love to __________( paint, cook, sing, knit, do carpentry, make chocolate, brew beer, fill-in-the-blank), but I don’t know how to turn that passion into income.”
Sound familiar? It’s a common concern that I hear from many of my readers. Figuring out what you love to do is (relatively) easy. Building a viable business around that passion or hobby, especially when your goal is to create a lifestyle-friendly career, often proves more challenging.
But I’ve got a suggestion that might help make the process of going from idea-to-income a bit easier.
The next time you find yourself puzzling over how to generate income from your passions, search out the most successful entrepreneurs who are already doing what you’d like to do, study their websites and analyze their business models.
By doing so, you’ll discover proven models for monetizing your passions in the real world – and useful information about how to price your own services and products.
As you study their websites, ask yourself:
- What are their revenue streams? Is their income coming from selling informational products – or consulting services – or coaching – or speaking – or tutoring – or advertising – or videos – or crafts – or placement services – or retreats – or workshops or … (fill in the blank).
- Do they earn income from multiple income streams? For example, one person might make their living from a combination of selling informational products, coaching and an hourly tutoring service. Another might run five retreats a year, sell inspirational notecards on their site and teach a class at the local community college. And yet another might generate their income from advertising on their blog and a few corporate speaking engagements. Make note of the different combinations of products and services. Then, think about which options might work best for your situation.
- Who are their customers? Are they selling to individuals or to government agencies or to nonprofits or to corporations? Is their a specific niche market that they target?
- What is their pricing mix? How much do they charge for their different products and services?
- What groups do they belong to? Pay attention to the associations, conferences and industry groups they mention on their sites – they might be very useful to you as well.
Remember, when it comes to building a business, there will always be a learning curve and an ongoing process of experimentation as you work towards developing your own unique brand. But you can speed up the process by carefully observing the most successful leaders in your field, noticing their mix of products and services and copying the very best of what they have to offer.