If your 9-5 job is simply a source of income and your real passion lies in what you do in your free time you're not alone. Here's how to make money from what you really love doing.
1) Tutor, coach or teach it
You can make serious cash if your hobby is a practical one; become a tutor and help others master the craft. Brilliant baker? Run workshops on how to make the perfect sponge. If photography is what you were born to do coach others on how to use their expensive cameras properly.
2) Be a brand advocate
As long as you know your stuff you ought to seek out businesses that make money from what you love doing and find out if they need expert speakers. Companies need people to spread the word and there are plenty of opportunities in the digital world. You don't need to be directly connected to the business to rave about it in public or appear in videos.
3) Write it, blog it, tweet it
It doesn't matter what you're passionate about: fitness, IT, fashion, music, films, health - you name it there will be someone who will want to read about it. Start your own blog and join the growing number of bloggers who are making money from building their audience and then charging businesses to advertise with you. Alternatively, get paid to write blogs for businesses that make money from your hobby, or magazines or websites that sell hobby-gear.
4) Sell your skill
Investigate whether people will pay you decent money to share your talents and interests. If you're a keen singer, entertaining at weddings, events or even pubs could be an option. If you're an expert on the outdoors run workshops for wannabe Bear Grylls; if you love to craft then set up a shop online or get on eBay. If it's something you need to be qualified to do see whether it's worth training up in your spare time.
5) Write a business plan
It doesn't need to be more than one page of A4 and it's well worth doing otherwise you could be turning a hobby into hassle for little benefit. Here's how:
•Define your goals and vision - this is your overall mission statement
•Investigate supply and demand - if no one wants what you have to offer then it's back to the drawing board. Equally you need to know if the market is already saturated.
•Write down what products or services you are going to offer - this is your company description
•How you are going to deliver what you're selling - this is your operational plan
•Write down your plan to attract customers - this is your marketing plan
•Write down how much you will spend producing what you're going to sell and how much you expect to earn - this is your financial plan; getting it right is essential, here's how
•Include a list of competitors, they're pricing and what they do you like/dislike - that's your competition analysis
•Include timings of when you are going to get things done by - this is your timeline
•Finally write a list of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats - this is called your SWOT analysis.
Get this right and you could set yourself up a successful career doing what you love. Good luck.