Passion and Money

    

     Some hobbies are really expensive. I think of a friend who paints and when she restocks, it is nothing to drop $12 or more on a tube of paint. The canvass are pretty expensive as well. She has not sold any of her art, other than at some garage sales and then admittedly, she knows someone probably just painted over and reused her canvas. Still, it gives her pleasure and she seems to complete about six or so a year, working on her pieces in fits and starts. My friend J, who has always liked taking pictures, spent the last six years or so honing her skills, learning new techniques, and  three years ago started doing some sittings for payment. By this point, she had to have over $10,000 invested in her hobby. She expanded a year later with formal bookings, on a very part time basis, but was running out of space to store her new props and scenery she was starting to accumulate. Last year, while not a full time photographer yet, she took a leap and rented studio and office space. She does bookings 1-3 times a week at night, and a few on weekends around her family's schedule and her 3/4 time job. Things seem to be working well.

     I read about others that have yard and garage sale hobbies then turn significant profits through reselling. If you have a keen eye for the good stuff and enjoy the hunt, what a great passion to nurture to also make money. Same with the upcycle furniture trends. Our shop in town is booming. The owner started  repurposing old furniture for her own use. She moved to being a weekend seller and has since grown her business into two shops, and a host of other upcyclers that work through her, creating beautiful new home furnishings and décor out of sometimes seemingly worthless cast offs.

     I am fascinated by bloggers, vloggers, and Instagrammers that have essentially made a lucrative business out of tapping into a community of like minded folks through words, video, or pictures. They've found that sweet spot, perhaps by dumb luck, where their passion intersected with actually earning a paycheck. I'm not striving to make a new career, but learning how they did might give me a few tips. 

     My only real passion I have is writing. I have other things I like to do, but I can get caught up for hours clicking away here on the computer. Not that much of it  has made it's way for anyone to see other than blog readers. I know I am not a good writer, average at best. I am not up to date on current writing trends, themes, or style. Unedited, I have so many grammar and typos, my rambling is elementary at best, and even with a second and third review, errors jump out. This space though has been a wonderful gift to me, and I'm not talking about the cool $7-$10 a month in Adesnse revenue. 

     I've played around with a few other formats and have a couple drafts of new blogs I'm noodling. You're all probably sick to death of my prattling on about my upcoming empty nesting. I can't help it though as it occupies so much of my head space these days. I started a shell  on a whole blog about empty nesting. Maybe there is a niche of others that would want to bond over my experience?  Maybe I'll find a niche. Until then, thank you all for reading what I do put out, my hapless attempt to manage my life.