Turned your hobby into a business?

[hqueen13]

I accidentally turned a "hobby" into a business. True story.
I knew when my ex and I split up that I wanted to live where I kept my horse. I also knew that the only way to find such an arrangement would be word of mouth. Well, word of mouth happened, and I called the contact that I got just to do some market research. I had no idea what the cost of renting a farmette type situation would be, so I wanted to have a budget in mind. I wasn't really prepared to move any time soon, knowing how expensive moving really is. Long story short, I loved the place, the price was SUPER reasonable for what he was offering AND the landlord told me that I could board horses to reduce my rent cost since the lease allowed for the use of a 6+ acre pasture and 7 stall barn.
So suddenly I found myself in the boarding business. I was grateful for all of the experience I had working on the farm that my ex and I lived on for 7 years, it really paid off. I was able to move forward (mostly) confidently, and with the help of a couple friends got myself set up. Those friends moved on, and I found my first "real" customers, and am now doing pretty well. It covers the majority of our rent and electric, plus supports my own horse. After a year (the anniversary was actually the beginning of this month) I finally feel like I have a real handle on how to run the business and the way that I want the business to support us (myself and my new boyfriend).
In addition to boarding 6 other horses we stumbled into building Hay Feeders for horses, which is a decent income for the effort now that we have a process and design that has come together fairly easily.
Finally, I farm sit and watch horses for people when they go out of town. I have done that for years, but now it is formally part of our business. And lastly, I am a distributor for a number of companies that sell natural products for both people and animals. I became a distributor not to make money but to be able to have access to the products at a reduced cost. I believe in the products, and use them (many daily), so sales isn't a concern, but an added bonus when I can share the products with others.

It finally clicked a number of months ago that I don't really want the business to make money, I want the business to support us and help us pay bills and do things that we would otherwise not be able to do. I could very easily go get a full time job and between the BF and I we could make enough money to cover the rent. But having the business enables me to have the freedom to explore other SS activities, grow my own food, and work on an organic farm down the road to learn more about that aspect of life, so that some day when we do move to our own property I'll have the skills and knowledge to be on my own. Having the business gives me the freedom and flexibility to accomplish a lot of things that I couldn't do if I had a full time job.

As an aside, I don't really plan to continue boarding as a "full" time prospect in the future. Boarding is a tough business, and dealing with clients all the time can be a real challenge. I plan to go to school for animal communication, and again, the fact that my schedule is so flexible will be helpful with my business. I do want to move out of this state at some point in the future, and being able to have my own animal communication business will allow me to move without any additional loss of business. So this is a great stepping stone for me.

 

[xoxocammyxoxo]

In February when we got our tax returns back I purchased 10,000 meal worms, putting about 5,000 aside for our breeding colony and to feed to our two bearded dragons. Before we did that we only had about 250 beetles producing. Now we've got a few thousand and it grows. We've already pulled out two clutches of beetle eggs and have thousands of little baby worms growing. Since then it's exploded and I've been able to sell off almost 20,000 meal worms since the middle of March. Besides me, there are two other meal worm breeders in the area, one of which works only with the reptile industry. So I get emails from people over an hour away. I really didn't expect it to get that popular and have had to start rethinking my program. We ordered more worms to add to the colony, to boost our production even more.

Right now what I sell has been more than paying for itself. In fact we've managed to expand from just meal worms, to super worms, dubia roaches and I'm researching places to buy red wigglers. I was completely caught off guard by the amount of people looking for them and the lack of people selling them. One lady who bought a couple thousand meal worms off me, told me that the only place she can find them is at Petco or Petsmart for twice what I offer or Walmart, freeze dried. That tells me that when I switch over to organic, I've got a little bit of room to play with the price to cover the switch some more. Although I'm hoping at that point I will have so many, and be selling so many that I can keep the prices the same and be fine.

Added note: I recently found out from someone buying worms from me, the other person who advertises on Craigslist seems to be out of worms often so even though he has ads up, he typically doesn't have worms. Oh well, his loss I guess.

 

[sumi]

I am slowly trying to make a baking business work. Right now I am just selling occasionally to people that my DH works with. I don't drive so I cannot get to the local Farmers Market in town. I have been thinking about an Etsy account but don't know if the fees would offset. I also sell (at DH's work) sweat bands for hardhats. Trying to get that going other places also. I also do other crafts I could sell. I don't like making the same things you see everywhere. I have no other income of my own, so I get supplies as we have funds to do so.

A few years ago I started baking and selling bread to a handful of regular customers. It was fun and the customers enjoyed it, but I found the profit margin was way too small for the amount of work I put in, so I stopped after a few weeks.

If you can find a way to get to a farmer's market that will help a lot. Maybe there is someone in the area that you can hitch a ride with?

 

[Denim Deb]

Do you have any construction companies or unions in the area where you might be able to sell the sweat bands?

 

[Denim Deb]

When I was doing pony rides, the minister at the church I was attending wanted me to do a ride for someone-for half price! He said they couldn't afford it otherwise. Well, if they couldn't afford it, that was their problem, not mine!

 

[sumi]

This is a thing I've encountered many times and it really annoys me. We had a few small businesses over the years, selling plants, antiques, you name it. People do NOT want to pay, or they make you ridiculous offers. But you won't see them squabble over prices at the supermarkets, no?

@cknmom Cakes is something I completely suck at, though I can bake about anything else lol

 

[Ewe Mama]

I have earned a bit of money from crocheting simple items (think dish clothes, scarves,baby sweaters, afghans) for our church craft shows. This year I am also trying my hand at simple Waldorf-type dolls, stuffed using wool from my own sheep. We shall see how it goes. I am not an expert, but I enjoy doing it and people seem to like and appreciate the things I make. Handiwork of any type seems to be a dying art in most areas where I have lived.

 

[sumi]

I love to bake and decorate cakes, all self taught. I don't care to eat cake much though. People think that the price is high but they don't consider the time it takes me to make it, the cost of energy(which I don't add into the price) and the fact that everything I make is from scratch- I don't buy cake mixes! I had some people say that they could get the same thing cheaper at Wal-mart. GO AHEAD.
Mine is bigger around and taller and better!

Glad to see I'm not the only one who doesn't like eating cake!

People have no idea the effort that goes into producing home baked goodies and crafts. I'd LOVE to see something at a Walmart or any other store that can match a home made product… There is NO comparison.

 

[sumi]

kind of hard to be proud of passing down a cheap ole walmart blanket to your loved ones. i know that we all have to watch our pennys but pride in material and workmanship mean a lot.

Well said!

 

[sumi]

I had someone ask me to make them a custom quilt. I designed it, did several hrs. of searching for the unique materials, figuring my cost, hrs of work, etc. Gave him the price and he said he'd just buy one at the store instead!

I made one custom quilt for someone, for her little girl's birthday. She thankfully didn't squabble over the price I quoted her (quote a bit, but nowhere near worth my time). The first ever quilt I made (gave it and the second one to my favourite charity), got auctioned off at some fancy fundraiser event. I was devastated when I learned how little it fetched. It took me about 5 months of hours daily to make it and considering how grand this event was, you'd have thought people wouldn't brought deeper pockets.