Difference between a Business and a Hobby...
Updated: Oct 10, 2022
Do you know the difference between a business and a hobby?
The most basic defining difference between a business and a hobby is that a hobby is for recreation or enjoyment and not necessarily to make a profit. Businesses are focused on making a profit and while it can be enjoyable, the focus is profit, rather than fun.
During our 8,000 mile drive around the country after selling the business, I took tons of nature pictures. This led me to find a company, Photographer’s Edge, Inc, who sold unique “shell” cards. I could use my own photos to create distinctive greeting cards. I printed out the photos on our home color printer and made them into note cards.
I enjoyed writing notes showing beautiful nature pictures from our travels. Some people suggested that I turn this into a business. I wasn’t sure how profitable it would be, but maybe it would help with tax write-offs on travel and home office expenses. There are large companies who are profitable doing photo greeting cards; such as, Leanin’ Tree and Hallmark, who mass produce their cards.
A spiral-bound booklet idea I came up with was a 12-month photo booklet where people could keep track of family and friends’ birthdates. I designed and created it so each month had a corresponding nature picture on the left side of the open book. On the right side is one month at the top of the page, then many lines drawn down the page for writing birth dates and anniversaries. I sold these to realtors who gave them as thank you gifts at the closing. Once again, this was a hobby. I never saw it as a way to turn it into a profitable business.
Become the entrepreneur living inside you.