Re:Turning My Passion/Hobby into a Business Made Me Hate It
by bawolff on Tuesday July 04, 2023 @02:59PM
(#36591157)
I dont really think you are disagreeing with each other. The first poster is saying find a niche where you can stand out. I'd agree with that - never fight a superior adversary on ther own turf. But it doesn't mean totally throwing market concerns to the wind.
Re:Turning My Passion/Hobby into a Business Made Me Hate It
by lisasays on Tuesday July 04, 2023 @03:07PM
(#36591262)
If you want to make a business, you must make what the market wants. Making your own stuff and trying to make money from it is possible, but it's no longer a business.
Right, we get it - but it's not binary, and in turns out there's considerable room for nuance. In fact some of the happiest and most genuinely successful people I know got there from figuring out how to navigate this valley, and knowing when to trust their gut.
It also has a lot to do with taste -- specifically for stuff that is awesome and cool, but just a bit below the radar, as it were.
Re:Turning My Passion/Hobby into a Business Made Me Hate It
by wvenable on Tuesday July 04, 2023 @03:34PM
(#36591566)
I wonder if there's a distinction between doing what you love as work and doing what you love as hobby. I love software development and I especially love software development as work. I actually prefer to solve other people's problems than my own.
Perhaps some of this discussion is just talking at cross-purposes because the fundamental thing that we're discussing is not the same.
Re:Turning My Passion/Hobby into a Business Made Me Hate It
by kelnos on Tuesday July 04, 2023 @04:27PM
(#36592105)
But you don't know what the market wants. I would think that a primary goal of turning a hobby into a business is to answer the question, "is my hobby something the market wants?"
And sure, the answer might be a resounding "no", but you can change your focus once you figure that out. And that change in focus might make you hate it, which sucks.
Re:Turning My Passion/Hobby into a Business Made Me Hate It
by quickthrower2 on Tuesday July 04, 2023 @04:54PM
(#36592396)
You doing your hobby is never what the market wants. There might be a 10% intersection? Unless your hobby is business itself or you change what you want to what you actually need to do to make money.
If you want to make a business, you must make what the market wants. Making your own stuff and trying to make money from it is possible, but it's no longer a business.
I'm a professional software developer and a hobbyist software developer and while I could have sold some of my hobby software I explicitly choose not to. The reason is that selling something immediately creates responsibilities that, for my hobby, I just don't want to have. A business is something of it's own beast.