Hobby Vs. Business

Timidity.

Might sound like a strange way to start off this post considering the title but bear with me.

Timidity. What makes the difference between someone who goes all in, balls to the wall and someone who puts the tip of their toe in, who will “try” and “see what happens”? Timidity. One has balls and courage while the other is timid and not going to get very far or get much accomplished.

Hobby Vs. Business

What’s the difference?

First things first.

Personally I have no time for hobbies. I’ve heard before when you start a blog you should expect to wait two years before you see any profit from it. That’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard. You should aim to profit from your blog from day one. Otherwise go and do something else. If your writing just for the sake of writing, because you want to “express yourself” and not because your creating value and helping others. Then your just mentally masturbating into space. Go home. Let the real players play.

A hobby is something you do “for fun”. For shits and giggles. Hobbies are non-consequential. They’re not going to change your life. They offer a nice distraction. Something you do to relax and “just let go”. And they are for the most part useless.

A business is different. A business is created to help other people, to solve a problem.

To create value.

And in doing so profiting from it. To be able to make money from solving the problems of others. To be able to dedicate yourself to helping others and making bank in the process. A pretty damn good deal. The more you help others the more you help yourself. Suddenly all those Bible verses start to make a bit of sense.

Beware the Advice of the Timid

I read a lot and so should you. I’ve noticed something particular in many non-business books written about a skill. We’ll use blogging as an example. They talk about building a blog and how they’ve had success but then pepper it with how long it took them, how hard it was, and how most blogs are profitable etc.

Now part of me thinks maybe they just suck but were able to keep at it enough to get lucky. Because look if your going to devote your time to something you better make sure it’s worth it. After all time is one of the two most precious assets that you have.

So when someone says it took them ten years to make their blog profitable then I conclude this person doesn’t know what the hell they are talking about. If it takes ten years to start making one grand a month off your blog then you should be doing something else.

Time is money.

This expands beyond blogging but into all business related fields. People start of timidly and end up going nowhere.

You need to start off like a lion on the hunt. You have to be ready to pull the trigger. To rev the throttle.

You have to have a killer instinct. You cannot be timid if you want to succeed. You cannot be timid if you want to see your hobby transform into a business. If you want to crush it in a year instead of ten. You need to make the most out of every moment of your life. Look at the ROI of what you are doing and don’t waste your time on things that have a low ROI. Like blogging for ten years before making your living off it.

The Difference

Alright so we went a little off track there. Now what is the number one thing that separates a hobby from a business. Simple…

Money.

The M word. Hobbies don’t generate real income, businesses do. Let’s use another example. Let’s say you spend three hours of your day working on your blog. Writing posts, researching, networking, maintenance, everything. Let says your smart and have had a product up on your blog since day one as well.

After one year you are making a couple hundred of bucks a month. So let’s say you spent five days a week putting in the three hours.

So 5 x 3 = 15.

Now you spent a year working on it so fifty two weeks.

So let’s do 52 x 15 = 780.

So seven hundred and eighty hours spent on your blog.

Now let’s say your making three hundred a month from your blog.

So we’ll divide the total time worked by twelve months

780/12 = 65

So your working sixty-five hours a month.

Now the money made divided by the time spent.

300/65 = 4.6

So you’re making 4.6 dollars an hour from your blog.

Now first year you may see something close to this. But if this becomes a trend.

Then something is wrong.

I don’t care what blogger A, B, C, or freaking Z says about this. That is a horrible ROI. McDonalds has a higher ROI! That’s right you would be better off flipping burgers.

Now I’m not saying this to be a downer. I’m saying it so you don’t waste your most valuable asset. Your time. I’m saying it you don’t end up thinking you have a business when in reality you have a hobby.

Money made is what separates hobbies from businesses.

Hobbies have an unacceptable ROI.

Businesses have an (at the very least) acceptable ROI.

Don’t waste your time, it is far too precious. If you going to do something then do it one hundred percent. Do it like a starving wolf zeroing in on a wounded doe. Do it to become a successful businessman not a broke hobbyist.

If you have any questions you would like to see answered in a future post send them to me at charlessledge001 (at) gmail (dot) com. If you found value in this post then I would encourage you to share this site with someone who may need it as well as check out my books here. I appreciate it. You can follow me on Twitter here.

-Charles Sledge

Charles Sledge