DON'T turn passion into profit
I once made $35 in one hour as a street musician. But only that one hour. (Image by Holger Schué)
Teaching music lessons is the perfect side gig!
You can spend a few hours on a Saturday morning or Tuesday afternoon, make some music, hang out with some adorable kids, and walk away with a hundred bucks or so. It’s a delightful hobby that you can get paid for.
On the other hand…teaching music lessons full time is a nightmare.
You’ll be working through dinner every night. If you have kids, you won’t see them — you won’t be home until they’re in bed.
You’ll be unemployed on school vacation weeks, and the summers are long and lean.
Plus, get ready to fight with your clients about your cancellation policy. You’ll need a strict one to make ends meet, but you’ll never be happy with it and neither will they.
I loved teaching music lessons, and I was so good at it. But by the time I was in my early thirties, I couldn’t do it full time anymore. I wanted a normal life and schedule. A decade of working weeknights and weekends was too much.
I believe a lot of opportunities are like this. Appealing in small doses, they lose their luster when we have to scale up. Hobbies that we were once passionate about become reluctant obligations, and profitable part-time gigs are no longer profitable when they’re stretched into full-time jobs.
Similarly, I’ve seen folks lay the weight of their entire existence upon one great idea, like the Grinch expecting his little dog to pull a giant sleigh to Whoville and back. The idea needs to be developed into a business in order to support you, no matter how much potential it seems to have.
Hence, we come back to the classic advice: “Don’t quit your day job.” But I don’t mean it in a snarky way. Keeping your full-time job protects your lucrative side gigs and prevents you from ruining passions that are better off as hobbies. It allows you to do creative work for fun, not to pay the bills. It gives you time to investigate exciting ideas without staking your life on them.
Some people gauge their self-worth by their ability to make a living as an artist or entrepreneur. To them, getting a job is an admission of failure. They believe that they need the pressure of having to make money in order to be successful. That was never my path. For me, the momentum that comes from having a steady income creates the freedom necessary for me to do my best work.
I don’t mind if there is less urgency when it comes to the new project — I’m happy to have steady meals and new shoes when I need them. If I can’t find time for the new project, then it’s not time for that new project. Not yet.
Getting into a new activity is like falling in love — no matter how much time you spend pursuing your passion, it’s never enough. That’s not a problem. The intensity of that desire is a fuel you can use to grow. The flame might actually burn brighter if you don’t give into the impulse to make a full-time go of it.
Some people, impatient and fed up with their jobs, might go all the way to the edge. They burn the ships and go for it, and six months later they’re a champion surfer, a professional graphic designer, or riding a bull in the rodeo. We love these success stories — but we don’t hear about the people that moved back in with mom and dad. If you’re young and can handle it, go for it. But there’s no shame in moderation if you have more to lose.
Whatever you wish to do, there is no right or wrong way, as long as it’s working for you. It’s not cowardly or small-minded to keep a hobby just for fun instead of turning it into a business, or to stick with a part-time gig instead of going full time. You get to choose how you want to grow. Have fun.
