Your hobby - Your freelance career

Many of us have hobbies that are constructive in that they teach us new things, and occupy our time constructively. What we do not know is that these hobbies are also latent careers in the making. Here, we talk about how easy it is to make your hobby into your new freelancing career.

Got job problems? Or maybe you're thinking of getting into freelancing? Well, don't hesitate. Take out those old home-videos, dust them up and put them in the VCR. Or dust off the journals, and have a read through. Or go through your old coin collection. Or dig out that camera and get snapping. For most of us, freelancing is doing what we do best and making money out of it. I've always kept a journal, so it makes sense that I would become a freelance writer, wouldn't it? Yes. I'm making my hobby pay for me.

Hobbies that you have show your latent talents. You wouldn't be painting as a hobby if you had no idea of how brush strokes work together. You wouldn't make writing into your hobby if you couldn't string two words together. So why not take that hobby you love and make it into a fulfilling career?

Getting into a freelance career isn't as easy as most people think. You need to have a strong base to get started. Only professionals get outsourced projects, so you have to work hard to become a professional in your field. If your hobby is taking wildlife photography, you have to be an expert in judging different types of cameras, lenses, outdoor lighting and so on and so forth. As your hobby, you're doing it for yourself, so you might not be having very exacting standards.

However, if you're planning to make your hobby into your career, you'll have to work a lot harder and be a lot harder on yourself to achieve perfection, or come as close to perfection as you possibly can. Most freelancers have a repertoire of tricks that they use to make their work stand out. As a hobby, you'll probably have learnt quite a few of these tricks yourself, so you're not starting out from scratch.

Moreover, having a decent hobby that you can turn into your career gives you one big advantage: You already have a portfolio. In business terms, this means that you're no longer a newbie and can command higher rates than a newcomer to the field. Good luck with turning your hobby into your freelancing career.