Transform Your Creativity Into a Business
Seven years ago, my job and career path felt very blah. I was happy to finally have a full time job after spending years searching for one after college. But the honeymoon phase was over. I was getting bored and antsy to try something new. My first impulse was to quit. I didn’t want to quit on a whim since it took so long to find this job.
Instead I decided to engage my brain and find a creative outlet or project. As a researcher and endlessly curious person I love learning about new topics and diving deeper into old ones. I decided to dive into the world of graphic design which lead me to web design and becoming a Squarespace web designer. Here are the steps I took to transform my creative hobby into a business.
Find a creative project or outlet
If you have a creative passion you loved doing but stopped because life got in the way or you just didn't have the free time anymore make some time to revisit it. Even if it doesn’t lead to a business or making money if it brings you joy that’s a worthwhile cause.
Try the hobby you always wanted to. When learning graphic design for the first time I'd always had interest in the design world but never fully commit to trying it out. I was waiting for permission, from who I couldn’t say, before I dipped my toe in.
The only thing holding me back was a false belief. I thought to do graphic design you needed to know how to draw. Thankfully for me this wasn’t necessary for the projects I wanted to do.
If you have no idea where to start the good thing is you can learn almost anything online. Which means if you're ready for a career pivot or want to pursue a new creative hobby you can find tons of places to start online.
Here comes the fun part! Learn, experiment and find your community online through Meetup. The most important thing is to find something you enjoy.
How do I find a creative hobby and how do I find one that makes money?
I understand this question but I think it’s the wrong one when starting out. Try to find a skill or hobby that you really enjoy doing before thinking about monetizing.
I didn’t even consider that learning design skills meant I could become some sort of designer in the future. This was a visual medium that always intrigued me.
My first experimenting with web design was creating a website for myself. I created my first website simply because I wanted to see if I could and learn something in the process.
Using Squarespace I created Kristen Morris Writes a blog turned portfolio and started falling in love with web design in the process.
If I never took that tiny step outside my comfort zone to try out graphic design I might not be a Squarespace web designer today!
I had this revelation the other day on a podcast I was on recently. My advice is to pursue any creative hobby or skill that interests you. It may completely change your career or life.
Try the ikigai test
Ikigai is a Japanese word which roughly translates to thing that you live for or reason for being. There’s a great breakdown of the 4 facets in this video from The Futur: How To Find Your Purpose
You want to find the intersection of these 4 key factors for you:
Something you love doing
Something you’ll get paid for
Something that the world needs
Something that you are good at
The problem that comes up is people having cross over between what you love doing and what you are good at without having the other two components.
Since we’re still currently dealing with capitalism, if you’re in America or any other capitalist paradise, you’ll also need to find a skill that the world needs and that people will pay you for. Even if you can’t find the perfect skill to cover these 4 components you can work a full time job while reserving your creative hobby for your free time.
If you're a creative entrepreneur or business owner who wants more business education The Futur Youtube channel is a super valuable resource.
Do market research
So you’ve learned a skill and it hits your ikigai sweet spot. Now what? Is there a demand for your skill or hobby? Even though learning any skill is valuable other people might not be willing to pay for your expertise.
Make sure there is a demand and people who are willing to pay you for your services. Otherwise when you launch or open up shop you might hear crickets. I talked all about doing market research for your business and as the secret to create awesome copy. These websites, SEO and keyword resources will work for this too.
Answer the Public is a great one for finding out what questions your potential clients are searching for and how your content can answer them. I’m always surprised, in a good way, when I find new keywords and questions.
SpyFu is a bit more advanced if you want to take a deeper dive into your competition. Some of the features are behind a paywall but you can still get really valuable insight with the data available for free.
Start freelancing before going full time
Another way to find out if there's demand for your skill is to check out some freelancing platforms. This way you can play around with some projects before jumping into working full time in this new niche.
The advantage to this is being able to try out your creative passion as a job without fully committing. This way if you find out you hate it you can stop. No full time commitment unless you like it!
Upwork and Fiverr are popular sites but there might be more specific platforms for your specific industry or niche. One platform that is still a bit under the radar, as of right now, is Togetherr which was created by Fiverr. It’s for design projects with higher budgets and for design agencies and studios.
You can start out finding clients and projects on these platforms or just use them for further market research. Searching to see what people are hiring for and for their budgets can help you when freelancing or starting your own business on or off these platforms.
Final disclaimer for the creatives or creative entrepreneurs
I wanted to add a final disclaimer to this post. This is not me recommending you to monetize all your hobbies! For example if you love doing crochet but are stressed out by the idea of monetizing it and starting a business- don't do it!
I started creating collages in high school from fashion magazines to hang as posters on my baby blue bedroom walls. If there's a way to make money out of them I haven't heard of it, yet, and I'm not interested. This creative outlet is a way for me to relieve stress not add more to my life.
If you're thinking of creating a business out of one of your creative hobbies or passions I hope this post was helpful. These small steps can add up to something big over time so take that small leap outside your comfort zone.
Check out more Redesignia blog posts if web design is one of your creative interests and look at my packages if you’re ready to elevate your site with my Squarespace web design services.
