How to turn your hobby into your career

HOW TO TURN YOUR HOBBY INTO YOUR CAREER

LÀM THẾ NÀO ĐỂ BIẾN SỞ THÍCH THÀNH SỰ NGHIỆP

It's been said that if you choose a job you love, you'll never work a day in your life. While this might be overstating things, it is true that you can find many ways to turn your hobby into a career. 

*overstating = nói quá, cường điệu, phóng đại

Người ta thường nói rằng nếu bạn chọn một nghề mà bạn yêu thích, bạn sẽ chẳng bao giờ phải làm một ngày nào trong đời. Điều này nghe có vẻ cường điệu, nhưng đúng là bạn có thể tìm được nhiều cách để biến sở thích thành một sự nghiệp.

First, make sure you have some experience in the hobby field. Evaluate your options for transitioning to a hobby-centric career. Cut down on your spending so have you a financial cushion to fall back on before making a leap into your new career. Make sure you have all bases covered with a sound business plan. Then, gradually spend more time on your new career and less time on your current career.

Trước hết, hãy đảm bảo là bạn có một chút kinh nghiệm trong lĩnh vực của sở thích này. Đánh giá những lựa chọn của bạn khi chuyển sang một sự-nghiệp-lấy-sở-thích-làm-trọng-tâm.

centric = (thuộc) chỗ chính giữa, (thuộc) trung tâm; ở giữa

cut down on = cắt giảm

cushion ['ku∫n] = làm nhẹ bớt, làm yếu đi, cái đệm

fall back on = rút lui

leap = nhảy qua, (nghĩa bóng) sự biến đổi thình lình

sound = đầy đủ và hoàn chỉnh; hoàn toàn, đúng đắn, có cơ sở

Method 1: Defining your goals
1. Choose a hobby you're passionate about.
If you have more than one hobby, you will have a choice of which one you turn into a career. Think about which hobby really animates and excites you. Pursue a path to professionalism in that hobby.
- For instance, suppose you have several hobbies such as stamp collecting, carving wooden figurines, and building model rockets. Identify your favourite hobby by making a set of sentences in the form of "I like [one of your hobbies], but I like [another hobby you prefer over the first hobby] more". Go through your entire set of hobbies using this "hobby playoff" system, pitting each against the others until you've identified the hobby which most excites you.
- Popular hobbies that could become careers include musician, writer, actor and artist.
- Technical hobbies that could become careers include ham radio operator, TV repair technician, and computer repair specialist.

carve = khắc, tạc, chạm, đục
figurines /ˌfɪɡ.əˈriːn/ = bức tượng nhỏ
ham radio operator = amateur radio operator = nhà điều hành đài phát thanh nghiệp dư

2. Obtain some expertise.
Even if you're passionate about your hobby, sometimes you need special training to ensure you can meet your full potential when you make that hobby your career. This special training depends on what sort of hobby you're interested in.
- If you're interested in music, for instance, it might simply be an internship or apprenticeship at a record label.
- If your hobby is making art, you might to take some art classes at a local art institute or university to refine your craft.
 - If your hobby is rebuilding motorcycles, you might need to take a few classes at a technical or trade school to learn more about mechanics.
- On the other hand, maybe all you need to do is spend more time with friends and colleagues who are also interested in the trade in order to get some pointers and feed back on how to perfect certain techniques or trade secrets within your hobby.

apprenticeship [ə'prentis∫ip] = sự học việc, thời gian học việc
refine /rɪˈfaɪn/ = tinh chế, cải tiến, trau chuốt
craft = nghề, nghề thủ công
mechanics /məˈkæn·ɪks/ = cơ học
pointer = lời khuyên, lời gợi ý
perfect = thành thạo
trade = nghề, nghề nghiệp

3. Consider your priorities. Turning your hobby into a career can be a rewarding experience. But the transition also means that you’ll be losing opportunities for advancement in your current career (if you have one). It also means that you won’t be able to turn to that hobby in order to relax or unwind, because it will be your job. Finally, a new hobby-based career might mean a decline in your income, and might not be appropriate if you have significant financial obligations.
Keep your expectations low. Even if you head into your new career with lots of optimism and passion, it might not be as great as it first seems. You might struggle for years to get your new operation off the ground. Prepare for long hours and six or seven-day workweeks.
If your career switch doesn’t work out, don’t be afraid to give up and go back to what you did before (or something else entirely). There is no shame in admitting your career switch didn’t work out.

4
Create a budget. Cut your spending before you make the leap. By saving money you’ll be better equipped to make up for potential shortfalls you might face as you transition your hobby into a career. Cutting down on spending will also give you a sense of what kind of lifestyle adjustments you might need to get used to when switching from one career to another.
If you don’t feel like you will be able to live comfortably at your new income level, think about ways to either streamline your work process, or find another hobby you could turn into a career.

Method 2 Exploring Career Options

1 Create products that promote or enable your hobby. For instance, if you love reading, you could create a line of T-shirts that read “I love reading” or “Books are cool.” If you love music, create a special rack to help organize your LPs better. Since you’re already an enthusiast, you should already have some idea as to what sorts of products other hobbyists would be interested in (and which they wouldn’t be interested in).

Talk to friends who share your hobby and bounce ideas off of them to see if they and/or others they know would be interested in your product idea.

For instance, if reading is a hobby of yours, you might ask a fellow hobbyist, “Would you be interested in a shirt that reads ‘Books are cool’? Do you think anyone else who shares our hobby would be interested in such a product?”

2

Help others in your hobby learn the business. If your previous or current career involved doing business – accounting, marketing, or some related field – you could use that experience to help others who are also pursuing a career in your hobby to run their own business more effectively. Or, instead of teaching them how to do it themselves, you could offer your services to someone working within your hobby field who is looking for an accountant, communications specialist, or a related professional position. In this way, you could make a living by consulting in your hobby-field.

For instance, if you are a professional event planner, you could approach an up-and-coming artist and offer to help them host a gallery of their work.

If you own a delivery service and your hobby is baking, you could offer to deliver cupcakes or other baked goods for a local bakery.

If you are a graphic designer but you love playing music, you could shop your artistic talents to bands you love and offer to draft album art or fliers for their shows.

3
Write or speak about your hobby. If you have a lot of experience and information about your hobby, you may have arrived at some deep truths that others might benefit from understanding. For example, if your hobby is repair old cars, you might be able to write or speak in a compelling way about the virtues of patience, or how repairing cars taught you to consider multiple possibilities when trying to solve a problem. Others, even those who have no interest in car repair in itself, might be interested in hearing how you came to these realizations and think about how they could incorporate your insights into their own lives.
One low-cost way to reach a large audience for your speaking is to create videos and post them online to a platform like Vimeo or YouTube.
In addition, you might be able to write for other hobbyists who want to deepen and extend their knowledge of the hobby. Contact trade magazines and organizations associated with your hobby and inquire if they could use someone like you to write articles or present at upcoming conferences.
Write to the editor of publications related to your hobby and introduce yourself. Include information about your qualifications. Ask, “Would it be possible for me to write for your publication?”
If you’re interested in presenting a talk at a hobbyists’ conference, contact the organizers of the conference and provide information about your qualifications to speak. Ask the organizers, “How can I schedule a talk at the upcoming conference?”

4
Learn how to repair objects associated with your hobby. Many hobbies have some sort of machinery or some device associated with the hobby. For example, ham radio operators have extensive radio sets. Bikes have customizable seats, front and rear lights, and handlebars. If you know how to repair or refurbish the components of the gadgetry associated with your hobby, you could market your services in order to build a viable career.
Other hobby-related devices that might need repair include computer parts, video game consoles, guitars, guitar amplifiers, and fishing rods.