Combining Your Passions with Digital Skills Leads to a Happier Life

11 min readFeb 9, 2023

By combining your hobbies and passions with digital skills, you can create a business that is not only profitable but also fulfilling and enjoyable.

The internet has provided countless opportunities for people to turn their hobbies, passions, and interests into a business and make income online. Not only can this approach lead to financial success, but it can also increase your happiness and improve your overall life satisfaction.

The Power of Combining Passions with Digital Skills

When you are passionate about something, you are more likely to engage with it and be motivated to put in the hard work required to turn it into a business. Hobbies and passions provide a sense of purpose and fulfillment that can be hard to find in a traditional 9-to-5 job.

As they say, when you love what you do, you never work a day in your life.

That’s why the creator economy has grown so exponentially in recent years. It’s easy to spend 10, 12, 14 hours a day “working” when the thing that you’re doing for work is what you would be doing in your free time. We get lost and time disappears when we’re busy doing something we thoroughly enjoy, that makes us happy.

With the rise of the internet, social media, and digital content, it’s never been easier to take advantage of combining digital skills with your hobbies to turn your passions into a dream business, and turn your dream lifestyle a reality.

One example of a successful business that was built using this approach is Etsy, the online marketplace for handmade goods.

The founders of Etsy, Rob Kalin, Chris Maguire, and Haim Schoppik, were all passionate about crafting and wanted to create a platform where artisans and crafters could sell their handmade goods online. Today, Etsy is a multi-billion dollar company with over 60 million active buyers and sellers.

Popular beauty and lifestyle blogger Huda Kattan, who started her career by creating makeup tutorials on YouTube, eventually created her own line of beauty products, Huda Beauty, which has now become a multi-million dollar brand.

There are hundreds of thousands of similar stories around the world of individuals taking their hobbies online, creating digital content around it, and monetizing that content in various ways such as advertising income, affiliate marketing, brand deals, creator platform tools, creating their own products, and more.

Building a Business and Making Income Online

Building a business using your hobbies and passions may seem daunting, but with the right approach and a plan, it can be done.

While I covered these in way more depth in my previous article, Building a Successful Online Business: A Beginner’s Guide, here is a basic overview of the steps you can take to start turning your hobbies and passions into a profitable online business:

Step 1: Identify your niche

The first step is to identify your niche.

What is it that you are passionate about? What are your hobbies and interests? What is your unique selling position (not to be mistaken with unique sales proposition)?

Just for clarification, although the two “USP” terms are often used interchangeably, there is a subtle difference between them:

Unique Sales Proposition (USP) refers to the unique value or benefit that a product or service offers to its customers compared to its competitors. It is a statement that defines what sets a product or service apart and makes it stand out in the market.

I like to think of a brand’s unique sales proposition as their slogan or tag line.

Some examples of Unique Sales Propositions include:

“The Quicker Picker Upper” — Bounty paper towels
“Just Do It” — Nike
“Finger Licking Good” — KFC
“The Happiest Place on Earth” — Disneyland
“Melts in Your Mouth, Not in Your Hands” — M&Ms
“Think Different” — Apple
“Expect More. Pay Less.” — Target
“Because You’re Worth It” — L’Oreal
“The Ultimate Driving Machine” — BMW
“Save Money. Live Better.” — Walmart

Unique Selling Position (USP), on the other hand, is a marketing concept that refers to the unique selling point or advantage of a product or service that distinguishes it from others in the market. It is the aspect of the product or service that makes it different from and superior to the offerings of its competitors. Some examples include:

“The Only All-Natural, Chemical-Free Detergent” — for a laundry detergent brand
“The Most Comfortable Mattress Guaranteed” — for a mattress brand
“The Fastest Internet Provider in the Area” — for an internet service provider
“The Only Car with a Solar-Powered Roof” — for a car manufacturer
“The Most Affordable Luxury Handbags” — for a fashion brand
“The Only Gym with 24/7 Access and Live Virtual Classes” — for a gym brand
“The Only Grocery Store with a 100% Satisfaction Guarantee” — for a grocery store
“The Only Smartphone with a Foldable Screen” — for a smartphone manufacturer
“The Most Durable Laptops on the Market” — for a laptop brand
“The Only Restaurant with a Farm-to-Table Concept” — for a restaurant.

When it comes to building a brand through digital content and social media, I like to think of your unique selling position as what makes your personal outlook and experience unique from the rest?

Are you a single parent that has learned how to get everyday life tasks done faster, or have unique ways to save money on weekly grocery shopping?

Are you a college student that has managed to find unique ways of living on a small budget or make extra side income?

Are you a college graduate that learned how to pay off your student loans in less than two years?

Once you have a clear understanding of your niche and unique position, you can start to think about how you can turn it into a business.

Step 2: Research your competition

Once you have identified your niche, it’s important to research your competition.

Who are the other players in your niche and what are they offering? This will give you an idea of the market and help you to identify opportunities for your own business.

Search for high-follower and high-view profiles and content related to your niche on various social media platforms like YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, and Twitter.

What are they selling? What content are they making? What is their unique approach (a.k.a. unique selling position)? Which of their content is doing well? Which of their content is not doing well? And can you answer similar questions or provide similar resolutions to problems, but in a different way?

Step 3: Create a business plan

A business plan is a roadmap outline for your business to follow. It should include:

Your Business Goals

Do you want to create your own product, or just earn commissions by promoting other people’s products? What problem do you want to help solve? How much revenue do you want to make? Do you want to work solo, or eventually hire employees? Do you want to create content yourself, or do you want to outsource various aspects to freelancers through services like Fiverr?

Target Market

Who is your target audience? What does your ideal customer avatar look like? What are their struggles, obstacles, fears, objections, and limiting beliefs? How old are they? Are they single, are they married, do they have kids? What are their hopes, goals, and dreams?

Marketing Strategy

What type of content do you want to create? Do you want to create it yourself, or again outsource it to other creators? Do you have the budget for marketing services or will you rely on using free social media platforms? Which social media platforms do you want to use? Which social media platforms and media types are you most comfortable with? Do you know how to create different types of content?

The great thing about social media marketing is that it’s free, and there’s a platform for every type of content so you don’t have to worry about being forced into any one in particular. You can choose to use as few or as many as you like. The most important thing to think about is creating content that helps your target audience, and putting it out on a consistent basis.

If you prefer to just write, then platforms like Twitter, Medium, and blogs are great. If you prefer video, whether short form or long form, then you have options such as TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube. If graphics are more your thing, then Pinterest and Instagram are great. You also have additional free distribution platforms where pretty much any content types can be shared such as Facebook and Tumblr.

And with the help of automation tools like TweetHunter and Later.com, you can save time by pre-scheduling and automating the release of your content so that you don’t have to worry about getting on to post every day. This is one of the main reasons I focus on teaching batch creation and batch scheduling in my online video course The Full-time Freedom Codex, to get more done in less time while maximizing distribution!

Financial Projections

How much money do you need to take home every week or every month to live the lifestyle you want to live? What are your business expenses? How much do you need to put aside to pay taxes? Will you be paying for goods or services that can be used as tax write-offs?

For example, if your goal is to take home $100,000 per year in profit (and after taxes), then calculate your expected total annual expenses (plus taxes) and add that to your desired profit.

Let’s say for simple math’s sake, between taxes and expenses, you have to pay $40,000 per year.

That means you have to bring in $140,000 of sales per year to end up with a net profit of $100,000.

Break that down into every 6 months: $70,000
Break that down into every 3 months: $23,330
Break that down into every month: $7,776
Break that down into weekly: $1,944
Break that down into daily: $277.71

So in order to make $100,000 per year in take-home profit, you need to earn, on average, $277.71 per day.

Guess what? You can break that down again!

How do you make $277.71 per day?

By selling:

1 Product Per Day at a Price of $277.71
5 Products Per Day at a Price of $55.54
10 Products Per Day at a Price of $27.77
20 Products Per Day at a Price of $13.89
50 Products Per Day at a Price of $5.55

Or if your plan is to sell a higher-ticket product or service such as coaching, consulting, or product development, you can zoom out slightly and follow the same process. Instead of focusing on how much you need to sell per day, you can look at how much you need to sell per month:

How do you make $7,776 per month?

By selling:

1 Product per Month at a Price of $7,776
2 Products per Month at a Price of $3,888
3 Products per Month at a Price of $2,592
4 Products per Month at a Price of $1,944
5 Products per Month at a Price of $1,555

The idea of trying to make $140,000 per year on your own can seem terrifying at first and when zoomed out.

But by zooming in and realizing you can make $140,000 per year simply by selling 10 products a day for $27.77 or 4 products a month for $1,944, suddenly it becomes much easier.

And this exact same process can be used for other goals as well.

Whether it be financials, social media content output, audience building, or subscribers to your email list; start with the big picture goal(5–10 years), then break it down into smaller picture goals (2 years, 1 year, 6 months, 3 months, 1 month, 2 weeks, per week).

By breaking things down from the larger, overarching long-term goal into smaller, more easily measured micro-goals, not only does the task become way less intimidating, but it makes tracking progress easier as well.

A business plan will help you to stay on track and make sure that your business is heading in the right direction, and you want it to be as thorough as possible.

Step 4: Build an online presence

As we discussed briefly up above in the Marketing Strategy section, there are various methods content types, and platforms you can use to build a strong online presence.

In today’s digital world, it’s essential to have an online presence. This can include everything from a website and social media accounts, to an email list or community membership area such as Discord or online course.

Building an online presence will help you to reach a wider audience and make it easier for people to find and purchase your products or services. It’s also extremely important when it comes to establishing your brand and building a loyal customer base.

Step 5: Learn Monetization Techniques

Of course, last but not least, to make money online you will need to monetize your content and platforms.

A few example methods of monetizing digital content include:

Adding affiliate links throughout your content and various online platforms.
Implementing advertisements on your websites or blogs.
Earning through various social media platform creator tools such as YouTube ad revenue, Instagram Reels Bonuses, or the TikTok Creator Program.
Selling physical or digital products through an online store or website.

There are many resources available for learning these various skills and methods, including online courses, books, and videos.

In my online video course, The Full-time Freedom Codex, for example, I teach several of these processes step-by-step.

The Benefits of Combining Hobbies, Passions, and Digital Skills

The process of building a business based on your hobbies and passions can lead to increased happiness and improved overall life satisfaction.

When you are doing something you love, it’s easier to stay motivated and engaged. Additionally, having a sense of purpose and fulfillment in your work can positively impact your personal and professional life.

Another benefit of combining hobbies, passions, and digital skills is that it allows you to be in control of your own time and schedule. You have the flexibility to work on your business when it suits you, whether that’s early in the morning, late at night, or on weekends. This can lead to a better work-life balance and more time for other things that are important to you, such as family, friends, and hobbies.

It’s also worth noting that building a business based on your hobbies and passions can lead to financial success. By creating a business that is based on something you are passionate about, you are more likely to put in the time and effort required to make it a success. This can lead to financial independence and the ability to live life on your own terms.

Maintaining a Balance

While the idea of building a business based on your hobbies and passions sounds great, it’s important to maintain a balance between your business and personal life. It’s easy to become so consumed with your business that you neglect other important aspects of your life.

To maintain a balance, it’s essential to set boundaries and make time for other things that are important to you. This can include setting specific times of the day to work on your business and specific times to spend with family and friends.

Conclusion

Combining your hobbies, passions, and interests with digital skills to build a business and make income online can be a powerful way to increase your happiness and improve your overall life satisfaction.

By combining your passions with digital skills as the foundation for your online business, you can create a business that is not only profitable but also enjoyable and fulfilling.

Additionally, by learning digital skills, you can turn your dream business into a reality and make money online. It’s important to remember to maintain a balance between your business and personal life, but with the right approach, this approach can be a great way to improve your life and increase your happiness.

Originally published at https://hausofapex.com on February 9, 2023.