My Hobby is Making Money (Tip #30)

bynathaniell

101.1K followers

Updated 11 years ago

One Pair of Pants

I was answering an email the other day, and happened to think about my initial impressions of Wealthy Affiliate. It's been a few years now, so I can't remember exactly where I found it or how I decided on WA versus the other so-called 'programs' out there, but eventually signed up. At that time it was $39 per month (I think) and the price was going up.

Anyway, that's not the point of the story.

Now, many of you don't know me very well, but I'm am pretty cheap. I mean, I like to spend money on experiences - stuff like sailing, traveling - doing stuff. But when it comes to the simple amenities of life, I go bare bones, just because I don't really care that much.

I drink cheap coffee, I eat cheap food, I don't snack or order appetizers, I own one pair of pants, and I have worn the same pair of shoes for the last 3 years.

I know, I'm painting an awesome picture of myself.

The Expensive Education I Forgot

But remember, I spend money on experiences. And one of those experiences for a long time was learning to play the guitar.

I shelled out thousands of dollars for videos, guides, music lessons, equipment, and concerts over the course of a few years. Not to mention 3-4 hours PER DAY. (weekends included)

Another thing I spent tons of money on was learning Czech. I lived in the Czech Republic for 4 years, and for English speakers abroad, it's not always easy to find locals to speak broken versions of their own language to you when they speak perfectly good English. Anyway, same story as the guitar: thousand of dollars on lessons, books, etc.

Don't worry, I'll be getting to the association with WA soon.

Eventually I stopped playing guitar. And eventually I moved out of the Czech Republic. I soon forgot those skills that I had toiled away at for years, and it seemed that I had wasted money on something that was no longer important to me.

I certainly didn't want to invest any more money in "skills" or "experiences" that I would just forget some time down the road.

The One Thing That Is ALWAYS Interesting

So I thought real hard about what was important to me, and what I could learn that would not fade. What could I do that I would never lose interest in? What could I start learning now that would still interest me in 5, 10, 20 years down the road?

Money.

Money never gets old. From the time you can figure out that candy costs money until the time when you are thinking of much of it you want to leave your grand kids, money is important.

And it's not one of those things that the more you have the less you want. Generally, the more you have the more you want!

It was the perfect plan.

I could "learn" how to make money. This would be my ultimate hobby. Some people play the piano. Some write journals. Some like art, or music, politics, or whatever. There are a million hobbies.

But my new hobby was money.

I had learned several skills starting from 'zero' at that point, and I knew the routine. It takes about 6 months to get the skill set language down and any rudimentary skills learned. 6 months later, you can have a few accomplishments under your belt. Starting in year two you will likely have bigger plans but still be wary, and by year 3 you will be confident in your skills and be able to hold your own in an advanced level exchange with your peers.

That's just how things had previously gone.

The idea was that if I could invest a year, two years, even three years into learning how to make money, I could probably be pretty good at it eventually. And being good at producing income is pretty awesome I think.

Well, three years later, money is still my hobby. I'm not wealthy, not by a long shot, but I have an online business, I own a rental property, and I've invested in the stock market.

And I still enjoy making money...imagine that!

What do you think of choosing 'making money' as your hobby?