Do you have a Hobby or a Business

byWilliamBH

2.9K followers

Updated 8 years ago

A post by Mel some time ago got me thinking about whether I have a hobby here on WA or a business.

https://my.wealthyaffiliate.com/onmyownterms/blog/...

So my question is: Do we have a hobby or a business. Now let us be clear, you can have a hobby and it can also be a business or turn into a business. AND the question then is: can you have a business that is just a hobby? The answer to that one is: I doubt it.

Many people say, yes they have a business. But that answer may not stand up to scrutiny. What would your business need to "look like" to distinguish itself as a business and not a hobby only?

I like to think in pictures so I did a Google search 1. Hobby Images 2. Business images

So the two search images a very different. If a fly on the wall was observing you would they see that you have a hobby or a business (that could be a hobby too). For example

• Do you have a business plan .. is it written written?
• Do you have a financial (money) plan (budget)?
• Do you have a work plan?
• Who is on your Team (eg. Lawyer, Accountant, Mentor etc)?
• Have basic accounting in place?
• Have the basic registrations required in your jurisdiction been done?
• Do you have legal issues such as copyright covered?
• Do you have a have a Brand strategy?
• Do you have a marketing strategy?
• Do you have a sales strategy?
• And more .. there are more skilled people here than I who could add to this list.

So look at what you are doing .. are you operating a hobby or a business (and to be clear, something that can be a hobby can be a business so don't use the terms to confuse).

Because here is the deal: if you treat your business as a hobby you will see hobby outcome/results, if you treat your business as a business you will get business result .. which do you want?

Cheers, William.

Stay Focused, Move Forward.