It Ain't All About PEZ Dispensers Or...??? By Dan Reinhold

Oh joy, oh rapture, oh happy day!! You've discovered the Internet, where you can make oodles of moolah with your hobby!!!

Well...no.

"But", you frantically implore, "I've been making/building/creating/counterfeiting [Insert Your Favorite Here] for years and years, and people say I'm really really good!"

OK...Happy for you!

"But", you implore ever more insistantly, "all my friends, co-workers and family say how I always drone on about my hobby to the exclusion of all other topics of conversation, even going so far as to change the subject of any conversation I encounter to being about my hobby!!"

That's fine...Right after you realize that your friends all moved without leaving forwarding addresses and the majority of your family is embroiled in a class action lawsuit for special waivers to enter the Witness Protection program, there's a little something you need to know.

You can't make money with your hobby.

That is, not as long as it's your hobby.

Sorry. Now you really have a headache!

What I mean is you need to stop thinking of your hobby as a hobby.

If you intend to make money with it, it becomes a business.

Let's make that stand out just a little more: It becomes a business.

This is the part where someone always says, "I don't WANT a business. I just want to make some money with my hobby".

Alrighty, once more, and this this I'll write veeeerrry slooooowwwly...

A hobby is something you do for fun, relaxation, self-fulfillment and that kind of stuff. A business is something you do for money - regardless of whether you also get fun, relaxation, self-fulfillment or whatever from it.

Rule No. 1: You must change your hobby into your business.

That's a totally different mindset. No longer are you performing these tasks for the sheer enjoyment of doing so. It's become that horrible four-letter word - WORK. That's only in the very strictest sense, because you'll have to do whatever you do to do what you need to do for money.

Now I've got a headache...

It's like being a professional musician. Music isn't a mere job for them. It's a passion, something they need to do almost as desperately as breathing or watching the latest episode of Survivor.

Don't lose that passion. Just realize and accept that now other things will also be required.

A price, for example. Asking "Well, what do you think it's worth to you?" won't work.

If you're planning to conduct your business online, you'll need a website and some basic goodies. You're in luck - this sort of thing gets easier to do by the day, it seems. There's cool full packages like Sitesell, Easy Web Site Builder and Build A Web Site Tonight . Heck, if you're the real DIY type, you can grab a template from BasicWebTemplates and then download a very cool FR*E website editor called Nvu.

There's a great book mentioned in the resource box that I'm told comes in really handy for getting started.

For a good dose of reality, try this: Do a Google or Yahoo search for forums for your hobby. All you gotta do is enter "rat racing+forums" in the little search box (without those quote marks!)and away you go. See if people talk about making money with it. If no one does talk about it, ask them! At the very worst, they'll say, "What, are you crazy???"

Either way, you get an education.

Of course, you can also search for your hobby alone and see who has a business site for it. Whatever you do, don't get yourself all discouraged and stuff just because someone else is doing it or even seems to be doing it very well. It's one darn big Internet, my friend.

When you see that making your hobby a business can be done and it can even be done by you, you'll have cleared probably the biggest hurdle of all.

Roll up those sleeves and open for business!!

Dan Reinhold is the proud author of "The WAHumor Way: Reality Check, Please!", the essential primer for everyone starting a home business or even thinking about it. With two boys, a dog, a cat, a rat, a wife and a household to keep together to boot, Dan's also the editor of WAHumor to hang on to his sanity by showing how insane the work-at-home community can be! Subscribe quickly at WAHumor@aweber.com You could Win Big!!