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00:00:01
Should You Monetize All Your Hobbies?
103 Plays2 years ago
If you struggle with finding the balance between working a 9-5 with hobbies, or being a part of the hussle / boss babe culture that is always looking to build more success and wealth, then give today's episode a listen! We chat about our viewpoints on whether or not you should pursue monetizing all of your hobbies, or if it's better to let some of them simply stay as hobbies. ;)
If you found this episode interesting, then let us know by leaving a 5-star review and subscribing! We would also love to see you follow along on instagram @artofintentionpodcast!
Until next week!
Your hosts,
Beth & Ayla
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Transcript
Introduction and Podcast Overview
00:00:00
Speaker
Welcome to the Art of Intention podcast with Beth and Ayla. Two best friends turn creative entrepreneurs. This is a place for us to discuss everything business, friendships, and faith and occasionally more. We're so excited for today's episode. We think you're going to love it. Stay tuned.
Acknowledgment of 9/11 Tribute
00:00:20
Speaker
Hey, what is up, everyone? Happy Monday. We're so excited to be sitting down with you all once again. I know I say this over and over, but it's really such a joy to get to do this show recording days with Beth or some of my favorite days. And it's just been so fun as we dive deeper and deeper into this. So thank you all for being here.
00:00:39
Speaker
Yes, I totally second all of that. Thank you all for your patience as we took last week off to honor 911 and the victims who lost their lives that day, as well as all police officers, firefighters and first responders who were there on that day.
Monetizing Hobbies: A Double-Edged Sword
00:00:53
Speaker
Absolutely. Yeah, thank you guys so much. We appreciate you all so much. And after a week off, we're back, we're refreshed and we're stoked to be sitting down recording today. We actually had like a major bestie friendship girl chat catch up time before this and it's been so good for the soul. So I'm like fired up going into today's topic.
00:01:13
Speaker
Today, I want to talk about a topic that's really important to me, and I think it'll resonate with others listening, especially the fellow go-getters, entrepreneurs, business owners. And based on who listens to this podcast, I know that some of you out there have tried or successfully have started a business.
00:01:29
Speaker
So maybe you've tried photography, maybe you've tried to be an artist, to start a graphic design company, a brick and mortar business, really anything. And why did you do this? Because ideally in life, the goal is to do what you love. Right, right, exactly. And with quote, doing what you love.
00:01:46
Speaker
That can sometimes absolutely take off. You may find major success in pursuing your passion, and that's what we encourage on this podcast. Definitely. That's a big thing we encourage. However, have you ever tried to make money from doing something that you already love, like a hobby, whether that's knitting or painting, basket weaving, what have you?
00:02:07
Speaker
and found that it just doesn't work. It didn't work out. You know, you may find that you lost some of your original joy that you used to find from doing that activity or that you have a hard time actually making a full living out of a hobby and you subsequently also lose your motivation to turn it into a job.
00:02:22
Speaker
That's why I'm a firm believer in today's discussion. Should you try to make money from your hobbies? Is there always success in pursuing your hobby as a career? Do you really have to do what you love for work? Or is there peace and success in working a 9 to 5?
00:02:40
Speaker
We have tons to unpack for this topic, so we're gonna jump right into it. But first, let's hop over to community news. So for community news today, I just have a question. I've seen a few people, a few photographers I follow bring this up. So I just wanted to pose it. Do any of us remember threads?
00:02:57
Speaker
Are any of us actually using threads these days? Because I shared about it a couple weeks back for community news. Right after it dropped, I was like, threads, millions of users. We got on it for art of intention. And granted, this might be my shortcoming, but I have not remained active on it. But I'm wondering if that's a few people. So I wanted to pose this question to Beth and to our listeners. Do people still care about threads? Or was that a one-day hype? And then it just kind of fizzled. I want to know.
The Risk of Losing Passion in Business
00:03:24
Speaker
Yeah, I'm curious about that too. To be honest, I haven't used it. The only thing that actually reminds me it still exists is when I go to somebody's profile on Instagram, you see that little icon underneath their name that says like the number, like when they joined, which I also just recently found out that's what that means. I was like, what is that? Is that how many followers they have? I was like, I have a hundred million followers. That can't be right.
00:03:47
Speaker
No, it's when you join. That's how many people were on threads at the time that you joined. So interesting concept. But yeah, I don't... It's a weird stat, to be honest. I'm not using it. The only time... It's really weird. But it's... Whatever. But yeah, or I'll see. There's like a couple of people that I follow and only a couple that every once in a while they'll post something from their threads onto their Instagram story. And that reminds me like, okay, that exists. But it doesn't... It never... Here's the thing that makes me not motivated to go do it myself.
00:04:15
Speaker
When I see it on other people's stories, it doesn't motivate me to want to go look at it on threads. So if it's not making, if it's not pulling me to the app, if it's not drawing me in, then I know it's not a good marketing thing. So I'm not going to put my time into it. That's my right. Yeah. I hopped on it. I'm on it on my personal Instagram and basically, and like I knew this going into it. It is very much structured like Twitter, just more like kind of quick thoughts.
00:04:40
Speaker
To me, I don't love social media that much, to be honest. I love it as a marketing tool. I use it for my business mostly. I love the good things about it, the way it connects you, but I'm not trying to be on every single thing. I've never had Twitter. I deleted Snapchat years ago. I kind of just like having what's essential for my business, which is Facebook, Instagram.
00:05:02
Speaker
I just saw it as another social media that I don't overly need. So that's why I haven't. But let us know your thoughts. Are you still on threads? If you're marketing on threads, is it helping you? Are you doing it just for fun? I've seen some business owners be on there just for fun. So I don't know. I want to know other people's thoughts. Do threads still exist and do you like them?
00:05:25
Speaker
So today's topic, like I said, is something I've really thought about time and time again. So I personally am constantly thinking of business ventures. No matter how hard it sounds, I like the ideas sometimes, whether it's expanding my already existing photo editing business or opening a brick and mortar shop.
00:05:44
Speaker
some of you know it's a dream of mine to own and operate a coffee shop one day and with that I get all these little ideas all the time of things that I'd love to do while making a living like things that I could start
00:05:56
Speaker
and do. I actually originally during college wanted to make it as a painter and fully pay all of my expenses that way as an oil painter. I thought about becoming a painter, a tattoo artist, owning a coffee shop or another small boutique or store, pursuing music, photography, more like there's so many things I've thought
Avoiding Burnout in Creative Pursuits
00:06:15
Speaker
about going into. I'm a multi passionate lady, but something all those things have in common is they're hobbies of mine.
00:06:22
Speaker
There are already things I like to do, but does that necessarily mean that it would make for a good business? Oh yeah, I feel you there. I'm constantly thinking of new business ideas, too. But anyways, I love that question you just posed, like how you phrased that. That's awesome. And I'm super excited for this conversation. I think it's so easy to get caught up in the, quote, hustle culture and think that we always have to have creative ideas, business ideas, and that we constantly have to be marketing ourselves to the world and telling
00:06:50
Speaker
the world why they should be paying us for that service. If you do work a nine to five and you still may be told that you need a side hustle in addition to your full-time job or you should be trying to escape your full-time job, this is something that I have mixed feelings on. I'm sure you do too, Ayla, but I think there's some really important messages surrounding this topic that we really should get clear and push out there.
00:07:14
Speaker
Yeah, let's do that. I could totally just go off. I had so many ideas when sitting and looking at this outline, and I think we're just going to go for it. Because it started as a two-sided coin, and then it was a three-sided coin, and then a four-sided whatever, getting into this topic of directions you could go. But basically, first off, if you are someone who has successfully started a business that was originally a hobby, a photographer,
00:07:42
Speaker
baker, whatever. And you find joy each day when you show up to work. That's amazing. You're amazing. I truly find that phenomenal best case scenario. Like if you start your own business out of a hobby and you you just keep the joy and passion with it like
00:07:59
Speaker
wrapped up in a bow, good to go. That's really great. However, something I've run into is that starting a business out of a hobby you want to love can sometimes take the fun out of it. I'm not saying your work or business has to be fun 100% of the time, 24-7. In fact, if you're running a business, it probably won't be. Everything worth doing in life is going to be hard at some point. I'm not saying it should never be hard, but maybe you dove into starting a business
00:08:25
Speaker
out of a hobby or something you loved, and suddenly that hobby that was once your escape, now it's your source of income. And now you've meddled with something that helped you escape your work and made it your work. And I think we see that a lot. That is something unexpected that people aren't prepared for when they jump into monetizing a hobby.
00:08:44
Speaker
Yeah, that's a good point. Yeah, let's start there for sure. I see it happening in the photography industry. I would say more than average, but just a ton either way. After a photographer takes their business full time, especially if it's a new photographer and they just go, I'm just going to like go for and go full time after multiple shoots a week, editing, client care, all that back end work. The last thing they want to do is then go take pictures for fun.
00:09:09
Speaker
But they're so used to photography being their hobby and their passion that they feel just utterly burnt out and stuck when the one thing that used to relieve their stress, like you said, is now the cause of it. And it's simply because they don't have a new hobby or a new outlet. So I don't know if you have thoughts on that too.
00:09:28
Speaker
Totally. Well, yeah, I do. And I really, I like that last point you made too, of like, maybe it's not necessarily that you can't pursue your hobby as your income, but then it just might be time to find something else that can supplement that hobby. Like, I totally feel that 100%. Now, I didn't do this for very long, but like I said, I tried to make money selling paintings for a while at the very beginning of 2020. And granted, this was because Chris and I were trying to travel later that year. Let's all just laugh about that one.
00:09:58
Speaker
So I knew that selling paintings wasn't going to be a full fledged business, but I thought it could make me some extra money. And this is just like, this is like a random story, but I think the biggest mistake I made was offering like custom designs and paintings without having an established style. So to expand on that is like, I have certain things that I know I like to paint and that I like to do.
00:10:20
Speaker
But when I went to offer selling my artwork, I was like, your designer mind, tell me whatever you want and I'll paint it. And not a lot of artists ever do that because they have their style. It's, again, like niching down. So then I'd get ideas. People sent me, like, oh, can you do this and this? And not that their ideas were bad at all. It was all good ideas. It was just stuff I wasn't very good at doing because it wasn't in a niche. It wasn't a style that I really followed.
00:10:50
Speaker
And I think I turned around some work that I wasn't 100% proud of, which is just kind of like the artist's curse in general. I don't know if I can ever paint something where I'm like, perfect, because I'm always going to be like nitpicking my own work. But like, I think I should have just like created what I wanted to create, and then been like, this is up for sale and see what people did. But anyway, basically sitting down, like I got commissions, which was really lovely. Actually, it was really nice of
00:11:14
Speaker
people who followed me and my friends to actually take me up on that and be like yes can you paint this can you paint this one of my favorite things to do was actually couples portraits like they'd send a picture that they already have and I'd paint it in like black and white and kind of make it more surreal that was one of my favorite things to do so I did get to do a lot of that but still sitting down to paint and do something that I once loved
00:11:37
Speaker
It didn't take very long for it to feel stressful and for it to suddenly become a thing that I had to do. It wasn't as therapeutic as it used to be. There was a deadline on it. If I were to do it again, I would just paint the things I want to paint and sell them as they are. No timing or anything to do it. That was the first time I experienced something I love now becoming a chore and then something I didn't want to do.
00:12:02
Speaker
I would try it again, but I could never make a living that way, basically. I decided I would never make a living doing art like that. And not because I'm not capable of making a living, but I just liked it more as a hobby. I just like it more when it's on my own timing. I've kind of stepped into it. I would rather gift people artwork than asking them to pay for it.
00:12:24
Speaker
It really stresses me out putting a dollar value on something that I just love to do because I love to do it and so I'm like I'd rather gift this to you or I'd rather have like you decide what you think it's worth or whatever like just do it more loosey goosey and just keep it as a hobby because I've tried it paid before and it just like I wouldn't want to make it a business so not because I'm not a professional but because I can put more of my heart and time into it if somebody wants to buy what I end up making that's fine but
00:12:50
Speaker
I hope that makes sense basically. That was the first time that I realized just because you love doing it and you're good at it doesn't mean it has to be your 24-7 business.
Fulfillment: 9 to 5 vs. Entrepreneurship
00:12:58
Speaker
Yeah, exactly. That's such a good point. It's interesting because I've seen that in other people as well. My younger sister is a very talented artist. Actually, my older sister is too. They're just great artists. No one would necessarily know because they both don't put it out there. They don't sell it or anything. But so often, my family has tried to convince my little sister
00:13:21
Speaker
to sell her art because she's, I mean, she also has one of those things where she can paint like huge paintings just randomly, like off the cuff. And I'm just like, why is that the coolest thing I've ever seen? Like, how do you, how do you do that? And my older sister, I think there would have been that push as well for her, but she went to school to be an interior architect. So she was doing, you know, that does require like art. And so she was kind of doing that. And my little sister, it always baffled me. She would never say yes. She would always hard no.
00:13:48
Speaker
She said, I'll never sell my work. I'll never, I'm never going to do it as a job. I don't want to do it. And she wouldn't really say why. And she just said, it's not, except she would say, it's not fun. Like when I do that, if it's stressful for me, when I have to, when, and now I have like a deadline for it and I have to do it. And I just, I never really understood that because for me, like drawing, like painting art was never like something that I was particularly, I think phenomenal at or.
00:14:11
Speaker
I think really good. You, okay, hold on. Beth's going to say she's not. I've seen you doodle before. No, okay. It's not fair because I went to school for art and I can do what I can do. And then sometimes you just do things randomly. You're like, I just doodled and it's really good.
00:14:27
Speaker
I'll tell you why it's inspired by what my sisters do. It's not it's because it's because they were so artistic. It was like, well, that's what you did. I think it was just like, okay, I got it. I got a draw because that's what they're doing. But yeah, it was never like a race for you. Yes, it was never something that I like
00:14:42
Speaker
it was never like, I would even say a hobby. It also wasn't something I ever wanted to turn into a business or thought about because let's be honest, like we were just talking about, we both are always thinking of how we can like make new businesses and I would have thought how can I monetize this at some point. But I think the closest I got to that, because you were telling a little bit about your art and your experience with that,
00:15:01
Speaker
Um, over the years, like I said, I really like thrive and do well off of like getting super into new things all the time. And then moving on to the next thing right after that. And I don't know, I think the word for that's like serial hobbyist. I don't know. Maybe not. Maybe I'm just saying maybe it's just what it is in my head. But yeah, I love getting Chris is the same way he like he'll get so into something and then he'll keep going. And I'm like, and I Yeah, yeah.
00:15:24
Speaker
Yeah. I just, I love getting like so sucked into a new thing. And like, so for example, a few years ago, I don't even know how many years now, but a few years ago I did stump printing and it's where like, you have to get that. Dude. Okay. You get like a huge dry stump, um, like a big log, like, you know, something you like burn it and then you scrub it with a wire brush, you cover it in ink and then you have to like print it a certain way and roll it onto a canvas.
00:15:48
Speaker
And it was so cool and so fun. And I thought, after I did my very first one, I was like, how can I turn this into a business? This went so well. This was awesome. And long story short, ended up not happening.
00:16:03
Speaker
for a myriad of reasons and I've just learned that honestly, I just want to try it, get good enough to where I could turn it into a business and then move on. I'm very competitive and I think that's what that is. I'm just like, okay, I want to get so good at this store. People are like begging to pay me and then be like, buy it next thing.
00:16:23
Speaker
Is that bad? I don't know. That's crazy. That's me. That's how I collect successful hobbies like trading cards. I don't even know. That's like my thing. Oh my gosh. I love that. No, that's awesome. I feel like, because I know people definitely try different hobbies, but the fact that you're like, I'm going to master it and then I'm never going to do it again. That's chaotic and that's awesome.
00:16:44
Speaker
I know it makes sense to a lot of people but that's just what it is. I think that's cool and I don't think there's a problem with always having your mind going like that. Obviously there's a reason that you started a business and there's other people like you and me. There's people way more entrepreneurial than I'll ever be.
00:17:02
Speaker
how can I make the most from this and like, well, like almost that more like shark direction. And I'm like, well, that scares me, you know, like, yeah, there's definitely, I'm not at a level that certain people will be as far as like, everything could be a business, but definitely my mind is always going. And I like to, I like to fix problems in businesses. Like, if I
00:17:20
Speaker
a coffee shop that's going kind of slow. I'm like, okay, what can we do to like boost things? You know, like I like fixing problems in that. So yeah, no, I definitely like stuff like that. But I think that's awesome. Like the serial hobbyist thing. And I'm pretty similar. Like I love finding new things to do. And I also feel like I've seen people in my life be really good at something like you said, with your little sister, like be really good at something like painting, and then yeah, have people say, well, you should sell that, or
00:17:48
Speaker
Yeah, you should totally sell your paintings. You're good enough. Or like for Chris, for instance, he's a really good cook.
00:17:55
Speaker
He's way better than me at cooking as far as creativity. He'll try things. He knows what flavors go well together randomly. He's a really creative cooker. Not like chef, but he can make stuff taste really good. He's looked into culinary school or working in line cook, but he would not want to do it because of the rest of the culture that comes with fine dining restaurants and stuff.
Challenges and Rewards of Entrepreneurship
00:18:19
Speaker
It's okay for him to just like cooking and not want it to be a career because he doesn't want to work in a stressful kitchen And be like shouted at or whatever, you know, like things like that. So it's totally normal basically I guess this whole first point is like it's something it's totally normal to have something you just love to do but everything else that comes with Monetizing it and making it a business. It's okay if you don't like those aspects of it and therefore then it's just your hobby You know, like unless you have the drive to do everything else that comes with it. That's great but like
00:18:48
Speaker
I guess I'm saying like your sister too, totally all good. If her art's phenomenal and she's like, oh, I just do that for fun. It's like hard to wrap your mind around sometimes, but I get it, you know? Absolutely. And I think that's the first main point that we want to drive home here. You should have other things that you love to do outside of your job, whether you own a business or work a nine to five, and you don't have to constantly be thinking of how you can monetize that specifically. Yeah, exactly.
00:19:15
Speaker
I'm a big believer in having other interests outside of your job, especially as a nine to five employee, especially when I'm going hard in editing at my desk Monday to Friday, nine to five. I have to do other things outside of that. I have to do things that get me out of the house. I think it's good for your mind, your soul, your body.
00:19:33
Speaker
Um, I want to expand a bit more. I think the next, the next part we'll kind of jump into is, is this whole concept of having other things you do while appreciating your nine to five. But with that, here's one thing I want to throw in there to kind of wrap up this point. This is where like my brain started going so many directions with this topic. So here it is. Some people are designed. They are designed to up and leave their nine to five, start a business, be a trailblazer, like I was saying earlier, full on.
00:20:01
Speaker
entrepreneur to the nines and go for that hustle culture, boss culture, all of that. Others are designed for other things. Others are designed to thrive at a Monday to Friday job, whether it's office work, customer service, retail, or whatever.
00:20:17
Speaker
So the energy that they have for the rest of the day into other things, not everyone can be an entrepreneur. Think about it. If everybody was like this self-starter, I'm going to be a business coach, entrepreneurial coach, starting a business, making an invention thing. What would the world run on? We need the people to do other things that make the world go around the mechanics, the accountants, like everything else. And God has designed each and every person to fit into that part. So.
00:20:45
Speaker
Like you don't have to sit, always sit and be like longing if you're doing the wrong thing, if you're doing what you've designed, what like what you're designed to do basically. So like not everyone can be an entrepreneurial. So obviously you may be created for other things. Some people are created to only be a stay at home parent.
00:21:00
Speaker
If you're currently happy with your work, if you think it's the path that God's put you on and you're able to fill the rest of the life, the rest of your life with the things you love to be, there's no reason to worry about having an extra hustle and to constantly try to monetize other things you can do. However, with that, the other edge of the coin, so that's the first point is like you can work your day job, have other things to do outside of it without having to hustle, monetize it, whatever. The other side of the coin is if you find yourself yearning for more,
00:21:29
Speaker
when it comes to your work, more control, more freedom, something like leaving that job and jumping into entrepreneurship, maybe what you're called to. I hope that made sense. I was kind of trying to like explain all sides of the story with that last little point there.
00:21:43
Speaker
Yeah, no, I think that's good. And I think it also explains how there is so many ways you can think about this and or are so many ways you can think about this. And yeah, how there are so many sides to this coin, it seems simple at first, and then it's really like, okay, you there's a lot of things to think about with this topic, because I think there are some right ways to do this and some wrong ways.
00:22:02
Speaker
But that's kind of hard to try to paint it in a black and white picture. So we're gonna just explain the best we can, I guess. So anyways, I'm loving this conversation so far. And I think so much of what we're talking about here stems from that one quote, if you do what you love, you'll never work a day in your life. And wow, have I thought about this phrase a lot over the years. First off, I think people take this as do what you love and nothing will ever be hard. And that's just not the truth.
00:22:28
Speaker
Not to say that there's not great things about pursuing your passion and letting your passion fuel you, but in my opinion, it's simply not realistic to assume that if you're doing what you love that things will come easy. I think too many people get kind of accidentally tricked.
00:22:45
Speaker
into turning their hobby into their career because they think it will be so perfect and fun and easy. But entrepreneurship and starting a business just by itself, no matter what the business is, is tough work. And if you don't have it in you to find a new hobby, then you shouldn't be giving up your current one and swapping it out for a job.
00:23:03
Speaker
I mean, there's so much we could say about that, but that's just a little thought I had about this. I think so much of just the idea of becoming an entrepreneur and turning every hobby into some kind of like business thing is because people think, oh, I already love it as a hobby. And if you love what you do, it'll never really be like work. But if you're trying to turn everything into money, I'm sorry, it is work. It is work. Absolutely.
00:23:26
Speaker
yeah well and that last thing you said i've never worded it that way either of like you're exchanging a hobby for work and if you're not prepared to like maybe have some other kind of outlet because i'm a big believer in having outlet that's not work even if it's movies even if you love movies and like putting on a movie helps you unwind like i'm not saying it has to you have to learn a new instrument or something like that but yeah you're basically swapping it out and turning it
00:23:50
Speaker
into a job so then are you willing to like find something else outside of it and i feel like i see people discover that in entrepreneurship and it gets hard or even like with painting i went to school for art i already love it i'm gonna do it as a job and then that was the last thing i wanted to do later so take photographers or anything creative really photography art floral design you're likely pursuing it as an artist this can happen especially with creative
00:24:15
Speaker
I think it's right-brained thinkers you love to create so that's what you want to do every day but with that comes your taxes your bookkeeping licensing your business possibly hiring employees client care all these things that have nothing to do with the creative side of your business but they're essential in making it run you
00:24:32
Speaker
You just have to have it and it's not to say you're not capable of juggling all that. You can learn.
Setting Boundaries for Work-Life Balance
00:24:37
Speaker
Beth and I have had to learn these things and a lot of other creative entrepreneurs have had to learn these things. It is not impossible, but that's where the work comes into doing what you love. It is going to be. You get to do what you love. Beth gets to go shoot a beautiful wedding for a weekend. She loves it.
00:24:51
Speaker
She gets to put her creative editing into it, but then she's got to build a client. She's got to set up consultation calls. She has to do her taxes at the end of the year. No matter what, it's going to be a balance of the things that you love less and it's doable, but you could be blindsided by it if you didn't think about that going into it, I guess.
00:25:09
Speaker
Oh, yeah, exactly. Blindsided is a perfect word for that. I mean, for real. I mean, and you would remember this, Ayla, but when I was in middle school and high school, I remember being terrified of learning about bills and taxes. I just wanted to travel the world. I know you remember this. You exposed me for this. I think earlier on, like in one of the first episodes of the podcast, you're like, I remember we wanted to go move to an island or, I don't know, we talked about it at some point. And I just wanted to, yeah, travel the world, have adventures, explore.
00:25:37
Speaker
All of that was motivated by me never wanting to have bills or taxes. I think it got morbid. We were definitely 11 years old. We were big into Pirates of the Caribbean. We were like, listen, I just want to explore the world. This is all I want to do. And you were like, I hope I die young. I hope I die before I have to do bills or taxes. You were like, I'd literally rather just turn 18 and then die because that's what it would show up. And I was like, Beth, no. You're like, wait, wait, wait, chill out. You're like, I didn't mean that.
00:26:07
Speaker
But you know, it comes slowly and you figure it out. But I definitely, I don't think any of that's really changed. And you were me, we just tolerate it now. I just accept the fact that when I was 18, I didn't either die on a Pirates of the Caribbean adventure or get stranded on an island where there's no bills and no troubles. So I'm just, I guess, living with it now. Maybe that's maturity, I don't know, whatever.
00:26:30
Speaker
And then of course, that's something interesting too. It's like all, while there are benefits to me having my own business, benefits I used to crave, you know, I have a little more creativity, more freedom in some ways. I have adventures that I've always dreamed of, but it still involves so much paperwork and taxes, bills from all over the place. Like how did that happen? How is it that people who really, you and I who wanted to not pay taxes, not pay bills more than almost anybody we knew,
00:26:56
Speaker
And we ended up being the ones who were like, especially where I met in Canada, man, they, they get you. If you wrote a small business, they, they know about you. They'll, they'll get you. And just, yeah, setting up like the most paperwork. And of course, I mean, this is, could be a whole other episode on ways you can then outsource that stuff and be more on the side of doing what you love. But basically that's the point of like, do what you love and never work for a day in your life. To me, it doesn't exist. It doesn't mean you're not doing what you love.
00:27:26
Speaker
But anything worth doing has work behind it and has some hardships. It's the same with being a parent. If you want to be a parent and someone's like, oh, having kids, it's hard. It's like, I know I'm not choosing that because it's easy, but because it's worth it. But yeah, so that's a bit on like if you end up.
00:27:42
Speaker
Pursuing what you love a hobby and something like that and it goes successful.
Stable Careers and Intentional Free Time
00:27:45
Speaker
Like I said in the beginning. That's wonderful Just be prepared for some of the harder points to come with that and also I think Beth you've actually touched on this on your Instagram before like talking to photographers here like if photography is your hobby
00:27:58
Speaker
and you jump into it, you make it your business, things are going well, you might be tempted to continue to set yourself up for workshops and things like that because you once found them fun and just some encouragement on maybe go find other things outside of photography that you like to do. You said you've gotten really into diving and swimming and stuff like that, completely unrelated. I guess you're taking pictures while you do that, but never mind.
00:28:22
Speaker
I know no no no no you're right you're right although I will say that's the photographer's curse is as soon as you become like everything everything everything is now in the context of photos which is why you'll find you can either listen to people who've lived through it like me trying to give you advice and wisdom or you can figure it out yourself and you'll come to find that the more you see everything in the context of your work the more you'll need to intentionally find ways to escape it
00:28:48
Speaker
And with photography being something that you see everything. Oh, that'd be so cute for photos. Oh my gosh, I want a picture here. Oh, like, and even bringing other people into it. Like, Chad, can you take this picture of me? Oh, can you do this? Like every activity suddenly becomes a photo shoot. Yeah. Like you said, I talked about that before on my Instagram, but finding a hobby that has nothing to do with photography.
00:29:08
Speaker
going and doing a workshop, even though it's not your job, even if you don't make money for it, if you go to do a styled shoot, that's still work. And it's too closely related to your job to be a hobbyist, not a hobby. No, veto. Done. Don't do that. You do it if you want, but that needs to be in your mind considered a context of work because you're not getting the mental break that you need.
00:29:27
Speaker
by doing something that's still in the context of work. Guess what you have to do with those photos? You still have to go and edit them. They're going to go in your editing queue. You're going to have to use them to advertise, just like all your other photo shoots. I know I'm speaking just to photographers, but I think people can imagine this expands to anything, any entrepreneurial type job. You got to get out and do something different. For diving, that has been my biggest release lately. Mentally physically helps me a ton.
00:29:49
Speaker
And although I can bring a camera underwater with me, and I do sometimes choose to do that, I have been trying also to not. I've just been trying to dive to enjoy it. And when I dive, and we don't take any pictures or videos, no GoPro footage, nothing, I come out of the water feeling so much better. And sometimes it's just a matter of doing it. You just have to find a hobby that has nothing to do with your career, and then you'll see the benefits. So if you don't believe me, just try it, you know? Like if you don't believe that other people were talking about this, just try it.
00:30:17
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, and I want to talk about this more in the future. But for me, finding something that's stark different than editing, I mean, I've talked about this a lot. I'm a very like, I like to be active. So it's easy for me to do things that are complete opposite of editing, because editing is like computer work. So I'm like, at the end of the day, I'm itching. I'm like, like, like, get me outside, let's go do something. But like, um,
00:30:40
Speaker
getting into the gym and getting really into learning how equipment works, learning how it affects your body. It's something else to just learn about and get way into. Granted, it has gotten me thinking about, oh, how do you get registered as a physical therapist and making that work again, or as a personal trainer?
00:30:57
Speaker
But for now, that's something I get to do for an hour and a half every day. That's not my job. And I would go nuts without it or something along the lines that gets me away from a computer. So it's not like I can say all you want, you have to find another hobby, but I feel like honestly, it should just naturally happen. Like anyway.
00:31:15
Speaker
And that's kind of like, I guess that goes, I'll transition into the next point here because we've been talking a lot to the entrepreneurs about if you are going to start something out of a hobby, that's great. Like Beth said, be willing to replace that with something else that helps you escape from your work. But now I want to shift into talking to those who are working on Monday to Friday, nine to five. I want to start this point right now.
00:31:39
Speaker
There is still an absolutely fulfilling and thriving lifestyle in that as well. And your job doesn't even have to be what you love because you can fill your life with other parts of that. Like it's okay if your your current nine to five isn't necessarily like
00:31:59
Speaker
I don't know, not to say like you don't want it to be good. You want your job to be good. But basically like it's okay if you're working your nine to five to get through it and then fund other parts of your life that you love a lot more so long as that job is generally fulfilling and like non-toxic, if that makes sense. Yeah, I know that definitely makes sense.
The Value of Non-Monetized Hobbies
00:32:17
Speaker
The last little point we want to make today is this. We have covered that some people are designed to start a business, create something new, pursue entrepreneurship and self-employment, like you said, Ayla, and how with that comes a myriad of responsibility. So let's talk to the person who is currently working as an employee, who doesn't really want to leave their job,
00:32:38
Speaker
who doesn't want to make their own hours, quote unquote, or anything like that, and who's perfectly content with their day job. So Ayla, go ahead and kind of jump into that direction. For sure. Yeah. So in my opinion, and we'll get into this, because I think Beth and I have like not different opinions, but again, just a topic we really want to fully flesh out here. In my opinion, there's so much room to thrive and find joy when working a nine to five. In fact,
00:33:04
Speaker
There's a lot of peace and security that I kind of miss about being a full-time employee and the routine of it all. I have a love-hate relationship with routine and Beth, I'm sure you can relate to this. I love a good routine. Doing the same thing in the morning, doing the same thing at night, things I do to jump into my work and overall I find productivity behind a good routine.
00:33:24
Speaker
doing the same things daily, weekly, monthly. But of course then I get bored easily and I like want to shake things up. And after a couple of months of being in routine, I'm like, Oh, I would need to move cities or something like, right. I, you know, and I've want to, and I soon want to find something to just shake up the day to day. So overall, in my opinion, a full-time job as an employee can give you so much freedom that you maybe have never considered before because you have the strict things you do every day, but then you've got all these hours outside of it with room
00:33:51
Speaker
to grow, to find a hobby, things like that. Right. Now, I want to preface this by saying because I know I just said that sticking with your nine to five and like not seeking any extra monetization of your hobbies outside of that is a good thing. I am not telling you to stick with any day job that is toxic or that drains your soul or anything like that. I think several weeks ago now, I shared kind of a personal life update that was happening to me at the end of 2022.
00:34:20
Speaker
with a really toxic job that I ended up leaving. And I am a big advocate for just leaving that job if it sucks the life out of you. Absolutely not what I'm saying. I'm not saying, well, it funds your life, so just stay there. No. If you can give yourself and your family a better situation by leaving a job like that and either finding a better one or pursuing entrepreneurship, that's great. That's not what I'm trying to say. But I think in this part of the episode, I want to encourage those who like their 9 to 5 or even
00:34:50
Speaker
get through it for the most part to pursue more outside of it. Because again, working a nine to five, you can still make work your life and be thinking about it after work all the time. And that's where again, I think it's totally okay to go in, show up at nine o'clock, leave at five o'clock, and then you go see your friends and go do something. Or on the weekend, you go for a hike or go camping or whatever your hobbies or passions are.
00:35:12
Speaker
I would encourage you to fill more of your day with those, and your nine to five more so fuels that. And no, not a second job, not more money, not something to monetize, but overall, how can you get the most out of life when working a nine to five? And again, I want to say, so long as it's financially stable, I understand that the economy is weird right now. And there's a lot of working two jobs or starting a side hustle to be able to fund it. I understand that's a situation. But generally, let's say your one job can fund your lifestyle.
00:35:41
Speaker
Do I necessarily think you have to give into this like side hustle, hustle culture thing? Not really. There's other things you can find outside of your nine to five to just like bring you joy and fulfillment. So that's kind of my opinion on it. If you're content with your job, you don't have to be doing all of these other things all the time to make more money.
00:36:01
Speaker
Right and I would say because Ayla just said a few minutes ago that we may have differing opinions on this coming up and this is where I think that like I agree like 90% with that. I would say I'm basically on board. I do think that more people need to learn that you don't have to constantly be thinking how can I monetize everything because that often leads to the sacrifice of a just good honest hobby that doesn't have anything to do with work.
00:36:26
Speaker
I
Career Choices and Personal Satisfaction
00:36:27
Speaker
think I'm a little more pro like the quote unquote hustle culture than you. Okay. I actually am kind of okay with it. I know that there's arguments for and against it, but I actually think it's like I find it good to have like things you're kind of always trying to monetize, not to a bad, bad point. I think that you do need to have like breaks and real hobbies. Like I said, I know we already said this, but I think it's even like biblical to have multiple like investments and multiple
00:36:56
Speaker
revenue streams and multiple jobs, kind of like being a serial entrepreneur, which I think oftentimes for people means multiple jobs. I know you can invest without having another job, but yeah, I think it's actually a good thing. And so I like my balance that I aim towards is I do want to have like multiple
00:37:15
Speaker
businesses, multiple jobs, like always kind of having multiple things on the pot going, but maybe have like one hobby, something that relaxes me. And of course, because every time I'm not working, if I'm just watching a movie or if I'm just chatting with my husband, like those should also be rejuvenating. But if I just have one good hobby like diving, then I feel like it helps me enough. But yeah, I think it's kind of biblical to
00:37:40
Speaker
to have more of a serial entrepreneurship life and also kind of along with that in my view like when I'm kind of like observing the world I feel like the most successful people the most wealthy people people that I kind of look up to they have multiple business ventures like all of them they've just been kind of serial entrepreneurs for forever and again the balance I just want to keep going back to the balance there's balance you don't have to again you don't have to turn everything into a job but I think it's okay to I think it's good I am more pro hustle culture I think
00:38:10
Speaker
um yeah no i like that too and i yeah like it's interesting how we both kind of have because i'll be like i think it comes down to calling which i know can get hard to follow but like um what you're called to because beth you're definitely someone who's called to like busyness and i think you're really good at it and even though i know you're like we've talked about this before the constant
00:38:34
Speaker
battle always to like balance work and life is like just kind of always something that'll be there. But generally, I think you're, you're good at like having those ideas and like expanding on them like all those things. And even I I'm someone right now who works part time at a job like as a barista, because that's just something I like to do and it gets me out of the house and stuff but then also balancing that.
00:38:54
Speaker
with full-time editing and constantly trying to expand that too. So definitely I'm a multi-job person right now. But I guess I just wouldn't want people to lose value in the day-to-day too. I discovered it's really important
00:39:11
Speaker
for me to have like 6pm onward like free like dinner with my husband that's our gym time then we watch a movie that's our unwinding time and sometimes during busy season that time does get full and that's fine like I will work kind of later hours during that time but so long as it's temporary and I think that's a big one for me like so long as the working late hours is a temporary
00:39:33
Speaker
getting through it for a couple weeks time because it could get especially again i'm a wife i know it could be different for somebody who's single but actually i i would argue if you're single it can get very harmful to be like i happen to work at eight in the morning and i'm not done until 10 at night every single day you know so
00:39:49
Speaker
If that's happening because you're running multiple jobs and stuff, I would definitely encourage finding a way to still give you hours that are just for you in every single day and then hopefully every weekend or something like that. But I like what you had to say too. I do think there is a biblical principle to it and a success principle to it of busyness
00:40:09
Speaker
can and can be and is a good thing I think like you said in the beginning of the episode if you do it the right way yeah and I think that what you what you were saying I agree it comes down to the individual you know not everybody's meant for the same thing so it comes down to the individual I'm acknowledging that Ayla acknowledges that and we're just sharing our experiences and showing you the two different perspectives because we do slightly
00:40:33
Speaker
Very in this, but our messaging overall today is the same. You don't have to constantly monetize everything. You've got to have breaks and hobbies and everyone's different.
Conclusion: Fulfillment Through Balance
00:40:41
Speaker
Some people are going to be built for nine to five. Some people are going to be built for entrepreneurship, figure out which one you are. When you do figure that out, figure out how you're going to make it work.
00:40:49
Speaker
If you work nine to five, how many hobbies do you need? If you're an entrepreneur, how many hobbies do you need? How many breaks do you need? Do you need a set? Because even with what you were just saying, you as an entrepreneur and a business owner, you Ayla, you like to have your set times where you do work and you have more structure like that. I'm actually, again, kind of in that way a little bit opposite. If I wasn't married, I think I would honestly work 24 set.
00:41:12
Speaker
I already feel like I almost worked 24 seven, but I, I only take breaks because other people make me feel guilty about working. And I, because I love working so much and I get stressed when I'm not working. And again, yeah. And two sides to that. If you work too much, work will tire you out. You'll get burned out.
00:41:28
Speaker
But it's just such an interesting balance. Oh, I'm similar. Chris is so patient with me. Again, if I wasn't married, I'd probably be the same. I know I just said you shouldn't. I say that you shouldn't because other people in my life have been good to tell me not to work through the night because I probably would. The same deal. It's been beneficial.
00:41:48
Speaker
to have somebody in my life who understands like rest is good for you and things like that that's where we balance each other out out really well but uh finding out how much rest is that the individual needs yeah and i think the other thing that kind of sparked this whole entire concept for me was like you know i'm a big believer in the quote there's like there was a quote floating around for a while there that was like you were not born to just pay bills and die and i will always stand by that again
00:42:18
Speaker
Do I want to make people who work a nine to five feel bad by saying that statement? Absolutely not. And that's where I jump into like, again, not everyone's just going to be an adventurous vagabond. I work from my van on the road, like whatever, what I think of when I hear that phrase, like we're not meant to just pay bills and die. I think of.
00:42:36
Speaker
Yeah, like how can you get out and explore this world the most? But obviously those things like come back down to reality, they cost money. So that's where I come to like, do I think you're just like wasting your life away because you're clocking and clocking out of a job every day? Absolutely not. But it's what you do with the rest of that time.
00:42:53
Speaker
Yeah, if you've got a job you're content with that can fuel the rest of your lifestyle, like I think I've seen a lot of accounts say like, I have a nine to five, here's my weekends. And they're taking your kids to these lakes, they're making sure they get out of the office, they use their paid vacation time to take their families places. And like, again, I understand financial situations are different. I'm not ignoring that. But I'm just saying it takes some intentionality.
00:43:16
Speaker
But you can have an equally fulfilling and adventurous and awesome life while working a nine to five. It's not always, well, I'm just going to pack up my nine to five and go on the road. Like sometimes you use it to just fuel the rest of your lifestyle. And I think those are like specifically accounts I've been seeing. Maybe I'll try to like share some on our Art of Intention podcast, like stories, just more of that encouragement of like when you
00:43:39
Speaker
clock out of your office at the end of the day what are you what are you going and doing and not to say you have to just like go hike every day or whatever i know i keep coming back to hiking but just like you've got so many more hours in the day to fill with life and with adventure and the things you love and a job doesn't have to stop you from that but it takes intention it takes actually
00:43:59
Speaker
getting off your couch when you come home and making that go out and happen if you want to if you want to like sustain a job but still have an adventurous not just pay bills and die lifestyle does that make sense that's kind of what i thought of when like this topic started coming around like put aside the time to jump into the things the things that you love and again they don't even have to make you any money it can just be because you enjoy it yeah exactly there's lots of ways to do life
00:44:28
Speaker
Overall guys, we really wanted to encourage you with this episode in the fact that the phrase, do what you love and you'll never work a day in your life can and will look different on everybody. For some people, they will leave a nine to five and pursue entrepreneurship. And while they're doing what they love, there will definitely be hard work poured into it.
00:44:45
Speaker
And on the flip side, others may be doing what they love by working hard eight hours a day at their Monday to Friday job so that they can come home and have a good time with their family or to save up for travels or to have quiet evenings delving into maybe a hobby. When it comes down to it, how we spend our eight hours of work or sometimes more than that a day looks different on anyone. And the difference is how you're gonna get the most out of it. And that at the end of the day is up to you and up to what the Lord's called you to do.
00:45:13
Speaker
Yeah, like we said in the beginning, it can be so easy to get swept up into hustle culture and, you know, boss babe culture back to the grind. And while we love hard work over here, you already heard my opinion on that too, it's really refreshing to see people find value in hobbies outside of their work and to only do them for the sake of enjoying them and just do them just to do them. Not for money or anything outside of that, but because life is more than how many different ways you can make money.
00:45:41
Speaker
Yeah, for sure. We could probably go on and on about this topic, and I really want to hear if this resonated with anybody else. So if you like what you heard on the show today, and you want to continue the conversation, and you want to continue to hear about all kinds of topics each week, definitely give us a follow on whatever platform you get your podcasts on. You already know it, we're available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and Sancaster. We leave direct links to each episode in our Instagram. Really, wherever you get your podcasts, you'll find us there.
00:46:10
Speaker
We have so much in the works for the show as we continue along and we're just so grateful for all of you following each step. All that said, we're excited to catch you next week with another episode. See you then. Bye. Bye.