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Are You a Hobbyist or a Business Owner?

by WebPen
14 replies
NOTE- This post is just as much for me as it is for you!

I think a big reason why most IMers fail- and a huge reason why I haven't made nearly as much money as I'd like- is because IM gets treated like a hobby.

Don't think so? Let's look at how hobbyists do things compared to businesses.

Hobbyist- buys something fun(maybe a model airplane), plays with it for a little while (maybe a week to a few months), then gets bored and buys something else.

Business- buys things related to their business that will help them make more money- equipment, customers (through marketing), training, etc.


Hobbyist- spends time on model plane building "whenever they can get around to it"

Business- works on making money on a somewhat regular schedule (for IMers with day jobs, maybe that's 9pm to midnight)


Hobbyist- puts entertainment above being productive (not a bad thing necessarily, as long as they're productive at some point during the day). They're trying to get their fix and enjoy themselves, not make money, get healthier, etc.

Business- puts being productive above having fun. If a business has negative cash flow, it's going to die- and cash flow only comes from being productive.


Bottom line- A business invests money and time in things that will help it succeed- but it can't ALL be on training (WSOs). Without marketing (which gets traffic), a bakery with the greatest recipes in the world will die very quickly. An online product without traffic dies very quickly- it doesn't matter if that product was the best product ever made.

What are you investing in? Are you investing in WSOs every day to keep you entertained until the next greatest one comes along? Or are you spending some money on WSOs to learn more about how to expand your busines, and spend the rest of your money on tools, outsourcers, consulting and traffic?

Are you a hobbyist or a business owner? Think about it- and have a great one!
#business #hobbyist #owner
  • Profile picture of the author loi77
    Thanks for sharing, Justin!

    IM is definitely a serious business for me. I am constantly learning more about this business.

    If you treat it as a hobby, most likely you are not going to get there.
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    • Profile picture of the author A1pha
      Originally Posted by loi77 View Post

      Thanks for sharing, Justin!

      IM is definitely a serious business for me. I am constantly learning more about this business.

      If you treat it as a hobby, most likely you are not going to get there.
      Well put, to be successful in IM you have to treat it like a business. If you treat IM like a hobby you won't get the same results. Treat it like a real business, work hard, stick with one method and you will see great results.
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  • Profile picture of the author fin
    Maybe we can have both, no?
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  • Profile picture of the author Green Moon
    Running my websites is a hobby for me, though it can be a very time consuming one.

    My business is what pays the mortgage and keeps food in the pantry.
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  • Profile picture of the author weheartcontent
    My hobby is all about making money so can IMing be considered a hobby for me, though I still need to put in effort. Argh. Can't answer this question!
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  • Profile picture of the author TopKat22
    I got into IM after I retired a bit as a short term exercise to learn more about it to help others who wanted to make money from home and as something new to do, so I suppose that is more like a hobby.

    However, the business owner in me soon took it on like all my other ventures and decided if I was going to do this, I would do it like any and all my other offline ventures in the past.

    There is definitely a difference between those who do any type of "money making" endeavor like IM, MLM, Network Marketing as a business & those who keep their jobs and do this on the side.

    I personally have never seen anyone really succeed at any type of business while keeping a job.

    I have posted that statement before and a member on here said he has seen many people do so.

    I PM'd him about it as I was genuinely interested in chatting with these people to find out how they succeeded when no one I know of has.

    To date, I've gotten no such opportunity.
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    • Profile picture of the author fin
      Originally Posted by TopKat22 View Post


      I PM'd him about it as I was genuinely interested in chatting with these people to find out how they succeeded when no one I know of has.

      To date, I've gotten no such opportunity.
      You must read completely different posts from me.

      Everyone I've seen on here has only left their job when they were making 20x as much as their day job, only working 1 hour per night, while at the same time as having one arm tied behind their back.
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      • Profile picture of the author TopKat22
        Originally Posted by fin View Post

        You must read completely different posts from me.

        Everyone I've seen on here has only left their job when they were making 20x as much as their day job, only working 1 hour per night, while at the same time as having one arm tied behind their back.
        yes, I've read those too and I would love to chat with any of them to verify.

        There was another fellow and I who were really wanting to test this out in our International Business Network and were planning to write a book about it to encourage others. What we found was that we could not contact or, if we could contact, we could not confirm any of the stories we were told to be true to include them in that book idea.

        Since then, whenever it comes up, I am still a bit curious as that idea is still out there to come to fruition.

        So, if there are indeed, those who have achieved this and would like to be interviewed and offer proof, if I got enough such stories, I still would love to write that book.
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  • Profile picture of the author veheme
    I think we can have both. If your business is something you do as a hobby or something you really have interest in, it is definitely a good idea to treat it as both because being too serious will definitely kill you (what my mom said).
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    • Profile picture of the author TopKat22
      Originally Posted by MrJayJay View Post

      I think we can have both. If your business is something you do as a hobby or something you really have interest in, it is definitely a good idea to treat it as both because being too serious will definitely kill you (what my mom said).
      Please, no offense intended, at all, and I love my mother, however, she has never been a successful business owner and although the advice she has ever given me, may have been appropriate to life in general, it was not at all appropriate to running a successful, money making business. As a matter of fact, just the opposite.

      However, her brother, my uncle, gave me some great business advice when I was still in college that I've since heard from many of the top success trainers...which was:

      Never take advice from someone who has not achieved what you want to achieve or more.
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      44 days in and we broke the $10K a month recurring bench mark.

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      • Profile picture of the author veheme
        Originally Posted by TopKat22 View Post

        Please, no offense intended, at all, and I love my mother, however, she has never been a successful business owner and although the advice she has ever given me, may have been appropriate to life in general, it was not at all appropriate to running a successful, money making business. As a matter of fact, just the opposite.

        However, her brother, my uncle, gave me some great business advice when I was still in college that I've since heard from many of the top success trainers...which was:

        Never take advice from someone who has not achieved what you want to achieve or more.
        HOW DARE YOU DISS MY MOTHER LIKE THAT? Just kidding.

        Yeah, I said it in a casual way but loving what you do is better. That is the message I'm trying to get across. Without a sense of interest or motivation in your part, it is pretty hard to keep pushing yourself day-in and day-out to achieve more.
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        • Profile picture of the author TopKat22
          Originally Posted by MrJayJay View Post

          HOW DARE YOU DISS MY MOTHER LIKE THAT? Just kidding.

          Yeah, I said it in a casual way but loving what you do is better. That is the message I'm trying to get across. Without a sense of interest or motivation in your part, it is pretty hard to keep pushing yourself day-in and day-out to achieve more.
          LOL

          Yes, I agree with that way of looking at it.

          However, as has been posted many times before, do something that you love that also has a market, is profitable and reachable by you if you want to make any real money.

          And just to be clear, I do not think that people cannot make some extra money to say help with bills or something part time.

          As a matter of fact, I helped a whole Church Group do that once.

          When you consider that a very high percentage of bankruptcies in the US could have been avoided with only a few hundred dollars more a month, it was worth them to learn it.

          In this group, the ones that actually replaced their income, left their day jobs to concentrate fully on their business.
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        • Profile picture of the author slametrianto
          Nice Thread Justin,

          I Think I will be a business owner, and I will choose business model that same with my hobbyst.

          example : i love read, and i will build a book store.
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  • Profile picture of the author ExpertSEOServices
    I am a business owner for sure! I treat my business online very professionally and am always working on building it up and increasing my income.
    I am always adding and investing time into learning and earning.

    I have always treated it as a business not as a hobby as making an income online has always been very important to me.
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