Post: #1

So I'd guess that quite a few of us have been involved with various "semi-pro" hobbies and businesses that never quite reached full potential because we aged, burnt out, ran out of steam, got injured, got "jobs", got jaded, got married and dozens of other reasons...

I'm in that boat right now... just can't seem to justify investing more time on a "hobby/business" that's fun but not really worth the time investment these days...

Has anyone else experienced this sort of scenario? What did you do?

Post: #2

Years ago, when hobby/ business stopped being enjoyable and started being extra work I didn't need. I probably could have quit my day job and taken it on full time, but it would've ended eventually. I just one day said fuck this and sold off all my stock at auction. Came out in front. Still dabble occasionally (10-12 years later) but not as a serious source of income.

Post: #3

I've gotten really good at both sound editing and sound design but have no degree in that area and have no idea how to market the skill. Or if anyone needs it.

But when I had my music blog, man could I do some great clean-up work on obscure old records.

Post: #4

I used to be heavily involved in a gaming scene with an irl economy associated with it that I know very well plus now I have the intellectual capacity and abality to profit off of it.

I choose not to play the game or invest time profiting off of it still but man if I had set up and been smarter as a kid I'd be good financially for my current needs.

Post: #5

(07-13-2018 08:58 PM)SteezeySteve Wrote:  I used to be heavily involved in a gaming scene with an irl economy associated with it that I know very well plus now I have the intellectual capacity and abality to profit off of it.

I choose not to play the game or invest time profiting off of it still but man if I had set up and been smarter as a kid I'd be good financially for my current needs.

MTG?

Post: #6

My current sport requires time and monetary commitment.
While people would say don't shit where you eat and it was not my primary purpose, the quality of the women isn't that high.
That encourages me to commit even less.

Post: #7

Nah RuneScape.

And Minecraft to a lesser degree. But RuneScape more so from a pure financial standpoint (bots goldfarming etc)

I stay away from video games in general these days.

Post: #8

(07-14-2018 02:35 PM)SteezeySteve Wrote:  Nah RuneScape.

And Minecraft to a lesser degree. But RuneScape more so from a pure financial standpoint (bots goldfarming etc)

I stay away from video games in general these days.

Hell yeah I was into that shit too back in the day. Botted gold/accounts and ran a merch clan (basically glorified scams, digital economy MLMs essentially), and lured a bit here and there.

If I could do it over again I would start a dicing clan in essentially a franchise model and take a share of the profits from each operator. RuneScape taught me a lot about business actually now that I think about it.

Unpopular opinion, but one of the best MMO's ever in my mind.

Post: #9

Yeah I learned a lot about life like never trust people (only scammed once and got lured once with that zamrock wine trick as a noob) and developed / discovered my love/talent for research synthesizing. I haven't played in years but could still say which osrs accounts are best for pking bossing etc because I'd just research and synthesize info instead of listening to teachers. Later I'd do the same with fitness programs.

Fitness and rs info have so much in common it's weird but yeah rs merch clans are basically multi level marketing schemes that probably match how some irl stock scams actually work.

Post: #10

(07-13-2018 07:57 AM)Tex Cruise Wrote:  Years ago, when hobby/ business stopped being enjoyable and started being extra work I didn't need. I probably could have quit my day job and taken it on full time, but it would've ended eventually. I just one day said fuck this and sold off all my stock at auction. Came out in front. Still dabble occasionally (10-12 years later) but not as a serious source of income.

This is kind of the stage I'm at, thinking about selling up since there is considerable money tied up... but I still get enjoyment from it, always have, and it's a nice "reset" and escape from the grind. On the flip side, to push it to a fully pro level, it would involve a lifestyle that isn't sustainable long term without a huge breakthrough/payoff.

Did you have regrets about selling up the first time?

Post: #11

I still pursue my monetarily-viable hobbies and interests. Primarily producing and recording music. It's fun, and it's decent for extra money on the side, but I don't promote it or do it frequently enough to make it a formidable revenue stream. I also still play guitar and record my own stuff and jam with friends regularly. I don't see myself ever really giving up music all together.

When I was younger I was really into computer gaming and building/customizing/overclocking gaming PC's. I got out of that about 8-9 years ago. Sort of just grew out of it. I don't dislike it but it's just not as much of an interest of mine, and since the tech world changes so frequently and so fast I would have a lot of catch up to do to get back up to speed on what hardware, software, and practices are "in" right now.

Post: #12

(07-18-2018 06:25 PM)JackinMelbourne Wrote:  

(07-13-2018 07:57 AM)Tex Cruise Wrote:  Years ago, when hobby/ business stopped being enjoyable and started being extra work I didn't need. I probably could have quit my day job and taken it on full time, but it would've ended eventually. I just one day said fuck this and sold off all my stock at auction. Came out in front. Still dabble occasionally (10-12 years later) but not as a serious source of income.

This is kind of the stage I'm at, thinking about selling up since there is considerable money tied up... but I still get enjoyment from it, always have, and it's a nice "reset" and escape from the grind. On the flip side, to push it to a fully pro level, it would involve a lifestyle that isn't sustainable long term without a huge breakthrough/payoff.

Did you have regrets about selling up the first time?

Regrets? Not as such.
As cool as it would've been doing my own thing successfully in my early 20s, it was always going to end eventually, only a short period in consumer culture allowed my hobby/business to boom.
Without being too specific it was a restoration/refurbishment type of deal. The knowledge needed was only available through a select few grey-beardy old blokes (like I am now), experience, and by spending lots of time at the city library digging through and photocopying bits of hard to find technical manuals.
Today with a quick google/youtube search somebody could either fix it themselves if they were so inclined, or buy a cheap chinese replacement, all with a few keystrokes.

It just happened to be a very fortunate time when throw away culture had just started to take hold, but many were still happy to buy quality second hand goods for a fair price. I saw that gap in the market and I filled the fucker.

To me it serves as a very handy reminder that I don't need to be working for a wage for some cockhead if I've had enough of it, because I can make money all sorts of ways if I want to, and that's a good thing to always keep in mind, for your own sanity if nothing else.

Post: #13

I have gone to a pro level with mine and it’s spun me off into a couple of extra directions I wasn’t intending to go.

Now the original semi pro hobby, which you can probably guess what it is, that I decided to pursue doesn’t look much like it did originally, it now has extra layers of managemt and buracracy added in.

It’s a bit shit but I was explaining to someone the other night that I’m now too far down this road to reinvent myself and start again. The only constant in life is change.