Changing from a Hobbyist to a Career

Katy

Lately I had been feeling lost with what I wanted to do with my life.  I have been living in Los Angeles for a little over a year and a half pursing jobs in the music industry.  But as time has gone on I have found a new found love for writing (hence the blog). I was starting to think that I wanted to switch from music to writing.  After talking to a good friend though, I realized I could do both.  The problem though: I have a hobbyist view on music and writing, meaning I am more passive and more of an observer with others instead of making my own content, as well as with my blog, and need to change my thinking to thinking about it as a career.  I honestly do not know how to change my thinking with that, and I know I need to in order to fulfill what I want to do.

My question to all you wonderful readers out there: Do you have any advice on how I can do this?  Have any of you had a similar issue?  If so, how did you change your thinking?  How do you become a successful content creator?  Lastly, how do you get yourself in the right mindset to become a content creator?

46 thoughts on “Changing from a Hobbyist to a Career”

  1. Do you really wish to display content, [probably more lucrative], Or do you wish to display your innate artist ? [ usually less lucrative at first] Any one can learn the former, and count the beans; not many can create the beans, if you will. Hope this helps, ; )

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    1. I would love to make money from my writing, but I know that does not happen overnight. I also want my posts to come from natural places and feelings that I am feeling at the time, I guess what needs to happen first is for me to display my innate artist first and with that I can grow into more lucrative roles.

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  2. Try to get as much experience as possible, especially before you finish school. Do you want to blog professionally or write for a print or online publication? Since you live in LA, there’s probably a lot of opportunities to get an internship. Some of them don’t pay but they count as college credit. No matter where you get an internship, it looks good on your resume when you graduate. If you want to blog for a living, some opportunities pop up on Twitter sometimes. I would recommend getting an internship with a paper or magazine in LA. When I was in college, I had an internship at a weekly newspaper and it helped me a lot. I learned stuff they don’t teach you in the classroom. They even offered me a job when I finished but I took another one with a daily newspaper. Guest posting in other blogs helps you practice your writing and get your name out there but 9 times out of 10 they don’t pay. There’s more to setting up a self-hosted blog too, especially if you want to make money off of it. Bloggers usually make money off of advertising or writing reviews on products.

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    1. I am not in school as of the moment (but plan to go back), so it is very hard to find internships that will take you without college credit. Speaking of guest posting, are you still looking for people to guest post on your blog, because I am interested in doing one if you will have me! Thanks for the advice! 🙂

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      3. A guest post for this Saturday or the following Saturday would be great because I’m not doing the interviews. I had someone do a guest post about parenting. Do you have any ideas? I’m pretty lenient. Anything about women’s topics. It could be about Christmas if it’s this week. I know it’s kinda soon. It could be about movies, music, etc.

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  5. I feel like the creative arts translate from one genre to another pretty well, that’s why I am an artist/musician/writer/other stuff I haven’t tried yet.

    I think the best way is just to do it–write every day as a discipline. Too many times we creative types wait for inspiration to strike; I have to keep telling myself just get your butt in the chair and begin😉
    Go for it girl, you’ll be great!!

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    1. Thanks Meredith! Yeah, I need to be more disciplined when it comes to just sitting down on my ass and start writing. I tend to procrastinate a little too much lol. I am thinking about starting up weekly album reviews again in the new year. Life got to be too busy and I dropped that a while back.

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  6. Katy, you have a big wide world open to you! There are a zillion formulas for blogging. I think you have a unique voice to encourage others with a variety of disabilities to seek leisure opportunities. I am a leisure educator and this is what my blog focuses on. You could write about similar things and weave in music and your experiences in LA. Stay with Wp dot com until you feel serious. It takes a LOT to make $$ on blogs these days. Go with what you know!

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  9. It really depends on what your definition of successful is. If it is money, there are numerous ways to be paid for writing. Freelancing for a local paper or blog is a good start.

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  11. Goals in writing are tricky. If you set out to write a best seller, you’re going to crash and burn unless you’re one of the few that does it their first try. It’s much better to set a goal to write the best novel you can write. You can’t control sales no matter what any books or web sites promise you. Write the best story you can and then write another and another and keep learning how to tell a great story.

    If you’re looking more towards creative non-fiction, say becoming a blogger with a loyal following, you have a little more control of that. The advice on how to gain more readers will work for a time. But you’ll see a lot of blogs grow really fast and then collapse entirely. For blogs you need to have a consistent voice to have staying power. Yeah, you’ll get a lot of followers if you blog hop and comment and reply to comments but you have to keep your audience engaged and you do that with your voice.

    The best advice I can give is to set goals you can control, monitor them, and keep practicing and learning. And don’t be afraid to adjust those goals as you learn more.

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  15. This advice is coming from a guy who himself faced this dilemma and took the wrong decision.
    Nothing is more satisfying than adopting your hobby, your interest as profession. And nothing’s more terrifying if you don’t. So choose wisely.
    And once you decide, then all you need is Take the Plunge. You will get to learn everything and before you know, you will have transformed into a serious professional.

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  17. Writing is a start. Have some goals. You want to be specific to what you want to achieve otherwise you’ll go around in circles. Make connections. This blog is already a great step in the right direction. Also expect rejection.

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