“Treat making money as a hobby.”
For most of us, we don’t think about making money this way.
A hobby implies you do it on the side for fun. That it’s not your main gig.
But, for most of us, making money is a full-time job or a business that we work in full-time.
Of course, there’s nothing wrong with that.
But how great would it be if you made all the money you needed as a hobby and you could spend most of your time doing whatever the Lord led you to do?
Some pastors have told me that they’d probably be in a different ministry position if it wasn’t for the money. And they mean this in the most sincere way possible. Not that they’re in their current position for the money, just that what they have a vision for doing doesn’t pay much or anything at all. As a result, they feel they can’t pursue that passion yet, because they need more money than it can provide.
But, if you make money as a hobby, on the side, in not too many hours per week, you can do with most of your time ANYTHING the Lord leads you to do, whether it pays little or nothing at all.
I just love that!
Or, let’s say what you’re doing right now is exactly what you’d be doing if you made money as a hobby. Then, that would allow you to give all of the income away from what you’re doing now (if you so wished) because all of your living expenses would now be provided for by the money you’re making as a hobby. Pretty cool! This is what I was able to do when I came off the payroll at our church. It was a dream come true.
You may be thinking, “That all sounds good, but how in the world do you make a full-time income as a hobby?”
I’m glad you asked.
I’ve already written about this extensively in past newsletters, but I’ll give a few steps.
Step 1: Believe that you can
- If your mindset is that this is not possible, you’ll likely never achieve it.
- My story & many others prove that you can!
Step 2: Explore ways to make money that are not tied to time investment
- Obviously you can’t make a full-time income working minimal hours per week if your pay is tied to the hours you spend doing something.
- You need to disconnect “time you spend” from “money you make” in your thinking & start looking at how people make money in ways that aren’t connected to the time they spend. One way is through various forms of Real Estate which I write about in this newsletter. Another way is Online Business, which I also write about (and which this newsletter is a part of). And there are many others.
Step 3: Begin to develop several additional streams of income that you discovered in Step 2
- Once you identify ways to make money that aren’t connected to a certain amount of time spent, start pursuing those.
- And I’d encourage you to not just pick one, pick several. Some may work, others may not. Taken collectively, you want them to eventually replace your full-time income.
Step 4: Once your money-making hobbies equal or surpass your income, you can give your income away or move to the ministry position where the Lord has been leading you
- This is the fun part! You have a few hobbies that are now making significant income without significant time investment & you essentially have two full-time incomes. Now you can give one away if the Lord leads.
- At this point, you’ll just be managing several hobbies that make money in a few hours a week so you’re freed up to do with most of your time whatever the Lord leads, whether it pays anything or not.
I know this all may seem impossible.
That’s what I thought 7 years ago too.
But my own story, the stories of some of my students, and the stories of others have convinced me that the Lord can help you to do this, if he so leads.
I’m glad to help along the way.
