Monetise your happiness

Hobbies are fun, and many times, profitable.

When Pratik Rasam and Mit Mehta decided to capture their final year in school on film, they could have hardly anticipated that others could be willing to pay. So imagine their surprise when they earned Rs 5,000 by selling CDs of the film to their classmates.

Rasam and Mehta possibly enjoyed just the beginner’s luck. But while hobbies take a backseat for most professionals, there are a few who are able to chase them and make money as well.

Let’s take Vidhi Doshi’s example. This 24-year old, looks after business development and client servicing functions in the advertising agency, Cliché Rebel. In her spare time, she paints. And at times, for money.

 

“I received my first paid order from a relative who was renovating his house. I created four oil paintings for him, priced between Rs 8,000 to Rs 11,000. The price was based on the canvas size,” says Vidhi Doshi.

Subsequently, she has managed to sell regularly to friends and family

Her costs: The easel (Rs 5,000 to Rs 10,000 depending on the size), canvas (Rs 650, one foot by one foot in size), paints (Rs 1,000 which can last for almost three paintings) and brushes (Rs 600- Rs 700 for a set of five).

Her business tip: Besides one’s social circle, look at galleries. “Many galleries display a new artist’s work for a stipulated time period. If your work sells, the gallery claims a commission for the piece sold. The unsold ones come back to you,” says Doshi, who has till date managed to sell almost 40 paintings through galleries, each priced between Rs 10,000 to Rs 15,000.

Photography as a hobby can however prove to be slightly more expensive as compared to painting. A simple point and shoot camera may be available for as low as Rs 5,000. But if you wish to upgrade your equipment, then for even the most basic digital single-lens reflex camera (DSLR) you will have to cough up at least, Rs 25,000. And even more for lenses.

No wonder, Kimya Gandhi had to actively seek avenues to monetise it. A graduate in fashion communications, her initial assignments came through her friends who were aspiring fashion designers. “I did photo shoots of my friends’ work, mostly to help them out. But, even then I could charge them Rs 5,000,” says Gandhi, who works as a graphic designer with Nayamode, a marketing and technology firm.

She does not shoot portfolios anymore but has instead started concentrating on free lance photography. She regularly submits her work for publishing in coffee table books.

“This is not a very regular source of income but you have to keep sending your pictures to publishers. An image that gets published can fetch an amateur a minimum of Rs 500,” says Gandhi.

Her advice to free lance photographers: Keep going for events, shooting pictures and circulating them to publishers. Also while sending out your images to publishers, send only low resolution images which cannot be used. This would protect your work from getting misused.

Any hobby that requires culinary skills can be exceptionally profitable. Joanne Fernandes, a corporate communications professional, understood it quite early. Result:

“Earlier, I would only bake ‘diet desserts’ for myself. But soon I realised that a lot of people wanted to buy my ‘diet sweets’,” says Fernandes.

People prefer home made cakes and desserts as they can be customised to suit their tastes. A one-kg cake sells for around Rs 1,000. The cost: Only Rs 300. The premium is for creativity and effort.

Buoyed by her success, Fernandes extended her services to include party games and activities, invitation cards, cakes and even chocolates or cookies as gifts. And all this earns her anywhere from Rs 1,000 to Rs 4,000 per party. Yes, it started off as a fun thing to do but has now become quite a profitable venture.

Then, there are hobbies that have been around for ages. Most of us collected stamps from the letters sent by cousins living in US as children. Few may have followed it as passionately as Kishore Jhunjhunwala, who has been collecting stamps, coins and notes for 43 years.

Collectors of these items consider it as a lesson in history. But not many know how financially lucrative this hobby can be. “A single Indian one rupee note printed in 1964 recently sold for Rs 20,000,” says Jhunjhunwala.

If you wish to earn money by selling off your collection, you have multiple options. There are dedicated stores where you can sell off your coins, stamps or notes. You can even take them to ‘exhibitions’ such as the one happening this weekend at Napu Hall, Matunga, which act as trading platforms.

And if you have an extremely rare item, you may even consider taking it to an auction house.

Hobbies are definitely fun. But when they bring in revenues, it’s even better. So you could be a chartered accountant, like Sharad Shah, who turns a rock star at night. Or like T. Bijoy Idicheriah, a business reporter by profession, and a theatre instructor on weekends. Life can be fun!