70% of employees hate their jobs.One of the most frustrating things most adults face in their life is working on a job they are nor passionate about. What most people don’t realize is that they can find joy in what they do. In fact, they can turn their hobbies into a full-blown career. This toolkit will show how you can transform your passion into a profession, and how you can make a living doing what you used to do in your “spare time.”

1. Discover your interest and hobbies that make you happy. This could be anything in the world: from being a nature lover to making model trains, from gardening to cooking, anything goes. Once you’ve figured out your passion, it’s time to live it. Living your passion means turning it from a hobby to a central part of your life: your job. Making profits out of it. Eg Martha Stewart – she turned her passion for cooking into a full blown business. Or closer home, I have this case study here of Chirag Barjatya. Turning your passion into profession means doing more than just putting in an effort: it means directing all your efforts towards your passion, and it’s vital to your success. You have to completely immerse yourself into your hobby. Once you have determined the activity you are passionate about, it’s time that you hone your relevant skills. Keep in mind that individuals are only willing to pay for your services if you are really good at something. And in order to make a career out of your passion, you need to be considered a pro at it.This means reading everything about it, watching what fellows in similar hobbies do or being completely updated on the subject.

2. Once you’ve identified your passion and are trying hard to live it, find ways of letting the world know just how passionate you are about your field. You can achieve this by creating a brand: an image that shows people what you’re passionate about and is a reflection of your personality. For eg., if you have been following Chirag on Twitter, you will notice he is putting all his efforts to stand out as a champion of fitness. Weather quote retweeting ‘Protein Kahan hai’ on all sundry food pics or championing soya as a source of protein for vegetarians. He speaks about these reflecting his own personality, sometimes causing a controversy Instead of trying to find ways to alter his persona in order to conform to people’s expectations about nutrition experts, he sounds abrasive. Although some find his personality off-putting, being genuine made him stand out from other nutrition experts. But just having a brand is not enough: since your brand is the lens through which your audience views your passion, you need to make sure there are no “smudges.” You can ensure that your brand stays well regarded and loved by displaying excellent customer service. Treat your fans and customers well by listening to them and maintaining an open dialog.

3. Social media websites are perfect for attracting fans, customers and businesses to your brand. The best way to reach out to potential customers, fans and people with the same passion as you is social media. It has forever changed how people find fans and conduct business. Indeed, social media tools, such as Youtube, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, allow you to access audiences interested in your passion, with speed and ease that was once impossible. If you notice my handle, I have used Facebook page and twitter to connect with my followers and fans and also started this newsletter to stay connected on a weekly basis. More and more people find their way to my website through these social media channels. When your audience spreads the word, your fan base will naturally grow, helping you garner the attention. Brands and media then want to be part of the action.

4. Once you have your brand and are sharing it with the world through social media, it’s now time to decide how you want to convey your passion to your audience.The best way to do this is using stories that help your audience grasp and understand your position. Will you tell stories on a video blog on YouTube, or Instagram? Or use Twitter or Facebook? What great content will you produce to tell your story? A good example that I can share is of Sandeep Maheshwari. He is a name among millions who struggled, failed and surged ahead in search of success, happiness and contentment. Just like any middle class guy, he too had a bunch of unclear dreams and a blurred vision of his goals in life. All he had was an undying learning attitude to hold on to. Rowing through ups and downs, it was time that taught him the true meaning of his life. With around 27 Million followers on YouTube, he is a house hold name.

   Now is the time to figure out exactly how you want to convey your passion to your audience. In order to do this, you need to decide what kind of medium truly compliments your personality. For example, if you have a personality that catches people’s attention, you should use a video blog to better take advantage of this. On the other hand, if you’re shy in front of a camera or microphone, you should look at other media like Twitter. Whatever you decide, your brand will succeed if your content and platform match your passion.

5. Once you’ve transformed your passion into a brand and identified the platform to match it, how do you make sure that you stand out in the crowd? The answer is quite simple: be authentic. Authenticity means being true to yourself, no matter what. You can’t be everyone’s best friend, so even though your personality and mannerisms may turn some people away, you must persevere. But cultivating authenticity does take lot of work: it requires time, effort and energy. And this, of course, takes patience: success doesn’t come immediately, and without the patience to achieve rewards, no brand can manage to get off the ground.

6. To succeed, you and your brand must gain the support of a community. In order to find and interact with these future fans, you need to be part of a community, i.e., a group of people who share an interest in your passion and who come together to discuss, debate and share views on the subject matter. If you want to grab the attention of your target community, find the places where they exchange ideas and participate in those communities yourself.

7. Once you have a popular brand, get yourself noticed by reaching out to investors and advertisers. Once your brand gains popularity, you’ll undoubtedly be wondering how to turn that popularity into cash. Quite often, you’ll find that the investors and companies looking for advertising space, will begin to take notice of you once you’ve created a popular online brand with a solid following.

   But, of course, it never hurts to start this process from your side. Eg, if you have created a health brand, it does not hurt to approach brands that sell supplements or gym wear etc. Explain to them how advertising on your blog could give them a greater return on investments since they could reach your large fan base and pay only a fraction of what they would in print media.

8. Once you have come this far, it’s necessary to ensure that your brand continues to thrive in the future. React quickly and effectively to change. Carefully observe the business environment in order to see when new developments emerge, and then quickly react to them. Everyday new tools and ways are being introduced to catch the audience attention. You would not like to be stagnant on a dying platform. You can only produce a successful brand if you react quickly to the continual developments in our ever-changing world.

Devote your life to your hobby. By creating your own authentic brand, engaging your audience on social media and intelligently reacting to changes in the business environment, you can attract the attention and money of investors and advertisers. Don’t Be Afraid to Ask for Help.