The thought of throwing away retirement to work again is discouraging in itself. Taking my hobby and turning it into an income sounds like a giant wall that needs to be scaled, while upside down and blindfolded. That’s why I decided to make it less overwhelming with small steps.
Building a supplemental income for retirement can require as much time and dedication as starting any business. However, it doesn’t have to be overwhelming, at least that’s what I told myself. My approach is to focus on incremental progress, sometimes as little as five minutes at a time. This method is how I’ve been transforming my hobby into a source of supplemental income or working towards that goal anyway.
Managing Overwhelm and Moving Forward
It’s easy to feel overwhelmed or discouraged when I think about supplementing my retirement income with a hobby. The sense that there isn’t enough time can lead to inaction. Have you ever had those moments when something seems so big that it’s not worth starting. And, will I have enough healthy time on earth to make the effort pay off? Am I being realistic?
Should I simply go for a side hustle, something with a bit of temporary feeling surrounding it? No, I’m not looking for a short-term commitment to solve a temporary financial hurdle and move on in life. I’m looking for a lifestyle, a complete package that includes an income to keep my retirement financially healthy in the future while I enjoy life.
Instead of getting stuck thinking about the long journey ahead, I ask myself: What can I accomplish in five minutes today to move from where I am to where I want to be with my hobby that I’m turning into an income supplement? How can I transition my lifestyle in a way that suits me today and in the future?
Five minutes a day doesn’t feel like much time to devote to something so big on the agenda. It also feels like a waste of so much of my day after the five minutes is up. I am retired now. Why not spend more time getting it done with all the hours I have unassigned in the course of a normal day?
We’re right back to feeling overwhelmed. The overwhelm comes from several different directions, like choosing a place to start without that nagging feeling that another task is more important while the task at hand also needs completion. How do I go from enjoying the tasks in my life without putting myself back into a full-time career where all depends on completing every task on the list each day? What needs my attention and what does not?
Structuring My Day For Success
To eliminate indecision, I’ve divided my day into two main categories: business tasks and hobby tasks. The business tasks include blogging, managing my YouTube channel, learning new tools and techniques for marketing and whatever else comes my way. The hobby tasks include working on skill development, sharing my love of sewing and quilting, and deepening my knowledge around the hobby.
Mornings are for business tasks, afternoons are set aside for hands-on work in my hobby. This structure helps me organize my tasks and maintain momentum in both directions. It also gives me permission to stop thinking about a business task when all I want to do is focus on something creative. There’s a time for everything.
From 8 a.m. to noon I focus on activities like making videos, lighting problems, editing, blogging, and administrative tasks. In the afternoon, I concentrate on developing my hobby skills, learning how to use my new sewing equipment, and deciding how I like to do the craft and present it.
Five minutes at a time can make a substantial difference. Over the years, I learned my hobby in small increments—five minutes here and there—while balancing family, career, education, volunteering, and other life activities. These few minutes collectively advanced my skills over decades and still do so today. I often learn new techniques in 5 minutes or less.
How do I thread my new sewing machine? It takes 5 minutes to learn. How do I turn a straight stitch into an zigzag stitch on my sewing machine? In 5 minutes I can learn. How do I put binding on a quilt? I can show you in 5 minutes.
How do I add a photo to a blog post? It took 5 minutes to learn. How do I connect my microphone to my camera for better audio? I spent less than 5 minutes learning. Most jobs can be broken down into 5 minute increments.
Five minutes makes a difference.
Finding Motivation And Recognizing Progress
In my case, the idea to turn my hobby of sewing and quilting into an income to supplement my retirement grew out of a necessity, exploration and serendipity.
Maintaining multiple sources of income, especially given concerns about the long-term reliability of social security and other traditional retirement incomes, remains a priority for me. I’m still young when it comes to retirement. I’m hoping that I’ve got many more years of living ahead of me. A lot can happen in a couple of decades.
Simply thinking about the potential, the vision of this lifestyle, and doing research to allay fears wasn’t getting me any closer. My progress wasn’t progress at all.
By focusing on actionable steps, I see a distinction between contemplation and real progress towards a meaningful and enjoyable way to spend my retirement. I’m no longer worried about the possibility of running a little short in retirement. It feels like I’m back to living my life, in a retired sort of way.
An Amazing Result
I acknowledged that I wasn’t taking action or making any forward progress because I was overwhelmed by too many goals and tasks to make it happen. Turning a hobby into a retirement income and changing the direction of my lifestyle to a more rewarding one requires some level of discomfort. You have to get off the sofa and do something, learn new skills, and meet new people.
Whether it’s five minutes or several hours, the key is to keep moving forward. Taking even one step every day, on the business side or the hobby side, brings me closer to the life that I see ahead of me. Consistently moving in the direction I want to go is getting me there.