OFI 1088: How To Turn A Hobby Into A Business

Our guest today, Tatia Veltkamp, and her husband had an interest - butterflies. This interest turned into a hobby.  The hobby grew and eventually turned into a side-hustle.  Once the side-hustle started Tatia could see other opportunities.  Today, this has grown into a full-blown business called Wings Of Enchantment.

Tatia and her husband started breeding butterflies after they gained some exposure to the need and the process.  Over time they discovered the demand for these butterflies and saw several opportunities to turn this into a business.

Today they own "Wings Of Enchantment" in New Mexico.  They are spreading awareness about butterflies, habitats, and the plants that are needed to support the species.  They have also recognized several ways to generate revenue from this and put them into practice:

• Classroom Presentations
• Butterly Releases
• Life Cycle Kits
• Displays

The concept of butterfly releases was very interesting to me as I never even knew this existed.  For special events, memorial services, dedications, you name it, people like to release butterflies.  Wings Of Enchantment can provide the butterflies for you and even help you figure out how to make it work best.

From a business standpoint, there is a lot to be gained from this episode.  Tatia and her husband are surviving the transition of loving something enough that they did it for fun, to turn it into a business.  They have been able to do this and not lose the love or passion they had for butterflies in the first place. That is always the real question when turning a hobby into a business - will you continue to love it or will the business rob you of that.