Recently someone came to me for a consultation. They said they wanted to start a side business but didn’t have anything they were good at. What should they do?
Nothing they’re good at.
It seems like a lot of people have told me this same thing — that year after year, they have no interests or hobbies. Many say their family circumstances never gave them the chance to develop any. I disagree. Look at the people running small online businesses: wool felt animals, resin jar crafts, custom portrait drawings, little logo designs — all of them grew from a personal hobby, step by step, into a side business, then into a full-time income. Have you noticed those wool felt custom animal makers? Lead time is a full month, and they have a waitlist. You have to wait. I once bought a 150-yuan resin pumpkin jar and waited two months for it. That tells you her business is genuinely thriving — and it almost certainly started from a hobby.
I came across a girl online who loves skiing. She didn’t have a lot of money to buy better gear or travel to ski resorts around the world, so she started teaching skiing at resorts to fund herself. She’d earn the money, then go skiing globally, filming herself and posting videos online. People watched, and since skiing is a physical sport, some female beginners prefer not to have body contact with male instructors — so they kept booking her. Business couldn’t be better. Annual income in the hundreds of thousands, from a little side hustle like that.
Then there’s the girl who did nails for her dormmates in college because she loved it. She graduated and opened a nail salon. Plenty of stories like that. A nail salon can even expand into light medical aesthetics and beauty spa services — take whatever you earn and reinvest it, building your little empire piece by piece.
You’re all on the internet every day messing around — what are you actually doing with that time? Learn to tell the difference between information that’s worth something and mindless entertainment that’s just keeping you distracted.