Because a girl can't have too many hobbies...

Or can she?

I'm one of those folks who can throw themselves into a hobby to the point where it actually starts to make money. Over the years of my life, I've turned several hobbies (like art) into small businesses that provided part of our income. A long streak of successful (and unsatisfying) work (regular job) and school killed my creative energy, but as I approach retirement, I'm starting to build some of these up again.

While I think social security and my pension actually will be there, I worry that it's not going to keep up with medical costs and cost of living. So I'm working on creativity exercises (yay for NaNoWriMo http://www.nanowrimo.org/) and getting organized to gear the art and writing up again. I may go back into the jewelry business, but I really need to take a look at the market first and find out where it is.

Articles about hobby businesses that I want to read and review again include this 3 page article covering a lot of questions that you need to be able to answer about your business:
http://www.bankrate.com/brm/news/advice/20050208a1.asp

A very good overview of what you should know and what you need to have in place. Lots of nice little stories that add information without being "fluffy." http://www.startupnation.com/pages/articles/AT_Turning-Hobby-Into-Business.asp

And some specific advice for artists and craftspeople:
http://www.nfib.com/object/1584118.html

Article about sisters who turned jewelry hobby into business:
http://www.jsbeads.com/articles/Sisters-turn-jewelry-hobby-into-Web-gold.asp