The Problem With Being Able to Monetize Anything You Enjoy

Pricing has been quite an issue in my latest venture of being a tutor. Many of my students even question the price which according to them is that I am undercharging but I have my own reasoning for that. One being it's my hobby and way to relieve stress but I also ask myself this question before, " At what rate do I still enjoy teaching and not see it as a heavy commitment?". Since the point of teaching was to release stress, gaining new information/knowledge.

For the rates I am currently giving, I enjoy teaching as is. It's laid back 12 sessions for 6 weeks and I can always deny students whenever I need a break for a month. It's not a difficult commitment to have and I only take several groups/month. But I also structure my classes into several services with different positioning too. There is the casual practice, standard grammatical and professional discussion coaching session which is 1 on 1 with higher and premium rate. I also consider the fact that teaching isn't solely my main income. It was something I did for fun.

And this is also a recurrent pattern in my life where I develop a pathway to monetize my hobby. Think about baking, writing, photography, and many others that started just because it was fun for me. All of the things that makes me money started as a hobby. The drawback is that it is not sustainable because my hobby changes and so are the seasons in my life. But there are things that remain that I started to understand, the ability to think in system, applicability and recognizing patterns.

Now that I am also trying to find a full time job, most of the jobs out there that needs those ability are in mid-level to senior capability which typically we have to be in corporate for certain numbers of years before diving into the mid level. So, it seems impossible if I am going to start a career in corporation at this age but who knows?

Then, there's the question that lately circling around my head. Should I actually continue with the course I am doing and actually make it a full time venture? There is a potential there and the money isn't so bad. Yet just like most business, they all need marketing and this is something that takes up majority of it. So, I am racking my brain whether I want to do this full time or simply just something that I do for fun before it becomes something I dislike.