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Does everyone think your hobby should be a side hustle? Here's why they're probably wrong.

Can’t we just enjoy the things we love instead of turning them into a business?

Scott Beale / Laughing Squid and Flickr

A tour of Etsy, the online marketplace for handmade goods.

When someone possesses a unique talent, people react in two ways: They either encourage them to turn it into a career, while others caution that commercializing their hobby might strip away the joy they find in it.

Understandably, someone with a knack for arts and crafts would probably want to make money selling their wares. Because, as the saying goes, when you do what you love, you’ll never work a day in your life. Plus, setting up an Etsy shop and social media accounts and starting a small business is easy.

Further, in a world dominated by hustle culture, it’s almost expected that someone will try to monetize their hobby instead of doing it for the pure joy of doing it.

However, when your hobby becomes your job —whether that’s weaving blankets, making pizza, or creating a podcast—you now become pressured to do what you used to enjoy in your leisure time. That blanket becomes a product. Your pizza becomes foodstuff and your podcasts are now content.

Now, instead of baking that white pie because you like the taste, you add sausage and Canadian bacon to satisfy the market. The blankets you once made with high-end yarn are now being woven with the cheaper stuff to increase your margin.

Instead of taking a week off of your podcast because you don’t have an intriguing guest or topic, you’re forcing yourself to produce 45 minutes of content you would never listen to.

The topic has been a hot-button issue on Reddit, and many warn against turning one’s passion into a product. “I turned my hobby into a side hustle for a while. I realized it wasn’t worth it when my husband reminded me that the whole reason I started the hobby was to relieve stress from my job, but somehow, my stress relief had morphed into a second job. Haven’t done an art market since then,” SquishySquishy333 wrote.

“Turning a hobby into a business is a great way to turn something you love to do into something you hate,” Slumminwhitey added.

It’s easy to see why people would love a hobby to be their job because it seems a lot more fulfilling than working one that you’re not passionate about. But Robin Moriarty, a global business executive and former Forbes contributor, asks why people feel they need to be fulfilled by their career. Why not work for money and find fulfillment when you’re off the clock?

“In the U.S., our culture is very focused on achieving and accomplishing. Our identities are often wrapped up in our job, our title, our salary, and our promotions. Just go to any cocktail party and the first question is, ‘What do you do?’ which implies that what you do is an indicator of who you are,” Moriarty writes in Forbes. Work can be something you do to pay your bills so that you can go get your fulfillment elsewhere — from family, from spirituality, from friends, from volunteering, from hobbies, from taking classes, from sports. Where you choose to seek fulfillment is your choice.”

Ultimately, people should be able to follow their passions and use their talents as they see fit. But they should be aware that if they turn their hobby into a job, it’s going to be a lot less fun than doing it for pleasure. Plus, in a world where everything seems to be motivated by economic forces, doing something for the pure joy of it seems like a revolutionary act.

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This 86-year-old learned how to knit so he could make caps for premature babies.

Dogwood Forest, a senior living community in Georgia, wanted to lend a helping hand to local families who needed it.

Nearby Northside Hospital Atlanta needed caps for premature babies staying in its neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). Oftentimes, premature babies struggle to stay warm, so they're kept in incubators with a comfy hat fitted on their heads. These caps are important.

The residents at Dogwood had been happy to help fill the little hat void, knitting dozens of hats for the NICU. And Ed Moseley, an 86-year-old who thought the initiative would keep "the old people out of trouble" was one of them.

But there was just one problem when the project started: Ed couldn't knit.

Photo courtesy of Northside Hospital Atlanta.

"I told my daughter about it, and I said, ‘How can I knit? What do I need to do?’" Moseley told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. "And bless her heart, she went to Jo-Anns [Fabrics] and got a kit, yarn, and instruction kit for me. So I started slowly and learned it just takes patience."

Slowly but surely, Ed got the hang of it. His first cap took several hours to make. But after he got into a groove, he could churn one out in no time.

"I followed the instructions, and after two or three attempts, I started making fairly good caps," he told Inside Edition. "We started filling up my couch with caps, and then all of a sudden, caps started coming from various places."

Photo courtesy of Dogwood Forest.

Ed became unstoppable. He's crafted more than 55 colorful caps since July.

His creations contributed to the more than 350 caps the senior center dropped off at Northside Hospital in Atlanta on Nov. 17, 2016, on National Preemie Awareness Day.

So. Many. Caps. Photo courtesy of Northside Hospital Atlanta.

For the parents of little ones at Northside, it's a wonderful feeling to know those on the outside of the hospital are thinking about your family.

"It means a lot to us, because this is our second stint in the NICU," Doug Bunt, whose son, Matthew, was born on Nov. 12, 2016, told Good Morning America. "The fact this man is taking time out of his day to help the kids really means a lot to us."

Doug Bunt and his family. Photo courtesy of Northside Hospital Atlanta.

Ed's story proves you can learn a new skill at any age — and make a big difference along the way.

"When someone appreciates something you do, that makes you feel good, naturally," said Ed, who plans on making about 30 hats a month moving forward to help fill the need. "I got a lot of enjoyment doing this, and now I’ve graduated to large caps. I’m doing caps for all my grandkids."

The seniors who lent a helping hand. Photo courtesy of Northside Hospital Atlanta.

Watch Ed's inspiring story from "Inside Edition" below:

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Kid Chef Eliana got her first set of knives at 8. Now 16, she’s building a cooking empire.

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Quaker Common Threads

When she was 8, Eliana de Las Casas posted her first video online. It was the first step in her taking the cooking world by storm.

Eliana grew up in a home where food was a favorite pastime. Family gatherings were centered around the kitchen, and she loved being a part of that. And with grandparents from the Philippines, Cuba, and Honduras — as well as Louisiana, where she lives — there was a lot of good cooking happening.

At around 4 years old, Eliana begged her mom to let her help out with meals.

"I just loved seeing everyone cooking in my family," she said. "And one day I was like, 'Mom, can I help?'... At 4 years old, I wrote my first recipe for strawberry and cream cheese sandwiches for a Valentine’s Day party."

By 8, she’d received her first knife set and was a full-fledged chef putting together her own meals and getting creative with recipes. She’d stumbled upon her first love.

All images via Kid Chef Eliana, used with permission.

"I have never said, 'Oh, I want to be a doctor, a singer, or whatever.' I’ve always — ever since I was 4 — I was like, 'I want to be a chef.'"

And Eliana's family supported her. In fact, there’s a chance none of this would have happened without them. Her mom, who is a published author, encouraged her to write a food blog one summer to keep developing her writing skills while the school year was on break. She dove into this assignment headfirst and loved it so much that she never stopped.

It was Eliana's sister who suggested she post cooking tutorials on YouTube. When her show took off, the entire family chipped in to help her self-publish her first cookbook, contributing recipes and funds. They gave her the support she needed, and she let her own passion drive her.

Kid Chef Eliana's crab-stuffed tomato dish. Hungry just looking at it!

Today, she’s known as Kid Chef Eliana, and she helps both parents and kids find their way into the kitchen.

She wants to make it easier for kids to get in the kitchen so that they don’t experience the young adult moment of shock and disorientation when they don’t have their parents to supply all of their meals. An endless diet of ramen doesn’t have to be the answer if kids develop basic cooking skills.

She's also on a mission to spread the word that food that's good for you doesn’t have to be bland. She encourages families to approach all foods with moderation and says she and her family indulge occasionally — they do live in the land of Cajun food after all — but they know that not every meal needs to be filled with bacon and butter. She put together an entire cookbook of some of her favorite recipes using fresh foods to give families a few ideas for delicious meals.

The most important thing, she says, is for families to just start somewhere — wherever they can.

It can be cooking a few meals per week. Or planting an herb garden and letting it grow; Eliana started her own to cut down on produce costs and now has fun growing her own herbs and vegetables.

And even though she’s getting older, Eliana isn’t leaving her audience behind. She still thinks there’s a strong need for kid-friendly cooking shows. "A lot of people only will cater to adults. ... I want kids and different families to learn how to cook. Food brings people together, and I think that’s something that’s really important."

Even with all that Kid Chef Eliana has done, this is still only the beginning for her.

She's about to launch her own line of spices. She’s starting with one family-friendly Cajun blend that has less salt and less heat than other ones on the market but which is equally delicious. She wants to launch a line of cookware for kids, and her focus is laser-set on getting her own cooking show (her numerous TV appearances are preparing her well).

With the way she’s accomplished everything she’s set her mind to so far, it seems likely that those achievements are on the horizon.

"As I keep going I’ll add more things that I want to do," she said.

She's introduced thousands of families the endless benefits of coming together and having fun with food all while juggling school and building her own mini empire. There's no telling what will come next.

Update 10/11/2016: Kid Chef Eliana was recently named the Food Network's 2016 Chopped Teen Champion, winning $25,000. Another dream of hers come true.

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