A few years ago, my friend Sabah turned her passion for cooking into a chef-on-demand business. She started off serving her local Cleveland area, quickly grew to cover other major Ohio cities and plans to expand even further. She is just one of the many people I know who have turned their passion project into a successful business.

We all have our passion projects. We do them because they’re fun, or we like the challenge, or they’re our way of doing some good in the world. From time to time, though, our niche interests and hobbies lead us to marketable ideas. For many, that’s as far as it goes; they don’t know how to take the next step.

Sabah had a shortcut — she’s married to my friend and business partner, who knew not only the next step to take but all the steps after that. If you’re not lucky enough to have a spouse or friend who can help, here’s how to turn your passion project into a successful business.

Related: Ten Tips To Turn Your Passion Project Into A Business

Hobbies that make great side hustles

So you have a niche hobby, and you’re wondering: How can I make some money from this? It’s important to remember that not all hobbies are created equal, financially speaking. And a niche interest that might have driven profits 20 years ago (collecting Beanie Babies, say) could be a financial sinkhole today.

By keeping a pulse on the zeitgeist, you can anticipate trends and hobbies gaining public interest — and capitalize on those trends. Some, like the following, are side hustle ideas you could start at any time.

Photography

Senior portraits, weddings, special events, professional headshots — quality and affordable photography never lacks in demand. With a website highlighting your work, you can book clients and start earning money from your passion.

Coding

From bug bounty programs to website design, freelance coding offers major earning opportunities. A background in HTML, Python, Java, C++ or a myriad of other coding languages can be a financial boon.

Home design

If you designed your home to belong in an issue of Architectural Digest, others will take notice. Consult on color palettes, furniture selections, room layouts and lighting — and bring your curated aesthetic to the masses with a home design business.

Video and audio production

Whether promoting a brand on social media or starting a podcast, freelance producers can bring a marketing campaign to life. Sell yourself with past work, and mention your experience with programs in the Adobe Creative Suite or Pro Tools.

Gardening

Your green thumb could put some green in your pocket. The landscaping and gardening industry was valued at more than $250 billion in 2024, according to Mordor Intelligence, and if your own garden is thriving, you can fill a niche in your own (proverbial) backyard.

Writing

Can you construct clear and concise copy for a variety of clients? If so, the opportunities are as vast as your vocabulary. Wordsmiths can serve as speechwriters, copywriters, technical writers and ghostwriters, as well as assist with any editing needs.

Baking

Your beautiful cakes, cookies and baked goods could be more than delicious treats; they could be a source of income. Many entrepreneurs found success with home baking during the pandemic, and with proper planning and consistent clients, you can join them.

Vetting if your hobby could be a business

Before you make any hard commitments or major financial decisions, consider if your niche hobby can earn consistent money. Who is the target client? How much are current practitioners charging? How much money do you have saved? How much do you expect to make?

It’s crucial to be clear-eyed about expectations before investing your own money into your venture. The following steps can help you assess whether or not to turn your passion project into a side hustle — or even a career.

Run it by friends

When we have that eureka moment, it sometimes blinds us to flaws in our logic. To get a quick check, run your idea by a few trusted friends. They might be able to point out roadblocks you didn’t think of or know a way to bring your idea to life. For Sabah, that meant asking other chefs for input. Avoid relying solely on one or two peoples’ opinions, but do gauge your friends’ enthusiasm. After all, close confidantes have your best interests in mind.

Analyze the market

Chances are, others have had your idea. Sabah wasn’t the first to think of a chef-on-demand service, but when she analyzed the market, she realized her idea could still work. Market analysis requires thoroughly researching consumer trends and expectations, market size and the demand for your offering.

To truly excel, you must conduct a thorough analysis of your rivals. Although they might offer a comparable product, your goal is to surpass them. Analyze their customer feedback to identify gaps. When you look hard at similar businesses, you might find opportunities to fill the gaps they’re leaving.

Network

Networking with others who have launched their business or product can be invaluable. They’re ahead of you on the journey and can help you avoid costly missteps. If you’re lucky, you might find someone with similar experience and a willingness to mentor you. A good mentor can help you find the path forward when you hit a roadblock. Keep the lines of communication with your network and your mentor open. They know the twists and turns and can save you headaches and expenses.

Devise a business plan

Don’t invest significant money into a project before creating a detailed business plan. Prior steps, such as analyzing the market, will help you write this document, and you’ll want to come away with clear financial expectations. Do the math — calculate your startup and overhead costs, insurance, marketing budget, earnings expectations and taxes. This will give you some base-level expectations and a roadmap to funding, if necessary.

Getting your side business off the ground

You’ve done your research. You’ve talked to friends and other entrepreneurs. You’ve analyzed the market and built a business plan. Now it’s time to take the first big step: getting your side business off the ground.

Turning passion into profit takes work. Don’t be discouraged. There may be moments of doubt and anxiety as your business slowly ramps up. Lean on mentors, and consult your business plan. Like Sabah, if you’ve done the proper pre-launch work, you can keep your head down and follow the roadmap. The following steps can position you for success when turning your niche hobby into a business.

Build an MVP

In the software development world, a minimum viable product (MVP) is a way to test your idea with a small group of early adopters. It’s essentially an early product version with just a few core features. For Sabah, the MVP was a limited menu with a select set of chefs — and she was one of them. Once she proved her idea would work, she hired more chefs and added more meals to the menu based on the feedback she got from her customers. Early and genuine feedback is the goal of an MVP. After all, it’s easier and less expensive to make changes at the beginning of the development cycle than in the middle of it.

Related: 5 Tips for Solidifying MVP, and Why It’s the Most Important Aspect of Building a Startup

Set achievable goals

Be realistic about your first-year financial expectations. In fact, it’s common for new businesses to lose money in their first year of business as they pay back initial investments and build consistent customer bases. Sabah set goals — both financial and personal — that she could reasonably achieve. But don’t mistake this for easy goals. You should be ambitious but practical when planning to achieve your goals.

Get help

Sabah didn’t build her business alone. She knew she needed help building the web applications her fledgling company needed and outsourced that work. Trying to do everything leads to stress, burnout and costly mistakes. It also takes you longer to get to market and could mean competitors beat you to the finish line. Engage freelance help or outsource product development to a team with the knowledge and bandwidth to quickly build a high-quality product.

Knowing when to get help involves recognizing your strengths and weaknesses. Maybe you can build the product but need help with market analysis. Or maybe you need help with building a brand identity and marketing the product. Outsourcing some of the work frees you up to focus on what you’re good at and can take stress off your shoulders.

Related: Asking For Help Is Good For You and Your Business

Keep your finger on the pulse

Markets and trends can shift rapidly, so it’s essential to keep tabs on competitors and monitor your customers’ needs. The last thing you want is a product that’s outdated by the time it launches or a business plan built around last year’s “it” thing. By staying up-to-date on market and cultural trends, you can be ready to shift priorities when the time is right.

It’s been a joy to watch my friend’s business grow. She’s met challenges with grace and never lets setbacks slow her down. And that, too, is key to turning your passion project into a successful business: believing in your vision enough to stick with it, no matter what.

Google is now doing the Googling for its expansive U.S. audience — and news publishers are facing potentially multi-billion-dollar consequences caused by the change.

Google announced on Tuesday that it is applying AI to high-impact elements of search, from AI summaries to pages of AI recommendations in clustered groups. AI summaries, which appear at the top of search results and neatly summarize content found across the web, started rolling out on Tuesday to all of Google’s 246 million unique U.S. users.

The AI summaries mean that websites across the board will get less traffic, as people simply search and read what the AI has generated without clicking on anything.

As newsrooms get less traffic and less money, their ability to create fresh content diminishes. At the same time, Google becomes less of a gateway to sources and more of a direct source Anastasia Kotsiubynska, Head of SEO at SE Ranking, shared with Entrepreneur.

“Most likely, there will still be misleading information in search results and hallucinations, and many users will probably use this information without double-checking,” Kotsiubynska cautioned.

^{Google I/O 2024 on May 14, 2024. (Photo by Christoph Dernbach/picture alliance via Getty Images)}

Related: Google Introduces Its New Project Astra AI Assistant at Tuesday’s I/O Event — Here’s What Else You Missed

Google’s search changes could cost websites $2 billion collectively; some could lose two-thirds of their traffic, according to data from media industry growth company Raptive.

“This will be catastrophic to our traffic, as marketed by Google to further satisfy user queries, leaving even less incentive to click through so that we can monetize our content,” Danielle Coffey, the chief executive of the News/Media Alliance, told CNN Business.

This is Search in the Gemini era. #GoogleIO pic.twitter.com/JxldNjbqyn

— Google (@Google) May 14, 2024

Google, a major tech company with over 90% of the global market share in search, can now frame search results however it wants with AI summaries, and pull from websites without guaranteeing site traffic or profit.

Related: Two Yale PhDs Are Trying to Make AI Hallucinate 10x Less

“AI Overviews relies on content creators’ intellectual property, which raises serious questions about compensation and fairness,” said Raptive in a statement.

Google does link to sites within its summary, citing its sources.

Unlike OpenAI, which has entered into deals with major publishers like Axel Springer and The Financial Times to compensate publishers for training AI on their articles and linking directly to them, Google has yet to publicly announce a similar deal with a major publication.

OpenAI has also earned the ire of some publishers, with the New York Times filing a lawsuit against the company over copyright grounds in December.

Related: An Elite Financial Publication With a $75 Per Month Subscription Price Is Letting AI Use Its Articles for Training

Google does have a $60 million deal with Reddit, announced in February, to train its AI on Reddit data.

It’s another massive milestone for SpaceX CEO Elon Musk.

On Tuesday, Carnival Cruises announced that 100% of its ships have officially installed high-speed internet from Musk’s Starlink.

The installation took place on 90-plus ships in Carnival’s global fleet and allows for more reliable Wi-Fi when onboard (especially during remote parts of the route) for passengers and helps the ship’s staff with improving “operational and communications capabilities,” per a release from Carnival.

Related: New Jersey Man Accused of Trafficking 675 Starlink Terminals

“Starlink has been a game-changer for the onboard connectivity experience our cruise lines deliver to their guests, and we’ve already seen a surge in guest satisfaction and positive feedback from the super-fast and reliable Wi-Fi service we provide onboard,” said Josh Weinstein, CEO of Carnival Corporation in a release. “We see this technology as a win-win-win – it provides our guests with more flexibility to stay as connected as they’d like on vacation, it allows our crew to stay in touch with friends and loved ones, and it enhances our onboard operational systems.”

The installment of Starlink on Carnival ships began in December 2022 and has now expanded to all of Carnival’s smaller companies, including Princess Cruises and Holland America Line.

Musk reposted the news with one word to share his sentiments: “Cool.”

Cool https://t.co/v4Ljn2eMpw

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 14, 2024

Royal Caribbean started installing Starlink on its ships in 2022 and as of February 2024, said that it was “currently in the process of upgrading more vessels” from VOOM internet to Starlink.

Carnival is coming off a strong Q1 2024, setting the record for first-quarter revenue at $5.4 billion, while bookings hit a record high — despite higher prices.

“This has been a fantastic start to the year. We delivered another strong quarter that outperformed guidance on every measure, while concluding a monumental wave season that achieved all-time high booking volumes at considerably higher prices,” Weinstein said at the time. “These results are a continuation of the strong demand we have been generating across our brands and all core deployments, leading to an upward revision of full year expectations by more than a point of incremental yield improvement and setting us up nicely to deliver a nearly double-digit improvement in net yields.”

Carnival was up nearly 41% year over year as of Tuesday afternoon.