These People Made Careers and Lots of Money from Their Hobbies

FameJune 27, 2019

Below is a list of some well-known individuals who have been able to successfully turn their hobbies to careers now worth millions and billions of dollars

Michelle Shroeder-Gardner of Making Sense Of Cents

Michelle Shroeder-Gardner was able to pay off student loans worth $38,000 in about 7 months after her graduation from business school. She mentioned that the secret was focusing on earning and that it also explains how she is able to earn over $100,000 per month with her blog.

Explaining on her lifestyle and personal finance blog, she said the biggest reason was that she was able to earn as much as she could outside her day job. She started her blog during the same period when she was trying to get an MBA. She initially envisaged that it would be some sort of diary, but the blog has exceeded her expectation. She now gets revenue through teaching online classes on the site, affiliate marketing as well as advertising.

1. Nadia Shuaib of Budget Electronics

Nadia Shuaib was able to turn a project she embarked on part-time into an e-commerce business which is now worth millions of dollars. She listed some of the cell phone accessories belonging to her husband on eBay. When all the items sold out pretty fast, she then made a decision to turn it to a career which is now Budget Electronics.

2.Craig Newmark of Craigslist

Craig Newmark relocated to San Francisco when he got a computer programming job at Charles Schwab. He was subsequently laid off and he decided to maximize his severance remuneration by setting up a little message board which aggregated different events he knew other programmers would have interest in.

Coincidentally, it was around the time when Netscape was released. The site went on to include a section for job listing and it got its name Craigslist. Forbes currently estimates his net worth to be about $1.31 billion.

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3.Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook

Mark Zuckerberg began running a little social media site for the students of Harvard University only as a hobby. That side project has gone ahead to become Facebook, a global company worth billions of dollars. Mark Zuckerberg’s net worth is currently to be nearly $70 billion. Zuckerberg reportedly said that his knowledge of coding came more from his side projects than his college courses.

4.Al “Bubba” Baker of Bubba’s-Q Boneless Ribs

Al “Bubba” Baker is a now-retired football player and has recorded quite a significant success in his second career. After he pitched his concept of barbecue rib on Shark Tank, his business that started as a catering services company grew from record earnings of $154,000 to getting earnings of over $16 million within 4 years. Bubba’s-Q Boneless Ribs has a shop online and there is also a physical shop located in Avon.

5.Jennifer Fleiss and Jennifer Hyman of Rent the Runway

Jennifer Fleiss and Jeniffer Hyman have always had a strong passion for fashion. They were both classmates at the Harvard Business School. They founded an accessory and apparel rental service known as Rent the Runway in 2009.

Fleiss, while speaking on an interview, said they first began by buying dresses in their own sizes. According to them, they figured that if they were not successful with the concept, they would still end up with great dresses. They went to several undergraduate campuses to rent the dresses to the women.

6.Walt Disney of the Walt Disney Company

Walt Disney was interested in drawing right from an early period. This interest has gone on to result in a multimedia titan that offers animated movies and beloved characters. At the age of seven, he succeeded in selling his sketches to the neighbors. Anywhere he went, he always drew cartoons.

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Walt Disney was able to turn his interest in cartoon drawing into a highly successful career

When he returned to America after the first World War, he landed an advertising cartoonist job. It wasn’t long till he launched into Hollywood where he succeeded in creating Mickey Mouse as far back as 1928.

7.William Harley and Arthur Davidson of Harley-Davidson

Harley-Davidson started out of William Harley’s and Arthur Davidson hobby. Harley-Davidson is currently on the list of the biggest publicly traded companies in the US.

8.Bill Gates, Microsoft

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Gates dropped out of Harvard University so he could start Microsoft

Bill Gates was at Harvard University studying to become a lawyer. He spent most of his free period working in a computer lab. However, after spending 2 years at Harvard, he dropped out so he could go after his passion which has gone on to become the tech titan, Microsoft. Gates is worth about $90 billion.