But in all seriousness, I work for an entrepreneurship company that supports the Etsy store owner demographic, and I’ve seen the impact of the craft economy.
One of the common proclamations I hear is that a side hustle provided someone “freedom” and “autonomy.”
We live in a world where most of us have to work for someone or an entity. A lot of times it’s a business where you’re far removed from the customer or on the frontlines without receiving the full reward of those transactions.
Side hustles provide that slice of freedom where you’re in control of how it goes. And I think as humans (especially growing up in Western society) we strive for that special feeling of independence.
I so agree. I think that's the benefit of a "trade." We are personally motivated by it, and by it being successful. It may be for fun, but we also want it to be successful. And that's very much how I feel about my newsletter!
Elle I LOVE how you do what you do! Those people want to butcher your things, they don't deserve them and we will happily eat it up :) great post and viva la handcraft revolucion!!
If you turn your hobby into your "job" you may not lose your passion for it (although I imagine some people do) but you think about it differently. It becomes your business. There are expectations and obligations with a business that a hobby doesn't have, which are often not enjoyable.
I turned my hobby as a guitar player into my job, mainly teaching guitar lessons but also gigging and live-streaming. I still love playing guitar, but I don't love teaching guitar. It pays the bills, but I would gladly give it up. It a job to me. I still love gigging and live-streaming (performing) but it does feel more like my occupation than my hobby now.
I try to find opportunities to play for fun, not just for money. But once you start getting paid for your hobby, it is hard to think about it as a hobby. When you know you can earn money from a hobby, your mindset changes. It is no longer a hobby it is a business.
There is great value in a hobby that you do simply for pleasure. I believe we need to have those pure hobbies our lives. Not every hobby should be a side-hustle. Money does change things.
I think we need to do some things purely for the love of doing them. It is good for our heart, soul, and mind.
For sure, there are always thing we do just for pleasure. But your angst as to whether guitar is for fun or for work is kind of my point. 🤣 Isn't it a little bit of both?
Jul 10, 2023·edited Jul 10, 2023Liked by Elle Griffin
Yes. It is both at the same time. But does that mean the pleasure is diminished? You will likely do it more out if obligation or need when it becomes your job. With a hobby you can say, I don’t feel like it today. With a job that is not always the case. There is a trade off for sure.
I am not saying it’s bad, but it is no longer a hobby. Nothing is perfect, but if you can make a living doing something you love that seems to be the best possible outcome. And surely beats working a job you hate for money.
Totally, I think the show Severance really exaggerates the difference between work and leisure to make the point that they can't fully be separate in our lives. But I love writing for a living because it allows me to spend my day doing it. Yes it means I can't skip doing it. But I like that too. (My singing career is really taking a hit because sometimes I skip whole weeks 🤣)
I loved this post and good for you for pulling it from a venue that didn't appreciate it. One of the key messages my father gave me growing up was not to do as he had, jettisoning his desire to teach in order to take up a middle-management job he hated. I respected why he had done so (the health benefits that really ended up keeping my other alive), but I also knew that he couldn't have been happier when I ended up with a teaching career.
I also know I was fortunate in ending up teaching up as a professor in a community college for an institution that rewarded me for that work, instead of the cut-throat publish or perish 4 year institutions I had taught in previously. But in retirement, when I took up my long deferred dream of writing historical fiction, I was equally fortunate to do this just as self-publishing took off, and that meant that I was able to turn what could have only been a "retirement hobby" into a second rewarding and profitable career.
Thank you for sharing that personal experience!!!! And you bring up a very good point, technology has enabled some of these things that once were hobbies to reach a much wider audience. Like our writing!!!!!
I've very much enjoyed writing as a career and don't think I'll tire of it anytime soon!
This was a terrific piece, and while there were no surprises for me, I am very glad that you made the decision to pull it rather than allow the alternate one to be published. So Kudos to you for staying true to YOUR vision!
Thank you! Yes it was perhaps designed to be a commercial piece but it became much more so in editing! They had removed all mentions of Ethik, the history and present of craft and trade in developing countries, and the relationship between work and leisure. By the end it was a puff piece about starting a side hustle on Etsy and hating it once you got there. Which is not how I see things.
I started an Etsy store a few years back. I shuttered it, not because I hated it but for scheduling/time issues. I thought then, and still believe today, that Etsy, and it's imitators have provided a much-needed space to return to that option of making our hobbies our "jobs". As a knitter, I wish I had the time to dedicate to making my hobby my income source. But there are a lot of knitters out there doing the exact same thing. And my writing calls to me more than my knitting, LOL!
Part of an underlying issue with handcrafts being an income maker is that, as you pointed out, so many people undervalue handcrafts. Me, I'd rather pay $200 for a dresser or wardrobe that I know will last me the rest of my life than $75 for something mass produced from waferboard that will warp a week after I put it together. Clothes are the same. I'd rather pay for a handmade shirt that will not be full of holes after 10 washes.
But that's a whole 'nother ball of underhanded manipulation by the capitalistic mass producers that irritates the heck out of me.
I live in a building that was built by a textile union for its members. It's in lower Manhattan, and it still blows my mind to think that a 1-bed with a nice big living room and a big bedroom was considered a normal apartment for a working class couple or small family. We've gone so far from dignified living standards for manual laborers in this country.
The tenement museum in NYC shows what it was like before this type of housing was provided by unions. Families of 7 or 8 would live in tiny apartments and often had a doll in the living room where the lady of the house would stitch beads onto dresses or do some kind of 'craft' work to make ends meet.
When I was 40 I moved to rural Japan to teach English and farm in the countryside. The farmers who still lived there couldn't imagine why I would want to do such a thing. It was backgreaking, thankless work and the soil and climate is not conducive to farming in Japan. I was spoiled by the black dirt and even ground in Michigan where I grew up gardening.
I'm really wary after learning about the history of the trades in NYC and my own failed experiment with getting back to the land of romanticizing that type of work. The shift from the farm to horrendous factory conditions may have happened because, as bad as they were, those dimly lit and dangerous factories were better than life on a farm.
I tend to look forward rather than back for a dignified way of life for people that's not centered on production of goods and services. I think Graeber's main point was that automation and machines offered us the chance to remove 90% of jobs altogether, and instead we created an entire ecosystem of unneccesary jobs as a way to redistribute resources. I'd love to find a vision where we center leisure rather than work in our lives and see what comes of that.
Imagine if didn't squeeze relationsips and socializing in around work. I dream of that.
Thank you so much for sharing this personal perspective! I've noticed a very odd romanticism of feudalism, as if capitalism somehow ruined it. But you are so right, factory may have needed to be improved once it was introduced, but it was already better than what they had before!
That we romanticize feudalism now is, I think, a result of office work that feels tired and unproductive. Doing something with our hands feels like it would be more rewarding, and perhaps it is. But being able to afford a good life from it might only be possible now because of platforms like Etsy and Ethik that can connect creators with a worldwide marketplace!
Great point. I also agree with you about office work. When I plant something or make something, I can see the tangible difference I've made in the world and that's gratifying. I also feel best when I'm actually helping someone, and I love buying things directly from people whom I know will get the full (or close to it) amount of money from the thing they made, so I completely agree on the potential of a craft-based work wold that cuts out the middle layers and de-industrializes the relationship between maker and buyer.
A wise woman once told me work is pleasure and pleasure is work.
THAT'S NOT THE QUOTE 🤣
I mean, pleasure and leisure are basically synonyms.
[Insert “She’s Making Jewelry” Portlandia sketch]
But in all seriousness, I work for an entrepreneurship company that supports the Etsy store owner demographic, and I’ve seen the impact of the craft economy.
One of the common proclamations I hear is that a side hustle provided someone “freedom” and “autonomy.”
We live in a world where most of us have to work for someone or an entity. A lot of times it’s a business where you’re far removed from the customer or on the frontlines without receiving the full reward of those transactions.
Side hustles provide that slice of freedom where you’re in control of how it goes. And I think as humans (especially growing up in Western society) we strive for that special feeling of independence.
I so agree. I think that's the benefit of a "trade." We are personally motivated by it, and by it being successful. It may be for fun, but we also want it to be successful. And that's very much how I feel about my newsletter!
Elle I LOVE how you do what you do! Those people want to butcher your things, they don't deserve them and we will happily eat it up :) great post and viva la handcraft revolucion!!
Thanks Nicholas. I really appreciate that!
If you turn your hobby into your "job" you may not lose your passion for it (although I imagine some people do) but you think about it differently. It becomes your business. There are expectations and obligations with a business that a hobby doesn't have, which are often not enjoyable.
I turned my hobby as a guitar player into my job, mainly teaching guitar lessons but also gigging and live-streaming. I still love playing guitar, but I don't love teaching guitar. It pays the bills, but I would gladly give it up. It a job to me. I still love gigging and live-streaming (performing) but it does feel more like my occupation than my hobby now.
I try to find opportunities to play for fun, not just for money. But once you start getting paid for your hobby, it is hard to think about it as a hobby. When you know you can earn money from a hobby, your mindset changes. It is no longer a hobby it is a business.
There is great value in a hobby that you do simply for pleasure. I believe we need to have those pure hobbies our lives. Not every hobby should be a side-hustle. Money does change things.
I think we need to do some things purely for the love of doing them. It is good for our heart, soul, and mind.
For sure, there are always thing we do just for pleasure. But your angst as to whether guitar is for fun or for work is kind of my point. 🤣 Isn't it a little bit of both?
Yes. It is both at the same time. But does that mean the pleasure is diminished? You will likely do it more out if obligation or need when it becomes your job. With a hobby you can say, I don’t feel like it today. With a job that is not always the case. There is a trade off for sure.
I am not saying it’s bad, but it is no longer a hobby. Nothing is perfect, but if you can make a living doing something you love that seems to be the best possible outcome. And surely beats working a job you hate for money.
Totally, I think the show Severance really exaggerates the difference between work and leisure to make the point that they can't fully be separate in our lives. But I love writing for a living because it allows me to spend my day doing it. Yes it means I can't skip doing it. But I like that too. (My singing career is really taking a hit because sometimes I skip whole weeks 🤣)
As long as it doesn’t become your whole life and you have other interests. Like family and friends. 🤣
Oh yeah, but who would do that lol. I will choose living a peaceful and happy and beautiful life over having a craft anyday....
And writing helps me to learn and be creative and think through the things that are important to me while I do 🥰
I loved this post and good for you for pulling it from a venue that didn't appreciate it. One of the key messages my father gave me growing up was not to do as he had, jettisoning his desire to teach in order to take up a middle-management job he hated. I respected why he had done so (the health benefits that really ended up keeping my other alive), but I also knew that he couldn't have been happier when I ended up with a teaching career.
I also know I was fortunate in ending up teaching up as a professor in a community college for an institution that rewarded me for that work, instead of the cut-throat publish or perish 4 year institutions I had taught in previously. But in retirement, when I took up my long deferred dream of writing historical fiction, I was equally fortunate to do this just as self-publishing took off, and that meant that I was able to turn what could have only been a "retirement hobby" into a second rewarding and profitable career.
Thank you for sharing that personal experience!!!! And you bring up a very good point, technology has enabled some of these things that once were hobbies to reach a much wider audience. Like our writing!!!!!
I've very much enjoyed writing as a career and don't think I'll tire of it anytime soon!
This was a terrific piece, and while there were no surprises for me, I am very glad that you made the decision to pull it rather than allow the alternate one to be published. So Kudos to you for staying true to YOUR vision!
Thank you! Yes it was perhaps designed to be a commercial piece but it became much more so in editing! They had removed all mentions of Ethik, the history and present of craft and trade in developing countries, and the relationship between work and leisure. By the end it was a puff piece about starting a side hustle on Etsy and hating it once you got there. Which is not how I see things.
I started an Etsy store a few years back. I shuttered it, not because I hated it but for scheduling/time issues. I thought then, and still believe today, that Etsy, and it's imitators have provided a much-needed space to return to that option of making our hobbies our "jobs". As a knitter, I wish I had the time to dedicate to making my hobby my income source. But there are a lot of knitters out there doing the exact same thing. And my writing calls to me more than my knitting, LOL!
Part of an underlying issue with handcrafts being an income maker is that, as you pointed out, so many people undervalue handcrafts. Me, I'd rather pay $200 for a dresser or wardrobe that I know will last me the rest of my life than $75 for something mass produced from waferboard that will warp a week after I put it together. Clothes are the same. I'd rather pay for a handmade shirt that will not be full of holes after 10 washes.
But that's a whole 'nother ball of underhanded manipulation by the capitalistic mass producers that irritates the heck out of me.
I'm so with you (and William Morris!). I buy everything from Etsy. I much prefer the quality and artisanal over the mass produced and cheap!
I live in a building that was built by a textile union for its members. It's in lower Manhattan, and it still blows my mind to think that a 1-bed with a nice big living room and a big bedroom was considered a normal apartment for a working class couple or small family. We've gone so far from dignified living standards for manual laborers in this country.
The tenement museum in NYC shows what it was like before this type of housing was provided by unions. Families of 7 or 8 would live in tiny apartments and often had a doll in the living room where the lady of the house would stitch beads onto dresses or do some kind of 'craft' work to make ends meet.
When I was 40 I moved to rural Japan to teach English and farm in the countryside. The farmers who still lived there couldn't imagine why I would want to do such a thing. It was backgreaking, thankless work and the soil and climate is not conducive to farming in Japan. I was spoiled by the black dirt and even ground in Michigan where I grew up gardening.
I'm really wary after learning about the history of the trades in NYC and my own failed experiment with getting back to the land of romanticizing that type of work. The shift from the farm to horrendous factory conditions may have happened because, as bad as they were, those dimly lit and dangerous factories were better than life on a farm.
I tend to look forward rather than back for a dignified way of life for people that's not centered on production of goods and services. I think Graeber's main point was that automation and machines offered us the chance to remove 90% of jobs altogether, and instead we created an entire ecosystem of unneccesary jobs as a way to redistribute resources. I'd love to find a vision where we center leisure rather than work in our lives and see what comes of that.
Imagine if didn't squeeze relationsips and socializing in around work. I dream of that.
Thank you so much for sharing this personal perspective! I've noticed a very odd romanticism of feudalism, as if capitalism somehow ruined it. But you are so right, factory may have needed to be improved once it was introduced, but it was already better than what they had before!
That we romanticize feudalism now is, I think, a result of office work that feels tired and unproductive. Doing something with our hands feels like it would be more rewarding, and perhaps it is. But being able to afford a good life from it might only be possible now because of platforms like Etsy and Ethik that can connect creators with a worldwide marketplace!
Great point. I also agree with you about office work. When I plant something or make something, I can see the tangible difference I've made in the world and that's gratifying. I also feel best when I'm actually helping someone, and I love buying things directly from people whom I know will get the full (or close to it) amount of money from the thing they made, so I completely agree on the potential of a craft-based work wold that cuts out the middle layers and de-industrializes the relationship between maker and buyer.