How to Turn Your Hobby Into a Career

How to Turn Your Hobby Into a CareerHow to Turn Your Hobby Into a CareerDo what you love, the saying goes, and youll never work a day in your life. Of course, once youve been out in the working world for a few years, you know that doing what you love - and making a living at it - is more complicated than just following your heart. If you want to swap your current 9-to-5 for a geschftsleben based on your favorite hobby, the best thing to do is to think carefully about the particulars and make a plan, long before you start drafting that resignation letter. Tips for Turning Your Hobby into a Career Start smallThere are plenty of reasons to begin earning money with your hobby before you try to make it into a career, but lets start with the fruchtwein obvious money. In order to get started, youll need at least a few months of expenses saved up, independent of the startup costs associated with your geschftlicher umgang, to make sure that youll have something to live on while youre gett ing things rolling.Beginning your business while youre still working at your old job will also give you a better idea of whether theres an actual need for your product or service, and how much work goes into producing it, which will give you the information you need to work out the particulars of your finances down the road. (More on this in section No. 5.)Finally, although working two jobs can be exhausting and a juggling act, its a good way to make sure that youll still love your new career when youre doing your hobby for money, leid love alone. Make connectionsSocial media has made it easier than ever to make connections with like-mindedpeople, which is an incredible boon to a small businessperson. LinkedIn, Facebook, Google, Twitter, Tumblr, Pinterest, etc., can help you virtually meet other people in your industry.Just remember to proceed with caution some people will be less than willing to offer business advice to a potential competitor. The best approach is to forge connecti ons before you start asking specific questions. Now is not the time for a blanker form letter, asking strangers if you can pick their brains. The goal is to become part of a community, not strip-mine the competition for ideas and run. Find out what the market will bearVia your newfound online communities and real-life connections, get a rough idea of how much other businesses charge for the product or services you offer. Sometimes, this is as easy as looking at online marketplaces and seeing what people charge.Get a sense of what the landscape is like, and how your business will fit into it. What do your competitors offer? What needs does your business fulfill that theirs doesnt? How do you differentiate yourself from your competition? Make a planA business plan is the least glamorous part of starting a new venture, but it can be essential, especially if youre thinking about looking for funding from outside sources. Even if you plan to run your business on your own savings, a busine ss plan can help organize your thinking about your new adventure and expose any so-far unforeseen problems.Plan your financesAs part of your business plan, calculate your monthly expenses, projected income, and total startup costs, including any new equipment you might need, and professional costs like membership fees for professional associations, online marketplaces, or accountants or tax preparers.Youll also need to plan on paying quarterly estimated taxes, and self-employment tax.Eventually, youll have to decide whether to remain a sole proprietor or to choose some other form of business organization, including limited liability company, S-corporation, and so on. Get the word outThe internet makes it easier than ever to let people know that youre hanging out your shingle. In the olden days, you might have had to allocate a significant part of your budget to advertising and lead generation, but now you can get started simply by posting on your favorite networks and letting people know youre open for business.Just remember that if youre still working at your day job, you might need to be discrete. Make sure your company doesnt have a policy against freelancing or working part-time, and that your business doesnt rely on any trade secrets youve picked up from your job. If all those conditions are satisfied, think of a one-line description for what your business does, and share it with the world. Work Hard Working for yourself is hard, but if you do your research, plan ahead, and think critically about the potential pitfalls, youll have a much better chance of doing what you love and loving what you do. At the very least, youre bound to love the boss.

The Modern History of Forensic Science

The Modern History of Forensic ScienceThe Modern History of Forensic ScienceToday, it seems that forensic science careers are everywhere.Specialists are brought out and put on the stand in high profile trials, experts are constantly interviewed for analysis on the news, and television shows such as CSI portray the glory and intrigue of crime scene investigations. Younger Than It Looks Surprisingly, while the use of science in criminal investigations in some manner or another been around since before the Roman Empire, the idea of forensic science as a discipline and a career is barely 100 years old.It has only been within the last century that law enforcement agencies and the court systems have come to rely so heavily on the use of scientific practices in crime scene investigations. Until the mid-nineteenth century, the use of science in investigations was known and discussed, but the proper application of scientific principles had not yet been fully fleshed out. Throughout histor y, there had been examples of various pieces of evidence leading to convictions or acquittals that would seem to fall in line with what we now recognize as forensics. Accelerated Advancements During the 1800s, though, the application of the scientific principle to criminal investigations accelerated. Clothing and vegetable grains were used to place suspects at the scenes of crimes. The invention of the camera brought on the use of photography to document and preserve crime scenes. Hydrogen peroxide was discovered to foam as it oxidized when it contacted hemoglobin, demonstrating the ability to test for the presence of blood. All of these advances came fast and furious and combined to bring a renewed zeal for science within the realm of criminology. Mystery novels and detective stories gained popularity in the mainstream culture, lead by important characters such as Sir Arthur Conan Doyles iconic Sherlock Holmes. Fingerprints Forge the Way Of course, these were all important aspects of the weitergabe of forensic science as a discipline. Perhaps the most significant advance, though, was the independent works of Englishmen Henry Faulds and William Herschel and American scientist Thomas Taylor detailing the uniqueness of human fingerprints and their potential use in identifying people that lead to the codification and standardization of accepted practices within forensic science. Dr. Edmond Locard, Pioneer No mention of the history of forensic science would be complete without discussing the tremendous contributions of Dr. Edmond Locard, a French scientist, and criminologist who had studied law and medicine.Locard proposed the notion that everything leaves a trace, a principle that prevails today in crime scene investigation. Locards Exchange Principle espoused the idea that everything and everyone that enters a crime scene leaves some piece of evidence behind. Likewise, everyone and everything takes some piece of the crime scene with them when they le ave. The First Crime Lab Locards belief and research lead him to convince the police department in Lyon, France to provide him with an office and a staff to analyze evidence obtained from crimes. The two attic rooms and his two assistants soon became the worlds first crime laboratory. Specialties in Forensic Science Today, the field of forensic science has all but exploded.Advancements in technology allow for better analysis and understanding of scientific principles in all types of evidence. This, in turn, allows crime scene investigators to branch out and gain expertise in areas such as bloodstain pattern analysis and ballistics. DNA Analysis The advancements of the twentieth century were built largely upon the groundwork laid in the nineteenth century, perfecting techniques in both analysis and preservation of evidence.In the late 1900s, though, perhaps the largest breakthrough in crime scene investigation since fingerprinting became standard practice came with the ad vent of DNA analysis and identification. The Future of Forensic Science The recent use of DNA in criminal investigations has led not only to the positive identification of countless criminals, but it has also lead to overturns of prior convictions and the release of hundreds of innocent people. With new advances in police technology and computer science, crime scene investigation and forensic science will only become more precise as we head into the future. Working in Forensic Science Working as a crime scene investigator can be an extremely rewarding prospect.Because the field is still relatively new, forensic science careers can put you on the cutting edge of new techniques, technology and research. Moreover, youll be able to sleep soundly knowing youre working to bring justice and help others.

How Music Genre Is Used to Categorize Music

How Music Genre Is Used to Categorize MusicHow Music Genre Is Used to Categorize MusicMusic genre - or simply genre - refers to styles of music. Rock is a music genre, as our country, reggae, classical, jazz among others. When talking about genre in the music industry, it is helpful to think in terms of top-level genres and sub-genres. Various Levels of Genre in Music Take, for instance, the genre of jupe. Rock is a very broad term that encompasses many different types of music, some of which are actually pretty divergent from one another. Punk, indie, shoegaze, AOR, metal and many, many, more all fall under the top level genre category of rock but can each be considered individual sub-genres. This sub-genre category is usually more useful in terms of describing music to another person. For instance, telling someone that a musikgruppe is a rock combo is not as helpful in describing the sound as saying the band is a punk band (the description of punk is more useful in telling so meone what an artistsounds like). Why Their Use Is Important If you want to work in the music industry, understanding genres are pretty important for a number of different reasons, including For Descriptive PurposesThe ability to be as descriptive as possible about someones music is a great tool for a number of different musical careers. Whether youre a manager trying to convince someone to listen to your artists music, a PR person trying to sell a magazine on a review, a radio plugger trying to land some plays for an artists or a booking agent trying to get a band a show, being able to give some musical points of reference in the form of a genre description is critical.Understanding the AudienceUnderstanding genre is also key to understanding audiences. Genres - or more specifically, sub-genres - tend to have a culture all their own. Fans of a parteicular sub-genre of music may tend to flock to the same kinds of venues and same kinds of shops, listen to the same radio station s, watch the same movies and use the same websites. This kind of information is invaluable when it comes to promoting and marketing music and putting together live shows. If youre in or representing, say, a punk band (which is a sub-genre with a very clearly defined culture of its own), then you can increase your chances of success by understanding where punks fans go for their music in any given area. It will help you reach the right listeners every time, increasing your chances of success. In fact, understanding the identity of a sub-genre can even help direct the design of your cover art and merchandise- or dictate whether you need these things at all. Affects Decision MakingIdentifying genre will also help musicians and their representatives choose the right labels to approach with their music and can even help them decide if they need a label at all. Whereas music in the pop genre benefits from having a major label behind it, indie rock can thrive on an indie imprint - and ca n be self-released much easier than a record by an unknown pop artist. A genre is a key to unlocking lost avenues for music industry success, so resist the urge to shrug it off as a meaningless label - it really is an important part of communicating your music to the masses.