4 signs that you're ready to turn your hobby into a full-time hustle

Best in Miniature returns to CBC for Season 2 on Feb. 19, and just like last season, you'll be meeting competitors who are big on talent. It takes pro skills to create tiny living rooms and kitchens in a timed TV challenge, but what viewers at home might not realize is just how many of the show's featured artists make their living making miniatures. 

Take Season 1 champ, Susete Saraiva, who wowed the judges with a little house of horrors. A resident of North York, Ont., Saraiva quit her day job in 2016, leaving a 12-year career as an inventory analyst to pursue miniatures full-time. She now sells handmade dioramas and sculptures inspired by all things spooky, in addition to equally creepy commissioned work that she creates for private collectors and commercial brands. 

In the beginning, though, sculpting ouija boards the size of a postage stamp was a hobby for Saraiva — and it was the same story for the Best in Miniature stars we reached out to. Making the leap wasn't easy for any of them, but so far, the decision's been worth it.

So how did they know it was time to focus on their passion, and turn a favourite pastime into a paying gig? These are the signs they couldn't ignore — plus a couple of tips that have helped them stick it out.

Sign No. 1: Undeniable demand!

Briar Nielsen of Uxbridge, Ont. is introduced on Season 2 as an "aspiring full-time miniaturist," and after the series wrapped filming, she managed to realize that dream. Today, the recent business school grad supports herself through Etsy sales and private commissions, including client work for brands like Samsung.

"There really are unlimited ways to make money in the world," says Nielsen, who sells under the brand name Revive Minis, and she discovered a market for her tiny minimalist furnishings through posting photos of her personal projects on social media. On Instagram alone, she's built an enviable following of more than 21,000. 

When Nielsen began selling on Etsy in early 2021, she still considered herself a hobbyist, but she launched her side hustle with confidence thanks to the support of her online fanbase. "You don't have to have an audience to open an Etsy shop, by any means," says Nielsen — but listening to her story, it sure doesn't hurt. "I knew people who had an interest in my style and the things that I was making would have some interest when I opened my shop. The day I opened, a bunch of people ordered right away." (As of writing, you can pick up one of her homemade rattan cabinets for $45; a thimble-sized "Rose Apothecary" diffuser will cost you $7.)

Like Nielsen, Saraiva cultivated an online fanbase for her miniatures, and her first paid commissions came in through her DMs.

"Beforehand, I always had the mentality that I can't make a living off these things. I didn't know that there were people out there who would want to buy them, but clearly there are — there are collectors everywhere," says Saraiva, who specializes in shrinking great moments from horror movie history. Her diorama of the Amityville Horror house sold for $1,000. "Seeing the positive response from everyone online definitely helped. It pushed me."

Sign No. 2: You've found a niche

Identifying your market is crucial, says Gabbi Whiteley, a miniature artist from Vancouver who appears on Season 2. In 2021, Whiteley founded Minterior, a business specializing in dollhouse furniture for children — stuff in the style of the sleek MCM-inspired furnishings their millennial parents love adding to Pinterest. Through its online store, Minterior sells designs by Whiteley in addition to other local artisans, and is expanding into sales of DIY kits.

A young mom with previous professional experience in advertising and art, Whiteley got interested in miniatures while building a dollhouse for her son. The tiny furniture she found in toy shops was never quite right. "Everything out there was sort of garish — very pink and plasticky," she says. So she did what any crafty person would do and made some herself. 

The experience left her thinking: maybe there were other parents searching for the same kind of toys? Still, she wasn't ready to launch a small business based on a hunch, and before opening Minterior, Whiteley started small, offering her "dollhouse renovation" services to families in her social circle while polling her networks (her clients especially) on their purchasing habits.

"I have done stuff in the past where I've jumped into it without doing market research," says Whiteley, who's turned hobbies into side hustles before. (Before having kids, she had a go pursuing taxidermy; her brand Owl and Windsor appeared at various Vancouver markets.) "But I definitely think if you really want to turn [your idea] into something that is going to bring some income, I would 100 per cent recommend seeing if there's an interest out there for what you want to offer."

By studying the market for dollhouse toys, Whiteley also discovered a unique opportunity. "If people are buying kids' miniatures, they're buying from abroad," she says — the U.S., Australia, the UK. "I couldn't find a similar market for it in Canada. And so it just made complete sense to me."

Not all niche markets are quite so exclusive. Tracy Ealdama, who also appears on Season 2, began building minis as a lark.A full-time homemaker and homeschool teacher, Ealdama's first ever project was a detailed re-creation of the Kim's Convenience storefront, a work that launched her to Internet fame. More lovingly detailed projects followed: models of landmarks — real and fictional — which grew her audience on social. But her first paid assignment was for another hobbyist like herself. He was a toy photographer, and he wanted a custom diorama for one of his shoots.

"I was like, 'I've never made a diorama before, other than school,'" she says. But she took the job, and it wound up connecting her to a market she never knew existed.

"These toy photographers are coming to me now," she says — and through that community, she's also broken into corporate work, designing miniature sets for toy brands including Spinmaster. "You know, you never think for a second that there's actually a niche out there — where people want miniatures. I thought it was just all about dollhouses. And then you continue to explore and you realize that there's a broad niche for everything."

Sign No. 3: You spend every free moment on your hobby

Before Saraiva went into the minis biz, she could feel herself quiet-quitting. "I was starting to get very unhappy with where I was at, just because it wasn't feeding my creativity," she says. "You know, sitting in front of a computer screen — that's not what I wanted to do with my life."

But she did find herself creating minis at every opportunity. It was a sign she couldn't ignore. "I would get home at 6 p.m. and I would spend five hours a night working on this," she says. "So I just decided I'm going to put all of my attention, 100 per cent of my attention, into making art, and I'm going to make this work one way or another."

Still, Saraiva couldn't have predicted just how exhausting it feels to devote 100 per cent of your attention to anything, and Whiteley agrees. "I think if you speak to any small business owner, it's a 24-hour job," says Whiteley. And nobody told her that job would entail so much more than her hobbyist skillset.

"If you're expecting to just work seven hours a day, that's not how it's going to go," says Saraiva. When your passion is just a hobby, you might spend eight hours crafting a tiny bespoke Eames chair, and when you're done, you're done. But if you're selling an object you've made, the whole endeavour is suddenly a 20-hour time commitment, says Saraiva. You've got to take product photos, create a sales listing, promote it on social media. And then there's all the administrative work around packing and shipping, never mind the agonizing feat of deciphering your taxes.

"If you don't have passion for it, and you're just thinking about money-money-money, I can't imagine someone could sit there all day doing this."

Sign No. 4: Nothing makes you happier

Like Saraiva just said, it all comes down to the love of it.

"I can't say that there was ever a moment where I thought this was going to work, but I think when you have a passion for something, you want to do whatever you can to make it a success. That's basically what I went off of," she says.

"I was great at my job, but I didn't want to do it for the rest of my life." She'd even dabbled with creative side hustles before — cake decorating, commissioned paintings — but those pursuits never "clicked" the way miniatures did. "There's nothing about it that I don't love, and I think that was the major driving point for me: I could see myself doing this for the rest of my life."

Recognizing the signs can take time. Before focusing on miniatures full-time, Nielsen loved her job. She styled homes — the full-sized variety. Selling miniatures on Etsy was just something to do in her spare time, but after a year and a half, something clicked: she loved miniatures, and she especially loved the freedom of running her own shop. "I get bored and restless in jobs very [easily]," she says. "This kind of allows me to run my days — and projects — exactly how I would like."

Bonus tip: Don't let the spark go out!

If passion is the biggest sign you're ready to go pro, then you've got to make sure you can keep the love alive. According to Nielsen, that's the one piece of advice she wished someone had told her before quitting her day job.

"When I first started selling things, I stopped making anything for myself and it was hard. I was like, 'Why am I doing this?'"

"I started to feel like a factory, and I was kind of losing my passion for the hobby and art that I enjoy so much," she explains.

Everyone needs a break from work — even when work is the thing you love most. So now, Nielsen gives herself a day off when she can swing it. "Those are times that I only work on miniatures for myself," she says.

Her favourite hobby remains her favourite hobby — even now that she's spun it into her main source of income. When she's working on a project, purely for the love of it, she gets an opportunity to try new technical skills and just replenish her creative spirit. Says Nielsen: "I don't want to lose the fire for the artform."

Season 2 of Best in Miniature premieres Sunday, Feb. 19 at 7 p.m. (7:30 NT) on CBC TV and CBC Gem.