Episode ZERO

“The best is the enemy of good.” – Voltaire

Here I am, finally taking the leap to jot down my initial thoughts about Hobby Dabbler. It won’t be perfect but I can’t let that stop me. And that’s the approach I’ve taken with hobbies – instead of sampling a hobby, I tend to go all-in, aim for perfection, and get burnt out before I even improve through the sheer joy of learning to do it. I’ve found myself researching inspirational evidence of whatever craft it is, buying the best equipment, and then having no idea what I want to do with it for my own interest. My entrepreneurial inclination is to figure out a way to monetize the hobby before I’ve even tried it. My husband, Paul, and I are both idea people; we’ve spent hours talking about business ideas – some turned into reality while others remain perpetually in the “it’d be cool if…” stage. Paul is a much better doer than me. He isn’t stilted by the idea of perfection. Don’t get me wrong – he is definitely a perfectionist! But the difference is, where I let the idea of perfection hold me back from even starting things, he uses it as inspiration to do his best.

Before we were married, before we even started dating, I had told him about my idea to sample other peoples’ hobbies so I wouldn’t have to invest in something I wasn’t sure I’d like. After all, I have a lot of friends with different interests, him included. I asked him if he’d be willing to teach me how to make a pen – one of the many hobbies he’s successfully monetized. It would be my first “episode” of this hobby-trial idea show I had.

A year went by and the clips remained un-edited because my computer lagged and I again found myself questioning how much to invest in a hobby (in this case, a show about hobbies) that I wasn’t even sure I’d continue. Fast-forward a year to when we became a couple and the concept of sampling hobbies came up again. With his encouragement and technical savvy, we’re making it happen! Together we made a list of the people we know who have interesting hobbies – many of which I’d never think to try myself. We pitched the idea to some of these folks, who were, more often than not, open to the idea of helping us try out their hobby and asking them questions about it. There may be some hobbies that Paul or I might try on our own too. The idea is to explore hobbies to make “free time” more valuable.

Intrigued? Want to nominate a hobby for us and/or someone to help us try it? We’ve created a form to get the ball rolling. Even if you don’t have a hobby idea for us, we welcome you to sign up for updates!

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