u/SkyInterstellar-

I began to create candles as a hobby of relaxation. Made some for friends. They wanted more. Retail outlets established in the local market. I am already handling wholesale orders on supply and somehow own a small business dealing with candles. This escalated.

Once a hobby becomes a business, everything becomes different. 

Hobby candle making is the purchase of fancy molds that you like to use. Business candle making refers to the computation of unit cost and order minimum of bulk molds with Alibaba wholesalers.

The numbers make sense: all individual molds are between 8 and 15 dollars. Orders of 50 or more of the same molds would reduce unit price to 2-4. Wholesale is needed in the case of business scaling. A commitment of 50 same molds is, however, an obligation to produce that particular size/shape of candles hundreds of times.

The business mindset is totally opposed to the hobby mindset. Hobbies are based on fun and diversification. Companies emphasize effectiveness and repetitiveness. I switched between "I think I will do this new mold just because it is fun" and "what was the production-profit ratio of this particular mold.

The happiness was reduced in line with professionalization. It was pleasant to make candles as fun. Filling orders that have deadlines and dealing with inventory and supply chains is not easy. It is a good pay labor but it is no more rest.

I am not regretting the change of the business but I miss the hobby variant. Perhaps the moral is that there are things that ought not to be turned into a hobby. Commercializing them transforms the nature of them in a manner that takes away the elements that made them good in the first place.

Has anyone ever made money on something they enjoyed without losing pleasure in it? What is your plan of balancing between business efficiency and creative enjoyment?