Making $$$ as a hobbyist

[Suzy]

Hey, Guys!

I am in awe of the people that can raise marine ornamentals and make enough money to pay their house payments and not have to do the 9-5 grind, the commute, the boss bs! I am not one of those. My greedy mortgage company wants money every month, and I get to work outside my home to keep them happy. And, to eat and have warm water and stuff....Fish are just a passion for me, and one of the best things I have found in my life. But, I also have a husband and 2 children who want my attention, 2 dogs, an attack parrot, gardening and another website I run.

So, for me, trying to make money off my tanks is really not worth it. I know I could chop up a coral, talk it up on a local forum, have a few people come to my house to buy the frags. I have had people call me from our local club forum to buy stuff, really without even trying. But, I plan an hour from my day to wait for them, more often than not they did not show. And when they did, we would end up talking for hours. Not that I dont like talking or anything, but...

I found a better way, for me anyway. Last winter, during peak hobby season, I did a "One Day Sale". I posted every day for a week on our local classifieds. Every day I posted about something I was selling:

Macroalgae! Get the strongest filtration you can get for your reef tank! Grow your own Tang Candy! I have the prettiest Red you can find in this state! Ect, Ect
Live Food! Grow your own copepods and rotifers to feed your corals! The best nutrition money can buy and you can grow it yourself! Ect Ect
Easy beginner corals! These corals not only are easy to grow, look beautiful, they even absorb phosphate, ect,ect
Shrimp. shrimp and more shrimp! These shrimp are the yummiest food for your seahorses and lionfish!
BioGlobes! Your own saltwater tank in a biotope that cares for itself!

I made over $300 bucks in one day, in less than 2 hours! Off things I grow anyway! I know I couldn't do it every week, or even every month. The only reason I got so many people coming was because of the hype and incredible marketing skilz! But it was really kind of fun having a few hundred people in my basement, all wanting stuff.

[EasterEggs]

Marketing sells! I usually save up a bunch of stuff, and have a one day sale too. First come, first serve. I do that for frags, macroalgae, fresh fish food,any hardware I might be wanting to sell, etc. It's like a fishy farmer's market. That way I don't even notice the no-shows.

[Suzy]

Ok, I just started marketing another


One Day Big Sale at Suzy's Reef!


No one else does this?

http://www.ksl.com/index.php?nid=218&ad=19234671&cat=371.

[jeff@zina.com]

I manage to pay for fish food and that's about it.

But I also don't have the time to invest like I should if I want this to be a real business.

Jeff

[Suzy]

That is my point. It is so not a business! I do this once a year sale and sell rotifers and algae!

[EasterEggs]

I do sales like I mentioned above. When I make fish food I make enough extra that I can make a few bucks selling it which pays for the whole batch (free food for me then). If I need to buy maintenance supplies for my reef (test kits, chems, etc) then I have a frag sale. Sometimes I just take frags in to sell at the LFS for commission. I just tell people something like "show up on Sunday between 10am and 2 pm". Works well for me, and saves me a few bucks without actually costing me anything.