The Difference Between a Hobby and a Business

Right now, I'm in the middle of trying to transition from crafting for a hobby and crafting for profit.  Of course, it's always convenient to be able to whip up Christmas and birthday gifts, and to be able to make things for your own pleasure, but there's a point (at least in my experience) where one feels that there's got to be a way to expand on this.  That's where things like craft shows, flea markets, and Etsy come into play.  Some things (such as craft shows or flea markets) are a little harder to get into initially.   Often times there will be a vendor's fee at evens held anually, or only one time.  Those also often require a vendor's license to be held, which doesn't seem to be too pricey (as far as I've seen), but it is just a little more red tape, and can be a little confusing for those of us who aren't exactly the most organized (...... hmmmm...).  Flea markets can be good, however there's always that monthly booth rent, and often times it's quite the chance to take, considering you probably won't have an estimated idea of how much will sell, or if ANYTHING will sell.  I recently had an experience like this.  I had a booth in a little flea market in my town.  I loved the owners, and the booth rent wasn't too bad.  However, not a whole lot of people in my town have extra cash to be throwing at hand-made and vintage items.  So, eventually I had to give up that booth, because I was only making about half of the rent up in sales... a little counter-productive. Then we come to Etsy. Thousands upon thousands of sellers to choose from.  This can be a dream for some, and daunting for others.  I'm one of those others.  I have such a wide array of interests as far as crafts go (i.e. I have a very short attention span and have to have multiple things to jump around to), that I have a hard time really finding that little niche that I fit into.  On top of the fact that, once again.. I'm scatterbrained and am not very good with creating a method of advertisement.  I'm slowly feeling my way through though, or at least so it would seem.  I spend lots of time on crafting sites, blogs, and crafting tip sites.  I've had a few friends and relatives ask me to custom make things for them... and I guess that's always the first step.