People are always looking for something as a sideline for more money. MLM was the rage some 10 years ago, but it died off. Avon and other home party deals are out there (watkins, candelight, longaberger, lingerie, pampered chef to just a few).
It's like any other business - you need a plan, sufficient capital, business ability and time/patience. Most businesses fail within 5 years, and most home based in a year. Heck, Old Navy has been in our mall for mabe 3 years and now they've closed up shop and left - so even the big guys with all their marketing savvy and resources don't succeed all the time.
It works like this - you're a hobbyist and take 'pretty pictures', so family, friends and coworkers want you to take pics for them. If they wanted to pay pro-level prices, they would have. They want cheaper, you're ego is fed, you don't charge much, have no overhead, etc. This is fine.
You then decide to 'take it to the next level' and try and make a business of it. That changes everything, as you now have overhead (time for bookeeping, marketing, etc) and money (insurance, biz cards -perhaps more). You charge more, no freebies and your friends don't buy as much - so now you ahve more gear to pay off and have to actually seek out customers. Then you find you're not making any money, so you charge more. You find out that what was a hobby is now a lot like a job - and one where only 25% of your time is spent actually doing photography!
You find out actually making money at this (like $20,000+ a year) is hard work, and to succeed means working 80 hours a week (for a few years anyway) so you go back to being a hobbyist and maybe making enough money for a lens now and then.
And that's just about what 95% of the folks that sell avon, watkins, candelight, longaberger, lingerie, pampered chef do too.
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