Don't lose that passion. Just realize and accept that now other things will also be required.

A price, for example. Asking "Well, what do you think it's worth to you?" won't work.

If you're planning to conduct your business online, you'll need a website and some basic goodies. You're in luck - this sort of thing gets easier to do by day, it seems. There's cool full packages like Sitesell, Easy Web Site Builder and Build A Web Site Tonight . Heck, if you're real DIY type, you can grab a template from BasicWebTemplates and then download a very cool FR*E website editor called Nvu.

There's a great book mentioned in resource box that I'm told comes in really handy for getting started.

For a good dose of reality, try this: Do a Google or Yahoo search for forums for your hobby. All you gotta do is enter "rat racing+forums" in little search box (without those quote marks!)and away you go. See if people talk about making money with it. If no one does talk about it, ask them! At very worst, they'll say, "What, are you crazy???"

Either way, you get an education.

Of course, you can also search for your hobby alone and see who has a business site for it. Whatever you do, don't get yourself all discouraged and stuff just because someone else is doing it or even seems to be doing it very well. It's one darn big Internet, my friend.

When you see that making your hobby a business can be done and it can even be done by you, you'll have cleared probably biggest hurdle of all.

Roll up those sleeves and open for business!!

Dan Reinhold is proud author of "The WAHumor Way: Reality Check, Please!", essential primer for everyone starting a home business or even thinking about it. With two boys, a dog, a cat, a rat, a wife and a household to keep together to boot, Dan's also editor of WAHumor to hang on to his sanity by showing how insane work-at-home community can be! Subscribe quickly at WAHumor@aweber.com You could Win Big!!

Dan Reinhold is the proud author of "The WAHumor Way: Reality Check, Please!", the essential primer for everyone starting a home business or even thinking about it. With two boys, a dog, a cat, a rat, a wife and a household to keep together to boot, Dan's also the editor of WAHumor to hang on to his sanity by showing how insane the work-at-home community can be! Subscribe quickly at WAHumor@aweber.com You could Win Big!!

*You have multiple field locations within your company and you lack a comprehensive and uniform system to pay bills on time and to deal with moves/adds/changes effectively; *You are paying a full-time salary and benefits to one or more individuals to handle bill paying duties; *You need an experienced outsourcing firm to not only pay bills but to implement a system of routine auditing to maximize savings and reduce waste.

3. Cost-Reduction and Auditing

Before outsourcing telemanagement or bill management duties, it is first advisable (although not absolutely necessary) to conduct a thorough audit of your telecom department.

A cost-reduction study will help you maximize savings before systems are put into place for paying and/or maintaining your bills. Chances are that savings found when conducting a cost-reduction survey first will pay for subseqent outsourcing many times over.

You should consider a cost-reduction audit if:

*You need a comprehensive study and inventory completed to help you determine "baseline" of all your company's telecom needs - and you need help in identifying exactly where savings and waste can be eliminated ; *You have experienced or been concerned with any of following items appearing on your bills in past: billing errors, fraud and abuse, unneeded/unused features, overprovisioning of lines, cost-effective local service plans, and/or correct long-distance assignment; *You lack time, manpower and/or proprietary knowledge to conduct a thorough audit in-house

4. Telecom Training

If you are fully staffed to handle above outsourcing tasks within your company, outsourcing basic and/or advanced training may be in order.

The telecommunications industry is in a constant state of change. Comprehensive training will keep your staff sharp and current to handle these changes.

Telecom training can be customized and on location or can be acquired in a variety of 1-2 day seminars conducted by experienced and reputable training companies. (CCMI is a terrific source for intensive auditing seminars and training)

The bottom line?

Outsourcing some or all of your telecom departmental duties can save your company money. In process, it can relieve your staff of time-consuming tasks and headaches better left to an experienced outsourcing firm.