Some time ago I decided to start my own store and make money on selling sheet music, rather than just having it as a hobby. i decided to talk a bit about it, after some having been doing so in a while.
One intressting thing about it is that I've realized, which I maybe didn't think as much of before. That music itself, and also just arranging as a hobby feels way more important than all the money you can earn. Also people love (in form of positive comments and praise) is also way more important I find.
Although when I started I was a bit annoyed, thinking that I worked hard (both with my music sheets and my youtube channel) but not earning anything. And as I was good at making sheet music, it lead me to the thought of earning money selling sheet music. So I started the shop (after a ton of time checking out different web site services). And well I didn't earn that much. But it definetly felt rewarding earning some money, and a bit as a "carrot", encourage you to make more sheet music and more music.
I haven't made that much money, and won't go plus (most likely) this year (my website subscription being the cost). But it definetly was kind of fun making own money, even though I didn't earn much.
But after all I also did notice that money wasn't all I was after, and that peoples positive praise as well as the joy of music itself was more what I liked. People have sometimes called me an not-materialistic person, who don't care much about materialistic stuff and money and such, which I also have thought I kind of was, but also thought it had with political bias (having a lot left-leaning people around me influensing me), and I was concerned when starting to sell whether I was either greedy trying to make money, or was overly generous by offereing everything for free. But now I guess I know a bit that it wasn't just political bias (money and rich = bad) that I was a bit non-materialistic, but that I didn't see it as that important.
But I think it can be good to know the option of earning money, even though you don't have to try to make money out of everything (something I don't recomend), if you feel like. I find myself more into charging people when I've put a lot of work into something as it feels more "legit" and more "earned" then, rather than just charge for eveything. And I maybe also think about when you're doing work if it feels ok or if you feel overly generous, like doing everything for free. Especially if you're very good at something/put a lot of work into something. But, at the end of the day, it's up to oneself to decidede whether to do something commercial or as a hobby.
