The author has some good points. What can look like a hobby to some people can be seen by the creator as part of their mission in life, or a calling card that

The author has some good points. What can look like a hobby to some people can be seen by the creator as part of their mission in life, or a calling card that is part of what makes the creator unique. If you feel that way about something that doesn't monetarily pay off, does that make it a hobby or something else? A company in a tangential space approached me the other day for a second time to discuss whether I could collaborate with them on something that would make their service offering more complete. For years I have been building an on-line resource that provides information about an avocation of mine that I thought the on-line world needed. Currently, that resource is very poorly monetized, and its existence is financially supported by other consulting and advisory work that I do for which I am fairly compensated. At one level, this is totally a hobby. But at another, I always believed that if I built this on-line resource that a group of people and/or companies would find my work important, and I would find a way for the work to pay off. If a collaboration produces revenue in any amount, it's a confirmation that my work has utility and value to others who certainly are making money from a larger service offering.