14 people who turned their hobbies into million- and billion-dollar careers

 

As the saying goes, "Do what you love, and you'll never work another day in your life."

These entrepreneurs did just that, and they've made millions!

From Jennifer Hyman and Jennifer Fleiss — fashion-savvy business school classmates who launched the highly successful apparel rental service Rent the Runway — to Mark Zuckerberg, who started the platform that became Facebook as a side project, here are 14 people who turned their hobbies into million- and billion-dollar careers.

SEE ALSO: 11 people share how others react when they reveal what they do for a living — and it's maddening

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Michelle Schroeder-Gardner, Making Sense of Cents

Michelle Schroeder-Gardner paid off $38,000 worth of student loans in just seven months after she graduated from business school. Her secret — and the reason she now earns more than $100,000 a month through her blog — is to focus on earning.

"The biggest reason for why I was able to pay off my student loans is because I earned as much money as I could outside of my day job," she explains on her personal finance and lifestyle blog, Making Sense of Cents. "I mystery shopped and got paid to take surveys, but the biggest thing I did was I made an income through my blog."

Schroeder-Gardner started Making Sense of Cents while pursuing an MBA in finance. Although she first envisioned it as more of a diary, the site now generates revenue through online classes she teaches on the site, affiliate marketing, and advertising (both company-sponsored ads and display ads). 

She and her husband both quit their jobs in 2013 and now travel across the US in an RV. 

Nadia Shuaib, Budget Electronics

After immigrating from Canada to Scotland, Nadia Shuaib turned her husband's part-time project into a multimillion-dollar e-commerce project — while studying for the Canadian bar! 

Shuaib listed a few of her husband's cell phone accessories on eBay. When the inventory quickly sold out, she decided to make her part-time project into a career. Now, her online store, Budget Electronics, which is based out of two Toronto warehouses, is a multimillion-dollar business.

Craig Newmark, Craigslist

Craig Newmark moved to San Francisco for a job in computer programming at Charles Schwab. When he was laid off, he made the most of the situation by using his severance package to start a small message board that aggregated events that fellow programmers might be interested in.

With terrific timing, Newmark's project coincided with the release of the early internet browser Netscape. With the addition of a job-listing section, the site, which eventually became Craigslist, boomed in popularity.

Today, Newmark's net worth is estimated to be $1.31 billion, according to Forbes.

 

 

 

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