Season of Shadows Blog

“In 1517 Martin Luther took a stand on it. In 1926 Houdini made his final exit on it. In 1938 Orson Welles perpetrated a national hoax on it. Today 70 percent of American households open their doors to strangers on it, 50 percent take photographs on it, and the nation drops more than six billion dollars celebrating it. The night is Halloween, of course, and the history of its rise is as unlikely as any ghost story. Halloween has become the darling of American holidays. Only Christmas outearns it. Only New Year’s Eve and Super Bowl Sunday outparty it.”

The above quote comes from an article in the October 2001 issue of American Heritage Magazine. While I knew Halloween’s popularity had been growing by leaps and bounds, it’s staggering once you realize just how enamored most of our nation has become with October 31st.

When you consider Americans spend billions (with a “B”) on Halloween, it should be possible for any entrepreneurial minded, Halloween enthusiast to generate decent revenue from their creative Halloween work, if they’re so inclined. Granted, a large portion of that six billion goes to costumes and candy, but there’s still a good slice leftover for decorations, attending haunted houses and many other odds and ends associated with the holiday.

This is one of the reasons I’m extremely happy to see more and more people getting involved in the online business side of Halloween. There are many sites (run by individuals) which now sell their awesome items in merchant shops such as Etsy. Pumpkinrot and Bean’s Shop, known as Pumpkin Hollow, immediately comes to mind, along with several others.

While I don’t sell items, I have chosen the route of utilizing ads and affiliate programs to generate income through my love affair with Halloween. However, income generation is never my main focus. Generating income is the means which allows me to pursue that which I’m most passionate about.

Money, when you pursue your passion, is simply a byproduct of following what you love and sincerely caring about your customers or visitors. This is just as true for a Halloween business (online or off) as it is for any other. If money is your prime motivator for work or a career, you will have a much tougher time succeeding and will burn out a lot quicker.

Now, you may be thinking, “What’s he talking about? Doesn’t he know we’re in the midst of a recession?” I’m completely aware of that, which is why I wrote the article: Economic Recession = Rebirth at Wind of the Soul. And it’s because of that article, I stand by my words in this entry.

Some people may feel it’s greedy or bad to generate revenue through ads or by selling Halloween products and that’s okay. But, if you’re enthusiastic, creative, and passionate about the subject and about providing great products and/or service, you deserve to generate awesome income from your pursuits.

I’d much rather be working on creating new blog posts (at both of my sites), building Halloween props, sincerely helping visitors and hosting giveaways, than working at some job which is far from being fulfilling. Though I’m not “rolling in it”, I’m happier than I’ve ever been in my life.

Richard Branson, the billionaire CEO of Virgin Records, Virgin Mobile, Virgin Airlines etc., once said, “If you’re not passionate about what you do, why are you doing it? [Furthermore], you probably shouldn’t be doing it at all.” I agree 110%. Passion, happiness, creativity and love generate a life, which in turn generates revenue. It’s not the other way around.

This post was meant to inspire those interested in pursuing Halloween as a business, rather than discussing specifics. If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to contact me.

This entry was posted on Sunday, February 8th, 2009 at 9:38 pm and is filed under Blog/Site Info, Halloween Odds and Ends. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.