Companies
Hobbies can provide individuals with a sense of balance, joy, and even self-expression in the busy world around them; but for some people, their hobbies become much more – a livelihood. Read on to discover five local businesses that were born from hobbies and how the owners knew that their passion was much more than just an enjoyable way to pass the time.
Photography by Rich Smith
With a mission to make powersports more accessible for everyone, Rock It Powersports was founded in 2020. The shop specializes in dirt bike modifications for amputees and offers standard repair and maintenance for dirt bikes and other off-road vehicles.
Off-road machines have always been a part of my life. Most of my family has been into off-road, and I followed. I remember being a kid and watching my dad ride his dirt bike down our street, dreaming of when I could do the same. Fast-forward to now, I still enjoy riding and love watching my family enjoy it as well. The joy and freedom when riding a dirt bike though places most people will never see is something else. Everyone should experience the smells, views, and feeling of being one with the machine in their life.
I can recall numerous times, years ago, when friends had things break and it would be me figuring out a fix for it. When the breaks became more prevalent, people started telling their friends about me. The realization hit me that I could make money with this and ultimately help people in need. Thus, Rock It was born.
Seeing people enjoying the same hobby I do because I could help them. Eventually I will offer coaching/training for riding as well as wrenching.
Take it slow. Take it easy. Don’t burn yourself out. Especially with your hobby. Luckily, I still love my hobby and what I do for a living. As well as helping those in need of some wrenching.
Definitely trying to figure out how to charge customers. I liked doing it for free and seeing people happy when they didn’t have to spend thousands to be back to enjoying their hobby. But it does take money to run a business, and you have to charge accordingly.
Here’s to 2026 and the adventure it will bring. I’m ready!
Founded in 2011, the Chattanooga School of Language is a private, Tennessee-based language school that provides in-person and virtual instruction for more than 10 languages. With customized support, no-pressure tests, and relational-focused classes, CSL provides a unique approach to learning a new language.
I first fell in love with the Spanish language and culture when I had the opportunity to study in Spain for a summer during college. While there, I experienced what is common for many people who study and then try to practice a language in the real world. While important, context, grammar, syntax, verb conjugation, etc. did very little for me when trying to actually engage with native speakers in everyday life. I was completely outside my wheelhouse, but I was smitten. It was as if I tapped into a newly awakened part of myself when I spoke Spanish and stepped into the Latino culture. And that was worth exploring.
After studying and living with a local family in Costa Rica for a few months, I came back home to figure out next steps. Whether in coffee shops, restaurants, or various nonprofit organizations, I found ways to continue teaching people Spanish and English. And that number kept growing. Doing some initial market research, I then discovered there was a rapidly growing demand for classes where anyone could easily register and learn another language.
The fear of making a mistake, letting people down, or being seen as an “imposter” was something I had to fight for years. For the first five years of CSL, it was also extremely challenging to bootstrap the business while working another full-time job. However, that incubation period was exactly what I needed to see that there really was a demand for the style of learning that CSL offered.
While we may not have had the fanciest space or most expensive furniture in the early years of CSL, I see us as an example of what happens when you keep fighting for something you believe in and surround yourself with others who are just as committed to the mission.
AFFN, a 501(c)(3) orchard and arboretum founded in 2021, preserves the region’s horticultural variety of native fruit and nut trees with one of the nation’s largest collections of pawpaw and persimmon varieties, as well as pecans, hickories, hicans (hickory-pecan hybrid), and other species such as elderberries, currants, figs, and maypops. The organization is entirely volunteer‑run, and 100% of donations and sales directly support maintaining and expanding the orchard.
Twelve years ago, I moved to Cleveland, just north of Chattanooga. Always having had a garden, including fruits, I wondered, “What grows around here? For example, what is a maypop?” I learned that the Cherokees used this fruit and the plant itself for food and medicine, so I surmised that it must grow locally. In fact, the Cherokee named it “ocoee.” If you’ve ever been to Cleveland, you know that everything here is named Ocoee – our river, the lake, the main street, our medical clinic, even one of the local coffee shops! But it is not widely known that “ocoee” translates to this local plant with delicious fruit: the maypop. Learning this made me realize – our modern way of life separates us from the nature right at our doorstep. Wanting to close this gap, I began researching other native edible plants that grow locally, and the idea of the Appalachian Foothills orchard was born.
An orchard is a very slow thing to develop. After planting, one might wait anywhere from 3-5 years to see first fruits and 10-20 years to see the first nuts from a tree. Many of our trees are just now reaching fruiting potential and will increase exponentially. For now, AFFN currently focuses on education – teaching grafting and holding public addresses and fruit socialization events – and on sales of plants and cuttings.
Focus on the hobby activity itself. Most people’s hobbies are connected to a deep inner drive that compels them to create. This drive will fuel your pursuit of uniqueness, quality, and excellence. The artisan nature of a small business, fueled by the creative energy of its owner, is the key competitive advantage that keeps a small business vibrant and keeps customers coming back.
Early on, AFFN focused its resources and bandwidth on building out the collection of trees. Driven by the energy around topics like homesteading, farm-to-table, and reconnecting to heritage and history, people have naturally sought out the orchard. So, one could say that the orchard has taken on a life of its own and markets itself!
Hosting major fiber arts festivals – including the annual Scenic Stitches Fiber Festival and the interactive Scenic Stitches Spectacle – Scenic Stitches is an organization that spun to life in 2024 to promote the power and creativity of fiber arts through workshops, large-scale installations, and vendor markets.
After a big move in 2018, I stumbled across a “Teach Yourself to Knit” booklet on clearance and decided it was the time. Learning the basics, I practiced and started following knitters on social media. I then learned about hand-dyed yarns during the pandemic. Treating myself to a special skein prompted me to learn to knit in a round (joining the stitches so that the knitting is in a continuous circle) to make a hat. That technique unlocked something that made me feel like I could do anything with two sticks and some string! I’ve been chasing that high ever since.
Working fulfillment for luxury and couture fashion brands for a few months, I decided to branch out into my own designs. Big yarn companies are always looking for designers to write patterns for their specific yarn lines, and winning several contracts made me think I should be more intentional about building a business – prompting me to apply for the Periscope program through ArtsBuild. Periscope works with artists to help them develop business models and ends with a pitch competition. My pitch won first place, and I immediately started looking at venues to make it a reality!
Year one was bigger than anticipated right from the start. In October, the plan was for 5,000 square feet, 20 vendors, and 200 people. By the festival start date in February, we were in a 35,000-square-foot space with 70 vendors and had nearly 2,500 attendees. People from California to Connecticut came out for the event. For year two, we’re expecting even more!
If you’re looking for a side hustle, there are probably known opportunities within your hobby that you can take advantage of. If you’re looking for a full-time income, first look at successful business models that work for you and then look at how to apply your hobby to that structure.
Gravity Disc Golf is a local disc golf retailer, offering high-quality, uniquely designed discs and supplies. Founded in 2019, the company sought to provide an easier shopping experience for locals, allowing them to enjoy the sport and personalize their game.
Just before COVID, disc golf was exploding; it was the fastest growing sport in the country. New discs were coming out constantly, but buying them felt outdated. Together, Rich Michael, Kenny Michael, and I noticed a gap in disc golf. Great discs existed, but custom artwork, curated selections, and easy-to-use online stores were hard to find. At the same time, the Chattanooga and Dalton disc golf scenes were growing fast with no true local retailer. Most players were stuck buying generic stock stamps at big-box stores. That’s when we realized we could build something different, streamlined, design-driven, and made specifically for disc golfers.
Our biggest fear was that the business would steal some of the love for the sport away once we saw it as a business and had to deal with it non-stop. But it has kept us close to the sport we love because we get to run events and meet new players all the time! Although we probably play less now.
The most rewarding part of Gravity has been donating discs to kids; meeting all the new players; getting to have a hand in almost every local event; and helping grow the sport here locally and worldwide. Disc golf continues to evolve, but getting to have a business that brings us closer to the sport is amazing!
Be a benefit to those around you, always staying people-focused – whether that’s inside your hobby or not. The greatest benefit to yourself will always be finding a way to help others.
How has your business grown since it began? When Gravity was launched, it began with online custom runs of disc golf discs that sold out immediately due to scarcity in the market/COVID. We have grown our stock from nothing to over 4,000 discs in stock today, along with a retail brick and mortar shop in Tunnel Hill!
