Follow-Up about Rob Dial's Podcast on Hobbies

The other day I wrote about podcaster Rob Dial's tips about hobbies.  He suggested that we each have different types of them, one hobby that brings in money, one that enhances physical fitness, one that provides a creative outlet, one that improves memory and intelligence...and one that challenges the mindset.  The only of these that I had an issue with was the first one...and apparently, I'm not the only one.  Yet if I go to an art exhibit or craft show in town, inevitably I will see price tags next to the items on display.  Do I begrudge the creators of these objects their putting a price on their artistic expression, which by and large the greater part of them do as a hobby, a labor of love so to speak?   No, actually I think more of it as an expression of confidence and a statement of quality about their work.  I absolutely recognize the excellence of my favorite athletes, musicians and actors...yet I doubt that their acceptance of millions of dollars for their achievements has tainted their chosen field for them: they still love what they do.  But if I do charge money for some hobby I already love doing, doesn't that also imply that I am committed to the benefited party that my product meets a higher standard than if I were just dithering around?  It's this imposition on my sense of freedom as well as a possible sense of insecurity that I am not up to the task or am undeserving of what I might charge that, at least to me, presents the main challenges I have to this notion of Dial's.  Now one objection I heard about it was that if you're retired you don't feel the need to try to make more money...enough is enough: I totally get that viewpoint and think maybe charity or philanthropy might be viable alternatives.  But Dial, who is 35 with a work history in sales, wasn't just speaking to retirees.  Nor was he suggesting that people's lives are so pathetic that they need to wheedle others out of their cash in a petty manner.  As I said before, the emphasis is on quality and confidence, and receiving a little dough in some area...just one, not everything...can enhance life.  Plus, it's not a bad thing to feel a little challenged and confronted about something like this: it makes me work to examine my own life and that is a good thing...