Melissa Seger, director of the Manchester-based business Cupcake Palace, agrees that having a healthy obsession can lead to a more rewarding and fulfilling life.

The 32-year-old gave up the security of a job in fashion marketing to pursue her passion for cupcakes.

'I'd had enough of sitting at a desk all day looking at spreadsheets,' she says. 'I realised I wasn't really suited to a nine-to-five job. I preferred to make something with my hands and to see the creation of something from nothing.'

er love of cupcakes began as a hobby when she was living in New York, but last September she embarked on it as a full-time business. 'I am probably a bit obsessed with cakes. I stay up until 3am preparing for the weekend's farmers' market.

'At the market, I'll be there for around 18 hours each day - Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Even when I'm not at the market or baking, some aspect of the business is constantly on my mind.'

Though there are sacrifices, lots of hard work and some bad days, Seger says the benefits outweigh them all.

'This year, for example, I won't be going on holiday. Plus, some weekends, because I'm working, I won't see my friends. Also, I don't have the cash to throw away that I had before.

'But there is a great sense of achievement and pride. I am doing something I absolutely love, and getting paid for it.'

Seger has been commissioned to make cupcakes for the TV presenter Gok Wan and the fashion label Red Or Dead, and hopes to have her own retail shop and wholesale division.

'Some people say they couldn't be bothered with all the hard work. But very often it doesn't even feel like work - I think this is where the passion comes in,' she says.

'I feel driven to do this. And even if things got tough, I'd never want to go back to the nine to five.

'If I have a bad day, rather than going home and moaning about it, I have to think: ''OK, the buck stops with me. What went wrong?''

'I have to learn from it and turn a negative into a positive. No matter how hard things get, my feeling is that I've started something and I'm going to finish it.'

Another woman who has turned her passion into a successful career is triathlete Chrissie Wellington. The 32-year-old, who has been dubbed the world's fittest woman, only took up the sport seriously in 2006 after becoming disillusioned with her job at the Department for environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

Four years later, she has broken every possible record in long-distance triathlon and has won the Ironman world championships in Hawaii three years running.

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