I have joined a publishing company for about 3 months, and I used to be close with the coworkers in my department. We would go for lunch together almost everyday. However, this changed last week, after I told them that I am running an online business, which I started 1-2 years before joining this company. I also told them that I joined this company only because I want to do something related to my passion (which is writing), and not because I need the salary, as the income generated from the online business is more than my salary.

Since then, my coworkers have started to give me the cold shoulder, and stopped asking me out for lunch. Worse, I heard from a friend who works in another department in the company that my coworkers have been bad mouthing me. (We are childhood friends and I trust her).

I do not want to switch to another department, because I love what I am doing now, and if I change to a different department, I will not be able to continue doing what I like.

Did I do anything wrong? How should I handle this and protect my reputation?

**Note**: I did not take the initiative to tell my coworkers that I run an online business. We were talking about job security over lunch and they asked me if I have any alternative source of income. It was then I told them about my online business.