Turning your hobby into something that generates some income may seem like a farfetched dream for many; however, this couldn’t be further from the truth. You can easily turn this dream into something viable provided that you believe in yourself, your work, and your entrepreneurial skills.
Read on below to learn more about how to make money from your hobby.
Ways You Can Make Money From Your Hobby
Here are a few ways through which you can make money from your hobby:
Teach Others
If your favorite pastime activity cannot produce an actual product, you can consider teaching others about it as a way of making money.
For instance, if playing the piano is your hobby, you can offer piano lessons to other interested people as a way of generating a steady income from an activity that you really enjoy.
In addition to regular lessons, you can consider offering workshops – as an in-depth alternative. You can look up online guides on how to offer lessons and workshops if you need some guidance.
Sell Finished Products
If your hobby involves the production of tangible products, you can sell finished products. For example, you can sell arts and crafts online and earn a handsome return.
You can also consider selling products that are closely related to your hobby, even if your hobby does not involve the production of tangible products and you are not interested in teaching.
For instance, you can consider selling vintage bottles over the internet if you are interested in indoor gardening.
Get A Job Related To Your Hobby
If you are looking to enjoy a higher level of creative freedom while at work, consider getting a job that is closely related to your hobby. For example, you can get a job as a writer for the sports column of your local newspaper if you are really into sports.
Start A Blog
You can also earn some money by blogging about your passions. All you need to do is to monetize the blog by selling advertising space – by using Google AdSense, for instance.
Find Ways To Save Money On Your Hobby
Saving money is as good as making money! If you can find ways of saving the amount of money you spend on your hobby, be sure to use them.
For instance, you can make some homemade supplies for your hobby instead of always buying them from the store or online. Alternatively, you can consider sharing rides with other people if your hobby involves a lot of road travel.
See our list of hobbies that can actually save you money here.
Top Hobbies That Can Make You Money
Cooking
If you are into baking and cooking, there are many ways through which you can make some good money while doing something that you really enjoy.
One of the ways you can make money using your cooking skills is through a meal delivery service. You can cook healthy meals and offer to deliver them to busy individuals who never seem to have the time to make a decent meal for themselves.
Before you start selling meals out of your home kitchen, be sure to check whether you are in compliance with your state’s health regulations.
An online food business can also help you make a good return from selling homemade cookies, jams, and pickles, among others.
With more and more people looking to prepare their meals at home, you can also earn some money by creating your own food blog or even YouTube channel where you can share all sorts of recipes.
Writing
If you are looking for a hobby that you can easily make some money out of, then writing is definitely worth considering. There are many ways for you to turn your writing into an income-earning activity.
To earn money from writing, you can try freelance writing, which involves writing articles for other people and/or publications. You can find freelance writing jobs on a number of websites.
Another option is to start writing for your own blog, especially if you don’t want to write for other people. Lastly, if you would like to write your own book, you can try writing eBooks. You can use Amazon Direct Publishing to self-publish your own work for free.
Gardening
Do you like planting all sorts of plants and watching them grow? Did you know that millennials spend billions of dollars each year on buying plants alone? If you didn’t, now you do.
You can grow your own plants and sell them on a variety of websites, including Facebook groups, Amazon Handmade, and Etsy, among others. Alternatively, you can start your own online store and sell your plants directly to your customers.
In addition to selling plants, you can also consider selling the produce from your hobby gardening operation.
Lastly, you can consider providing gardening and weeding services to other people who have their own gardens but don’t have the time to tend to them on a regular basis.
Music
Are you into creating your own music? You will be glad to know that you don’t have to be a big celebrity to make money from your hobby.
You can upload your music to SoundCloud, BeatStars, and/or Airbit and earn money every time someone purchases one of your songs. The rise of YouTubers who need to use royalty-free music on their videos has boosted the demand for music.
Alternatively, you can create and sell simple sound effects on sites like AudioJungle.
If you don’t have any music to sell, you can consider offering online classes to aspiring musicians. Or, another idea, is to take up a hobby you can do while listening to your favorite music.
Easy Hobbies To Make Money
Taking Online Surveys
Do you enjoy answering questions and sharing your opinion? Well, if you do, you can take online surveys and earn a good return. Taking online surveys is easy and can be done at your own convenience, even when you are relaxing at home or watching TV.
To make money by taking online surveys, you will need to sign up to one of the websites offering surveys, such as MyPoints, Swagbucks, Survey Junkie, and InboxDollars, among others.
DIY Crafts
For those who enjoy making all sorts of crafts with their hands, DIY crafts can be sold for cash, earning you a handsome return.
From wood-burned signs, needlepoint, crocheted scarves, and even jewelry, DIY crafts can be sold online on Etsy or Amazon Handmade, via your own online store, or even at local events.
Surfing The Internet
In this day and age, almost everybody surfs the internet on a daily basis. Did you know that you can also make some cash from this hobby?
A number of websites will actually pay you to surf the internet, including Nielsen Computer & Mobile Panel and MobileXpression, which will pay you to share your mobile data with them; UpVoice will pay you for visiting various sites such as Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Amazon and YouTube among others.
Lastly, using Swagbucks as your search engine will also earn you some cash.
Pet Sitting
If you love pets, you can make some cash by offering pet sitting services. You can look after pets at their home or take them home with you and host them for the agreed period.
Alternatively, you can provide dog walking services if you are more into dogs. There are lots of hobbies for dog lovers that can also be used to make a little side cash too.
Other ways of making money for pet lovers include selling pet products online and/or blogging about pets.
Fun Hobbies That Make Money
Gaming
For those that love video games, you can make a lot of money by simply doing what you love most, gaming.
In addition to streaming your live gameplay, you can also make money through competitive gaming, setting up and selling your video game accounts, or even starting a YouTube channel or podcast that covers the ins and outs of gaming.
Social Media
Social media is a lot of fun – something that can be demonstrated by the many hours that most people spend on different social media platforms each day. If you enjoy spending time on social media, you can take the next step and start making money from it.
Some of the ways through which you can make money from social media include becoming a social media influencer, working as a Facebook Ads manager, or as a Pinterest Virtual Assistant, among others.
You can also manage other social accounts and profiles of other people or businesses.
Flying A Drone
Flying a drone is not only fun but can also be a great way for you to make some much-needed extra cash. As an added bonus, you can even write off the cost of the drone as a business expense if you turn this hobby into a business!
There are many ways to make money flying a drone, including taking photos of real estate listings for realtors, selling stock photos on stock photo websites, recording videos or taking photos of events, teaching others how to fly drones online, or creating a YouTube channel covering drone photography.
Shopping
Shopping as a hobby can be quite enjoyable. And, if you are able to monetize this hobby, you can make money while shopping instead of spending money.
One of the most common ways of making money through shopping is by working as a mystery shopper – however, opportunities can be scarce.
Other ways of making money by exploiting your love for shopping include working as a personal shopper or buying and delivering groceries through apps like Instacart and Shipt.
Cheap Hobbies To Make Money
Camping
Camping is one of the hobbies that are both interesting and cheap. When starting out, all you need is a tent, firewood, some fire starting supplies, snacks, and access to good camping grounds – if you live close to the woods, you can even camp in your backyard.
You can get more supplies and equipment as you gain more camping experience.
If you want to save some cash and make your camping adventure even more affordable, you can invite some friends to your camping trip and share the costs.
You can also make money through camping by blogging, working as a campground host or cabin caretaker, or even testing out new outdoor gear, among others. There are also a variety of job boards available online listing numerous camping-related jobs.
Reading
Reading is another cheap and interesting hobby. In addition to giving you something meaningful to focus on, reading as a hobby also helps you learn new things, depending on the material in question.
If you like books but are not into flipping pages all day, consider listening to some audiobooks. To save on reading costs, think about borrowing books from libraries instead of buying them.
There are a number of ways for you to make money through reading, including submitting book reports to magazines and newspapers, freelance reading, editing and reading, and recording audiobooks.
Learning Another Language
Are you in love with another language? There are numerous free online resources that can help you master just about any language spoken on the face of the earth in no time.
Learning another language can also be quite lucrative. You can work as a language teacher or tutor, provide freelance translation services, become a freelance writer, create language videos on YouTube or even travel abroad and teach English for a while.
Knitting
If you like keeping your hands busy, and staying happy while you are at it, then knitting is definitely something you should try out. To make things even better, you don’t need any expensive supplies to start knitting as a hobby.
To make money through knitting as a hobby, you can consider starting a knitting blog, YouTube channel on YouTube, writing knitting articles and books, and offering photos of your knitting work for sale or selling your creations, among others.
Hobbies That Can Make You Money Online
Creating Online Courses
When you love something, it’s easy for you to be an expert in it. If you consider yourself to be an expert in your hobby, you can make money by creating online courses and teaching others about it.
To create your own online courses, you can create videos, write informative articles and use any other content delivery format that will deliver a clear message to your students. You can then sell your courses on platforms like Teachable.
Web Design And Coding
Web design services are in high demand today. If you like designing and building websites, consider monetizing your skills.
On top of coding or designing websites for clients, you can provide website maintenance services or even create and sell website themes and templates.
Investing
The introduction of different online investing platforms has made it much easier for individuals who want to make some money through investing in exploring their hobbies.
Investing apps like Robinhood and Public.com have made investing much easier for just about anyone. Groundfloor allows you to invest in real estate for as little as $10!
To make money through investing as a hobby, consider buying and selling or holding stocks, investing in real estate, investing in cryptocurrency or real estate crowdfunding, or peer-to-peer lending.
Creating A YouTube Channel
If you love creating content, consider starting your own YouTube channel. A YouTube channel can help you monetize your hobby by making it possible for you to publish all sorts of hobby-related content that other people interested in the topic are searching for online.
To make money from your YouTube channel, you can promote affiliate products, sell sponsorships for your shows, or through Ad clicks.
Creative Hobbies That Make Money
Drawing
If you enjoy drawing on a piece of canvas or your iPad Pro, there are many ways for you to make some money from your artistic creations. Most importantly, you don’t need to sell your work of art to earn some cash.
You can sell the same drawing over and over again by choosing to sell prints. These can be sold on Etsy and used on mugs, t-shirts, and canvasses, among others. You can also work as an illustrator, looking for freelancing jobs.
Another option is to teach others how to draw. This can be done online, where you can create your own drawing course on a variety of platforms, including Outschool, Udemy, Skillshare, or YouTube.
Brewing
Do you love making or sampling craft beers? You can make some money by taking advantage of your brewing skills; and, with it, earn your piece of the growing homebrew beer market.
In addition to selling your own homebrew beer, you can teach others how to brew their own beer online or sell home brewing kits.
Voice Acting
For those who enjoy acting or using their voice in different ways, voice acting is a great way to have some fun, exercise your creativity, and earn some good money.
The ever-growing demand for video content online, especially on YouTube, means that you will always have something to work on.
Some of the ways you can earn money through voice acting include participating in corporate training videos, commercials, sales videos, advertisements, and podcast intros, among others.
Makeup Artistry
Are you a big fan of makeup? Do you spend hours and hours of your free time watching makeup tutorials on YouTube, practicing different looks on yourself? If so, you can turn your favorite pastime into a lucrative activity.
To earn some cash with this hobby, you can work as a makeup artist. Alternatively, you can start a YouTube channel where you can publish your very own how-to videos and even become an influencer as you build a loyal following.
Cool Hobbies That Make Money
Exercising
Working out as a hobby is not just good for your health; it can also be turned into a profitable side hustle with the right approach.
If you enjoy exercising at the gym, you can make money from working out as a personal trainer. If you normally cycle to get a good workout, you can look into working as a spin class instructor or making deliveries on your bike. For those who use dancing as a fitness activity, you can offer dance lessons.
Graphic Design
The demand for awesome designs makes the work of graphic designers increasingly lucrative. If you love drawing and creating all sorts of cool designs, you can take part in projects of all sizes; and, with it, earn a handsome return – whether full-time or part-time.
You can start by picking up small jobs from clients that cannot afford the bigger design agencies and put together a portfolio as time goes by; with time, what started as a side hustle can turn into a full-time engagement.
Through your graphic design hobby, you can make money in a number of ways, including selling your stock graphics on your website or on marketplaces like MightyDeals or Creative Market, designing graphics for clients, and writing tutorials for blogs or other publications on a freelance basis.
Music
If you are into music, you can turn this cool hobby into a side gig that helps you generate some income. You can earn money by entertaining, teaching, or performing in front of others.
There are so many ways through which you can make money through music as a hobby, such as working as a DJ at events, offering private music lessons online or in person, starting a band and performing at events or bars and restaurants, or starting a YouTube channel, podcast, or blog.
Decorating
You can turn your decorating hobby into an income-generating activity if you have an eye for detail and design. You can work on all types of décor projects, both residential and commercial if you choose to take advantage of your decorating skills.
Alternatively, you can create your own décor items and sell them locally or online via your own online store or different marketplaces such as Etsy.
Some of the common ways through which you can make money through your decoration hobby include creating a YouTube channel, podcast, or blog about decorating, creating your own décor products, and offering them for sale or working as an interior designer.
Conclusion
After going through the above guide, you should be able to find a few practical ways through which you can successfully turn your hobby into a lucrative part-time or full-time gig.