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Have you ever thought of activities that are hobbies that make money? Well, it’s entirely possible and happening all the time.
We live in a time of increasing solopreneurism and many people are creating their own successful micro businesses from hobbies that make money.
The euphoric feeling that is associated with transforming your hobbies into making money is inexplicable.
Hobbies can become full-paying jobs if you approach them like an entrepreneur. As the popular adage says, “Do what you love and you’ll never work a day in your life.” Here’re some common hobbies that you can use to make money.
23 Fun Hobbies that Make Money
1. Coaching
Coaching is a broad field that encompasses areas such as sports, life, and finance. The foundation for establishing yourself as a coach is to have identifiable evidence of your reputation and success in the field. Adding official certification adds another level of validity and credibility.
Successful coaches are respected in their communities and are known for their skills and expertise. For instance, your neighbors may know that you’re passionate about football and always have an accurate assessment of the types of plays teams should make. They may be willing to hire you to train their children to become successful at football.
2. Becoming a Handmade Seller
If you’re good at creating interesting craft items, you can earn money by becoming a handmade seller. The Handmade Seller Magazine is the perfect guide for creating a successful handmade seller business.
Top handmade sellers can turn creating into hobbies that make money. They cite the importance of photography in promoting their business and, ultimately, selling products. They also admonish handmade seller hopefuls to remember that success won’t happen overnight.
It’ll take a lot of work and consistency. However, your passion will shine through and keep you going if you really love creating the things you make.
3. Photography
Photography is an area that is always in high demand. People need high-quality photographs for their businesses and personal events.
You can earn money through freelance photography. Instagram is a good platform to use to promote your skills and services in your location. You can also earn money through stock photography. If you need to find a good camera or equipment, consider reselling items for profit.
Photography is competitive so it’s important to find a specialty and serve a target audience.
4. Golf Lessons
If you’re a golfer, a good one, that is, you can make some pretty good money teaching golf. This niche is a good example of hobbies that make money You can make up to $100.00 an hour doing something you love. Check out sites such as Thumbtack to promote your services. Golfers are willing to pay top dollar if they can improve their game.
5. Sewing Lessons
You can offer sewing lessons if you’re savvy with the sewing machine. This is a business or side hustle that would be served by focusing on a niche so you can target a certain group. Here are some sewing hobbies that make money:
There are several ways to make money with sewing skills:
- Sewing business: Start your own sewing business where you can offer custom sewing services such as clothing alterations, home décor, and costumes. You can also create and sell your own designs and products online.
- Teach sewing: Offer sewing lessons or classes to people who are interested in learning how to sew. You can teach in person or online.
- Online selling: Sell handmade items such as clothing, accessories, and home décor on platforms such as Etsy, Amazon Handmade, or your own website.
- Commercial sewing: Offer your services to companies that need sewing services such as fabricating prototypes, creating samples, or mass-producing products.
- Costuming: Offer costume design and creation services for events, theater, or film production companies.
- Upholstery: Offer upholstery services for furniture and car interiors.
- Contract work: Seek out contract work through job postings on websites such as Indeed or Upwork.
Remember to market your skills and services, build a portfolio, and network with people in your local community to get more clients.
6. Kiteboarding
Kiteboarding is growing in popularity. It’s not easy though and requires some skills and safety lessons. If you’re into kiteboarding and looking for a side hustle, think about offering lessons. The downside is, it would be a seasonal business. A checked of craigslist and I found someone charging $160.00 for a two-hour private lesson.
7. Organizing Homes are Hobbies that Make Money
If you’re good at organizing, you can make an income – either full-time or as a side hustle. There are so things that need to be organized, rooms, garages, kitchens home offices, computers, and more.
Hobbies that make money using your organizational skills include:
- Professional organizing: Offer organizing services to individuals and businesses such as decluttering, home organization, and office productivity. You can start by advertising your services on social media or through word-of-mouth.
- Virtual organizing: Offer virtual organizing services for clients who want help organizing their digital lives, such as their email, files, and schedules.
- Event planning: Plan and coordinate events such as weddings, parties, and corporate events. You can start by offering your services to friends and family, and then expand your client base through networking and referrals.
- Personal concierge: Offer personal concierge services to help busy individuals with tasks such as grocery shopping, running errands, and scheduling appointments.
- Relocation services: Help individuals and businesses with the process of moving, including organizing, packing, and unpacking.
- Consulting: Offer to consult services to businesses to help them improve their organizational systems, processes, and productivity.
- Home staging: Help real estate agents and homeowners prepare homes for sale by organizing and staging the living spaces to appeal to potential buyers.
Remember to market your skills and services, build a portfolio, and network with people in your local community to get more clients. This list could help you think of other hobbies that make money in the organization’s niche.
8. Public Speaking
The thought of public speaking causes fear and panic attacks. You can be the antidote that helps them overcome this fear. Gifted public speakers inspire others by hosting speaking engagements, facilitating training sessions, and becoming active members of Toastmasters International.
Earning big bucks as a public speaker depends on your reputation and experience. The speeches you give must be worthwhile to your audience. Your charisma must shine through and compel your listeners to act.
9. Tour Guide
If you live in an area that has a sufficient amount of tourism, you can offer food tours, wine tours, hiking tours and more – all of which could be promoted on YouTube.
There are several ways to make money as a tour guide:
- Local tours: Offer walking or driving tours of your city, showcasing local landmarks, history, and culture. You can start by advertising your services on websites such as Airbnb Experiences, TripAdvisor, or Viator.
- Theme tours: Create tours based on specific themes such as food, art, or history. You can target specific groups of people such as foodies, art lovers, or history buffs.
- Cultural tours: Offer cultural tours to international travelers visiting your city, showcasing local customs, traditions, and way of life.
- Adventure tours: Lead outdoor activities such as hiking, cycling, or kayaking for tourists.
- Private tours: Offer private tours for individuals, families, or groups. This can be a more personalized experience for your clients.
- Corporate tours: Offer team-building and training programs for corporate groups.
- Travel agency: Partner with a travel agency to offer packaged tours that include transportation, accommodations, and activities.
Ensure you network with local travel agencies and tour operators to get more clients. Additionally, it’s important to have the necessary training and certifications for leading tours and ensure that you are following all local regulations and laws. Being a tour guide is a good way to do hobbies that make money.
16 Money Making Hobbies Video
10. Personal Trainer
If you’re a fitness buff, you can use your knowledge to train those that want to get in shape. And if you’re up on nutrition, you can also offer meal plans and advice for weight loss and muscle building.
I have a friend that charges $90.00 an hour and has a busy schedule with a steady client base. Funny thing is, he’s not much of a marketer and yet he makes a living from personal training.
A personal training business is all about local search marketing and some good promotional strategies would be Yelp, YouTube, and perhaps Facebook ads. If you have a landing page with a short video including a free offer, this could be a nice way to find potential clients.
Working remotely from home is on the rise and this includes hobbies that make money from home. Here are some increasingly popular opportunities to check out.
11. Blogging
Do you enjoy writing? Blogging is a great way to showcase your skills. The key to successfully monetizing a blog is focusing on a highly searched niche and consistently posting content. The traffic you gain over time will help you gain money from advertising and affiliate marketing.
Blogging pays. You may be wondering how writing articles and posting them can help you earn real income. Pat Flynn’s success story provides the answer to your skepticism. His blog, “The Smart Passive Income Blog with Pat Flynn”, surpassed $150,000 per month in income last year.
It took him about 2 years to get there and his income comes from multiple streams linked to the blog (eBooks, podcasts, speaking engagements and so on). Nevertheless, his story proves that the possibility of success in blogging does indeed exist. The beauty of it is that you’ll enjoy the ride because writing is something you like to do.
RELATED: Check out our post here on paid writing jobs
12. YouTube Cooking Channel
YouTube is a platform that can be used for publishing amazing videos in a variety of niches that reach numerous audiences. Many YouTube channels exist that cover topics ranging from fitness to tutorials on DIY projects.
There’s one niche that is highly popular on the platform: food tutorials. People want to see videos that clearly explain how to cook simple and sophisticated meals.
If you love to cook, this is a good way to showcase your skills. Just pick a theme, such as Simple Italian Cooking, and consistently post good tutorials about meals that can be prepared based on that theme.
It’s important to note, however, that a cooking channel isn’t the only tutorial channel option. If you’re good at something, chances are that you can use videos to teach people about it. Some other popular YouTube channels include:
- Travel
- Gaming
- Weight Loss or Healthy Living
The possibilities are endless.
13. Art and Design
Articles about side income jobs tend to focus exclusively on graphic design when discussing possible jobs in the art and design niche. Art and design are much broader than that. It encompasses painting, drawing, sketching, interior design, and a myriad of other areas of creativity.
Bich Ngoc Thi Nguyen, for instance, sells her ceramics and painting via her Instagram page @bichnguyenart. You can do the same. All you need is a phone with a good camera and a collection of pieces that you can post pictures of.
Other ways that you can earn money through art and design are:
- Selling your designs to T-shirt companies or making T-Shirts of your own with your designs
- Host a Skillshare class
- Sell prints of your work
There are several websites that allow you to sell your design artwork as hobbies that make money:
- Society6: A platform for artists and designers to sell their work as art prints, home decor, phone cases, and other products.
- Redbubble: An online marketplace for independent artists to sell their designs on a variety of products, including clothing, stickers, and home decor.
- Zazzle: A platform for artists and designers to create and sell custom products such as t-shirts, mugs, and business cards.
- Teespring: A website that allows you to create and sell custom apparel, accessories, and home decor.
- Threadless: A community of artists who submit their designs to be voted on by the public, with the winning designs being sold as t-shirts, phone cases, and other products.
- Artpal: An online platform that allows artists to create their own online store and sell their work directly to customers.
- Casetify: A platform that specializes in phone cases, allowing artists to upload their designs and sell them to customers.
- Fabric: An online marketplace that allows designers to upload and sell their fabric designs.
Remember to familiarize yourself with the terms and conditions of each platform, as well as their commission and royalty structures, before uploading your work. You can also sell clothing, collectibles, and other items for a profit. Check out our Ultimate list of items to sell here.
14. Video Editing
Companies and brands are making videos for social media, their website, landing pages and more. In fact, it’s estimated that video will be a dominant form of the content before long.
According to Cisco, they predict video will make up 82% of internet traffic by 2020.
So, if you have some skills as an editor, the opportunity is ripe.
And if you want to learn to be an editor, take a look at our article on Freelance Video Editing Websites for ideas of hobbies that make money.
15. Music
Performing at gigs isn’t the only way that you can earn money with your musical talent. Here’re some ways that you can earn money from your music talent:
- Create a jingle
- Teach music using YouTube and other online teaching platforms
- Host a karaoke session. Karaoke jobs are usually posted on simplyhired.com.
- Create theme music for videos
- Become a music rater on a site such as HitPredictor or MusicXRay
- Write songs for artists
16. Ghostwriting
Written content has become even more important in the 21st century. Companies consistently hire ghostwriters to produce articles, books, white papers and other forms of content that can help them gain readers who become paying customers. Ghostwriters with years of experience can earn as much as $50,000 per annum!
17. Dog Sitting
Results from an industry-wide survey published at the Global Pet Expo in Orlando, Florida in 2017 showed that Americans spent $69.51 billion on their pets in that year. If you love pets, chances are you can earn money by taking advantage of opportunities for pet sitting, dog walking, pet grooming, pet training, and the list goes on.
If you love dogs as I do, this is easy money. Is there competition? Yes, of course, there is. However, there are so many innovative ways you can market your service as a dog walker. Ways that many dog-walking businesses simply are not doing. You can make up to $60.00 per dog/day for dog sitting. Imagine how that can add up when you have multiple dogs for multiple nights.
Have you heard of Meetup.com? Start or join a dog hiking group and promote your service with your group. If you’re a genuine dog lover, this is a superb way to find clients.
Dog parks are yet another way to market your services. I personally know a savvy marketer who runs a successful dog-sitting business and she creates a cute little flyer and posts it inside the dog park. She finds numerous clients through this free promotional hack.
You could market your service with car magnets. While you drive around town, you can also promote your business. These magnets’ cost are super reasonable and can be ordered on a site such as uprinting.com for a nominal fee.
Growing your Yelp profile can be an excellent promotional tactic as well. Animal lovers will definitely want to see that you have impeccable reviews.
18. Teaching
Not to be outdone, teaching has made its mark as a hobby that makes money. There are some people who have a knack for getting people excited about learning. If this sounds like you then you can build a career as an online teacher using one of the following platforms:
- Udemy
- Teachable
- YouTube
- WizIQ
- Educadium
Craigslist is a good place to promote tutoring under services/lessons.
Recently craigslist started charging in some categories for posting ads. Obviously, it’s a bummer you now have to pay, however, it has some advantages as it eliminates the annoying spammers from reposting constantly
19. Facebook Manager
If you like Facebook, why not be a Facebook ad manager? All kinds of brands are using Facebook ads. You can start by promoting your services on Upwork.com.
You can also create a blog and promote it on YouTube, Facebook groups, and Pinterest. This is competitive so you should pick up a sub-niche and specialize. Facebook ad managers can command up to $100.00 an hour.
20. Martial Arts/Self Defense
If you practiced Karate or any other martial arts, you can certainly monetize this. Turn your garage into a dojo and put your roundhouse kicking skills to work. You can teach small groups or offer private lessons.
Although there are many dojos around most towns, finding adult-only training centers are more difficult, so this could be a target market.
21. Dancing Lessons
If you have a talent for dancing, you can certainly turn this hobby into a money-making opportunity. Teach kids or adults, private or group lessons.
22. Cooking
Cooking can be an awesome way to make money from your hobby.
Pop-up restaurants are in vogue now. It’s not an actual restaurant, but rather a space that is approved as a temporary place to host an event. In some cases, you can use your home. The price you charge per person is up to you. You can search and see what others are charging for similar events.
There are several ways to use your cooking skills to make money online:
- Online cooking classes: Offer virtual cooking classes and workshops through platforms such as Zoom or Skype. You can charge per class or offer a subscription service.
- Recipe development: Develop and sell your own recipes on your own website or on platforms such as food blogs, YouTube, or social media.
- Meal planning: Offer meal planning services to individuals or families, including creating weekly menus and grocery lists.
- Online food delivery: Prepare and deliver home-cooked meals to customers in your local area through platforms such as Grubhub, Uber Eats, or DoorDash.
- Recipe writing: Write and sell e-books or print books that feature your recipes. You can also offer your services as a freelance recipe writer for websites and magazines.
- Food photography: Offer food photography services for restaurants, food bloggers, and cookbook authors.
- Food-related products: Sell food-related products such as spice blends, sauces, or baked goods online through platforms such as Etsy or Amazon.
Remember to follow all local regulations and health codes, and consider getting insurance for your business. Additionally, you may also need to obtain any necessary licenses or certifications before starting your business.
23. Gardening/Design
Do you have a knack for gardening design or perhaps you have a green thumb?
There are lots of challenges that come with maintaining or creating a beautifully designed garden. These types of skills are in demand and you can make good money if you know what you’re doing. A niche such as a drought tolerant landscape would be wise to focus on.
Putting It All Together
Hobbies that make money allow you to earn money doing what you love. Succeeding in this space requires a strong entrepreneurial mind and dedication to making it work.
Need more ideas? Look through our Making Money archives for more resources.
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