Imagine making money while doing something you love. Today, you’ll learn how to turn any hobbies you have into a money-making machine. I’ll illustrate with 22 examples in detail. Let’s go!
Read: 50 Ways to make extra money today
Table of Contents
1. Art and crafts
I bet you think arts and crafts are just for fun. In fact, lots of people are making a living with their arts and crafts. There are whole lots of different types of crafts that you can easily make and sell in places like Etsy.
Read this article to find out how you can make money from Etsy with these 10 easy items to make.
If you’re an artist, you should also check out this article teaching you how to make money as an artist with 19 unheard ways.
If you let your customers pay for shipping and each of your items costs $60 while the expense is $10 to source the material, you’d make $50 per sale which means you need to sell only 10 items in your store each month to make an extra $500.
What can you make for cheap and sell for $60? Well, many things, for instance, you can make clay arts. You’ll need:
- Air-dry clay
- Paint
- Gloss
That’s all you need to make clay art to sell. The more experience you have, the better you’ll do and the more you can fetch your craft for. Check out this link for other craft ideas you can make to sell.
- You can also teach people arts and crafts in a course
- Create an art and craft YouTube channel. 5 Minute Crafts is the most subscribed YouTube channel today and they make $320k last month, 16.23 million last year, and have a networth of $64.91 million dollars!
2. Yoga
Yoga isn’t just a hobby. In fact, for many people, yoga is a full-time job. If you love doing yoga, that may sound like a dream come true. Someone would pay you to do yoga? How? Well, here’s how:
You’ll create a brand in the yoga niche. You’ll film yourself doing yoga, you’ll make posts about yoga on Instagram and maybe TikTok. You need to establish yourself as an expert in the yoga niche.
The way that you’ll monetize your yoga brand is:
- Affiliate marketing
- Sponsorships
- Shout-outs on Instagram
- Your own merch (ex. yoga mat with your own logo on top)
- Your own course teaching people how to do yoga
Read: How to start a slime shop and make money this week
3. Shooting videos
Do you like going out and taking pictures or shooting videos of random things? Well, you should put those pictures and videos to good use by selling them on sites such as:
- Pixabay
- Unsplash
- Pond5
You can also make videos teaching people how you shoot videos and take pictures.
Read: How much do YouTubers make? If anyone can do it , you can do it too
4. Cooking
Now, you don’t need to be a fully-trained chef to make money cooking. You can make money cooking by building up a cooking brand. You can shoot yourself making food, put it up on TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, or your own website. You’ll then be able to gain a following and use that to leverage your next move — monetizing your brand.
You’ll make money from:
- Shout-outs (where you talk about other people’s brands in exchange for money)
- Affiliate deals
- Sponsorship deals
- Your own merch
You can also choose to be a personal chef where you go to someone’s house and cook for him or her. You can teach someone’s family how to cook especially if none of them knows how to cook. The good thing is that, if they like your service, they’ll order again and again. But you have to be careful before going to someone else’s house. It’s better to have someone accompany you, maybe another personal chef. If you got a close friend or family member who likes to cook, maybe you can become personal chefs on the weekend!
Read: How much do podcasters make? How to make money with a podcast
5. Drawing
Do you like doodling or drawing? Then, you should definitely know the following ways to make money from your art
- You can draw comics, put them on Instagram to gain a following then sell merch and gain affiliate deals
- You can upload your designs on RedBubble and make money from the print-on-demand business model. When someone orders the merch (could be a t-shirt), the design gets printed on the t-shirt and gets shipped to the customer without you handling any shipping. All you do is create the design, upload the design, and market your store
- Film yourself drawing and doodling on a YouTube channel. It could be a timelapse video. You can also teach people how to draw on YouTube
- Create a course on Udemy teaching people how to draw
- You can draw someone’s pet or themselves on Fiverr in your own style
- You can draw coloring pages to sell as printables on Etsy
Read: How to make money with these 20 easy Fiverr gigs
6. Restoring old cars
I don’t know anything about cars but there are a lot of people who know a lot about cars out there and can easily fix up old cars. If you’re one of them, restoring old cars can be a hobby that makes you quite a bit of money, especially during the time when cars appreciate in value instead of depreciating. This skill would be more sought after.
You can buy cars at a cheaper price, fix them up, put them up on market, and sell them. You can sell to a dealer or sell to other people yourself. You can typically make more if you sell to other folks instead of selling to a car dealership.
Of course, you can also create a brand teaching people how to restore cars. You’ll post videos on YouTube and TikTok.
Read: 17 Surprising frugal living tips to try now
7. Woodworking
It’s been said that woodworking is in men’s DNA. I’m a woman so I don’t know if any of that is true. If your hobby is woodworking, you can make money from your hobby in the following ways:
- Sell your woodwork art on Etsy
- Teach people woodworking in a course on Udemy
- Post videos of yourself doing woodwork on YouTube and make money from ads and affiliate deals
- Post pictures and videos of woodworking on Tiktok and Instagram to gain a following and make money from merch sales
- Hold workshops to teach people woodworking in person
- Create a paid woodworking membership community on Facebook
Read: 12 Things to never buy as a college student
8. Fishing
Depending on where you live, you may need a license to fish. If fishing is your hobby this is how you’ll make money from it:
- Teach people how to fish in person. You’ll post ads and lead local people to the best fishing spots. They’ll pay you to be taught how to do so
- Teach kids how to fish. You don’t have to be an expert in fishing, oftentimes, kids just want the experience of fishing. Their parents may pay you and be nearby as you teach them how to fish
- Film yourself fishing and post it on Tiktok, Instagram, YouTube to establish a brand and then make money from the ads, affiliate deals, and sponsorships, maybe even merch
- Dropship fishing gears and sell it online. You can sell it to your followers and subscribers or pay for ads to get the product seen in front of people
Read: 7 Things you need to stop doing if you’re broke
9. Writing
Many people talk about how it’s impossible to make a living writing. Well, that couldn’t be further from the truth. Does it have its difficulty? Yes, of course! But there are so many ways to make money from writing that it’d be foolish to completely dismiss the possibility. Here’s how you can make money writing on the internet:
- Self-publish books for free on Amazon’s KDP program. Read this article to find out how you can make money by self-publishing books on Amazon KDP.
- Ghostwrite stories for people on Fiverr
- Write short stories to drip out little by little. People will pay you to be a member of your site in order to see your next release of content. You’ll have to find a way to get people to like what you’re writing first. Maybe post some samples for free on KDP
- Write other people’s resumes and cover letters for them on Fiverr
- Do content writing for people on Fiverr
- Write enough high-quality blog posts to gather enough readers each month so you can make money from the ads, affiliate deals, guest posts, etc
- Write children’s books (this would be great if you know how to rhyme really well). It’d be super fast to create compared to a full-length novel. You may need to hire an illustrator or make the art yourself
- Write inspirational quotes to share on Instagram and a Facebook page. Once you gain enough following, put all the quotes into a book to sell. You can also put some quotes on notebooks and other merch to sell to your fans
- Write articles on Medium. The key is to write for publishers. Want to learn more? Click here
10. Playing an instruments
Do you know how to play an instrument? Well, here’s how you can make money from your talent:
- Play for your local restaurant
- Teach beginners how to play the instrument online in those 1-on-1 sessions
- Create a course to sell
- Film yourself playing and post on YouTube to gain ad revenue
- Dropship items of a specific instrument niche to your subscribers (ex. A piano theme mug)
Read: 10 Realistic ways to make a million dollars in 1–3 years
11. Singing
Can you sing really well? Here’s how you can make money from your singing
- Record your music and sell it to people on Spotify
- Be a singing coach. You’ll teach people how to sing 1-on-1
- Create a singing course to sell
- Sing at street corners for spare change
- Book singing gigs at your local restaurant
- Record your singing and post on YouTube for views and make money from ads and merch sales as well as sponsorship deals and affiliate deals
Read: 8 Reasons you should be your own boss
12. Reading (proofreader and beta reader)
Reading is one of the most common hobbies out there. If you like reading, there are a lot of other people like you but they don’t know that they can make money reading things. Here’s how.
- Be a proofreader for people on Fiverr. You’ll get to read for free. You’ll catch spelling errors, grammatical errors, and suggest edits for plots and character development
- Be a beta reader for people on Fiverr. Beta readers don’t catch errors. Instead, they read people’s work and give honest feedback on improvements to be made. You’ll talk about what you like about the book and what you don’t like for the author to consider
- Read people’s essays and edit for them
Read: Want to be your own boss? 11 Reasons to start a blog
13. Decorating nails
Have you seen those nail decorating videos on Instagram? I’ve certainly had. Do you know how to decorate nails? Here’s how you can make money with this hobby:
- Offer your nail decorating service to those living nearby
- Film yourself decorating nails on TikTok and sell nail supplies as a small business owner
- Film yourself decorating nails on YouTube and make money from ads
Read: 20 Advice for entrepreneurs
14. Thrift store shopping
Lots of people like to thrift shop for fun. Thrift store shopping can be fun and sometimes you find items that are worth much much more than it’s selling for.
This article from Observer.com detailed a story of a Faberge Egg that was found by a man in a flea market and paid $14,000 for it. He wanted to melt the egg down into scrap metal to sell for profit but if he did so, it would only sell for $500. Upon realizing his mistake in overestimating what melting it down for scrap metal would make him, he typed in the name engraved on the egg into Google and found out it was the long-lost Faberge Egg made for the Russian Royal family. The Faberge Egg is worth 33 million!
If you like thrift store shopping, you should look into specific types of arts that you can learn to identify in thrift stores. You won’t know what you’ve stumbled upon if you don’t know what you’re looking at. I would suggest you find a specific type of art to study. For instance, you can try and identify old ceramics, old paintings, old jewelry, etc by well-known artists.
Read: Are doctors rich? The true financial cost of becoming a doctor
15. Cleaning and organizing
Marie Kondo is an organizing consultant. I bet you didn’t know that that was a real job title. She built a brand to teach about cleaning and organizing. She has a networth of over $8 million dollars today from her organizing brand. Her niche is something that literally billions of us do every day (although we may not do it as well as her).
If you like cleaning and organizing things, here’s how you can make money with this hobby:
- Teach people how to organize their work desk, their room, their house in person
- Make YouTube videos on organizing tips
- Create a course to teach people about how to organize their homes
- Host an organization contest with you as a judge. Winners take home $1000, you need to pay $150 to attend. Have 10 people sign up. You pocket the $500. You can give them each a closet to organize for instance. Film the video to publish on YouTube to make money from ads
- Write organization books
- Host organization conferences or workshops
- Create printable stickers or printable organizational charts to sell on GumRoad
Read: How to be a content creator and establish a brand to make money this year
16. Travelling
Here’s how you can make money with your travel videos. The things it that you can start from your local area or local city. You don’t have to fly to another country necessarily. To other people, the place you live is a place to explore because they’ve never been to before.
Here’s how you can make money with your travel hobby.
- Start a travel YouTube channel and make money from ads
- Start a travel blog to make money from ads, affiliate links, guest posts, etc
- When your brand gets big enough, people will pay you to visit their resort or allow you to visit for free
Read: How to improve emotional intelligence, 10 Unique ways
17. Playing video games
Do you like playing video games? Do you remember your parents telling you how you can’t make money with video games and you should go study instead? Well, they’re wrong! You can make millions a year playing video games. Is the odds in your favor? Well, no. But you can make an extra $500 or $5000 per month playing video games. Here’s how.
- Stream yourself playing video games on Twitch, you make money from ads, merch sales, and subscriptions. Click here to learn how you can make money playing video games on Twitch
- Put videos of you playing video games on YouTube. You’ll do a voice-over over the soundtrack. Talk about scary stories or your own stories. Let people get to know you. Build a following and make money from merch and brand deals
- Teach beginners to play video games in person, on zoom calls over a consultation session, or in a course
Read: 15 Burnout symptoms to look out for
18. Scrolling social media
You’re scrolling social media everyday. Don’t lie, I know you do it more than you should. Now, here’s how you can make money scrolling social media:
- Observe trends and note what what makes a video or post go viral. Try to replicate the result. Once you think you got it, teach it to other people. Create a YouTube channel to teach people how to grow on Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, etc. You can take ideas from people who are teaching this on YouTube
- Pick a niche, see what’s trending, post it on your page with credit given of course. Once you have a sizable follower count, sell shout-outs. Those in the same niche as you would like to be recognized, so you’ll post their pictures and videos on your account and charge them a fee
Read: Secret guide on how to stop being a perfectionist
19. Hanging out with people (organize events)
Believe it or not, you can get paid to hang out with people
- Get paid to stand in line. Some stores would use this tactic to draw in customers. They’ll pay you to stand in line making it look as though they have more customers than they really do. Go to TaskRabbit and search for line stander
- You’ll organize events for different groups of people. For instance, let’s say you’re an entrepreneur and you want to organize an event for entrepreneurs. You may create a Facebook group for entrepreneurs. You’ll create inspirational content to display on the group, you’ll allow members to ask each other questions, etc. You’ll then organize a paid event for entrepreneurs. Sometimes you can find a free room in a local campus. You can repeat this with other groups of people: programmers, bloggers, artists, college students hoping to become doctors, etc.
Read: 14 Important money lessons to teach your kids
20. Working out
Working out is one of the most common hobbies out there.
- Film yourself working out, post it on YouTube and other social media platforms to gain a following. You can then sell protein powders for instance (affiliate deals).
- Teach a course on working out
- Create a paid membership group where paying members can work out live with you every morning for instance
- You can also be a personal trainer for people. You can charge $500 per month for your service
Read: 7 Smart Ways to make time go by faster at work
21. Playing board games
Here’s how you can make money playing board games:
- Bet money. If you win you make money, if you lose, you lose money. Don’t gamble too much
- Create board games yourself and market them to other people who play board games
- Create a membership group on Facebook teaching people how to play board games and play online games with them. Sometimes you can also hold in-person meetings. Everyone wants to feel belonged in a group and once they feel belonged, they’ll keep paying the monthly fee to be a part of it
Read: 10 Signs you should quit your job immediately
22. Writing in cursive
- Create cursive fonts to sell on CreativeMarket. Want to learn how to create your own fonts for free to sell? Click here
- Sell your cursive writings as designs to be printed on merch (POD business model). Sell it on Society6 or RedBubble
- Make ASMR videos of you writing in cursive. Make sure you record the sound of the pen scratching on the surface of the paper. People like that
- Teach people how to write in cursive. Sell your course to your subscribers on YouTube or sell it on Udemy for people to search and find
Read: 28 Effective studying tips
Final thought
There are truly a lot of ways to make money online with just about any hobby. All you have to do is to establish a brand. Make yourself a known person in the field. With more audience, comes more monetization opportunities.
There is plenty of money to be made in every niche. Some niches are more lucrative than others while others take a bit more work to squeeze some money out of. It’s important to persist and find your audience.
You need to strive to have 100 true fans. Once you have 100 true fans, they’ll buy anything you put out, be it a course, a book, a t-shirt, a webinar, a 1-on-1 consulting session, etc. You may get 1 true fan for every 1000 subscribers on YouTube for instance.
The best advice I can give is to persist. Don’t give up too soon. Don’t be afraid to change strategy and do something different to see what works.
Good luck!
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