I need a hobby to make money!… If this phrase has ever came to your mind, you are not alone. In an economy with unemployment hovering around 7.8%, many hundreds of thousands of people find themselves trying to come up with ways to make extra money to keep their household afloat. And frankly, money-making hobbies are becoming one of the best ways for people to make extra money.
We all know that launching a small business from the ground up is truly a grueling process. That is another reason why many people would rather take their existing hobbies and transform them into a small businesses. whether your hobby is woodworking, sewing or anything else, in most cases, there is always a way to turn your hobby into a business.
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Don’t have a hobby that makes money? Want a few good money making hobby ideas?… Here is a list of fun hobbies that make money:
Stock Photography
With digital photography and professional grade cameras becoming more affordable, not to mention having cameras in almost every personal gadget we use these days, snapping pictures has never been easier and more enjoyable.
You can turn your photography hobby into a way to make extra money on the side by snapping as many quality pictures as you can, and uploading them to stock photography sites, such as Shutterstock, where they will be sold anywhere from a few pennies to few dollars or more. What makes making money with stock photography sites lucrative is that you can sell any one image over and over gain.
Other Photography/Videography Money Making Hobbies
- Do freelance photography work for newspapers.
- Teach photography/videography classes.
- Make interesting videos and upload them to video sharing sites.
- Sell your photos to magazines.
- Do photography/videography at weddings and other events.
Gardening
If you like to garden, and usually do produce more than you can consume, why not sell the extras to your friends, family and neighbors. If you want to take it up a notch, think about selling your produce in your local farmers market. While it is unlikely that by selling produce grown in a back yard garden one can make a living, you can easily make some extra cash that will help you pay the cost of keeping the garden and maybe more.
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Be sure to do some research about rules and regulation in your local area as many places require licensing for selling edibles or plants that could carry biological threats.
Other Gardening Money Making Hobbies
- Do part-time gardening & landscaping work.
- Make and sell compost.
- Turn extra produce from the garden into can food, and sell them at your local farmer’s market.
Dog Sitting
As an avid animal lover myself, putting the word hobby next to an animal doesn’t sound very good, but the idea is noble, and one that can be beneficial to all parties involved, including the animals themselves. If you are a dog lover, you can make money taking care of many people’s best friends.
There are many animal related small business ideas out there. Dog sitting is on of them which happens to be on the rise. as people get more caught up with their professional lives, and aren’t able to stay at home during the day. By taking a few dogs at a time, you can easily pocket $50-$70 a day, if not more.
Other Animal Related Money Making Hobbies
- Offer dog walking services.
- Pet sit for other people.
- Offer at home grooming services.
Baking
Another fun hobby that makes money for lots of people around the world. It’s important to take note of your local law, as laws regarding food are strict, and vary from state to state. You don’t need thousands of dollars and a huge kitchen to start a food business. It can be done right from your own kitchen and with minimal investment. You can sell to neighbors and friends, then graduate by selling your baked goods to local stores.
Other Cooking Money Making Hobbies
- Teach cooking to people.
- Cook interesting stuff, and sell them at your farmer’s markets or even craft shows.
- Work for others as a personal chef.
- Bake cakes for special events like birthdays.
Blogging
It’s true that a very small fraction of bloggers manage to make a living as bloggers, but there are also many hundreds and thousands of bloggers that do manage to make extra money with their blogs. Start a blog about a topic you are interested in. Once you build an audience, and start to see some traffic, monetize it with ads. Other ways to make money with blogs include creating and selling your own e-Books and guides, promoting affiliate products, etc.
Other Writing Money Making Hobbies
- Write content for blogs and online magazines.
- Write and sell an e-Book about a subject you know well.
- Write articles in batches of 10 or so and sell them as PLR content.
Sewing
Sewing is one of the most popular hobbies amongst women, and one that can make you good money. You can sell your handcrafts on sites like Etsy, eBay, and even on Craigslist. Not to mention you could offer your products to neighbors and friends at a discounted rate to get the word out. You will e amazed how fast you start to get orders from all kind of people.
If you are quick and efficient with the needle, and are good at handling last-minute project requests, you could pocket anywhere from $15–$60 per simple sewing project. And best of all, it’s all done from the comfort of your own home.
Other Art & Crafts Money Making Hobbies
- Teach your art to others.
- Make and sell gift baskets.
- Sell your art work online at Etsy, eBay and other sites.
- Sell your art work in a local gallery.
- Offer graphic design services.
- Monetize your wood-working hobby.
- Do holiday decoration for local businesses.
Playing an Instrument
As a hobbyist musician you probably won’t be able to charge outrages fees, but there are lots of people who wouldn’t mind paying you $100 to $500 per gig to perform at their event. Think of churches, weddings, birthdays, etc.
Other Music Money Making Hobbies
- Give private music lessons.
- Perform at local bars, restaurants, weddings, birthdays and other special events.
Dancing
Dancing is one of those hobbies that are not only fun, but also great for your physical and even mental health. If you love to dance and are good at it, you can make a little extra cash in your spare time by giving dance lessons. You can earn anywhere from $30–$90 per dance lesson. For couple or family session, you could charge even more.
Other Fitness & Sports Money Making Hobbies
- Teach elderly how to exercise.
- Become a river guide.
- Teach extreme sports such as rock climbing.
- Become a life guard t your neighborhood pool.
- Become a personal trainer.
- Become a coach for your local kids sport team.
Building Websites
These days, almost everyone and their mother wants to have a personal blog. But building a blog, although simple for many, is somewhat technical and complicated for lots of people. You can make money with WordPress by using it to quickly and easily build great looking blogs for your clients, pocketing anywhere from $50 to $500 or more depending on the level of customization each blog demands.
The best part is that you can turn this into a recurring income by offering maintenance services such as installing plugins, updating, etc,.
Other Computer Money Making Hobbies
- Fix computers & laptops.
- Become a computer consultant.
- Design websites.
- Create plugins for blogging platforms such as WordPress.
More Hobbies To Make Money With
Organizing
Most people hate doing this, which is why organizing is one hobby that pays well. For those who are skilled organizers, and do enjoy doing it, there is a vast market out there that will enable them turn their hobby into a real money making business.
Organizing can be anything from physical organization, such as organizing a house, office space, closet or a garage, or it can be digital, such as creating spreadsheets.
You can do this either part-time as a virtual assistant, or full-time running your own business of organizing. This hobby can easily get you anywhere from $10 to $30 an hour.
Gaming
This one can certainly be labeled as one of those unusual hobbies that make money for people. Wealthy players in the western world are now hiring people to play their online games, saving themselves from spending hours in front of computer. Yes, you can actually get paid to play games.
While people from south-east Asia and Asia in general have this new and emerging industry in the bag, it’s not that hard to find gigs like that from anywhere in the world.
Most big games have their own forums, get active on these forums and connect with other players. Sooner or later you will find people who are willing to pay you to keep their game going while they are on vacation, at work, or are simply taking a break. Obviously, the pay is very low compared to other money making hobbies, but then again, it’s not much of a work either.
Personal shopper
If you are one of those people who enjoy the process of shopping itself, and per se shopping for themselves, you will love this one. In recent years, personal shopping has become even more popular. As people are becoming consumed by their professional lives, the task of shopping, whether for grocery, clothing or home decors, becomes almost impossible in some cases.
That’s where personal shoppers come in. As a personal shopper, you are given a list of items that you must buy. That’s it! You get paid to shop for other people. How great is that! You can start by placing a few ads on free classified sites like Craigslist.
Shopping
This probably wouldn’t be on the list of hobbies that make money for men, but for women it’s a great way to do what they love, and get paid for it. Mystery shopping is a huge industry that helps companies gauge their performance of their employees customer service skills using secret shoppers.
The best way to do this is to only shop at places where you were going to shop anyway. That way, you buy what you actually wanted to buy and get paid for it. You can make a few extra hundred dollars a months with legit mystery shopping companies.
Car Repair
One of the hobbies that make money for men is fixing minor car issues. If you are handy when it comes to fixing your car, you could make money with your truck and car expertise. You can offer to fix cars for your friends and neighbors. Believe me, they would much rather pay you a little less, than taking it down to the shop where they have to pay full price.
Have a hobby that you make money with, or know other money making hobbies that I didn’t mention here?… Leave me a comment, and I will add it to the list along with your name (if you wish).