Hobbies that can actually make you money
Hobbies that can actually make you money
Did you know that you can make money doing almost anything you like to do in your spare time? You can make money by playing video games, starting a YouTube channel, or surfing the web.
Everyone wants to make more money, so finding profitable hobbies to make money is a great way to add to your bank account while doing things you actually enjoy.
Hobbies that can actually make you money
You can use these hobbies to make extra money anywhere you can connect to the internet.
Start Freelancing
Gig economy sites are a good place to start if you want to make some extra money.
For example, you can use Upwork to make extra money by writing, making graphics, designing websites, or managing social media.
You just have to look for a job and put in a bid. If the client likes what you did, they will pay you to finish the job. It could even turn into a long-term project, depending on what the client wants.
Start to write
One of the best ways to make money from a hobby is to write.
So many online magazines and newspapers will pay you to write for them.
You can make money as a freelance writer if you can easily write a research paper or put words on paper.
As a freelance writer, the best way to make money is to find jobs that match your skills and interests.
What do you like to learn about? Personal finance? Animals? Children? Relationships?
Write about what you love, and find blogs and websites that talk about what you love and/or are good at. Contact them about writing jobs.
A freelance writer who is just starting out can make between 5 cents and 10 cents per word.
Make graphics
If you have an eye for design and want to make money from it, you could try CafePress, Redbubble, or 99 Designs.
All of these services can help you connect with clients who need t-shirt designs, website graphics, logos, personalized gifts, and book covers, among other things.
You make the design, and these companies put it on t-shirts and other things. When they sell something with your design on it, you’ll get a cut of the sale.
Plus, you don’t have to deal with making things, keeping track of stock, customers, or returns.
Create a blog
There are many reasons to start your own blog or website. First of all, it’s a simple way to make an online portfolio that potential clients can look at.
A second benefit is that having your own site lets you be yourself. You can publish the content you want to build your brand and share your opinions.
To get started, you will need to buy a package for hosting your website.
A blog can be up and running in just 10 minutes.
Affiliate marketing
Affiliate marketing is a way to make money.
When you have your own blog, you can use affiliate marketing to make money. Here, you can earn extra cash by recommending services and products that you already use.
This is done with a “affiliate link” that gives you a referral bonus when someone signs up through it.
You’ve probably seen affiliate links at work in Refer-A-Friend programs, which pay you money when you send friends and family to a site you love and use.
Sell things
You can use your site as an online store in addition to building an online portfolio or making money from affiliate income.
This can be a great way to sell things like a self-published book, handicrafts, scented candles, or artwork. You can make money from your hobby by selling the things you make.
Sign up for an online shopping cart like Shopify so you can start selling. You can put a shopping cart and checkout page right on your site with these platforms.
They will also send digital products like ebooks or Excel spreadsheets automatically after the sale is made.
Use Amazon or eBay to sell.
Did you know that online shopping can be one of the most profitable hobbies you can use to make money?
If you do any shopping on Amazon or eBay, you’ve probably seen sellers selling almost anything for cheap.
Both sites let you take part in drop shipments, in which the product you sell is kept at a warehouse and sent to your customers directly (not your garage or basement).
When it sells, it goes straight from the warehouse to the customer, and the money from the sale goes to your bank account.
You can also open an Etsy shop if you want to sell a craft or piece of art.
Etsy is the best place to buy and sell handmade goods and crafts that might not sell as well on Amazon or eBay, which focus on mass-produced goods.
In addition to selling on your own website, you can also sell on online marketplaces. This will help you reach more people who wouldn’t visit your website.
Basically, shopping on Amazon or eBay is an easy way to turn a hobby into a way to make money.
Set up a Course
This can be a good way to make money if you like to teach and help people.
Professionals who want to learn new skills but don’t have the time or money to go to college or a continuing education class often take online training courses from sites like Udemy.
You can teach others a new skill by making an online course about the latest computer program, playing the acoustic guitar, taking photos, or your favorite hobby.
Take Paid Surveys
If you like telling people what you think, you can turn your hobby into money by taking paid surveys on sites like Survey Junkie.
Once you have enough credits, you can get cash through PayPal or gift cards.
Most surveys can be done in 10 to 15 minutes.
You can do this easily during your lunch break or when you have a few minutes to spare between activities.
Surf the Internet
Did you know that searching the Internet can make you money?
There are a few different ways to get paid to surf the Internet. One way is to use Swagbucks, which pays you to take surveys, watch videos, search, and even play games.
Several online companies will also pay you to test websites. This choice is a bit more difficult, but the pay is better.
If you’re chosen, you’ll go to websites during a live video conference and tell the site’s designers how you use it and what could be better. You can make up to $30 an hour testing websites.
Make a channel on YouTube
If you’d rather make videos than write blog posts, you can start a YouTube channel and make money from them.
You could say that videos are the future of the internet in some ways.
It’s possible to build an audience on YouTube, whether you make how-to videos, unbox cell phones, finish DIY projects, or something else.
As your audience grows, you can use ads, affiliate links, or product commissions to make money.
If you become really popular, you could even sell your own products by advertising them on your YouTube channel.
Sell Your Video Games
Are you the first of your friends to beat the newest video game? Now you can start making money from this hobby, as well as having something to brag about.
You can sell your video game accounts on sites like eBay or player-to-player sites like Playerauctions or Playerup.
Do you have video games you don’t play anymore? Check out what you can get for them on a site like Decluttr, which makes it easy to get rid of a lot of things quickly.
With a Trustpilot score of 4.3/5, Decluttr is a company that a lot of people like to use to buy and sell things.
Invest
So you might already have money saved for retirement in a 401k or an IRA. How about putting a small amount of your taxable investments aside for your hobby?
When you use the online brokerage Ally Invest, you have a lot of ways to invest, and trading fees for individual stocks are free.
When you invest money as a hobby, you should take the chance to invest in riskier assets that aren’t part of your normal investment plan.
It can also be a good way to try out a new way to invest without risking your regular savings accounts, which you use to build your net worth.
Sell Used Books
You can make money by selling books, whether you are a college student looking for some extra cash at the end of the semester or a person who wants to clean out their own library.
If you want to sell used textbooks, Bookscouter will search 35 online marketplaces to find the best price. Do you own many books? You can now check a lot of ISBNs at once.
A user of BookScouter can enter more than one ISBN to find out which vendor will pay more for the whole group of books.
You can always sell them through a third party on eBay, Half.com, or Amazon.
Sell DIYs
If you make things by hand like woodworking, pottery, painting, or anything else, you can sell them at local craft fairs and make money.
You could also put up an ad on social media, Craigslist, or a site similar to Craigslist to reach more online shoppers.
As well as selling locally, you might be able to sell small, light items that are cheap to ship online.
Be a fix-it man
Can you fix nearly everything? Or do you have a favorite DIY channel on YouTube that has taught you everything you need to know about handyman work?
If so, TaskRabbit lets you turn your hobby into money by putting your strength and smarts to work helping neighbors with repairs and other house projects.
Most of these jobs are one-time needs, like loading a moving truck, painting a bedroom, or setting up furniture.
Some TaskRabbit clients just need a hand, while others may not know the difference between a screwdriver and a hammer.
Cut the grass or shovel the driveways.
Mowing lawns and shoveling driveways can also be good ways to make money on the side, since many people who work full-time don’t have the time (or the desire) to keep their landscaping in top shape all year long.
You can get customers the old-fashioned way by going door-to-door and giving out business cards.
Add your name to Plowz & Mowz to become part of an online database, or use social media to tell people about your services.
Join a Fitness Reward Program
Your employer may already have a fitness rewards program, but you can also join Evidation to earn fitness rewards.
Getting paid to exercise might help you reach your own fitness goals as well.
When you use Evidation to get rewarded for fitness, you get points for physical activities and steps.
The points you earn can then be used to get free gift cards and other rewards.
Sell fresh foodstuffs.
One of the best ways to make money from a hobby is to grow plants. If you like to garden, you can sell the fruits and vegetables you grow at the farmer’s market in your area.
You can even invite people to your garden or farm so they can see for themselves where their food comes from.
This side job can also be a good way to teach your kids skills and give them a fun way to make money when they’re older.
If you can grow plants, flowers, and trees, you can also sell them at local markets or on Craigslist.
People want to landscape their yards with trees, shrubs, and flowers that don’t cost as much as they would at a local nursery or a superstore garden center.
Use wood pallets again
If you want to help protect the environment and make a little extra cash at the same time, you can recycle wood pallets.
The best way to do this hobby is if you have a truck and trailer.
You can make money by reselling to local businesses, on Craigslist, or to people who buy and sell pallets.
You can also paint designs on wood pallets and sell them to people who own homes and businesses.
You could put the name of a family on a pallet or paint a rainbow, an American flag, or any other design on it.
Recycle bottles and cans
If you like taking care of the environment, that can be one of the best things you can do to make money.
Recycling cans and bottles for cash is another way that someone else’s trash can become your treasure.
If you live in a state with a bottle or can deposit, this side job can make you up to 10 cents for every bottle or can you sell.
Other people who sell scrap metal will give you the current spot price for the aluminum, which is about 30 cents per pound on average.
Since the price of scrap metal goes up and down, you might want to wait until the price goes up again before you cash in.
You can make money by collecting and selling old soda cans, glass bottles, and other scrap metal. Everything in your basement, from the old copper pipes to the old washing machine, is worth something.
Some states need proof of ownership or permits before they will pay you for scrap metal. This is to stop people from selling it illegally.
Some metals, like railroad spikes, can’t be sold for scrap in any state, like copper.
Flip Garage Sale Finds
Every weekend, people in every town have garage sales. We’ve all heard news stories about people who bought a rare painting at a garage sale for a few dollars and then sold it for a lot of money.
Even if you don’t find a missing Van Gogh or Rembrandt, people will give things away for free or sell them for a very low price because they want to get rid of them.
If you buy name-brand clothes and other valuable items for really low prices, you can sell them online or on Craigslist to make quick cash.
You could also look through the aisles of local thrift stores or their clearance warehouses, where they keep the clothes and other items they can’t fit in their regular stores.
If you think thrift stores are cheap, clearance centers are even cheaper, but they aren’t as well organized, so it might take you a little longer to find things that are worth buying.
Tutor
Are you smart in school? How about helping kids in elementary school, high school, or college?
Depending on how skilled you are, your hourly rate could start at $15. But you might be able to make up to $75 per hour, which makes this one of the best ways to make extra cash.
You can look in local ads for tutors or join an online site like Tutor.com to meet students in your area. You could also check out StudyPool or Chegg, which are more focused on online tutoring.
You can also let people know about your services through social media.
Give lessons in music
Parents are always looking for music lessons for their kids.
You can easily turn playing the piano, guitar, violin, drums, or trumpet into a hobby that brings in money.
Find students by putting up ads in local schools, co-ops for homeschoolers, and youth centers.
You could give private lessons or teach classes for the community.
Since you probably took paid music lessons as a child, this is a good way to teach the skill to the next generation.
Play music on the street
If you like music, you might agree that being a musician is one of the best ways to make money with a hobby.
Have you seen kids or adults on the street corner playing a guitar, an electric piano, or a saxophone for tips? You could be like that.
People will stop, listen, and give you money if your hobby is singing, whether you do it alone or with a group.
Youth Sports Officials
Youth sports refereeing is a good option for high school students and adults who love sports but don’t have time to coach.
As a referee or umpire for youth sports like football, baseball, or soccer, you can make up to $30 an hour.
Talk to sports groups in your area to get started. Get in touch with groups that offer sports you already know.
For example, if you’ve played baseball for a long time and know how it’s played, contact the youth baseball organization in your city.
If you know the rules of several youth sports, you might be able to work as an umpire or referee all year long.
Teach a fitness class
For people who like to work out, teaching a fitness class can be one of the best ways to make money from a hobby.
You can make money by teaching a fitness class at a gym or a place where people get together, like a church or community center. Most of the time, you can get paid per student.
With health and fitness being one of the most common New Year’s resolutions, there is a “evergreen” demand for fitness classes.
Babysit
Parents want a date night every once in a while to get away from their kids for a few hours and spend time with each other.
If they don’t have an older sibling or family member who can take care of them, they may need to hire a sitter.
Babysitting can be a fun way to make money if you like spending time with kids.
Babysitting needs your full attention and focus. You will need to know how to keep the kids safe.
You’ll also need to play with them, make them meals if you can, and know how to get them ready for bed. You’ll also need to be willing to help them learn how to use the potty and other skills.
You can take care of kids of any age or focus on a certain age range, like babies, toddlers, or older kids.
Sharing about your babysitting services on social media or using a site like Care.com is one of the easiest ways to find jobs.
You could also let your neighbors and family friends know that you are available.
Take Care of Pets
Pet sitting is one of the cutest ways to make money that is also fun.
People who love dogs and like to walk them can make good money by taking care of other people’s pets. After all, you don’t get paid to walk the dog every day.
Some people even make six figures by walking dogs for a living or taking care of pets in big cities.
Ask your neighbors if you can walk their dog or take care of their other pets to get started. You can also advertise your pet sitting services on local bulletin boards or websites for dog walking services.
Clean your House
People often hire outside help to do things like clean their homes, mow their lawns, and walk their dogs.
If you are good at cleaning and organizing, this can be a pretty easy way to make money on the side.
Most likely, you’ll do best at this job if you like to clean. Do you like seeing how clean your house is when you clean it yourself?
Do you like to clean windows and get rid of clutter? If so, cleaning houses could be a good way for you to make money on the side.
You can find work on Craigslist or TaskRabbit, which are both good places to start. You could also put up ads on Facebook.
If you do a good job, your clients may even tell their friends about you.
Clean Businesses for Sale
Agencies are used by many businesses to clean their offices as well as their homes. It can happen in medical offices or other places where professionals work.
Listings are usually posted on Craigslist, or you can always ask local cleaning agencies if they need help in your area.
Most businesses need you to come in after they close, while you might be able to clean someone’s house while they are at work.
If you like to stay up late, this way to make money could be a great way to get some exercise before bed.
Dress up homes
One of the most creative ways to make money is through home decorating.
Homeowners want their homes to be clean and also to look nice. This can be a good choice if you want your house to look like it belongs on the cover of Better Homes & Gardens or another home decorating magazine.
The job description could only include decorating the rooms inside, or it could also include decorating the lawn with decorations that fit the season.
People often use this service at Christmas, when they can hang Christmas lights outside and also help decorate the family tree.
Drive people around
One of the most fun ways for people who like cars to make money is to drive other people around. You can make money with Lyft if you have a newer car and like to talk to people.
You can choose the routes that will work best for you. You don’t have to take a ride if it doesn’t fit with what you’re doing at the moment.
Driving for Lyft is a flexible way to make extra money and get around town at the same time.
Deliver Phonebooks
Unlike having a full-time paper route, delivering phonebooks is a good way to make money and get some exercise as a seasonal hobby.
It’s also a good way to get your daily exercise by delivering phone books to each door in apartment complexes and family neighborhoods.
Teach lessons on how to cook
Cooking is the best way to make money while doing something healthy. You can get paid to get in shape, and you can also get paid to help other people eat well.
People who don’t know how to cook from scratch depend on the frozen food section of their local grocery store. Home cooking is not only less expensive, but it can also be healthier and taste better.
You could teach classes at a church, community center, or community college in your area.
If you love to cook and teach others how to do it, there are a lot of things you can do. You could teach the latest lifestyle diet or traditional dishes like Cajun or French cooking.
Learn how to take pictures.
With pictures, it’s easy to remember the fun things that happen every day. As a photographer, there are many ways to make money, but wedding photography is one of the most well-known.
If you have a camera and software for editing, you could be in high demand during wedding season.
After the wedding, you might be able to make more money by taking pictures of families and newborns in the years to come.
You could also take pictures of families or of sports teams in your area. The great thing about this hobby is that there are so many ways to do it.
This can also be one of the most enjoyable and memorable ways to make money.
Perform at weddings
One of the most fun ways to make money is to perform at weddings. This is because you get to be a part of someone’s special day.
You can make money by performing at weddings in many different ways.
If you can sing or play an instrument well, you can get paid to sing or play at a wedding.
Hint: You can also use your musical skills at other events in your community, such as fundraisers, banquets, or parties.
You could also work as a disc jockey, a wedding planner, or a baker.
Do you play in a group? You and the other people in your band could be hired to play at a wedding reception.
You could finally make your high school garage band dreams come true.
Become a mystery shopper.
Become a “mystery shopper” if you like to shop and want to make money from it.
Anonymous “mystery shoppers” go to many big stores and restaurants several times a month to check on customer service and a few other things.
Depending on where you live, each agency has different needs, but you might start by going to fast food restaurants and then move up to sit-down restaurants or retail stores when you get more money.
Shop for Someone Else
Do you like to shop? When you shop for yourself, it can cost you a lot of money.
But why not turn that around and buy things for other people?
People like seniors who can’t leave their homes or people who work full-time hire people to buy their groceries and take care of their other shopping needs.
Some of these other needs could be buying birthday presents, planning a party, or even doing the client’s weekly shopping if they don’t have time.
You could also offer to shop for customers who are getting ready to go on vacation. You could also be a personal shopper and help your clients choose outfits and other clothing.
This money-making hobby gives a whole new meaning to the phrase “shop until you drop.”
Use Craigslist or Facebook Marketplace to let people know what you can do for them.
Use Rakuten to shop
Even though you don’t get paid to shop, if you use Rakuten, you get cash back on almost every online purchase you make.
You can also get money back on purchases made in-store at about 30 stores. Cashback rates range from 1% to 40%, but most stores offer between 3% and 10%.
After your first $25 order on Rakuten, you get a $10 cash bonus.
If you were going to buy the item anyway, why not get money back?
Sell Plasma
If you roll up your sleeve every time there is a blood drive near you, you can sell your plasma and make money. You might think that giving plasma is just a quick way for college students to make money.
Because of this, a lot of plasma donation centers are set up near college campuses. However, anyone can donate plasma and get up to $50 for each visit.
Even better, you might be able to give more than one gift each month.
Sell Firewood
Do you have firewood nearby? People still use wood to heat their homes, so they have to buy firewood for the winter.
Campers who go camping in the summer might also want bundles of wood. This could be a great job for teens all year long, not just in the summer.
You could sell firewood to campers in the summer and to people who heat their homes with wood in the winter.
If you own a wooded piece of land, you can make easy money by selling downed trees for firewood as you clear your land each year.
And if you don’t, you could ask homeowners with wooded lots if they want you to clear their lots for them.
Depending on the market you’re in, you could charge a small fee to clear a wooded lot or you could end up doing it for free.
Either way, you can get wood that you can cut up and sell as firewood.
Sell Local Honey
Local honey can be used to treat illnesses at home, help with allergies, and even be used in cooking.
The best way to make money selling honey is to keep your own bees.
If you keep bees, you’ll have your own supply of bees to pollinate your garden and honey to enjoy yourself and share with others.
But you do need to learn how to keep bees the right way, because it takes skill and knowledge to do so.
Once you get the hang of the hobby and your bees start making honey, you can sell it at farmer’s markets and maybe even in health food stores.
Become a Guinea Pig
A university or hospital near you might do routine medical research. Often, they look for paid volunteers to help with the medical testing.
Medical studies can include many different kinds of tests, from trying out new medicines to putting the body through its paces.
Each study is different and needs different kinds of people to help with it. Because of this, depending on the lab study, you do have to meet certain goals.
As an example, women probably won’t be able to help with a study on male pattern baldness.
But don’t give up if you’re turned down the first time. There will eventually be a study that is useful.
Put ads on your car.
Have you seen cars around town that are advertising a certain business?
The person who owns that car might get paid to drive a car with a company logo on it.
You might also be able to get paid to wrap your car.
Companies like Carvertise will pay you to drive around town, turning your car into a moving billboard that will catch the attention of drivers and pedestrians alike.
Car advertising companies do have certain requirements for the cars that carry their ads and the people who drive them.
For example, your car can’t have any major body damage. Also, living in a big city and driving when traffic is bad could be a plus.
Check out the website for Carvertise to learn more. This is one of the easiest ways to make money because you don’t have to do anything.
Domain Names for Sale
If you keep up with the latest trends in domain names, you can sell them to businesses and entrepreneurs for a profit.
Now that you can buy extensions like.club,.xyz, and.sports instead of just.com and.net, there are even more ways to make money.
Flippa is an online marketplace for buying and selling domain names. You can get offers from any domain service, though.
Take part in a simulated trial
You can watch your favorite Law & Order episodes again without having to go to court. At Online Verdict, you can make money by being on a mock jury.
Real lawyers often use these “mock trials” to practice cases that are about to go to trial so they can see how the jury will react.
As with any jury, people from all walks of life are welcome to apply. You can be on a mock jury if you can be called for real jury duty.
This is a great way for people who like legal shows to make money.
Rent Your Car
Do you own a car that you rarely drive? Or do you often give your things to friends and neighbors?
You can now get paid to rent out your things to other people. You could rent out your car to make money.
There are a number of companies that help car owners find people who want or need to rent their cars.
Some of these services can be cheaper than renting a car from a traditional company.
Because of this, people traveling for business or pleasure might choose this option to save a few dollars on their trip.
Depending on what kind of car you have, where you live, and when you can rent it out, this could be a good way to make extra money.
For example, if you live in a big city and have a mid-size sedan but don’t use it very often, you could rent it out five to seven days a week.
If making money is your hobby, this is another way you can make money by lending things you don’t use.
Airbnb lets you rent a room.
If you have a spare room or an empty basement, you can make some extra money by becoming an Airbnb host.
This is an easy way to make money in real estate because you don’t have to own a second property.
If you want to make as much money as possible from renting out a spare bedroom or basement, you’ll need to make it a nice place for renters to stay.
Make sure the basement or room is very clean. Set up the area as if you were trying to sell a house.
Have clean, well-maintained furniture. Add decorations that make the room feel warm and cozy.
Keep a small refrigerator in the room and put a few bottles of water in it. Put a mint on the bedside table.
Give them a list of things to do and see in the area, as well as good restaurants and other things. When you have people over, be a gracious and friendly host.
Renting out a room or a floor of your house can also be a great way to meet people from all over the world who are visiting your area.
See our post on how to make money with Airbnb for more great tips on how to rent out a room or level of your house.
Sell Real Estate
One last way to make money is to get a real estate license and sell homes.
This hobby has a small learning curve, but it can be a good start if you want to own rental properties in the future.
Not every real estate agent works full-time for an agency.
This can be a good way to make money on the weekends, since people are always moving for work or moving up to a bigger house when their family grows.
Baking
Do you enjoy making cookies or cakes? Well, this could be one of the best ways to make money from a hobby. You can make money by baking your favorite recipes and selling them to friends, family, and even coworkers.
There aren’t many costs to get started, and most people like baked goods, so demand is usually pretty steady.
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