By We all have hobbies—skills and passions that we might not consider a job. But with the right strategy, you can turn the activities you enjoy into a lucrative side-hustle, whether that’s to supplement existing income or just cover any costs associated with the extracurricular (like materials for crafting or ingredients for baking). The best part? All of these options allow you to make your own hours and decide how much you want to take on. Keep reading for tips on how to make money from your hobbies!
How to generate income from your hobbies
You can take a few different paths to turn your pastimes into side hustles. Here are a few of the most common, easily-accessible options.
Start an online store
One of the benefits of living in a digital age is the ability to sell items online without the overhead costs required to have a brick-and-mortar store. It also opens up possibilities to sell products to customers all over the world instead of being limited to local consumers.
Etsy, for example, is one of the popular destinations for unique and handcrafted items. Handmade jewelry, soap and candles, art, customizable accessories and home decor are a mere few examples of profitable Etsy niches. There’s endless opportunity to be compensated for your creativity!
Ramp up your digital presence
Alternatively (or in addition to using an e-commerce platform), you can simply create a social media account dedicated to your services. This applies not only to selling products, but gaining customers for in-person services or deliveries. For example, Instagram has become a massive player in this space.
So, if you fancy yourself a qualified hairdresser, makeup artist, baker or chef, this is a great space to show off your talents and connect with nearby communities. This can serve as a free marketing tool for self-advertisement and help you earn word-of-mouth referrals as people share your profile, photos and videos.
Whether you process transactions or take orders directly on your account, over email or through your business website, make sure you include calls-to-action in your captions and social media messaging to direct potential customers to book your service!
Join a freelance marketplace
Writer, photographer or graphic designer? Offer your talents on a website like Fiverr or UpWork, where you can connect with clients in need of services. If you’re good with animals, join a pet sitting or dog-walking platform like Rover.
Teach others
If you enjoy passing on your knowledge to other people with similar interests looking to harness their skills, serving as a tutor or mentor can be both rewarding and a cash flow source. That could mean taking on a few students to teach music or another language, or hosting workshops for crafts like pottery.
How to set your prices when making money from your hobbies
The first step in figuring out how your products should be priced for an online store is to hone in on your specific goals. Are you trying to recuperate expenses, or make a certain profit? Etsy, for example, offers a How to Price Your Listings worksheet designed to help you experiment with different models and find what works best for you!
According to the job board Indeed, you can price yourself as a freelancer or private teacher by researching common freelance rates in your area and industry, reviewing your monthly expenses and considering the minimum you want to earn to cover a certain portion.
You’ll also want to evaluate how much work a job will require, consider your average client, their budget and how much value your work provides for them.
You can also choose between an hourly rate—which may be ideal if you plan to work on a retainer for the client or are beginning your career as a freelancer—or a per-project rate, which may be better for higher-value projects or when you’re unsure of how many hours the project will require.
It’s also important to remember to set some proceeds from your hobbies aside for taxes since they won’t be automatically withdrawn from a paycheck like many traditional jobs. A good rule of thumb is to save at least 20 percent of those earnings for tax purposes.
