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If you’re trying to find a way to earn extra money, why not do something that you’re going to enjoy at the same time! Luckily, there a bunch of fun and creative hobbies that make money, all of which are great ways to earn some extra cash doing something you love.
In particular, starting a side hustle is one of the best ways to make extra cash.
After all, it’s a great way to earn more money in addition to your regular income and there are thousands of options out there, plenty of which will fit with your hobbies and interests.
Which is great for you given you’ll be spending quite a bit of time on your amazing new side hustle – and it’s way better for you to make money doing something you enjoy!
And there are thousands of people out there who’ve managed to match or even exceed their regular income with the money earned from their side hustle.
So if you really enjoy a particular activity and are willing to put in the time to make some money from it (which is far easier to do when you like what you’re doing), then who knows how much you could earn from your hobby!
Fun and creative hobbies that make money
1. Writing
If you love to write, then there are a range of ways that you can make money from this.
One of the best ways is to write an e-book. It can be about anything you want!
Plus, it’s super easy to publish it through the Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing platform, which lets you earn up to 70% in royalties.
So do you like writing fictional stories? Or how about a “how to” guide on your favourite subject? Or just your general thoughts on life or poems or jokes or recipes or…
There are thousands of possibilities – that could let you earn thousands of dollars (if not more)!
This 20-year-old earns AU$50,000 (about US$36,000) per month, having sold 210,000 copies of his e-books through Amazon.
And there’s no reason why you can’t do the same!
Another great way to make money from writing is to start a blog.
It is amazingly cheap at only $3.95 per monthand only takes 15 minutes to set up (find out how here!).
And the best part is that you could end up earning incredible money – like this bloggerwho earns six-figures per MONTH.
Much like an e-book, you can also write about anything you want.
Clearly I’m a bit obsessed with personal finance, but there are blogs out there about literally everything.
And given that there are over three billion people on the internet, there’s definitely room for you to tell them all about what you want to say!
RELATED ARTICLE: 30 CREATIVE WAYS TO MAKE $100 EVERY DAY
2. Photography
If you have a flair for photography, then you can absolutely use that to earn some great money.
Websites and documents always need photos to back up what they’re saying and most of us don’t have the time or the skill to take them ourselves.
That’s why selling your photos on a website like Alamycan be a great way to make extra money.
It works like this: when someone buys one of your photos on there, you get to keep 50% of the sale price. This is way better than most photo websites where the photo owner keeps an average of only 30% of the price.
(And by the way, if you sign up as a student, you’ll get 100% of the sale price for two years!)
Another way to make money is to work with people as their photographer.
Whether it’s weddings, engagements, parties, kids, animals…if there’s one thing Instagram has been good for, it’s been getting people obsessed with documenting their lives.
And that’s where you come in!
Try marketing yourself on websites like Craigslist or on local Facebook group pages to reach potential clients in your community.
3. Baking
Your baking skills will go down a treat (…get it?) with potential clients.
After all, if you’re good at cakes or other desserts, people will pay good money for you to bake amazing creations for events like birthdays or other special occasions.
Just by advertising on local Facebook groups (especially those that are targeted at parents), you’ll have a huge audience in your area.
Or you could sell your specialty baked goods at a local market every weekend for some extra cash.
And not forgetting that you could always use these skills to start a food blog!
After all, other food blogs like Pinch of Yum make more than $90,000 per month.
What could you earn if you started today?
4. Social media
It turns out that all those hours scrolling through Facebook and Pinterest could actually result in you earning some great money!
Many website owners, whether they be large companies or blog owners, need help with a range of things online.
And to do this, they often hire a virtual assistant.
Virtual assistants (or VAs) do a ton of things like writing articles or creating images for websites, managing emails, dealing with customer issues…and yes, managing their social media pages.
(If you’d like to see a more complete list of the services you can offer, check out this amazing FREE resource: 150+ Services You Can Offer as a Virtual Assistant (And Get Paid For!).)
So this is definitely a great side hustle for you to earn some extra money while using your social media skills!
In particular, you can make great money if you’re good at Pinterest.
One great example of this is Kristin who, within her first six months and in addition to her full time job, averaged $3,600 a month from her role as a Pinterest manager and blogger – just as a side hustle!
If you’re interested in doing the same, why not take a look at her FREE Pinterest VA Workbook.
MORE INFORMATION: HOW TO BECOME A VIRTUAL ASSISTANT (AND MAKE $50,000 WORKING FROM HOME)
5. Watching TV
It takes a pretty disciplined person to say that they don’t like watching TV.
So if you’re someone guilty of doing a bit too much of this (…*raises hand*), then why not use this hobby as a way to earn some extra cash!
In particular, Swagbuckswill give you points for watching videos. This can include music videos, movie trailers, clips of TV shows and more!
It takes literally five seconds to sign up for Swagbucks (see how easy it is in the picture below!) and just for doing that, you’ll get a welcome bonus of $10.
Give it a try to see how you can use your TV time to make some money!
6. Arts and crafts
Whether you’re good at painting, sewing, knitting, gluing, designing or even something like making candles, there’s someone who wants to buy your creations on Amazon Handmade.
For example, a friend of mine sells natural, organic body products on there that she makes herself and earns some great extra cash each month.
With Amazon’s millions of customers, there’s a market for almost any product. So if you have a dash of creativity, why not check it out to see what you may be able to sell.
7. Graphic design
If you love graphic design, then it’s super simple to harness this hobby to make some money.
For example, why not use your skills to design some amazing shirts to be sold through Merch by Amazon?
You simply upload your design and Amazon will sell it on a shirt to its millions of customers!
Or why not check out even more specific sites like RageOn!They’ll let you put your designs on not only shirts but all sorts of clothes, like dresses, hoodies and onesies.
You can also use RageOn! to have your design put on home decor items like pillows, mugs, aprons, towels and even yoga mats!
Business owners could also really make use of your graphic design skills. Try advertising yourself on Fiverror even Etsyfor an easy way to make some extra cash.
8. Shopping
(I assume you mean window shopping because you’re on a budget, right…?)
There are some great ways to scratch that shopping itch without spending much money – or any money, in one case!
If you haven’t heard of mystery shopping, it’s when you review a store or a specific product undercover. Your review is then sent to the company for them to get independent feedback on how the shop or the item is going.
It’s also a really lucrative side hustle! For example, with Product Testing USA, there are currently opportunities to get a $200 gift card from stores like Target, Whole Foods JC Penney, Forever 21, Sephora and H&M.
This means that you use that gift card to buy something at the relevant shop as part of your review. Whatever you don’t spend, you keep!
And for your own shopping, make sure you’re using an app like Swagbucksto earn cash back on everything you spent.
They have 2,100 stores in their system where you earn money back on whatever you spend there, including big ones like Amazon and Target.
As mentioned above, it’s super easy to sign up with them – just fill in your name and email address and you’re done!
And seeing as you’ll get a welcome bonus of $10 just for doing that, it’s the easiest money you’ll ever earn!
RELATED ARTICLE: WHAT TO BUY TO SAVE MONEY – 21 THINGS THAT WILL SAVE YOU THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS
9. Going to thrift stores, antique stores and garage sales
Wandering around these treasure troves can be a treat in itself. But if you’re particularly good at finding gems in these places, then you should look into flipping.
Flipping simply involves buying something and then re-selling it at a higher price. This makes it a great side hustle with amazing earning potential.
For example, Melissa, in her first year of flipping, made $42,000 based on 5 to 15 hours of work per week.
And in her second year, working 20 to 30 hours per week, she made $133,000.
Some of the amazing “flips” that Melissa has done include a door handle she bought for $8 then sold for $200 and even an exercise bike she bought for $100 then sold for $2,000.
Clearly there’s really good money to be made here.
And luckily for us, she’s made a course showing you exactly how she did it and how you can do the same!
Check out her course, including exactly how to get started flipping, right here.
10. Fitness
If you love to sweat (especially if you love to get fit for free), then you’ve got a great money-making opportunity on your hands.
The obvious one is to become a fitness instructor. This doesn’t necessarily mean working in a gym and, in fact, your clients will love the fact that you’re more flexible than that.
Instead, you can go to people’s houses or meet at a local park and help them meet their fitness goals there.
Fitness is also a massive subject for bloggers. Whether it be general fitness or a specific niche like pilates, fitness bloggers can make a fortune from people’s need to improve their health.
You may have seen some of these people on places like Instagram acting as brand ambassadors – if so, you’ll know that you absolutely don’t need to be a professional sportsperson to make great money from this.
But starting a fitness blogis also a great opportunity to make money through affiliate marketing.
Not sure what that is? It’s essentially when you recommend products or companies in blog posts and get paid a small commission if someone clicks through.
If you’d like to find out more,check out this course from ablogger who makes six-figures per month(that’s not a typo!) from affiliate marketing on her blog!
11. Animals
If you love animals, then you can absolutely combine that with earning some extra cash.
Rover.com says that there’s a booking for dog walking, dog sitting or dog grooming made every four seconds through their website – so there’s clearly money to be made!
This is especially great if you have your own pets so can use the equipment you already have for your own work from home job!
(If you prefer other animals, there are also plenty of grooming and pet sitting opportunities for them – from cats to lizards to everything in between.)
And if you’re wondering how much you can really get paid for this, Rover.com states (source) that dog sitters that take two or three dogs for two weeks each month earn about $1,000 per month.
Find out more or create your profile at Rover.com to get started.
12. Listening to music
If you’re a music lover, then this one’s for you.
Slice the Pie is the biggest paid review site on the internet. You get to review songs and other things from unsigned artists, with your comments then being passed on to the artists themselves or record companies.
This is an especially great way to make some extra money if, for example, you like to spend time listening to music during your commute to or from work.
Not only will you get paid, but you might discover the next big thing! (Or at least a new favourite band)
Sign up here for free to find out more.
13. Kids
While kids aren’t exactly a hobby (WE KNOW, says every parent on Earth), if you like kids then you can certainly use that to your financial advantage.
In particular, there’s always a demand for good, reliable babysitting services and a few hours of work can easily net you $100 or more.
With Sittercity, you can create a free profile so that people can search for your services.
You also set your own rates. While the site says the average rate is just over $11, most of the babysitters’ profiles that I looked at ask for anywhere between $15 to $40 per hour.
Find out more or create your profile here.
14. Traveling
Some say travelling is a hobby, others say it’s a lifestyle.
(Those “others” don’t have an office job, apparently.)
I say, though, that it’s a super fun way to make some money!
For example, interested in getting free accommodation all over the world? Try Home Exchange– it’s the biggest home swap website in the world with 65,000 homes in 150 countries.
Or, if you can, why not take extended leave and try teaching English abroad or becoming a tour guide?
Similarly, a friend of mine worked on a boat in the Mediterranean for a summer and had a terrible time going from Spain to Monaco to France to Italy to…
Yes, it was just as awful as you imagine.
Finally, starting a travel blogcan let you earn serious cash. Much like starting a fitness blog under number 10, there are a ton of sponsored opportunities for travel bloggers and travel influencers on Instagram.
Not to mention that it’s fun!
MORE INFORMATION: HOW TO START A BLOG IN LESS THAN 15 MINUTES.
15. Surfing the internet
You may have heard of Nielsen from their reporting on TV ratings, but did you know that they do other things too – like pay you to use the internet?
Simply sign up here to install the app on your computer or phone and Nielsen will pay you $50 per year to track your internet usage for data collection purposes.
Information is collected anonymously, so they can’t link it to you, and the app is super small so won’t slow your device down.
Better yet, simply by signing up and installing the app, you’ll be entered into a draw to win $10,000 each month.
Not bad for doing something that you’d be doing anyway!
16. Videos
Do you like watching videos?
(No judging – we’ve all fallen down YouTube black holes from time to time i.e. while writing this post.)
Swagbucks under number 5 (don’t forget about that $10 welcome bonus!) pays you to watch videos, like movie trailers and other short clips.
AndNielsen(under number 15) would also love to pay you to know about your YouTube spiral!
But if you like making videos as a hobby, then you could definitely use that to make some money.
I’m not just talking about the major YouTube earners – although earning $16.5 million in one year isn’t too bad – but even the smaller fish can easily make a few hundred dollars from this.
Alternatively, you could offer your video services on Fiverr. Cutting a short, snappy video for someone can be a great way to earn some extra cash!
17. Gardening
Having a green thumb for a hobby can certainly help you earn some money on the side.
Here, a local market or community Facebook group is the way to go.
Fruit and vegetable plants are incredibly popular due to the new push for people to focus on their health. But you can even try selling houseplants as well, especially if you’re in an area with a lot of apartments so people can’t grow “full” gardens.
So those little offshoots could make you some great money!
18. Teaching
It may sound strange to some, but teaching absolutely can be a hobby.
For example, I legitimately love talking to people about personal finance and teaching them about financial concepts they may not know about.
Similarly, if there’s a topic that you love to talk about, why not considercreating a course to sell on Teachable.
There are also amazing money-making opportunities with companies that let you teach English online.
VIPKID is one of these – in fact, Forbes named it as the number 1 company for people who want to work from home!
You can earn up to $22 per hour and only have to work a few hours per day by talking to young Chinese students on something similar to Skype.
FIND OUT MORE (including a review from an actual VIPKID teacher): HOW TO GET PAID TO TEACH ENGLISH ONLINE
19. Gaming
Making money from gaming is huge at the moment.
The highest paid gamers have made just under $2 million in prize money while other games make $500,000 per month from streaming themselves playing online.
Obviously, not every person who likes video games can make this sort of money.
But it’s definitely something to strive for if it’s already a hobby that you’re spending a ton of time on.
20. Reading
Reading is definitely a hobby of mine, even if I find that I never have enough time to get through all the books on my list.
So if you also love reading and have attention to detail, then this could be a great opportunity for you to make some cash from your hobby!
Caitlin, the founder of Proofread Anywhere, turned her knack for proofreading into a full time income, including when she spent one year living in South America.
She’s now started a course to show you just how she did it. with thousands of former students making thousands of dollars through proofreading – and some even using it to replace their full time income.
Her course will show you not only how to become an expert proofreader, but also how to market yourself to potential clients so that you can make sure that you’re making as much money as possible.
If you’re interested, why not check out her FREE 75-minute seminar to see if this is something that you could see yourself doing!
21. Carpentry
If you include “building things” on your list of hobbies, then this may interest you – and your wallet.
In particular, if you can build new furniture or repair old pieces to sell, then you can make literally thousands of dollars from your work.
This means that something that’s just a thing you do on Saturday afternoon could go a long way towards, say, paying off your debt.
And you can take this even further, even applying it to an entire house!
If that sounds interesting to you, check out this article from Mr Money Mustache on how to make $100,000 per year from your carpentry hobby.
22. Playing sport
If you love to play a certain sport, then why not check in your local area for any coaching or refereeing opportunities.
You may need to get certain required clearances for working with children, depending on the laws in your area.
But once you have this, working as a coach or a referee for a few hours per week can be a great way to get your sporting fix – and some extra cash too, of course!
23. A certain language/culture
After I spent one year as an exchange student as a teenager, I came back obsessed with my host country. I would have done anything to talk about it and to practice speaking the language.
So if you have a similar obsession and the skills to back it up, consider language tutoring.
This can be done online through sites like Fiverr, where you can provide language lessons through Skype.
Or you could even do it in person! Check local Facebook and other community groups for parents who are looking for certain tutors – or make a post yourself to see if you can grab someone’s interest!
24. Calligraphy
A certain American duch*ess did calligraphy as a side hustle to support herself as a struggling actress.
And you could definitely do the same if you have a talent for lettering.
Just take a look at Etsyfor how much demand there is for good calligraphy skills. This is particularly huge for weddings where calligraphy can be used on invitations, place cards, menus, signs and more.
So if you think you can do the same, then this is a great hobby to make some money with – and you’ll be making some beautiful memories for people too!
What’s your favourite hobby – and how have you used it to make some extra cash?
