In the past, hobbies were just hobbies. Today, the digital age and the impact of social media on our lives, have made it possible for us to earn money by doing anything. Various hobbies, such as painting, taking photos, pet sitting, writing, and gardening, can be turned into money-making businesses.

According to the research for Guardian Money by the Start-Up Loans Company and YouGov suggests 28% of British adults have considered turning their hobby into a business. But less than a third has gone on to try. Still, 86% of those surveyed who had started a hobby-based business said it gave them greater job satisfaction.

Photo by Pierre Bamin on Unsplash

If you consider turning your hobby into a part-time job or some serious money-making business, but you’re not sure which hobby to choose, check our article. Before we start, here are some useful tips on how to make a business out of a hobby, to consider:

• Know your goal
• Brainstorm all the ways you can make money from your hobby
• Be sure you’ll still enjoy your hobby if you’re doing it for money
• Get really good at what you do – before you quit your job
• Write a business plan
• Adopt a business mindset
• Learn about marketing
• Create a brand and stick to it
• Get your first customer – even if you have to work for free
• Put your finances in order

Teaching 

Online teaching is among the first hobbies that can be turned into money. Just your skill and a stable internet connection can help you earn extra cash. If you speak Chinese, you’re good at maths or know some programming language, you already have a business in your hands! Websites such as TutorMe and Skooli enable you to connect with students in any part of the world and teach a variety of subjects. Besides, if you have in-depth knowledge about any topic, you can share it with others using your blog or YouTube channel. 

Photography

If you take really high-quality photos, art photos or have the opportunity to capture something interesting, it can earn you extra money. You can sell your photos to online photo resources or make a photo shooting studio at home so you can take photos of people or pets. If you don’t have much space, you can become a wedding or event photographer. Websites such as Flickr and Shutterstock can help you to set up your photography page and sell the photos to potential clients.

Photo by JESHOOTS.COM on Unsplash

Cooking

Obsessed with 24Kitchen? Baking and cooking delicious meals every day? Consider turning your food hobby into money! First, some statistics: according to Google, 59% of 25 to 34-year-olds use their mobile devices in their kitchen, to find and practice new recipes. Just with an Instagram or Facebook account, you can share your food pictures and videos with the world. Once you gain enough followers, you can start your own cooking page. And if you get really good at it, consider starting an online baking shop.

Writing

Have you ever thought about how anyone can become a copywriter, SEO specialist, content or a ghostwriter? There’s no such school for that. These jobs have evolved from the hobbies of people who love to write. If you’re good at writing, you can use it to further your career and turn your hobby into a money-making business.

The most obvious way to make money writing is to sell it as a service—freelancing on sites like Upwork or Fiverr, or finding potential clients on social media. You can even start your blog, but if you don’t feel confident enough to try your hands-on blogging, you can always write for others. There are plenty of brands and websites looking for writers. And if you know more foreign languages, and a stable internet connection, you can write for clients on the other side of the world.

Gardening

If your neighbor or friend once praised you for growing beautiful flowers, trees, or fruits, consider this a hobby to turn into a business. You often hear that gardening is a hobby for talented and patient people. If you love gardening, think about selling your green products to people who want to have nice yards with green grass, colorful flowers, and healthy food on the table.

Also, you can help people design and develop a vegetable garden, or start a landscaping business. And if you need the best gadgets for outdoor activities, check our spring subscription box!

Art, illustration, and design

Well, this is reeeeally money-making hobbies! Illustration, design, or any kind of art is a hobby that can bring you a fortune. You can sell your finished products online through resources such as Etsy as a freelancer. You can even start on a site called 99Designs.com and offer potential clients to design their logo or website. You can sell your paintings, illustrations, or the clothes you created. Moreover, you can get paid for giving online art classes!

Creating and editing videos

Basic Photoshop and video editing skills can earn you extra cash in your spare time. If you spend much time on YouTube, Daily Motion, Instagram or other video sites that are popping up, you can notice there’s a growing market for videos. You can create and edit videos for your YouTube channel and gain followers in order to earn money, or you can get paid to promote businesses through commercials and videos on your channel.

Fitness

If you support a healthy lifestyle and fitness is your hobby, you may be able to start making some money at it. Of course, as a personal trainer. Since there are thousands of personal trainers in gyms, a lot of people have their own trainer, but the market is always looking for a few more. Just be careful, you need to get certified as a personal trainer, and may even need to get a CPR certification. You can start out as a trainer in a gym, but also having your personal clients.

Pets

Own some pets? Great! There are plenty of ways to make money on this front. First, when it comes to pet businesses, this industry is $60 million a year strong. If you love animals, but you also love extra cash, you can consider dog walking and pet sitting a new job! You can also try grooming and boarding, creating and/or selling pet accessories or food, pet photography, and more.

If you have a backyard or a large house, you can do that from your home. This hobby can turn into money easily just by signing up on websites such as WagWalking and Rover. Sign-up and get connected with pet owners in your area. You get paid to take other people’s pets out for a walk and look after them.

Comedy

Are you good at making people laugh? If your friends adore your sense of humor and the memes you make, consider turning your humor to build an audience on the internet and earn money. You can easily gain followers on Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, or Twitter accounts simply by curating memes and viral videos. Once you have an audience, you can collaborate with various brands to do sponsored posts or turn your best running jokes into t-shirts and other products.

Besides, you can gather enough audience to show up in some club as a stand-up comedian. Clubs are always interested in the kind of talent, but you can also perform on private parties, too!

Traveling

Travelling can be a very lucrative business too! If you consider yourself an adventurer who travels a lot, visiting interesting places could bring you money. According to Sarah Owen, senior editor of digital media & marketing at trend forecasting firm WGSN, traveling the world as a lifestyle choice is on the come-up.

Therefore, we can see an increasing number of influencers and YouTubers sharing content from their trips, displaying their entire vacation, starting from the place, the hotel, restaurants, and others. Having lots of followers on your profile gives you a chance to earn money just by posting pictures of your hotel room or using a certain beauty product on the beach.