If you’re looking to generate extra income, a great place to start is by looking at the things to which you’re already devoting time and energy.
No matter how devoted you are to your day job, you spend your free time in ways that feed your soul and give you joy. Maybe you’re a marathoner, and you train on the weekends. You might make jewelry or bake brownies or write slam poetry.
Whatever your hobby, there’s an excellent chance that you can turn your enthusiasm and skills into a moneymaking side hustle.
Here are some suggestions about how to make extra money by doing what you love.
Become a coach, tutor or teacher
Once you’ve been doing something for a while, chances are you’ve acquired some serious skills others would want to learn from you.
If you’re a runner, for example, you could easily set up an “I’ll Run with You” program, where people pay you to do what you’d be doing anyway. Your expertise in terms of pace or technique will make their runs safer and more useful, and it will keep you in shape.
If you’re a painter, you can offer to teach classes in your home or through your local arts center. If you’re a skilled woodworker, perhaps you could offer private classes for small groups.
Set up a blog or vlog
It might take a few months before you see serious revenue from a blog or vlog (a video blog), but most of the effort comes from putting in the time to create content about something you’re already familiar with and passionate about.
Whether it’s by making baking videos or blogging your reviews of the latest romance novels, you can grow your following by consistently posting.
If you place ads on your site, revenue could follow. You might only earn pennies for each ad, but pennies can add up.
Discover the power of eBay
If you’re a bargain hunter, flea market junkie, or secondhand shopper, it only takes a few minutes to set up a seller’s account on eBay. That will allow you to auction off your carefully curated finds for a tidy profit.
If you are and artist, a tinkerer or an upcycler, Etsy or other online marketplaces for handmade goods are perfect places to sell your work. Consider focusing your efforts on posting lots of stock during the run up to Christmas, a very profitable time of year for crafters.
Offer guided tours
If you’re a walker, local historian, hiker, or fisherman, you could offer to take tourists through some of your favorite places.
People on vacation might love a local to guide them to the best fishing spots, while tourists in big cities would jump at the chance for an insider’s view of the metropolis.
You can ask your local tourist information office to stock your cards or brochures.
Write a book
Writing itself doesn’t need to be your hobby for you to consider writing a book. If you have a set of skills and a wealth of knowledge about a particular topic, consider turning your expertise into a short how-to book.
Publishing direct to Kindle is easy and potentially very profitable. And it will establish you as an expert, which might lead to other paying gigs.
The bottom line
If this sideline venture goes very well, you might be tempted to turn it into your main source of income — and that’s definitely doable, but be careful.
No job is perfect, and what was once a font of stress relief might become a fountain of stress.
Sometimes, it’s OK to keep your day job and have fun with your gig on the side.
