Five ways to make your hobbies pay

After you get to know someone for a while, you usually discover something that they do reasonably well — well enough that you say, “Wow!  I didn't know you could do that.” That level of proficiency doesn't come without a fair amount of dedicated practice. They may or may not be at expert level, but it's certainly good enough that you could get started with their advice or instruction.

Your hobbies can pay you right now

Most people have picked up something that they do this well, and they may do it because it's relaxing, or because it's different from what they do for their day job. For that reason, they may be totally opposed to trying to earn money from it. But what if they're not opposed to earning a little money on the side from it?

When I see this kind of expertise in people, I can almost hear the gears turning in my head as to how they could capitalize on their expertise. I usually share my thoughts only with people who might receive them well, namely when the topic is already on money or when I know they have a bit of an entrepreneurial itch themselves.

With pay freezes, pay cuts, and job loss happening to more people these days, it certainly would soften the blow if there were other money coming in the door.

Why haven't more people done this already? I think one of the big reasons people haven't geared up to making a side business happen for themselves is because they wonder who would pay for their expertise or their creations, and that keeps them from starting. In most cases, they do know their stuff well enough, and can capitalize on it at some level.

Five examples of hobbies that you can turn into a side income

There are of course many ways under the sun to make money. Here are a few for starters!

Record videos of you talking while you do something you're good at

A friend of mine is very talented with comic book art and comic book character figurines (among many other things). (Side note: If you collect comics then here's a guide for the best comic book storage boxes.) He can alter them in very, very cool ways, and it totally changes the character of the figurine. I've suggested to him a few times that he should record himself a few of these figurines and talk while he does this into a lavalier microphone.

With 10 – 15 hours of raw footage he could make course to put up on Teachable. For the more advanced techniques, I could see this selling for $100. Over and over again. Serviceable video editing software is available for free.

Write an e-book

If videos aren't your thing, what about a how-to manual? If you can type it and format it in a word processor, you can make a PDF out of it. Then you pop it up on E-Junkie or Gumroad which lets you manage an affiliate program (enlisting other people to sell it for you in exchange for a cut of the profits). There's a bit of a discussion in this thread over in the Yakezie forums.

Start a podcast

One of my colleagues loves talking about homebrewing. He's knowledgeable and is up on equipment, new recipes, etc. Right now those words just go into the ether, but little snippets of audio would be interesting to people wanting to keep up on homebrewing trends. This would be a great draw to a themed website.

Sell on Etsy.com

Etsy is the eBay of handmade crafts. People are more inclined to pay a reasonable price (to you) for your handmade creations on Etsy than they would on eBay.

Barter

If there are things you can do well, there are things you can't do well. Trade the things you do well for things you don't do well.

If you're looking to supplement your existing income, start with something you do well. You're not learning from scratch. Make your hobbies pay!

(Photo by Miika Laaksonen on Unsplash)