5 Ways To Turn Your Hobby Into A Side Hustle

Hobby or #SideHustle?

With so much going on in our days, finding time for hobbies can be impossible. But what if you could make real money off of your side passion for photography or crafting? Here are 5 simple ways to turn your creative hobby into a side hustle.

1. Sell Physical Goods

Try your hand at selling homemade goods in a creative marketplace like Etsy or create your own shop through a service like Big Cartel. If you’re a pattern designer, you can apply your pattern to notebooks, t-shirts, or coffee mugs. If you’re a hand-letterer, you can calligraph movie quotes or poems. Whether you’re a writer, a DIY-er, or a fashionista, you can use your skill to create something someone would love–and buy.

2. Sell Digital Goods

If you don’t want to deal with bubble wrap and shipping labels, you can also try selling digital goods. You can sell your photography to stock photo sites like Shutterstock,  or upload your designs to marketplaces like Society6, which allow customers to apply your designs to physical things like rugs and duvet covers. You could also sell a set of icons, vector graphics, or your own typeface on marketplaces like Visual Hierarchy. The possibilities are nearly endless.

3. Teach Online

Did you know you can make money not just from selling goods, but just showing others how you make them? Online teaching sites like Skillshare are a great way to earn supplemental income by sharing what you already love to do; whether it’s baking your grandma’s apple pie or building your Instagram following. Since classes are made of short 10-25 minute videos, you can even make them from your living room.

4. Start A Blog

Starting a new blog isn’t an immediate money-maker, but has a two-fold benefit. One, it allows you to become a thought leader in your space. Two, over time and with a healthy amount of traffic, you can earn revenue through ad-clicks. You can easily start a blog on platforms like Tumblr or WordPress. If you already have a blog, you may want to try guest blogging on bigger sites. The amount you can earn varies per site, but can be substantial. This is also a great way to drive new traffic to your own blog or site–which hopefully means new clients.

5. Write an E-Book

Take your writing skills a step further and try writing your own e-book. Your e-book could be a compilation of blog posts, or you could write on current design trends and techniques, or you could write something more abstract and theoretical. An e-book, like a blog, is also great for your credibility as a freelancer. Plus, platforms like Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing make it easy to publish.