As a Personal Financial Advisor, I see people turning their hobbies into serious income streams all the time.
In fact, some of my top earning clients started their business as a hobby only for it to blossom into a multi 6 or even 7 figure venture!
And whilst you might not want to put in the time to reach that level, with a little bit of dedication, it’s more than possible to earn anything from a few extra hundred dollars a month to a full time income.
Here’s my top list of 23 popular hobbies that make money, whether it’s through selling things online, making DIY crafts, freelancing, affiliates, or starting a side hustle.
To prove these hobbies can make money, I’ve hand-picked some incredible success stories to show you what’s really possible.
Best Hobbies to Make Money
1) DIY Crafts OR Pre-Made Craft Kits
Average Profit a Month: $1,200-$1,500
Top Earners Can Make: $10,000+
If you enjoy working with your hands and love putting a unique twist on a common household item, making and selling DIY crafts could be a lucrative side hustle.
Take a look at Lisa for example. Lisa started Honeybunch (formerly Scent), a soap making brand and in the first 8 months of launching, made $90,000 worth of orders.
Recently, she’s made a whopping $76,000 (NZD) in revenue over a 30 day period.
Pamela from Crochetpreneur, makes around $8,000 a month purely selling her crochet products and patterns.
These sisters launched a $20 million bathbomb business, Da Bomb, in their teens.
Oh, and don’t think you have to do all the ‘doing’.
Sock Creatures, a UK based craft business, sells ‘make your own sock puppets’ kits for kids.
The idea being, customers do all the leg work by putting the puppets together themselves as a fun activity.
Believe it or not, selling DIY Crafts is a $40 billion market.
Handmade items typically require a good attention to detail as customers notice the level of quality and care taken when crafting.
To test the market and validate your product idea, why not make a small sample of your DIY craft and sell on Etsy.
Etsy is a fantastic place to start a small business before forking out more money to register it as a fully operational business.
If you’re wondering what types of crafts make money, here’s a list of the best things to sell on Etsy (2024 updated).
2) Freelance Writing
Average Profit a Month: $2,300-$3,800
Top Earners Can Make: $11,000+
I’ve written an entire blog post on where to find high-paying, genuine freelance writing gigs.
If you land the right gig, you can easily snag a $150-$200/hour job (mainly writing for magazines, blogs like this one or taking jobs from writing boards).
If you’re just starting out with no portfolio, you’re likely looking at the $30-$40/hour mark.
The most obvious way to make money writing is by offering your services on sites such as Fiverr or Upwork or by reaching out to blog owners directly.
Good content writers who have the ability to specialise in a certain niche are in high demand.
From a business owner perspective, it’s surprisingly difficult to find writers who match even basic criteria, so I wouldn’t worry about the ‘market being too saturated’ – there’s no such thing if you’re good at what you do.
If you’re detail-oriented, love to research and can string sentences together in a cohesive format, you’ll easily rise to the top.
3) Blogging
Average Profit a Month: $2,700-$3,400
Top Earners Can Make: $11,000+
I know, I know, you’ve heard this one a thousand times before and don’t know whether you can *really* trust it.
I was just as skeptical, but believe it or not, in the first year of blogging (not on this blog), I made $5,000 a month in profit.
It’s not an easy way to make money (now that is where most tell a porky!), but it’s a great diversification of income.
So you know, the average hobby blogger putting in 15 hours a week makes around $2,700-$3,400 a month, 6-8 months after launching.
I wrote an in-depth post on how to make money blogging, including which platforms I highly recommend you DON’T use.
4) Gardening
Average Profit a Month: $2,500-$3,500
Top Earners Can Make: $11,000+
Tap into this $102 billion dollar niche by offering a service or product that makes gardening, especially home gardening, easier.
Most profitable ideas here include:
- Pressure Washing/Cleaning Service
- Mowing/Garden Scaping Service
- Tree Treatment (more specialized)
- Plant Care/Terrarium Kits
The average person spends $532 a year on houseplants and products to care for them, though enthusiasts can easily spend a whopping $3,215 a year!
Indoor gardens and terrariums, especially, are hot topics according to recent Google Trends data.
Real Success Stories:
Leaf and Clay – sells succulents via their ‘Plant Mail Club’, a monthly subscription box.
EDN – Invented a soil-less planting container, fitted with wifi to help plant owners manage their plants on the go.
5) Teaching Photography or Being a Photographer
Average Profit a Month: $3,500-$5,500
Top Earners Can Make: $15,000+
If you’re a whizz with the camera, love taking your own stylistic shoots, then you’re onto a serious winner.
Take Ashley of Wilde Sparrow Photography for example, she makes $600+ a shoot, offering babymoon photography packages in Hawaii – and that’s just the shoot!
No added extras yet she’s booked out for MONTHS.
Most profitable photography niches include:
- Wedding
- Babymoon
- Real Estate
- Events/Festivals
- Product or UGC (user generated content for brands)
- Fashion
- Personal Portrait
- Pets
Don’t fancy actually working with clients? Want a more scalable, lucrative path? Why not try:
- Selling stock photos, photo prints and digital products
- Teaching people how to become their own photographer
Real Success Stories:
Darren Rowse of Digital Photography School – teaches beginners how to master basic shots and edit in Lightroom.
ClickPhotoSchool – teaches moms how to take incredible photos of their children without paying a fortune for a photoshoot.
Andy Rouse of The School of Photography – teaches people how to take incredible wildlife and astrophotography shots at an affordable rate without spending a ton of money on the top equipment.
Did you know that professional photography accounts are the 3rd most lucrative type of business on Instagram after influencing and social media management?
The average brand is willing to pay up to $300-$450 per post on Instagram to work with an account with less than 100,000 followers.
Related: 15 Lucrative Photography Side Hustles To Turn Your Passion Into Profit!
6) Influencing
Average Profit a Month: $3,500-$5,500
Top Earners Can Make: $15,000+
The average ‘hobby’ influencer makes around $500 a month in brand deals, sponsorships and affiliate commissions which doesn’t sound a lot, BUT this stat only accounts for 10 hours work a week.
Influencers who spend more time and effort can pull in some seriously lucrative sponsors;
- 1k-10k followers – you could make $100-$350 a post
- 10k-100k followers – you could make $350-$1000 a post
- 100k+ – you could make $1,000-$10,000+ a post
Some of these brand deals only require a few story posts rather than a full feature, reels or a full Youtube video, too.
Once you’ve ‘made’ it and built good connections with these brands, the money flows in quite effortlessly, and repeatedly too.
The most profitable influencing niches are:
- Pets
- Children/Family Lifestyle
- Tech Reviews
- Fashion/Beauty
- Travel
- Health/Fitness
- Sustainable Living/Eco-Friendly
- Mental Health Advocacy
Related: How to Start a YouTube Channel to Replace Your Full Time Income
7) Beekeeping
Average Profit a Month: $3,500-$5,500
Top Earners Can Make: $15,000+
This definitely isn’t for everyone, but there are many entrepreneurs making this sweet business a success.
Within 10 months, two friends from Bushwick Kitchen (formerly Mixed Made) generated $170k selling their Bees Knees Spicy Honey. Within 30 days of launching, they generated $10,000.
Similarly, Ted Dennard from the Savannah Bee Company sells artisanal honey. What started as a side hustle selling honey from his kitchen is now a fully fledged business.
They turn over approximately $2 million a year.
8) Reading
Average Profit a Month: $300-$500
Top Earners Can Make: $500-$1,200+
Did you know you can make a decent sum of money by writing book reviews?
Kirkus Media and Online Book Club hire reviewers to review unpublished and indie authors online.
Related: Epic Ways to Get Paid to Read Books!
Based on their ‘careers’ page, Kirkus Media treats the role of the reviewer like a ‘job’.
They require a resume, writing samples and a list of reviewing specialities i.e. your favorite genres, plots etc.
Whilst that might seem like a lot, you can make a healthy $50 a review, with reviews only needing to be around 350 words long.
The great thing? You can be based anywhere in the world, and they accept reviewers who speak either English or Spanish.
Online Book Club requires you to write your first book review for free, just to make sure you’re a good fit for the role.
Then, every book review after that, you can expect to make up to $60.
Oh, and did I mention they send you books for free?!
9) Proofreading
Average Profit a Month: $3,500-$5,500
Top Earners Can Make: $15,000+
Speaking of reading, if you’re a whizzkid at spotting typos and errors, combine book reviewing with proofreading for an additional stream of income.
Proofreaders are detail oriented people who typically check final drafts of books, articles, publications and even web copy.
The best news? You don’t need a formal qualification to become a proofreader.
Caitlin from Proofread Anywhere made $43k in one year working part time as a proofreader with just a little experience.
You can start offering your services as a proofreader by taking up gigs on Fiverr and Upwork.
This will give you the experience and more importantly the portfolio to snag higher paying clients on platforms like Linkedin.
Related: 6 Best Places to Snag High Paid Proofreading Clients & Jobs
10) Illustration and Design
Average Profit a Month: $3,500-$5,500
Top Earners Can Make: $15,000+
Many people assume you need to be a pro graphic designer to give this business idea a go, but there are countless success stories of amateurs making serious money.
Lindsey Ferris, a print on demand apparel owner on Etsy, started her business after losing her company in 2020.
In just 4 months, she made over 5,000 sales on her clothing designs, and Meghan Markle has even worn one of her shirts!
She made around $65,000 in profit! Lindsey’s story proves that it’s possible to make good money and develop a brand with basic design skills.
With basic design skills you can:
- Design Logos and Branded Material for Small Business
- Create Themed Printables to Sell on Etsy (e.g. Wedding)
- Create Digital Download Packs to Sell on Etsy or Your Own Shopify Store
- Design Basic T-shirts and Merchandise to Sell Via Print on Demand
With a simple graphic design tool such as Canva, even the most technically challenged can turn this hobby into a profitable business.
Print on demand is an excellent way for teens to make money without needing a Paypal account too.
11) Coffee
Average Profit a Month: $3,500-$5,500
Top Earners Can Make: $15,000+
The global coffee industry is worth $60 billion, with over 400 billion cups of coffee being served every year.
It’s no wonder so many hobbyists are tapping into this lucrative market!
Here are 7 low cost, yet highly profitable start-up coffee business ideas to give you inspiration:
- Roast Artisanal Coffee Blends and Sell Online
- Start a Coffee Blog or Coffee Product Review Website
- Start a Coffee Subscription Service
- Launch a Coffee Truck (similar to a food truck)
- Sell Coffee Equipment or Products
- Get Into the Coffee Dropshipping Business
Real Success Stories:
- Founders of Steeltown Garage Co, Jeff Campagna and Tania LaCaria – opened up a motorcycle garage complete with their own coffee shop and wearable merchandise.
- Cup and Leaf, a tea blog, for example generates $3000-4000 a month selling premium tea blends based on their in-depth and detailed blog posts.
12) Woodworking
Average Profit a Month: $3,500-$5,500
Top Earners Can Make: $15,000+
From unique keepsakes to home decor to seasonal gifting, the options for turning your woodworking hobby into a profitable business are endless.
You don’t need to sell big, bulky carved items to be a success in the field of woodwork.
Here’s a list of woodworking projects that sell: 19 most profitable ideas.
Real Success Stories:
Based on the number of units sold and average cost per item, Warners End, a craft shop on Etsy, has made over $152,000 since launching.
Busy Puzzle, an Etsy shop that specializes in wooden Montessori inspired children’s toys has made on average $5 million since starting a few years ago.
Related: Woodworking Projects That Sell: 19 Most Profitable Ideas
13) Cooking/Baking/Meal Prep Services
Average Profit a Month: $3,500-$5,500
Top Earners Can Make: $15,000+
Whether baking your own creations, teaching someone else how to make them or simply offering a meal prep service for the busy entrepreneur or parent, food is a seriously profitable niche.
Camilla Stephens founded Higgidy Bakery in her very own kitchen, cooking pies from her little oven.
Over the next few years, Higgidy soon became one of the UK’s fastest growing businesses, generating a whopping £15 million in revenue.
Amanda from Sugar Cake School started a highly successful artisanal cake business after battling with an autoimmune condition.
Don’t feel like making and packaging food items? How about serving up some delicious DIY food recipes?
According to Google, 59% of 25 to 34 year olds use their mobile devices to find new and interesting recipes online.
A Pinch of Yum, a highly successful food blog, has reportedly made over $90,000 some months!
Note: You need to check local and state regulations if you wish to cook and sell edible products from home.
Some food standards agencies require you to have an ‘industrial’ style kitchen, whereby the kitchen isn’t used for anything other than food preparation.
14) Gaming
Average Profit a Month: $3,500-$5,500
Top Earners Can Make: $15,000+
Making money on Twitch and Youtube comes down to sharing ad revenue and receiving subscription donations from a growing community of viewers.
This does, however, mean that the amount you earn through live streaming and gaming will vary greatly month by month.
But if you enjoy being on camera, you can turn gaming into a fantastic source of residual income.
Related: How to Make Serious Money on YouTube (Even as a Beginner!)
15) Thrifting Clothing & Flipping
Average Profit a Month: $3,500-$5,500
Top Earners Can Make: $15,000+
Whether you’re a thrifting master, the vintage shopper or the occasional Goodwill peruser, you should know that turning second hand finds into money is a highly profitable business idea!
Related: How to Make a Ton of Money Selling Clothes! (Complete Guide)
Take Shawna, aka sfconyway, she’s gone from selling her own items to going treasure hunting at thrift stores to sell clothes on Poshmark for a serious profit.
Within just 3 months of starting, she’s sold over 400 items!
Or look at Rebecca’s story. With a failing kidney, Becca started selling clothes on Poshmark as a way to pay her medical bills.
Little did she know she would make over $30,000 selling thrifted finds on Poshmark.
She now regularly makes $1,500 a month selling on Poshmark according to her blog.
Jaimery Castillo, another success story, who as a full time mom and undergraduate student makes $3,000 a month selling clothes on eBay.
You’re not tied to selling just on Poshmark either, why not also try:
- Vinted
- eBay
- Etsy
- Depop
- Facebook Marketplace
- Swap.com
16) Pet Care
Average Profit a Month: $3,500-$5,500
Top Earners Can Make: $15,000+
Americans alone spend an incredible $72 billion on their pets every year.
The majority of that expenditure is on premium dog food, natural dog food, pet insurance and pet care services such as boarding, grooming and training.
Some of the most profitable pet care services you can provide include:
- Dog walking
- Dog boarding
- House-sitting
- Pet-sitting
- Drop-in visits
- Doggy day care
Depending on local pricing, you can earn anywhere between $20-30 per walk, and up to $50 a night for boarding.
If you live near a city, you can expect to earn more, especially if you have good ratings and reviews.
Related: How to Start a Successful Dog Treat Business From Home ($4,000+ a Month Idea!)
17) 3D Printing
Average Profit a Month: $3,500-$5,500
Top Earners Can Make: $15,000+
Can you believe you don’t even need to own a 3D printer to get started with this business idea?
Using Shapeways, a 3D printing service, you can make 3D products at a reasonable cost. Consider it 3D printing on demand.
Simply upload your digital file with your design, check the prototype they send you, and allow their repeatable printing process to do the work.
Or, if you prefer to purchase your own 3D printer, you can make your own products and sell them on online ecommerce platforms.
A second hand 3D printer costs on average $850.
Once you’ve purchased the initial set-up, it can surprisingly become a hobby that makes money relatively quickly.
Real Success Stories:
Nikko Industries sells digital files for masks and armors inspired by comic characters and consistently makes $2,000 a month on the side.
Take 3DFilamentCo on Etsy, his baby groot 3D printed figurines have earned the coveted bestseller badge.
In a short space of time, with just 8 items on offer, he’s made close to 3,000 sales.
18) Online Fitness and Holistic Classes
Average Profit a Month: $3,500-$5,500
Top Earners Can Make: $15,000+
With more people working from home and searching for ways to get fit, monthly searches for online fitness and holistic classes have skyrocketed.
According to Google Trends, searches for online yoga classes have risen by 200% year on year.
Real Success Stories:
- Adriene Mishler is an international yoga teacher with an online community of 9 million subscribers. She provides yoga and mindfulness classes to adults and children on her website as well as on Youtube.
- MadFit
- Squat University
19) Create a Course on Udemy or Teachable
Average Profit a Month: $3,500-$5,500
Top Earners Can Make: $15,000+
Have a skill you can package into a course?
Why not offer it as a Udemy course? Udemy is an online learning platform that has a built in customer base.
Unlike self hosted courses on your own website, Udemy customers can search for keywords and discover your course directly on their platform.
You can offer courses in a wide variety of fields, anything from social media to baking to spirituality.
The average Udemy course seller makes around $350-$550 a month. Once the course has gained traction, you can expect to make around the $1,000-$1,500 mark.
Real Success Stories:
Teresa Greenway, for example, created a course on how to bake sourdough bread from home and within the first year made an extra $86,000.
20) Brewing Beer
Average Profit a Month: $3,500-$5,500
Top Earners Can Make: $15,000+
Globally, the homebrew market is worth $12 million.
If you love sampling new beer creations, brewing beer could easily be a profitable home-based hobby.
Don’t fancy making your own beers? Why not establish a home brewing accessory and kit shop online?
Brooklyn Brew Shop did just that; they help hobby brewers turn their passion into profit.
21) Video Editing
Average Profit a Month: $3,500-$5,500
Top Earners Can Make: $15,000+
Creating and editing videos is one skill many people don’t have.
If you can turn raw, unedited footage into a creative masterpiece, you’re looking at an extremely profitable hobby.
Aside from offering your services on Fiverr, you might like to take a look at ViEdit.
ViEdit is specifically designed with freelance video editors in mind.
Whenever a client posts a project, freelancers can view these projects and send proposals with their own proposed price for it; consider it a bidding auction.
Surprisingly, the cheapest price doesn’t always win.
Once the client accepts your proposal, they pay the agreed amount of money for you to edit their video.
Freelancers can be based in over 100 countries, and ViEdit payout via Paypal, Credit Card or Bank Transfer.
22) Dressing Well/Fashion Styling
Average Profit a Month: $3,500-$5,500
Top Earners Can Make: $15,000+
Fancy yourself a style guru? Do you know what works well with a square or apple shaped body?
You could turn your love of fashion into a 6 figure online business.
Real Success Stories:
Kelly Snyder, a dressing well consultant, helps women turn their everyday look into something that flatters their figure using mathematical modelling.
Think color analysis, proportion matching and style combinations.
With her signature course Kelly has joined the 6 figure club with her hobby-based business in a matter of years.
23) Music Lessons
Average Profit a Month: $3,500-$5,500
Top Earners Can Make: $15,000+
To turn your love of music into a profitable business, consider teaching it.
Whether you prefer the classical melodies of the piano or the electronic beats of a DJ table, there are thousands of people wanting to take up one of their life long goals; learn to play, read or make their own music.
Real Success Stories:
Jacques from Piano in 21 Days teaches complete beginners how to play their favorite pieces of music on the piano.
Jacques makes over $30,000 a month from his online program.
24) Home Decor
Average Profit a Month: $3,500-$5,500
Top Earners Can Make: $15,000+
Believe it or not, this is one of the most popular hobbies that can make you money.
Fortunately, there’s lots of ways to make money sharing your home decor expertise:
- Start a Home Decor Blog
- Sell Theme Inspired Items e.g. Farmhouse Inspired
- Start an Etsy Shop
- Sell Antiques
- Become a Home Stager
- Create a Home Decor Course For Beginners
- Start a B2B Retail Design Blog and Secure High Paying Clients
If you love sharing your best home decor tips and expertise with others, consider starting a home decor blog.
With some SEO know-how and clever marketing, home decor blogs can earn in excess of $5,000 a month.
Real Success Stories:
- Abby Lawson from Just a Girl and Her Blog talks about everything home related, including renovation, DIY projects and organization. Abby reportedly makes over $30,000 a month from her blog.
Love searching for unique finds? Start a home decor shop on Shopify or Etsy and sell home decor objects instead.
- Jacky and Albert started their Shopify store as a side project, merely as an experiment to see if it would work. Thanks to their stunning imagery and eagled eyed trend spotting, they generated over $700,000 in revenue.
25) Staging
Average Profit a Month: $3,500-$5,500
Top Earners Can Make: $15,000+
Prefer to do the interior design work yourself?
Lend your expertise to people wanting to increase the value of their property before it goes on the market.
Home stagers can earn anywhere between $500 to $5000 per project, depending on experience and size of home.
Home stagers help people style their homes professionally, which can add tens of thousands of dollars to its perceived value, despite the home’s facilities remaining unchanged.
To become a home stager, all you need is some interior design talent and a knack for decoration.
FAQs – Frequently Asked Questions
Can All Hobbies Make Money?
Pretty much, yes!
There are many ways to turn a hobby into a money making business. Just because it’s not listed here doesn’t mean you can’t profit from it.
Each and every day, more and more people are finding ingenious ways to transform their passions into a fully fledged business.
To start a profitable business, first, you’ll need to validate your business idea to make sure there’s demand for it.
How Do You Make Money From a Hobby?
To start a profitable business from your hobby, you’ll want to follow these easy steps to get started:
1) Validate your business idea: Perform some basic market research to ensure there’s a demand for your idea!
2) Choose a business name: Catchy and quirky names are more memorable than descriptive ones.
3) Make a Business plan: What are your short and long term goals?
4) Develop your product or service: What are your customers willing to pay for?
5) Pick a business structure: You’ll want to protect your assets and legitimize your business.
6) Research licenses and regulations: Make sure you’re conducting business legally, especially surrounding food-based ideas.
7) Establish business accounts, payment processing, and other software: build your website and set up basic money management software.
What Are The Pros and Cons of Turning a Hobby Into a Business?
Pros
- You set your working hours
- You can achieve financial freedom with a business idea
- You’ll spend time working on something you’re passionate about
- You’re free to let your creativity and personality shine
- You don’t have to answer to a boss
- You have the potential to earn passive income
Cons
- Working hours can be long
- You’re responsible for the success of the business
- You’re responsible for managing the taxes of the business
- There can be a lot of financial pressure, especially in the first year of operation
- You might have to deal with rude customers
- The business will always be on your mind, as you find ways to improve it