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17 Best Hobbies That Make Money

If you are looking for ways to make extra cash then it could be that you need look no further than the hobby you love to do in your spare time! 

There are lots of ways to turn your hobby into a side hustle that makes money, or even build it to a full-time job!

Woman photographer taking photos as part of her hobby

As someone who turned a hobby into their full-time job I can tell you that there is nothing more rewarding than seeing something you love become your source of income. 

I’ve always loved writing and it was this that led me to start a blog, purely for fun. I still pinch myself when I remember that this hobby became my ticket to flexible work done from my home in hours that fit around my kids!

A famous saying goes that when you do what you love, you’ll never work a day in your life, and I think this is certainly true from my experience.

We’re going to look at examples of hobbies that make money. Do remember that this is not a exhaustive list, and that there is a way to make money with pretty much any hobby. Sometimes it just requires getting a little creative! 

Money-making hobbies 

Whether your favourite hobby is lounging around playing video games or sprucing up your garden, there’s a way to turn a profit from it! 

Here are some amazing ideas for turning your hobbies into cash – and maybe even a full-time living.

Blogging 

This is my personal favourite hobby that makes money. 

You can make money from blogging in a number of ways: 

  • Sponsored posts 
  • Advertising (ads are placed on your website by a company such as Mediavine) – note some ad networks have a minimum traffic requirement so you may need to wait until your blog is established to make money in this way 
  • Affiliate marketing – you place links to products and online stores on your blog and if readers click through those links and make a purchase you receive commission 
  • Selling your own products 

Many people start a new blog and approach it kind of like an online journal. They will write their personal thoughts on life and stuff that they like. This is great as a hobby, but blogging for cash requires a little more strategy than this. 

The blog that perform the best are those aimed at helping people interested in a particular subject. That could be sewing, baking birthday cakes or parenting. The content is created to answer questions. 

Although when you think of a blogger you may immediately picture someone sharing pretty photos on Instagram, actually a lot of money-making bloggers hardly use the platform. They rely on getting traffic to their website from Google. 

My two blogs make a healthy full-time income, so I really recommend this as a money making hobby especially if you can think of a blog niche that you’re really interested in. 

You can read more about setting up a money-making blog here. 

Making products to sell  

If you love getting crafty and creative then this is a great way to make money! 

Are you skilled at making your own jewellery, greetings cards, crochet blankets, artwork or even furniture?

There’s a market for so many handmade products online, and there are several platforms you can use to sell them! 

You could sell handmade items on Etsy, from your own website or via social media. You can also sell them on eBay. 

I know people who make jewellery and sell it solely via their Instagram account, with customers messaging their orders in via the app. 

If you have a background in education then you could put together educational bundles and printables, like another friend of mine. She creates personalised, interactive learning books aimed at pre-schoolers and sells those online. 

Photography

Photography is such a popular hobby and if you have decent equipment then you could charge for your skills!

Many people need photographers to capture their wedding day, birthday party, corporate event, products for sale or even take headshots for their business. 

Getting into this can be done by word of mouth among friends or by advertising what you offer in local Facebook groups and online forums. 

You’ll increase your chances of getting work by creating an online portfolio – you could use Instagram or Facebook – of your work.  

This shows people the type of pictures you take so they can become familiar with your style. 

You can also make money from your photography by selling your photos on stock image websites such as Shutterstock.

Music

There are tons of ways you can make cash if you are a musician or love music. 

You could teach music, which is a great flexible side hustle that you can do from your own home. 

If you are a performer – whether you can sing or play an instrument – then you could sell your services for local events and parties or weddings. 

There are agencies that connect performers with clients, for example Wedding Bands.  

Otherwise you could advertise your services online or in local Facebook groups. 

Writing 

If you have always had a passion for writing then there are many ways you can turn this into something that could make money. 

Whether you prefer fact or fiction writing there are options for using your talent! 

You could try freelance writing for other blogs – this works really well if you find a blog in a niche you are really interested in such as cooking or travel. You can find this kind of work on Upwork, Fiverr or ProBlogger.

If you have always wanted to write a book and played around with ideas then why not try publishing ebooks? You can self-publish on Amazon at minimal cost. Of course you will need find a way to promote your books so that they sell and make you a profit – you could use social media to do this and tap into the reading community online on apps such as TikTok and Instagram.  

Sport 

If you love to spend your free time being active and participating in sport then there could potentially be ways to make extra cash! 

I have a friend who set up their own paddle boarding school, which required some investment in equipment up front however he’s now able to do the hobby he loves while earning some extra money! 

Another friend became a qualified personal trainer as she loved keep fit classes and went on to run her own classes with new parents. 

Many money-making sport side hustles may require you to get some kind of qualification, however if this is a passion of yours then studying and learning more about it may appeal to you! 

Playing games 

People have become millionaires simply by uploading videos of themselves playing computer games. 

Fans love to watch fellow gamers reacting and sharing their tips for gaming. 

You can start a YouTube channel right away. You can always film your first YouTube videos on your mobile phone before upgrading to a proper video camera if this is something that interests you. 

There’s a guide to starting a YouTube gaming channel here.  

There are also apps that will pay you to play games. Mistplay rewards you for trying out new games on your smart phone, however it is only available for Android phones. I’ve seen the app has several one star reviews after people reported their accounts being suddenly suspended for no good reason, so do be aware some people have had those problems. 

Travel

If you love to visit faraway lands then you could make money writing about it! 

Successful travel bloggers have been able to fund their trips abroad thanks to the money made through their blog. 

It can help to focus on one particular element of travel – for example travel with a baby – or travel to a particular place. You could focus on one country or a particular city. 

A travel blog makes money through adverts on its site (placed there by agencies such as Mediavine) and affiliate marketing. Some may also sell their own products. 

By writing about your experiences of travelling you could fund your future trips! 

Wanderlust – a successful travel blogger – has tips for getting started as a travel blogger.  

Upcycling furniture 

I have upcycled our bedside tables and a console table, and found it great fun!

If you have an eye for transforming an old piece of furniture into something fresh and exciting then this could be a great way to make money while doing something you love. 

You can find old furniture online – many people are happy to give away unwanted pieces for free to get rid of them – or at antique stores and car boot sales. 

Then you can transform them into something beautiful that you can sell for more money than you paid for it. 

This woman made £1,300 from upcycling her old furniture.  

Baking and cooking 

Could you give the contestants on Great British Bake Off a run for their money? Do you create dishes so pretty they could be contenders on Masterchef?

If you’re a talented cook or baker then you could turn a profit from your tasty creations. 

Cakes and other sweet items could be sold at car boot sales, school fairs or online through platforms such as Etsy (just the other week I purchased some pretty chocolate lollipops from Etsy for my daughter’s birthday party bags). 

You could sell meals to others. One great way of doing this is through the Home Cooked app. You sign up and start cooking, with customers purchasing your food through the app! You will need to complete a food safety course to do this.

Baking and cooking is also a great niche for bloggers, which I’ve already mentioned as a great money making hobby above. 

Gardening 

If you’re handy with a trowel then you could put your green thumb to great use to make some extra cash! 

Growing plants as a hobby to make money

There are a number of ways to make extra cash from your gardening hobby. 

Grow and sell plants or seeds 

You could grow your own plants and sell them online or locally! Plants that are sold in the UK need Plant Passports – which is a way of recording the movement of plants. 

So as you can see there are rules you will need to understand when doing this. In order to sell certain seeds in the UK you will need to be certified before you can market them for sale. There are more details on the gov.uk website.

There are certain plants which are banned from sale in the UK and others which you need a licence in order to sell. You can find a list on the government website here.  

You can apply to be registered and authorised to issue Plant Passports here.

There’s a video here that gives a summary of the regulations you need to follow if you sell plants as a side hustle here. 

Once you have the paperwork sorted you could sell plants or seeds from a website, via Etsy or eBay, or in your local area (you could sell them from the end of your driveway). 

Helping people out in their own gardens 

If you love getting outdoors then you could start a gardening service, offering to help others with the upkeep of their own gardens. 

Rent out your garden 

The AllotMe website connects growers together with people who have garden space in urban areas.

It’s billed as being like “the new Airbnb for gardeners”. 

The price to rent a plot in someone’s outdoor space is between £15 and £30 a month. Although it’s not much you won’t actually need to do anything apart from provide access to your garden. 

Rent out your gardening equipment 

Another way to make money from your gardening hobby is by renting our your gardening equipment. Some people don’t have the space or funds to buy specialist equipment for gardening. 

The Fat Llama app connects people with tools they are happy to rent to local people looking for these items.

Brewing your own beer 

If you love to brew up your own beer an home then you could try to sell your pints for profit! 

You can read up on tips for making money from home brewing beer here.

Making your own cheese 

Many years ago when I was a reporter for a local newspaper I interviewed a woman who had created a business out of making cheese in her own home. 

When she first started making her own cheese – which I tried and was delicious by the way – she would use her bathtub to keep the cheese while it matured!

Her cheese was later stocked by Waitrose and has gone on to win countless awards! This started as a cool idea to make her own cheese for fun and has grown to a full-time job. 

Illustration 

I can hardly draw a decent stick figure so I am always in awe of people who have a talent for illustration. 

There is a wide range of ways that illustrators could make money from their hobby. You could sell your services online, offering to create logos or specific creations, such as pictures to order, through sites such as Etsy and Fiverr. 

Illustrators can also make money selling existing designs – such as templates for logos and infographics and floral illustrations – through websites such as Creative Market.  

If you have an eye for design as well you could also create wedding invitations. Our wedding invitations were made by a local illustrator and graphic designer who was doing it to fund her university studies. 

There are lots of tips for making money as an illustrator here.

Calligraphy 

Calligraphy is beautiful handwriting used to make posters, invitations and other paperwork really stand out. 

People often want calligraphy to personalise their party invitations. 

You could sell your services through Fiverr or advertise on local Facebook groups. 

Socialising 

Love to chat? You could get paid to talk to people online! This helps them to learn how to speak English. 

With websites such as Cambly you do not need prior teaching experience, and you can be paid weekly.  

You help people build their skills in English by spending time speaking to them – online – one on one.

Organisation and checklists 

This one is super niche but hear me out! When she started out Mrs Hinch was a lady with a handful of Instagram followers who loved to clean her house. 

Today she has made millions of pounds from her Insta account! This such a great example of someone turning a hobby into a successful money-making venture. 

You don’t have to become as big as Mrs Hinch to make money from being an organisation or cleaning whizz. 

Organisation and cleaning content does really well on YouTube, so you could start a channel sharing your tips and aim to get it monetised with YouTube ads – you will need 1,000 subscribers or 4,000 watch hours to qualify. 

Virtual Assistants, or VAs, are in high demand online. They organise individual or company emails, diaries, and social media, as well as perform many other tasks. What you would be required to do really depends on who you are working for. 

If you love to create checklists for organising your life – such as shopping, cleaning, getting ready for Christmas, personal finance etc – then you could make downloadable ones using an app such as Canva. You can then sell these through Etsy. 

What is the most profitable hobby?

The most lucrative side hustle will be one that’s easy to scale such as selling your own products online. It doesn’t have to be a big audience – if you have an amazing brand/product range then selling to just a few thousand loyal customers to pull in a six-figure sally.

It’s unlikely to be something that requires individual attention from you for each and every client or job will prove to be the most profitable.

If you want to bring in real cash look for ideas that have the ability to make money all the time on autopilot, even when you don’t have time to get out there and sell/do the thing.

There is no one hobby that will definitely be more profitable than the other – you will find examples of people in all of the niches I listed above that make a huge amount of money every year.

But for every one of those people you may also find people who only make a little extra cash.

So it’s not so much what hobby will make you the most money, but how you approach it and other variables, such as how much time you have to put into it, that will make the biggest difference. 

A hobby is something you do for fun, but in order to make it highly profitable you need to also approach it with a business head. That means you need to think about how you can maximise revenue while keeping your expenses reasonable. 

How can I turn my hobbies into money?

If you want to turn your hobby into something that makes money then just get started! 

Often it’s inertia that holds us back the most, as we procrastinate over a decision and worry over whether we can actually do something well enough. 

Start by making a list of ways you can make money with your hobby – there are ideas in this article. For example can you make and sell things, or charge other people for your skills? 

Next move on to writing a step-by-step plan for how you go from this being a hobby to making money. Your checklist for how you make money from your hobby may include the following: 

  • Research how others are making money from your hobby. Write down ideas that you could use. 
  • How you will promote yourself – you may need to start a website or set up a Facebook business page to promote your services. You can also add your name to local business listings. 
  • Decide on how much you will charge and how you will collect that money 
  • Purchase supplies needed and ensure stock is in place 
  • Set about finding clients – think about where you could reach your ideal client. Local Facebook groups are a good idea. 
  • A way of recording your income – I have a spreadsheet on my computer where I take note of all my income. This is important when it comes to your tax declaration. You can earn £1,000 tax-free in a financial year, so it may be a while before you need to worry about setting aside money for tax but you will need to take this into account.
  • Consider how you will keep your costs down so that they don’t exceed your income – if you want to turn a profit you’ll need to consider your margins between the cost of stock and other items and what you charge

Final thoughts on hobbies that make money 

I hope this has given you lots of inspiration for making money out of the hobbies you love to do!

If your hobby wasn’t on the list then brainstorm ways you could use your hobby to make a little extra cash. Research what others are doing – looking at sites such as Etsy and Fiverr to see the products and services being sold by other people. 

Best of luck with getting started!

Hobbies that can make you money