11 Everyday Hobbies That Make Money

Earning money doesn’t have to mean doing work you don’t want to do. In fact, the ideal way to make money is by doing something you actually enjoy doing.

However, a lot of people miss out on the chance to make a living doing something they love just because it never occurs to them that they could make money from a hobby of theirs.

So, in this article, we have enumerated ten everyday hobbies that you can earn money with.

1. Video Gaming

Getting paid to play video games is nothing less than a dream come true. And if you are an avid video gamer, the most convenient way to make money from this hobby is to live stream your playtime.

Twitch is a popular live video streaming platform, mostly known for video game live streams. You can go live on Twitch when it is your gaming time and get much more than endorphins from your hobby.

You can also record your live sessions on Twitch and use the recordings for your YouTube videos and shorts.

Using a YouTube channel to get more viewers for your Twitch channel is a great strategy because you use the same content for both platforms, meaning effort efficiency. And, you stand to gain from your following on either platform blowing up.

If you have an entertaining personality, reviews, walkthroughs (tutorials), and commentary videos can be quite successful on YouTube. But generally, you need to have an interest in the game beyond playing it for this to work. Because you would also need to research and stay informed about the new trends around the game to make content that is both informative and entertaining.

And if you are really good, you can also participate in gaming tournaments online that offer monetary prizes. Networking with other gamers might be a good idea as it will help you stay updated about competing opportunities.

2. Bike Riding

Cycling is a great hobby, with all kinds of benefits for your physical, mental, and financial health. And the environment loves it too.

Unlike going for a drive, going for a ride on your bike causes no air or noise pollution. You get a nice cardio workout, and the rhythmic pedaling as the air caresses your face can be much more relaxing than a car ride. Not to mention the money saved on gas.

But did you know you can also make up to $20-$25 an hour riding around town on your bike? How…? By working as an independent food delivery driver for companies like Uber Eats and DoorDash and Grubhub.

If you are living in America, DoorDash is probably your best option. It is the largest food delivery company in the country and has really minimalistic eligibility requirements for delivery drivers. Besides having a bike and smartphone, you just need to be at least 18 years old and pass a basic background check.

The work is completely independent and flexible. The delivery orders available for you at a particular time are displayed on your Dasher app and it is entirely up to you whether you accept or decline an order.

If you love cycling in your free time and are looking to make some extra money, it is an option you must consider.

3. Performing Arts

If you like to play an instrument, sing, or dance for fun, you can make money by entertaining an audience on different social media platforms.

And if you are really good at it and can impress your audience with your skill, who knows, you may even be able to attract pupils.

Today, it is very common for performing artists to start a YouTube channel and showcase their talent there. And as their digital network grows, it opens up doors to various monetization methods like paid subscriptions, donations, and ad revenue.

You don’t even need a YouTube channel to get started. You can even start with your existing social media handles on Instagram or Facebook and make entertaining reels and other short videos to gain more followers.

Read these articles to know more about making money on Instagram and Facebook.

4. Fitness

Fitness is a trend that is clearly here to stay. And if you have been working out for some time, chances are, you have acquired a decent knowledge about different kinds of exercises and fitness in general.

Working out is not only a healthy hobby but if you are knowledgeable about it, you can earn good money from it as a personal trainer. There are new gyms popping up everywhere and since many trainers work on a part-time or seasonal basis, there is always a good demand for them in the industry.

Besides a passion for working out, you need to have good interpersonal skills and pass certification tests like NSCA or ACE to be a trainer. You might also have to meet some other eligibility requirements based on the laws of your area.

However, you don’t have to pursue professional courses right away. You can start with taking clients unofficially. You can begin with training friends and family to get a feel of it before taking on a professional course in the field.

You also don’t need a professional certification to make tutorial videos on social media where you share your expertise and personal experience of working out with others. So, if you can really talk and make engaging videos while educating people on health and fitness, you could do very well as an online trainer.

Even if you don’t have an instructional bent, but love to work out, you can simply post your workout videos on your Instagram and Facebook and make money as your viewership grows.

5. Posting on Social Media

You are not alone if you enjoy looking for content and pages that align with your interests and curating your social media feeds to reflect these interests. And, if you find yourself to be an avid poster on social media, who knows, maybe it is your hobby.

Of course, there are many ways to monetize your social media following, but most of them need you to meet some sort of criteria or other like having a niche following or having a particular number of followers.

And the methods that don’t have such requirements, usually take putting in a whole bunch of extra effort to make money. However, a recruitment marketing program where you simply use your social media accounts as a platform to give job vacancies a greater reach can be a great, low-responsibility way to monetize your hobby of posting on social media.

With Synkdup’s Headhunter program, all you need to do to make money from your social media network is to give visibility to job openings on your social media accounts.

As a headhunter, you are provided web links to job vacancies across the U.S. You put up these links on your social media in different places like descriptions and captions, and make up to $25 for every candidate who applies through a link shared by you.

6. Gardening

As people become more environmentally conscious, there is a significant increase in the demand for houseplants of all kinds from exotic cacti to medicinal herbs. And if you have got a green thumb, you can turn your hobby into a stream of income with only very basic marketing on social media.

You can sell your self-grown flowers and other plants or offer landscaping services. And if you grow fresh fruits and vegetables, you can sell them to a local vendor for good prices as there is a good demand for organic and home-grown produce today.

You can start a landscaping service at a fairly small scale by offering to fix up your neighbors’ or friends’ kitchen gardens or backyards. It doesn’t have to be anything fancy either, you can start by offering simple mowing and trimming services.

As with many other hobbies discussed here, you can use your own existing social media handles to market your services without creating a separate business page.

Alternatively, you can post high-quality and attractive pictures of your own gardening on social media and promote gardening products for a commission on sales. You can join an affiliate program and promote anything from lawnmowers, pruning scissors, edgers, and rubber gloves to vibrant and attractive flower pots.

7. Drawing/Painting/Sketching

If you are good with a paintbrush or pencil, you can use your art to earn money in several ways. The most convenient way to monetize your artwork these days, of course, would be to upload pictures of it on your social media and garner a big following.

You can also sell your artwork online through websites like FineArtAmerica, Saatchi Art, and TurningArt. Or, you can take the traditional approach and sell your art at local markets, craft fairs, and art galleries.

You can also offer students art classes and technique tutorials online or offline. You can post pictures of your artwork on your social media and use them to market your teaching classes.

You can also take part in art competitions that have a monetary prize; it would be a great help to build your portfolio for teaching art classes.

8. Traveling

If you love to travel and explore new places, money is probably the biggest thing standing in your way to do more of what you love. The good thing though, is that you can make money by creating content based on your adventures to finance your traveling.

You can document your journey to places you visit in a vlog or travel log, and if you are able to bring in a sizable audience to the platform you post your journey on, traveling can be a very profitable hobby. It is supposed to be more about the journey than the destination anyway, right?

Travel is one of the most popular niches on YouTube and if you can entertain people with your stories, a travel vlog can be a great way to make money doing something you love.

And if making videos is not really your thing, but you can take good photos, consider becoming a travel photographer. You can sell your photos on stock photo agencies and magazines or businesses in the hospitality industry.

If you like hiking or traveling to areas where people could use a guide to navigate, you can also make money as a travel guide. You just post your adventure photos and videos on your social media handles and promote your travel guide services through them.

9. Writing

Writing is one of the most financially viable hobbies out there. You can make good money by turning your passion for writing into a stream of income as a blogger, email marketer, copywriter, content writer, scriptwriter, etc.

Even the arrival of Chat GPT has only proved to be a useful tool for writers to enhance their writing and explore new ways to monetize their writing skills.

Not only can you make some extra money from your hobby of writing, but you can also very easily turn it into a full-fledged conventional career. But if you want to keep it to a hobby, freelancing and blogging are probably the best ways for you to make money from your writing hobby.

You can find countless writing projects on freelancing websites like Urban Writers, Fiverr, and Upwork. In addition to making money, you can also use your freelancing writing projects as work samples if you find yourself applying for writing jobs later.

If you want to make money blogging, it really helps to have a well-defined niche. Popular niches include travel, lifestyle and home decor, fashion and fitness, health and fitness, and personal finance.

10. Pets

You can also make your love for pets into a hobby that makes money. Based on your skills and preferences, you can offer a variety of services like pet sitting (watching after a pet when the owner is away), walking people’s dogs for them, or grooming pets.

Pet grooming is a very well-paying service and you have to be quite good at it to get work. It may include different things like bathing, nail clipping and trimming, and brushing the pet’s fur.

You would typically go to the pet owner’s residence for grooming sessions after booking appointments online. If you have a knack for taking photos, you can also add the service of pet photography to your offering.

11. Photography

Owing to smartphones, photography is a very popular hobby today. And if you are good at taking photos, you can use your photos to earn money in several different ways.

You can enter photography competitions, sell your photos online, promote affiliate products related to photography on your social media, teach photography classes, or freelance as a photographer.

Posting your photos on Instagram should be a good place to start for most of these methods. Once you have built an audience there, you can start offering photography services for events like birthday parties, corporate events, and even weddings.

This can build your portfolio and help you get more work and even start photography classes of your own online or offline.

But that could take some time. Meanwhile, you can try selling your photos online on websites like Shutterstock, iStock, or Getty Images.