32 Hobbies that Make Money: Fun Ways to Make $500/mo or More!

Wouldn’t it be nice to figure out a way to make money from your hobby?
While scrolling the endless array of personal bios on social media, you’ll see a variety of topics. Some people talk about their kids while others discuss their jobs, favorite bands, or personal opinions.
But there’s one thing that’s almost always featured in the limited “about me” text: their hobbies.
Whether you’re a cat lover, an avid hiker, or a coffee enthusiast, your profile bio probably features some hobby or activity that you enjoy.
Why?
Because hobbies are part of what defines you.
What most people don’t realize is that your hobbies can also double as a way to bring in some extra income.

Ben Huber from DollarSprout.com contributed to this post. 
Hobbies That Make Money Online or At Home
Is there really money to be made in hiking, crafting, or in being an animal lover?
Not all extracurriculars are cash cows, but there’s a good chance you have some money-making hobbies in your tool belt that you weren’t even aware of.
Here are some of the ways people just like you are turning their passions into a revenue source.









20 Hobbies to Monetize with an Online Business
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1. Get Paid to Write
Writing has near limitless possibilities as a money-making hobby.
Blogging for Dollars
Starting a blog is easy to do and provides a direct way for you to turn your passion for writing into money. My blog started as a creative outlet and has turned into a full-time income stream.
Do you enjoy:

Experimenting with new recipes?
Nerding out about personal finance?
Putting together cute outfits from thrift store finds?

Write about it.
Every hobby has a fan base. Take the opportunity to engage with that fan base through blogging. There are several simple steps to get you started on creating your blog. Pick a theme, collect your ideas and thoughts, and put your fingers to the keyboard.
It takes time to make money from your blog. But you’ll learn how to create content, increase traffic, and grow your online income .
Freelance Writing
You can build a freelance income on the side of your job or turn your craft into a full-fledged online career.
Check out my interview with Georgia Austin , who started freelance writing on Fiverr. As her schedule filled up, she raised her rates, and eventually started her own writing agency. When we spoke, her business was doing $90k a month!
Here’s a great free resource to get started: Your 9-Step Blueprint to Making Money as a Writer

2. Get Paid to Play Games
Of all the hobbies that make money, video games may be the most fun. Believe it or not, there are all kinds real ways to make money playing games .
Here are a few options.
Solitaire Cash
I played a decent amount of Windows Solitaire growing up, so Solitaire Cash  caught my attention.

The well-rated game app pits you against similarly-skilled players. Everyone receives the same deck and the players who finish with the most points win. Of course, I recommend practicing for free first!
Solitaire Cash is free to download and play, but real money tournaments aren’t yet available in AZ, IN, IO, LA, ME, MT, SC, and WA.
Bingo Cash
The popular Bingo Cash game app turns classic bingo from a game of luck into a game of speed and skill. Each game only takes about 2 minutes to play, and you can earn real-world rewards and cash prizes (except in AR, IA, LA, SC, and WA).

The app has mostly positive reviews (players call it fun and addicting), but say say their ads — which apparently claim you can win big money with little effort — are a bit misleading.
As with all gaming apps, practice for free first. Then, never put more money at risk than you can afford to lose.
Rewarded Play (Android)
With over 170,000 reviews and a 4.3-star rating in the Google Play store, Rewarded Play is another free, legit, and fun, “get paid to play” app.

Rewarded Play is your one-stop app for casual games like Solitaire, Mahjong, Wheel of Fortune, Yahtzee, and more. As you play, choose your rewards and get your gift cards within 48 hours.
Mistplay (Android)
With more than 10 million downloads, Mistplay rewards you for discovering and playing new games on your Android phone.

The more you play, the more “units” you earn. Pay attention — some games pay up to 8x more than others. Then you can cash in those units for gift cards to your favorite stores.
Live Streaming
One way to monetize your passion for video games is to start a live stream channel where you share your gameplay in real time.
Once you build a following, you can:

monetize with ads
ask your audience for donations
create a subscription service where people pay for exclusive content

The biggest platform for live streaming right now is Twitch .
Another way to turn your love of games into money is to start a YouTube channel or podcast . You could talk about gaming news, the latest breakthroughs in the industry, or even give game-specific tips.
As your audience grows, you can monetize through ads, paid sponsorships, or Patreon subscriptions .
Teaching Video Games
Platforms like Outschool are popular for video game social clubs. Parents pay for kids to have a safe place to play online and receive instruction from background-checked teachers.
One such teacher is Miss Devyn, who reported earnings $4,000 a month from her Outschool classes.

3. Watch Other People’s Pets
People are passionate about their pets. Many pet lovers are willing to pay top-dollar to ensure that their furry friend gets the best care possible.
That’s where you come in.
Why not turn your passion for animals into a hobby that makes money?
The most common way to do so is with dog sitting or pet sitting. An upside to pet sitting is that you can offer your services to clients either in your home or theirs.
If you have a large home or property, you could potentially earn even more by offering pet sitting and boarding from your home.
On Rover.com , top sitters earn $1000 a month or more.

4. Shopping for Profit
These days, everyone shops on Amazon. But did you know that Amazon also provides a way for you to make money ?
The easiest way to get started is with a simple Amazon reselling business , and this is great for bargain hunters.
To get started, you need three things:

An Amazon Seller Account — A free Personal seller account is OK to start with. Once you’re selling more than 40 items a month, it makes sense to upgrade to the Professional account level.
The Amazon Seller app — Available on  iOS  and  Android  for free.
A few dollars to buy your initial inventory.

With those three things in place, you’re good to go. Now let’s go hunt for some profit!
While you’re out running your regular errands, stop by the clearance section to what treasures await. It’s a bit of a needle-in-the-haystack search, but you might be surprised by what you can find selling for significantly more online.























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5. Get Paid to Lose Weight
If you have a newfound passion for fitness and healthy eating, you can actually get paid to lose weight.
With HealthyWage , you place a weight loss “bet” on how much you want to lose and your timeframe for doing it.
How much you can win will depend on how statistically difficult your goal will be to achieve, but the company routinely pays out $50-500 or more .
If you’re determined to hit your goal anyway, this definitely sweetens the deal and provide a little extra motivation !
6. Help Others Get in Shape
If fitness is your thing, you may be able to start making money from your favorite hobby. The most obvious way to make money with fitness is to become a personal trainer.
The requirements for personal trainers vary from gym to gym. Some require a degree in a related field, but you can probably get by with completing a few courses or taking an online training .
April Whitney took her passion for fitness online and created an online strength training program for petite women . When we spoke, she was earning $1000 a month from it.
Another option to turn fitness into a money-making hobby is to become a CrossFit instructor. To teach classes as a CrossFit Level 1 Instructor, you’ll need to complete a two-day training course.
Depending on the gym, you could also make commissions for bringing in new members or taking on personal training clients.
7. Make Money Flying Drones
Drones can capture breathtaking videos that businesses and companies happily pay for.
Among the top buyers for drone footage and photography are:

Real estate agents
Construction companies
Stock photography sites

Companies value drones because the unique vantage point can help market their products and services. In some cases, such as with roof inspections, it’s also easier or cheaper to send in a drone rather than an actual human.
When it comes to making money with a drone, it’s up to you to set your prices. You’ll probably want to test different rates to figure out the fair market value in your area.
Some drone flyers report making $200 for a single project .
8. Share Your Opinion
Yes, you can actually get paid for your opinion with online focus groups and surveys .
These won’t replace your day job, but can be a fun way to make some extra money in your spare time. Here are some favorites from the Side Hustle Nation community:










Swagbucks – Earn up to $35 a survey with this mega-popular app, and get a $10 bonus  just for signing up!
Survey Junkie – Earn up to $40 a month and cash out beginning at just $5.
InboxDollars  – Get a  $5 bonus just for signing up!
Branded Surveys – One of the best-rated survey sites with millions paid out.
Pinecone Research  – Earn $3 for each 15-20 minute survey. They'll send you a $3 check after your first one.
American Consumer Opinion – Join millions of free members and earn up to $50 per survey.
YouGov  - Long-running survey panel, with data often cited in the media.











9. “Hunting” for Deals
Could you become the go-to curator of deals and bargains for your hobby? This is what Camron Stover does with Hunting Gear Deals … which as you might guess sources the best deals on hunting gear.
On The Side Hustle Show, he reported growing the business to $90k a year in revenue on the side from his full-time job.
10. Become a Brand Ambassador
Are you loyal to a certain brand of shoe or line of clothing? Your loyalty to a brand could turn into commissions as a brand ambassador .
A brand ambassador gets paid to promote or endorse a company’s products or services. Companies all around the world want their customers to see how others are using and enjoying their products. That means you get to enjoy the product and earn a commission for new referring customers.
Ambassadors often earn thousands of dollars simply by showcasing why they love the brand and why they think others will too . They do this by building a social media following or a blog readership that brands will pay to get in front of.
If you have or can build a large following on YouTube, Instagram, or your other favorite social media platform, then there may be an opportunity for you as a brand ambassador.
11. Host Trivia Nights
Hosting trivia nights is a fun way to turn your favorite social hobby into money.
Restaurants, bars, and other venues often host trivia nights, but many don’t want to go to the hassle of planning, marketing, and running the event .
You can promote trivia nights by creating event pages on social media or posting fliers on local business boards. Then earn money by running the events for these venues. Charge a flat rate or split the profits with the venue at the end of the night.
Some individuals have even turned this money-making hobby into a full-time business.























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12. Go Grocery Shopping for Others
If you enjoy grocery shopping, or at least don’t mind it, this hobby can be a way for you to make money on the side by becoming an Instacart shopper .
Instacart pays shoppers between $10 to $15 per hour to deliver groceries.
As a full-service shopper, you take orders from customers, find and pay for the items on their list, and deliver the goods to the customer’s home. You get paid a commission based on the size of the order plus any tips you receive from customers.
Side Hustle Nation reader Kevin LaCombe is earning an extra $450-500 a week as a Full-Service Instacart Shopper :

Related: Instacart made our big list of the best apps that pay you .
13. Fuel Your Travel Hobby
One little life hack that’s become a hobby of mine is taking strategic advantage of credit card rewards . Over the past few years, this hobby has earned my wife and I thousands of dollars in free travel, gift cards, and cash.
There’s a little bit of an art and science to this, and you obviously have to be a responsible credit card user, but it can definitely pay off.
14. Digital Real Estate Investing
The concept of buying a “fixer upper” has become a trend in real estate and a variety of other industries.
Today, digital real estate provides people with the opportunity to make an income by buying and improving websites.
This is exactly what Stacy Caprio did to replace her income and quit her job . She already knew a little about online marketing, and taught herself the rest of the necessary skills by reading blogs.
If you don’t want to hold onto your new website asset, you can also try and improve the cash flow for a quick flip. Improvements may include:

adding content
optimizing for search engines
updating the design
changing advertising networks

Once complete, the websites can be resold on platforms like Flippa for a hefty profit.
You don’t have to be a webmaster guru to make money flipping websites. All you need is the right strategy and a little bit of hustle.
15. Get Paid to Take Pictures
If you have a knack for capturing the beauty in everyday moments, or if you just enjoy taking pictures, photography might be the money-making pastime for you.
This is my wife’s side hustle , which really did start out as a hobby!
There are countless ways to get paid to take pictures . One of the easiest ways to get started is to reach out to friends and family. Graduations, weddings, and newborn photos are a few occasions to consider.
As your portfolio grows, your clientele expands, and you gain more experience, you can increase your rates.
Another way to make money with photography is by selling your images online. Companies like Shutterstock and Adobe Stock provide a platform to reach potential buyers. High-quality images are always in demand, and photographers earn money for each license or copy sold.
Related: Marc Andre took his photography hobby in a different direction, creating (and selling) websites that sold digital products to other photographers. In the end, this “hobby” earned over $1 million!
16. Show Off Your City
Alexandra Kenin’s hobby was exploring the urban hiking trails of San Francisco. When she saw the popularity of bike tours, walking tours, bus tours, and even Segway tours, she thought … why not a hiking tour?
On The Side Hustle Show, Alexandra shared how she hosts 1000 hikers a year–at $50 apiece –on the side from her day job. She’s even hired other guides to lead the hikes and turned her expertise into a book deal!
Could you offer a specialized tour of your city or town ? Platforms like Airbnb Experiences make it easier than ever to get started.
Related: 25 Weekend Jobs to Make Money on the Side: $500+ a Month
Related: Get Paid to Walk: Creative Ways to Earn Up to $1000 a Week
17. Share Your Love of Arts and Crafts
May Najafabadi earned $12,000 in 8 weeks by sharing her love of arts and crafts with kids .
She created a unique after school enrichment program at her local elementary school.
With her hopes set on 6 or more kids for that first class, May had 18 sign up at $120 each. Aside from marketing and creating the curriculum, the time commitment is just a couple hours each week .
From there, she hired help, expanded to new schools, and created a new class.
Is there an after school program you would love to host? What was your favorite activity as a kid?









20 Hobbies to Monetize with an Online Business
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18. A Passion for Fashion and Cashing (In)
Brock McGoff turned his interest in men’s fashion into a 6-figure online business . He runs TheModestMan.com , which started as a blog but now also includes a popular YouTube channel, podcast, and Instagram account.
The business earns money through:

affiliate marketing
display ads
sponsored content

Could you build an audience around your particular style?
19. Dressing Well
Along the same lines as Brock’s business above, Kelly Snyder “helps women get dressed in the morning.”
Or at least that’s how she introduced herself when we met at a conference a couple years ago.
Kelly runs AdoreYourWardrobe.com , where the official tagline is about teaching women how to “confidently dress their unique bodies through the principles found in math and science.”
In less than two years, she’d turned it into a multi-6-figure online business .
20. Playing Piano
We’ve seen a number of music-related businesses over the years on The Side Hustle Show, but perhaps most inspiring is Jacques Hopkins’.
Jacques took his unique approach to learning piano , and built an online course business that does $30,000 a month in sales .
Customers connect with him through Google or YouTube, and a certain percentage funnel through to his paid course. He was able to quit his engineering job and focus on this course business full-time.
21. Shooting Toy Guns
Kelly Hardwick took her airsoft hobby and built a profitable brand around it . I wasn’t familiar with what airsoft was when we spoke, but she described it as a war games sport, like “Call of Duty” in real life.
She loved playing airsoft and started a blog on the topic . Soon other industry publications were reaching out to see if she would write for them.
Then other companies wanted to send her gear to review.
Over time, she built up a large social following and now gets paid through:

freelance content and social media management contracts
sponsorship agreements
affiliate relationships

22. Detailing Cars
Do you love making your car sparkle inside and out? For Austin Belk, taking care of his Honda Accord had become an obsession.
That’s when his older brother Josh prompted him to help start their own mobile detailing service . Within a year, the two college students had grown the business to $6k a month in revenue.
They pride themselves on excellent service, and have used some innovative online marketing strategies to reach new customers.
23. Counting Cards
Counting cards at blackjack was definitely a profitable hobby for Colin Jones, a former substitute teacher .
His blackjack teams won almost $4 million from casinos, and he earned over $500k himself.
Now a father of 6 , Colin’s playing days are mostly over, but he’s turned his unique skill into a profitable online business . At BlackjackApprenticeship.com, he teaches people how to beat blackjack .
24. Girl Scouting
Jodi Carlson has spent more than two decades of her life involved with Girl Scouts—first as a scout, then as a troop leader.
The magic happened when she began to transfer some of her dedication and passion for the topic onto a website . She posted her troop’s activities and soon enough, other scout leaders discovered the site and started reaching out with questions.
Jodi created digital activity guides for specific badges and started selling them on Teachers Pay Teachers and her own site. When we spoke, she was bringing in $5k a month on the side from her day job . 
25. Personal Finance and Saving Money
Jonathan Mendonsa was obsessed with the “FIRE” movement–that is, “financial independence, retire early.” He read every blog he could on the topic and worked relentlessly to pay off his own student debt.
Still, he wanted more. He noticed there weren’t any podcasts fully dedicated to financial independence, so he decided to create one . 
ChooseFI quickly built an engaged following  and is primarily monetized through affiliate marketing .
26. Baking for “Dough”
According to Statista , “food” is one of the most popular hobbies in the country. Teresa Greenway is a mother of 10 who went from working part-time in a bakery to making $5k a month doing what she loves – baking and teaching others how to bake.
More specifically, she teaches how to bake perfect sourdough bread.
Teresa has built a really cool business around this niche at  NorthwestSourdough.com .
In the past couple of years, her main revenue driver has been Udemy courses to the tune of several thousand dollars a month.
27. Movie Fan-dom + 3D Printing
A love for comic book and superhero movies is something many people share. But for Nikko Mendoza, he’s turned that love into a serious side hustle.
Nikko runs an online store that specializes in 3D-printed costume armor, props, and figurines inspired by Hollywood.
When we spoke, he was earning $2000 a month on the side from his day job.
28. Put Your Design Skills to Work
One side hustle my wife and I have added to our portfolio in recent years is a print-on-demand t-shirt business, powered by Merch by Amazon .
How it works is you upload your design, set your price, and Amazon does the rest. When someone orders, they print and ship it to your customer.
Some entrepreneurs have gone nuts with this and uploaded thousands of designs and earned over $50,000 in a year !
For us, it’s a little $50-200 a month passive income stream .
29. Gardening: Turn Your Green Thumb into Some Extra Green
Sustainable agriculture and urban farming are hot right now. Nate Dodson found a little niche in growing and selling microgreens in his hometown.
(Microgreens are super nutrient-dense edible plants.)
He built this side hustle to $1000 a month , selling at the farmer’s market, to local restaurants, and even with home delivery.
Then he turned around and began teaching others how to do the same thing, and built that business to $40,000 a month !
30. Create and License Music
Evan Oxhorn is the founder of StockMusicMusician.com . Making beats and tunes on his computer was a hobby of his anyway, and stock music licensing was a way to earn some money from those efforts.
He’s earned thousands of dollars selling and licensing his music on online platforms like AudioJungle .
31. Furniture Refinishing
With some DIY-skills (or watching YouTube), you can turn a passion for refinishing old furniture into a profitable venture. Flipping furniture on Facebook Marketplace is a popular side hustle right now, with hobbyists earning $100-200 per item.
An expert’s advice? Start with dressers in a “rustic farmhouse” style. The simple shape and intentionally imperfect finished product makes them easy for beginning furniture flippers.
32. Bird Watching
Scott Keller recently quit his insurance job to take his bird watching blog full-time . The site earns over $100,000 a year from a combination of advertising income and affiliate commissions!
Other Money Making Hobbies
The Side Hustle Show archives are filled with creative examples of entrepreneurs finding ways to monetize their hobbies, interests, and passions.
I love stories like these!
What do you think? Opportunities are everywhere.
Can All Hobbies Make Money?
With the right mindset and some ingenuity, you can find a way to make money doing just about anything.
From flying drones to playing video games, everyone has a favorite hobby.
That means everyone has the potential to make extra money in their spare time doing what they enjoy. There may not be an obvious path at first glance. But with some hustle and a little creativity, you can turn your passion into a money-making hobby in no time.
Serious About Making Extra Money?

Start Your Free $500 Challenge . My free 5-day email course shows you how to add $500 to your bottom line.
Join the free Side Hustle Nation Community . The free Facebook group is the best place to connect with other side hustlers and get your questions answered.
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Stock photos by Kostikova Natalia and FotoDuets via Shutterstock
Frequently Asked Questions
How can I make money from my hobby?
You could sell your hobby as a service (like photography), sell products (like arts and crafts), or teach others how to do it (like piano lessons).
What are some hobbies that make money?
Photography, gardening, baking, app development, writing, pet sitting, fitness, and tons more!”
How do I turn a hobby into a business?
Find a customer willing to pay for your product, service, or expertise in your hobby. That could be offering a freelance service, creating a physical or digital pro