Examples of Making Money from Your Hobbies

Turning your hobby into an income is one of my 11 great ways to earn extra money. I've been doing this myself and have a few friends doing the same, so I thought I'd detail those jobs here -- maybe they'll spark some ideas for the rest of you. Here goes:

• My son and I spent Saturdays in September and October making money as soccer referees. I'll be writing a series on how to do this, what we did, what we made, etc. in the future, so stay tuned. I'm sure there's money to be made in refereeing all sorts of sports -- football, basketball, etc.

• A friend off mine is training for the ski patrol at a local slope. He gets a bit of money, discounts on passes for the family, and helps people while doing something he loves.

• Another friend who is an avid cyclist works extra hours at a bicycle shop. He earns a bit of money and big discounts on merchandise simply for talking about bikes and helping customers -- things he loves to do.

• A friend from church whittles basic wooden toys and sells them online. He makes a few hundred dollars a month doing something he'd do anyway.

In addition, a recent Consumerist piece I wrote featured several suggestions by readers of how they've turned hobbies into extra incomes. Some of the ideas listed are:

• Recording demos for local bands
• Residential PC repair
• Become a Notary Public
• Get ordained by the Universal Life Church online for free and marry people

So there are some ideas for those of you wanting to make some extra money. I'm sure many of you are doing this already, so please share your ideas with the rest of us. What are you doing to make money off a hobby (or simply to make some extra money)?

Comments

[garyatk]

My wife and I are distributors of an online greeting card and gift company. We have a GREAT time together bringing smiles to people!

[Emily]

Although I haven't technically made any money on my photography side business this year, I am on track to turn a profit next year. It is time consuming, but I find it very fulfilling, and a lot of fun! Not everyone with a camera can or should try to take pictures for money, but if you take the time to learn the craft and become skilled at it, it can be a fun side business.

[atexasgirl]

I design and handknit fingerless mitts, hats, scarves and original knitting patterns and sell them online in my etsy shop: www.atexasgirl.etsy.com

[D]

@Emily

I am looking for a photog for my wedding... any interest? Contact info (website?)

[D]

@Emily

Boston area???

[Crystal]

My husband was an intermural referee in college for $8 an hour for indoor and outdoor soccer, flag football, volleyball, and basketball.

He turned that into reffing sub-varsity and varsity football and basketball for middle schools and high schools in Houston and the surrounding areas through TASO (Texas Association of Sports Officials). He usually refs 3-4 evenings a week for football and 3 evenings a week for basketball.

Pay for reffing varies since you get a set game fee and then get paid for the miles you drive to get to the school field. Sub-varsity football pays around $50-90 total for the 2-3 games in one evening at one school. Varsity football refs get between $60-150 for their games since you get a small set game fee, a small percentage of the gate fees, and mileage pay (my husband is on a new crew, so they are making around $70-$90 an evening at smaller schools after they divide up the mileage pay since they carpool).

Sub-varsity football games are during the week and varsity games are on Fridays. There are also Saturday varsity games during playoffs, but new crews don't get many playoff games since coaches want the more experienced crews first. You earn points for each game you ref and those points allow you to move up. On average, it takes about 5 years of regular officiating to be able to get on a varsity crew...if you really throw yourself into it and network, that can be cut down a year or two. This is my husband's 4th year of officating for TASO and his first year on the field in a varsity crew.

Sub-varsity basketball pays about $45-70 per evening depending on how many games you officate (2-3)...it also takes into account a set game fee and a mileage fee. Varsity basketball only pays arund $60-70 for the one game a night. This is my husband's 5th year of basketball officiating...he makes more money on sub-varsity than varsity, so he does not do too many varsity games anymore. He wants to move into college level football at some point, not basketball, so he sacrifices more time for football than basketball.

Overall, he makes $4000-5000 a year and just considers that a bonus since he would probably ref for the cost of gas...

[MC]

Apparently, I need more renumerative hobbies!

[Emily]

Hi D.

I'm located in the Washington DC area. You can visit my website at www.emilyhayesphotography.com.

-Emily

[Lil Xaos]

Hmmm I Love to shop and find great deals .. which I turn around and try and make a profit off of on eBay and Craigslist (found a St. John Collection vest for 4$ in mint condition - retails over 100$ ...), do photography (stock and some glamour/profile/business portraits), and do some graphic, logo, & web design/hosting for friends and family and the occasional non-profit (this is mostly for barter, not $$ but doing a biz website got my folks their deck powerwashed and stained - would have cost them nearly 2k otherwise!!) ... so a little bit here and there. I am really good at finding bargains and unusual items ... this year I also hosted several garage sales and made over 2500$ in 2 long weekends with very few "big ticket" items .. I think the most expensive thing that sold was 100$ ... most items were 3$ or less ...

All in all sometimes its good to think outside the box :) That is not to say that I am swimming in money, but I am doing better at paying my bills :)

[garyatk]

Our hobby is helping people put smiles on other peoples faces with greeting cards. Why not send someone you love a FREE greeting card.

[Concojones]

FMF,

I think you forgot one excellent example: FMF.com ;-)

My own plans (to do):
- giving people investment advice (delicate to charge for this, tho)
- teach in school/college

[Old Limey]

One of my daughters found several sources that get rid of books they no longer need at ridiculously low prices.
She then lists them at amazon.com

Her best sale ever happened yesterday, a hard to find book that she paid $2 for sold for $238.
She is in the highest possible state & federal tax bracket because she receives a huge amount of alimony and likes the idea of earning tax free income. She is a very smart woman and regularly pays her condo rent from book sales alone.

My other daughter has two very young adopted children and now works out of her home.
She is a 'Top Rated' seller on eBay and also uses her computer (from 250 miles away) to generate all of the billing statements for an attorney where she worked as his office manager for many years. She is now the breadwinner (and healthcare provider) since her husband is a custom home builder and his business is on hold until better times come along.
She finds her eBay items during daily visits to a Thrift store. The other day a hard to find Norwegian wool ski sweater she bought for $2 sold for $220.

[Travis]

Wow, all excellent examples. It's amazing how you can easily earn a bit of side-income just doing something you enjoy once in a while, profiting not only in a monetary way, but still gaining satisfaction from helping others!