Whether you want the opportunity to make a little extra money, start a side hustle, or even find a new source of full-time income, figuring out how to make money from a hobby is something you should consider. This post covers 7 popular hobbies that make money online!
Hobbies are generally something we love to do, are passionate about, and are good at. When you want to make money online, hobbies are a great place to start. It makes sense to look at what you already love doing, and what you’re good at.
You might be surprised at the many opportunities that exist to make money online from your hobbies.
Even if your hobby isn’t included here, I honestly believe that you can make money from almost every hobby when you think creatively. Yes, it will take hard work and patience, but if you can make money doing what you love then it will be so worth it!
You will be less likely to give up, and more likely to enjoy the journey!

Note: Some of the links below are affiliate links, so I may get a small commission at no extra cost to you if you choose to purchase these products. They are all products I know and love. Thanks for supporting Happier With Tea!
7 HOBBIES THAT MAKE MONEY ONLINE
1. WRITING

Writing is a skill that is in huge demand, making it one of the best hobbies that can make money online. There are now endless opportunities for writers, from writing for online magazines and blogs across the world, ghost-writing, and content creation, and even writing your own eBook!
Here are my top 3 suggestions to get paid to write:
- Get paid to write on Fiverr. This is a brilliant source of work for writers. You can sign yourself up as a freelancer and specify the kinds of gigs you want, as well as your prices. You will have opportunities to produce content for blogs and businesses, ghostwriting, and even poem or lyric writing.
- Write for a publication. There are endless options of publications you could write for and while it will get easier the more experience you have, it is entirely possible to build an income as a beginning freelancer. Elna Cain built a full-time income within 6 months… starting from nothing! Check out her post on 20 Ways to Find Freelance Writing Jobs which is tailored for beginners.
- Write an eBook- if you have specialist knowledge around anything, you can make it into an eBook! Non-fiction eBooks don’t have to be lengthy- anything upwards of 3,000 is more than adequate as long as you are providing the reader with value. Amazon KDP have made self-publishing easy and incredibly accessible.
Related:
- How to Make Money Online From Writing: 5 Awesome Ways!
- 7 Key Secrets: How to Write an eBook and Make Money
- How I Used Publisher Rocket To Boost My eBook Sales Instantly
If you want to improve your writing Grammarly is a fantastic tool with a great baseline offer. It can help you to take your writing to the next level. This will hugely improve your chances of getting paid to write!
2. ILLUSTRATION AND DESIGN

If you are a creative person with some technical skills, you could be in luck! Illustration and design are two of the biggest hobbies that make money online successfully.
There are lots of options for making money online in this way.
You could create designs for print-on-demand products, or create printable designs to sell.
I’m in love with Canva Pro and use it all for all my designs. They have amazing templates that you can work from, a pile of photos and very cool fonts and features. Try Canva Pro free for 30 days with this link!
Related: How to Sell Your Designs Online… With No Experience!
Alternatively, you could offer freelancing on somewhere like Fiverr to provide illustration for clients. Or, go bigger and start your own website to promote your illustration services!
Start a website with Bluehost for as little as $2.95 a month which also includes your free domain name!
3. PHOTOGRAPHY

If you have a good camera and love to use it, you should consider making money from your hobby.
These are a huge amount of websites that you can sell stock photos through.
Here are just a few:
- Shutterstock
- Alamy
- Picfair
- Dreamstime
- Getty Images
Save the Student have an awesome post with lots of info on how to make money selling your photos online.
4. CRAFTING

I’m a huge crafting fan. I absolutely love going along to Christmas Craft Markets and I love the boost in my income at this time of year. I’ve even compiled a post on how to make more money at craft fairs.
But when I found out that I could sell crafts online, I got super excited! I could access a massive international audience, and I could sell crafts from the comfort of my own home! What’s not to love?
Handmade items have exploded in popularity, and as a result, more craft marketplaces have sprung up.
The main ones are:
Check out these 25 places to sell handmade crafts online.
5. CODING/ PROGRAMMING

Coding, for me and many other people, is generally terrifying! You might have noticed that I’ve lumped coding and programming together because I’m genuinely not too sure what the difference is.
If this is a hobby for you, there is an amazing opportunity for you to take advantage of people’s lack of experience in this area to offer your expertise and make money from your coding/programming skills!
- Create a product– if you have the ability you could look into creating an app, a website theme, or even a plugin. If you are able to use social media and market your product well, you could hit on a real winner and make lots of money from this hobby!
- Freelance– Many people (myself included) rely on places such as Fiverr to get technical help when coding or programming is required and I wouldn’t know where to start. I found freelancers on Fiverr when I started my blog- I wanted some tweaks to my theme that I didn’t know how to do myself. Fiverr made it so easy to find someone who could help.
You are able to specify the kind of work you want, as well as respond to requests from clients, and you are in total control of your own prices.
- Teach others: you could write an eBook, make a course on teachable, or even start a blog to pass on your skills and expertise to other people. If you are able to explain things in a way that’s clear and easy to follow, and can add value for people by solving a problem or teaching a new element of coding, then making money by teaching others could be worth a shot!
6. HEALTH AND FITNESS

If you’re big into health and fitness, you have big potential to make money money online from your hobby!
Here are three potential ways to monetize your love for fitness:
- Create digital products such as workout plans or meal schedules, and sell them on a platform such as Etsy.
- Start a fitness YouTube Channel: My absolute favorite YouTube fitness channel is MadFit. The reason is simple- she solves a problem for her audience. She has a whole series of ‘apartment friendly’ home workouts which solved a major problem that most traditional workout videos had- I live in the top floor and can’t bounce around without massively disrupting my neighbors!
- Start an Online Fitness Studio: This would basically be a place for your customers to access workout plans, instructional videos, and content and advice. Clients would sign up for a course, or even pay a monthly subscription tool to access all your material. UScreen explains how to start an online fitness studio and skyrocket your income.
- Launch a fitness app: yes, this one sounds bigger and scarier than the others, but it’s also a goldmine of potential. Launching an app would allow you to massively scale up your business. Check out UScreen’s guide to launching a fitness app.
7. GAMING

Yes, really, you can make money gaming!
Gaming is a major hobby for a lot of people- but most might not know that it’s one of the hobbies that can make the most money online!
Consulting claim that video gaming can earn you more than a traditional job. Check out their in-depth post on 11 Ways to Make Money Playing Video Games- That Really Work!
So it’s finally settled- no, time spent playing video games is not wasted and, yes, gaming is a valid career path!
OTHER HOBBIES THAT MAKE MONEY ONLINE

Even if your hobby wasn’t listed, you can make money from any hobby if you are able to provide an audience with solid information, or teach them new skills.
These are three of the main platforms you could use:
- Have a YouTube Channel
- Start your own Blog
- Create courses on Teachable
For example, if you are really into gardening you could showcase your garden and teach people tips and tricks on how to grow things on either a blog or YouTube. If you’re into cooking, you could sell recipes or meal plans, have a YouTube Food Channel, or start a food blog. You could even start a blog for cleaning tips if that’s what you’re into! You can also use Teachable to teach anything that there is a demand for.
START YOUR OWN BLOG
Starting your own website might sound pretty formal, but if you are serious about making money online with your hobbies, then I’d really recommend a blog to back it up.
A blog is one of the best platforms for promoting yourself and your products. It will let you be searchable, and is a place for you to showcase your work. It does take a long time to build and grow, but in the end will yield much bigger results as long as you stick at it and have patience!
Because it takes so long to grow your traffic and audience, it’s a good idea to have this in place from the beginning. You can start a website with Bluehost for as little as $2.95 a month- and this even includes a free domain name.
MAKE MONEY THROUGH AFFILIATE MARKETING
A blog will also give you a platform for affiliate marketing. Every hobby has products, and your blog can become a place to promote them. Basically, you would create content (e.g. a blog article) around your favorite products (reviewing a product or recommending your favorites), and include an affiliate link to it. When someone purchases from the link, you get a cut of the profit!
AND THAT’S IT!
When you want to make extra money online, it can be hard to know where to start. Looking into hobbies that make money online could be a no-brainer, as it will let you make money by doing what you love!
Imagine getting paid to do what you enjoy, and even getting paid to do what you already spend your time doing- it’s the ultimate win-win for making extra money.
Please comment and let me know if you’ve tried any of these, and how your hobby could make money online.
You might also enjoy:
- 22 Legit Work From Home Jobs for a Life You Love
- 11 Ways To Make Money Online
- 5 Awesome Ways to Make Money Online From Writing
- 11 Easy Ideas on How To Make Extra Money From Home
- 21 Kickass Female Inspirational Quotes
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Thanks for reading!
Freya x