How to make extra income.

[Philip Brewer]

I wrote a post a while back on how to make your hobby pay its way. It's about walking the line between picking up a few extra bucks doing things related to your hobby without crossing over and turning it into a small business.

Of course, some hobbies offer more opportunity for generating a bit of cash than others. Still, it's an alternative to selling stuff you don't need any more, which is inherently limited to the amount of stuff you've got. (Granted, a lot of people have way more stuff than they need.)

[starshard0]

I agree Phil, there are a lot of hobbies out there that can be turned into a little extra income or even a side business. I've been thinking of taking up woodworking.

[Philip Brewer]

Originally Posted by starshard0

I agree Phil, there are a lot of hobbies out there that can be turned into a little extra income or even a side business. I've been thinking of taking up woodworking.

Yep--any hobby where you actually make something is good. (My wife spins and weaves, and so produces yarn and cloth.) Hobbies where you just do something, like mountain climbing or bicycling aren't as good. Hobbies where you do something with expensive equipment, like yacht racing, are pretty poor.

[starshard0]

Originally Posted by Philip Brewer

Yep--any hobby where you actually make something is good. (My wife spins and weaves, and so produces yarn and cloth.) Hobbies where you just do something, like mountain climbing or bicycling aren't as good. Hobbies where you do something with expensive equipment, like yacht racing, are pretty poor.

Agreed, of course, some of the hobbies where you just do something are also the most fun. I'm pretty partial to mountain biking myself, but I could certainly never hope to make a living off of it.

[emilywebster]

Thanks for all those ideas. Great response.

[starshard0]

Aside from hobbies of course, you could always set up a little side/home business. I know a few people who make money gaterhing up things from the nieghborhood and selling them on e-bay. Not monster profits, but a few dozen dollars a month never hurts.

[Xin Lu]

I've sold books, handcrafted jewelry, and now I blog and also have a little bit of rental income. There is also some investment income from interest and dividends.

I would definitely say to start with something you enjoy to do, and then see how you can make money from it.

[Cheapchick]

I used to bookscout. If you have ever worked in a used bookstore what you do is look for unusual or hard to find titles then sell them to used bookstores. I went to garage sales and thrift stores to find them. I made about $100 per month doing that. They must be in excellent condition and to get the best buck you can check used book prices on the net. Expect about a 3rd of the resale price. That is for quick cash. For slightly longer and harder cash but more money you can sell the books yourself on ebay. What the bookstores did not take I just kept and then had a garage sale and resold them for at least what I bought them for but usually 2x.

[Julie Rains]

Just for conversation's sake, if you get cycling sponsorships or enter contests then you can make money on sports. One of my son's classmates is a nationally ranked BMX cyclist and he has had sponsorships since elementary school, which have paid his way to events nationally and worldwide.

A couple of other people I have talked with have been professional mountain bikers. One now works as a "coach" to executives,he used to coach athletes -- I interviewed him for a book review. And last summer, a guy I met in the mountains (he was a rafting guide for a scout trip) who had won cash and prizes for mountain bike races; I think I was asking him about ways to make money in his town (an impoverished area with unemployment of 25% or so).

So there might be ways to turn activity-based rather than production-based hobbies into side income.

[egray]

Hobbies that can pay are definitely the way to go. After a hard day at work it's good to do things you enjoy.

Some friends of mine trawl markets for bargains and then sell them on ebay. They often can make good money and best of all it gets them out of the house and they can do the hobby together. It does mean getting up early on Sunday though, something I wouldn't particularly enjoy!