These days every one is looking to make money in their spare time. Most of the things listed below have very little to no start up costs and require mostly your time. The other nice thing is that they are all things you can simply pick up or stop at any point if life happens to get in the way. Here are four things that may jumpstart your profitable hobby ideas.
Knitting/Crochet/Sewing
If you have been making sweaters for years, why not make a profit off them. The materials can be relatively cheap, with yarn starting at a couple dollars a skein, or they can be expensive if you choose a nicer or handmade yarn. If you can sign up for emails from Michael’s, they send coupons almost every week, which can help your costs. This is a hobby you can do year round even while watching TV, making anything from scarves when you start out all the way to sweaters and blankets. However, I do warn you that you will not make back in money the time that you put into it. Look at websites such as Etsy or Ebay to judge what you should charge. If selling on-line is not your thing, look for local crafts fairs or ask local merchants if they can sell your items for a cut of the profits. People are always looking for homemade things around the holidays, so if you start during the summer, you should have a decent stock come winter time. These principles can also be applied to pretty much any art form, including painting, sewing, and jewelry making among others.
Stamps
Now this may seem corny, but it can be quite a profitable hobby. This type of hobby is more of an investment, since the worth increases with time. Get a stamp book and start with current stamps, gradually getting older stamps that are worth more money. Lynn’s stamp news website is a good place to start for beginners. In general, the better quality the stamp is (as in is it in mint condition vs. used), the more it is worth. You can also buy stamps in bulk at auction, usually for less than face value to help jump start your collection. This works even better if you own a small business that requires sending letters. By buying in bulk, you can choose the good stamps to add to your collection, while using ones you already have for your small business. As you start building your collection over time and are ready to sell it, you can contact a stamp expert who can tell you what your collection would be worth.
Sweepstakes
This hobby is practically free with the beauty of on-line sweepstakes. If you go to websites such as Snazzywin of Sweepsadvantage, they update their lists of sweepstakes every day. You can choose which sweepstakes you wish to enter and if you download an auto-filler program like Roboform (which is free) it makes filling in all your data much faster with one click. Most sweepstakes are free to enter however if you win something significant, you need to pay taxes on it. Or you can sell your winnings. Either way, you win.
Writing
If you know basic grammar and have 30 minutes a day, you can make money writing. You can start a blog on your favorite topic or you can write articles on every day topics for various websites, such as Associatedcontent. Although you may not be paid much at first for your articles, building your page views and writing skills over time can help create a following, which can then turn a profit for you.
The key to profitable hobbies is that they are simply that: hobbies. They should not be your primary income source, although they may turn into that. Do not let your hobby chew away at your life, and you may be pleasantly surprised at yourself at the rewards it can reap, both physically and psychologically. As long as you continue to view your hobby as something you enjoy in your spare time, why not make some cash with it?
