If You Loved These Activities As A Kid, You Might Now Be Able To Make Them Into A Decent Side Hustle
If you remember wiling away the wee hours of the morning Call of Duty or Halo on the Xbox 360 until your fingers fell off, you aren't surprised to hear that there's such a thing as a "professional gamer" and that the world of the Internet has made activities that were once just fun hobbies into full-time careers for some people. Let's explore some other hobbies that you enjoyed as a kid that can now bring in the dough.
Buying & Selling Items For A Profit
One of the simplest ways to turn a profit from a hobby is to buy and sell items that you know have more value than you bought them for at the local thrift store. Since these items are worth more than what you paid, you can turn around and sell them on eBay for a sweet profit. Who doesn't love thrifting?
Flogging Vintage Toys
If you were a kid who had vintage toys, or perhaps your parents still have that original Mario Bros game for the Nintendo 64, your vintage toy collection could be worth a small fortune. Some vintage toys sell for thousands of dollars, depending on age, condition, and the popularity of the toy back in the day.
Librarygurl, Wikimedia Commons
Playing Video Games
That's right, playing video games isn't just something we do for fun anymore. I mean, it is, but there's also a massive competitive gaming scene, where professional gamers can compete for huge cash prizes. Known as "e-sports", competitive gaming could land you an annual salary of $47,000 per year.
Vlogging
Remember when you used to make little home videos with your family at Christmas? Now, you can turn those small home videos into professionally-shot vlogs or other videographic content. If there's something you're passionate about, try speaking about it to the camera! Put it on YouTube and if your channel gets big enough, you could be sponsored by big brands.
Photography
If you were always taking photographs as a kid, likely with that compact pocket Kodak, did you know that you could make between $40,000 and $70,000 as a professional photographer? Of course, it largely depends on your niche—wedding photography tends to be among the highest-percentile earners, meanwhile, landscape photography tends to make you less. But, it's all about what you're passionate about and how to market that skill effectively.
Freelance Writing
If you were always writing stories as a kid, consider taking your talents with the written word to an online space. Being a freelancer, you're essentially self-employed, which means you can write about what you want and make your own hours. Despite the challenges that come with chasing your next gig, you can find long-term lucrative contracts as a freelancer.
Tutoring
If you were one of the "smart kids" in your class, you likely helped out other students when they were struggling with a subject. If you enjoyed this as a young kid, you could turn this into a neat side hustle as an adult. Schools, colleges, and universities are crying out for people who have degrees in specific subjects to tutor students one-on-one. If you don't want to work for a university or college, you could always offer private tutoring services.
Graphic Design
If you loved creating things using Microsoft Paint as a kid (remember that old chestnut?), then you could have a bright future as a graphic designer! Sure, you might not have been making high-quality artwork on Paint as a kid, but clearly you demonstrated a basic understanding of graphic design and artistry.
Graphic Design (Cont'd)
Use those skills to build a graphic design portfolio. Try reimagining local companies' logos and then approach them with your redesign. If they like it, they might pay you to redo their marketing graphics. The average salary for a graphic designer in the US is $73,779 per year.
Babysitting
Maybe this wasn't initially a "fun" activity for you—"Ugh, fine, I'll watch my younger brother/sister for an hour or two while you go out, Mom and Dad" Ring a bell? If so, then it might have been the building blocks that you used to get a few more babysitting jobs as a teenager, and then suddenly you had saved enough money for your first car, just by babysitting! Babysitting can become a lucrative career stepping stone to Early Childhood Education, too.
Babysitting (Cont'd)
If you found that you were very busy as a babysitter and enjoyed the task of looking after the littles, then you may consider going to school to become an Early Childhood Educator. Once you have your certification, you could even open up a dayhome or childcare center in your community, filling a much-needed gap in the market.
Dog Walking
If you love dogs and had one as a kid (and were responsible for walking them), then you could continue your childhood chore well into adulthood and do some dog walking in your spare time! You could charge by the hour and make a few hundred extra dollars per month walking other people's dogs. And, you get to spend time with man's best friend—what's not to love?
Take Your Musical Talent To The Town Square
If you've been playing musical instruments since you were little and wanted to take your talents elsewhere, try setting up as a busker in your downtown core. Sing? Play the keyboard? Play an acoustic guitar? Better yet, film yourself busking and throw it up on YouTube. Many singers became YouTube sensations before they ever received a record deal.
Beauty & Makeup Artistry
If you were once all about the makeup and always discussing your favorite makeup at lunch with your school friends, you may consider becoming a full-time makeup artist, particularly if you still like to keep up with a little eyeliner, blush, and foundation. Today's makeup world is all about ethical makeup, so if this is something you're passionate about, you may be able to establish a niche as a makeup artist that only uses ethically-sourced products.
Movie Or Book Reviewer
Watching movies is how we spent our Friday nights as kids, right? Maybe with a good pizza and some friends or our family? Well, if that was you, you can now turn your movie-watching hobby into a part-time side hustle as a movie reviewer. You could start a blog or a YouTube channel featuring your reviews of the latest flicks and either get paid by YouTube, or be signed on as a writer to a movie review website like Rotten Tomatoes.
Got Something To Say? Make A Podcast
Podcasting is something that probably wasn't around when you were a kid. These long-form conversations, often about contentious topics (although they can be about anything), are a medium that's exploded in popularity in the last decade. From business to politics and everything in between, there's a whole world out there of people with interesting opinions on every subject under the sun. If you think you can add to the conversation, start your own podcast.
What Do You Need To Become A Podcaster?
You really don't need much to become a podcaster—a decent quality microphone, a room in your home with decent soundproofing, and some basic audio editing software, that's really it! You can launch your podcast on your own or invite your friends to discuss topics that interest you. If there's an audience that tunes in, you may receive sponsorship deals, or could even be paid via Patreon or a similar platform where people pay you for the content you make.
Have You Taken A Fun Activity And Turned It Into A Full-Time Or Part-Time Side Hustle?
We want to know which of your beloved childhood activities did you turn into a part-time (or full-time) paying gig. Are you playing video games professionally? Collecting antiques and flipping them for a profit? Perhaps turning your photographs into printed works of art? Let us know in the comments how you turned your childhood fun into a money-making machine in adulthood.
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