The old proverb “Do what you love and you will never work a day in your life” makes more sense than ever after Gallup’s poll concluded that 85% people hate their job.
Does this mean our life’s passion is entirely different from what we are doing for a living?
Well, this rings true for most of us. The reason is simple – our passion wouldn’t help us make as much money as we do; but what if it does?
Check out five hobbies (read passions) that can be turned into money-making ventures.
Cooking
If you are passionate about cooking and food is always on your mind, you can make some extra cash with this hobby. If you are more into cooking than eating, consider writing a food blog or producing cookery videos for YouTube. 56-year-old Nisha Madhulika uploaded her first cooking video on YouTube in 2011, and it is assumed (from her monthly views and CPM rates) that she earns a monthly income of INR 3 lakh-INR 40 lakh through YouTube alone. Thanks to her passion for cooking, she is cooking up a storm now in India and overseas. Some food lovers make money by eating and judging food prepared by others. Sites like Zomato offer several benefits to their top reviewers. They get goodies from the company and invites from restaurants to try their food for free and post reviews. Once you become a top reviewer, Zomato also gives you free credits and free meals.
How You Can Do It: If you are into cooking, you can start your YouTube channel and become a celebrity chef while earning money in the process. If you prefer eating over cooking, start writing for a publication that accepts restaurant reviews. You can also publish the reviews on your food blog and become a self-styled food critic. Tons of bloggers are making a killing by writing anything food-related.
Blogging
Blogging can be a great way of fulfilling your passion for a particular subject and is a brilliant way to make money too. Amit Agarwal, a former IITian who used to work in the USA, quit his job to start a tech blog called Labnol in 2004 and became the first blogger in India. Presently, the 35-year-old makes around INR 20 lakh a month from his blog and is often called the Godfather of Bloggers in India. Agarwal makes money from affiliate marketing, AdSense, and blog consulting, and has more than 3 million visitors on his blog every month.
How You Can Do It: If you are passionate about anything in particular (finance, fitness, beauty, fashion, cooking), find your niche, create a blog and start writing useful content. WordPress is, by far, the most popular blogging platform, and is easy to set up too. Log in to WordPress and follow the step-by-step instructions. Once you have created your profile, write meaningful content that serves the readers. The more traffic you get, the more money you’ll earn. Bloggers also make money online through affiliate marketing, sponsored posts and WordAds.
Social Networking
For some individuals, “influencing” others on social media is a full-time job, similar to what bloggers have been doing on other platforms. Instagram, in particular, is an excellent platform if you want to make some money by posting pictures of your fashion, travel, food and lifestyle experiences. The more followers you have, the more you’ll get paid by the brands you promote. According to data published by EconomicTimes, a person with over 1 lakh Instagram followers can charge up to INR 35,000 per post. If you have 2,000-9,000 Instagram followers, you can make up to INR 4,000-16,000 per post. Instagrammers like Ayushi Bangur, Masoom Minawala and Gia Kashyap have thousands of followers, and several big brands pay them for recommending their products to followers.
How You Can Do It: Choose a niche that you are passionate about- fashion, beauty, travel, food, or anything that you have thorough knowledge of and interest in. Share your stories with your followers and try to make them as visually appealing as possible. You can buy a business account to see how your posts are performing. Make sure you are posting consistently, using the right hash tags and tagging the relevant brands.
Playing with Pets
The Indian pet care market is pegged at over $1.22 billion (around INR 85 crore) and is growing at a rate of 35% annually. If you love pets or have pets of your own, there is much you can do to earn money. Pranita Balar quit her well-paying job to follow her passion for looking after dogs and started BarkNBond that offers “dogs on demand” to offices. Aakanksha Tavag, founder of PetPhotographer, captures people’s fun moments with pets and makes money out of it.
How You Can Do It: The easiest way to fulfil your passion towards animals and earn money at the same time is by becoming a professional pet-sitter and take care of others’ pets just like a babysitter looks after babies. The working class is ready to pay good money to pet sitters who can take care of their pets while they are away at work. Some pet owners don’t mind paying up to INR 500 a day to their pet sitters.
Playing Fantasy Cricket Matches
If you are an ardent cricket lover, you can play fantasy cricket and earn some money by building a fantasy team of your favourite players and exhibiting your knowledge of the sport. Sounds easy? However, it is essential that you have a fair knowledge of the players you choose, because you have to deposit some money before you create your dream team. A fantasy cricket player who goes by the pseudonym,KC claims that he has earned more than INR 15 million through several fantasy leagues platform.
How You Can Do It: If you are a sports enthusiast, download fantasy sports app and get paid for exhibiting your expert knowledge of the sport. Dream11 is one such platform where you can create your dream cricket team with players for upcoming matches and earn money based on their performance. Not just cricket, you can also use such apps to play Kabaddi, basketball and football matches, and win cash awards.
Who needs a boring 9-to-5 desk job when your hobby can help you make money? With the internet so ubiquitous in modern times, there’s a possibility to earn money from doing anything that’s helpful for others. Remember, there are people out there who are making big bucks by telling jokes on the internet! If you are passionate about something and are willing to work hard, it is going to get you paid.
