Money Making Hobbies

[harley]

Woodcarving is the way to go. I can do a nice walking stick in about 20 hrs, 25 if you count walking around in the woods looking for material. If I wanted to I could sell them for at least $50 each. Raking it in!!!

 

[aja8888]

Woodcarving is the way to go. I can do a nice walking stick in about 20 hrs, 25 if you count walking around in the woods looking for material. If I wanted to I could sell them for at least $50 each. Raking it in!!!

Harley,....that's $2/hour....but tax free I imagine.

 

[FUEGO]

Harley,....that's $2/hour....but tax free I imagine.

Crap, you told him that for free. I was hoping to charge him for business consulting...

 

[Sunset]

I do some consulting at times agreeable to me for a former client.
I like the interaction, and the work amount is small enough to be fun.
I don't need the $$$, but its nice as it allows me to stuff the max into the ROTH for DW and I, thereby building up our Roths, etc..
I consider myself retired, just like a volunteer would, except I get paid.

 

[Turn_the_Page]

I think the key is having a hobby you truly enjoy. Then you can 'dip your toe in the water' and test out the money making part of it. I enjoy woodturning, but I wonder is I'd still enjoy it as much if I forced myself to make 50 of something in preparation for a craft show. Some of the turners do well, they have a plan. Some are tied into the high-end market and can make unique items that appeal to that market. Others go more utilitarian and price accordingly.

I remember talking to a turner at a craft show, he tells me that it's no fun anymore.

I also think if you look at your 'pay' on an hourly basis, you may get very discouraged. Remember, you're doing this because you enjoy it!

 

[harley]

I think the key is having a hobby you truly enjoy. Then you can 'dip your toe in the water' and test out the money making part of it. I enjoy woodturning, but I wonder is I'd still enjoy it as much if I forced myself to make 50 of something in preparation for a craft show. Some of the turners do well, they have a plan. Some are tied into the high-end market and can make unique items that appeal to that market. Others go more utilitarian and price accordingly.

I remember talking to a turner at a craft show, he tells me that it's no fun anymore.

I also think if you look at your 'pay' on an hourly basis, you may get very discouraged. Remember, you're doing this because you enjoy it!

Yeah, that's why I wouldn't really do it. In order to be able to make something like carving work, you'd have to find a way to "mass" produce them. The same thing over and over wouldn't be fun. And then there's the selling part. I also talk to the people that sell at craft fairs and they don't seem to be having much fun. No matter what you do as a hobby, if you want to make money you have to drum up business. I can't see that as being part of "what you love" no matter what. I call that part work.

 

[jguild2120]

Money Making Hobby

I have one.

35 years ago I got a double degree: 1) Mechanical Engineering (BSME) and 2) Fine Art. I have working as an engineer since but I never gave up my art, working it on my time off. Through the years, this interest in art turned into a commercial & fine arts photography money making hobby with a very nice customer base. I don't make near the money at art as my engineering job but it does allow me to maintain a studio and buy what ever equipment and material I want in order progress my art. Thus, I call it my 'Money Making Hobby'.

I retire this year from my engineering job but I will never retire from my 'hobby'. It will last a life time. It will keep me young both in mind and spirit until I die. God willing, I hope that will not be soon.

Please forgive me for blowing my own horn, some of my work can be seen here:

www.WaterFireRock.com I am John Guild

Creating art can be self-actualizing; a means of reaching your full potential and discovering you inner self. I highly recommend art as hobby.

 

[Ronstar]

Nice work, John! And welcome to e-r.org!

 

[jfn111]

I retired from Mega Corp after 33 years at age 55. I didn't need to go back to work for the money but I've always enjoyed Real Estate. I sold my rentals and it's more fun being a Realtor then it is being a landlord.
I consider myself retired but others could quibble with the definition.
When it quits being fun I'll stop doing it.

 

[Moemg]

I consider myself retired but I spend a few hours a week running my ebay business . I sell dresses to 30-45 year old women. I don't need the money and it has been fun but I may wind it down this year.

 

[imoldernu]

www.WaterFireRock.com I am John Guild

Creating art can be self-actualizing; a means of reaching your full potential and discovering you inner self. I highly recommend art as hobby.

Awesome_ thank you!
............................................

Not smart enough to turn my hobbies into money.
Up until 2 years ago, I typically spent 30 hours a week helping others in my hobbies and as part of retired life.
On call 'tech' guy for the 150 people in our community who used computers. Classes, house calls. The running joke was that I had been in the bedrooms of almost all the ladies in our retirement community (Computers usually in the bedrooms of our mfg home park.). Never even thought about any compensation, just happy to see more oldsters getting into computers - 1991-2011. When a new resident started charging for house calls, I dropped out.
The other hobbies:
Bicycles: My home was the local repair shop in FL and IL... fun for me.
Golf carts: repair and detail.
Appliances: repair... my favorite pastime. From toasters to washing machines.
Planning, staging and emceeing parties: Along with other volunteers.
Go To person for health and emotional problems: Not a hobby, but very satisfying.

Ya know, I was so happy and grateful for being retired, that it never occurred to me to earn money doing what I liked.

 

[Maenad]

A couple years ago I took up stained glass as a hobby. I'm hoping in retirement to sell just enough suncatchers and candleholders on etsy to pay for my supplies, but I've learned why the term "starving artist" exists - to make even minimum wage I'd have to charge so much that they'd never sell!

 

[aja8888]

I have one.

35 years ago I got a double degree: 1) Mechanical Engineering (BSME) and 2) Fine Art. I have working as an engineer since but I never gave up my art, working it on my time off. Through the years, this interest in art turned into a commercial & fine arts photography money making hobby with a very nice customer base. I don't make near the money at art as my engineering job but it does allow me to maintain a studio and buy what ever equipment and material I want in order progress my art. Thus, I call it my 'Money Making Hobby'.

I retire this year from my engineering job but I will never retire from my 'hobby'. It will last a life time. It will keep me young both in mind and spirit until I die. God willing, I hope that will not be soon.

Please forgive me for blowing my own horn, some of my work can be seen here:

www.WaterFireRock.com I am John Guild

Creating art can be self-actualizing; a means of reaching your full potential and discovering you inner self. I highly recommend art as hobby.

Nice work, neighbor! I have probably seen some of your work around here since I have lived in The Woodlands going on 25 years.

 

[Midpack]

I consider myself retired but I spend a few hours a week running my ebay business . I sell dresses to 30-45 year old women. I don't need the money and it has been fun but I may wind it down this year.

So DW can't buy from you...

 

[Hermit]

I've worked harder since I retired than I did while working. I'm building my own house. It is definitely a hobby. If it wasn't immensely enjoyable, I wouldn't be doing it. I will save a lot more money on labor than if I had some sort of retirement job. Once the house is done, I will continue with construction and maintenance in a volunteer position at the local kids camp.

Hermit

 

[RobLJ]

Nice work, neighbor! I have probably seen some of your work around here since I have lived in The Woodlands going on 25 years.

I'm over in Kingwood--not too far away. Also lived there 25 years.

 

[haha]

I just don't see why it is important to people to be seen as retired if they are still interested in earning money or what exactly is the advantage in being perceived as such.

I think this one is easy, at least for PF and early retirement writers A personal trainer or fitness blogger gets clients and readers more easily if he or she is trim and well developed. But these people have to earn this respect. If you look at someone who is 80# overweight you are unlikely to hire him/her as your personal trainer, or to pay any attention to what they say about diet and fitness.

But early retirement bloggers can lie with impunity if they are so inclined. One very successful example doesn't let anyone know his real name, ostensibly to save his family from some sort of imagined harassment. It also has the handy result of your not being able to check any of his assertions about himself, at least without going to more trouble than most people would be likely to.

I also feel that anyone who brags about how cheaply he feeds his family should publish recent photos of the blogger and his little lady.

But I won't hold my breath. The only blogger I read is Phil Greenspun, and if I were planning some traveling I would try to find someone who could unlock the labyrinthine airline fare,. miles, etc system. There was some personal finance blogger who was referenced on ER.org that I read and liked. He grew up very near my home town. Unfortunately, I cannot remember his name. As I remember he had no ads. I think he did sell a book, kind of a coming of age story, in that part of our country at that time.

However, I am a known curmudgeon and also one who feels that danger lurks in listening to information or advice that you cannot handily vet, and that the giver of the advice stands to profit from, if only indirectly.

Ha

 

[youbet]

Yeah, that's why I wouldn't really do it. In order to be able to make something like carving work, you'd have to find a way to "mass" produce them. The same thing over and over wouldn't be fun. And then there's the selling part. I also talk to the people that sell at craft fairs and they don't seem to be having much fun. No matter what you do as a hobby, if you want to make money you have to drum up business. I can't see that as being part of "what you love" no matter what. I call that part work.

+1

My wife is a quilter. I know little about it, but based on conversations I overhear, she's apparently an expert. She loves to do it.

Our own home is already overrun with her work, so she makes quilts for others as gifts. Since she incorporates something personal into each one, family members and close friends seem very pleased to receive one. The presentations are frequently accompanied with joy, tears and lots of hugs. DW has learned if any money comes into the picture, the event means less to everyone involved.

One time, and one time only, she accepted a paid job completing a quilt for a friend of a friend where that person's deceased mother had started the quilt and the daughter wanted it finished for display and use. Long story short....... the experience was a disaster for DW. The "customer" knew little about quilting, was pushy and demanding and somehow thought the $500 she was paying was generous for DW's 100+ hours of work. DW's friend, who brought DW and the "customer" together, was embarrassed and she and DW haven't been close since.

I learned a lot from watching the whole thing. No mixing money and hobbies for us. If some hobby related skill either of us have can benefit someone we care about, we're glad to share. But, please, no money!

 

[youbet]

Managing one's own investments, accounting and taxes can be a money-making hobby.

Yes.

And other activities around the house for which no compensation is received can increase life's pleasures and/or reduce expenses. Being handy at maintaining the cars, repairing and modifying our camper, painting and decorating to DW's desires, etc., all trim our outflow of money. But it's not necessary to have a relationship with someone else who is paying you and has expectations regarding your performance.

 

[Amethyst]

This is a common complaint on hand-sewing online forums and appears to be the typical customer response for hand needlework Customers don't sew or embroider, and therefore have no clue how much developed skill and time it takes. Worse, they see quilts manufactured 4th-world countries, costing $100 online or in box stores, and imagine that paying 2X or 3X that price is a huge remuneration for the hand crafter.

The perceived value of handwork is so low, in fact, that even people who give handmade quilts to relatives, often report sorrowfully that the owners' dog is now the main user of the quilt on which they lavished 1,000+ hours of their life.

Probably the only quilters who make money at it, are recognized artists in affluent communities where people can afford to spend many thousands of dollars for a wall decoration. Even then, it is probably not much over minimum wage for the artist.

Amethyst

+1

The "customer" knew little about quilting, was pushy and demanding and somehow thought the $500 she was paying was generous for DW's 100+ hours of work.

 

[Walt34]

This is a common complaint on hand-sewing online forums and appears to be the typical customer response for hand needlework Customers don't sew or embroider, and therefore have no clue how much developed skill and time it takes.

I can imagine. When I started mounting and framing my own photos I found out why it is so expensive to have it done. Even with fully automated mat cutting equipment it is still very labor intensive and takes a lot of time. Nothing like that required to make a quilt of course but I have spent 6+ hours mounting and framing one photo, some of that waiting for glue to set.

Some of my relatives did quilting and it wasn't uncommon to see them working on the same one for months at a time.

 

[Sunset]

Awesome_ thank you!
............................................

Not smart enough to turn my hobbies into money.
Up until 2 years ago, I typically spent 30 hours a week helping others in my hobbies and as part of retired life.
On call 'tech' guy for the 150 people in our community who used computers. Classes, house calls. The running joke was that I had been in the bedrooms of almost all the ladies in our retirement community (Computers usually in the bedrooms of our mfg home park.). Never even thought about any compensation, just happy to see more oldsters getting into computers - 1991-2011. When a new resident started charging for house calls, I dropped out.
The other hobbies:
Bicycles: My home was the local repair shop in FL and IL... fun for me.
Golf carts: repair and detail.
Appliances: repair... my favorite pastime. From toasters to washing machines.
Planning, staging and emceeing parties: Along with other volunteers.
Go To person for health and emotional problems: Not a hobby, but very satisfying.

Ya know, I was so happy and grateful for being retired, that it never occurred to me to earn money doing what I liked.

Its nice to do what you want.
I helped out a neighbor who was going to throw out a computer because it stopped working. I fixed it in about 2 hrs or so, just as a good neighbor, and that is fine, He was amazed.

But when I do something where a person is going to make $$$ off it, or its part of a business (where they literally make millions per yr) I would think of myself as a chump if I didn't charge for my time.
I'm still happy to be retired even if I get paid sometimes

 

[Moemg]

So DW can't buy from you...

Not only can she buy but I would give her the early retirement discount !

 

[Steelart99]

Not RE yet ... but within a year or two!!! I've had a high-end knifemaking hobby/business for several years that has languished despite being contacted frequently by collectors interested in my work. On top of that, I make jewelry, turned bowls, sculptures and other items ... I'm ready to be RE so that I can concentrate on doing these hobbies just enough for them to remain interesting and fun!!! The knives have done fairly well considering that I've always just created them part-time.

 

[Redbugdave]

Beekeeping. It takes a couple years for the bees to build up enough to get honey to sell. They say you need ten hives to turn a profit. I am aiming at 15 to 20 hives this summer, and getting more bee boxes as we speak. We shall see. It has sure been fun so far.