Hobby that made a lot of money

[LesleyA]

Recently read about a teenage kid who made candles in his room to make a bit of pocket money and is now making a fortune. Would love to hear about other success stories and would love to know how to get this post onto Trending Now so it gets a wider audience?

thanks

I know two people who turned hobbies into jobs. One makes beautifully decorated celebration cakes to order (was formerly a school cook), one makes silver jewellery and ribs silversmithing classes (ex art teacher). Both ran their businesses alongside their paid employment jobs for several years before giving up the day job.

Also a couple of yoga/Pilates teachers.

I admin a big craft group on FB, and have been doing it for 10 years+.

Over that time I've seen trends come and go, and watched lots of people build up really successful crafts businesses from scratch.

Selling candles? Yes, it can be very successful - but to do it legally, there's a whole heap of compliance and regulatory stuff you need to adhere to. Even if you only sell one handmade candle. Health and safety regulations means that craft side hustles aren't anywhere near as easy as they used to be - not if you want to do it legally anyway.

It doesn't matter if you're just selling your hobby - as soon as money changes hands you have to comply with legal requirements. And lots of those are more onerous than you might imagine.

For example, anything with a "play value" has to be safe for children. That applies whether or not it's a toy. If it looks like something a child might enjoy playing with, then it has to be safe for children. Going back to the subject of candles - you can't make candles that look like food unless it passes the bite test for children, and wouldn't be toxic if ingested.

When I say health and safety rules are stringent, I'm really not exaggerating.

The worst thing that people do is take up a hobby because they think it will make them money, and not because they enjoy it. And then they try and sell the first pieces they make because it's just about the £££ and not acquiring a real skill. And inevitably, the quality is shit - because it takes a while to get good at something! - and then the business doesn't take off, and they wonder why....

There are lots and lots and lots of crafts that are huge sellers. Pick one that you enjoy, get good at it first by practicing, and then - and only then - move on to selling. It will take a while but it can earn you a great income as a side hustle.

I completely agree with this! If it isn’t something you truly enjoy doing, it’s just not worth it, it takes so much work to make beautiful things, and it does show when there’s love and care put into it.
I greatly enjoy personalizing and packaging things to send to people- it makes me happy to think they’re going to receive something that gives them joy. So I do put time and care into packaging, adding little extra surprises and a thank you note, etc.

I think my success comes from wanting people to be happy, so I make sure to price things fairly.

it all takes some time & learning as you go. It’s not instant cash!

DD1 rides quite well, and is relatively well known to ride well, so while at Uni earned a small fortune riding other peoples horses as she could charge £20/hour. She didn't muck out ever unless for people on her yard more as a reciprocal favour, mucking out pays a lot less.

People make a living out of dog walking and pet sitting. I've no idea how, but my assumption is that they loved doing those things anyway and had the right sort of network already in place. A friend of mine is an artsy interior decorator - she knows all sorts of arcane finishing techniques, loves her work - but, again, her success is largely due to the fact that her friends are rich people with ambitious tastes in décor. All the specialist tradespeople I've known get their work from clients passing their number on to select friends: they're like group secrets.

I randomly decided on a new hobby for this year, then developed an addiction to buying the components I need. I'm like those knitters who end up needing an entire room for their wool 😂 I've overspent hugely (by my impoverished standards) and now I absolutely HAVE to get good at it, stat, because I need to sell enough things to cover my insane outlay and buy more components.

If you do like knitting, crochet, quilting or tapestry and can produce perfect results, that definitely can make money. You'd be unlikely to make a proper living from it due to the time invested, but it's nice to see friends getting the validation of customers wanting to buy their work. Also, there are quite a few artists on my local Facebook page who get regular sales.

Trusting that you're not an MLM victim (hun) - what sort of things do you like to do?

I've got a friend who has given up his regular job to become a digital artist. He is quite well known.

My DC earn money as wedding musician, a DJ and from painting pet portraits.

Flipping items bought in charity shops is hard work if you are trying to sell online as it's the equivalent of buying retail and trying to sell at wholesale prices. I think you have to really know your market well and specialise in a particular field.