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 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.