I have a lot of hobbies but have never made any money off any of them, mostly due to my perceived cost/benefit for each. I also enjoy my hobbies and not sure if that would change if they became closer to being "work". If anyone has examples of succeeding in this area or has suggestions for my personal list, I'd be interested to hear. Piano - I had good teachers and think I could teach beginners/intermediate with just a little guidance. Have a piano in home (although norm seems to be going to student's home). Just doesn't feel worth the time and effort. Have never played with any sort of band but that would interest me more than teaching (although would require buying a better keyboard and equipment). Basketball - Had very good coaching through high school (starter at La. 5A playoff team) and feel that I also have a good system for individual improvement. I've seen ads for part-time coaching but usually appear to be associated with the AAU type organizations. Doesn't seem worth it. Personal trainer - Not licensed and not sure about that process. I've been reading nutrition/exercise articles for over a decade now and have increased my knowledge significantly. Have started taking some of the Les Mills classes over past few years but those instructors are really good and don't think I have any ambition of teaching. Still, wouldn't it be better to be paid for exercising rather than paying a monthly gym fee? Contributing to blogs/forums - Most on this site are giving their opinions for free. If there is a topic that interests me, I feel that I could produce quality work if given time. If I searched long enough, there are sites that would pay something for quality work (think that textbroker may be one of them). Fantasy football - I spend about $500/year playing in leagues with friends and have pretty much broken even over the past 15 years. I don't think I'd make money if playing more often in the daily leagues. I also have probably lost money with small poker tournaments between friends.
Forget Basketball. Unless you played major D-1 or have some other coaching experience, that won't work out. As for DFS, if you're a computer and math genius, move to a state that allows it and go for it. If you're not, don't play at all and keep doing season long leagues with your buddies for fun. The Personal Trainer thing could work but you would probably have to associate with a gym to build your client list first. That would eat into profits but would be helpful in the long run. Piano would be good but trying to teach kids anything is unbearable to me. As for blogs, a friend of mine did that. He started a blog and got some hits and eventually got on with a big time nations sports website.
I have always loved 80s pop culture and collectibles. I found a bag of 80s action figures at Goodwill in 2005 that I purchased for a little over $14. I sold those figures for several hundred dollars. Since then I have grown an online collectibles business and a booth two to three comic cons into something that nets $100,000 a year after taxes. It has also allowed me to build a collection of rare items that I would have never shilled out the bucks for otherwise. These toys look awesome in my office, and given that nearly all of my clients are in the entertainment industry, it fits what I do.
Forget about FF unless you are some kind of math geek and can write your own algorithms and are willing to play in lots of one day leagues simultaneously. On Draft Kings and Fan Duel less than 1% of the players win 95% of the money. As far as writing articles for money there are sites where you can connect with people looking for an article and will pay you by the word or a fee for so many words. One of them is http://upwork.com but there are others. You could also use http://fiverr.com Fiverr is a site where people offer to do all sorts of things for $5. Everything from website building, wordpress help, logo design, article writing to the bizzare like psychic services. Don't let the $5 deter you. I saw a story about a woman who makes $9,000 a month on Fiverr doing voiceovers. You could put it up saying "I will be your personal trainer for 10 minutes for $5." Do the gigs by Skype and charge more more longer sessions and other extras. Or offer a piano lesson for $5 and then more advanced lessons for more. Do it through Skype or make a series of videos.
Cooking is my biggest hobby. I have cooked at fairs and festivals for the past 15 years. I mostly do jambalaya and gumbo at the ones I attend. I am down to only 4 festivals / year now, but they are my big money makers. Usually net between 15-20k/yr on those. When I still was in Mandeville, I had a booth on Saturday mornings at the Mandeville Trailhead. It was mostly to teach the kids how to make a buck. All proceeds went into their college fund. Netted about $150 every Sat morning, 50 weeks/yr. Nice steady income for their college funds. I now do a lot of computer help. I do phone help as well as in home. It is trying to grow bigger than I want it to, but is a nice side job.
You know, after the events of the last couple days I was thinking about this. I don't know crap about running a business or how to market one or start one but I wouldn't mind getting a team together to not only do security but train businesses how to handle situations like what happened in Ca. People don't necessarily need to be armed (but it doesn't hurt) but if they know a little bit about tactics these situations can be minimized greatly. Sad that its come to this.
I have to assume you are talking to me. You know the drug dealers motto, "don't get high on your own supply" If I apply that to your suggestion then this would never work for me. Porn is out. I'm going to stick with kicking muslims asses.
