Professional Photographer

Deia B is a personal finance and travel blogger at NomadWallet.com. 

Do you have a vacation or a home renovation project planned? Pricey stuff. Consider doing some work on the side so you can reach your goal more quickly or even afford upgrades.

Side hustles may not earn you much money right away, but that income can help support your expensive hobbies—like travel or home DIY–and you may earn more money over time. Besides, there are plenty of business owners out there who started now-successful ventures as side hustles.

Writing and Transcription

If you like writing, you can do it on a freelance basis for various types of publications. Alternatively, transcription work is perfect for people who have a sharp hearing and can type quickly, but don’t want to spend too much time thinking up things to write. All you have to do is listen to a recording or watch a video and write down what people say.

You can find freelance work—for both transcribing and content production—on Odesk or Elance. Be aware that you may be competing with established freelancers who are willing to do the work cheaply.

If you know which publication you want to write for, find out if they accept articles from freelancers and spend some time studying its tone and style, then send the editor a letter or an email.

You can also go the independent route by creating your own blog or publishing e-books on Amazon. You can write anything you want, but to actually make money, you’ll need to research whether there’s a viable audience for your work and how to reach them.

You may come across clients who want you to write “for exposure,” which means they won’t pay you. It’s up to you to decide whether these projects are worth your time.

Photography and Videography

You need a good portfolio to make real money from taking photographs and shooting videos, so you may need to do some pro bono work in the beginning.

Offer free photo or video sessions to friends and family members. Once you’re ready to start charging money for your work, tell everyone you know you’re available for hire—you may get some referrals from those who enjoyed your freebie sessions. Besides taking photos or videos of people during organized sessions, you can also work at events like weddings or business conferences.

Online, you can sell the images that don’t belong to your clients to stock image sites like Shutterstock. Alternatively, you can print your images on T-shirts on Zazzle or turn them into books on Blurb and sell them.