With the economy on a sudden downturn, everyone’s looking to make extra cash on the side. Especially with many companies needing to downsize or shift to a work-from-home format, many people have been wondering whether it’s time to try a different method of gaining income. And since working from home allows one to handle their time better, the opportunity to do more to earn more is very much feasible.
Selling Arts and Crafts
Artistic people with dexterous hands can create amazingly beautiful pieces. Handmade jewelry filled with love and aesthetics, or personalized mugs that scream personality. Such items are popular: social media influencers use them to make their photos look better, office people use them to bring a piece of what they like to work, and everyone else appreciates because of the skill required.
The question many people ask is whether arts and crafts can actually make them money. Well, yes and no. On its own, arts and crafts is simply just a hobby. It’s something that’s done for yourself because you enjoy it. However, when done consistently and with enough intention, you can definitely turn it into business. The products that you create can be sold at a decent price, as hand-crafted items normally go much higher than their typical factory-made counterparts.
To answer the question in the simplest way possible: yes, you can earn if you put in the effort. But first and foremost, it’s a hobby. If you’re artistic and are looking for profitable craft ideas to help you earn money on the side, here are a few ideas you can try.
Make Personalized T-Shirts
Who doesn’t like personalized t-shirts? They’re among the most popular arts and crafts items for a reason: you can wear them and represent what you enjoy! Many fans of popular franchises let their geek flags fly high by wearing t-shirt merchandise of their favorite comic book or TV shows. This shows the popularity and potential of selling personalized t-shirts. Selling shirts with a witty and sarcastic design seems to click well with millennials and Gen Z, once again proving that there is indeed an audience for it.
Baked Goods for Delivery
With the popularity of delivery apps, many home bakers turned into intrepid entrepreneurs. People love baked goods in the first place, and they’ve probably been baking too much for friends and family so why not sell them to those willing to pay? Whether you can bake simply but delicious treats or your hobby is baking itself, selling baked goods online and using delivery apps to get them to your customers is a cheap and hassle-free way to not just earn, but also do something you love even more.
Create Funky Canvas Bags
Canvas bags are by no means new, yet they stay relatively popular and trendy. They’re simple, making it a good fit for anything. Its plain design makes it so that creative people can put their own imaginative twists on it. And it’s because of this that they make great crafts to sell. If you have painting or sewing skills, making canvas bags with cool designs might just be a business idea for you.
Design Your Own Notebooks
Interestingly, in a time where paper and notebooks are falling out of favor for the common note-taking device (because our phones replaced them), personalized notebooks for journal keeping are very popular. So much so that many people are designing intricate notebooks using beautiful wood with amazing designs straight from a hot foil stamping machine on the front. And people interested in journaling and keeping a diary like it, some even collect it.
Handcrafted Jewelry
Handicrafts and anything handmade are normally treated as something artisanal and unique. With handcrafted jewelry, it’s doubly so. From necklaces to earrings, from rings to bracelets, handcrafted jewelry is among the oldest and most popular ways to earn from handicrafts. If you’re good with your hands and are creative with different types of interesting-looking trinkets, then handcrafted jewelry just might be the business for you.
It’s Tough but Honest Work
Of course, selling arts and crafts doesn’t guarantee that you’re going to earn serious money. Especially at the start. Like with many things there will be a struggle, but persisting through hard work and consistent effort will get you through. Here are other ideas to keep in mind so you can sell more of your work.
Sell on Etsy. Etsy is a popular platform for selling your handiwork and is a must for anyone selling their crafts.
Have a social media page. A social media page will allow more people to see your work, and it’s also a means of contacting you.
Join local events. Local markets and trade events are venues to show your products and sell them.