5 Personal interests that have income potential

Ever thought your passion and hobby could turn into potential investments or additional income stream? The below are the 5 hobbies that i had picked randomly to discuss about, there are still tons of hobbies that could generate you a second stream of income while keeping you passionate on your hobbies without feeling the stress of needing to make money from it.

1. Gaming

Be it pc games or mobile games, all these platforms provide the potential to turn your hobby to another income stream. For mobile games, it is relatively easy to record your gameplay as the mobile phones nowadays have built-in recording functions when playing games. If you are using apple mobile, maybe this link will help as its contents are short and simple. For pc games recording, i personally find this youtube instructions relatively easy.

Once you had record, you can upload to youtube to start your gaming channel and even move on to brand/game marketing if your channel has high viewership. The thing is that before you start your gaming hobby into a profitable gaming youtube channel, it is advisable to watch some of the established youtubers in this niche. I really strongly recommend to check out TheRadbrad channel, it gives me the feel of both watching a movie and playing the game together without me moving a finger, really enjoy watching his videos.

2. Lego collection

Lego is a very interesting concept, it acts as a toy and at the same time an investment asset which will experience capital appreciation over a period of time.

The humble beginnings of Lego, i will link it here for the backstory. Most of the valuable sets or growth sets are the minifigures, themed sets, lego creator modular sets. I personally had work as a retail associate in a lego store called secret chamber for a year while waiting for National Service so i roughly know what i am going to write here.

What makes minifigures one of the unique products is that everytime a character is produced won't be made the same the next time or will not be reproduce anymore. Some specific minifigures can only be found in sets and nowhere else. That is why minifigures' prices will rise with time as there are still demands.

Popular minifigures will be from the star wars theme, marvel/DC and those from mini figures series.

As mentioned above, themed sets like the star wars, marvel/dc series are very popular. Sets from star wars like the death star, millenium falcon etc has various reproductions but the earlier sets will be way more expensive as every batch of lego products has a span life before it stop productions.

Finally, a series of modular buildings started by lego in the year 2007. It is a sub-series from the lego creator which focus on big buildings or restaurants. The early ones are Cafe Corner, Market Street and Green Grocer. I remember very clearly during my working days in lego store, those sets their prices went up to 7 times their original prices after 5 or 6 years after retire. My customers, some who are collector cum investor, will buy additional sets so that they can sell in the future.

Other notable mentions will the big vessels set, be it container ship, pirate ship or spaceship, all these collectors set will appreciate with time.

3. Music

Music industry is one of the hardest to make it as your main income nowadays but fret not, it can still remain as your passion and potentially generate income for you.

For instrumentalists and vocalists, there are a few ways to get started.

Take part in Open Mics or any platforms which is beginner-friendly that allows you to perform and gain exposure. Normally these platforms are not paid but good to start with.
Once you get yourself in at these unpaid platforms, make yourself a regular there and network with people that shares similar passion to you. Take notes of how the better performers perform and work hard to hone your skills.
Through regular performing at these open mics, networking and hard work, it's only a matter of time before you receive your first paid gig through word of mouth or from one of the audiences that is watching your performances. Ace your first paid gig and more will follow.
Another way is keep taking part in competitions or contest, be it small or big scale.

For those who aspire to be a music teacher.

You could start off attending music classes in one of your preferred music school.
Work hard and try to excel so your music teacher can recommend you to be trained as music teacher, be it instruments or vocal.
Once you get a recommendation, you will need to go through a series of study, exams and apprenticeship to become certified music teacher
When you are a certified music teacher, you can teach at various music schools. You can also have the option to make it full-time or part-time or make yourself a freelancer as a private teacher.

There are a lot more hobbies/interests related to music like music production, DJ, instrument crafting, etc. The key word will be networking, network with people with the same interest, now with the help of technology, it is way more easier search for community group/interest groups and from there slowly you can find your income stream through these channels.

4. Blogging

Yes, that's what i am doing right now. In the past when there is no internet, people write journals, notes and physical books, ever since the dawn of internet and blogging, it is still writing journals, notes and books but in digital form.

It is best to find your own niche/interest that you want to blog about or else it will be very tough to come up with quality contents on a regular basis. Regardless of whether your blog is a blog shop or sharing of ideas or many more, it is very important to maintain that your blog is going to be genuinely helping people, at least that is what you believe in as that is the way to keep traffic to your blog as you genuinely try to help people.

Starting a blog may sound a long daunting task, actually the hardest part is just starting it and the next hardest part is writing your 100th post. Right now i am using wix to help me start a website and it is totally free. Even though, there paid options in wix to upgrade certain features or unlock more functions, i feel the free version is totally good enough beginners like me. Of course, the other 2 popular free options are Blogger and Wordpress, both are equally easy to use.

After you had garner substantial viewership, you can start affiliate marketing to link products in your website and it is best to find products similar to the contents in your website. One of the most easiest way is the Amazon Affiliate Marketing and easiest the safest and reputable platform a beginner can start with. It's commission payout is around 1%~10% max which is relatively low compared to other profitable platform but who else can beat the brand Amazon in this marketing affiliate platform. This stream of income will not make you rich in a short span of time, it takes dedication and passion to continue churning contents into your website in order to stay profitable.

5. Cooking/Baking

I do not cook often but i do watch quite a number of James Oliver's cooking videos on youtube to get some inspirations. Cooking or baking or preparing pastries can be a very fun and profitable hobby, the only downside will be there is a lot of preparation need to be done.

Below are the points which can turn culinary passion into another possible income stream

Start a blog
Start a Youtube channel
Be a private chef
Work part-time chef in a restaurant
Open a restaurant

For blogging and youtube channel, your contents can range from recipes, handling of kitchen tools and sharing cooking tips. And if you do conduct your own cooking class at your private residence or in a rented property, you advertise in these channels.

Being a private chef at your own place is definitely convenient, you may not need an NEA license but strongly advisable to follow the guidelines and there is no need to rent a space to start. However, the downsides will be you are inviting strangers to your residence and will be limited to the home-based small scale business scheme which was oversee by Housing & Development Board (HDB) and Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA). I will link a website here which can explain the terms & conditions of the scheme in detail.

For the 4th point, you can choose to work part-time chef in restaurants, cafes or bar during your free time to supplement additional income. This one is tough if you are holding multiple jobs so make sure you plan your time well, if not, fatigue will diminish your passion and health.

The last point will be in most chef's dream, which is to open one's own restaurant or start their very own branding. You will need substantial capital investments, huge amount of planning and effort needed but very satisfying when able to execute it.

To end of this post

The above are the possible ideas you can explore if your hobby or passion is/are mentioned in this post. There are so many more that could be explored, so i may start a series which dives into different types of hobby and passion that could generate income for you. Stay tuned!