Can we agree that making money by doing something you love is the actual definition of happiness?
Making money by selling your craft on Etsy, whatever that craft might be, is one of the most vulnerable ways to approach business.
As a crafter, you always leave a piece of your soul in whatever you’re making. And that piece is visible to anyone who sees and buys your creation. Whatever their opinion of your craft is, it will always touch your heart because creating it was birthing an idea—taking it out of your mind and giving it a shape, texture, and purpose.
It shouldn’t surprise you to know that, yes, you can make money from your hobby—actually, you should!
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Your Hobby and How Much Money It Could Make You
I’ve compiled an extensive list of side hustles or craft hobbies that make money. I’ve used real shops from Etsy to show you real numbers.
I’ve kept the shops’ identities hidden as I am not sure they would like me poking around their numbers, even if those numbers are accessible to everyone.
DISCLAIMER: I’ve picked some of the best-performing shops on Etsy because I would love to show you the wild skies your craft can take you to. The limit is in your mind only because there are no limits for the shops below. Still, be prepared to see big numbers.
Ready? Let’s get into it!
Arts and Crafts: Hobbies That Make Money
1. Handmade Jewelry Crafting
I found a shop that has been on Etsy for two years and has just over 100 products and over 100,000 sales. Their average product price is $15, so that would mean they’ve made $1.5 million in sales so far.
Of course, Etsy has earned some good profits from fees; all listings come with free delivery, so they deduct it from the product’s price, but that’s still around $1,000,000 in profit.
What do they do? Customized jewelry – necklaces or bracelets with people’s names or initials, their pets’ paws, cufflinks, earrings, and others.
Investment: 3/5 (you need to invest in equipment, and that can be costly if you’re going for a better quality one)
Skills: 5/5 (you need to have good skills to create jewelry someone wants to buy)
Passiveness: 2/5 (if you’re going for customizable products, the level of passiveness is very low)
2. Custom Artwork and Painting
If you are good (but really good) at painting and doing artwork, then this should be the nudge you need to sell your craft! One of the shops I found offers custom oil portrait paintings. They’ve been on Etsy for four years, and so far, they’ve made over 11,000 sales.
It was hard to estimate the average product price because the products start at $150 and go up to $1000, but let’s go for the middle ($500). That would give them $1.6 mil. in sales (more or less).
Investment: 3/5 Investing in quality paint and canvases is important, but it doesn’t cost an arm and a leg.
Skills: 5/5 (you need to be really good at this if you’re going to charge people a lot of money)
Passiveness: 1/5 (if you do custom paintings, there is nothing passive about it)
3. Printed Sassy Greeting Cards
What if you are good at drawing but want to think of something more passive?
Smart and sassy greeting cards are the hit on Etsy right now! A shop I found has just around 300 products but over 250,000 sales. They create and print greeting cards with an average price of $8 per product, which makes it up to $2mil in sales. The cards aren’t customizable, so they can create the design and print hundreds of cards ready for shipping.
Investment: 3/5 (it’s surprisingly easy to get in possession of a good quality printer on a budget; the rest is cardstock, mailing materials, and whatever program you use to draw your designs)
Skills: 4/5 (you need to have good drawing skills, but you also want to be able to create catchy and unique designs that would keep people coming back to your shop)
Passiveness: 4/5 (once your design is ready and printed, all you should care about is shipping it as fast as you can, so that’s quite passive)
4. Candle Making
Many would say that the candle-making market is already saturated, and I might agree… unless… you come up with a unique idea that can stand out from the masses. I am not in the candle-making business, but I can tell you that those who specialize in creating unique labels for their candles have more sales than those who focus on the candles themselves. Weird, right?
The secret shop I’ve chosen for this post has been around since 2019. They’ve made over 140,000 sales, and an average product price of $15 means that their profits are in the millions. Do you know what’s the best part about it? They promote their candles not based on the aroma, but on occasion, they’re created for (for dad, mom, easter gift, birthday gift, and so on).
No, their candles aren’t customizable.. the candles’ labels are customizable!
Investment: 2/5 (knowing what you need and where to find it cheap but good quality makes candle-making fairly affordable compared to other hobbies/businesses)
Skills: 4/5 (while candle-making sounds easy-peasy, we must remember that safety comes first, so being able to guarantee good quality and safety for your customers makes me rate its skill levels a bit higher)
Passiveness: 3/5 (while you are still handmaking everything, preparing big batches ahead is a great way to add passiveness to this hobby)
5. Crochet Patterns
I found a shop on Etsy that has made just over $200,000 in sales with less than 90 patterns. Yes, you read that correctly. They have niched down in children’s toy patterns and are really successful with it.
Investment: 2/5 (the investment for this hobby-into-business idea is solely for the sample you are crocheting every time you create a pattern)
Skills: 4/5 (creating a pattern might not be close to rocket science, but it does require some good knowledge and experience, so I give it 4/5)
Passiveness: 4/5 (this is a set-and-forget type of business, so it’s a really good opportunity for a passive income, but I would also add that a good marketing strategy is key for its success)
6. Soap and Bath Products
Making soap is such a fun hobby, and it pays off well, too. I found tons of cute and unique Etsy shops that specialize in crafting soap. One of the most successful ones has over 80,000 sales with an average cost of $7 per item. That would translate into over half a million in sales.
Investment: 4/5 (investing in quality products might be one of the two key points to making this hobby into a money-making machine)
Skills: 4/5 (while making a soap isn’t too hard, you need to be creative while designing your products, or they will get lost in the sea of other shops’ products)
Passiveness: 3/5 (I do not think that there is too much passiveness about this business, but you can create soaps in bulk and pack them ready for shipping)
7. Leathercraft and Handmade Leather Goods
If you are skilled at working with leather, monetizing that skill can be one of the best decisions of your life. Good leathercrafts are in high demand at any time of the year. One of the shops I’ve found specializes in leather belts. It has 25 products only but has nearly 15,000 sales. The average price of a product is $100, which means they’ve made $1.5 mil (more or less) since they opened the shop.
Investment: 3/5 (good leather tools can be costly, but they are also durable, so the most regular investment would be the leather itself)
Skills: 5/5 (you need to be good at whatever you’re crafting; people want quality in exchange for their money)
Passiveness: 2/5 (depending on the goods you make, there is a very low chance of turning this into a passive income)
8. Wood Crafts
What can you do with a piece of wood? If your answer is “What can’t I do?” then this is your craft!
People love the durability of a wooden item. Whether it’s a box, a book resting station, a tray, or a spices organizer, people will always pay for quality wooden items. I found a shop that’s made over 45,000 sales with its wood crafts shop, and they offer everything I mentioned above plus more. All items are small, and the average price varies between $40 and $100, so you can be sure there is a good chunk of profit.
Investment: 4/5 (tools are expensive, but maybe you can cut on wood if you find a creative way to source it)
Skills: 4/5 (as with most handmade stuff, people want quality, and while woodworking isn’t the hardest craft, it certainly asks for time and practice)
Passiveness: 2/5 (this isn’t a passive income source)
9. Pottery and Ceramics
Clay and ceramic items are on the rise, and if this is something that speaks to your soul – you have my approval (not that you care, but it feels good on my end).
People love it when someone offers a unique item (customization is even better). The average price per item varies depending on material and uniqueness, but you can expect anything from $15 to $100 per item. One of the best shops I found on Etsy has nearly 20,000 sales, and its prices start at $40 per mug.
Investment: 3/5
Skills: 5/5 (you need to know what you’re doing here, or the mug might actually break when used for the first time).
Passiveness: 1/5 (this is a very hands-on type of business, so you have no room for passive income)
10. Upcycled and Recycled Crafts
Some people love new stuff only, and then there is everyone else (like me). We love upcycled, and the oldest – the better. I cannot give you any numbers on this one because there are no limits. You can upcycle anything and everything. I’ve seen people upcycling circuit boards into coasters, tea towels into aprons (teaprons), turning old wine bottles into appetizer plates, and more.
Investment: 2/5 (I can imagine you would source your items very cheaply, if not even for free, but you would still need some tools)
Skills: 3/5 (2 out of these 3 points are for imagination and creativity)
Passiveness: 1/5 (again, nothing passive about this one)
11. Miniature Crafts
Do you know those videos you occasionally see on social media—the ones about baking miniature bread, making a sandwich, or building a tiny book nook? Oh, maybe it’s something you’re really into?
I found a shop on Etsy that has sold over 95,000 miniature items. They specialize in miniature book creations and average various prices, but one of their most loved products costs over $100.
Investment: 2/5 (you create miniatures, so while you would need an initial investment, I would dare say investment wouldn’t hurt your pocket)
Skills: 4/5 (this is a very tight niche for a less-known hobby, so building good skills and combining them with creativity is key)
Passiveness: 1/5 (a very hands-on business that would need you working on it at all times)
12. Fiber Arts and Macrame
Boho-style lovers are obsessed with macrame wall hangings. They look gorgeous, give any room that free-spirit vibe, and are also quite successful on Etsy.
One of the shops I stumbled upon has nearly 40,000 sales, and its prices average around $100. Yep! We are in the millions again, and even after you calculate Etsy’s fees and shipping, you will still have a healthy stack of cash to enjoy.
Investment: 3/5 (you would need to invest in quality yarn and machines to help you speed up the process, but you can still start such a business for a few hundred dollars, and that’s really affordable).
Skills: 3/5 (while creativity and love for the craft are essential, it is relatively easy to learn as a skill)
Passiveness: 2/5 (having the right tools and machines would help you speed up the process, but this isn’t a passive income source)
13. Rock Painting and Pebble Art
Rock painting is a cute craft that can also be monetized and turned into a healthy side hustle. It isn’t wildly popular, but if you find a unique angle, you can seriously make it bigger.
One of the most successful shops on Etsy has over 20,000 sales, an average product costs $8, so that would mean they’ve made roughly $160,000 since they opened their shop in 2016.
Investment: 2/5 (I imagine the biggest investment would be in sourcing the pebbles and quality paint, so those aren’t that expensive)
Skills: 4/5 (again, creativity might be the key here as you need to stand out if you want to make it work)
Passiveness: 2/5 (while I am sure there are ways to speed the process up if you offer customization, this isn’t a passive income source)
14. Nail Art
I was shocked at how popular nail stickers are on Etsy. The opportunities are endless, and you don’t even have to create your own designs (as long as you source them legally, of course).
A random shop I found has made over 110,000 sales, and the average price per product is $5.00. This means they’ve put over half a million into their pocket, and that sounds awesome.
Investment: 2/5 (tools and printing machines are relatively cheap for this one)
Skills: 3/5 (you can create the designs yourself, but you can source them too, so this is an easy-to-learn skill)
Passiveness: 4/5 (I would say this has the potential to be more passive than other ideas on this list, though you still need to print everything and pack it up)
15. Resin Arts and Crafts
Resin art is beautiful and relatively easy to learn as a skill (although it might take some time to master it completely). I cannot give you estimated numbers because it all depends on the type of art you would offer. Options are limitless, from simple bookmarks and resin coasters to tables and wall art.
Investment: 4/5 (material can be costly on this one as you need to insist on quality)
Skills: 4/5 (to stand out, you want to know what you’re doing and have the creativity to come up with good ideas)
Passiveness: 4/5 (depending on the products you make, there are ways to work on batches, but it is still far from being passive)
16. Digital Art and Illustration
Digital art is probably one of the most attractive hobbies right now, and it can be turned into a profitable and passive business.
With the boom of AI tools, it’s very cheap to start, requires a low skill level, and gives a good chunk of profit if you know what to do.
All that good news leads to the one bad news: the market is quickly getting flooded with people trying to make quick money on this idea. To make this one work, you want to find the perfect niche and dig deep into it, finding what makes people prefer your products over others.
Investment: 1/5
Skills: 3/5 (it would be one if you use AI, and it could go up to 5 if you’re drawing it all yourself, so I stick to averaging it to 3)
Passiveness: 4/5 (unless you offer customization, which is a good idea, you can absolutely create a very strong passive income stream).
17. Enamel Pins and Badges
They are cute and really popular. It isn’t something I’ve ever been interested in, but small research shows me that many (many, many) other people love them. The most successful shop I found on Etsy has over 87,000 sales, and the average pin price is $14.00. This means they’ve probably made over $1 million since they opened their shop in 2017.
Investment: 4/5 (my research showed me that it is quite costly to source the machines and all materials needed for this business at an average cost of over $600 to produce 1000 pins)
Skills: 4/4 (it is a learning curve, and you need to be creative with this one)
Passiveness: 3/5 (unless you offer customization, this business can be almost passive if you create your pins in batches)
Blogger, dreamer, procrastinator, and lover of everything soul-touching. My mission is to make you laugh, provoke your thoughts, light up your day and inspire you to fall in love with life and yourself.
