Not everyone can boast about loving their job, and the salary often falls short of expectations. That is why the stories of people who managed to turn a hobby into a source of income or figured out how to make money out of thin air are fascinating. This article features resourceful heroes just like this.
- My sister and I grew up poor; our parents didn’t give us any pocket money. In fourth grade, my sister came up with the idea of selling handmade bracelets at school to raise some pocket money. However, she quickly got bored with it, and then she asked her craft teacher for advice.
The teacher decided to help; she showed my sister how to use epoxy glue and how to work with wood. My sister now has a small workshop where she creates handmade jewellery and other fun items for home decor. © Caramel / VK - A friend makes beaded handbags. I honestly don’t understand what they are for, but people buy them, and sometimes for a lot of money. The friend says that she found the idea online and decided to start her own business. She learned how to make these bags in a fortnight.
Now, she jokingly says, “And why did I spend 5 years of my life working as an accountant? It turns out that money can be made much easier!” © Caramel / VK - A Canadian man, as a joke, listed a ziplock bag of air from near Banff, Alberta, on eBay for $9.99. When he realised he lost money on shipping, he priced the next one at $168, and somebody bought it. He and his partner own a few hundred thousand dollars’ worth of bottled Canadian air every year. © Nanojack / Reddit
- Once, neighbours complained that the stairwell smelled like pies for days. It did smell, and for a good reason, because I was testing recipes from my grandmother’s cookbook and baking every night. I jokingly put a note on the door, “Pies to order — call.”
The next day, I received a call. They ordered three pies. Now I have a mini-bakery in my kitchen, and I have regular customers from my building.
- I couldn’t find a good eyebrow tech! They couldn’t make my eyebrows right: either the shade was terrible, or the shape was so bad that I wanted to cry.
At some point, my patience ran out: I watched a ton of videos, bought some paint and tweezers and made my eyebrows. There were mistakes, of course, but even so, it looked a hundred times better.
Then I attended a training course, studied, and discovered my passion! I gave up my tedious job and started doing eyebrows for my friends. Now I already rent an office, and in a couple of years, I feel, I will open my studio. © Caramel / VK - I decided to open a new business and bought two ordinary vending machines, similar to those for coffee, but they didn’t make coffee. They didn’t produce anything, and they didn’t sell anything. The only thing they had was a compartment for coins and notes.
The sign said, “The machine doesn’t dispense anything, but you can give it your money.” In a week, the machines could collect a few thousand. I still have no idea why people threw money into the machines. © Chamber 6 / VK - I got a mini-income literally from thin air when I worked in an office with panoramic windows. The view from the 25th floor was amazing. I once photographed a sunset over the city, posted it on social media, and received likes and questions, such as “Where is it?”
And one guy even offered me cooperation in a private message — he had his printing studio, and, as it turned out, there was a demand for panoramic photos in lovely frames: some hotels prefer to cover empty walls in corridors with photo art like this. Now he and I have a webpage with customised views and a good income. - Five years ago, my grandpa bought a half-collapsed shed for pennies. Everyone laughed at him, “What do you need that wreck for?” And he was saying, “Money is not in the shed, money is in marketing.”
He dismantled the shed into boards, cleaned them, neatly stacked them and posted an ad, “Selling a rare eco-friendly material for stylish interiors.” The boards were sold out in a week.
- I am 23 years old, and I own my own business. My parents didn’t help me; we have always lived modestly. It all started as an ordinary hobby: I just helped my friends find jobs. I knew who was needed where and who had what talents, and I just brought people together.
One day, a friend jokingly said, “You could start a recruitment agency!” And I decided: why not? I started with a small group in social media, took pennies for recommendations, and then word of mouth did its work. Now I have a company, clients are queuing up, and I’m just happy! © Chamber #6 / VK - I often order frozen food online, and it always comes in foam boxes. At one point, I had a whole mountain of these containers piled up. For a long time, I had considered how to use them, and then I discovered that some people purchase them online.
I posted my ad on a local marketplace, and within a few weeks, I had got rid of them all. Now, when another order arrives, I immediately put the containers up for sale. It helps me save money. © Sara Tung / Quora - Once I arrived at the office for an interview, they gave me a pass, a desk, and access to a laptop and archives as soon as I walked in the door. They kept calling me by my name, so I never thought anything of it. I was there for a couple of weeks, indexing and digitising old documents. Once I’d finished the allocated work, my temporary contract came to an end, as it was only two weeks long.
On leaving, they were going to cut me a check and ask, “How do you spell your surname?” I said, “How would I know I’m called?” The shock on their face as they realised they had given a job to the wrong guy and had called me for the job instead of giving me a knock back. The easiest but most unappealing way of making money ever. © Unknown author / Reddit - In junior high, I bought cinnamon oil at a pharmacy on the walk home. I soaked toothpicks in it and sold them for 5 cents each. I made a lot of money off one bottle, considering the cost of it and the boxes of toothpicks. © Hoax13 / Reddit
© Jill Allyn Stafford / Flickr, © CC BY 2.0
- When I was a kid, my parents had a small office with a few staff members for their business. Sometimes, when they had to work late, I would be bored and crawl under the desk and onto the floor, just looking around.
I would gather all the crud I found. Mostly lost pens, paper clips, staples, the occasional posted notebook… usual stuff people might drop on the floor. I would then gather this stuff and sell it for a few cents, usually to the staff or my family. I was young at the time, possibly in pre-school, and thought I had struck it rich. I mean, 5 cents for a pen!
I even chose to expand my business to selling water from the cooler for a penny, usually having to run between floors of the building to do it… I don’t think I had the best understanding of labour at the time, but boy, that penny felt valuable… © Alex Dolphin / Quor.a - About four years ago, I noticed that we were running out of Ziplock bags quickly every week. It turned out that my 10-year-old at the time was mixing gummy bears and worms with Hispanic spices and Chamoy sauce, then selling them at school for $5 a bag. She was bringing in about $100 to $150 a week.
She is now about to turn 15, and I helped her build her candy business. She has her candies in stores in our city and is still expanding. © TheWizardry90 / Reddit - I’ve been going to the gym for a few years, and recently, a friend joined me. But she didn’t go there to work out; she went there for content: photos, selfies in the mirror, videos with dumbbells, and so on. It pissed me off. And then she suddenly said, “Imagine’re’re going to pay me to be a content manager — they liked my stories very much!”
Now she goes there every day, but it’s her business — she shoots content and gets paid for it. I’m sweating and working out. © Caramel / VK
- One day, my wife asked me to make her a necklace out of beads and hemp twine. Didn’t know how to do it, but I read the tutorial, practised, and eventually succeeded. I decided to create a website to sell my jewellery, bought a camera, and it was off and running.
Soon, I received orders in the thousands, and I bought hemp and beads in bulk. Now, when my wife asks me for something, I always remind her that I tend to get carried away sometimes. © Matthew T. Waterhouse / Quora - I once met a handsome man in a café. I told him about myself and my hobbies, we had a nice chat and exchanged numbers. The next morning, he sent me a text. I thought this guy liked me.
However, it turns out he was only interested in my painting. I’ve been fond of painting since childhood — I paint for fun, which I told him about in the evening. The man asked if he could look at my work.
The same day we met, he bought four paintings at once and asked me to paint two more. He also advertised my work, so now people come to me for paintings from other cities. As a result, I even quit my main job. © Work Stories / VK - Six months ago, I was made redundant. And couldn’t find a new job. To save money, I started cooking my husband’s food for work: pies, buns, etc. Then, in the evening, my husband embarrassingly said that his boss wanted to meet me.
I thought that they would order lunches from me, but it turned out to be even better. TboTboss’s wife is in the catering business, and she needed a baker. I’ve been working with her for a few weeks now, and everything has been going well so far. - I first went camping with my parents, then with friends. I was a guide in tour companies, and for the last few years, I have been organising tours on my own, from start to finish. And I have come to this conclusion: nothing helps better to sift regular clients from dubious ones as a decent price tag for the work. However, I have a system that awards various amusing achievements, which entitles you to a discount on future tours. For example, “Sc” ut of the Month” f” r participation in scouting a new route, “Ch” ef Environmentalist” a person helps to collect and remove trash, “Ra” n “an”” i” a downpour caught a person, and so on. © Glendor / Pikabu
credit by: Brightside.me
