14 hobbies you can turn into a high-paying side gig

Benjamin Lawless/flickr

Making the most of your free time by taking up a hobby can do you wonders.

Depending on the hobby, they can help you better perform mentally challenging tasks, reduce stress, and think more creatively.

They can also help you rake in some extra cash on the side.

There are many avenues you could take to turn your part-time passion into a side gig — plenty of people, for example, flock to sites like Etsy and Fiverr to bring their special skills to market.

For this article, we looked at real part-time, temporary, seasonal, or occasional FlexJob listings and pay data from Payscale to find 14 hobbies you could very well turn into a lucrative side gig. Each pays on average several dollars above the US hourly minimum wage:

Acting

Job: Voice-over artist

Average hourly pay: $45

Voice-over artists read and interpret scripts and portray the tone required of their role in a variety of media like TV, movies, commercials, video games, and movie trailers.

Singing

Job: Musician

Average hourly pay: $38

Musicians create live music for people's enjoyment in a variety of venues like cabarets and lounges and sometimes perform as recording artists.

Writing

Job: Freelance writer

Average hourly pay: $20

Writers develop written content for advertisements, books, magazines, movie and TV scripts, songs, blogs, or other types of media.