MACON, Ga. — Life tends to slow down a bit in the summer, and those quieter days can lead to a bigger bank account.
Through our partnership with Mercer University’s Center for Collaborative Journalism, Amyre Makupson tells us about how you can turn your hobbies into extra cash on the internet.
They’re called side hustles. It’s not a full-time job or even a part-time job, it’s just something people do on the side to bring in extra money.
One former Macon high school teacher turned her love of painting into extra pocket change with Etsy.
"I've always wanted to draw. Even as a little girl I would be out in the backyard drawing with sticks in the sand,” said Dale Watts.
Watts has always loved art.
“I doodle anytime I have to sit down,” she said. “People would ask me if I would draw their houses or if I would draw a building that was special to them and then finally somebody asked me one time if I could do a Christmas ornament for them.”
Those requests lead to an idea, a shop on the internet sales site Etsy.
Watts says the set up was actually very easy. You can do it too, all you need is a computer or smart phone, and a picture of the item you want to sell.
“It'll ask you things like to give it some key words, search words, cost, quantity, things like that. All you do is plug in the answer, then they charge you 20 cents to list it and you're in business,” she said.
Those doodles turned into dollars.
“If I want to paint a beach, then if covers my expenses if I want to go to that beach, look at the beach and do a real in-depth study, and we take some trips that are covered completely by the Etsy shop,” she said.
That’s easy money from something that comes naturally to Watts. She says the more time you put into your shop, the more money you can make right from your own home.