As a Military Spouse, you’re never in one place for too long. While the fast-paced lifestyle certainly brings with it a lot of fun and adventure, it can also make it difficult to maintain a steady career. Having a flexible schedule and the ability to work remotely are huge perks for MilSpouses, which not all industries and organizations allow for. However, there are so many other unique and exciting ways to make a living outside of the traditional 9-to-5!
Read: 5 Benefits of Having a Flexible MilSpouse Career
Regardless of your interests, almost any hobby can be transformed into a career with the right materials and resources at your disposal. Interested in learning how you can turn your talent into a trade? Here’s a list of profitable hobbies and how you can generate success from them:
Blogger
If you’re a writer at heart, blogging is a great way for you to express your interests with other like-minded individuals. Plus, you can actually make money doing it! Popular blogs with a strong readership are able to bring in revenue by selling advertising space on their websites, doing paid collaborations with other bloggers and creators in the subject area, and working with relevant brands.
Some of the most common types of blogs center around topics like cooking and baking, fashion, beauty, travel and design and decor. You can even write content that touches on more serious matters, such as family, children, even Military life in general. MilSpouse bloggers have created a large and welcoming community, so joining this group isn’t just a way to make a living — it’s a way to make new friends! Be sure to leverage the network you’ve built to help get your new project off the ground.
YouTuber
The world we live in today is highly digital and highly visual. Video is one of the best methods of storytelling and connecting with other people — and with platforms like YouTube, it’s also a way to make a good living while doing something you love.
The awesome thing about YouTube is that it’s free to join and anyone can do it. However, in order to turn this into a profitable hobby, you need a strong fan base. As your channel grows, you’re able to monetize your content and make earnings from each video view. The more views and subscribers you gain, the more money you can make. Therefore, it’s really important to create quality content that’s going to draw in viewers and subscribers.
Investing in a good camera and teaching yourself how to use beginner-level editing software will make a huge difference in the quality of your video content. Over time, you’ll discover new ways to film and edit your videos more creatively, which will help your content stand out. Funny enough, YouTube is a great resource to learn how to use different cameras and editing programs.
Popular channels on YouTube often feature fashion advice and reviews, makeup tutorials, original comedy sketches, cooking and baking shows, “How To” style design and DIY projects and vlogging, which features more “day in the life”-style content.
Photographer
In the age of curated Instagram feeds and constant documentation of life events, photography is a very lucrative business. If you’ve got an eye for good lighting and know how to work a camera, you can surely turn your talent into a trade.
Depending on the type of photography you enjoy, you’ll also have opportunities to meet new people and explore new places. If you enjoy the outdoors, try your hand at travel and nature photography and immerse yourself in beautiful landscapes. Wedding and family photography is also in high demand, so you can make a living capturing some of the most precious moments in a person’s life.
As you build your portfolio, you’ll book more jobs and events, which will help you expand your network and create a thriving business.
Podcaster
Podcasts have become incredibly popular over the last few years, giving celebrities, journalists and everyday people alike the opportunity to share their thoughts on areas of interest. From true crime and current events to TV show recaps and pop culture, you can host a podcast about nearly any topic. However, unlike YouTube or blogging, getting monetized can be a bit trickier with podcasts.
Profitable podcasts make money through advertising partnerships, which means you need: A) a strong listenership, or B) advertisers that are willing to take a chance on your up-and-coming production. It can be a challenging process, but don’t be discouraged! It can take some time for podcasts to really start seeing success, so you just have to start and keep trying. One popular way that newer podcasts start earning money is through fan clubs. Platforms like Patreon allow fans to join special members-only groups by requiring monthly or annual fees. Through these platforms, podcasters and other creators can share exclusive content and more closely engage with these fans. It’s a great way to make some start-up money and get to know your supporters!
Reseller
It may seem counterintuitive, but you can actually earn a living by shopping (yes, the perfect job does exist).
Fashion is cyclical, so there’s been a big resurgence of ‘80’s and ‘90’s trends hitting the shelves of popular retailers lately. Along with this late 20th century style revival is the rise of vintage and thrift shopping, particularly at second-hand stores like Goodwill and The Salvation Army.
Turn your love for fashion and shopping into a source of income by finding and selling trendy clothing pieces on resale websites and apps like DePop, eBay and Poshmark. You can typically find unique, quality pieces from second-hand and consignment shops for a bargain, and then resell them at a marked up price to make your profit. If you’re crafty, you can even take some of these clothing items and add your own DIY spin to create one-of-a-kind pieces to sell!
DIYer
Let creativity drive your career by opening your own store on Etsy, Redbubble or other online marketplaces. Whether you’re a painter, calligrapher, woodworker, graphic designer or other artist of sorts, there’s a market for the product you’re creating.
If you’re selling physical items, it’s important to give yourself enough production time to stock your store and keep up with demand. Another important element of selling on these platforms is marketing yourself adequately, so be sure to take full advantage of your social media audiences to drive traffic to your store. The more you sell, the more likely your listings will show up in shoppers’ searches, and so on.
Capitalize on your craft and turn your side hustle into your full-time job. There are so many fulfilling ways to make a living doing the thing you love most — you just have to invest the time and effort in yourself to achieve that dream.
More Unique MilSpouse Career Opps:
Solutions for Your Military Family:
Life Insurance, Wealth Management, Home Mortgages, Survivor Services, and more.
