One of the best ways to increase your income is to figure out how to monetize your skills.
Whether you want to start your own unique side hustle or make a career pivot, knowing your strengths will give you clarity and direction.
Everyone, including you, has a unique set of skills to offer the world.
But unless you know how to earn money with your skillset, your passions will remain hobbies.
In this article, we’ll be providing some of the best ways to monetize your skills so you can start doing meaningful work that you’re actually good at.
As you read through these tips, remember that people pay for solutions to their problems.
So, if you can connect your skills to a problem certain people need solving, you’ll be on your way to success.
Let’s dive in.
1. Teach An Online Course
Education has changed drastically over the last decade.
Thanks to the internet, information about practically any topic is available at our fingertips.
Online courses synthesize this vast amount of information and make it easier for people to gain new skills.
There are online courses out there on practically every topic under the sun, from painting to digital marketing to gardening.
In case you’re worried you’re not enough of an expert to create an online course, think again!
Anyone can create an online course – there are no prerequisites. You just need to have more experience and knowledge about your topic of choice than the people you’re teaching.
To start, think about the skill you’d like to monetize. Then, ask yourself the following questions:
- Who would benefit from a course on this topic?
- How exactly would these people benefit from taking your course?
- How can you break down this skill into digestible chunks or modules?
After you’ve considered these questions, outline the different subtopics you’d like to cover in your course.
Then, write out scripts or detailed outlines for each one of these subtopics.
Next comes the part that stops many people from creating a profitable online course – pressing record.
While you certainly don’t have to teach your online course using video, it will help keep your audience engaged, and it can be extremely useful for visual demonstrations.
If you’re nervous about showing your face on camera, you can always build your course using presentation slides, screen recordings, and voiceovers.
After you’ve created all the content, you can use a platform like Teachable to organize, host, and sell your online course.
2. Start A YouTube Channel
Another way to monetize your skills is to start a YouTube channel about them.
Just like with online courses, there’s a market for all kinds of content on YouTube.
People share skills like interior decorating, comedy, journaling, gardening, and more on YouTube, and they earn money for doing so!
You may ask, how do people make money just by posting YouTube videos?
One way YouTubers earn money is through ad revenue.
You can start placing ads on your videos after you’ve received a certain amount of watch time and subscribers. Then, every time someone watches the ads before or during your videos, you’ll receive a commission.
It can take a while to get monetized on YouTube, so you have to be willing to put in consistent effort if you choose this monetization strategy.
In the meantime, there are a few other ways you can start earning money from your YouTube videos.
If you use any products in your videos, like art supplies or software, you can use affiliate marketing to earn money.
To do this, you would need to join affiliate programs for the products you’re recommending to your audience.
Then, you could place affiliate links in the descriptions of your YouTube videos, and you’ll earn affiliate commissions when people make purchases through your links. Just be sure to follow the guidelines for any affiliate program you join.
While starting a YouTube channel isn’t usually the quickest path to make money from your skills, it’s one that can end up being very lucrative over time.
3. Blog About It
These days, blogging is about far more than just writing your thoughts and posting them on the internet.
While that may have been how blogging used to work, now, some people make a full-time living through their blogs.
There are several ways you can monetize your skills through blogging.
Just make sure to focus your content around one general topic. This will help readers understand what your blog is about, and it will make it easier to grow a following of people who are interested in that topic.
Here are some of the most effective ways to monetize your blog.
Affiliate Marketing
As mentioned when we discussed monetizing your skills with YouTube, affiliate marketing is one of the best ways to earn money blogging.
This will allow you to earn commissions on products and services you recommend to your readers.
To get started with affiliate marketing, look for affiliate programs that make sense for your particular topic or niche.
Some affiliate programs require you to apply and gain approval, while others accept anyone who signs up.
After you’ve joined a few affiliate programs, write some content geared toward promoting or reviewing those affiliate products and services.
For example, if your blog is about fly fishing, you might write a blog post about the best fly rods for beginners.
Then, whenever one of your readers clicks on your affiliate link and goes on to make a purchase, you’ll earn a commission!
Display Ads
Another great way to earn money from your blog is through display ads.
If you use WordPress, there are several easy-to-use plugins that allow ads to show up on your website pages.
This monetization strategy is best if you pair it with a strategy to increase your website traffic.
Since ad commissions tend to be small, they won’t earn you very much money unless you’re receiving a high volume of visitors to your blog.
Sponsorships
Some brands will pay bloggers and content creators to write about them.
Unlike affiliate marketing, when a brand sponsors your content, they pay you up-front.
This means you’re compensated for writing the post, not from people clicking on links within the post.
If you grow your blog following, brands may start reaching out to you with sponsorship opportunities.
Before then, you can email brands you’d like to work with and offer to write a sponsored post about them.
Informational Products
Finally, you can further monetize your skills through your blog by selling informational products.
This could be anything from a checklist PDF to an ebook to a full-on digital course.
To encourage sales of these products, you can mention them throughout your blog posts and email marketing campaigns.
Thankfully, it’s quite easy to sell informational products in comparison to physical products.
You won’t have to deal with shipping or returns, and after you create the product, the income you make from it will be mostly passive.
Want to make money with your own side hustle? Check out some of our other money-making content:
- 15 Ways To Make Money With A Laptop And Internet
- 5 Ways To Make Money Online (For Beginners)
- Blog On A Budget: 10 Low-Cost Essentials For New Bloggers
- 9 Lucrative Freelance Skills You Can ACTUALLY Learn Online
- How To Market Your Etsy Shop: 20 Best Strategies [Free and Paid]
- 17 Proven Ways To Make Money As A Freelance Writer
- How To Make Money On Fiverr [The Beginner’s Guide]
- How To Make Money As A Voice Actor [The Ultimate Guide]
4. Consulting/Coaching
If you have a marketable skill that people are eager to improve upon, monetize it through coaching or consulting.
Businesses and individuals alike are more than willing to pay people to help them overcome the challenges they’re facing.
If your skills help meet a real market need, coaching or consulting could be the simplest path to monetization.
There are countless different types of consultants ranging from parenting coaches to marketing experts.
Here are some quick tips to monetize your skills through coaching or consulting:
- Understand who you serve. Who is your target customer?
- Identify exactly how you can help. What kind of results do you help your clients achieve?
- Clearly position yourself online (i.e. on your website and social media). Let your audience know what you do and how they can hire you.
- Start getting real-world experience. Offer to coach your first few clients for free in exchange for honest feedback.
In the beginning, you will likely have to seek out coaching and consulting clients to work with.
But if you stay committed to networking and sharing what you do with people you meet, your business will start to grow organically.
Coaching is an excellent way to share your skills with the world, earn money, and make a difference in the lives of those you serve.
5. Write A Book
While it’s not the quickest or easiest way to monetize your skills, writing a book can earn you both money and recognition for your expertise.
There are many ways to go about writing a book and getting it published.
Some authors pitch their ideas to publishers and secure a paid contract before they’ve even written a word.
Others write and edit their books, then submit them to publishers in the hopes they’ll be accepted.
And, now more than ever, many people choose to self-publish their books.
Do some research to find out about books that have already been written about your skill or area of expertise. Then, decide on how you can position your book differently within that market.
If you’re not confident in your writing abilities, hire a ghostwriter or editor to help you complete your book.
6. Freelance
One of the best, and most straightforward, ways to monetize your skills is to start freelancing.
As you start getting paid for the services you provide, you’ll learn which skills you’re best at and enjoy the most.
There are plenty of people out there who are ready and willing to pay for your skills and services.
If you’re not sure how to start or you’re having trouble finding clients, sign up for a freelancing site like Fiverr or Upwork.
These platforms allow you to post your services, making it easy for potential clients to find you.
And, if you’re not sure whether people would be willing to hire you for your skills, you may be surprised.
Browse through some of the categories on Fiverr, and you’ll see people earning money for a wide range of services.
7. Ecommerce
If you can use your gifts and talents to make and sell a product, then starting an online store is a great way to monetize your skills.
You can set up your own e-commerce store using website platforms like Shopify, WooCommerce, or Squarespace.
After you’ve listed your items for sale, share them through social media and other marketing channels like email.
Another great option for selling your hand-made items is to start an Etsy store. While the platform takes a commission of each sale, it also exposes your work to a wider marketplace.
Regardless of whether you sell on your own website or on Etsy, you’ll need to master the logistics of shipping, marketing, and customer service.
While you may not want to focus your efforts on these parts of your business, they’re vital if you want your e-commerce store to be profitable. Eventually, you can outsource these tasks or hire someone to do them when your online store makes enough money.
If your skills don’t lend themselves to making physical products, but you’re a talented digital marketer or social media aficionado, e-commerce is still a great option for you. Instead of creating products, you can outsource the manufacturing and focus your efforts on marketing and sales.
Final Thoughts
Don’t let your skills go to waste! There are plenty of ways to turn your gifts and talents into a profitable side hustle or business.
With the help of these ideas, practically any skill is monetizable. By identifying the people who can benefit from your skills the most, you’ll be better able to establish and market them.
While some skills may be better off remaining hobbies, you likely have at least one idea that can earn you money.
Just keep learning new skills, developing your current skills, and testing out some of these monetization strategies.
If you stick with it, your favorite hobby might just turn into your full-time income.