How to Monetize Your Home Improvement Hobby

Do you have a knack for home improvement? If you live for fixing things around the house and tackling remodeling projects, consider monetizing your hobby to bring in some extra income. You could even build a business around your passion! At the very least, sharing your home improvement adventures online can help you build a following and encourage others to explore their own DIY projects. Here are some tips from Side Gigster to help you get started.

Start With the Right Tools

If you’re going to make the move from hobbyist to professional, consider investing in a few unique tools beyond those in your basic DIY toolkit. For example, a contour gauge is a great tool to keep in your arsenal. A contour gauge makes it easy to profile and record shapes to ensure perfect cuts every time. Look for tools like these with multi-use applications as you grow your home improvement hobby into a full-fledged business.

Establish a Legitimate Business

Once you’re generating income from your home improvement hobby, you must treat it as a business. Establish your business properly from the start so you can avoid tax issues and legal headaches down the road. It might even be a good idea to protect yourself with an LLC. Forming an LLC will separate you from your business, ensuring you cannot be held personally liable for business-related debts or lawsuits. Plus, forming an LLC is easy, so there’s no reason not to!

Use Your Home Equity to Fund Projects

If you need funding to pursue bigger home improvement projects, consider leveraging your home equity. A home equity loan involves borrowing the equity in your home as cash. The amount of this loan is determined by the market value of your property minus the amount you still owe on the mortgage. CNET explains that using a home equity loan for home remodeling projects comes with several financial benefits. For example, when you use your home equity for home improvements, the interest on the loan is tax-deductible!

Build Multiple Income Streams

To maximize your earning potential, build multiple income streams into your home improvement business. RetireBeforeDad.com suggests many ways to generate income with your hobby:

• Affiliate marketing
• Sponsored blog posts
• Build a YouTube following
• Become a social media influence in the home improvement industry
• Sell project plans online
• Sell courses or guides
• Build crafts to sell in your community
• Offer your home improvement services locally

While it’s important not to spread yourself thin, you should also avoid putting all of your eggs in one basket. Aiming for two or three different revenue streams is a great way to round out your home improvement business with a mix of passive and active income.

For example, you could document the planning and building process for a fence install. You may need to start by hiring a surveyor to help you have refined measurements. Ask the surveyor if you can video their process to share with your viewers.

Create a Marketing Plan

Finally, you need a solid marketing plan. Good marketing will help you build a following and attract customers to your home improvement website. Social media marketing tends to work well for hobby-based businesses. When you set up your social media pages, be sure to include branded graphics so your followers learn to recognize your brand.

Using infographics on social media is another great way to create buzz and generate interest. Incorporating an infographic into your strategy can make all the difference when it comes to getting noticed. With the use of eye-catching visuals and engaging data, an infographic can be more effective at spreading information than a simple post or tweet. Best of all, online infographic tools make this an easy and quick task, especially if you aren’t familiar with infographic creation. Through a library of fonts, images, colors and templates, you can design great infographics in mere minutes.

You should also take advantage of a website to offer useful tips and guides for your audience. By using effective content marketing tactics, your articles will find more people and expand your reach. Find online resources to help you use best practices.

Monetizing your home improvement hobby could be a great way to bring in some extra income. Invest in a few helpful tools, take out a home equity loan, register your business, and look for online tools to make marketing easier. If you play your cards right, this might just become your full-time job one day!

To learn more about what it takes to become your own boss, visit Side Gigster today!