Let’s be honest, most of us wish we could make a little extra money. Chances are, unless you’re some billionaire oil tycoon or Bill Gates reading this article, you never wake up in the morning and think, “Wow I have enough money and I really don’t need anymore!”
Unfortunately, it’s not always that easy to make extra money either. A lot of office jobs do not pay overtime and any extra hours worked are all considered as a necessary part of earning your salary. So if a family vacation is approaching or you have your eye on a new car, rest assured there are plenty of ways to make a little extra moolah on the side, whether in the short or long term.
On the whole, there are many ways to make extra money: by freelancing online, ferrying people from A to B as an Uber driver, taking a second job as a bartender and thousands of other alternatives. Some of these ways to make extra money are very tedious and dull.
If you can take a second job that enables you to earn money while doing something related to your hobby and interests, that’s better than ever right? Well for sports lovers, rest assured, this article provides inspiration on some creative ways that you can make a little extra money and beef up your monthly paycheck.
1. Offer Personal Training Services
Have buns of steel, washboard abs and muscles that would put Popeye to shame? Consider working part time as a personal trainer during your evenings and weekends. This is a second job that will fit your schedule perfectly if you are someone who works a regular style nine to five.
To be honest, depending on your interests, personal training may not be directly linked to enjoying your favorite sport; however this can be an enjoyable pastime if you have a passion for overall general health and fitness. This not only earns you money, but puts you in the presence of other sports lovers, and has a rewarding moral aspect as a result of helping people to achieve their personal fitness goals.
Becoming a personal trainer is often very straightforward process. Aspiring trainers do not necessarily need a super formal qualification or a college degree. There are many training courses that can be completed at night school or similar to enable you to work in this area. Sure, this requires a little initial investment, but the ROI can be huge. In this field, you can earn almost an entire second salary by working as a PT at weekends.
2. Work as a Sports Coach
First of all, we acknowledge that loving sport as a participant, and loving sport as a spectator that enjoys sitting on the couch stuffing his face with potato chips are two very different categories.
If you fall into the former of the two, you could consider sports coaching. Bonus points if you ever frequently played a specific sport in the past, whether that was semi-professionally or even for a local team. You could consider sports coaching for under 18s or for kids, which would give you not only an additional source of income, but a hobby that can also be very rewarding and enjoyable.
3. Dabble in Sports Betting
Sports betting definitely has an element of risk involved, but the amount of risk may actually be less than you imagine. After all, there are numerous people that place bets every day and do this on a professional level. If you know a particular sport very well, consider making the most of your knowledge and placing bets.
Try and conduct thorough research before assigning any money to a game, and see if you can outsmart the market and the bookmakers. Techniques such as hedge betting or placing money on single bets can help you to maximize your chances of hitting the jackpot. If you can get good at strategizing and placing money on sports bets, then you have a great way to make a little extra dough without even having to get out of bed!
4. Experiment with Sports Journalism
Writing skills are one of those techniques where you either have it or you don’t. If you consider yourself as a bit of a wordsmith and you are good at crafting funny or well-written sentences and articles, then you could consider sports journalism as a way of making extra money.
Sports journalism does not necessarily require any prior experience or formal qualifications and paid writing opportunities are often easier to find than you may expect. Online freelance platforms like Upwork, Copypress and Freelancer.com are a good place to browse for work.
Employers often request to see writing samples prior to making a hire so if you do not have a portfolio or any published work already, consider creating a sports blog or even just penning down a few draft articles so that you can demonstrate your writing ability to potential future clients.
