If you are passionate about cooking, amateurs or experienced, you can combine business with pleasure and earn money while cooking! Depending on the time you have in front of you and the heart you put into it, you can either obtain significant additional income, or succeed in making a living from your new activity.
In this article you will discover different ways to get started!
Make money by creating your food blog
Creating your recipe blog is probably the first thing you think of when you want to try to earn money by sharing your passion for cooking. But the matter is not that simple and there are certain criteria to take into account.
First of all, you must be aware that the proliferation of cooking sites of all kinds will make your task more complicated than one might imagine. Indeed, it will be necessary to succeed in standing out, to take a personal direction and to stick to it in order not to encroach on the ground of the other bloggers and especially to create an identity. For example, you can choose to specialize in vegan pastry or even in the convivial dishes of yesteryear…
A second very important choice will be the choice of domain name for your blog. It must be talking and at the same time not too long, then check that it is not already in use.
Once this choice is made, you will have to create your blog. Start with twenty recipes to make the whole thing serious. WordPress is a great way to create your food blog, accessible for beginners. The many plugins available there allow you to add functionality to your site or help you manage it more easily.
The next step is to bring your blog to life on the web. You have to regularly publish articles with pretty photos (we also eat with the eyes after all) or even tutorial videos often clearer than long handwritten recipes, and use the social networks that have become essential (Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest…)! They will help you to make yourself known, to make a name for yourself.
To build loyalty in your community, nothing like newsletters! It’s up to you to create your mailing list and regularly offer things to your loyal visitors. What also retains a lot of loyalty are personal articles, your community no longer comes to your blog only for your recipes but also for you!
So here is your blog created and making a place little by little. It is now time to put in place strategies to earn money with your recipes. Here are a few:
- Banner ads with Google AdSense for example
- Affiliate Links: You praise a product or site that you regularly buy from and add a link to it. As soon as someone clicks on this link and purchases, you will be making money! Most of the time, you just need to consult the affiliate program of the sites that interest you (Amazon offers this service for example)
- Selling an eBook: You can create your own recipe eBook and sell it.
Publish a cookbook – earn money with a cookbook
Even if you don’t have a blog, you can create your own cookbook and sell it on different online platforms. But like blogs, you have to stand out! The competition is tough though! It is possible for the authors in self-publishing and essential to respect certain concepts: to have a clear identity, choose a good title and have superb illustrations that make your mouth water, test and have each of your recipes tested by cooks of all levels! Because for your fame, you must absolutely avoid negative comments that call into question the clarity of your explanations and the quality of your preparations!
If you choose self-publishing, you will also take care of your promotion! Advertising your book is essential! Family, friends, friends of friends, word of mouth are a start. You can then use social networks (even them!) Or well-known bloggers who agree to give you a helping hand by talking about your work on their site.
Amazon, for example, allows buyers to get the paperback book in addition to the virtual version that you offer.
Give cooking lessons on YouTube
If you are keen to share your passion and aren’t afraid of the camera, you can also give cooking classes online.
Several options are available to you: monetize your lessons and proceed as for the cooking lessons that can be done in town or at the customer’s home or add advertising to your videos which will be free for the customer but which can earn you money if you have enough views.
Regardless of the option chosen, you will need to have some equipment before you start: computer, microphone, speakers, camera, videoconferencing software (Skype, etc.), have a way to receive payments from your students live (PayPal does the job very well for example).
To make your work more enjoyable, you also need sufficient space, a large work surface and all the storage and utensils necessary to prepare your small dishes directly and without being too quickly overwhelmed by the crockery piling up next to it. The ideal would be that the pupils could have a direct vision on the work plan, the plates and why not the oven as well.
Choosing to give cooking lessons online has many advantages in terms of time and cost. You can teach people living hundreds of miles from your home, you avoid traffic jams and also save gas (the planet obviously thanks you). Significant savings also on material: no need to buy duplicate utensils here or have to change them regularly for wear because you will be the only one to use your precious toys! The customer will have to be informed of the material useful for its realization before your appointment.
Your course offer must be defined as well as your prices, depending on the duration of it, the number of people who will take it simultaneously or the difficulty of the dish to be made.
To enrich your offer, you can offer birthday, stag and hen parties, discovery packages to offer in the form of a gift card, etc.
Sell kitchen utensils or special products
Creation of a kitchen utensil merchant website
Still related to cooking, but on a more commercial side, you can create your own online store and offer kitchen utensils or regional products for sale, for example. It is a way to share your passion and your know-how. Indeed, you can advise your potential customers on the purchase of products that you know and appreciate. You can give examples of realizations from these products. You can also create comparative articles between different brands to praise the product you want to sell. Your range must be wide in order to suit as many people as possible and meet the financial or qualitative expectations of all types of customers who will visit your site.
If you wish, companies offer to create your marketplace for you and advise you on its management. But if you prefer not to create your own platform, you can simply use Amazon and reach people all over the world with its marketplace.
Become a home seller/hostess
The sale of utensils can also be done, and this is its most famous aspect, by becoming a home seller. No need to mention the famous brand of containers of all kinds. For many sellers, it provides additional income or very comfortable retirement! Some even carry out this activity full time! But you have to be very committed to the process, hold numerous meetings, be a convincing salesperson and be mobile.
The advantages are numerous! You choose your hours, the salary you want to achieve; you can even manage a team! But above all, during your discovery workshops, you share your passion for cooking, convivial moments and you even sometimes create very beautiful collaboration links! Another important element: very often the many gifts offered to the best sellers!
Many brands offer these kinds of positions, most of the time you just have to visit their sites and apply online. Short-term training is sometimes offered by companies.
Become a food photographer – earn money as a food photographer
If for you, the pleasures of the mouth go through the eyes, then you may have the soul of a food photographer! Brands and restaurants are snapping up professional clichés in order to appeal to their potential customers! With the development of culinary blogs and cooking sites of all kinds, a new clientele is offered to photographers.
Even if any person can embark on the adventure, the skills necessary for the realization of such pictures often require a minimum of training… if not to facilitate the sale or to give credibility to your work. A portfolio of your achievements is a good thing to start and get to your first dates.
The main idea is to highlight the proposed dish. The light, the effects, the adjustment of the food on the plate, the colors, the decor… all these elements must not be chosen at random but must be the subject of a precise reflection so that the final visual is the more attractive possible and pushes the consumer to buy.
To begin with, you will need equipment, equipment which is often expensive, a sacrifice perhaps before starting a great career and earning a living thanks to your passion. The prices vary according to your popularity, the type of client (starred restaurant, book, company, blog), the time spent obviously. You just need to compare what the competitors are offering to get an idea of the price list that one wishes to adopt.
Take part in cooking competitions
Another way to make money with your cooking skills is to enter (and win) contests! We obviously think of some very famous television shows but these contests also exist online and have spread quickly for several years!
For more specific contests, a little online search will suffice to find dozens of possibilities! So, cook!
If you want to turn your passion into a significant income, one of these options is definitely for you! But keep in mind that no matter what you choose, it will take some work and investment before you start making money.
On your marks, get set, cook!
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