Abby B. Looking for ideas on side hustles for landscape architects? Unsure what you can do with your skills? Here are 21 ideas!
One of the dreams my mom had while she was in her corporate job was to design gardens. She’s super into tropical Balinese gardens and loved having colorful elements in her own yard.
Although not everyone is interested in maintaining beautiful gardens, landscape design is still a well-paid job. Only if you identify the right audience for yourself!
In this article, I’ll be sharing 21 suitable side hustles for landscape architects, including recommendations of what you’ll need to start. At the end of the post, you can find more tailored options for making money on the side as a landscaper.
*This post may contain affiliate links. This means I may earn a small commission (at no cost to you) if you sign up for a program or make a purchase using my link!
21 Best Side Hustles For Landscape Architects
1. Sell your own outdoor furniture
If you already have a landscaping business or attached to one as a full-time job, it’s wise to start your own side business in something that’s related. One of the things I would suggest is selling outdoor furniture for homes or retail shops.
You don’t have to be woodworking or making these furniture on your own. You’ll just need to know how to source them, get the right suppliers to work with and make an income from reselling.
It will not be an easy business for most, so if you’re looking to do something within your own capacity, do explore selling small wooden outdoor products on Etsy. This can include bird houses, shelves and even wooden signs.
Clients you’re working with will be looking for good outdoor furniture to go along with their new garden landscape!
Some outdoor furniture you can sell:
- Outdoor cabinets
- Shoe shelves
- Stools and chairs
- Pergola
- Swings
- Pet houses
- Playground
| What do I need to start? | – Skills to build furniture – Space and storage to work with – Platform to sell your products on |
Check out: What is a good quality wood furniture
2. Teach landscaping with a personal YouTube channel
Don’t have enough time to explore something different? You can make a good side income by becoming a YouTuber on topics of landscape architecture and design.
You don’t have to be making unique videos when starting out. Instead, just start by recording your day-to-day activities as a landscape architect. You can cover topics on your typical daily schedule, how you manage your time with multiple projects and create vlogs of your daily life
It’s important to be consistent with your postings and improve as you progress. I find that it’s much easier to stick to something new if you have the right systems in place e.g. a fixed setup for video shoots and enough storage space for new videos.
YouTube allows you to earn through advertising income, affiliate income, sponsorships and earnings from selling your own products! You can be selling both physical and digital product online by promoting them with YouTube.
Interesting YouTube channels in the landscape designing niche:
| What do I need to start? | – A camera to record – Portable microphone for better sound – A video editing software |
Read: What I spent for my vlogging gear in first 6 months
3. Start a podcast for landscape architects
If you’re one with a lot of ideas and love talking about them, you can start your own podcast to professionally record your landscape architectural wisdom!
Just like starting a YouTube channel, you have to define the audience you wish to target. This can either be other landscape architects in the industry or people who love landscape designing in general.
I find that’s it’s always best to start in a narrower niche compared to a broad one as it helps you plan your content better even with a full-time job. Most people give up on their long term projects due to burn out and not because they’re not getting the right views/followers.
Podcasting is much more manageable if you have a full-time job. It’s also practical for you to video-record your podcast sessions and upload them on YouTube – saves time and not a lot of editing!
Just make sure you get a good microphone, headset and learn how to use the right editing software. By becoming a podcaster, you can earn through downloads and brand sponsorships.
| What do I need to start? | – Good desk microphone – Set of quality earphones – An audio editing software |
Check out: 13 best design podcasts for architects
Prefer writing more than talking to a mic or a camera? You can make a good side income by writing for your own blog. Compared to the two ideas I’ve listed above, blogging requires some technical skills in the beginning when you’re setting up your site.
The best tip I can give to bloggers is to make your content educational or inspirational. Educational content is much more searchable via Google search compared to personal stories of yourself.
You can create a blog for home landscape ideas, landscape maintenance, gardening or just designing in general. Just like I’ve mentioned above, sticking to a few main topics will make it easier for you and your busy schedule (plus hectic mind).
Blogging can bring in passive income in the form of advertising revenue, affiliate commissions, brand deals and sales of your own digital products e.g. courses.
Check out my free article on how to set up a blog step-by-step.
| What do I need to start? | – A WordPress Website – Domain name & hosting – Passion to write for a specific niche |
Read: Why I invested in a blogging coach before doing anything else
5. Earn through promoting affiliate products and services
Anyone can be earning commissions from promoting affiliate links to products or services they like. Once a person clicks on the link and makes a purchase, you will get a fraction of the sale amount.
Commission rates can start from 0.5% all the way up to 50% depending on the type of industry. Generally, physical products with have much lower commission rates compared to digital products!
While most content creators make a good chunk from sharing their links on YouTube and on their blogs, there’s still opportunities to earn the same with social media. It’s even better if you have a good number of followers on platforms like Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram and TikTok!
Popular affiliate marketplaces to check out are Amazon Associates, CJ affiliate, Clickbank, Share-a-sale and Rakuten Advertising. Sign up for an account and start promoting!
| What do I need to start? | – Affiliate products or services you can promote – Social media account with growing followers |
6. Take photos of nature to sell online with stock websites
As a landscape architect, you’ve probably taken a lot of photos of your work as well as others’ for inspiration or mere collection. Good news for you, you can make money from selling these photos!
Selling your original pictures on stock websites can bring in passive income as sales can even happen while you’re asleep. Although it can’t bring in a lot in the beginning, your earnings should increase as you upload more photos for sale.
Photos are a form of digital product and can be sold repeatedly to many people with zero stock count. Large websites and content creators resort to buying paid images for their business use as they’re usually higher quality, unique and not commonly used (compared to free images).
You can also make money on the side by being a photographer for weddings and events. However, that would consume your time!
Stock websites you can join to start:
| What do I need to start? | – A good camera & photography skills – Basic photo editing skills – Consistency to upload photos frequently |
7. Write for architecture blogs and websites
If you don’t want to go through the technical process of building your own blog, you can get paid writing for other blogs and websites on a freelance basis.
You’ll need good writing skills (for the language you’re writing in), basic SEO knowledge as well as ability to do good research. This beginner freelance writing course would teach you everything you need to know about writing for clients!
By focusing on writing for topics of architecture and landscape design, you can make more than the average freelance writer and earn beyond $100 per article. Specialization is the way to go!
| What do I need to start? | – Writing skills – Good command of English or language you’re writing for – Promote your freelance writing service |
8. Create and sell online courses for landscape design
Well experienced in landscape architecture and confident enough that you know all that you need to know? You can make a good side income by selling online courses.
Of course, you don’t need to have 100% knowledge to start – it’s good to just be ahead of others i.e. beginners!
Online courses are a more complex form of digital products and you can make money passively through repeated sales. People have a higher tendency to purchase a course if it’s easy to consume, allows them to upskill and perhaps earn extra income from it.
You can be making courses for college students taking the subject or for anyone that needs extra guidance on using a software for landscape design.
By selling your courses on learning platform listed below, you get to reach a wider global audience and keep prices reasonable for anyone’s learning!
Some sites you can host online courses on:
| What do I need to start? | – A niched course idea – Well thought out module – Tools to record your lessons e.g. screen record, microphone |
Creating courses is too much work for you? Here’s a list of digital products you can make to sell on easy platforms like Etsy. I’ve made a quick guide on how to make these products too!
9. Self publish your own landscape design e-book with Amazon KDP
If you are well recognized in the industry or in your area for landscape design, you might just open more doors by publishing your own book.
What most people don’t know is they can self-publish their own book through online publication sites like Amazon KDP, Lulu or Book Baby – without going through traditional publishing companies. It saves a lot of your time as you can set it up for sales faster and you would still get your royalties as a book writer.
By selling on these sites, your audience will have the option to purchase your book in digital form (e-book) or a physical printed one.
You can also include affiliate links to products within your e-book and even redirect people to your social media accounts. E-books can bring in passive income, even more so if you have an online audience to promote your book to!
| What do I need to start? | – Book writing skills – Join an online self-publishing platform |
10. Host live landscape designing classes for home owners
Love having in-person interactions and managing a small community instead of a big one? You can still make money by hosting face-to-face classes instead of just selling pre-recorded online materials.
I find that live classes are best with a small group as they’re more manageable. To be able to make a good income with just a few clients, you have to make it limited and exclusive. You should also price appropriately according to the time it takes for you to teach!
To get recurrent customers, offer discounts if a customer signs up for a multi-session package and get them to pay ahead. Offering private lessons alongside group ones can do well, especially if you structure the classes for different levels (beginners to advance).
| What do I need to start? | – Tools and equipment for group classes – Space to host your classes – Platform to promote your services |
11. Sell digital products for landscape architecture on Etsy
If you want to get started with selling digital products, the easiest platform to use is Etsy. Etsy allows listing of digital products where sellers don’t need to ship anything and buyers will get to immediately download the files upon purchase.
Although it’s tough to get any sales selling landscape designs on Etsy, you may have some luck with selling landscape elements or presets for use on Photoshop or Procreate. Samples below!
Think of it as a way to diversify your sources of passive income. Selling different products to different audiences allows you to better manage your cashflow – if one fails, the other should still be thriving.
You can check out my list of 18 cool digital products to sell on Etsy.
| What do I need to start? | – A digital or physical product idea – Tools to create the digital product – Storage space to keep your ready wood products – Platform to sell on |
12. Teach landscape architecture at universities or colleges
Not interested in creating online courses or hosting classes but still want to explore teaching? You can get a part-time job as a landscape design professor or teaching assistant.
Teaching structured modules is a great way to recap your studies and put your knowledge/experience to another professional use. You get to build connections with academia and possibly build a path for your retirement days.
Apply to relevant openings in your area to teach on weekday nights or weekends. You will have to consider the time it takes to prepare for lectures, after class discussions and conducting student assessments.
| What do I need to start? | – Relevant working experience in the field – Ability to commit to teaching and assessment work – Job openings to apply to |
13. Pet-sit for others on the weekends
Looking for something that don’t require much thinking in your free time? You can become a pet-sitter for other pet owners in your area!
Sign up to apps like Rover or WagWalking that lets you pet-sit professionally. You’ll get clear instructions as pet owners get to specify the type of service they need e.g. dog boarding, house-sitting, drop-in visits, day care or just walking.
Pet sitters typically charge $15-20 per visit and can make at least $200 in a single week with just 10 visits!
You can also take the opportunity to promote your landscape design services to pet owners with large yards and gardens. If they love their pets, there’s a high chance they love having a nice garden too.
Services you can include with pet sitting:
- Walking
- Home boarding
- Sleepovers and night care
- Training
- Bring to vet
- Basic grooming & care
- Travel trips
| What do I need to start? | – Good skills with pets e.g. dogs, cats – Tools for the service you want to offer – Socializing to get clients |
14. Buy and resell old furniture for profit
If selling your own branded furniture seems like too much work, you can explore another route as a furniture lover. Buying second hand or vintage furniture for cheap then fixing it to resell for profit is a way to make money on the side.
You can focus on entirely outdoor furniture or just wooden furniture in general. Aside from finding these gems at your local flea market or online marketplaces, you can pick them up for free whenever someone places their unwanted furniture by the roadside.
Sometimes a good paint work is all they need to look good again!
| What do I need to start? | – Good eye to spot unique furniture to flip – Storage space to keep new furniture – Platform to resell your upgraded furniture |
15. Provide freelance landscape design consulting services
There are all kinds of freelance services you can offer online if you’re specializing in landscape design – even with a full-time job. Truth is, most freelancers start side jobs while having a day job and slowly transitioned into freelancing full-time.
You can start by offering free or low-cost design services for non-profits or local communities. This helps complete your portfolio as well as build connections with people in the industry. With enough sample work, you can get better jobs in the future!
Some areas you may want to look into are public parks, artificial lakes, tree nurseries, forestry or even cemeteries. Specializing in one of these fields can help create a good reputation for you as a landscape architect.
If you’re looking for a more challenging role, consider getting a part-time job with an outdoor landscape supplier company (any kind). They may need a landscape architect to support their sales team!
Other ways to promote your services:
- Fiverr
- Upwork
- PeoplePerHour
- Indeed
- TikTok (because anything can go viral here)
- Build your own website
| What do I need to start? | – An online portfolio of your best work – Freelance contract templates to work with – Platform to market your services |
16. Create customized designs for others on Fiverr
If you don’t want the headache of working on long term projects but still interested to offer straightforward designing services, Fiverr is the best place to promote yourself on. Just link your profile to a Behance portfolio to make things easier!
Of course, price can be a huge problem here due to great competition but with enough good reviews, people would be willing to pay you a higher rate. Price reflects quality!
You can offer simple landscape design jobs with 2D or 3D rendering plus video animations as landscape architecture is quite a big field.
It’s always important to maintain good track record of your response rate on Fiverr and get your customers to leave a review.
| What do I need to start? | – An online portfolio of your best work – Standard service to offer – Platform to market your services |
17. Become a video game designer
Other fields that requires the expertise of a landscape architect would be video games. It’s a huge industry to be in and with the rise of NFTs, there’s ample opportunities for you to explore.
You just need to find the right one!
As a game designer, you don’t have to know anything about programming to start. You just need to design the elements of the game and ensure it sticks to the overall concept by working closely with the art and programming teams.
Of course, you’ll have to prioritize the user’s overall experience while also making the game as fun and immersive as possible.
It’s much more possible to get part-time roles or find freelance project-based opportunities if you’re working with smaller companies – as opposed to bigger ones.
| What do I need to start? | – An online portfolio of your best work – Experience in playing games with understanding of how it works – Job openings to apply to |
Check out: 6 steps to take to start a video game designing career
18. Offer garden maintenance services
Looking for something that does not require much thinking? You can start a side business for garden maintenance on sites like Nextdoor or Yelp.
As a landscape architect, you have probably worked on countless projects to design and beautify someone’s yard. However, not everyone can afford those services or know they exist.
By doing simple garden maintenance work like weeding, pruning or planting, you get to meet new people in your area and promote your landscape designing work as an optional service.
People are more inclined to make big purchases from people they already know!
| What do I need to start? | – Tools for the service you want to offer – Vehicle to drive around – Platform to market your services |
Aside from video game designing, you can explore other fields as a landscape architect. This includes software development, product design or art and graphic design.
Choose one area where you’re passionate to learn more and take a whole year to immerse yourself in it. You’ll be surprised what other jobs or side hustles you can get into that will also use your knowledge in landscape architecture.
This is even truer for graphic design! There are so many things you can create within the graphic designing field to make work easier for landscape architects and designers in general.
You can get into creating software for landscape design or build products from scratch with the idea of outdoor use (almost like a carpenter).
| What do I need to start? | – Interest to build relevant skills in another field – Time to create sample work and build portfolio – Job openings to apply to |
20. Prepare marketing materials for commercial spaces
Instead of drawing and designing landscapes for new projects, you can explore other services like redrawing layouts for existing commercial buildings and spaces.
Often, when landlords want to rent out or sell a space that was used before, they may not have an updated layout drawing that includes all newly installed fittings and fixtures. As a result, real estate agents have a hard time to market the space!
This is where you come in with your 2D/3D drawing skills. You won’t need to do any ground work or be the one to inspect the floors, just get the necessary documents e.g. PDF layout and render it into CAD.
Ensure any freelance jobs you undertake involve a simple contract stating your job scope and the intended use of your final work i.e. marketing materials only.
| What do I need to start? | – Skills to use relevant tools for drawing/designing – Freelance contract template to work with – Platform to market your services |
21. Sell your own merchandise with print on demand
Been thinking of starting an ecommerce dropshipping business? I would suggest trying out print on demand first as a beginner – check out my seven reasons why POD is for you.
Print on demand is quite similar to dropshipping as you don’t have to pay anything until you make a sale and don’t have to hold any stock.
You can set up your merchandise shop on Etsy for free using Printify or Printful as your POD supplier. Once a customer makes a purchase, your POD supplier will automatically process the order, print the product and ship it directly to your customer.
You’ll just need to make your own designs using Canva or Kittl then upload them to products like leggings, tote bags and even yard signs – I’ve listed more down below.
If you don’t have the time to design yourself, purchase ready ones instead on marketplaces like Envato Elements or Creative Fabrica.
| What do I need to start? | – Basic designing skills – A laptop to work with – An initial niche and product |
Can’t decide what product to design and sell? Check out my product guides before deciding!
- Tote bags for print on demand
- Tumblers for print on demand
- Phone cases for print on demand
- Posters for print on demand
- Leggings for print on demand
- Jewelry for print on demand
- Candles for print on demand
- Doormats for print on demand
- Hoodies for print on demand
- Pet products for print on demand
- Socks for print on demand
- Pajamas for print on demand
- Blankets for print on demand
- Baby clothes for print on demand
- Wrapping paper for print on demand
- Puzzles for print on demand
- Stickers for print on demand
- Athletic wear for print on demand
- Hats for print on demand
- Journals for print on demand
- Greeting cards for print on demand
- Mugs for print on demand
13 Ways On How To Make Money Online As An Architect
Here are 13 ideas on how you can make money online as an architect:
- Offer freelance services on Fiverr
- Work on long term projects on Upwork
- Provide online consultation services
- Sell digital products on Etsy
- Start an ecommerce business
- Write your own e-book to sell with Amazon KDP
- Teach others how to use software for architecture
- Share architectural wisdom as a YouTuber
- Write for your own architecture blog
- Secure brand sponsorships as an influencer
- Build a podcast on design for other architects
- Get paid as a freelance writer for big websites
- Sell photos of buildings and home design on stock websites
9 Remote Architecture Jobs
Here are 9 remote architecture jobs you can explore:
- Freelance content writer
- E-book seller
- Course creator
- Podcaster
- YouTuber
- Etsy seller
- Online consultant
- Project manager
- Blogger
11 Ideas On Passive Income For Architects
Here are 11 ways you can make passive income as an architect:
- Start your own YouTube channel
- Sell tools for architectural studies using ecommerce
- Create digital guides for other architects
- Sell your own planners for architects
- Teach design with an online course
- Promote affiliate links to products or services you use
- Write your own e-book on architecture
- Earn through advertisements with your own blog
- Write for Medium and earn with their Partner Program
- Sell your photos on stock websites
- Create and sell Canva templates for architects
11 Online Jobs For Architecture Students
Here are 11 suitable online jobs for architecture students:
- Create 2D or 3D landscape designs for others
- Sell tools for other students in architecture
- Become a video game designer
- Write content on freelance basis
- Sell digital products for architecture on Etsy
- Promote affiliate links to your favorite products/services
- Proofread documents for other students
- Tutor or teach school kids online in your free time
- Get a role as remote editor for architectural content
- Build your own podcast for aspiring architects
- Sell photos online for buildings and design
Which Side Hustle Should I Choose?
Unsure which side hustles for landscape architects you should go for? Here are the top 6 things to consider when deciding which is best for you.
- How much time can you commit to it?
- Consider how much time you can set aside for your side hustle for weekdays and weekends
- What type of income are you looking for?
- Do you want to make income actively or passively while you sleep?
- What sparks interest & passion in you?
- Choose a side hustle that aligns to your personal goals and interests as it keeps you motivated
- Are you an extrovert or an introvert?
- Different side hustles requires different level of communication with the outside world, are you comfortable meeting new people every day?
- What is your current partner or friend up to that you can leverage on?
- Doing something with a friend or partner makes things easier and more manageable
- How soon do you need to make extra money?
- Not all side hustles make the same amount of money in the same pace, do you need money today or in a year’s time?
Bottom Line
Although your profession is narrowed down to landscape and outdoor design, you don’t have to choose a side hustle that focuses too much on that.
Having the opportunity to build a side hustle means you have the chance to try out new things – to see whether you like it or you don’t. Choose something then move on or go deeper into it!
There’s just so many ways to make extra income with landscaping and designing.
I always encourage my readers to build passive income streams and have the freedom of time!
Here are 21 best side hustles for landscape architects:
- Sell your own outdoor furniture
- Teach landscaping with a personal YouTube channel
- Start a podcast for landscape architects
- Share your landscaping knowledge with a blog
- Earn through promoting affiliate products and services
- Take photos of nature to sell online with stock websites
- Write for architecture blogs and websites
- Create and sell online courses for landscape design
- Self publish your own landscape design e-book with Amazon KDP
- Host live landscape designing classes for home owners
- Sell digital products for landscape architecture on Etsy
- Teach landscape architecture at universities or colleges
- Pet-sit for others on the weekends
- Buy and resell old furniture for profit
- Provide freelance landscape design consulting services
- Create customized designs for others on Fiverr
- Become a video game designer
- Offer garden maintenance services
- Explore related opportunities in design
- Prepare marketing materials for commercial spaces
- Sell your own merchandise with print on demand
I’m not one to brag, but blogging has changed my life. I’ve been able to earn an income passively while on a coffee date and traveling with my family. With everything, it takes time to learn and not an overnight success – to speed things up, get yourself a blogging coach before starting.
These are my blogging resources to help you out:
- Step-by-step guide how to start blogging in your free time
- Why you need a blogging coach right from the start
- Worried of exposing yourself? You can blog anonymously
