If you enjoy playing airsoft but also wonder about making money then perhaps you can make some by doing exactly that. Airsoft is a hobby of yours and you share the same hobby with million other people across the globe, so there must be some interest that some of those people have in common.
I will share a few tips on how to make money with airsoft that you can do on your own after acquiring certain skills that will offer a solution that people need.
This an interesting topic because I believe that hobby is there for entertainment purposes, to make us feel better and to fill that empty spot in our lives, but it does not mean that you must stop at that, you can actually make enough money to feel comfortable with it.
This is a great thing for everyone, including those who want to add all those shiny new guns to their collections but miss the money to do so or for everyone else who just wants to save some money at the side for other things in life.
If you have an airsoft gun that is broken or you no longer need it, check my other post where I share some tips on how to sell them, you will also find common hot parts that are useful and sell well.
So, how do you make money by playing airsoft?
You can make money in airsoft by fixing, upgrading or reselling guns for other players. If you want to really get dedicated to it, you may apply for the sponsorship too.
Making money comes from solving problems that other people have and if you are good at it, who is there to stop you? All skills and opportunities that you need come from playing and being involved in airsoft.
Before I get deeper into this I must tell you that you should not expect to get rich by doing any of these, unless you become a new Novritsch with a youtube channel of over million subscribers, but you can certainly make enough money for some living expenses with these side jobs.
1. Fix guns for other people
Have you had a problem with an airsoft gun in past and it needed fixing? Well, there are many people who had such problems and there are even more people who are going to have these problems in future.
After finally deciding what gun they want or after playing with it for a couple of months, it breaks or starts to malfunction and makes people sad.
This happens often when you observe large groups of people and if they want to continue playing airsoft, they need to repair it or purchase a new one.
Purchasing a new gun is expensive and it makes no sense to do so after investing into something that you believed that is going to last you a very long time, only to see it break in a few months.
Well, you can solve this problem for others and make money doing it! The problem probably lies in internals and if you spend time researching the gun’s internals and the logic behind it, you will be able to spot a problem and fix it.
The most common problems that people have with their guns is a bad accuracy when the gun shoots at a bad angle, diagonal or curves way too much after certain distance.
There are also other problems and sometimes some parts may be completely broken and thus need replacing, but most of these common problems are caused by a bad inner barrel alignment, hop up unit not being properly adjusted, rubber being worn out and so on.
All mention problems are fixable and you do not need many tools to fix them beside some previous knowledge about guns. If you can fix these problems and save people money that they would otherwise spend on a new gun, you can surely charge some money for the services you provided.
You can start developing these skills by disassembling and reassembling your own guns and by analyzing the inner mechanics and how they work.
Lots of useful information can be found on internet if you decide to search for it or you can find a person that already fixes guns for others and ask them a couple questions about the problem that you want to get skilled at fixing.
There are many people who like talking about this including me, and all you need to put in is your energy and time. In a matter of weeks you will be able to fix guns for people who did not want to pass the learning gap and instead must pay to people like you to solve it for them.
Some of those common fixes that people often need can be found in my post that I have created recently on the most common reasons why airsoft guns do not shoot straight.
2. Upgrade guns for other people
Something does not have to be broken to be improved and as a matter of fact this is often a case in airsoft. Almost any gun that can be found on airsoft market, no matters how good it may be, can be upgraded to become better.
This means that the upgraded version of a gun has better range and accuracy, efficiency or in some cases becomes a completely different and superior product that can be measured in multiple ways.
It is a common thing that people upgrade their guns in airsoft, but the most important thing is that they can not do it unless they are taught how to or without lending it to someone with expertise.
Upgrading guns require new and improved inner gun and outer gun parts and devices that can be found on the market and then they need to be properly installed on a gun. A gun can be upgraded by strengthening it using necessary tools as well, so you do not always need to buy new components and one example of this is the gun compression.
So, what you can do here is to learn how you can upgrade certain gun models that people have, using tools that you should also invest into and by ordering those upgrades directly for people if they miss the knowledge.
There are many different ways to achieve same things and there are many different parts that will do the different job on a gun, so a client can come to your place with already organized idea and prepared upgrade parts or they can leave everything up to you and just demand a complete upgraded gun.
This is one of the most common ways to make money in airsoft and it requires some deeper understanding of how airsoft replicas work because there are many ways to do upgrades. nevertheless, all necessary skills can be learned and my recommendation to learn them is by upgrading your own arsenal or by observing others do it in real life and on internet.
I have created a post on some ways to upgrade the accuracy and range of an airsoft gun, so for more ideas, you can check it out here and see what I am talking about.
3. Resell the guns
This is one of the methods that some people find dishonest but others see a good potential within.
I do not like reselling used stuff and then marketing it as the new stuff that is worth far more than what I paid for and some people do exactly this. I do not have anything against it if the quality is present and if the gear is in a good condition but I still prefer to buy from qualified merchants and stores because unless you trust someone and know what they bring you, you may find yourself scammed sometimes.
So there are two options in these, the first one is to find cheaper, older, perhaps broken stuff and then find customers and sell it to them by presenting it to be in a way better shape than in which it actually is and profit.
The other and the right way is to find cheaper, older, perhaps broken stuff and fix it, polish it, upgrade it ( in shorts words, add any value before you sell it) and then find customers who need that stuff and sell it to them.
This other way is the way to do business, especially if you do not want to get hated and the community remembers everything.
It is always about the long term game and you do not want to scam people, be fair and understand that just because you managed to fool one beginner to pay you more for something then what it is actually worth does not mean that you will have luck repeating it next time.
The best model for this is to look for broken and non upgraded guns and gear because such stuff can always be found at discounted prices. The second step is to add the value to it as mentioned above and find a way to advertise yourself.
How to advertise your services?
You can do the marketing by simply approaching people in a field and telling them what your services are and what they can expect from you. If you are good at what you provide, you will be able to get customers without any further marketing campaign because people will find you.
This is not a big business that will make you millions and nor is a big strategy required.
Invest in the skills and learn to fix, upgrade and find guns and gear at cheaper prices and you will see the results.
When a customer talks about their positive experiences with you it is worth ten times that which you say or write about yourself.
4. Apply for sponsorship
This is the most difficult way to make it money in airsoft, but perhaps may be the most rewarding one if you do everything correctly and consistently.
The logic behind this is to become someone that can bring attention of others to related products of the companies that sponsorship you.
You can achieve this by entertaining the airsoft audience, by helping them or educating them about airsoft and what it offers or by organizing stuff for those who are interested to participate in such airsoft events.
Once you do it and gather enough people at one place ( take their attention) you can apply for sponsorship of any company that offers it and therefore make a deal that benefits the both sides including the participants.
This is often a percentage of money that those companies make thanks to you and if you are good at providing value to people, you shall see real results.
This can be anything like a youtube channel, website, event organization or you can create a team and start branding it.
There certainly are many ways to make it with sponsorship but you need to be aware that this is a professional business for the company that offers sponsorship and you need to take it seriously, therefore an occasional side job may not fit into its description and you may need to keep working hard and keep producing great value for people consistently.
So, if your expectations are to receive companies guns and gear but give nothing in return then you should better choose the other options like those mentioned above.
For instance, if you have a youtube channel that shows entertaining montages of you and your team rocking cheaters in airsoft, you will need to consistently record videos, edit them and publish when your audience demands it to see results.
You will need to have your own gear and cameras, microphones and editing to reach required amount of subscribers and views before you can apply for sponsorship.
Therefore, before you reach at least 1000 subscribers you probably won’t interest companies that offer sponsorship and if you organize events where only 5 guys show up you will not have much to offer either.
The conclusion
No matters what you choose to go with be realistic about your expectations and do not expect to make millions with any of mentioned methods. When it comes to pricing it will all depend on the community and region, so you will have to figure it out on your own, but once you get into research and develop your skills you will get the feeling for how much you are worth.
Most importantly make sure that you like helping or entertaining people related to the airsoft content because with money being first on the mind it is difficult to make anything.
The value goes first and the money follows it, so focus on value and quality. I would have quit this blog a long time ago If I expected to make big money in short amount of the time, but because I enjoy writing and informing people I feel that I am at the right place.