Side hustles are becoming the new normal as more and more Americans tend to need additional income. Apart from extra cash, a good side hustle idea will give you a sense of satisfaction and some much-needed socialization opportunities.
Not every side hustle is fit for everyone, so a good strategy is to narrow your search by gender. Some side hustles are often better suited for women, and others are better suited for men. It’s not that women can’t pick a profitable side hustle for men and vice versa.
Men and women simply tend to choose different side hustles. We listed twenty of the best side hustles for men, along with some tips for getting started. Even if you do not find your dream gig here, it will definitely give you some good side hustle ideas to work with.
What Is a Side Hustle?
A side hustle refers to an additional job people undertake alongside their full-time employment to generate extra money. Most side hustles involve freelance work and often leverage individuals’ passions to create a supplementary income during their spare time.
It’s essential to distinguish between side hustles and part-time jobs, as the former grants individuals autonomy over their workload and earnings. Side hustles can be a valuable income source for those seeking extra funds to cover expenses or explore their entrepreneurial abilities.
Best Side Hustle Job Ideas for Men to Earn Money
We selected the side hustles for men here based on how easy it is to start and the additional income potential. Some side hustle ideas will require a specific skill set, but developing such skills is akin to starting a hobby for most men. That’s what makes them side hustles for men specifically.
Fill Out Online Surveys
Filling out paid online surveys tops this list, but not because it’s a side hustle specifically suited for men. Quite the opposite, anyone can earn easy money by taking online surveys. You simply need to share your opinions about products, brands, or other trending topics.
On average, online surveys take around thirty minutes to complete, and you get paid around $1. It isn’t much, but you can do it with your phone whenever you like it – on your commute, while waiting in a line, or during a commercial.
Once you gather enough for a payout, usually $5, you can get paid in various gift cards, cryptocurrencies, a simple bank transfer, or PayPal cash. Basically, it’s an extra money side hustle idea that can monetize time others usually waste.
Earning Potential
Filling out one survey per day is easily doable for most and will bring you around $4 per week. Such calculation is a rough estimate as the total earnings depend on your demographics and efforts. For many users, earning $10 per month is quite realistic.
Provide Handyman Services
Providing handyman services is one of the most traditional side hustles for men. You’ll be doing small repair and maintenance jobs, from mounting TVs to repairing clogged sinks. Besides skills, the essentials for this job include various tools and a car to reach clients. Often, the commute will take most of your time.
Platforms like TaskRabbit, Thumbtack, KnockNok, and many others are popular to find such side hustles. You will need to adjust your prices and build a reputable portfolio to succeed. If you do quality work, later opportunities will find you through recommendations.
Earning Potential
Depending on your skills, you can charge anywhere from $30 to $80 per hour for your services. If you do it at least occasionally, it can provide an extra income of over $500 per month before taxes easily.
Manage Properties
A side hustle as a property manager is an excellent option for men. Unlike a handyman who works on an on-call basis, property managers look over agreed real estate all the time. This might include not only small repairs and cleaning but also dealing with tenants or other administrative tasks.
It offers flexibility in scheduling and the ability to work remotely. You can address inquiries or requests by visiting properties during your commute or lunch break. Depending on the number of properties you choose to manage, there may be idle time, but you’ll still earn money as the primary point of contact.
Earning Potential
According to Indeed, even assistant property managers earn around $20 per hour. You could earn two or three times that much depending on your seniority and the number of properties you manage. Of course, for such professionals, this isn’t a side hustle anymore.
Offer Fitness Coaching
If you are passionate about building muscles and keeping fit, as many men are, consider becoming a fitness coach. Most local gyms and clubs accept experienced instructors easily as it attracts new customers for them.
It’s one of the best side hustles for men who want to keep active physically and socially. You not only need to be fit yourself but be able to inspire and motivate others to stay healthy as well. Good fitness coaches earn a lot of extra money, too.
Earning Potential
Fitness coaches can charge anywhere between $20 to $200 and more per session with one client. It all depends on your location and specialization. If you are doing it as a side hustle on evenings and weekends, don’t expect to earn hundreds for one session.
Start a Vending Machine Business
A vending machine business can be a profitable side hustle for men. By investing upfront to purchase the machine, you can earn money almost passively. The business model is quite simple.
Stock your vending machine with snacks, drinks, gum, and toys to attract customers. Place the machine in local businesses such as gas stations, hotels, truck stops, and gyms. Arrive to collect the money your vending machine has earned during the week.
The most difficult part is to negotiate an agreement with the lot owner to allow you to use their space. The better deals you get, the more money you will earn.
Earning Potential
One vending machine can earn more than five thousand per year, but the success rate of turning a profit isn’t 100%. The location and type of vending machine determine everything. Usually, the more machines you have, the more money they will earn as supply runs, and the purchase of goods will become cheaper.
Sell Digital Products
Vending machines and similar side hustle ideas might require significant capital. If you have nothing but your creativity to invest, selling digital products might be the side hustle for you. The market for digital artwork, logos, music, photography, video, and website design templates is thriving.
You can generate income by digitally creating and selling these products through your website, social media platforms, and various digital marketplaces. It’s even possible to make a profit with free tools like Canva, PhotoPea, and the Garageband app.
Earning Potential
Depending on your monetization model, you can be earning thousands from your digital art. Quality photos and videos on Stocksy, for example, can earn you $20 – $50 per month easily. Logos start from around $300, and full website design templates can cost thousands.
Share Unused Bandwidth
Sharing internet bandwidth via secure connections is another side hustle that’s hard to pass on, no matter your gender. Countless organizations and individuals are looking for ways to bypass internet restrictions, and that makes your connection valuable.
Your IP address might have specific access to websites and other data that isn’t accessible elsewhere. Sharing access from your smartphone or PC makes the internet more accessible, but it’s also a great side hustle.
You can earn money passively by simply downloading an app, such as Pawns.app, which allows you to share your connection. None of your personal data is shared, and you don’t need to do anything more than flip a switch and keep the device turned on.
Earning Potential
The more internet access you share, the more extra income you will earn. Sharing one IP will earn you close to $10 per month by simply keeping the device turned on. If you take it as a serious side hustle, you can earn hundreds.
Book Narration and Voice Acting
Male voice actors are always in high demand, making it a lucrative side hustle for men. With the constant release of new shows and movies, there is a growing need for various voices to bring these productions to life. Voice acting goes beyond film or animation.
If you possess fluency in a language other than English, you can venture into voiceover acting and also translate the material. Some narrators make it their side hustle to narrate audiobooks and essentially get paid to read books.
Earning Potential
Narrators and voice actors get paid at a per finished hour (PFH) recording rate. Usually, it starts from $50, while celebrity narrators and actors can earn thousands.
Become a Woodworker
If woodworking is your hobby or you think it could be, consider turning it into a lucrative side hustle. You can create items such as shelves, children’s toys, and unique furniture pieces to sell for extra cash.
The handmade nature of these items allows you to charge a premium for the time, materials, and craftsmanship involved in their creation. Whether you spend an hour after work each night or utilize free time on weekends, you must evaluate it fairly.
Earning Potential
Even skilled woodworkers can have periods without selling anything until their listings attract customers or when they visit a physical fair or marketplace. A professional woodworker can earn a comfortable living, but it varies depending on the niche and skills.
Offer 3D Printing Services
If you lean more toward the newest tech, then offering 3D printing services might be a potential side hustle. Many people find 3D printing expensive due to material and hardware costs. Capitalize on this by providing your 3D printing services to friends, family, and neighbors.
With 3D printing, you can cater to a wide range of customers’ needs, such as quick gifts for festive seasons, last-minute anniversary presents, and various knickknacks. This versatile service can attract many potential customers and generate steady income.
Earning Potential
The smallest project can cost only $5, but a more expensive one may require you to charge customers hundreds or even thousands of dollars. You’ll also need to include the price of materials, but 3D printing can be profitable, especially if you include 3D designing services in your business model.
Build Websites
The website building and designing industry is thriving, considering the significant number of websites being added to the internet every day. If you possess computer skills and website development experience, you can transform this expertise into a profitable side hustle.
Consider dedicating your spare time to designing websites, but make sure you meet project deadlines. This line of work can be demanding due to the coding involved, but with a willingness to learn and patience, you can complete websites and receive payment for your coding skills promptly.
Earning Potential
The earning potential for web designers is substantial, with simple websites fetching up to $2,000 and more complex ones generating tens of thousands of dollars.
Ride-hailing
Ride-hailing services, such as Uber, are one of the most popular side hustles for men. It offers flexible working hours and the freedom to choose your own locations. Due to the nature of the work and that it often involves maintaining cars, it’s a side hustle attractive to young men.
Of course, to start, you will need a valid driver’s license, car insurance, and a reliable vehicle. Once approved, the ride-hailing app will send you orders to pick up and drop off passengers in your vicinity. A similar side hustle for men is joining services like Uber Eats and earning extra money by delivering food.
Earning Potential
Your earnings depend on how many orders there are in your area, what car you drive, and how much you work. An active driver working in a well-urbanized area, such as New York, can expect to earn at least over $20 per ride.
Car Maintenance
Driving strange around the town isn’t for everyone. A good side hustle for men who like cars but don’t want to drive passengers is paid car maintenance. Depending on your skills, it could be small repairs, car detailing, or cleaning.
Many drivers overvalue how easy some of these services are or don’t have the tools and time to perform them themselves. Purchasing the equipment, learning how to maintain a car, and then offering these services online are great side hustles for men.
Earning Potential
Basic cleaning of a card can cost from $50 to a hundred. Detailing is a lot more expensive and, depending on the car, can cost a couple of hundred for one service. Charging that much for small repairs or detailing will take some time in the side hustle.
Play Paid Games
Earn extra cash by playing paid games. It’s easier than it sounds; you download an app, such as the Pawns app, and its reward systems offer points that can be exchanged for real money or gift cards.
Often, you will need to reach some achievements, play the game for a certain amount of time, or describe your experiences with it. In all cases, you will be earning money from playing games. It’s the best side hustle if you are doing it in your free time anyway.
Earning Potential
You can earn in the ballpark of $10 monthly by playing an hour each day. Inviting friends and participating in other activities can add lots of additional earnings.
Start a Rental Business
Consider starting a rental business as a side hustle to earn passive income. Renting out expensive equipment such as bikes, cameras, drones, cars, musical instruments, or lawn care tools can help you make extra cash. Social media and specific platforms, such as Yoodlize, can help you find local renters.
You are free to set your rates and determine when renters can access your belongings, making it a flexible and rewarding passive side hustle option to explore. The biggest challenge is to research the market and know what is in high demand for the best prices.
Earning Potential
With just a few high-value monthly rentals, you can easily earn a hundred dollars without much effort. However, be sure to include the risks of your equipment breaking and deteriorating over time. Not accounting for it can even lead to losses.
Photography and Videography
If you are a photography enthusiast, then making photos and videos of weddings or other celebrations can be a good side hustle idea. Work usually takes place on weekends or evenings, and you get paid quite handsomely for your services.
A related side hustle that is commonly trending is the embrace of drone photography and videography. Making photos of events, locations, and real estate can be a well-paid gig, but you’ll need some skills, good equipment, and, in some cases, even licenses to make it profitable.
Earning Potential
A good wedding photographer can easily charge over $5000 per wedding and have ten or twenty paid events per season. Drone photography is a newer skill but is quickly rising in demand, so it’s fair to expect to earn at least half of that. However, you must consider that the initial investment in equipment will be costly.
Become an Online Tutor
Most of us have some skills we can teach others. Whether it’s coding, math, languages, or acting, with the possibility of online tutoring, you can make money from teaching others. Platforms like Preply, Chegg, TutorMe, K12, Italki, and others provide such possibilities for anyone.
Of course, you will earn more if you have some formal qualifications and can help students prepare for exams, but anyone can make it into a side hustle. Sometimes, people are willing to pay just to chat with a native speaker.
Earning Potential
Earnings fluctuate based on your qualifications and the disciplines you’ll be teaching. Generally, an online tutor who doesn’t do exam prep can expect to earn at least $15 per hour. You can also earn extra cash by posting your courses on sites like Udemy, in which case you would earn per course sold with custom pricing.
Start a YouTube Channel
While there’s a lot of competition among social media influencers, you can still make extra cash from YouTube. The most difficult part is getting into the YouTube partner program, which will require you to have a decent following.
Many niches are profitable – long-form videos, shorts, guides, animation, Vlogs, and much more. The key is not to dive into creation headfirst and research your options so that you would be able to find a niche that is most likely to be profitable.
Earnings Potential
100,000 monthly views will, on average, provide you $2,000. It’s a great side hustle for creative men since the more content you create, the better your earnings will be. Some have even become millionaires from YouTube.
Earn with Affiliate Marketing
One way to improve your YouTube earnings is by using affiliate marketing tactics. These include making deals with various companies to direct customers to their websites. Once customers make a purchase, you get a cut. Affiliate marketing can be a side hustle on its own.
All you need is a blog, social media channel, or any other means to attract visitors and get them to click your affiliate links. Platforms like ShareASale make it easy for anyone to start their affiliate marketing side hustle.
Earning Potential
A highly visited blog can earn a couple of thousand dollars per month. Other methods of promoting your affiliate links can earn similarly. In the end, it all depends on your contracts with partners and how many visitors you attract.
Flipping
Flipping is the practice of selling things at a lower price than you sell them in order to make a profit. Most commonly, this practice is applied to real estate properties, cars, antiques, or other expensive goods.
That’s not to say that people don’t make extra income from reselling electronics, clothes, and other cheaper goods. It’s a great side hustle for men with different budgets since the main value comes from your craftiness and knowledge in a particular field.
Earning Potential
Profits from these side hustles vary depending on what you sell and how much effort you put into renewing works. More expensive items, such as cars or real estate, can bring profits in thousands or even hundreds of thousands, but you’ll also need to invest accordingly.
Tips for Men Starting a Side Hustle
Embarking on a side hustle offers numerous benefits and takes you closer to financial flexibility and independence. Now that we have covered the best side gigs for men, here are some tips to remember when working for that extra cash!
Research Your Market
Thoroughly research the market related to your side hustle idea. It will help you identify customer needs and preferences and gain insight into your competition. Understanding your target audience and market dynamics positions you for success.
Set Goals and Make a Plan
Establishing clear goals ensures that your ambition remains ignited. It’s easier to maintain focus and motivation with clear goals. All successful entrepreneurs, even small ones, set goals and persistently pursue them.
Test the Waters
Begin by testing your ideas and skills through small projects. It allows you to assess the feasibility of your plan and identify any potential issues. By starting small, you can minimize future stress and make necessary adjustments. It’s also a good idea to try out multiple side hustles before committing fully to one.
Create a Schedule
A realistic schedule is essential since your side hustle will operate alongside your full-time job. Consider your motivation and availability to determine the hours you can allocate to your side gig on workdays. A structured schedule holds you accountable and consistently balances your priorities.
Be Realistic and Reliable
Don’t expect to start a side hustle and then quit your daytime job in a week. Side hustles are just a way to gain additional income. It’s better to aim to make the activities pleasurable to you as it’s your free time you will be sacrificing.
Set Trackable Goals
Determine how much extra income you need to make weekly or monthly. Set a specific goal to track your progress, and choose a side hustle with good income potential.
Wrapping Up
Side hustles are an excellent way to earn extra income, pursue your passions, or monetize your hobby in your spare time. No side hustle is a get-rich scheme that guarantees instant success. Like any business, a side hustle requires attention, commitment, and follow-through.
FAQ
What are some side hustles particularly suitable for men?
The ideal side hustle for men varies based on skills, resources, and goals. Freelancing, tutoring, or selling handmade crafts pose higher chances for success when driven by passion. Side hustles like flipping, web development, and affiliate marketing are suitable for those with tech expertise.
How can I balance a full-time job, life, and a side hustle?
The best way to balance these commitments is through dedication and effective time management. You should set realistic goals, communicate clearly, delegate, and practice self-care.
