There are tons of ways to make money out there, but implementing these ideas isn’t always a piece of cake, which is why we’ve taken the liberty of listing down some of the best small business ideas for men, which they can use to build a small, but reliable means of passive income that operates alongside your day job or your primary means of income, active income. 

These business ideas for men are essentially good home business opportunities for men, meaning you don’t need a hefty bank account and lots of knowledge on business startups and a business degree from Wharton or Harvard to get them to work; pick out your choice from this list, get down to work on it, give it a creative twist, and you’ll have a side income machine in no time. 

The following is a list best small business ideas for men, that you can use to create a little bit more in terms of money than you currently are from your job. Of course, these always have the potential to go big, where you can leave your day job to pursue it full time. These self-business ideas for men do not require much time or investment, but what they will require for the sake of growing into a much more profitable business entity is your creative input.

Consider this list as a base-model list for small business ideas for men that you can then personalize and customize with your own tastes to make it stand out. The canvas is yours, the pastels are there, and we’ve given you the ideas; now, quirky and personalized implementation is upto you.

These home business opportunities for men are something even the most swamped guy can carve out time for, especially if one of your hobbies happens to coincide with any entry on this list. If that is the case, then you can doubly benefit it, as it will pose more as your relaxation time rather than work time, and you will feel more content doing so. 

In this era of economic duress, especially in the post-Covid-19 world, many have found themselves without reliable employment, without a reliable source of income, and its become more and more imperative that everyone try to make for themselves a source of income that isn’t conditional on some manager liking your work, or depends on others to perform. Instead, a small business like this will help you save a little extra for the rainy days, or rainy months, as the pandemic has come to define it, and it will further take your dependability away from things like stimulus checks and whatnot. For you to stand on your own financially, these ideas are the best.

Let’s enumerate and explain the best small business ideas for men,

Profitable Small Business Ideas For Men

business ideas for men

Following is a list of small business ideas for men that you can gain inspiration from and start building your own means of passive income and a way to creatively utilize your free time. Let’s get into it.

  • Bar/ club

One of the best modern pastimes of the American youth today and even the elderly, one of the best side ventures could be a bar or a club, like a sports bar or a hangout club that you could start with a small amount of real estate and investment. If you’re a sociable guy and like booze and hanging out, then this is the perfect small business opportunity for you, which can earn you lots of money, not to mention all the social capital you will be developing using this as the platform. Just be sure to routinely collect your tab or else you’ll go bust.

  • Diner/ eatery/ deli

If you’re a foodie or a guy who loves delicious food and likes to share it with people, a diner or a deli is the best small, side business for you. Like the guys in MasterChef, you could eventually end up in the big leagues someday, but for now, you could capitalize on some wild gastro-delightful ideas, like some properly unhealthy food options. This of course includes a food truck option, and America is full of foodie stories that start with an idea and materialize in the form of a food truck that customers wait hours in line for. 

  • Bed & Breakfast

Deriving from the options listed above, if cooking meals is your thing but not all of it, and you’ve got space in your home, you could go for a good old Bed & Breakfast, one which specializes in the things its name has, and only that. You can set a daily menu for a breakfast, and set out a rent-system for the rooms in your house, and you will be good to go. This is something that requires less investment and will have a very good profitability, if you can get the right visitors or temporary tenants in your B&B. Look for out-of-town visitors or students and professionals in town for a conference or something like that.

  • Motel/ AirBnB

Much like the business idea above, but minus the cooking part, a motel or if you have a smaller property, an Airbnb is the perfect idea for you to utilize the extra space in your house and earn a couple of bucks from it. Of course, you can’t advertise your home as a motel and Airbnb charges some portion of the fee/ rent, but it is all extra income anyway. So, yeah, consider this idea in your next great epiphany for getting some cash in hand.

  • Customized Baked Goods

Not just baked goods, but any item of confectionary or foodstuff that can be customized, for instance, cakes, pizzas, the whole deal. With designer cakes and hyper-realistic cakes now becoming more and more popular, you can easily capitalize on this fascination and demand of people for cakes that look like their pet, their favorite purse or an iPhone. So get baking, and get earning. And since it is not that much time consuming, what with easy bake ovens and quick icing options, you’ll be a customized baked goods aficionado in no time, earning good amounts of money for just one baked good.

  • Smoothie/ Juice Bar

A smoothie, juice or milkshake is something that everybody likes and nobody has any rigid preferences, aside from soy milk and whatnot. But, to clarify, it is a business that’s pretty American in itself; not as much as apple pies and hamburgers, but pretty close nonetheless. So, for your small business idea that could return you good amounts of profit, you could start a smoothie or juice bar that could specialize in some pretty exotic flavors or combinations of flavors, which will help you stand out from the sea of businesses already in the market. You could also give it a personal touch or act creatively with flavors, naming and the kind of general ambience that surrounds your smoothie or juice bar.

  • Beer Brewing 

Like beer, like brewing and think that you could do better than Sam Adams? Well, there’s your next epiphany-turned-billion-dollar business idea. Like Hank from Breaking Bad brewing his own Schrader brew and pasting stickers on it, you could too, especially if you know the process of brewing and knowing which malts or hops to use.

If you can do that, or if you have a very special recipe left to you or just occurred to you some day, you can start by brewing some for an experiment, and asking your local speakeasy or bar to carry it for you. Once it gets a hit, you can ditch your day job to be the founder of a million-dollar beer business. Pretty lucrative, right?

  • Vending Machine Business

You might think that vending machines are going out of business, but wait until it’s a hot 100F day and you’re thirsty, looking for a water sprout or anything, and you stumble on a vending machine laden with ice-cold Cokes and chilled Gatorade. With a sigh of relief, you slide in the dollar and thank the Lord for the vending machines. Well, this is how useful they are, and this is how much you can earn from vending machines.

And they’re not that much expensive, you just have to remember to restock them and keep tabs on them every now and then, since a lot of them are beginning to get abandoned, but don’t you get discouraged. Vending machines are still a good way to earn some money as passive income, and there’s even videos of people showing how much you can get from a fully loaded vending machine. 

  • Computer Stuff

It is the era of computers, gaming and working from home. If this isn’t the time for you to jump on this computer bandwagon, we don’t know a better time than this. With some simple lessons on computer repair and a basic understanding of how circuitry works, you could become a bonafide computer repairmen or even a consultant, like a tech consultant for companies or start-ups that require machinery at large. This can even morph into a full-time job, so enter with that in mind. A computer degree or a prior qualification in said field will be an added bonus.

  • Freelancing

Not exactly a business, but one that could grow into a self-owned business. With a ton of freelancing sites out there, advertising projects ranging from graphic designing to data entry, you can start earning a little on the side, in your free time by picking up projects and charging for it. This will help you not only build a portfolio for your skills but also earn money for it, which is more than ample for you to consider it a side income.

And as it is with freelancing and picking up projects, it can easily grow big, warranting a need for dedicated time from your side. You could focus solely on freelancing and build a small company out of it, as many have. Or, you could choose to keep it as a part-time utilization of your skill and time which earns you decent money. Your call.

  • Skill Tutoring

If you’re particularly good a something, like graphic designing, coding or content writing, and instead of doing it yourself, you think you have flair for teaching, you could start a tutoring class or group that you could then teach whatever skill you’re good at, and earn some money on the side. As this is the time where skills matter more than academic degrees and whatnot, you can bank on this tutoring thing for as long as you can, and as long as people know and want to learn from your skills.

You could use your home as a base for tutoring, or as it has become popular, you could start an online class, which is certainly convenient, to say the least. What’s more, you can also grow it into a standalone business of its own, so, you know, do that.

  • Subject Specialist/ Tutoring

Aside from skills, academic mastery is still imperative for whatever field anybody is planning a future in, and so if you have the mastery in the specific subject, for example, the various disciplines of science like biology, physics or computer sciences, you could teach them to others for a specific price. This is already very popular in other parts of the world, and America is no different when it comes to people who struggle with any specific subject, especially sciences.

For instance, one of the more tougher academic subjects to master is mathematics, and if you are one of the few that actually understand advanced mathematics and can easily teach and explain it, well then good luck, because tutoring math’s will earn you a lot of money and can be established as a really lucrative side business, or a financial activity that will ensure that your free time actually ends up bringing in some extra money.

  • Grow Vegetables/ Fruits For Sale in Farmer’s Market

If you have a garden and a penchant for gardening/ horticulture, you can use the farmers market as your platform and make some extra cash on the weekends by selling organically grown fruits and vegetables in the market, since they are all the rage nowadays. And since seasonal produce changes based on the seasons, you can have a wide variety that you could bring to the market, or save for your own consumption. 

  • Take up Beekeeping

Beekeeping is another organic way you can get some produce for your local farmers market to be sold and profited from. However, considering the health hazards you could potentially run with a task like beekeeping, do take it with a grain of salt. Otherwise, if that is not an issue for you, go ahead and first take a couple of classes on beekeeping and the safe and environmentally-efficient way of harvesting honey, and start your side small business venture, with little investment but huge returns in profit.

Honey is a product globally loved and consumed, and with the advent of commercialized honey (or industrial quality honey), the majority of us are missing out on the real, pure, good stuff. Which is why beekeeping for selling honey is a great small business idea for men.

  • Pet Grooming/ Walking

This is another one of those really simple ideas that we do everyday, but fail to realize that there’s some money making potential in it. It certainly can’t be turned into a billion dollar business, but it is something that can add some pocket change for you while you’re out doing your own chores. For instance, if you walk your dog everyday, you could also take your neighbor’s and they’ll gladly pay you for it. Many people do it, even if you don’t have a dog of your own but love animals, and love interacting with them, you could take out a friend’s dog in your free time and charge them a couple of bucks an hour for doing so. Not only would this keep you in shape, it’ll also help you earn some money for work you basically love to do. Pet grooming is another thing which you can do if you love animals, and you can earn from it, but be informed that it requires some money to be spent on your part to buy stuff that is required for their upkeep.

  • Babysitting/ Pet Sitting

While it may seem a bit weird, seeing babies and pets in the same ‘sitting’ section, they are essentially in the same category of earning some money in lieu of your free time being spent doing something. While babysitting or even pet sitting isn’t really something many men would see themselves doing, there are many out there who love kids and love babysitting them. Same goes for pets; especially if the pet is a dog, which is very much destructive if you leave them alone in a house. So, for some money and to spend time with something or someone you love and generally like being around with, you could start babysitting or pet sitting, ensuring that you get paid for the leisure time you spend.

  • Event planning/ Management

Event planning and management is something that is blowing up as of 2021. A lot of events, even simple ones like gender reveal parties, are now blowing up (literally) in terms of planning and expenditure, and as such, if you are the kind of person that likes to arrange parties or something and are good with the details, this might be a good side venture to delve into, to keep yourself busy on weekends and make some money on the side to help out with some expensive purchases. Event management is really taking off right now, and many are considering this the prime time to get into, as more and more people want an elaborate affair when it comes to parties and whatnot. A flair for details and management would be an added advantage.

  • Personal Shopper

Many men and guys like to think that they know the best things one can buy; from designer shirts to perfumes and colognes. As such, and this is a new one, personal shoppers, people who choose and shop for the uber-wealthy are now getting in fashion, and if you’re someone with some free time on your hands, and know the best spots and best products and where to buy them, you could advertise your services as a personal shopper.

Many people get a kick out of going on shopping, and if you’re one of those dudes, you’re in luck because it’s really beginning to take off, this whole personal shopper business. Hell, it might even allow you to get into the high-brow society and make some worthwhile connections while you’re there. Who knows, someday you might be presented with a gift of a Rolex or a Gucci shirt.

  • Interior Designer/ Planner

Aesthetics is something that many men lack, which is where women step in, for positions like interior designers and other jobs like that. However, that’s not to say that men don’t make good interior designers. After all, how hard can it be, having a good taste and a knack for aesthetics? Pretty hard, apparently, but if you are one of the few that do have such a flair for aesthetic, you can provide your services as an aesthetic interior designer or planner (initially) for your friends, and if they’re content with the job, they can refer you to others, and you can start a side hustle out of it, and earn copious amounts of money while you’re at it.

Because there are many people who will pay top dollar for a person with flair and taste to set up their funky new apartment or home for them, and you will be there, with some classy advice and some refreshing ideas.

  • Drop shipping

Drop shipping, like many other entries on this list, is the one thing that is really beginning to take off now. It follows the essential principle behind behemoths like Amazon, which is, you supply products that people buy online and deliver them to their houses. Especially applicable in this post-Covid-19 world, dropshipping is beginning to really take off, as many people choose to visit new and homegrown sites instead of giants like Amazon.

Call it a hatred of corporate greed, or whatever, but what this means for you is that even without a website, with a simple Facebook or Instagram account, you can start drop shipping and earn well enough for it to be considered a standalone small business.

  • Podcasting

Podcasting is another thing really popular in the late 2010’s and 2020 onwards, with many big names like Joe Rogan capitalizing on the popularity of this medium and using it to get their message across and get endorsements from various companies, earning hefty paychecks. And really, with many of us working from home and losing hope and the motivation to work by the minute, a good and inspirational podcast is something that we can all relate to and would definitely listen to.

So, while you may forego Alex Jones or Dr Jordan Peterson, there are still some that you can’t miss out on as they bring a whole lot more to the table and many enjoy listening to them. So, if you have a really good story that you would like to get across the board and maybe entertain a few listeners along the way, you can buy some really good equipment, like cameras and microphones and start a podcast.

  • Coaching/ Motivational Speaker

There are many people that have the ability to inspire others with their words and the way they articulate pretty common stories. This might be a gift, but if you have this ability or can relate stories in such a way that it gets the other person motivated and renewed, you can start a firm where you can deliver motivational speeches on weekends and specific weekdays at specific times. People are always in need of inspiration, and corporations are particularly very uptight about employee morale and productivity, which goes down as time progresses.

So, as a trend, it has been seen that many companies will hire motivational speakers and life coaches to boost morale and productivity of the company employees and help them get out of the slumber of slat they’re facing. You could present your services, and start by motivating a group of friends, and then going on to the corporations for massive 2–3-day motivational periods. 

  • Career Counselling

Much more similar to life coaching but with a professional twist, career counselling is something that is very critical and crucial in the high school years and post-graduation. Because many of the future’s brightest are now at the crossroads of their careers and they can’t be trusted well enough to be the better judge for themselves, this is where you will come in, if you have that flair of knowing where and when to fit them. This can also be a learned skill; many people in HR careers know and regularly practice this sort of thing.

To do that, you might need a bit of training and an intimate understanding, but if you have a natural flair to do so, well then, it’s even better. But don’t just be restricted to initial career stages. Many people in the middle of their career, some highly successful, also have a reality check sometimes or get into some sort of existential crisis over their jobs, wherein it becomes the job of the career counsellor, aka you, to help them navigate the turbulent waters. Companies can also hire you for this, so this is one business idea that has a certain professional angle to it. 

  • Advisor/ Consultant

This is something that does not require a degree or a permit, just some know-how of any particular industry you’re working in, and a lot of connections. Because at first it might seem like a weird choice for a small business, but the fact is, there is actually quite a market for advisors or consultants that do this part-time and not pursue it as a full-time affair.

However, some things are a must: for one, the industry you will choose to operate in should be of people you know well enough to call in favors and whatnot, because at the end of the day, a consultant is essentially someone that helps connect the first party to the second part. This may even become financially worthwhile, as many big and top-notch companies look for local consultants that can help them navigate around some tricky areas in a particular sector, so you could advertise and offer your services, for connecting them to the right resource for their requirement. 

  • Becoming a Social Media Influencer

Another facet of the huge emphasis on digital and social media marketing is the advent of an entirely new breed of show people: social media influencer. As Snap Chat and Instagram gain traction and popularity among the denizens of the internet, it’s not uncommon for people to see others with followers in the high thousands or even millions range.

Because the internet has turned the world into a global village, and you can peer into the lives of your favorite celebrity, people (with high following numbers) are now using their social media accounts as advertisement platforms, which they can essentially rent out to corporations in exchange for money or anything really. While many may call it a plight of this digital age, we ourselves are a little bit more open-minded and tend to think of it as a business idea for men. Yes, if you have an account that has followers in the thousands and are fairly certain that your stats can help some company pull in some business, well then you can use it to your advantage and get to becoming a social media influencer and expect to get paid some serious cash. 

  • Become a brand ambassador

Of course, we’re not asking you to become the face for a multinational conglomerate, because that job is reserved for the ultra-selected few, but there are a lot of small companies out there in the search for a face to get behind. And while they may not pay that much and the perks and benefits might not be all that much, understand that this is a small business opportunity and idea and not something that you would see yourself doing for Apple or Nike, unless you have sporting credentials.

However, in the same vein as being a social media influencer, you can reach out to companies or let them know of availability as a brand ambassador and the both of you can work out the details. But, to end on a serious and factual note, becoming a brand ambassador requires looks, to be very superficial and blunt, and requires you to look the part that people might like to actually get behind. You regularly see all these people getting endorsed and themselves endorsing any particular brand, you might as well use that face of yours to get some extra money.

  • Starting a personalized car wash/ detailing service

This is reserved for what are commonly known as car-guys or ‘metrosexuals’, so if you aren’t one, you can skip over to the next one. Basically, a lot of guys love cars and bikes, and like to take care of them, drive them and just admire them every now and then. Car guys take it up a notch and build a personality around it; liking cars, mudding and tuning them, and taking them to car meets and shows to show off their personal taste in cars.

There is an entire culture dedicated to these people, and if you are one of them, you know you like to wash and wax your beauty every weekend. Well, how about doing the same with the neighbors Jaguar for a change? Well you could do that, and offer a sort of personalized service for them and get to enjoy and know the cars you like and love but cant seem to own and get behind the wheel of. There are a lot of services that do that, and they all get paid extremely well for taking care of S-Classes and sports cars that their owners can’t be bothered with. You could do that too, on the weekends, and earn while doing one of the things you love. 

  • Cleaning/ pest control

It might not be glamorous as a small business idea, but it has to be done and many are willing to pay top dollar for the pesky pests to go away from their homes, which brings us to the last entry on this list; cleaning and pest control. Whereas many states require licensing and incorporation for stuff like this, many states don’t and you can use that to your advantage and build a side business of pest extermination and cleaning.