Are you an ambitious millennial looking to earn extra income from home? If your answer is yes, I will share some home-based small business ideas for men in 2026.
Before you jump into the list. Be sure to keep this in mind when choosing what small business idea you want to pursue:
- Go for profit over passion. Profit potential takes precedence over your own personal interest in a subject. Remember, you can always outsource your content and copy to someone who does know a lot about the topic.
- Go for big, evergreen mass-market niches that always sell. I’ll explain why, and what these niches have in common.
- Focus on solving a specific problem. “Getting in shape” is a broad niche. “How to get a six-pack in 6 weeks or less” is a specific problem.
Strapped for time? I've explained more about starting your own side hustle or small business in an interview with Cheddar which you can check out below.
Small Business Ideas For Men
Be sure to bookmark this page as this side business ideas list will continue to grow! Without further delay gentlemen, let’s get started, here are the best small business ideas for men to make money:
1. Find Legitimate Online Jobs
If you wanted to find legit side small business ideas for men, why not consider online jobs that people are using now to make money on the side?
An estimated three percent of America’s workforce now consists of telecommuting employees or people who work from home, according to a survey conducted by FlexJobs.
How does an extra $1,000 a month sound? You can get there and discover the most lucrative online jobs and work from home jobs.
- Get access to vetted remote job listings for just $2.95 for 14 days
- Enjoy partner discounts on products
- Extensive job search resources & support
2. Become an Airbnb Host
Owning a home can be pricey—sharing your place on Airbnb can help pay your rent and other bills.
If you have extra room in your house, you can make money hosting guests on Airbnb and earn up to $2,000 per month.
By becoming an Airbnb Host, you can start having your own weekend side hustle listing your home and open bedrooms to travelers looking to book through Airbnb.
With a little bit of traction, you can easily earn extra money that can go towards your rent or mortgage by hosting guests on Airbnb.
You can use the calculator below to see how much you can make this month as an Airbnb host.
3. Real Estate Investor
Wouldn’t it be great if you could invest in commercial real estate and apartments without dealing with all the hassle of buying, improving, and re-selling real estate?
You don’t have to be a millionaire to invest in these types of properties. You can now invest in large-scale real estate for as little as $10 with Fundrise.
Through their real estate investment products, investors earned an average of 8 – 11 percent on their money last year, and all without painting a wall or dealing with unruly tenants.
There is a reason why they currently have over 300,000+ users, this app really pays you!
- Earn passive income with real estate investing starting at just $10
- Easy-to-use app for seamless access to crowd-funded real estate deals
- Perfect for those who want their money to work for them
4. Get Paid to Read Books
Getting paid to read books sounds like a dream, but in fact, you could make $1,857 a month by reading and writing books online, according to Forbes.
If you wanted a slice of the pie, you can learn about ways you can get paid to read books. This small business idea just involves you and one of your favorite fiction, novel, science fiction, romance, crime or favorite money book.
5. Earn Cash From Your Phone
Bigcash pays you real cash for playing games and finishing simple offers on your phone, which makes it the fastest thing on this list to actually get paid from. New accounts get a $15 bonus just for signing up, the biggest straight signup bonus here. Nothing to buy, and payouts run through PayPal once you clear the minimum.
6. Get Paid to Play Games
Freecash hands you a $10 bonus for creating an account, then keeps paying you to play games, test apps and finish short offers.
You pick how the money comes out, either PayPal or crypto, and there is nothing to buy at any point.
7. Music Reviewer
All you need to do is listen to music and you can make money. Given how easy it is to lose yourself in a never-ending cycle of Spotify or Pandora, this one couldn’t be easier. The catch here? You have to review the music. So you literally get paid to review music for record companies before the music is released to the public. The payouts are great and for example, you will have to review a lot of music clips and get paid up to $200. This is one of the only survey companies that currently offer this. You can get a sign up bonus through this link.
- Share your opinion to help brands deliver better products and services
- Fast payouts, legit, and our favorite survey site
- Has paid out more than $25 million to its members
8. Get Paid to Test Apps
Testerup pays you to try apps and finish short testing tasks. Companies need real people using an app before it launches, so you are paid for the feedback rather than for spending anything.
Tasks are priced individually, so people who stick with it clear $100 and up, and there is a $10 bonus for creating your account. It works from your phone, so it fits around whatever else you have going on.
9. Cash In on Sign Up Bonuses
ReferralWallet puts every verified sign up bonus worth taking in one place, so you are not digging through blog posts to find them. You open a free pack, claim the reward, and move on.
There is no deposit and no card on file. You were going to sign up for some of these apps anyway, so you may as well collect the bonus while you do it.
10. Lyft Driver
If you’re free nights and weekends, you can make money driving your fellow citizens around. You can make money by becoming a Lyft driver if you have a car, it’s a perfect way to make a good amount of extra money whenever it’s convenient for you. A lot of people do this full time, so you can imagine that’s it definitely possible to do this on the side and make $100 every day and be able to save it.
11. Deliver with Uber Eats
If you’re free nights and weekends, you can earn extra money delivering food for fellow citizens around your city. It’s easy to deliver food with Uber Eats – if you have a car, it’s a perfect way to make a good amount of extra cash whenever it’s convenient for you.
A lot of people do this full time, so you can imagine that’s it definitely possible to do this on the side and make extra money by delivering food with Uber Eats, and be on your own schedule.
Sign up takes a few minutes and you keep 100% of your tips. Check if Uber Eats is signing up drivers in your city
12. Freelance Your Skills Online
Freelancing is the fastest way to turn a skill you already have into money, because nobody asks you for a degree or a resume. They ask whether you can do the work.
The skills that pay right now are the ones businesses cannot avoid buying: writing, editing, video editing, graphic design, web development, running paid ads, bookkeeping, and virtual assistant work. If you can already do one of those at a decent level, you can charge for it this week.
Pick one service and one type of client. “I write email newsletters for ecommerce brands” gets hired. “I do writing and design and some video” does not. Narrow beats broad every time, and it lets you charge more for the same hour.
Price by the project, never by the hour. An hourly rate punishes you for getting faster at your own craft. Quote $300 for the finished thing and the client stops counting your minutes.
Get paid up front on small jobs and take a 50% deposit on anything bigger. Send a real invoice instead of asking for money in a chat window. Your first two or three clients will almost always come from people who already know you, so tell them exactly what you sell before you go hunting strangers.
13. Podcasting
If you can build an audience for your podcast, then you can make some money through sponsorships, affiliate advertising, and other offerings. Companies regularly pay $250 to $500 for a 30-second advertisement on podcasts. If you need help getting started you can refer to this podcasting guide.
There is money to be made with this side hustle. Alternatively, you can also use this guide to start your own blog (in 30 min or less).
14. Write eBooks
Are you a good writer? You could write an eBook on your topic of choice and sell it on Amazon, Payhip, Lulu, Smashwords, Kobo Writing Life, PubIt! and many other websites that start you out in your side hustle as a published eBook author.
15. Resume Writing Service
Learning to write an effective resume is not difficult, it just takes a little bit of time to master what keywords and phrases that appeal to each industry. Once you learn it then you can repeat the same process for each individual resume your write. Then you can start charging for your Resume & Cover Letter writing services as a freelancer.
16. Advertise on Your Car
This is some seriously passive income. Companies such as Carvertise will pay to put a wrap on your car, and then pay you to simply drive you regular routes with the advertisements on your car. You can get the right to say “no” to a particular ad you’re uncomfortable with the content of the ad. Most companies pay you between $100-$400 a month to advertise on your car. Not too bad.
17. Invest in Websites
Building a website from nothing means months of work before the first dollar shows up. Buying one that already earns skips that part entirely, which is why a real market exists for profitable sites.
Sites change hands every day on public marketplaces, and listings are usually priced as a multiple of monthly profit. A site clearing $1,000 a month tends to sell in the low five figures. You are paying for traffic, rankings and revenue that already exist instead of a plan to build them.
The risk is everything you cannot see in the listing. Check where the traffic actually comes from before you send anyone money. A site living on one Google keyword or one affiliate program can lose most of its income the week either one changes. Ask the seller to screen share the live analytics and affiliate dashboards rather than sending you screenshots.
We had an interview with a man who makes his money by investing in websites. Here’s a snippet from the interview when we asked him “How can you make money investing in websites rather than build your own?”
“Why not save the initial capital investment, and just build your own from scratch? One word: Time. Our most valuable resource, which many of us seemingly don’t show it the respect it deserves.
Skip the dull process of waiting months to earn your first dollar building up a website from scratch. Throw yourself in the deep end, lay down an initial investment, show your commitment to the journey, and watch the learning curve reduce exponentially.”
18. Sell Your Parking Space
Many houses, rentals, or other accommodation include a garage, driveway, or some form of a parking space. If you’re not making use of it at the moment, chances are there’s someone who could.
Better still, they’ll pay you for the privilege.
Just Park lets you ‘let’ your parking space to busy people who are tired of paying through the nose for daily parking. The busier your area, the more you’re likely to make.
19. Open Class Action Lawsuits
If you use a product that’s involved in a class-action lawsuit, a little online legwork could get you a cash payout. The rules of each settlement are different, but in most cases, you’ll have to provide proof of purchase or product use, like a serial number or a receipt. Once you fill out your online claim form, you may have to wait a few weeks or months before receiving your payment.
Psst — I regularly post new class-action settlement information, so check in often to make sure you’re not missing a chance to get paid!
20. Investing
Webull is giving new accounts 12 free fractional shares once you deposit $100. That is real stock in real companies, and you can sell it and withdraw the cash whenever you want.
It is the easiest way to start investing without pretending you know what you are doing yet. Commission free trades and a clean app you can grow into.
Deposit $100 and unlock your 12 free shares
21. Download Money Making Apps
You already play games on your phone. Mistplay pays you for the time.
Pick a game inside the app, play it, and earn units for time played and levels reached. Units turn into Amazon, Visa or PayPal gift cards. It is free, it works on Android and on iPhone in the US, and it stacks on top of the other apps on this list.
Call it coffee and gas money, not a career. Rewards climb the longer you stay with one game, so pick one you would actually play and stick with it.
22. eBay Seller
Sell your unwanted items around your household on eBay is a good way to declutter and earn side income. I’ve been using eBay for about 7 years now and it is very easy to sell things around your home that you no longer use or find items that you can purchase for cheap and then flip them on eBay for a profit. I personally made $1,1379.79 one month by flipping iPhones. Just make sure that you keep the fees in consideration.
23. Coaching & Consulting
One of the best small business ideas for men is becoming an online coach or consultant for others as it is becoming more valuable in the information age. If you are very savvy at social media or are a fitness expert then selling your time and hopping on a Skype call or Google hangouts is a great hustle. You don’t even have to start your own website at first, you can list your services as a freelancer first.
Need More Small Business Ideas for Men?
If you wanted more ways to make money online besides these methods of small business ideas for men, here’s my list of the best ways to make money online:
- 22 Best Money Making Apps That Pay You
- Top 2 Highest Paying Survey Sites That Actually Work & Pay Out via Paypal
- 25 Smart Ways To Make $100 Every Day
- 100+ Fun and Easy Ways to Make Extra Money Today
- 30 Best Side Hustle Ideas To Make Extra Money
- 20+ Easy Side Hustles Millennials Can Start Today
- 21 Gig Economy Jobs that Pay Cash (Near Me & Online)
