Best Side Hustles for Men – Bring in Extra Dough
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While various apps and websites make it easier than ever to make money online, not all options have the same earning potential. For example, I made extra cash in college by piecing together various online odd jobs, including sources like Inboxdollars, Amazon Mechanical Turk, and online surveys from websites like Survey Junkie and Swagbucks. While these were great sources of extra pocket change I could make in my spare time as a student, I ultimately wasn’t bringing in a lot of extra income from any of these side gigs. On top of that, some of these gigs only paid me in gift cards!
If you really want to make money with side jobs, you’ll need to find something that could potentially scale up to a full-time or part-time job. While it’s totally fine for some side hustlers to stick to part-time gigs, some of the business ideas on this list are far more lucrative side hustles than what you may find when doing a cursory Google search for ways to make money fast. Keep reading for an overview of the best side hustle ideas for men looking to make extra cash.
In this article
Overview of the best side hustles for men
Side Hustle | Best For |
Affiliate Marketing | Bloggers |
Airbnb | Men with spare space |
Craigslist | Handymen |
Rover | Pet lovers |
DoorDash | Night-time work |
eBay | Collectors |
Etsy | Men who like to work with their hands |
Fiverr | Freelance designers |
Rideshare Apps | Social men with cars |
Upwork | Competitive freelancers |
Earn Real Money Fast by Filling Out Surveys!
- Sign up for FREE & complete your profile
- Earn points for taking surveys
- Redeem your points for cash or gift cards
- $55k+ Paid to Survey Junkie members daily
- Complete 3+ surveys a day, earn up to $100/mo.
Best side hustles for men
Affiliate marketing
Becoming an affiliate marketer takes a lot of time and energy, but is probably one of the best passive income sources on this list. This is because once you’ve crafted your website and placed ads on it, you can continue earning money from blogs you wrote months or even years ago.
Effectively, to become an affiliate marketer, you’ll need to blog about a specific niche and then build enough web traffic that folks click through your links and make purchases. Amazon is one of the most straightforward affiliate marketing programs out there and even gives you a percentage of a sale if any purchase is made in the 24 hours following a click-through from your website.
Of course, to build traffic and create content that people want to read, you’ll do well to take a free online course in content marketing and SEO (search engine optimization). There are also a lot of good podcasts about affiliate marketing and SEO that may be inspirational to you. Setting up a social media page to share your content can also be helpful.
While you’ll have to pay for hosting costs and spend time writing various blog posts with affiliate links, this can be a great way to generate a passive income stream overall. By picking a strong niche that you, as a man, are comfortable talking about without authority each and every week, you can begin to start generating web traffic and revenue as an affiliate marketer.
Earn Real Money Fast by Filling Out Surveys!
- Sign up for FREE & complete your profile
- Earn points for taking surveys
- Redeem your points for cash or gift cards
- $55k+ Paid to Survey Junkie members daily
- Complete 3+ surveys a day, earn up to $100/mo.
Airbnb
Do you have a spare room in your home? If you live in a major city or popular tourist destination, then Airbnb will let you become a host and monetize that room. This is a good side hustle for men because men generally won’t have as many safety concerns about letting strangers into their homes for a period of time.
Real estate is already a good investment, so if you have a vacation home or second condo, what better way to earn extra money than rent it out? Airbnb has a ton of helpful guides to get you up to speed when it comes to hosting and is known for its excellent customer service. They have also become a trusted name in travel accommodations, so just being on their website serves as an advertisement for your room or rental property.
When you price your Airbnb rental, looking at other rentals in your area is a good idea to create a competitive nightly rate. Airbnb will help you calculate that number and even include cleaning fees passed on to the user booking your home. This ensures you can outsource your cleaning to a professional without worrying about getting your hands dirty.
If you think that Airbnb might be worth your time, head over to their website, where they have an easy-to-use calculator that lets you estimate how much you could make each month renting a room in your home. For example, if you have two private rooms available to book in St. Augustine, FL, you could make as much as $2,575 a month!
Craigslist
Craigslist is like a virtual classifieds ad, so you could use it to make money in all sorts of ways. However, when selling collectibles or flipping objects you find at garage sales for money, eBay is a better option for sellers. However, Craigslist can be a great way to get your name out there for various handyman jobs.
Whether you have landscaping experience or are interested in helping with electrician work, you can put your skills to business using Craigslist to find or attract clients. The jobs board for Craigslist has all kinds of categories, from skilled trades to software and IT support.
If you’re looking for less serious commitments than a true job, Craigslist also has a gig board with various activities and tasks, including computer jobs, creative work, domestic help, event work, writing, and more. Whether you’re interested in fixing two doorknobs or helping with event load-in, there are many odd jobs on Craigslist.
Craigslist can be a great option, especially if you like variety and are a versatile worker. Dedicating one day a week to doing one or two jobs could net you upwards of $400 a month if you’re selective. While you need to be wary of scammers, if you’re selective and like the idea of a break from the monotony of your day job, Craigslist is a veritable playground of job opportunities.
Earn Real Money Fast by Filling Out Surveys!
- Sign up for FREE & complete your profile
- Earn points for taking surveys
- Redeem your points for cash or gift cards
- $55k+ Paid to Survey Junkie members daily
- Complete 3+ surveys a day, earn up to $100/mo.
Rover
Do you love animals, specifically dogs? If so, you may want to consider signing up as a dog walker through Rover. Rover is one of the top ways for pet owners to find sitters and people to watch or help take care of their pets, allowing you to quickly start to build a network of clients for your pet business.
Dog walking is a relatively simple job, but it could provide you with consistent income. Whether you walk the same dog each morning or pick up an afternoon or evening shift, you can make money and get exercise outside the same time working through Rover.
To be accepted into Rover’s network of pet sitters and dog walkers, you’ll need to pass a background check and be vetted by the company. While this adds a little bit of time to how quickly you can begin working through the platform, it also helps build confidence in your ability to perform your work. With this kind of peace of mind, people are much more willing to take a chance at a new pet sitter’s profile.
Best of all, you can choose your schedule and set your prices. You can even set certain preferences for what size of dogs you’re comfortable working with. You can withdraw money two days after you’ve completed service, and Rover only takes a 20% cut to cover their service fees.
DoorDash
If you like the sound of being a shopper and delivery person, DoorDash is one of the better options out there. Of course, you can also do food delivery through other apps like GrubHub, Seamless, Caviar, Toast, Getir, GoPuff, or Postmates, but there are some perks about DoorDash in particular.
DoorDash has a large market share, meaning you’ll always have steady work when driving for the platform. Bloomberg reported that 59 percent of U.S. consumers' meal delivery sales in March 2022 were linked to Doordash. That doesn’t mean that you won’t have deliveries through any of the aforementioned apps; however, it is worth noting that DoorDash seems to provide the steadiest stream of work for its drivers, which can help with tips.
If you have a car, bike, or scooter, DoorDash could be a great fit. You won’t need a car (like Uber or Lyft) or worry about having passengers in your car during a pandemic, so DoorDash is a great way to perform similar work without worrying about as many extra costs or concerns.
Another benefit of DoorDash is that it doesn’t pigeonhole you to a specific city. If you love to travel but wouldn’t mind delivering food during your off time, you can dash from any city with DoorDash. They also offer referral rewards if you want your friends or family to sign up for the platform, which can help increase your earnings with little to no effort. Right now, you can even get 10% back on gas purchases—a huge deal while inflation and the war in Ukraine impact gas prices.
Earn Real Money Fast by Filling Out Surveys!
- Sign up for FREE & complete your profile
- Earn points for taking surveys
- Redeem your points for cash or gift cards
- $55k+ Paid to Survey Junkie members daily
- Complete 3+ surveys a day, earn up to $100/mo.
eBay
If you’re a collector, bargain shopper, or often find yourself at garage sales, eBay could be a great way to turn a profit by flipping wares online. When I was younger, I found a Nintendo Virtual Boy at a garage sale and sold it for 88% more than I paid. This same philosophy applies to items beyond electronics — from trading cards to vintage clothing and cookware, you could buy and flip for a profit.
A big benefit of selling items on eBay is the ability to save on postage when buying them through the platform. I frequently have sold Magic: The Gathering cards on eBay, and even though trading cards don’t weigh a lot, postage can add up right now, thanks to inflation and other factors with shipping costs. Saving on shipping makes it easier to profit without ruining your margins on getting your items shipped to customers.
eBay will take a percentage of your sales but doesn’t generally charge up-front fees unless you’re paying for extra features to help your listing stand out. Generally speaking, you’ll be charged 12.9% of the sale price or less for most categories, plus an additional $0.30 fee per order.
The only drawback of eBay in recent years is that they have distanced themselves from using PayPal as their main payment processor. This hasn’t seemed to be too major of a hit to the platform — and they still accept PayPal — but things are a bit less streamlined than they used to be when setting up payment and withdrawal to your account.
Earn Real Money Fast by Filling Out Surveys!
- Sign up for FREE & complete your profile
- Earn points for taking surveys
- Redeem your points for cash or gift cards
- $55k+ Paid to Survey Junkie members daily
- Complete 3+ surveys a day, earn up to $100/mo.
Etsy
Etsy is the No. 1 place for people to find handcrafted goods online. From metalwork and woodworking to hand-blown glass pieces and pottery, you can take your creative hobbies and start capitalizing on them through Etsy.
Some of the most popular categories on Etsy include Home & Living, Art & Collectibles, Jewelry & Accessories, and more. You can sell a wide range of items and projects from handgun concealment picture frames to personalized, glass-etched beer glasses.
Etsy makes setting up an online storefront easy and starts making sales. Creating an account and adding products, descriptions, and images is something you can do without much tech-savvy, so it’s a very user-friendly platform. You can then double dip in promotion by making a Facebook or Instagram page and linking it to your Etsy storefront to maximize the number of eyes seeing your products for sale.
When you make a sale through Etsy, you’re only charged a 6.5% fee on the sale price, plus the cost of shipping or gift wrapping. This means that if you’re crafting handmade goods, it can be one of the more reasonable options for selling your wares. While you may decide to price your items to accommodate this fee, if you think of the 6.5% fee as an advertising/web hosting expense, it’s actually quite reasonable anyway.
Earn Real Money Fast by Filling Out Surveys!
- Sign up for FREE & complete your profile
- Earn points for taking surveys
- Redeem your points for cash or gift cards
- $55k+ Paid to Survey Junkie members daily
- Complete 3+ surveys a day, earn up to $100/mo.
Fiverr
Fiverr is one of the top online platforms for freelancers to find clients and work. Whether you’re interested in freelance writing, graphic design, audio production, or video editing, you can do all kinds of things on Fiverr.
Depending on your skill sets, Fiverr lets you create a profile and multiple gigs. If you have marketing and PR experience, you can create a gig for social media copywriting and press release writing, among many other skills you may want to capitalize on.
Once you’ve created a Fiverr account and some gigs, potential clients can contact you with job requests. You have the opportunity to decline or accept the gig based on whether it feels like a good fit for you or not. In my experience using Fiverr, some people reached out without very well-formed ideas or trying to undervalue my gigs. While those were a bit annoying to fend off, as I started to get reviewed by actual users, those sorts of requests fell by the wayside.
Fiverr takes a percentage of your overall sales, so you should factor it into your overall pricing per gig. You’ll need to account for 20% to go to Fiverr when they take their cut, which is a bit high. However, you can reach good clients through the platform and line up consistent work, so as long as you raise your prices every few months, you can make up the cost.
Earn Real Money Fast by Filling Out Surveys!
- Sign up for FREE & complete your profile
- Earn points for taking surveys
- Redeem your points for cash or gift cards
- $55k+ Paid to Survey Junkie members daily
- Complete 3+ surveys a day, earn up to $100/mo.
Rideshare apps
When it comes to the gig economy, perhaps no two apps are synonymous with jobs like Lyft or Uber. While women and men can drive via ridesharing apps, some women may feel less comfortable driving strangers around due to potential dangers. As such, ridesharing apps may better fit you if you’re a man.
Lyft and Uber are very similar regarding the general work you perform; however, if you drive for Uber, you can also deliver food for Uber Eats, which gives you another potential income stream. Some people even download both apps and drive for Lyft and Uber to have a higher chance of booking a ride.
Another major perk about Lyft and Uber is offering drivers welcome bonuses. For example, if you drive for Lyft and meet certain criteria, they guarantee you can earn $2,400 in your first month. Uber offers a $2,500 guarantee in the first month and a potential bonus of $1,000.
Wear and tear on your car is one thing to be wary of with ridesharing jobs. It may impact your insurance premium, and gas is a big factor in your bottom line. However, if you don’t have a car yet, Uber and Lyft offer some incentive programs that help you purchase a car and get driving with them, which is certainly a help in some situations.
Earn Real Money Fast by Filling Out Surveys!
- Sign up for FREE & complete your profile
- Earn points for taking surveys
- Redeem your points for cash or gift cards
- $55k+ Paid to Survey Junkie members daily
- Complete 3+ surveys a day, earn up to $100/mo.
Upwork
If you like the sound of freelancing or doing work as a virtual assistant, Upwork is another option aside from Fiverr to consider using. It is similar to Fiverr in that you also create a profile for yourself and indicate what work you’re interested in completing, but there is one major difference in how you get work through the platform.
With Fiverr, you have clients submit bids to you to work on projects. However, with Upwork, you are bidding on jobs as they are posted. This is both good and bad, depending on the type of person you are. For example, you can only bid on jobs you’re interested in, which is better than fending off unwanted jobs or poor matches for your expertise or price point.
However, because you are bidding on jobs, you may have to price yourself more competitively than you’d like to receive work. As you build a reputation on the platform, this may become less of an issue.
Like Fiverr, Upwork does take a percentage of your pay. You’ll be charged 20% for earnings under $500, with a 10% fee between $500 and $10,000. One nice thing about Upwork is it helps you handle the invoicing, which makes getting paid pretty straightforward. Especially if you’re new to freelancing, this can be a handy perk as you get your feet wet.
Earn Real Money Fast by Filling Out Surveys!
- Sign up for FREE & complete your profile
- Earn points for taking surveys
- Redeem your points for cash or gift cards
- $55k+ Paid to Survey Junkie members daily
- Complete 3+ surveys a day, earn up to $100/mo.
Summary of best side hustles for men
Side Hustle | Welcome Bonus | Service Fees |
Affiliate Marketing | No | Website hosting ($12+/year) |
Airbnb | Airbnb | No, but superhosts earn $100 Airbnb coupon a year; ~14.2% of the booking subtotal |
Craigslist | No | None |
Rover | No; referral reward of $50 | 20% |
DoorDash | $150 signup bonus | None |
eBay | No | Percentage of sale by category, plus $0.30 per order |
Etsy | No | 6.5% total sale plus $0.20 per listing |
Fiverr | No | 20% |
Rideshare Apps | $2,400+ in first month | Variable |
Upwork | No | 10%-20% |
FAQs
Do I owe taxes on my earnings?
The short answer is yes. Any job where you make $600 or more (which any good side hustle should pay you over the course of a year) you will be required to claim this income on your taxes. If you have any questions about this you should consult your tax accountant.
Are any of these jobs scams?
No. All of the jobs on this list are legitimate ways to earn money working a side hustle. In terms of earning potential, your mileage may vary based on what sorts of work you enjoy, your schedule, and your dedication to your hustle.
Can I write off certain expenses related to my work?
It depends, but there are certainly expenses related to freelance work that you can write off as an independent contractor. These range from office supplies to home office space and other materials, including depreciable assets such as laptops. It’s best to consult with a tax professional when determining what items to write off on your income taxes as an independent contractor.
Why should (or shouldn’t) have a side hustle
Earn Real Money Fast by Filling Out Surveys!
- Sign up for FREE & complete your profile
- Earn points for taking surveys
- Redeem your points for cash or gift cards
- $55k+ Paid to Survey Junkie members daily
- Complete 3+ surveys a day, earn up to $100/mo.
Many of the side gigs on this list are legitimate ways to consistently make extra money each month. That can be a big perk for people trying to aggressively get out of debt or save for a big purchase like a home, car, or even a significant vacation. Especially if you have some extra time and would like to increase your annual income, a side hustle can be a great way to make more money and upgrade your quality of life productively.
In some situations, it may make more sense not to take on a side hustle. For example, if you need health insurance from your job, many independent contracting positions on this list are not the best fit. Beyond that, a lot of the websites listed above have pretty substantial fees associated with them. If you need to maximize your earning potential, you may want to avoid a website that takes a percentage of your income.
The bottom line
If you’ve taken a look at your personal finances and think you could benefit from some extra money, the above side hustles are far more lucrative than many of the other options available to you. While websites or apps letting you take surveys for focus groups may sound like easy money, the results are more akin to cash back rewards on a credit card rather than a real source of income.
One thing to remember is that part of making money as someone with a side hustle comes down to your mentality and commitment. Not everyone has the same kind of drive. Some freelancers can make a consistent amount of good money driving for Uber or DoorDash, while others would rather type away as a freelance writer. Part of making extra cash as a side hustler comes to finding the right job that fits your skillset and earning goals.
With the above list to aid you, you should be able to find a lucrative side hustle that doesn’t feel like too much extra work — even if you’re dedicating 10 to 20 hours a week to it.
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Writer
Brent Ervin-Eickhoff is a Chicago-based writer, stage director, and filmmaker with a background in digital marketing and content creation. In addition to Joy Wallet, Brent has written for Complex, Volkswagen, HowlRound, Picture this Post, and Third Coast Review, among others. He currently serves as the Associate Director of Marketing for Content Creation at Court Theatre at the University of Chicago. Brent graduated from Ball State University with Academic Honors in Writing.
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