#25

Side hustles that actually make sense for working men

Reader

Wherever you look online, somebody and their father is trying to sell you a side hustle.

“I make 6 figures a month drop shipping, here is the blueprint to doing the same.”

“Buy products on temu for $0.99 and flip them for a profit on Amazon”

“Build your personal brand”

“Create an online course and make $10,000 a month online.”

The reality is, most of this advice is coming from people whose FULL-TIME job is selling people side hustle advice. They aren’t the people who have 40,50,60, 70 hour a week jobs. The reality looks very different for most men who have demanding jobs, responsibilities at home and limited time and energy.

The real question you should be asking yourself is: “What side hustle actually fits into my lifestyle?”

The best side hustles for working men share the same three traits:

• They use skills you already have
• They fit around your schedule
• They create options over time

Let us talk about some of the one’s that actually make sense.

Freelancing Using Your Existing Skills

One of the most overlooked side hustles is also the simplest - monetizing the skills you already use at work.

If you work in finance, marketing ,design, data, HR, sales, operations, there are businesses who need those skills but can’t afford/ or need a full-time hire. There are many platforms out there that let you market your skills to existing buyers such as Upwork and Fiverr. This can be one of the fastest ways to earn extra income, because you don’t have to learn something new to get started, you are simply selling your expertise more widely. Often, you can do this work asynchronously as well, which means you can do it around your day job. A couple of hours in the evening / a few hours on Saturday morning is all you need to get started.

Coaching or Mentoring in Your Field

One of the things we often underestimate is how valuable your experience actually is. If you’ve been working in an industry for 5-10 years, you’ve already solved problems that people behind you are struggling with. These same people would PAY to receive your guidance and mentorship to help them navigate problems that you now find very easy to navigate. Your knowledge can be packaged into things like:

• Career coaching
• Interview prep
• Industry mentoring
• Resume reviews

Don’t think you have to have 20 years of experience, a million pounds in the bank and be an official industry ‘guru’ to make this happen. All you need to do is focus on your target market, people who are a few steps behind you. Platforms like Calendly allow you to charge for structured sessions. Once again, this is a simple way to make money without you having to learn a new skill.

AI-Assisted Freelancing

Last week we spoke about how you can use AI to supercharge your day job, well the same is true for your side hustles. Leveraging tools like ChatGPT and Claude will allow you to complete tasks dramatically faster. This opens up the door for you to freelance doing tasks that may have usually taken too much of your time. This includes things like:

• Providing research summaries
• Repurposing content for different channels
• Supporting with business documentation

The goal here isn’t to pretend AI is doing the work, but instead to become a person who knows how to use AI effectively to assist businesses to achieve a certain outcome. Businesses often don’t have the appetite or capacity to learn new tools, so they look for people who already know how to use them to support them. Become the person that they are looking for.

Simple Digital Products

Now lets talk about an option that truly separates time from income. Digital products allow you to build something once, and then sell it repeatedly. Good examples of this are things like:

• Budgeting spreadsheets
• Fitness trackers
• Career planning templates
• Notion templates & productivity systems
• Interview preparation guide

Now you may think AI has killed the market for products like this, but this simply isn’t true. People are still making a lot of money selling digital products on platforms like Gumroad & Etsy, where you can distribute your products to a global audience fairly easily. The beauty about digital products is that they don’t take a long time to make, and can bring in income in the background over time with minimal work from you.

Local Service Businesses

Now lets talk about something that isn’t glamorous but will always be in demand and is a reliable source of income. Local services are always needed, and people are increasingly using platforms like Instagram to search for service providers in their neighbourhood. Some good examples of service businesses you can start that require low startup capital are:

• Pressure washing (patio’s and driveways)
• Car detailing
• Lawn mowing
• Furniture assembly
• Helping people move home

Utilising platforms like TaskRabbit allows you to find clients quickly, and these businesses often then grow organically through word of mouth. Unlike some of the online side hustles, the demand for these services tends to be very immediate because these are evergreen problems.

AI Automation for Small Businesses

Providing automation for small businesses is an opportunity that has been around for a while, but it is one that is even easier to do in the age of AI. I can’t tell you how many businesses still run on excel spreadsheets in 2026 and can be dramatically improved with a little injection of AI automation. I have dabbled in this myself, and have been able to make a few thousand dollars per client I have supported with their back office automations.

Small businesses waste countless hours on repetitive tasks like:

• Email responses
• Customer follow-ups
• Appointment scheduling
• Data entry

Tools like Zapier and Make allow these processes to be automated, but small business owners tend to not want to figure this out by themselves. However, this is your opportunity, as they’ll happily pay someone to set it up once and save them time every week. This is a great example of a high-leverage side hustle.

Side Hustles Men Should Avoid

Now we have gone through a few example of side hustles you should give a go, let us talk about a few that we advise you to avoid.

Side Hustles That Require Constant Daily Work

If your side hustle requires you to work every day, it will quickly become a second job, and that is what you want to avoid.

Things like:

• Day trading
• Constant product flipping
• Low-margin ecommerce sales (e.g. selling phone cases)

Businesses like these can easily consume all your spare time. You need to pick a side hustle that provides you extra money AND flexibility, rather that one that means you don’t have any time left for yourself.

Anything That Requires Huge Upfront Investment

Be careful of any side hustle that require you to:

• Purchase an expensive course
• Stock a lot of inventory
• Have to pay franchise fee’s

A good rule of thumb when starting off with side hustles is to start with something that requires skill and time, not massive amounts of capital. You can always invest more in your side hustle once you know that it works.

Opportunities That Sound Too Good to Be True

If an Instagram guru appears on your timeline saying any of the below, report their account and RUN:

• “Passive income in 30 days”
• “Guaranteed returns”
• “A secret system nobody knows”

This is usually just marketing BS to tempt people in. Real businesses take a lot of time to build and most sustainable side hustles grow slowly and steadily.

How to Choose the Right Side Hustle (3 Questions Every Man Should Ask)

One of the biggest mistakes you can make when choosing a side hustle is chasing whatever is trending.

Dropshipping. Crypto. AI.

The best side hustle’ aren’t usually the one’s making the most noise online, but rather the one’s that fit in with your lifestyle. Before you start anything, make sure you ask these three questions

1. What Skills Do I Already Have That People Would Pay For?

As we discussed earlier, the fastest way to build a side hustle is not by learning something completely new, but by leveraging skills you already use every day. Think about what you do at work.

Do you:

• Build spreadsheets?
• Manage projects?
• Write reports?
• Lead teams?
• Solve operational problems?

Those skills already have real market value, ask yourself where you can find the people who want to pay you.

2. Can This Fit Around My Life Right Now?

A side hustle should support your life, not completely consume it. If you’re already working full-time, you need something that can realistically fit into your evenings, weekends and flexible hours. This is why many working men do well with things like freelancing, coaching, consulting and digital products. These options allow you to control when and how you work. If a side hustle requires your constant daily attention, it will quickly become exhausting.

3. Does This Build Skills or Assets Over Time?

Not all money is good money. Some side hustle only pay you for the hours that you work while others create assets that compound over time.

For example:

• Freelancing helps you build your reputation and network
• Consulting helps you to build your authority in your field
• Digital products create assets that you can sell repeatedly

The best side hustles help you make money today as well as increasing your opportunities tomorrow. This isn’t about chasing trends but more about building something that fits your skills, life and long-term goals. When those three things align, a side hustle stops feeling like extra work, and more like an investment in yourself and your future.

The Man Daily Way

Side hustle’s are about helping you earn more money and providing you with optionality.

When all of your income comes from one job, you are dependent on that job, and this is a very dangerous place to be.

The moment you start earning money outside your employer, something shifts inside you.

You start to realise that your skills, experience and knowledge beyond salary, and this is powerful. You live in a world where industries are changing quickly, the men who will thrive don’t just rely on their jobs. They will build skills, networks, and assets that give them options. This is the real goal!