Small Business Ideas for Men in 2019

Many men are actively exploring business opportunities they can start from home or online to earn a steady stream of passive income. These small business ideas only require minimum startup capital, but offer serious income potential. Find out what experts recommend as great business ideas for men, plus tips on how to get started.

An online business is one of the easiest to launch and it can be anything that drives your passion. Just make sure to build a website that gives your business the digital presence it needs to reach your target audience. We recommend using Bluehost for reliable web hosting to make sure your website is always online. They also offer domain registration and a business email address, all for just $2.95 per month. Check out Bluehost hosting plans.

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Here are 15 small business ideas for men to inspire your own:

1. Boutique Barber Shops

Catherine vanVonno, Ph.D., President and CEO, 20Four7VA

A small business specializing in men’s grooming would be more sensible to people when they see that the owner is male. With the rise of boutique barber shops and grooming kits, men have become less shy about styling their hair, taking care of their skin, and dressing up. Find out what others are doing, how they’ve branded themselves, and how you can set your brand apart. If you’re aiming to use natural ingredients or sustainable materials, you should start looking for the best suppliers early on.

2. Home Inspection Consultant

Dustin Amodo, Owner, Island Property Buyers

You could become a home inspector. It might not be the first thing that comes to mind in our tech-first society when you think of starting your own business, but it can be very profitable, and you’re able to set the number of hours and clients you ultimately want to take on. This is especially good for anyone who’s got an interest in construction and remodeling and has a basic understanding of how those things work.

3. Telemedicine Business

Alain Gazaui, Founder, Kinect Corp

Telemedicine is a relatively undeveloped market (but gaining entrants every day). You will need the technological infrastructure as well as medical professionals to actually be able to see patients. However, there are many nurse practitioners or even MDs that are looking to break into telemedicine considering they could work from home — staffing is not an issue (the bigger problem is that each medical provider needs to be licensed in each state they practice telemedicine in). There are also many video-conferencing services (Zoom, Polycom, etc.) that will keep the infrastructure set-up relatively painless; all you’d need to find is a programmer that can make you a portal.

4. Affiliate Marketing

Reuben Yonatan, Founder and CEO, GetVOIP

My No.1 tip for men in starting a small business it to make sure they keep their family-work balance in mind. To that end, I recommend the business model which has been most successful for me: affiliate marketing. While it’s very involving and hands-on initially, you can set up a team of content creators that eventually obviates the need for your direct involvement in a lot of areas of the company. Once you’re out of the day-to-day content creation and promotion, and have a lot of your affiliate network established, you can maintain a more flexible schedule. I’m not saying affiliate businesses are hands-off, but they can help you maintain a flexible lifestyle that fits men with a variety of interests and responsibilities.

5. Online Travel Agency

Marc Prosser, Co-Founder, Fit Small Business

Online travel agencies are third parties that resell hotels, flights, travel packages, activities, and car rentals on behalf of other companies. Customers like the added convenience of a built-in booking system, allowing for instant bookings on their website. The great thing about bookings made through your website is that it does not require you to pay commission to a third party, all you need is an efficient website for your clients. Squarespace is an easy to use website builder that offers highly customizable, expertly designed templates so you can have your website up without the need to hire a developer. You get unlimited bandwidth and storage, a website builder, a secure socket layer (SSL) certificate for website security, and a free domain name for only $12/month. Visit Squarespace and get started with your website today.

6. Home Car Valeting Business

Usman Ali, Owner, Boomerang Social

For a car valeting business you will need a professional pressure washer that sprays warm water, some microfiber cloths, a professional leather cleaning kit, a fabric cleaning solution, and a portable vacuum. Oh, and of course you’re going to need a vehicle to carry everything to your clients. Since you’re going to be traveling to other people’s houses you will need to charge more than your local car wash and your clients will be wealthy individuals who don’t have the time to be waiting around at a car wash.

7. Social Media Marketing Consultant

Reuben Kats, COO, Falcon Marketing, LLC

Driving traffic to a business on social media platforms is the new way to generate leads and drive more sales. People somehow miss out on the biggest picture in social media marketing. Social media marketing is something that can be expensive but effective if done properly. One great post has the potential to go viral and get you thousands of views. The visitors to your website can get you sales and provide you with brand-new followers.

8. Print-on-Demand Business

Faizan Ali, Growth Hacker – Content Marketing, WPBeginner

The best advice I give to my clients that are looking for small business ideas is print-on-demand or POD for short. It’s feasible because it doesn’t require a lot of investment. All you do is design a T-shirt, mug, bags, or other accessories, and then upload it to the POD service provider’s website. They will print it and ship it. You won’t have to worry about warehousing or shipping costs. The only thing you need to be good at is marketing on Facebook. People earn up to $2,000 a month on the side with their jobs. People who quit their jobs earn a lot more.

9. Professional Blogging

Deborah Sweeney, CEO, MyCorporation

One great small business idea for men is to turn a blog into a business. Figure out your perfect niche, create great content for your audience, use email marketing tactics, study SEO, and begin monetizing with affiliate offers.

10. Dropshipping Business

Maggie Aland, Marketing and Review Editor, Fit Small Business

Thanks to drop shipping, it’s now possible to start your own small online selling business without having to hold inventory. Merchandise on your online store can be delivered directly from the manufacturer so you earn money so you don’t have to pay for overhead expenses. Use Shopify for a quick and easy way to create an online store with beautiful, responsive themes for your drop shipping business. Choose from the many Shopify drop shipping apps like Oberlo to help you curate and add products automatically to your store. Try Shopify for free.

11. Handyman Service Business

Brad Ormsby, Owner, Colorstone Marketing

One business I would start if I were starting from scratch with no money is a handyman service. I would print some business cards with my name, phone number, and the services I offer. Then I would go door to door in affluent areas, talk to everyone and leave my card. I would also get a call list for that area and follow up on the phone. Anyone can do that and we all have things around the house that need to be repaired. If someone shows up at my house, they’re clean cut, and they can communicate well — they’re getting hired on the spot.

12. Virtual Assistant Business

Amit Khare, Owner, Mrs Daaku Studio

There are very few men who are virtual assistants today and the potential is untapped. So, if you are good at technology, I would suggest you to start a VA business and target bloggers out there. Almost all bloggers struggle with tech at some point (WordPress, hosting, building a website, page speed issues, etc.). If you can address their concerns, they will pay you for it and also refer you to other bloggers. Slowly and steadily, you can grow and run an online agency that provides tech solutions to bloggers.

13. Real Estate Wholesaling

Ed Zulyevic, Owner/Manager, West Coast Property Group

Starting a real estate wholesaling business is pretty easy with very little money invested. I suggest locating a local mentor or wholesaler and learn the ropes and lessen the learning curve. Much of what wholesaling requires is online and offline marketing, trying to drive motivated house sellers to your website. From there you can qualify them as a lead, interview them on the phone and capture as much information as you can about the property. You can then set up an appointment to view the property and estimate repairs. If all goes well and you determine it’s a good fit to buy the property, you settle on a purchase price and proceed with the necessary paperwork. Real estate wholesaling takes about 10 to 15 hours per week of your time.

14. Start Your Own Chatbot Agency

In case you haven’t noticed yet, more and more business pages on Facebook are using chatbots to manage their customer care. While working with AI messaging can seem intimidating at first, the best thing about this demand is that you can learn to make chatbots for free.

15. Local Grocery Delivery Business

This type of business is something you can work on with just your phone, your car and a basic website. Partner with the small grocery stores around your community and they can help you with the marketing. Grocery delivery is easy to scale so once you’re ready to put in some more investment, you can consider getting your own app and even include other errand services.

Tips for Starting Small Business Ideas for Men

One thing our small business ideas for men have in common is that they’re versatile. Your income potential will depend on how much effort you’re ready to invest in growing your business. So whether you’re planning a passive or a side hustle, consider using these expert tips from around the web to your advantage.

Here are seven tips for launching small business ideas for men:

1. Find Your Inspiration

Every business starts with an idea and what this idea needs is motivation. People encounter challenges on a daily basis and once or twice you might find yourself having a ready answer that no one else seems to be aware of. This will be a reflection of your expertise, your hobbies and interests combined. When this happens, take time to do quick research online and you’ll surely find content that can inspire you to develop a business idea.

2. Create a Business Plan

Just because small businesses require only a small capital doesn’t mean you should skimp on the details. As an entrepreneur, you are investing both your time and money so take every opportunity to ensure that your business has what it needs to succeed. Begin by developing a clear business plan that work toward realizing your vision.

The following tips can help you create a sound plan for your small business ideas:

Research your competition: Get to know other businesses that offer the same product or service. Find out what they do right and what customers feel that’s lacking in terms of marketing, advertising, sales and customer service. Having this information can help you stand out and attract your target market.
Decide what will make your business unique: Once you identify what solution your product or service will provide, the next question to answer is how. Developing a strategy that answers the how will determine what makes your business unique. Even when you have strong competitors with a solid customer base, providing a unique experience will give you an advantage.
Set short term and long-term goals: Daily and weekly goals will keep you motivated and provide you with a sense of accomplishment every day. Your long-term goals will guide you in identifying what short term tasks you need to achieve. Make sure that your goals are realistic and measurable so you can track how much your business is improving.
Make a list of your requirements and resources: Your planning should include making a list of your requirements and comparing them with a list of your resources. This will help you prioritize and maximize your budget.

Ultimately, being organized and setting milestones for yourself as a business owner will help you avoid common mistakes of new entrepreneurs. Plus, a business plan can help you secure funding.

3. Master Your Multitasking Skills

For business owners, multitasking skills is a requirement to succeed. This also means knowing how to achieve work-life balance even while completing a large daily set of tasks. Multitasking is an aggregate of long term strategies that keep you productive and not just being able to get through your day.

Begin with outlining your goals and create a schedule you can stick to. If you learn to outsource your repetitive business tasks to freelance experts, you should be able to find time to unwind on a regular basis and help you avoid burnout.

4. Keep it simple

Like many entrepreneurs, your small business idea comes from working on something that you’re passionate about. This is great for motivation as long as you’re careful with execution. The downside is having your eagerness get the best of you and before you know it, you allow your idea to snowball into something overcomplicated. You could end up with an expensive, elaborate end-product that nobody wants to buy.

Start with a small idea and realize it before adding more. It’s important that you get out and test the basics of your business idea before adding innovations. Remember that quality doesn’t necessarily mean complicated and being able to provide an efficient and simple solution should be your priority.
Cut unnecessary features that costs you money but do nothing other than distract your audience attention from your products and services. You don’t need all the bells and whistles to be a competitive small business.
Set your priorities as this will help you stay focused. Your ideas need to be translated into a product that your target customer will understand. Prioritize and plan out the development of your products or services so it grows in stages in line with demand.

When you start with simple ideas and objectives, long-term goals become clearer and you stop yourself from overlooking small but crucial points of starting your own business. You can always ramp up your efforts after establishing your business.

5. Speak Up About Your Business

One challenge for many new business owners is the marketing. As someone who works as an employee before coming into your first business venture, promoting yourself and your brand can be unnerving. If you can’t convince consumers to buy from you and support your company, it’s difficult to make money.

Here are some ideas on how to slowly build your confidence as a business owner:

Write a background of your business.
Build your pitch and practice
Accept local public speaking opportunities.
Show your passion and share why you started your business
Participate in networking activities.

With constant practice, these small steps can help you build the confidence that you need to lead your business. Eventually, this confidence will allow you to do activities that establishes you as an expert in your industry.

6. Build Your Own Website

Having a website makes your business available to potential customers even while you sleep. It’s important to design it in such a way that it’s mobile-friendly so you reach your target audience who are always on the go. Hire freelance experts to help you with the design and make sure it’s kept clean and easy to use.

The following are key features every business website needs to succeed:

A professional web host and web address
A simple, strongly branded design
A sitemap that’s easy to navigate
A clean and well organized homepage
A sign up page to build your email list
An informative About Us page
A section for customer testimonials and reviews
An easy-to-find contact information
A compelling Call to Action (CTA)
A press page to earn trust and build credibility
A variety of secure payment options
A suite of security features including SSL certificates with badges displayed on your homepage
A software embedded to collect traffic data

There are more features required for an effective business website, but the ones in our list will ensure that you have the basics down to build a good first impression with your target audience. Remember to ensure you have a mobile-responsive website to reach the widest audience possible.

7. Prepare Yourself Mentally

Transitioning from an employee to a business owner can be overwhelming. Priorities and focus change, and you find yourself responsible for bigger tasks with heavier consequences. While some people can take these changes in stride, others will need time to adjust. Becoming mentally prepared as you build your business will make all the difference.

The following suggestions can help you mentally adjust to a business owner role:

Build your confidence: You need this so you can effectively communicate your vision to employees and stakeholders.
Keep your focus: Business owners work long hours and burnout is a risk. Focus will help bring your inspiration always at the forefront even when you’re socializing.
Be a risk taker: First time business owners tend to step back from any decision that brings a certain degree of risk. A well prepared business plan can make you ready for consequences of risks necessary to build a business.
Be proactive instead of reactive: Anticipating possible outcomes is important for a successful business venture. This is where plain risk turns into calculated risk that makes a business owner efficient.
Be solution oriented: It’s important to understand why problems come up but this should be done in aid of producing a solution. Being focused will help you move forward in spite of hurdles.
Own your accomplishments: Customers look for experts to rely on. Owning your accomplishment shows that you are confident with your product or service.
Learn to accept rejection: It’s important that you know how to take criticism and rejection in stride. This will help you stay positive and focused on solutions.
Become more sociable: Being socially involved is part of a business owner’s role. Learn to engage naturally with customers, employees and community.

Being mentally prepared for the demands of opening a new business is crucial in building the foundation of a successful venture. Make a list of simple activities that break down our list of suggestions to help you get started.

Bottom Line

The 2019 Guidant Financial Report shows that 73% of small business owners are male and educational background did not factor into their profitability. So whether you’re a stay-at-home dad or an employee ready to be your own boss, our list of business ideas for men can help inspire your dreams of financial independence.

Ready to start your own business? Don’t forget to include a business website that’s supported by a professional web host in your plans. We recommend using Bluehost for reliable web hosting service that makes sure your website is always online. They also offer domain registration and a business email address, all for just $2.95 per month. Check out Bluehost hosting plans.