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Many things are expensive, but money is everywhere. There are many ways for a teenager to make money. You just have to work hard and work diligently. The hard work will pay off!
Steps
- Save as much as possible. Remember, a penny saved is a penny earned. Cut down on unnecessary spending, and you will have more money as a result. It is difficult to make even 10% on any investment, but if you can sock away even 20% of the money you have, you will have a guaranteed 20%. Always pay yourself first.
- Work for yourself. Treat it like a business. Babysit. Walk dogs. Mow lawns for your neighbors. You can make a lot of money, but it's hard work and takes up a lot of Saturdays. Also consider the maintenance aspect in respect to the lawn mower itself. It needs motor, oil, spark plugs, and blades. If this is your parents' mower you will have to maintain it, and replace it if you tear it up. However, most parents will not care and just be thankful that you are out making money.
- Shovel snow: Go to every house in a good sized neighborhood charging 10-20 dollars per driveway, or 30 dollars a week for shoveling the snow. Do this every time it snows. Someone may pay you in advance for a month if they know you or like your work!
- Do work around the house. Negotiate fees with your parents for extra chores around the house. Try to pick things they might hire a professional to do, like detail the car, and charge them half price. Ask your parents if you can clean the house each week instead of them or your housekeeper. Do your laundry and the dishes. This can be a weekly sum. Do the chores properly or your parents might not think it's worth their money. Parents are sometimes more willing to help out if they know what your plan is, so share all the details with them.
- Place a cheap ad in the newspaper such as babysitting, etc. You can also pass out flyers and business cards for people who need help advertising.
Advertise in the newspaper. - If you're talented at sports, participate in sports tournaments. If you like tennis, then go down to your local tennis club and enter a tournament. You get money every round you progress. Snooker or pool is also a good idea. If you want to have some extra fun, enter a tennis doubles tournament with a friend.
- If you are very good at a sport or a subject in school, find out what the local rules are for charging a small fee for tutoring.
- Hire others to work for you. Hire all your friends to mow the neighbors' lawns. Sell tickets to a talent show featuring the most talented kids in your school.
- Put your money to work for you. Pay attention to what other people do, and teach. Maybe it's confusing, but the idea is simple: take the money you have, and use it to make more money. It's called investing.
- Put your spare change in a jar. Remember, a little here and a little there can really add up to a lot. Put the jar somewhere where you can always see it, such as your bedside table or desk. This will help you remember to add change every time you see it.
- Don't use any service that does something that you can do yourself, especially if they charge you a fee. Some banks count coins without the fee. If you have silver or gold coins, hang on to them. Don't convert them for paper money! They will go up in value as paper money depreciates with inflation.
- Get the job to clean up a junk pile of odds and ends and put it in trash containers or trash bags for ten dollars, and the person you clean up for may call you to come back if your job is acceptable!
- Sell at school. You can sell at school on the bus or in school. You can sell gum, drinks, sweets, etc., after school so you don't get into trouble. Example of this is a .20 jam donut bought for .50, sold for .80, realizing a profit of .30 each. The old business rule of buy low, sell high reaps a profit every time. For every 12 donuts bought for $6, $9.60 is made. Take the $6 to replace the donuts and save the $3.60 from each dozen. Once you have a few dozen sold, you will have a "prudent reserve" set aside. If the selling is good, then you can buy the donuts 15 or 18 at a time, and you don't go into debt by spending the increase.
- Join Online Communities. If you've got your entrepreneur goggles on and are internet savvy you could join online communities that share systems with each other on how to start your own online business.
- Do Online Surveys. Market research is very important for big businesses, so many sites will pay you for your opinion. Some sites are very easy to use, and earn you big money that you can redeem.
Tips
- Money adds up. For example, if your parents give you an allowance of $5 a week, that might not sound like much. However, if you do a little extra thing each day for $2, you would make $19 a week. That's $76 a month!
- Don't lend people money unless they are trustworthy and you know they will pay you back. The fact that someone is your friend does not automatically make them trustworthy or reliable - sometimes, lending money to friends can be like gambling.
- Try making flyers on your computer and hanging them on telephone poles. Some places will allow you to hang ads on a board of some kind. This can be very helpful. Be sure to add in your flyer how much you charge for each service; that way your customers know what to expect, and there aren't any surprises when it's time for you to be paid.
- If you are able to make a product, sell the product for about 10-20% more than price of production.
- Work for more than money; work to learn. Even flipping burgers presents opportunities; watch who they pick for management, how the workers are organized, anything. Rich people own businesses, they don't work for them. Money is temporary, knowledge is permanent.
- Try to dress sensibly. This will help you look responsible and dedicated.
- Organize your thoughts and keep a simple plan for making money. Trying to tackle too much can be very stressing and can be a hazard to your developing body.
- Sometimes you can get work at a summer camp. This is useful because it's rewarding and doesn't interfere with school at all, unless you have a year-round school.
- You can also search the internet for websites where you can watch "free" step-by-step videos about how to make money from the internet. Look for anyway that will work for you.
- Charge extra when shoveling snow that has been driven on. Snow that has been driven on is packed down and very hard to remove.
- When selling at school, make sure the price is not over the top. If you can buy a stick of gum for .40, try selling it at .55 so you can get a little profit, while keeping happy chewers!
- Sell things you do not need on ebay. Sell something that people will actually want, like clothes, electronics, toys, clean shoes, etc.
- Sell useless clothes in bundles as rags.
Warnings
- In the USA, don't put flyers in the mailbox; that is illegal. [1] Just tape the flyers to the front door of the house, a door, or a window. You may put your flyers in the boxes intended for newspapers since the federal government does not regulate these.
- Make sure you have permission for everything you choose to sell. You don't want to sell something your parents still want! Also, consider an objects personal value before you sell. It might only be worth $10, but if you would rather have it than the $10, then you should definitely keep it.
- Do not forget that your main priority as a teenager is your education. Do not sacrifice schoolwork or homework for a paid job. Having money as a teenager is very nice, but your main goal is to get an education so you can get a good job and have money as an adult.
- Don't be pushy when trying to get a job. People don't like to be told they have to hire you. Be nice, pleasant, and show the person you are seriously interested in working for them.
- Try to make sure that you do your job the best you can so that people will want to come back to you.
- Lending money can ruin a friendship.
- At school, consider the rules like if no gum is allowed, take caution. Also, if you're caught, you'll have consequences, loss of money, confiscation of the gum or even calls to your parents or guardians, so beware of the rules.
- Posting flyers on power poles is illegal in the USA, and carries heavy fines. Get permission before posting flyers.
- Be careful about using Ebay. PayPal will charge you for selling equipment, and since funds will be moved to your bank account, be careful as parents look at your accounts all the time.
Things You'll Need
- A jar or some sort of large container
- A bank account
- An exuberant attitude and patience. Getting jobs does require patience!
- Hard work
- A school and money for the first sale!
- An account to Ebay and PayPal(optional)
