Money making ideas for teens
Most teens want to start earning money, but it’s hard for them to get a job (in the UK at least). There are so many rules about how many hours they can work outside of school, and when. Then there are by laws by county or area, which state which types of jobs they can’t be involved in. So what money making ideas for teens are left?
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Limitations for teen getting jobs
As an under 15, there’s basically a paper round if you want to get a job. These days, there’s probably not many paper rounds going given lots of people read their news digitally, or walk to their local shop to get their own paper.
There’s also a rule that there’s no working with food under a certain age. So my brother’s working in the pub kitchen helping prepare food from the age of 13 back in the 90s would never be allowed now. At a push teens can get a job glass collecting or pot washing. But many landlords want staff to be able to wait tables and do more than just one small job. Plus the hours for younger teens would limit what they could do.
If teens want to earn money, they’ll need to come up with their own business ideas. While they may think drop shipping can be an easy route, you need good engaged social media audiences to be making decent money. It’s not as easy to find products, or to actually sell anything. Plus not many parents want their teens spending even more time on social media through doing a business.
What teens can learn from a job and earning money
N’s a good worker with experience helping out on the farm. He also helps out someone with occasional gamekeeping to get experience. But that’s all largely free. However it’s a good way for him to get used to working hard, being out and about, and networking with other people who might be able to offer jobs in future.
After all, teens need to be able to gain skills outside of the obvious. Social skills, appropriate behaviour, conversation and rapport. Understanding where they can use their initiative building someone’s trust in them. As well as knowing when to ask for help or check in.
Reliability, organisation and willingness to work hard are all important.
And not forgetting working towards a goal. Most teens want to work and earn money to pay for things they want. And if they’ve got a longer term goal in mind, it’s good financial planning and budget management skills they’re learning too.
N’s tried a couple of things, in absence of our local family bar needing anyone extra for glass collecting (maybe this summer).
Teen experiences to date
Dog biscuit making
N’s tried making and selling dog biscuits. I think this had great potential. It wasn’t much effort and was low cost. There was also no need for local council food and hygiene permits due to not including animal products. A couple of different types of biscuits could be made with huge profit.
He had an easy route for selling to our neighbour, who also did some selling for him to her dog groomer. I think if he’d put more effort into it and continued for more than 3 weeks, he’d have had a fairly easy income coming in. He just couldn’t be bothered to ask other places to stock the products so I think missed out at least 3 easy places to try selling them.
A friend of mine said her son did fundraising for a trip and made dog advent calendars. He bought the dog treats, stuck them on a ‘cardboard’ wreath they decorated, and did quite well selling those.
Car washing
There’s one thing N does well and that’s research. And research. He decided to do car washing and detailing as his next enterprise, and so far it’s going fairly well. Although he has invested quite a lot in equipment and washing solutions to make sure he’s got good quality kit. He’s spent a lot of time on Youtube learning, as well as having had experience of cleaning trailers and vehicles on the farm.
The only downside is the weather because it’s miserable when it’s cold and wet. Also it’s only him, and it takes a good while to wash a couple of cars. Plus living outside the village he needs to coordinate with one of us to be able to take him and all his gear to whichever customer’s house.
But he does a great job, he’s got happy customers telling others about his work. I think adults like to see kids with some initiative wanting to work hard. Although he does need to keep his prices decent rather than thinking all the time about add ons and extras. There’s only so much time he has at weekends and in school holidays to do car washing. Although when it’s lighter evenings, he’ll have after school free as well.
For a teen, it’s good money, but hard work. I was wary of the whole potential damage to expensive vehicles, but he’s got advice and tips, so he obviously knows what he’s doing.
It’s funny when I get into my car (which is usually embarrassingly filthy and not a good advertisement for his business), to find another little area of it he’s been testing his next idea on.
Friends of his have also done gardening/odd jobs over the summer in their village. Facebook is handy for advertising for them in the local village groups, generally parents know other villagers so it’s not too random. And once they get known, people start tagging them when they’re looking for some help in the garden.
Anyway, here’s some other money earning ideas for teens. Many can be done by them alone, while others may need a bit of practice beforehand from parents or others. It may be that friends want to do some jobs together, while others may prefer something they can do from home.
Money making ideas for teens
Selling own belongings – outgrown toys, books or clothes. Declutter and earn money at the same time. If you’re good at spotting bargains you might even buy some items to sell on. Try a garage sale, stall outside your house, or Vinted or Ebay.
Car washing – to make decent money, you need more than just fairy liquid and a sponge! But can be lucrative depending on the area you live in, and repeat business. Bear in mind how long it can take. About an hour per car for one person doing a really good job.
Gardening – weeding/mowing. Make sure you know what you’re weeding, and how to use equipment. Simple mowing and weeding, or trimming hedges should be possible for most teens.
Dog walking – if you’ve got experience of dogs at home, then offering to walk other people’s dogs while they’re at work and you’re on school holidays, could be fun.
Pet ‘sitting’ – if you’re able to look after pets at home, then pet sitting could be an option when neighbours go on holiday. Alternatively, going in to feed cats, let them in/out, could be a good earner too.
Looking after plants – similar to pet sitting, looking after someone’s plants while they’re away could be an easy before/after school job. Make sure you know what the different plants needs as all have different requirements. A list before the owner goes away fixes that task.
Housework chores/home help – handy to do at home, but sometimes other people need help if you’re willing to do so. Help with decluttering, clearing gardens or lofts, vacuuming or cleaning.
Babysitting – the classic teenage job. If you’re in an area where everyone knows everyone else, this is often a good way to make a bit of cash. Make sure you’re clear up front what you’re being asked to do. My brother one time thought he was looking after 2 girls, but on turning up there were another couple’s kids there to look after including a baby! Any they didn’t even pay him anything extra. Probably unlikely to have a baby dumped without warning in this day and age, but you never know.
Picking fruit – N wanted to pick and sell blackberries last autumn. I wasn’t convinced it would be very successful given people can pick their own rather than stop at the side of the road to buy, but actually if he’d been able to pick enough, he could have tried it. Try foraging (as long as you know what you’re looking for), or look out for people who’ve got fruit trees and want people to take away their surplus could be a good way of making a bit of cash (although a bit cheeky given you’re selling someone else’s fruit). You could also offer to prep the fruit as that can be laborious to do (we know how many hours it took 2 of us to peel, slice and dice 4 bags of cooking apples!)
Keeping chickens and selling eggs – if you’ve got space in the garden for a coop and run, why not keep chickens and sell the eggs. Check what the laws are for doing this, especially with annual avian flu regulations on keeping birds away from wild birds, but eggs sold at the side of the road can be popular.
Helping out on farm or local smallholding – if you like animals and being outdoors, why not offer some help to local farmers.
Pest control – if you know how to trap moles and know people with mole issues in their gardens, it could be a good little money maker.
Glass collecting – large pubs with big pub gardens, may want extra glass collectors especially in the summer. Worth asking around.
Creative sales – make crafts to sell. Crafts don’t always sell well, mainly because they can take a long time to make, components can cost quite a bit, and people can buy fast fashion and jewellery cheap. But some crafts will sell and don’t cost a lot to make. Try friendship bracelets (or make up kits with instructions to sell), bags, tie dye t shirts, or jewellery.
Customising items – plain picture frames, clothes, shoes. Do what you enjoy and then see if other people ask about them.
Tutoring younger children – probably one for older teens, but if you’ve got specific skills, why not offer them to help younger children through SATs, music exams, or just general school subject support.
Sports assistant – if they’re already involved with a sport, why not offer to help with the youngest age groups. N did this with the youngest tennis lesson with his coach, and got paid for the time he did. He really enjoyed it, and has potential to become qualified when older. I also know a couple of teens who’ve done lifeguarding training, and help out as swimming assistants now as the pool they learnt in.
Refereeing – not the easiest or most regular job, but if you already play a sport like football, why not looking into becoming a junior referee. Once qualified, you get paid for refereeing matches. Do bear in mind refs don’t always get treating nicely by horrible parents from the sidelines.
Admin support – if you’ve got good computer skills, why not see if you know people who need a little admin support for their business. Helping people who are less familiar with technology, phones, or need some help with answering documents, data input support or filing.
Offer a delivery service – some local shops now offer this since Covid to elderly and any others who request it, but if you’ve got a bike and basket, this could be offered. It wouldn’t make loads of money but worth offering it alongside other options.
Online money making ideas for teens
Design print on demand items – if you’re creative, and know people who’ll share your product, you could try print on demand – stickers, journal pages, tips for homework/student short cuts, t-shirts, mugs, hats etc.
Create printables to sell – Etsy isn’t always the best place nowadays with fees. But if you can get a good niche, and get your social media or a website advertising working for you, then you could create some buzz. Try word clouds, quotes, prints, journal pages. Just check copyrights or create your own to avoid any issues coming up later when selling. Selling pdfs for people to download is the easiest but watch out to ensure they’re secure and not available to anyone just to share. You can also provide them framed but watch out for postage and packing costs.
Stock images – if you’ve got a talent for photography, stock images could be an options. It’s about niche and volume though, so make sure you’ve got enough to be uploading.
Social media assistant – if you know someone who needs help with a fledgling business online, then teens can help out with social media or photography depending on their skills.
Surveys – not many allow signing up for under 18s. But get a parent to sign up and if there are any for children, ask to get the money for them. It won’t make a lot of money, just dribs and drabs, but worth keeping an eye out.
Mystery shopping – similar to surveys. Sign up as a family, but you may find teens have specific shops they they can help with
Walking apps that pay – there are some apps that will reward you to fulfill targets like walking. Double up with dog walking and you could do quite well. Again check age limits, but you could sign up via parents.
The one thing to remember is to keep track of what you spend and earn. It’s good practice, but also you’d need to check the rules in your own country or area about earning. In the UK, you can earn £12k+ tax free. If your business is super successful and you’re going to earn more than that a year, then you need to register with HMRC for tax purposes.