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One of the questions I see a lot on forums and in Question & Answer websites is how to make money as a teenager. Which baffles me a little. Without bashing the youth of today too much, I feel like a little of the entrepreneurial spirit has left the people from my generation and just not been continued down the line which is a shame.
In my day job, we employ a lot of young men in their late teens. On more than one occasion I have been asked how to make extra money outside of their normal job. Unfortunately, they do not get paid great wages and as well as looking to further their skill in their normal 9-5 they wish to earn a little extra.
All of this got me thinking about the various ways that teenagers could make extra cash. Obviously there are a lot of side hustles out there that are just not appropriate for young adults and children. My main side hustle for example which is Matched Betting is not suitable. For starters, you have to be 18 and even if you are I’m not sure you can be responsible enough to handle the control you need not to actually bet and lose all your hard-earned profit.
So below I have listed the 10 Best ways of how to make money as a teenager. They are in no particular order and I have done all of them at some point in my life.
Washing Cars:
So this one may seem mundane but trust me this can be a big money-spinner. Let me elaborate with a little story. When I was 15 I had no desire to get a Saturday job and to be honest they were hard to get. I needed money to buy video games as my mother quite rightly so would not buy them for me.
There was no Internet so I couldn’t even search “how to make money as a kid”. ( Yes I’m that old)
A friend and I brought a couple of buckets and some sponges and chamois leathers and we put it all in a bag and off on our bikes we went. Man, was that first weekend tough. We went down to a nice area near where we lived and just started knocking door to door.
Needless to say, it took ages before we got a positive response. We did, however, get a few over the next few weekends and this led to repeat business. This, in turn, meant between the hours of 8 am and 2 pm on a Saturday we washed a few cars and were making around £35 between us. This was back in 1990 mind you.
This doesn’t take much to start and people will quite happily pay £5 or so to get their car washed in the driveway of their home. You are going to get more people saying no then yes but that’s ok. Perseverance, Say no problem and move on. A Saturday morning can earn you £35 upwards for a few hours work. When you add repeat customers it means you have a good chance of those earnings continuing.
BabySitting:
Ahh babysitting, In my day (God I sound old) you were kind of forced into babysitting by your parents while they went out with the parents of the kids you were looking after. These days it is much easier to sort out yourself and can be quite profitable.
With the onset of social media such as facebook, it’s quite easy to post an advert on the local facebook group for your area to ask if anyone needs a reliable babysitter. Nine times out of ten you are just going to be sitting in someone’s house watching tv and getting paid.
Worst case scenario there is a problem with the child you are looking after. The parents are only a phone call away and are usually happy you phoned if there is an issue.
The money for babysitting as a teenager is between £6-8 per hour and considering the fact it isn’t the hardest job in the world, it makes this a very viable option.
If you are under 18 then, of course, discuss this with your parents before acting on it. Putting a post up on your local facebook group is the right way to get results.
Odd Jobs In The Community:
Another job for younger teenagers that is also good for the community. Like the area I live in and probably you too, there are countless older people who may need a hand with gardening or fetching some basic shopping. Lots of little tasks such as these can really help out an elderly person. It wouldn’t take too much time out of your day.
If you are polite and do the task with minimum fuss you could always build a list of people that require your help and this will boost your income.
Facebook might not be the way forward to get the word out with this one. Most elderly people will meet up with friends or in groups so just helping one person will probably be enough. You would find that they would be more than happy to recommend you to other elderly people that would require your services.
Paper Round:
The original way on how to make money as a 13 year old. Who didn’t have a paper round when they were a kid? Ok so they are not quite as popular as they once were due to the fact that a lot of people read their news online, Me included.
However, if you dont mind early starts and more importantly early finishes it is a great way to start your weekend and earn a nice little wage as well.
Pet Sitting:
It is estimated that in the UK alone there are 12 million homes with a pet. That is a staggering 44% of UK homeowners have a pet. Now usually people may get a family friend to look in on their pets. A lot of people dont want to put their pets into pet care while they are away as they know it will bring added stress to their pets while they are away.
The simplest option is to have someone you can trust come in and feed and water your pets and particularly in the case of cats and especially dogs someone who is able to keep them company for a couple of hours and play with them.
This will usually pay the same sort of rate as babysitting. As you dont need to be there for hours on end it is a cheap way for pet owners to make sure their pets are well looked after while they are out of town.
Gardening:
Gardening for me is a love/hate relationship. I love enjoying my garden. Sitting outside on a summer evening after a hard day at work. A nice cold beer while enjoying a summers day bbq with family and friends is the way I like to enjoy mine. I also hate it as at over 30 meters long. With most of that being grass it takes a good couple of hours to sort it and make it look nice and tidy again after a few weeks of growth.
I would quite happily pay someone £20 for them to come and mow it once a month. If it means I dont have to then it is worth the money. For more and more people who are so busy with work and hectic social lives, paying someone to trim their garden makes perfect sense.
Much like the Babysitting a short facebook advert in the local area facebook group would work wonders. If you happen to live in the UK and near me then, of course, dont forget to give me a shout.
I would say £6-10 per hour dependant on experience and age is about right and this could make for a great weekend job.
Feel Free To Pin This For Future Reference:
Online Surveys:
Survey sites not only want opinions from adults sometimes they want kids opinions as well.
You can be 13 and still apply for some survey sites. You won’t get paid into a PayPal account but you can earn gift cards to spend at places like Amazon.
Below is a list of some of the survey sites I think would be a good fit if you are trying to earn some great gift cards and they will allow you to enter the surveys even when under the age of 18.
- Inbox Pounds A great site that has lots of ways for you to earn. Watching videos and reading emails are the more common ones.
- Oh My Dosh Another great site that is so easy to navigate that it makes earning money simple. Great surveys on this site and for me at least was way quicker to earn money on here than some sites.
- Toluna Another great site that is for ages 13 and up and rewards you for completing surveys in the form of points. These can then be traded in for gift cards for various places.
- 20 Cogs 20 cogs is a slightly different site that only rewards in cash payouts. You may need to be a bit older for this one but the money you can earn, can be quite good so it was worth including.
Start A Youtube Channel:
This can be a great one as anyone can start a youtube channel and it is so simple to do. Yes eventually you may need to get a decent microphone and camera along with some video editing software but, to begin with, you can just use a laptop and away you go.
The average earnings vary quite a lot but you can expect £1-5 per 1000 views.
The only issue is that lots of people are trying their hand at this. You may need to find your own specific niche that doesn’t have a massive amount of competition.
For example, if you try to do a gaming channel which is what I did you are going to find you are up against a lot of other people and it can be tough going.
Think about what you are good at or have skills in and try and narrow down that niche even further.
Selling Sites:
eBay and sites such as this are a great way of earning cash. Yes, you may need a bit of a hand from your parents. I am sure however they would only be too happy to help out. Start off at car boot markets and pick items that you have researched so you know what they might sell for online.
When you have sourced say £10-15 pounds worth of items bring them home, work out how much to charge for postage etc so you know how much profit to make from each item.
Take good photos of the item. Be truthful with any wear and tear etc then pop them up on the site for sale.
There are loads of stories of how young teenagers now run eBay stores from their bedroom and make thousands of pounds a year doing so.
Learn as you go and treat it as a business and you should do fine.
Sell On Fiverr:
Fiverr is an online marketplace whereby you can sell mainly digital products such as website logos, Pinterest graphics etc.
But there are some other ways of earning money on Fiverr. I know of one guy who plays video games. He offers his services to other gamers who may have no friends. He will jump online and chat with them and play games with them while charging for it.
If you think you have nothing to offer on Fiverr you are wrong. I happen to know teenagers who have an eye for design and are doing particularly well on the platform
Round Up
So you can see the sky is the limit when it comes to how to make money as a teenager.
The good thing is that by reading this it shows that you are willing to do a little work to earn your money. That is something that is starting to become a little rare.
Good luck with your money earning. I would also love to hear from anyone who has tried one of these ideas.
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