Finding ways to earn money as a teenager is a good financial habit. It will help you to make your future financially secure, plus you’ll learn a lot about the current market situation, e.g., the job market.
There are various methods of earning money as a teenager. During my teenage, I preferred to do internships during the summer. Most summer internship jobs are on LinkedIn, Upwork, Fiverr, etc.
👉 Quick Summary – How to Earn Money as a Teenager
- Retail Jobs and Freelancing is one of the most common ways for teenagers to make money.
- Learn to use websites like LinkedIn, Upwork, Tutor.com, eBay, Swagbucks, etc. They have many jobs and earning opportunities.
- Craigslist, eBay, and Facebook Marketplace are some of the best online marketplaces for your stuff.
- Paper routing, Retail Jobs, Yard Cleaning, Babysitting, and Lifeguard are some of the easy-to-get jobs, that help you to get decent pay.
- Earning income doesn’t matter high or less will help teens to learn real-life skills such as communication, money management, taxes, time management, etc.
Let’s get started!
Table of Contents
How to Earn Money as a Teenager?
1. Freelancing
There are millions of people into freelancing, it gives time, freedom, and most importantly a lucrative income. A good intro to freelancing is working with multiple clients on a contract basis.
How can you work as a freelancer? You need a laptop (or computer) and an internet connection with any skill. If you don’t have any qualified skills; don’t worry you can learn a skill from YouTube, Udemy, Coursea, like platforms.
You can learn any skill that interests you but to name a few common freelancing skills: Coding, Content Writing, Digital Marketing, Accounting, Design, Photoshop, Video Editing, Event Management, etc.
- Once you have acquired such skills, now we can look for jobs requiring those skills.
- For finding such jobs, you can use social media, or register yourself on platforms like LinkedIn, Upwork, Fiverr, Guru, Freelancer, etc.
- At first, getting a freelancing job might be difficult, but you can still get an internship.
Recommended Read: How to Become a Freelancer – Pro Tips
2. Make Money Apps
Although it’s not a long-term method of making money, there are some apps and tools that help you earn by completing random tasks. Tasks like completing surveys, reviewing products, watching ads, reading articles, etc.
You won’t make much money but it can help you manage some expenses.
Make Money Apps –
- SurveyJunkie
- ySense
- Swagbucks
- EarnKaro
- Inbox Dollars
- etc
Likewise, many other apps help you earn money.
Recommended Read: How to Make $1000 a Week using Uber Eats
3. Sell Old Clothes
Selling clothes is not only about money. But it will give real-life experience of sales and marketing. Head towards your closet, find out garments you won’t be using, and let’s start selling them.
For selling offline, you will require some contacts or a store willing to buy those from you. Apart from this, you can check out reselling programs of brands like H&M, Zara, Nike, etc.
You can also sell online, which is a good and easy way to start!
Sell Clothes Online –
- Depop
- Ebay
- Poshmark
- Facebook Marketplace
- Mercari
- etc
Recommended Read: How to Earn Money on Facebook
4. Babysitting
One of the most common ways for teenagers to earn money is by Babysitting. Either you can ask in your neighborhood, or your network, else you can be a professional babysitter by registering on online sites.
Here are some of the platform that lets you find babysitting jobs, you can register yourself here –
- babysits.in
- care.com
- sitly.ca
- urbansitter.com
- etc
Recommended Read: Uber for Babysitters: Complete Guide
5. Retail Jobs
Probably the most common way of getting a job as a teenager is retail jobs. Retail jobs are mainly in-store jobs, you need to find them locally or contact them via email or phone. You can ask if they have a vacancy.
You can search on Google and LinkedIn to get your nearest retail job. The pay in such jobs is average but good for beginners.
6. Tutoring
You might know a foreign language, or you are good at maths or music. You can teach a subject, skill, language, etc. There are various platforms as well that help you connect with students.
- Tutor.com
- Vedantu.com
- Preply.com
- Teacheron.com
- etc
You can find tutoring jobs on these websites.
Additionally, you can teach in your neighborhood or ask for tutoring jobs in your network.
7. Content Creation
Content creation is a broad term, if you know how to create content, you can be a YouTuber, a media professional, a blogger, an educator, etc. However, it is a long road, it won’t happen overnight but will happen if you are consistent with your efforts.
8. Product Reviewer
A product reviewer is a person, who reviews a product on behalf of customers or an audience. You’ll get paid via monetary payments, commissions, or free products. Here are some sites that help you find products for reviews.
- UserTesting.com for testing websites and apps
- Influenster.com for reviewing various products or services, you’ll get freebies for your review.
- Toluna.com for paid surveys
9. Selling Art
If you are fond of art, i.e. paintings, home decor, jewelry, hanging art, etc, and you love creating them. You can create an art brand and sell it online. It’s a business where the setup cost is almost zero, plus you can create your products and differentiate them from the market.
However, you need to learn e-commerce and digital marketing before getting started. Read this article – How to Sell Art Online
10. Lifeguard
The lifeguard’s main job is to supervise people swimming and rescue swimmers who feel uneasy, sick, or drowning in water. You’ll get a lifeguard job where it involves swimming i.e. Swimming pools, Amusement Parks, Beaches, etc.
More About Lifeguard’s Job –
- Teens older than 15 can work as lifeguards.
- For a lifeguard job, you need to pass certain tests and undergo rescue training.
- You probably need to undergo a Lifeguard training course, which makes you a certified Lifeguard.
11. Selling Your Old Stuff
By selling your old stuff, you’ll various key skills of sales. Additionally, it will also help you to de-clutter your space, making extra cash, and living sustainability.
Some of the items a teen could sell to make extra cash –
- Old clothes
- Unwanted or extra accessories or electronics
- Books you have read and won’t read again
- Collectibles, etc
Assess the condition of your items and find out their resale value and market demand. You can sell them offline on a retail store that accepts old stuff or you can sell them online. Here are some of the recommended online platforms.
- eBay
- Facebook Marketplace
- Depop
- Etsy, etc
12. Business
Always fancied yourself as a bit of an entrepreneur? Good news – even as a teen, you can start your own business! Whether it’s making crafts, teaching something you’re ace at, or setting up shop online, the possibilities are endless.
However, take small steps and don’t get into big investments.
- Brainstorm ideas with your friends and family members
- Analyze the market: check if there is demand of your service or product you are providing.
- Connect with your fellow entrepreneurs using social media (networking is key).
- Sketch out a plan and tell others to review it.
- Experiment with your idea on a small scale.
13. Social Media Influencer
I assume you have been using social media for a while, mainly for content consumption. But you can make money from social media as well! A person who creates content for social media is called a social media creator or influencer.
There are several ways for social media influencers to earn money:
- Sponsored Content: Many brands and businesses, pay influencers to create content for them.
- Paid Partnership: Brands pay influencers to feature their product or service in their content.
- Monetization: Apps like YouTube offer creators direct money through monetization, where YouTube shares their Ad revenue with creators. And the same as Google does with websites.
- Affiliate Marketing: Many influencers earn commissions by referring products or services.
We have several social media apps giving us space to curate content as per our wish. Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, Twitter, Pinterest, etc are some examples.
Read this article to learn How to be a social media influencer!
14. Paper Route
Paper routing is exempt from the Fair Labor Standards Act requirements and minors under 14 are permitted to deliver newspapers. Newspaper routing is an easy task and helps you get decent pay.
You can use Google to find such jobs or search for them locally.
15. Dropshipping
Dropshipping is a low-investment business idea that doesn’t require inventory or any upfront investment. To explain what is dropshipping:
In simple words, it is a business model where a store (mainly an online store) doesn’t keep an inventory but takes orders from customers. Once they get an order, they pass it to the manufacturer or distributor and fulfill the customer’s order.
Here a dropshipper gets a commission or percentage in sales.
There are various advantages of a drop shipping business, for example, it is less capital intensive, has low setup cost, is flexible, and is a scalable business.
WooCommerce and Shopify are tools that help you set up a dropshipping store.
16. Work in Parent’s Business
Working in your parent’s business will give you a lot of exposure to the real world and market conditions. Apart from this working in the family business will allow you to contribute and provide a teenager’s perspective to your family business.
If your family business’s target clients/customers are teenagers or youngsters, your insights are highly valuable for them.
That’s it for this article, we have found these 16 practical ways how to make money as a teenager. If you have anything to add let us know in the comments!
Tips to Make Money as a Teenager
Here are some of the tips:
- Set Clear Financial Goals: Define what you want to achieve with your earnings, whether it’s saving for a big purchase, funding a hobby, or building a college fund
- Execute Quickly: Instead of thinking or planning, focus on actions and executing your tasks.
- Government Schemes: Many states and municipalities offer jobs to young people, find out about such programs.
- Manage Your Time Wisely: Balance your schoolwork, extracurricular activities, and job responsibilities effectively to ensure you’re making the most of your time.
- Save and Budget Wisely: Practice good money management habits by saving a portion of your earnings, creating a budget to track your expenses, and avoiding unnecessary spending.
Here is a story of a teenager that made millions in revenue.
Brennan Agranoff, a high school junior went to watch a basketball match at his school. During the match, he observed that all the players were wearing simple Nike socks without patterns or designs.
He thought, are these players willingly buying this or they don’t have any other options with more designs and colors?
With this idea, he started ‘HoopSwagg’ a colorful and custom design imprinting company. Cut to 2018, five years later, HoopSwag became a successful online startup by exceeding one million dollars in revenue!
In Agranoff’s story, you can see that the very basic idea of customizing socks made him very successful.
FAQs: How to Earn Money as a Teenager
1. Can I Earn Money at 15?
Yes, in fact, it’s a good age to learn about making money and finance. The sooner you start the better it’s for you. Although you need to figure out many things, remember you’ll make mistakes learn from them, and keep moving forward.
2. How to Make Money as a 14-Year-Old Online?
Freelancing is one of the ways for 14-year-olds to make money online. Identify your skill set and register on freelancing platforms like Upwork and LinkedIn. You can apply for jobs, and if you get selected, you’ll be able to work as a freelancer.
You need a bank account to receive payments, but if you don’t have one, you can use your parent’s bank account.
3. Right Age of Having a Job?
There isn’t any ideal age to start earning, it highly depends on your background. To give you an answer, after 18 you can start your financially independent journey.
4. Which One is Best for Teenagers: Job or Business?
Both the business and job have their pros and cons, it depends on which suits your personality. On business, you’ll get salary + profits, however, it will be an unreliable or uncertain source of income.
While a job gives you a comparatively reliable source of income, however, you won’t have any share in profit plus it will be harder for you to maximize your income.
The Bottom Line
As a teen, you should have several thoughts regarding how to make money. But remember, mere thoughts won’t help your actions and consistency is key to success here. Try figuring out what can you do according to the resources you have, and start working towards them.
This article provides with many amazing ideas to make money, choose the best one for you!
We wish you all the best for your money-making journey!
