There are opportunities galore today for teenagers to make some money. Teens can do traditional jobs like serving in fast food restaurants, babysitting, mowing lawns to more tech savvy online jobs thanks to the advent of the internet.
How earning money benefits teenagers
Earning money and then by either spending it or saving it can help teens to learn some valuable and practical financial lessons early in life.
- Teens can save up for their high school or college tution expenses or save it up.
- It can help them experience financial independence and make them more aware about their financial future and the importance of savings.
- Working in part time jobs can help to build punctuality, work ethics, communication skills and other such habits which can help them build them their own personalities in life.
- Teens can experience both success and failure which can help them prepare for more challenges ahead in life.
- By doing various jobs or gigs they can find out what kind of work interests them. This can help them choose a better career path in future based on their passion and experience.
What does the rules say
Various child labor laws are enforced by U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division (WHD). These are done to protect working minors against exploitation. Legally, 14- and 15-year-olds are limited to work outside school hours. They cannot work more than three hours on a school day or eight hours on a non-school day. After age 16, teens can work any schedule.
How To Make Money as a Teenager
You can do any reasonable job that gives you good earnings per hour. You can choose work based on its availability, if you are comfortable doing it, and based on what you like. Here are some of the jobs that you can do as a teenager to earn money.
Car Wash and Detailing:
Most of the work in car wash and detail can easily fetch you 20$-50$ per hour. You can work for a garage or simply start your own car wash business. You would need just a little investment in the form of cash wash solution, pressure washer equipment and hose. You can easily make more than 1000$ a month by only washing cars.
Babysitting:
This one is very easy. You just need to go out in your local community and talk to parents of toodlers or children. Many parents would love a babysitter to come and take care of their baby and give them a couple of hours of rest from daily parenting activities. Some states in US do have age restrictions on babysitting as it requires a person responsible enough to keep another child safe. Baby sitting can easily fetch you 15$-20$ per hour per child.
Food Restaurants:
Many teens do variety of work in food service industry for hourly wages. It is one of the most popular options for teens when it comes to making money. The work involves variety of tasks such as serving customers, washing dishes, perform kitchen work and cooking. These jobs give teens a lot of exposure to different kinds of people and can help them improve their communication skills.
Tutoring:
Tutoring as a side hustle is great for teens. You can teach different subjects to lower grade students in college or high school. Apart from education, you can also do tutoring in skill-based activities like different sports, music, singing, arts and more. You can tutor someone one-on-one, or you can teach students in batches online. You can earn in the range of 50-100$ per hour or even more with tutoring.
Retail Industry:
Retail industry offers lots of job opportunities for teenagers. Jobs here would normally include customer service, stocking of goods, working as cashiers and direct selling of products. Working in retail can help develop marketing and selling skills in teens which can help them a lot going ahead in life.
Other jobs:
There are various other small jobs that teens can do like mowing lawns, helping with groceries, removing snow, yard work and more which help teens earn a decent amount of money.
How to make money online as a teenager
Apart from above jobs which are mostly part time, teenagers can do various online jobs and gigs to earn money. Some of them are:
Blogging:
Teens can write about topics they like or are interested in. They can build up their community and increase their website traffic. Blogging provides a way to earn money online through ads or through affiliate marketing.
YouTube:
We see many successful teenagers with their own big YouTube channels. You can start your own YouTube channel. There are many niches in which you can get started. Although the favourite one in this age group seems to be gaming, there are plenty of other niches that you can make videos on and earn money through ads.
Freelancing:
Websites like Upwork, Fiverr and Textbroker provide excellent opportunities to teenagers to make money through their own skills. These websites pay per project instead of per hour. You can take up various jobs in copywriting, content writing, graphic designing, website designing, logo making and more, based on your skillset. You can develop specific skills by learning through YouTube videos, free courses and more.
As a teenager, it’s important how you spend your money. Although there is a lot of excitment when you earn money for the first time, it is important to save money for your future expenses. Minors 13 years or older can open a savings account individually or with an adult co-owner with banks such as Wells Fargo. Learn financial management like filing taxes and returns. As you can see, in today’s world there are plethora of earning opportunities for teenagers.
About The Author
