Small Business Ideas For Teens – In every group of teenagers I facilitate or teach, I ask the BIG question! Do you have a job? Inevitably I get a lot of blank stares and a few raised hands. During that awkward silence, parents often call out and tell me that their teenager can’t work because they aren’t 16 or 18 yet. While typically finding jobs for your teens and children has become more difficult as the age of almost all job requirements increases, in other ways it is easier than ever to find your teen a job! Let’s think outside the box today as I share 12 smart small business ideas for teens and tweens!
Note: This post contains affiliate links. When you purchase through a link, The Reluctant Cowgirl receives a small commission, at no additional cost to you, which is used to keep this blog running. I only recommend products that I value and trust.
Small Business Ideas For Teens
A part-time job teaches your teen to work hard, think on her feet, and take instructions from others.
Beginner Friendly Business Ideas To Make Money Online
In addition to jobs, your teen will also have the opportunity to learn how to manage money, gain new skills, and understand what they love to do (or hate to do).
With all the great benefits of work, we definitely want to help our youth. But as parents we also have to consider how to get them to work, conflicts with other activities and sports and age restrictions. Ugh, now the teenage job doesn’t seem possible.
But before you give up, let’s consider all the job opportunities other than flipping burgers at the local fast food joint.
A small business has so many additional benefits to the regular part-time job. When your tween or teen starts a small business, they can:
Business Ideas For Teenagers
I first learned about something called “microbusinesses” at a homeschooling convention I attended years ago. Eager to learn ways to encourage my teenager to be more entrepreneurial, my interest was piqued! What was a micro-enterprise?
A micro business is a small business for teenagers that they start from home in their middle or teenage years. With little investment to start with, teenagers have created some amazing businesses. Small business ideas for teenagers
As a teenager I hated babysitting! If I didn’t know the kids well, I would NOT babysit. Luckily there was a lady at my church who worked full time and wanted help cleaning.
At that time, I was only a sophomore, but I was going to be free and work with this church friend and clean. I usually did the weekly cleaning like kitchen and bathroom. But I would also give different tasks each week, depending on what she wanted us to focus on cleaning.
Best Small Business Ideas For Teens 2023
Later I was able to branch out and take on other cleaning jobs. House cleaning was much more rewarding than babysitting, for me, and it paid better!
People love their pets and are willing to pay a responsible teenager to take care of the beloved family pet. If your teenager just likes to spend time with animals, consider a pet company.
Your teen can start small by watching a neighbor’s pets while they’re away on vacation. And if they do a good job, the neighbor can be a good reference to get the next job.
Often, couples who work full-time have to hire someone to walk their dog during the day. Or if you live near an airport, you might have pilots or flight attendants who need their animals cared for while you’re away on overnight trips!
Best Small Business Ideas For Teens In 2023
My son, Ethan, shot his first wedding when he was just 11 years old. He volunteered and we thought the bride was a little crazy to agree to it, but he did a great job with Mom and Dad as production assistants. My husband refused to allow him to pay this family friend, but it helped start many paying gigs.
As a sophomore and teenager, he filmed weddings and gymnastics meets for his sister’s teammates, created commercials for various companies and transferred old VHS tapes and other media to digital files for clients. As his skills grew through the production and editing training of a high school program, he was able to show his work and get paid more. He even set up a booth at a wedding show during his first year of college and landed a few jobs.
As he looked at a career in the film industry (he is now a busy film student at the University of Texas), the experience he gained as an interpolator as a teenager was invaluable in practicing his skills, learning how to deal with clients cope and learn what to do. charge.
For more middle/teen/college student job ideas, check out Laura’s post: Summer and Online Jobs for Teens and College Students
Small Business Ideas In 7 Categories With 3 Questions To Help You Decide
When it came time to take the college boy’s senior photos, we went with another teenager. College Boy chose two teenagers who had small photography businesses on the side. We received quotes from both, along with what services they offered.
We were all very happy with his senior photos. The senior package price was good for us, but the quality and pictures were still amazing! And for a few hours of work, student photography earned almost 20 dollars an hour!
An added bonus…our teenager was so comfortable with the photographer that we all loved our senior’s genuine smiles!
Once I had a young man in my class tell me that he didn’t work anywhere. Since he was 15 or 16 years old, I was disappointed, so I asked him a few questions about why. Come to find out he was too busy flipping cars!
The Ultimate List Of 17 Fundraising Ideas For Teens
This creative young man bought cars on Craigslist, fixed them up and then sold them back on Craigslist. He loved working on cars, so buying older cars with some problems and fixing them up was a lot of fun for him. What a great idea to use the skills he had already learned!
The internet has opened so many doors for moms and teens to work from home. Starting an Etsy shop selling a craft or homemade item is definitely one of the best business ideas for students!
If you have a creative teen, look for her items to sell online through Etsy. Etsy takes a commission, but Etsy offers a safe and easy way to get started quickly.
Do you have a baker at home? We know several young ladies who have either created a small cupcake business or sold their baked goods at a local farmer’s market.
A Guide To 50 Creative Business Ideas For Kids
Currently, Teen Red is in the beginning of creating a sewing business. She makes welding caps for her father and his work colleagues. We had to find a pattern that worked. And then, since I don’t sew, I worked with a friend in our homeschool group to learn how to sew well-made and comfortable welding hats.
Teen Red loves to sing, so we felt this was a unique way to use her talents. There is a need for the welding caps because the women who used to provide most of them have stopped making them. And with every hat she makes, Teen Red gets more skilled!
My niece, who is a senior in high school, started making costumes a few years ago. She does some of the work herself and other parts of the costumes, she hires others to do. She has developed a reputation for quality work, so she only opens her sales page once or she would get too much work! Instagram was a useful place to promote his business.
I heard of one teenager who offered a dance camp in her backyard between her college years, while another teenager offered a craft camp. Has your teenager been taking lessons (music, dance, art, etc.) for years and loves working with children? Consider offering a summer camp for a few weeks during the summer.
Easy Crafts For Kids To Sell: Craft Ideas For Little Entrepreneurs
Parents are often looking for fun, affordable activities for their children to do during the summer. What might seem like a bargain to parents will still add up to a ton of earned income over a few weeks for your teenager.
Does your tween or teenager love animals? Look at animal husbandry as a way to learn about animals and make money from home. We bought a purebred female German Shepherd as a pet when our daughter was 10. When Daisy the dog was old enough to breed she had 9 puppies.
I didn’t know anything about puppies because this was a plan that Tween Red and her father had hatched. So I had a crash course in puppy raising! Tween Red and I learned to change the puppy paper and clean her cage. We took the puppies for walks, talked to them and fed them. And we trained them to pee outside on command when they were 6 weeks old (cutest place ever to see 9 puppies on command)
Now there are people who feel very strongly against animal breeding because there are breeders who do not care about the animals. But all people