There are tons of small business ideas for teens that can help you make a little – or a lot – of extra cash.
It can be frustrating to be a teen, particularly when it comes to making money. Your job options are limited, you’re often unable to easily commute to and from a workplace, and you usually don’t earn much. This makes it difficult to save money as a teenager.
So, it’s no wonder you’re looking for small business ideas for teens that will help you save up for the things you want and earn you a little extra independence. Not to mention equip you with skills you can use throughout your life.
Below, we’ll outline some of the top teenage business ideas, discuss why you should set up a business as a teen, how you can do it successfully, and what parents can do to help.
Here are ten easy business ideas for teens that you can start now.
10 Small Business Ideas for Teenagers
Before you can set up your business and start earning money, you must decide on your business.
This choice is crucial since it’ll decide your earning potential, the time your teenage business ideas will take up, and the skills it’ll give you going forward.
As a step up from earning pocket money doing chores, here are ten top easy business ideas for teens.
1. Car Washing
Simple but effective, car washing has been a solid business idea for teens since the advent of cars.
Pretty much everyone owns a car, giving you an almost unlimited target market. Most people want their vehicle to be clean but don’t want to take the time to clean it – that’s where you come in.
2. Pet Sitting or Dog Walking
Hang out with some cute animals and get paid? Starting up a pet-sitting or dog-walking service seems like a no-brainer.
Some teens will be better positioned to start up this business than others. For example, teens who live in an apartment block or a built-up city might have a smaller market than those in a suburb.
3. Blogging
If you have the patience, blogging can be a great way to make money.
You should look for a topic that you enjoy writing about and that others are interested in. From here, you can build up an audience of readers. Advertisers will then pay to advertise on your site to those readers.
Remember that you won’t make money immediately – but if you stay consistent and blog regularly over several months and years, the payoff can be huge.
4. Youtube or Podcasts
More great business ideas for teens include starting a YouTube channel or a podcast.
With just a video camera – or your phone – and recording equipment, you can make money from YouTube AdSense by monetising your videos on the platform. You can even earn brand partnerships later down the road.
5. Babysitting
Many teens’ first job is babysitting, but most are happy to do the jobs as they come to them – usually as and when family members or friends need it.
To turn babysitting into a teenage business idea, focus on marketing your services beyond the people you know directly to ensure regular gigs. You can even employ other teens as babysitters, too.
6. Lawn Mowing
Small business ideas for teens need to be inexpensive to set up. This makes lawn mowing perfect as, in most cases, you don’t need to buy your own lawnmower to get started.
Simply market your services in your local area, show up, and use your customers’ lawn mowers to cut their grass before taking home your earnings.
7. Live Streaming
Live streaming might be for you if you enjoy gaming, creating art, cooking, ASMR, or if you’re good at ‘Just Chatting’.
If viewers enjoy your content, they’ll leave tips. You can also monetise your content with ads and get brand sponsorships once your viewership reaches a certain threshold.
8. Photography or Videography
With Instagram, YouTube and TikTok being so vital for influencers, small businesses, and anyone else trying to make a name for themselves online, photography and videography skills are in high demand.
Whether you have the skills now or take the time to learn them, you can offer your photo/video production and editing skills freelance.
9. Pressure Washing
If your parents own a pressure washer (or if you’re willing to invest in one to start your small business), then pressure washing is one of the best small business ideas for teens.
You can offer to pressure wash people’s driveways, porches, and exterior walls for a fee. This is one of the teen business ideas with less competition, too, and pressure-washing businesses tend to be super profitable.
10. Selling Clothes
You can start your clothes-selling business by advertising the clothes you no longer wear on a pre-owned clothes-selling platform like Depop or Vinted.
You can expand your business by asking for friends’ and family members’ old clothes, reselling thrift clothes, or even selling clothes you make or customise on a platform like Etsy.
Why Teens Should Start a Small Business
There are countless benefits to starting a business as a teen. For one, it allows you to make extra money while fitting it around your education and extracurriculars – since you’re in charge of your schedule.
What’s more, the lessons you learn while running your own business will teach you invaluable lessons: how to run a business, money management, marketing, promotion, and more. If you see yourself becoming an entrepreneur or owning a business, honing these skills is vital.
Starting your own business will also help you to build confidence and self-discipline. This will have a positive ripple effect on the rest of your life.
How to Start a Successful Teenage Business
There are so many easy business ideas for teens that there’s no one way to become successful as a teen entrepreneur.However, there are some steps you can take to ensure your business has the best chance of succeeding.
1. Brainstorm
Before you decide on the type of teen business you want to run, you should brainstorm.
Think about your interests, the skills you currently have, the resources available to you, and the kind of people you have access to – in real life or online. These people will comprise your target market, so your business needs to appeal to them.
2. Choose a business idea
After brainstorming, you should narrow down your teenage business ideas to one based on how viable the business is to set up and run as a teen, and how much demand there is for your business. Make sure to research this before you solidify your business plans.
3. Market your service
After you decide on your business and set it up, it’s time to promote it to your target market.
Whether you’re marketing your business locally or online, you’ll need to think about how best to spread the word so you can start making sales and earning money.
4. Deliver on your promise
Whether your customers are satisfied is the most important determiner of success.
Unlike a new customer, repeat business is the most profitable since you don’t need to spend money or time to acquire them.
Moreover, happy customers will more likely spread the word about your business. This word-of-mouth marketing is highly effective for getting new business, so it’s essential that you offer the product/service you promise and leave your customers satisfied.
5. Monitor business costs
To make a profit, you must ensure your costs don’t exceed your earnings. This makes it essential to closely monitor and record business costs to maximise profits.
By using a prepaid card from a company like HyperJar, you can manage all your spending from one place and use the card to handle your business costs. You can also use the HyperJar app to help you save and budget, and allocate areas of spending for your teenage business with money management ‘jars’.
How Parents Can Support Teenagers’ Business Ideas
As a parent, knowing how you should get involved (if at all) with your child’s teenage business ideas can be difficult.
Since you have a lot more experience than they do, you can offer advice on which easy business ideas for teens are feasible and suggest the best ways to make money as a child or teen.
You’ll also be able to show them how to fill in a tax form once their business starts earning and provide advice if they’re struggling to make money.
What’s more, if they’re starting a local service, you’ll probably be connected to their target market. By spreading the word, you can help to market your child’s business and get it off the ground. You could even chip in to buy any equipment they need to start, but that’s up to you.
Starting one of the easy business ideas for teens listed above – or one of the many other small business ideas for teens – is a great way for teens to earn money, gain independence, and learn skills that will pay off long-term. From car washing to freelance video editing, most small business ideas for teens will add value to your or your child’s life now and in the future.
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