If you are a young teen looking for work, sometimes it might feel positively daunting. You might be tired of babysitting the kids down the street. You might not even enjoy spending time with kids. So how can you make money? If you're not quite ready for a job someplace, then go into business for yourself!



1. Skip the lemonade stand.

If you want to make ten cents a glass sitting by the side of the road, that's up to you. But you can also find ways to make more money than that! Think of what skills you have and what you might be able to make that people will buy.

Perhaps you are an amazing bracelet maker. Consider having a booth at the local farmer's market or at nearby garage sales. Baked goods might also be a big-selling hit.

You might even decide to have a garage sale yourself! Ask your parents and neighbors if you can cart away some junk for them. You can sort through this junk to find out what might be worthwhile to sell at a garage sale: remember, one man's trash is another man's treasure. Be sure that you have a way to dispose of the materials that you aren't going to sell.

2. Use your brain.

If you are a stellar student, why not start a tutoring business? You can go to local schools and leave a poster with the guidance counsellor or secretary. Make your poster bright and easy-to-read. Specify two or three subjects as your specialty. Most importantly, make sure that there are no mistakes on it: you won't get hired as a tutor if you don't strive for perfection. If you are hired as a tutor, set out the guidelines right away. Are you going to be working on the student's material from class, or will you be supplementing class work with other material?

You might be a very talented musician. Consider teaching music lessons. As with any lessons, you will need to come up with a lesson plan for each lesson. You will also need to have music for your students when they arrive, or tell them what books to purchase when they arrive. Parents will want proof of your qualifications, so when you put up your posters in local music shops or in community centers, be sure to write down the number of years of experience that you have with your instrument, any awards that you've won (perhaps in the Kiwanis Festival), and any pertinent achievements (perhaps you have your grade 6 conservatory piano and your grade 1 theory qualifications).

If you were fortunate enough to be raised in a home where more than one language is spoken, you can teach foreign language classes. You can work this two ways: you can teach a new language to English speakers (Spanish, Dutch), or you can teach new immigrants how to speak English. This might also be something that you can tutor to school children.

3. Put your back into it.

Although chores can be tedious, they seem a lot more bearable if you are getting paid for them. You might start a cleaning or lawn-maintenance business. You need to decide if you are going to charge an hourly wage or if you are going to charge a per-job fee. You might vary your rates depending on the size of the job. Ask your parents to help you come up with reasonable rates. Another thing to take into consideration is whose equipment you will be using. Can you borrow your parents' lawnmower, or will you use your new employer's lawnmower? Be sure that you know how to properly work any new equipment before you begin. Remember: lawn-maintenance can extend beyond simply cutting the grass: you can rake leaves or perhaps offer to do simple gardening tasks.

Other jobs that you might not have thought of include painting, or car cleaning. Many people would pay you to vacuum, dust, and wash their car.

4. Help your elders.

Many older people need an extra hand for a lot of reasons. Not only would lawn-maintenance and cleaning be helpful, you might also offer to cook one meal a week. You could do their laundry.

Some older people lose their sight but don't lose their love of reading. See if you can get a job reading aloud. You're not going to be able to pick the books you read, but at least you will be reading new material and making someone happy!

Even those middle-aged people can be downright computer illiterate sometimes. If you are a computer whiz, you could teach short courses on how to use a computer. You could cover everything from how to use a word processor, how to send email, to how to search the web. You can make each topic into a different half-hour class. Be sure to provide handouts explaining the steps in case they forget the steps!

5. Share your love of animals.

You can offer to help your neighbors with their pets. If they are going away for a week during the summer, you can walk their dog every day and make sure that it has food and water. You might offer to take their hamster home with you so it doesn't get lonely. Even if your neighbors are staying for the summer, a dog-walking business can be very successful. Just be careful you don't get too many dogs at once!

If you have any cooking skills, you can bake homemade gourmet pet treats. You can find recipes for these on the internet. Test them on your pet or a friends pet for free before you sell them.

You might consider selling your skills as a pet groomer, as well. Do you feel comfortable cutting a dog's hair and nails? Give them a bath and brush their fur and their owners will be thrilled.

Before you Start your Business

Remember: a business is a business. You need to be professional. You need to make sure that if you say you will do something, you follow through. Have an adult look over all of your business plans with you to make sure that you haven't forgotten any key material.

The key to a successful business is planning. Plan your marketing, plan your lessons, plan your dog-walking route, plan, plan, and plan some more! With some forethought and some help from an adult, you will be prepared to make money in no time.