How to Make Money as a Kid

How to make money as a kid is a question that is asked a lot!

If you are a kid reading this you may be asking

How can I make money? I am just a kid.

Here is the thing… there are kids all across the world who take have business ideas at a young age and become millionaires while they are in high school!

Take for example Abbey Fleck. In 1993 she became a MULTI-MILLIONAIRE at the young age of eight for her invention “Makin Bacon”. It was a device to microwave bacon in the microwave.

Talk about bringing home the bacon… [Dad joke]

Second Easiest way to make money as a kid

Ok so easy may not be the right word but I am not sure how else to describe it.

Blogging…

Yup…

Starting my blog High Five Dad was one of the best things I have ever done…

You want to know what else?!?

I get paid to sit on my couch and write articles!

Last month alone High Five Dad brought in $1157.44! I know not millions of dollars but seriously, it was easier then mowing a lawn and a whole lot LESS TIME!

Blogs earn money in a variety of ways and you don’t have to be a killer writer… as you can tell…

Look around my site.

You can blog about anything and make money.

Maybe your interested in video games. Create a video game review site in which you write about the newest games. Include videos and Boom cash cow…

Maybe you play a sport. Write create a site about football. This could be advice, techniques, equipment, etc. Really there are endless ideas.

Here are the 4 ways that I make money blogging:

• Ads- Yup those annoying little things but they pay
• Sponsors- People pay me to advertise their business- sorta like ads but more specific
• Sponsored Posts- This is when I write an article about a product or service. Its my opinion, but they pay more for it.
• Affiliate sales- This is when someone buys something after clicking my links.

First thing that you will need is a Domain Name. Keep it short, simple and use a .com:

You will also need Hosting. We recommend that all new bloggers use Bluehost…

Why?

Because it’s cheap… you get a FREE domain… and CHEAP!

If you want the step by step guide here you go: how to start a blog 

Yeah… it says “how to start a dad blog” but it applies to anyone.

If you are truly serious about starting a blog to earn real money, shoot me an email at eric@highfivedad.com.

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How kids can learn the value of money by working

There is something to said about earning a dollar versus giving someone a dollar. Whether it is chores or an actual job, when a child earns money they begin to develop a respect for money.

Given the importance of financial skills in life, it is important to begin teaching money lessons early on .

Some simple money lessons that kids can learn are:

• Waiting to buy
• Understanding that money is a limited resource
• Money can grow by saving it

These simple lessons will be beneficial not only when you child begins making money but also as an adult!

How can young kids make money?

Just because you are young doesn’t mean that you can’t begin to make money.

Here are 10 ways for young kids to make money:

Organize Garage Sale

Adults tend to have a lot of stuff in their house that they would love to get rid of. Too many times their lives are just too busy to get rid of it. Partner with some adults doing all the leg work for them. This means pricing the items and creating advertising. Split the profits 50/50.

Sell Crafts

Crafts are something almost anyone can begin to sell. This could be bracelets, keychains or more elaborate door hangings. Check out these easy to start crafts that you can begin selling.

Walk a Dog

We have two dogs… and I would LOVE if someone knocked on my door and asked to walk our dogs. I would easily pay 5-10 dollars each time. This will save me time, help my dogs get exercise and help you earn money.

Once you get a little older, you can earn up to $1000 a month by pet sitting at places like Rover.

Mow Lawns

Mowing lawns is one of first side hustles I did when I was kid. Mowing lawns can actually turn into a great business especially if you live in an area that is warm all the time. You could easily turn your weekends into a profit machine.

General Yard Work – weeds, planting, etc

Don’t just stop at mowing lawns. As a budding kid entrepreneur begin working on your upsell skills. Let the home know about those weeds in the backyard or how great their lawn would look with a fresh row of new flowers. Use the network from your lawn mowing business to cash in big time.

Lemonade Stand

A tried and true side hustle for all kids. Whether it is just nostalgia or if people really like lemonade, this is a great business idea for kids. Adults will easily spend 2 or 3 dollars for a cup of lemonade just because your a kid!

Car Wash

If you are not afraid to roll up your sleeves and use a little elbow grease this may be a great way for kids to make money. Almost everyone owns a car and almost everyone likes their cars to look good. Go door to door in your neighborhood letting them know about your service.

Can Recycle

In some states this is an EASY way for kids to make money. I am originally from NY and we would search for cans in all sorts of places. Baseball fields, along the streets, or just ask people if we could have them. Here is the reason why… Each can equals 5 cents! Those nickels added up.

Farmers Market

Do you have access to a backyard? How about growing vegetables and selling them at a farmers market. Easy selling vegetables are tomatoes, cucumbers, and green beans. You can even pickle you vegetables so they last longer and can charge more!

How to make money as a teen?

Just because you are a teenager doesn’t mean that you can’t use any of the previously mentioned ways for young kids to make money. Those methods will work for you to!

However here are 27 ways for teenagers to make money.

Odd Jobs for Teens

Have you ever heard of gigs? These are usually one time jobs. For instance during the state fair you might be able to pick up a gig as a parking attendant or possibly an extra in a movie. Feel free to search craigslist for a whole variety of gigs that pay you for a service. Teens can really begin to bring in cash and make money doing these odd jobs.

The best part of these odd jobs for teenagers is not only the money it will bring it, but it gives you a chance to learn what you like to do.

Create Jewelry

Are you artsy teen? Teens can begin making serious cash by creating costume jewelry sells extremely well online or through places like Etsy. The great thing about creating jewelry is that you can also go to flea markets or art shows to sell your items.

Handyman

Are you really good at fixing things? Some teenagers sell their handyman service for serious dough. People, my mother in-law included, are always looking for a good handyman. This means you might help them clean the gutters one day, help them take down the storm shutters the next, or even do small house repairs. This is a profitable business for teenagers because you can set your own price.

Paint House – inside and out

Do you want to know what I hate to do?!? Paint the walls inside our house. We update our colors once every 4 or 5 years. Sometimes its a brand new color, while other times it’s just to fix spots. Becoming a painter is time intensive but extremely profitable.

As a teenager, painting can be a great way to make money!!!

Paint Doors

Maybe you don’t want to spend 2 or 3 days painting an entire house. One service you can offer as a teenager that will easily make you money is to paint their front doors. Everyone who owns their home wants their house to shine. The first thing that people see before they come into a house is their front door. Offer to update the color or just repaint sections.

Run Errands

Adults are busy or at least pretend to be. If you know adults who are constantly saying they don’t have enough time, ask them what are some things they need done. This might be picking up the kids from daycare, shopping, or doing their laundry. Find services that are taking up their time and offer to do them… for a cost.

Who would have thought that a teenager running errands for adults could earn then money??? 

But it’s true!!!

Mow Lawns

Mowing lawns is not just a side hustle for kids. Mowing lawns can actually turn into a great business. You can start your business with a simple push mower and can scale up as you get more lawns. The bigger the equipment you have the faster you can cut. Reminder: Don’t scale too fast otherwise you wont be making money.

This is probably the MOST common way teenagers make money over the summer besides getting a summer job.

When I was a teenager I made a LOT of money mowing the neighbors house’s lawn.

Landscaping

Whether you use your lawn mowing business as a network or if you just go door to door, landscaping is a highly profitable business for teenagers. If you are willing to learn and put in time you can easily make thousands of dollars each month.

Tutor

As a teenager, a simple way for you to make money is to tutor. You have access to a huge audience… your high school. If you don’t feel comfortable tutoring someone your own age, you can tutor someone in middle school or elementary school. As a teenager you can easily charge 20 dollars an hour or more!

Design Website

Are you a technically advanced teenager? If so, designing websites may be your way to make money. Small businesses are always looking for websites. Here is a simple way to find clients. Check your local chamber of commerce. Search all the local businesses. Identify all that do not have a website and go visit them. Offer to build them one. For your first client, give them a discount and ask for referrals in return.

Start a Blog

Along the same lines as building a website, start your own blog! Bloggers often write on a personal interest that allows them to connect and communicate directly with their readers. Most blogs have a “comments” section where readers can ask their queries with the blogger. Interacting with your readers in the comments section helps establish a connection between the blogger and the reader.

Blogs take time to monetize but you can begin creating passive income. That means you will be making money while sitting in class! This site alone brings in over $1000 a month!

Here are some important steps to start a blog:

• Pick a blog name. Choose something descriptive for easy composition.
• Get your blog online. Register your blog and get hosting and domain.
• Customize your blog. Choose a free template and install it properly.
• Write & publish your first post. You must have to write and publish posts very frequently for improving your website traffic.
• Promote your blog. Use social media to get more people to read your blog.

Create a Youtube Channel

Social media is huge! Being a teenager you already realize that. If you love being in front of the camera, building a following on Youtube might be your way to make money. There are thousands of different Youtube channels that do product reviews or are meant for entertainment. You can make money by becoming an affiliate or through ads.

Start with the basics
The first thing you have to do is create a business channel of your own, which is a very simple task on the YouTube platform.
Step 1: Sign in to YouTube with your Gmail account and click on the user icon at the top right of the screen
Step 2: Click on the gear icon to absorb and extract your account’s YouTube settings.
Step 3: Click on create a new channel
Step 4: Then select “Use a business or other name.”
Step 5: Pick your Brand name

Fill in the About Section
If you are still wondering how to start a YouTube channel that promotes your brand, you can do that on your profile and channel description.

This is the first option you will see after you have created a channel. Here, it would be best if you composed your brand based on what viewers want to see on your channel. This is also a great place to attach links to your website, blog, and other social media networks.

This description will be presented in more than one place on your channel, so be sure to create your best statements and attached links.

Upload your first (official) video
After the completion of filming and editing your first video, it is time to upload it. You will get the upload option at the top right of the screen when you log into your account.

Analyze and Optimize
After uploading your video, you must be conscious about the performance of your channel. YouTube Analytics will assist and guide you properly about the analytical framework for your video optimization. No doubt, it is a powerful tool for increasing web traffic on your YouTube channel.

Social Media Manager

15 years ago this job didn’t really exist. But in 2020 if a business doesn’t have a social media presence they are behind the times. Instead of spending your times flipping through Instagram or Facebook, you can manage a business’s account. That means you would get paid as teen to post on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and interact with their customers!

Instagram Marketing

Maybe you are teen that doesn’t want to be in a video but you love taking photos. Instagram is used by some of the largest ad marketing agencies in the world to sell their product. If you have a larger following, you can begin selling their products to your followers.

Teach Students Coding

Similar to tutoring. If you have technical expertise in a subject such as coding or building websites, you can teacher others to do that. Rather than building websites, you can have a class teaching others to do that and charging them.

Become a Professional Gamer

If you want to be a pro gamer and choose it as your career, you will need to sharpen your skills in one game. In the realm of gaming, only the best and dedicated gamers can consistently earn money by placing high in gaming tournaments. Many tournaments and competitions are happening year-round to get involved in, as part of a team or as an individual player.

Here are top tips to help you on your way to becoming a professional gamer:

• Identify your platform and choose your favorite type to master.
• Create innovative techniques to play the game in a new way.
• Watch and learn from the rivalry of streamers and professionals, then try to connect with them.
• Play different tournaments to earn big rewards and prizes.

Stream on Twitch

Since professional gaming is too time consuming of a task for most people, there is an easier option for gamers to earn money through live streaming. Twitch is platform that emerged to fill a niche where ordinary people can share their gaming experiences with others. Although it might be difficult to grow your audience when starting out, I still recommend giving it a try since you might be the next great Twitch streamer.

Here are the necessary equipment needed to start streaming on Twitch:

Software Selection
Software compatibility is an important part of live streaming so all of them have their pros and cons.
OBS Studio — OBS Studio is the best selection for many starting content creators. OBS Studio is free, open-source software with a superlative degree of proficiency.
Streamlabs OBS — Monetize your channel with the Streamlabs version of OBS, which has many attractive characteristics. Unfortunately, it is only available on Windows.
XSplit — XSplit is a paid version software with lots of phenomenal customizing options.
vMix — vMix software is one of top options for professional video streamers that are looking to upgrade their live streaming setup.

Hardware Selection
Hardware selection is more challenging to configure and will vary depending on your online streaming needs.
Here are some tips to assure a smooth live streaming experience with the help of a desktop computer:
The CPU — A highly configurable fast CPU is recommended for live streaming and controlling the encoding and gaming.
The GPU — Nvidia GTX graphics card with OBS Studio for better control and monitoring. Moreover, it has built-in hardware encoders.
Dual Computer Setup — You can use one computer for encoding and streaming and another computer for gaming.

Upgrade Computers

One of my favorite pastimes as a teenager was to take apart computers and upgrade them. I didn’t realize until I was an adult that there is a lot of money in this. You can buy the parts wholesale or on Amazon and then mark up the prices to upgrade computers.

Survey Sites:

Surveys… who doesn’t like taking surveys? Completing surveys wont make you a teenage millionaire but it will give you extra money each month. Some websites pay in rewards instead of cash. You can however use those rewards to get giftcards which can be used like cash.

There are a lot of survey sites to use. Here are some to try.

• Swagbucks
• American Consumer Opinion
• Survey Junkie
• Pinecone Research
• Harris Poll Online

Birthday Kid Parties – Clown, Magician, Singer, Entertainer

Being an entertainer is side hustle for all ages. Whether you are a singer, magician or just like making people laugh, you can turn all of those into profit by selling event packages for birthday parties or events.

If you are an outgoing teenager, then this method of making money is for you!!!

Being a clown or singer may not be for every teen but it is a fun way of earning an income!

Face Painting at Carnivals

Now this may be limited to towns that have carnivals or fairs often. However, being a skilled face painter can be very profitable. As a teen you may be able to set up your own stand at events such as fairs, carnivals or even sporting events!

Balloon Animals at Restaurants

We recently went to a restaurant where they had a person going around making balloon animals for kids. The balloon animals were free… tips welcome. I asked the balloon artist when did the restaurant hire you. She told me they didn’t. She walked in and offered her services. Explained the balloon animals were free and parents were allowed to tip if they wanted. The restaurant got free entertainment and the balloon artist got free clients. It was a win win.

Babysitting

Babysitting is a great way for teenagers to make money. Once you get a few regulars, they will provide referrals to more and more parents bringing you more business!

Coaching Kids

Maybe you are an athletic teen who wants to make money. Coaching other kids might be the side hustle for you. You could easily coach baseball, football, or soccer. If you are an expert in other individual sports such as golf or tennis you could offer lessons.

As a teen, coaching kids is not only rewarding but also helps pay the bills. Think about sports that you are good at and see if any of the local YMCA’s allow for coaching. This will be a great way to earn money over the summer.

Being a Referee

Are you a teenager with thick skin? Ha! I joke… sorta… Being an umpire or referee is a easy way to make money as a teenager. However, you may have to deal with grumpy adults… just a warning.

Pet Sit

When Michelle and I go on vacation we normally do not bring our dogs. We hate asking our friends and family to watch our dogs, so we normally just pay someone to come watch our dogs. For us that means feeding them twice a day, taking them for a morning and afternoon walk, and letting them outside a couple times a day. If you are a teenager who loves animals this might be a great way for you to earn money.

Sell Used Items

Are you teenager who has 3 iPhones and a couple of old iPads laying around? What about clothes that you don’t wear anymore. Take some of your unwanted items and sell them. There are ton of sites from eBay to Craigslist to even Facebook. Selling unwanted or used items is a fast way for teens to make money.

Benefits of kids making money as an entrepreneur

Of course the first benefit is having your own money. However, making money as a kid provides a laundry list of other life skills and education that is important.

Becoming a teenage entrepreneur will teach you:

• Value your time
  • As a entrepreneur you will quickly realize that time is your greatest resource.
• Always learning
  • The more you know, the more your time and expertise is worth.
• Create a vision and plan
  • In order to become a successful kid entrepreneur you are going to need to have a clear vision and plan to see it through.
• Just do it
  • Nike’s famous slogan applies here. Don’t be afraid to take the leap and start making money now.

How to Make Money Fast as a Kid?

The million dollar question that most kids have is… 

how can I make money fast? 

Well here is the bad news…

Making money as a kid or an adult is rarely fast…

There are a number of methods above that will help you make money quicker then others but the reality is, it is going to take a while to earn money.

Any time you run across people promising you to make money fast… RUN!

Whether you are kid or teen, making money will teach you how to become more responsible with your money. Take your time and pick a gig or side hustle that you like!

What are some other ways kids can make money?

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