12 Small Business Ideas for Teen Entrepreneurs | Indeed.com

12 Small Business Ideas for Teen Entrepreneurs

Updated January 30, 2023

Creating your own business as a teenager teaches you valuable life skills and positions you for more success as you grow up and enter the workforce full time. For a teenager looking to start their own company, it's important to find the right industry. In this article, we offer a list of small business ideas that can help you to discover the kind of business for you.

Independent business ideas for teenagers

Starting your own business as a teen is a great way to earn cash and experience. Here's a list of some great options for business ideas for teenagers.Read more: 10 Steps To Starting a Business

1. Social media consulting

Every kind of business needs a social media presence and who better to help them than someone who has current knowledge of the latest platforms and language? Teenagers are the perfect candidate for helping companies create and maintain a social media identity. It's an ideal fit as you can establish a group of clients by word-of-mouth and manage all of your clients from your phone.Read more: 7 Pros and Cons of Social Media Marketing

2. Freelance creative work

As with social media, many older business owners are less comfortable working with graphics programs or building a website. This creates an opportunity for teenagers with creative skills to step in and provide their service to these companies. In addition to contacting local companies directly, creating an online portfolio of your work allows you the opportunity to find work with businesses around the world. You can work from home and build a client base with as much or as little work as your schedule allows.Related: How To Learn Graphic Designing (With Tips)

3. Babysitting

When parents need a night out away from the kids, they need someone they can trust to watch their children and keep them safe. Babysitting is an industry where word-of-mouth can go a long way. When parents need a sitter and their regular provider is unavailable, it is common to call up friends or post on social media for recommendations. Once you begin and prove yourself, you can rapidly grow your list of clients by providing high-quality babysitting when called upon.Read more: Babysitter Skills: Definition and Examples

4. Pet sitting and dog walking

Pet owners rely on sitters when they are heading away on vacation, do not want to leave their pets in animal day care and cannot find a friend or family member to watch them. It's an outstanding opportunity if you love animals as you get paid to spend time playing with pets and providing them with basic care.Another popular way to make money and spend time with animals is to start a dog-walking business. For busy professionals, a walker allows their dogs to get out, stretch their legs and go to the bathroom. When your clients have dogs that can be safely walked together, you can service multiple clients at the same time.Read more:18 Popular Jobs That Involve Working With Animals

5. Tutoring

Tutoring presents an excellent opportunity for teenagers to work on their own and make money by sharing the knowledge they have with their classmates or with younger students in middle or elementary school. Tutoring is commonly done on a one-to-one basis, however, group tutoring sessions are also an option. Not only can you make good money working as a tutor, but you also benefit from building friendships with the peers you help and the positive effect of knowing you are helping your classmates achieve more.Related: 11 Reasons To Become a Tutor: What You Need To Know

6. Crafting and creating

Whether you create your website to sell to customers or opt to sell goods on established online retail spaces like Etsy, eBay and Amazon, online sales allow you to turn your passion into a profession. There is virtually no limit to the type of products you can market and sell online, so whether you prefer crafting jewelry, painting or something else entirely, you can find a site to offer your services to clients and make some money doing what you love.Related: 10 Types of Social Media To Promote Your Brand

7. Tech support

A tech support business is a natural fit for teens because of their proximity to technological advancements. This allows you to provide basic support to individuals who are not as technologically adept as you are.

8. Housekeeping

Many housekeeping opportunities can be very lucrative with families willing to pay well in exchange for high-quality service. Teenagers who have an eye for small details and are not opposed to manual labor are ideally suited to housekeeping. Job listings are a great way to get started in the industry. Once you have begun working for clients, you can request referrals.Related: Guide to Housekeeping Skills (With Tips and Examples)

9. Lawn care

If you don't mind working hard but prefer to be outdoors instead of inside, then landscaping and lawn care might be the right fit for you. Your lawn care company can range from simple maintenance like weeding, mowing and weed whacking to more advanced options like landscaping and topiary design.As with housekeeping, the best way to start your business is to find clients through job postings or by reaching out to friends and family members, then using these first clients to begin expanding your clientele. Social media is also effective, particularly if you are offering landscaping services, as you can use your business profiles as an online portfolio to direct prospective clients to show off your work.Related: How to Start a Lawn Mowing Business

10. Gopher for hire

A gopher is an individual hired to run errands for one or more employers and is sometimes spelled "gofer." The term is a play on the phrase "go for" and refers to tasks related to the professional's responsibilities. Common tasks include things such as picking up dry cleaning, buying gifts, getting coffee, researching project materials or shopping for office supplies. In addition to providing income, these jobs can often help you to build a network of professional contacts which is useful as you begin your working career.

11. Photography

Although high-end photography equipment is expensive, getting started in photography does not require you to possess the most expensive camera on the market. There are many routes to pursuing a photography business, including selling artistic photos, working for companies on ad campaigns or as an event photographer.If you're passionate about photography, take advantage of online resources to refine your skills and start shooting to build a portfolio. Once you have a portfolio to show prospective clients, choose the type of work you are looking for and make posts or respond to listings for entry-level positions. Age is no barrier to establishing a successful photography business if the photos you take are attractive.Read more: Photographer Skills: Definitions and Examples

12. Streaming

There are many different styles of streaming and video creation, ranging from live streaming while playing video games to creating produced videos for sites like YouTube. The potential niches you can fill with your channel are nearly boundless and the best approach is to find something you are passionate about and pursue it.There are ups and downs associated with attempting to create a streaming or online media career. In addition to the loss of privacy such a job entails, it is also a highly competitive field and it often requires a long period of unpaid work to gain a following. The good news, however, is that it is also an easy field to attempt as you can simply start streaming or producing videos you enjoy making in your free time.

Video: Top Jobs for Teens
Everyone remembers their first job. Learning skills outside of school and making a little money is great for teens. Our experts are breaking down the best jobs for teens! Watch and share it with the young person in your life.

 

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