How To Make Money As A Teenager In 2021

Hey friends! I can’t tell you guys how many times I’ve received the “Can you make a blog post about how to make money as a teenager?” comment or email (I LOVE reading all of your comments & emails btw 😄)! So I thought I’d do a post a little different than I have in the past and give you some more detailed ideas, rather than just a basic list. Hope you guys will enjoy and find it helpful! 😊

Start A Business

I personally have always loved having a business, ever since I was like 7-8 (??) I was selling little doll clothes, craft making supplies and jewelry. Having a business has taught me so much and also I’ve made money at the same time (if you can’t tell, I’d highly recommend it)! Don’t get me wrong – it can be a ton of work sometimes to have a business, especially since (at least at first) you’ll be the one doing eVeRyThInG from customer service to shipping to creating content, literally everything. But on the other hand, what I always like to remember is that you’re building a brand – something that can last, rather than just getting a job that you’ll work for a couple months to a couple years.

There are soooo many different businesses you can start – even as a teen. Here are some ideas:

Handmade:

If you’re going to go the handmade route, Etsy is definitely the place to start out! They make everything SUPER easy to get started with and grow. One thing that I’d recommend with having a handmade business is to make sure that whatever you’re selling you can sell consistently and it doesn’t take a ton of time and effort to create. Here are some specific ideas on what you can sell:

• Phone cases
• Resin hair clips
• Custom mugs & tumblers
• Pottery
• Keychains
• Swimsuits (remember, you make the design & have them printed)
• Sweatshirts & Tshirts
• Art Prints
• Stickers
• Hair Clips
• Scrunchies
• Hair Scarves
• Candles
• Soap
• Bath Bombs
• Nail Sets
• Planners
• Stationary & Snail Mail Supplies
• Room Decor
• Pillows
• Baked Goods (YES, you can sell these online)
• Tote bags/backpacks
• Tie Dye & Bleach Dye Items

Reselling

With the exception of vintage items, you can’t resell items on Etsy (which btw. if anyone has a trendy vintage reselling business, let me know – I’m definitely a potential customer!!)

Reselling can be a great business model and it’s a great way to get started with your business. You can start by reselling items you already have and don’t need or going to garage sales and thrift stores. Another way you can resell is by buying clearance/sale items and then reselling them on Amazon, Walmart.com or Ebay.

Here are some more specific ideas:

• Clothes, Shoes & Accessories (from friends, your closet, thrift stores, discount stores, etc.)
  • Where to sell:
    • Swap
    • Mercari
    • Depop
    • Poshmark
    • CafePress
    • eBay
    • Facebook
    • OfferUp
    • ThredUp
    • The RealReal
    • Instagram
    • Shopify
  • Clothing Brands That Sell Well:
    • Patagonia
    • Lululemon
    • The North Face
    • Frye
    • Kate Spade
    • Coach
    • Free People
    • Nike
    • Adidas
    • Anthropologie
• Toys & Games and Home & Garden Items and Books (found at garage sales, discount stores, from your own house, etc)
  • Where to sell:
    • eBay
    • Used on Amazon
    • Facebook Marketplace
    • Offerup
    • Shopify
• Vintage Items (clothing, memberobelia, books, etc)
  • Where to sell:
    • Etsy
    • Poshmark
    • Facebook Marketplace
    • eBay
    • Instagram
    • Shopify
• Items From Discount Stores Or Items On Sale/Clearance (health & beauty products, groceries, clothing, toys & games, household products and other items found new at discount stores)
  • Where to sell:
    • Amazon
    • Walmart.com
    • Facebook Marketplace
    • Shopify

Another reselling business idea is to start a boutique online buying items from wholesalers and reselling them. I wouldn’t recommend this as a beginning business idea though, because it will be hard to know how much of what to buy and also the sizes to buy. It will also take some cash initially to get started. If this is a business you’re interested in for eventually, I think it would be a great idea to start reselling or selling handmade items to get started, then once you’ve got some money to invest into it (and also some knowledge of what sells and what doesn’t) you can get started!

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These are only a few different types of businesses that are common right now – there are literally thousands of others, but I hope these ideas will be helpful for you!

Online Surveys

I have literally no experience with this one, so I won’t pretend to be an expert or anything on this because I’m really not. I had to include this one though because when I was researching ideas for this post, I saw it on almost every idea list, so there must be something here.

Basically (at least the way I understand it) you take surveys online and can earn money by taking them. It sounds like a great idea because you can do it as much or as little as you’d like and you can easily earn money!

Start A Blog, Social Media or YouTube Channel

This is definitely not a get rich fast idea, but just look at influencers’ income statements and you’ll see that you can definitely make money doing this! It can take a while to get enough traffic to start selling ads, doing collabs or affiliate marketing, but people definitely make money doing this and if it’s something you enjoy, why not go for it!?

I’ve definitely enjoyed blogging over the past few years and I’m super excited to work on moving over to a self-hosted platform over the next few months (everything will be the same on your end, same name, content, etc 😉).

My biggest tip for doing social media, YouTube or blogging is to consistently produce high quality content that does something for people, whether that be entertainment or tips or advice – you get the point.

Babysitting

This one is definitely a classic teenager job, but you can make great money doing it, especially if you have younger sibling/ cousins that you’ve watched before. I haven’t babysat much, other than my siblings (I’ve done it a couple times for other people, but not super often) so I don’t have a ton of tips on it but my friend Taiya has a bunch of posts on it that are SUPER helpful and that I’d highly recommend.

Selling At A Local Farmers Market

I actually have several friends that do this! One of my friends and her cousin sell gluten free & healthy treats at our local farmers market and I think it’s such a neat idea to make money as a teen! It also seems like it would be super fun, especially if you enjoy baking! Another one of my friends sells cupcakes that she decorates and they’re almost always sold out by the end (my friends always bring the food to our parties 😉)!

This one would be a great summer job and if you have a garden you could also sell your veggies & fruits that you grow as well as baked goods. I also feel like this would be a great business to start with your friends, especially if they’re into baking, gardening or making handmade items.

Dog Walking/ Pet Sitting

If you like animals this could be a great way to earn money and get exercise at the same time! It always surprises me how much people spend on their pets! You could also do pet grooming and make an entire service based pet business. It wouldn’t take really any money at all to get started and it’s another job you could do with friends!

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I hope you guys enjoyed these tips and if you’d like to see similar content, don’t forget to like, subscribe and comment down below your favorite ways to make money as a teen in 2021!

Also, don’t forget to save this post to Pinterest for later!

❤ Hannah