Out and About

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Instead of hanging around at the local parks with your mates, get together with some industrious friends and form a car park, carwash team. All you need is a few buckets, some cleaning cloths or sponges, and a small bottle of cleaning liquid. All these can be borrowed from home and you can buy cleaning agents for next to nothing at your local store. Make sure there is somewhere around where you can access clean water.

It’s important that you make a sign on a piece of cardboard (or flag) so that potential customers know what you’re doing. Walk around your local store car park and ask people going into the store if they would like to have their cars washed. I’m sure they would say yes, just because they admire your diligence. They don’t have to leave you their keys or anything. All they have to do is say yes and pay you.

Make sure that the service is excellent and that everyone in your team behaves appropriately. Kick them out if they don’t. They’re bad for business. Remember to keep your prices affordable and serve with a smile. You’ll keep getting customers that way because word will get around. You may even get extra tips if you do a splendid job.

Be Creative

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Most teenagers can do something with their hands – and very well. Find out what you can do. Can you paint pictures, create jewellery, make phone charms? Can you knit baby bonnets, scarves, socks, mobile phones and gadget cases? Can you make interesting greeting cards? Whatever you can do, do it. I’ve bought jewellery I didn’t especially need because they were made by an active teenager who was doing their bit to earn some money wisely. Your friends, teachers, friends’ parents, youth workers, parents’ friends etc, are all potential customers.  If you’re the right age you can also sell your creations on e-bay, but if not, an older sibling or your parent can help you set up an account and manage it on your behalf.

You can also practise doing spray tattoos until you’re good at it and charge your friends and their friends to get it done. Learn to do braids and corn- rows and advertise yourself as the pre-holiday hair make-over person. Get your clients to bring their own rubber bands so that you won’t have to buy any.

You can also make cushions and bean bags. Go to these websites for more information if you’re interested.  Instructables.com,  How to make it.com Learn how to make stuffed animals here. Flickr site is good too, but you have to sign up. Great ideas on making and selling jewellery can also be found here. Obviously this list just barely skims the surface. You can find a site to show you how to make virtually anything.

In the Neighbourhood

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Look for people in your neighbourhood who may not be able to/haven’t got time to cut their own lawns. Senior citizens, single people – both men and women, people who work late hours, people who do shift work, young couples, people living in rented accommodation, people who live in flats with little gardens, single women with young children. All of these and more are your target market.

Come together with some good friends, design a poster, and ask your school to print them out for you. Your school should be able to do this. If not, your youth club or any local youth club will. It’s what they’re there for. Knock on doors and talk to people, if they seem interested, leave the handouts, but don’t just put them through random letter boxes, no one likes to get junk mail in this way.

You will have to use manual grass cutters or light, petrol ones. Your group can put together money to buy two of these by borrowing the capital (money to start the business) from all of your parents. Make sure you pay them back when you start earning or they won’t lend you money if you need some to repairs your tools later on.  

Better still, if someone in your group can provide the tools for free, you’ll only have to pay for the minimal upkeep or petrol required for use. Running this sort of business will not only top-up your allowance. You’ll be earning quite a lot of money if you build up satisfied customers who like and trust you and your work. They will also recommend you to their friends and family if your work is excellent.

Babysitting

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Whether you’re male or female, ask your local youth club to run a baby-sitting course. It’s their job to help you in this way. Make sure you have a certificate at the end of the course. Take this with you when you approach potential clients. Don’t wait for people to come to you. There may be a new family in your area who need a baby sitter but don’t know who to ask. Advertise your service and expertise. Be nice, decent and always behave appropriately when you’re working in someone else’s house. You’ll get recommended this way and can earn a whole lot by doing your job well. There’s always enough time when you’re on your own to watch TV and talk to friends on the phone.

Don’t smoke, drink or swear in your employers’ homes. Treat them and their kids with respect and you will get this returned to you triple-fold. You can earn a substantial pocket-piece babysitting if you’re doing it right.

Work for Parents

What type of work do your parents do? There may be something you can do to help so that they don’t have to hire someone else to do it. Even if they’re not employers, there may be some way you can earn by doing a small bit of their job. For example if your mum works in a salon, you can talk to her about asking the boss to allow you to come in on week-ends to clean the curlers and hot irons, sweep up the floor and dust off the items on the shelves. Is your dad a builder? You can do a variety of manual labour on site at the week-ends and during school holidays.

Does the office need a paper boy/girl, a filing boy/girl during the holidays? Your dad is a chef at the local pub? Do they need an extra someone to wash up on Saturday afternoons? What about the local pool or leisure centre. Do they need someone to help drain the pools early on Saturday mornings, and your aunt already works there? Make known your willingness to do this sort of work and you could soon be earning a significant amount of extra money.

In the Home

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• Does your dad take the car to the carwash on Saturday mornings? Does he use a valet service? If so stop him right there! You can take this over and do it for a five percent discount. Besides, he doesn’t have to use petrol to drive there.

• Does your dad (granddad) go to the barber around the corner? Are you a dap hand at cutting hair? Ask him to trust you to do it just once. Do it for free the first time (just in case you get it wrong) then charge him for subsequent cuts. You can take this over, earning a good amount of money for yourself. When you become confident enough you can start doing your friends’ hair, your dad’s friends’ etc. Your dad will be happy to give you the money instead of his barber.

• Does your mum (grandmother) have her nails and hair done? Have you been to the salon with her a few times and think that you can do the job just as well? Try it then. First time free then charge her for subsequent top-ups. She’ll rather go with you, as she won’t even have to leave the house to get primed up.

• Does your mum moan about getting the ironing and the washing done? Ask her to hire you to do them. Remember that this will be your job. If you want to get paid you have to do them regularly and properly. If your mum is satisfied with the job you do, she will reward you generously and respect you even more. Your responsible nature will not go unnoticed and you may even be allowed more freedom than usual. But of course, this will only happen if you do your job responsibly and properly. You’ll kill two birds with one stone – get more respect around the house, and earn yourself some decent cash. It’s all win-win.

• If your grandparents pay someone to come in once a week to do some cleaning, lawn-mowing etc, who better to do the job (and get paid) than you? This also enables you to spend some more time with them. Remember though, that if you’re not serious about doing the job effectively and efficiently, you shouldn’t take it on because it can potentially damage the good relationship you have with your grandparents. This is the last thing you want to happen.

Paper Delivery

This is one of the major little money earners for teenagers. Delivering papers is quite easy to do, and it’s a regular earner. You can also do it alongside other little jobs.

Supermarket Jobs

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The local little markets and supermarkets are always looking for teenagers for Saturday jobs. There are till positions for which you’ll be trained, but there are others such as trolley boy/girl, where you’ll be responsible for taking the trolleys from the bays in the car park back to the front of the store. There are also positions for stacking shelves and recycling the cardboard boxes.

Any job is to be done with pride. Parents tend to respect kids who’ve made the decision to earn a bit of money on their own. You’ll see a different side to your parents when you start working because they are likely to welcome you (at least partially) to the adult world when you take on this responsibility. Good luck with earning.