How to Make Money as a Kid (17 Realistic Ways in 2020)
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Don’t feel like you have to wait until you’re old enough to get a job to make money. I'm going to show you how to make money as a kid so you don't have to wait to get a job!
These money-making methods have different earning potentials and requirements, but I’m sure you’ll find something for you!
1. Fill out surveys on Survey Junkie (Earn up to 50-$100 a Month)
Survey sites like Survey Junkie are popular because they allow you to easily make money from home!
Filling out online surveys is one of the easiest and most laid-back ways of making money online.
Survey Junkie is one of the oldest and most established survey sites on the Internet.
It was launched back in 2005, giving them over ten years of experience in the survey game.
How Much Money Can I Make With Survey Junkie?
The average survey is going to pay around $1 to $3. It’s not a lot, but it’s on par with what you’ll find at other survey sites.
The main factor that is going to affect your earnings with Survey Junkie is the number of surveys that you get invited to.
Every user is different, and all of them are going to qualify for different surveys. Some people may qualify for ten surveys a week—while others may only qualify for two!
You'll make $15-45 a month with Survey Junkie if you get paid $1-$2 a survey—and get invited to five surveys a week.
It doesn’t sound like a lot (and it isn’t) but completing online surveys is an easy way to make money as a kid.
2. Flip Products on eBay
This is a side hustle idea for a real entrepreneur and could be a fun way to make money over the summer with your family.
Rob from the fleamarketflipper.com has been making a living flipping items online full-time since 2012!
He was even able to make $12,200 in one month by flipping flea market items!
You don’t need a giant budget to start flipping items either.
Rob recommends that you start with a budget of roughly $20-50 to find your first items. You should be able to make $100-300 from those items.
The next step is to take some (or all) of the profits and start over again!
Rob created a free workshop to show you how to turn your passion for flipping items into a profitable business—in as little as 14 days. You can click here to sign up.
3. Sell Your Designs on CafePress
Another way to make money online is to sell designs through CafePress.com.
Founded in 1999, CafePress is arguably the world’s best online gift shop.
The designs you will find on CafePress are crowd-sourced from a global community of over two million independent designers.
How Does Selling Work On CafePress?
CafePress is a website that specializes in selling T-shirts, mugs, hoodies, tote bags, and more with various logos.
CafePress has a base price for each product and then you add in your mark-up. When an item sells, you’ll get the mark-up amount.
Also, CafePress will take care of all the billing, shipping, and customer service for you—if you make sales!
How Much Does It Cost to Set Up a CafePress Store?
You basically have two options when it comes to setting up a store on CafePress.
You can either let CafePress take 10% from your royalties each month (up to $10) or you can choose to pre-pay and let them bill your card for your store every month.
This is never more than $6.95 per month depending on how many months you pay in advance.
If you have a passion for design and love selling products—try selling your designs on CafePress!
4. Wash Cars
Another way to make money as a kid is to wash cars!
It doesn’t cost much to start your own car washing business—and you can make some decent money!
Your cost of supplies will range from $20-$30 to over $100, depending on what brands you buy.
How to Find Car-Washing Clients
This will likely be the most challenging part of starting your car wash business.
Here are some ways to find car-washing clients:
- Make a Facebook page and ask people to hit the like button
- Go door to door and offer the first wash for free
- Ask around at local car dealerships and auction houses
You can also ask your close friends and family to spread the word about your business. This will hopefully bring in some jobs.
How Much Can I Earn Washing Cars?
You can expect to make $10-20 for a basic wash. You could likely complete a basic outside wash in 20-30 minutes—or drag it out to 60 minutes.
The harder you’re willing to work the more money you can make every hour!
5. Start a YouTube Channel
With over 1.9 billion monthly active users and over 30 million daily users, it’s clear to say that there is a demand for YouTube videos.
It’s not easy to build a successful YouTube channel, but once your channel is well established the money will roll in, in larger and larger quantities!
How Can I Make Money with YouTube?
The main way that YouTubers make money is through display advertising via Google AdSense.
Your advertising earnings will vary greatly depending on the type of videos you’re making, or your “niche”.
How Much Money Can I Make with YouTube?
It's hard to determine the average amount of money that a YouTuber makes overall—as different channels and influencers monetize their channels differently.
But I can provide an average earnings figure if we assume they monetize their channel with display ads.
The average YouTuber makes $5-8 per 1,000 views with display advertising.
This might not sound like a lot, but imagine where you could be after a year of consistently creating videos.
Your archives of helpful content will continue to be found in the YouTube search engine!
Other Ways to Make Money With a YouTube Channel
There are other ways to make money as a kid with your YouTube channel.
You can also link out to affiliate products (and make a commission in the process) or direct users back to your blog or website!
6. Mow Lawns
This is a classic side-hustle that nearly every teenage boy as used to make money. I spent my fair share of summers as a kid mowing lawns and making money.
The great thing about mowing lawns for money is that it’s a very easy business to set up—and everyone with a lawn needs it mowed!
You can also earn a decent amount of money per hour as a kid while mowing lawns.
Is It Practical to Mow Lawns for Money?
Yes, you can definitely make a profit with a small lawn-mowing business.
In this video, Nate O’Brien shows you how to make $300 a day by mowing lawns.
How Much Does It Cost to Start?
You could potentially start this side hustle for free!
To keep your start-up costs at $0 you’ll need to get your parents to drive you to the job, and you’ll need to borrow your client's lawnmower.
Not so professional, I know, but it’s effective.
Here is a list of items you’ll need to start your lawn mowing business if you are okay with spending some money:
- A lawnmower
- A trailer to haul the equipment
- Business cards and any other promotional materials
- Enough money to pay your parents for gas
As you can see, mowing lawns for money can be an easy way to make some extra money as a kid.
7. Make Money From Photography
There are plenty of ways to make money with photography as a kid, that’s what makes it such a good side hustle.
And you don’t need to buy a new $3,000 Nikon D850 to make money with photography.
Here are some of the best ways to make money from photography:
- Selling photobooks
- Edit and retouch photos for other photographers
- Enter photo competitions
- Sell photos to stock photography companies
- Assist a photographer
- Photography events
- Give photo tours
- Teach your methods to others
- Sell your photo prints
There are plenty of ways to make money as a kid from photography—as you can see.
I am not going to explore all of these ideas in this article because it would be over 5,000 words!
8. Start a Lemonade Stand
Starting a lemonade stand is another classic way to make money as a kid.
You should do some research online and ensure that you’re legally allowed to open a lemonade stand in your state.
It's illegal to start a lemonade stand in some states without a business license or permit—so keep that in mind!
How to Make Money as a Kid with a Lemonade Stand
There are a few things you should consider when opening your lemonade stand.
- Location
Open your lemonade stand where there are plenty of people. Opening your stand at a community event on a hot day will already give you a head start!
Here are some location ideas:
- Community parade
- At a garage sale
- Farmers markets
- Near a swimming pool
- Community events
- The right supplies
It’d be cool to buy a lemonade stand off amazon and use that, but you need to consider costs.
If you are on a tight budget then all you’ll need is a table, chairs, signs, shade, a cooler, cups, lemonade, napkins, change and somewhere to hold your money.
- Charge a realistic amount
You’re not going to be successful if you only charge $0.10-$0.20 a cup.
Consider starting at $0.50 and move the price up to $1 per cup if you’re lemonade stand gets busy.
Here are some quick tips for success:
- Keep change in case someone decides to pay with a $10 or $20 bill—so you can still make the sale!
- Create some deals/incentives for people to buy more lemonade e.g. 3 cups for $2.
- Make sure that you give your customers a decent sized cup for their money.
9. Walk Dogs on Rover
Rover.com is an online marketplace for people to buy and sell pet care services—including pet sitting, dog boarding, and dog walking.
Rover.com was founded in 2011 in Seattle, Washington.
Rover.com takes a percentage of each booking made on its site, from 15-20% for dog sitting/boarding services, and up to 40% for its Quick Match walking service.
How Much Money Can I Make With Rover?
According to Kristen Forecki, the director of operations at Rover.com, your earning potential with the platform really depends on how often you want to watch dogs.
Forecki also said that sitters treating Rover like a part-time job can expect to earn an average of $1000 a month. While those treating Rover like a full-time job can expect to earn about $3,300 a month.
There is definitely money to be made with Rover as you can see!
Rover.com definitely has some earning potential, and it’s a great way for animal lovers to work from home!
Also, you’ll get $10 off your first service (that you pay for) if you sign up through my affiliate link below.
10. Sell Candy/Baked Goods
Do you have a special recipe that your friends and family love? If so, why not start a home baking business on the side.
There are plenty of great reasons to start your own baked goods business.
High Profit Margins
How much does it cost to bake a batch of cupcakes? Not that much right?
You might spend $0.50-$1.00 per cupcake—and sell them for $3 each!
Plenty of Places to Sell Your Goods
There are plenty of places for you to sell your baked goods, meaning you have plenty of opportunities to make money.
Some places you could sell your baked goods include:
- Weekend markets
- Online deliveries
- At the beach
There are plenty of ways to make money selling baked goods.
11. Babysit/Be a Mom’s Helper
Babysitting is a popular side hustle/casual job for teenagers.
And babysitting comes with plenty of benefits:
- It's generally a high-paying job
- It’s flexible and you can fit your hours in around your schedule
- You can put it on your CV, it shows that you’re mature, responsible and someone who can be trusted
- It allows you to network with the parents—who may be able to help you out or vouch for you sometime in the future (you never know!)
How to Become a Babysitter
Here are a few things you’ll need to do to become a babysitter:
- Get a Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check
- Create an online profile to find clients
- Make business cards
- Get babysitting experience with people you know
How Much Can I Make As a Babysitter?
Your hourly rate as a babysitter will depend on many factors—so it’s hard to give you a straight answer.
Are you preparing meals, cleaning the house or helping with homework? Or are you just relaxing and keeping an eye on the kids?
The higher your hourly rate the more you’ll be expected to do.
The average hourly rate for a babysitter according to Today.com is $16.75 for one child and $19.26 for two kids—so there you go.
12. Make Money Fixing Computers
Do you have experience with fixing computers?
Then maybe you can make some money on the side!
I had a passion for building computers as a teenager—and learned how to build and repair them just by doing some research online.
It’s not super difficult to learn how to make money as a kid by building computers. You can learn how to fix computers on Google/YouTube.
Once you know how to fix computers, it's time to figure out how much you can make!
How Much Can You Make Fixing Computers?
You won’t make a fortune by repairing computers, but you can expect to make around $20-30 an hour.
13. Resell Items Online
Have a look around your house and see if you have anything that you don’t use anymore that you can sell.
Some things that you could sell for some extra cash include:
- Clothing
- Computers
- Video games
- Cell phones
- Gift cards
- Books
- Sporting equipment
- Children’s toys
- Musical instruments
And I’m sure there are many more!
14. Start a Jewellery Business
Do you think that starting a jewelry business is too expensive?
Well, think again!
Learn how this teenager made $100,000 in three years by making and selling homemade items of jewelry on Etsy.
Some of the items she sold include layered necklaces, pendants and knuckle rings.
Go to your local hobby store for materials and then start selling on Etsy!
15. Solve a Problem by Inventing a New Product
There is always money to be made by solving problems and creating new products/services.
Here are the three steps to make money selling physical products:
- Doing the research
- Getting the product made
- Selling the product
That’s right, just three steps.
And the great thing about this business model is that there are so many places you can sell physical products.
Some of the most popular places to sell physical products online include Amazon, Walmart, eBay, Target and Shopify.
16. Recycle Cans for Money
Another decent way to make money as a kid is by recycling aluminum cans.
Your earnings with this method will depend on multiple factors, including your state, the current price of aluminum and more.
The average recycling price for aluminum doesn’t apply to some states because they have what’s called a “bottle bill”. Bottle bills are basically state laws that require redemption centers to pay you a certain amount for each bottle.
The minimum payout is normally around 5-10 cents for one aluminum can.
Here is a list of states that have a bottle bill:
- California
- Connecticut
- Hawaii
- Iowa
- Maine
- Massachusetts
- Michigan
- New York
- Oregon
- Vermont
17. Become a Tutor
Private tutoring is a great way to make money on the side as a kid.
Tutoring is a flexible job that you can do while you’re still in school—and it looks great on your CV.
You can expect to earn roughly $30-40 per hour by tutoring.
And there are heaps of benefits to becoming a tutor:
- It pays well
- It’s great work experience
- It’s a flexible way to make money
But to become a tutor you will need the following:
- You need subject-specific knowledge
- Great communication and interpersonal skills
- Good knowledge of revision and exam techniques
- Time management skills
- Patience
When it comes to making money on the side, tutoring could just be the job for you!
Now that you know how to make money as a kid, it's time to learn how to invest your money!
