10 Jobs for Teenagers to Earn Extra Money

My son is a teenager, and as all teenagers do, he wants to have his own money to buy what he wants or spend with friends at the shopping centre. Personally, I think it’s great that he wants his own money, but I’m not going to give it to him. As far as I’m concerned, if he wants money, he can earn it.

Teenager Employment Law

In the UK you can start working legally as a child from the moment you are born in areas such as television, theatre or modelling with just a simple performance licence. For a standard job, you need to be a minimum of 13 years old to work part-time. Employers of children will generally need to have a permit from the local council’s education department or education welfare service.

Once a child reaches 16 years old, then can work full time to a maximum of 40 hours a week in Scotland and Wales, while in England they can work part-time as they need to stay in some form of education until their 18 years old.  

From the age of 18, all children can work legally full time across the UK. While salaries will vary, the minimums you can earn are shown below;

  • Age 23 and over (National Living Wage) – £8.91
  • Age 21 to 22 £8.36
  • Age 18 to 20 £6.56
  • Under 18 £4.62

Jobs For Teenagers

Remember, the above applies to formal education. It doesn’t apply to setting up you’re own business working from home. Whatever the case, It’s never too early to start making your own money. In this age of both physical jobs and the world of the internet, you have a myriad of jobs to choose from. Here are just a few of the options you can choose from to get that extra income.

House Chores

Your parents may be struggling to keep up with all the chores in your house. You can offer to do the work for them at a fee. You probably won’t need an interview to get this job, so it’s a good place to start. The earnings can vary and will depend on the negotiating power you have with your parents.

Blogging

This is a full-time business for many who earn their living solely through blogging. The great thing about it is that your age is not a limitation, you can start earning from blogging at any age. You’ll need to create a plan for your blog and do plenty of research on how the internet works. If you work on it, blogging can earn you enough to become your full-time work for the rest of your life.

If you’re not able to invest much in the blog at the onset, you could start by using a free website. You can’t monetize a free blog. What you can do is use it to get freelance writing jobs. If you have some spare money, you could pay to have a more functional website at a small fee so that you appear professional and start monetizing the blog itself with affiliate marketing or advertisements.

What will you need to begin?

  • A Plan – What do you want to blog about? Who are you targeting? How often will you blog? How will you make money from the blog?
  • Research – See what others are doing online to see the different options for running your blog
  • Get Some Lessons – Some courses are free while others are paid for. Taking these courses will make it easier for you to navigate the blogging process
  • Money – You’ll need a little money to buy a domain name and set up your website hosting, however this will not cost you more than £35 per year
  • Be Patient – It takes time to start making good money using a blog, but when you do, it becomes easier to build the income

YouTube

As long as you’re 13 years or older, you can have your account on YouTube and make money from it as a teen. How can you make money from YouTube?

  • Selling Merchandise on your YouTube channel like clothing items, gadgets and even books
  • Google Adsense – You could earn from advertisements that run on your YouTube channel
  • Affiliate marketing – You could have a related, and interested party advertise within your content. For instance, if your channel is about ‘cars for teens’, you could have one of the car dealers market their cars within that video
  • Edit videos for YouTubers – Many YouTubers do not have the time to edit their videos, so they hire others to do it. You may need hours of learning and practice to learn how to edit, but you can make some money from it

E-Commerce: Create your online store

There is a wide range of products you can sell online as a teenager. It can range from selling your products (and there are many sites where you can do this) to dropshipping.

Dropshipping is popular right now because you don’t have to own a physical store, product, or even storage facility so you won’t need as much capital to begin. You become the connection between the supplier and the client. You will need to work on your online marketing skills to make it in dropshipping. If you’re under 18, your parents would have to open the dropshipping store for you.

Another option is to sell your designs or templates of things like planners, diaries, stickers, print on demand T-shirts, masks, and much more, using platforms such as Amazon, eBay, Redbubble, and so on, to sell your items. 

You can use your creative juices to earn you some decent money. The general rule is to sell products that may be slightly difficult to find in your local store, that are not too pricey (so it’s easier for a customer to decide to buy), and have that wow factor so it can easily grab someone’s attention on the internet.

Ecommerce will require some level of research and understanding. Selling on the internet takes figuring out how marketing on the internet works, for instance how to use Facebook to get buyers to buy your product and not someone else’s. 

Tutoring

There are plenty of students in need of tutoring. You could tutor children younger than you, who are taking subjects that you’ve done and can teach with relative ease.

You could ask the teachers at your local school for any students who may be looking for a tutor, you could ask around your neighbourhood. In addition, there are now online tutoring websites looking to hire.

Pet Sitting/Walking

This may seem more like fun than work for some. Pet owners may need to travel for work or leisure and need a reliable person to look after their animals.

If you’re a pet-lover, this would be an easy way to earn money. Some pet owners will require you to move into their home while they’re away to take care of their pets. Others may need you to take the pet home with you until they return. Hopefully, your parents are open to both situations.

Garden Maintenance

Everyone loves to have a lush green yard but nurturing it can be a task for hardworking, busy owners. People are happy to hire someone to water the grass and remove the weeds so they can get on with their other responsibilities. If you like this kind of thing, then you can make money from it.

Recycling

Did you know you can get paid to collect used aluminium cans?  You could ask your friends or neighbours to keep their used aluminium cans for you. Once you collect them and take them to your local recycling centre, you will be paid some cash for them.

If you’re an environmental enthusiast, you can make some money while making your environment a better place.

Helper

If you have ever run a business, you’ll know that a trusted helper to run errands can be worth their weight in gold. Most people who run businesses are overwhelmed and can use all the help they can get.

As a teenager, this is a great potential job for you. You can get paid to run errands and make other peoples lives easier. General tasks include food shopping, food shopping, pick up their dry cleaning, delivering small packages, dog walking, and other similar errands.

Teach A skill 

Those piano lessons you took might finally pay off. These days, parents are keener on getting extra-curricular activities for their children.

This could range from music lessons to art lessons, to board games. The list is endless.

Investing just a few hours of your day, you could earn some income while practising your skill.

Bottom Line

Earning as a teenager will take some discipline and determination. It’s a great feeling and one that is addictive when you get your hard-earned money.

You’ll finally have some money of your own! Your next dilemma will be to know what to do with your money. Of course, you can’t spend it all. You’ll now need to figure out how you can save or invest at least some of it.

Whatever you choose, you’ll still be ahead of your peers because you’ll have experienced working and get paid for it. 

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Nick Jones

My name Nick Jones, I am a professional Head-Hunter with over 20 years of experience working all over the world. I specialise in out-of-the-box job search strategies to get your CV directly to the hiring manager, thus skipping any ATS portals or recruiters who think they're important.

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