As adults, people yearn to make more money however they can. Whether it be from getting a raise or promotion at their own job, or trying to do something on the side for some extra dough, the struggle has always been real. Not only adults can have the urge to make some extra money though, that can start down in the ripe ages of being a teenager and even before that! My own quest for making money began just before I became a teenager, with a simple lawn mowing job. Even before then, I had thought about money some. Here are some of my Business Ideas for Kids, how they could make some extra money without taking all of their time up.
Kids ages 5 to 7
Now, I hadn’t really been thinking much about money at these ages personally, but I had nothing against it. It could be shiny, and shiny things were good to my pea-sized brain. Now that I’ve grown up, I’ve wondered on multiple occasions how my life would’ve changed had I started making money earlier. I’ve had some ideas as to what I could’ve done, with my parents of course.
Start A Lemonade Stand (or a Lemonade Sit. Standing can be tiring)
Now I know how cliche this is, but it’s not wrong. The factor of being young alone would bring loads upon loads of traffic. People love the idea of kids getting out there and doing something. For one, it’s cute. It also shows initiative, something a lot of kids these days lack with technology in the state that it’s in. Not only does it have potential to actually make a lot of money (in a kid’s eyes), but it is undeniably easy.
As an example, I’ll walk you through setting one up. Step 1: Acquire tablecloth, table, humongous jug, lemons, sugar, water, cups, ice, juicer, paper, tape, and markers. All pretty much household items. If not, a folding table is probably fifteen or so dollars, which could easily be made back. If you’re selling at the traditional price of two quarters a pop, then you’ve paid off the biggest investment in about thirty lemonades, not including tax.
The Math
Odds are your kid won’t have to buy their own table though, so here’s the skinny on how the math works out, simply ingredients against price. The ratio for lemonade is six parts water, one part sugar, and one part lemon. So, to fill a four gallon jug, you’d need half a gallon of lemon juice, half a gallon of sugar, and three gallons of water.Lemons, according to 2017’s trends of sales, go for an average of 40 cents per lemon. Each lemon contains roughly two tablespoons of juice. There are 256 tablespoons in one gallon, so 128 in a half gallon, the required amount. So 64 lemons would give 128 tablespoons of juice, which is half a gallon. So 64 times 0.4 gives you $25.6 in lemon costs. We’ll remember that.
Now, half a gallon of sugar is equal to roughly three and a half pounds. Each pound costs sixty five cents. So 3.5*0.65 gives $1.63. So we have $25.60 in lemons, and $1.63 in sugar, for a running tab of $27.23 per batch. Three gallons of water is the final ingredient. Now, using tap water is generally the way to go, as the American Water Works Association stated that tap water on average costs only $0.004 per gallon. So three gallons barely costs one cent. That brings the cost per four gallons of lemonade to $27.24.
Profit Analysis
That may sound like a lot, but let’s start talking profit. Each gallon contains sixteen actual cups, and we can safely assume that one cup of lemonade would be an adequate serving size for the price, especially from a little kid. So with four gallons, you’ve got sixty four servings. Now, at fifty cents a pop on servings, that brings the total earnings up to $32. Only just over four dollars in profit, I know. But the goal of this venture isn’t to make a lot of money, but to show your child *how* to make money.
Selling Their “Lovely” Artwork
No, I’m not talking about professional art pieces. Just the little things that your child brings home from art class! They’re always so precious and proud of what they’ve created, and eager to share it with the world! Maybe giving them a creative outlet would be good for them! Besides, for kids, they can create some pretty amazing pieces of art sometimes, whether it be on purpose or on accident. They may not be able to create million-dollar Jackson Pollocks, but they can certainly make some art that’s worth a few bucks to somebody, even if it’s based off the sheer novelty of it all. It may not last forever, but again, the point isn’t the money itself, it’s the experience.
Candy! Who doesn’t love it?
Almost every kid loves getting their fill of these sweet treats! Who says your kid can’t fix them up with what they’re looking for? Short and simple math here, a variety pack of Hershey’s candy costs about $6, and there’s 30 pieces per bag. Each piece costs $0.20 roughly. Selling them for a quarter apiece yields a 120% Return on Investment, or $7.20. Your kid just earned a buck twenty from selling candy to their peers for a quarter a pop.
One of the better parts of this little venture is that each customer has a high chance of becoming a repeat customer. Candy is consumable, and it may end up becoming a daily or weekly thing, where the same kids will keep coming for their fix of candy. Then it’s a somewhat consistent income of twenty cents each time that kid comes back. If five kids come back once a day, then your child has just earned a dollar a day of Cashflow, the best type of income! It also goes to teach your child from a young age how repeat customers are the best type of customer!
These were just a few ideas for your young children, to get them introduced to the concepts of business early on. Moving on, we’ll be talking about your preteen and early teenagers, and what they can be doing.
Kids ages 8 to 15
Ahh, preteens and early teens. Years I remember well. These were the highs and lows of my life, my identity crisis, so to speak. The phase where anything went, and *everything* went. I was malleable, vulnerable, the whole nine yards. But I knew that I had started getting an interest in money around this point, about mid-way through this phase. This was when I got my “good, bad, and ugly” lesson on making money, when I started to really grasp the concept.
Now, for your child, it may very well be different than for me. But either way, money starts to come into the picture real soon here, as around fifteen, a car becomes a thought too, and all the extra expenses that come with owning one. So, Not to say that the second one from above isn’t valid for this age group too, hell, I *still* do it from time to time! Nevertheless, this age group doesn’t have cars yet, but can be doing things that require some more skill than just manual labor. So, here’s my business ideas for kids between eight and fifteen:
Clearing Driveways and Sidewalks
Another one that seems simple at first, but can pull some serious cash, and for practically no down payment too. Now, this could be a lot easier to do with a snowblower, but that adds some different paths into it, and gas expenses. For now, we’ll assume that your child is using a shovel, and that the driveways take half an hour to clear each (light snow, relatively small driveways).
Now, I actually did this for a little bit, but not long. There was an adult that came around with a snowblower and did the job as means to support himself, so I stopped once I learned I was accidentally taking his business from him. But when I did it, I charged about fifteen per driveway, and I’ll go with the half hour per drive. So thirty bucks an hour, and my street had about seven driveways that I could do. So it took me most of the morning to do them, but when I was done, I was over a hundred dollars richer! Just by giving one morning away.
Hypothetically…
Now, I’m just spit-balling at this point, but that means if it snowed an average of two and a half days a week, and winter lasts for about nine weeks where I live, so that’s about twenty three shoveling days. And each shoveling day nets a hundred dollars? That’s over two grand, in one winter. Just by giving up maybe seven hours a week. It’s incredible money, and all of it from dumb labor.
Here. Say your kid can only shovel on the weekends. So that’s two days at most, we’ll call it one and a half for average’s sake. Still multiplied by nine weeks, and again times a hundred dollars per session, and you’re looking at 900*1.5, your kid’s netted 1350, just from this! Even with the most absurd shovel on eBay, a $700 shovel (yes, this is ridiculous. I agree), there’s still plenty of profit!
Mowing Lawns
Now, this sounds a lot like the shoveling thing, right? It’s just manual labor, or so it would seem. But here’s the thing. I wouldn’t trust my seven-year old with a lawn mower. It’s much more dangerous than shoveling, in my opinion. So, under this age group, I put lawn mowing. One of the thing I would be able to do, if I had done this, would be able to tie the lawn mower to the bike. If it was a push mower, that is. If it was riding, you could drive the mower, so long as it’s close.
The Math
Now, let’s get back to the math, where, at least for me, everything makes more sense. On Craigslist, you can get a running push mower for about $75. An average push mower’s capacity is about 2/3 of a gallon. Let’s just round it off to ¾ of a gallon, for simplicity’s sake. One can generally mow about an acre with a full tank of gas with that. So, with the gas prices being around $2.30 where I am, that’s $1.72 per acre in gas costs. One acre is just over 40 thousand square feet, and the average lawn size in the US is 10 thousand. So, each lawn would take a quarter of a tank of gas, costing $0.43 per.
Now, I’m just gonna go with $20 per lawn. That can vary between people. So, lawns have to be groomed pretty well, so let’s say mowing one and a half times a week. If you’re solely mowing, and charging the listed price, that’s $20 positive, take away 43 cents, that’s $19.57.Now, let’s say you had to pay for your own mower. At first, the money is gonna have to be borrowed.
So, again, just a hypothetical number, let’s say you borrowed the 75, and you have to pay back 90 or something like that. Now, you’re banking nineteen and a half dollars per. So, just as a quick way to pay it off, take fifteen dollars per mowing to pay the debt, it takes only four mowings to pay off your debt. And if you want to bank a little more at the start, you could bank the nine fifty and take ten dollars out of each mowing. Then it’ll take you nine of them, but it’ll get picked off.
Summary
Either scenario, the mower is paid off, the gas is accounted for. From then on out, it’s pure profit. It’s pretty incredible profits, and if you’re mowing the same sample size as you were shoveling, seven houses along the street. The time wouldn’t be far off from shoveling the drive, and the distance of travel would be negligible. So, seven mowings, one and a half times a week on average. 19.57 in profit per lawn, times seven, times one and a half, brings the weekly profits up to just about $205. It’s pretty incredible, someone so young can do so little and earn two hundred dollars a week. You could even start doing commercial lots too, charging more and doing more services like weed-whipping, spraying, all of it. That could drastically increase your profits, for less work.
Kids ages 16 to 21
Now, I’m gonna make this my last section, since past 21, they really aren’t kids anymore. But, I felt this was a crucial age to put in, as now your kid has their driver’s license, and can transport themselves wherever they need to. Their business opportunities vastly increase once they’re free to leave the house to grow. It’s understandable to be wary of letting your child out driving for business at first, so in the meantime, they can do the ideas from the previous steps until they can reliably drive.
Turning 16 doesn’t stop them from performing any of the 8-15 ideas, though. As a matter of fact, it makes them easier to accomplish. Having their own car means they can haul their own equipment, avoiding the risk of getting a borrowed car dirty.
Babysitting/Housesitting/Petsitting
I know this is another cliche entry, but either way, it is a very entrepreneurial way to make money. Being able to market yourself to others and handle clients is crucial. Now, what type of sitting you do all depends on who is your clientele, and the scenario they’re going with. Also, you can somewhat decide which of the sitting options you’re doing. There’s market for sitting pets, children, or even just an empty house.
Using a website such as Care.com, you’re able to match with clientele with ease, and even set your own rates publicly. Another great site is Rover, for pet sitting and house sitting. Now, the numbers vary *drastically* between scenarios, so there really isn’t any numerical breakdown. It’s just whatever amount you get, and that’s almost pure profit. The only real expense is gas to drive to the house, but that’s minimal. There really isn’t much to it, it’s probably the most clear-cut entry on this list.
Buying and selling
I’m gonna be heavily biased towards this option, because that’s what I did to make my money, and get my free Porsche! (To read my step by step walk-through on how I got a free Porsche and more, click *here*) Now, this is easily the most flexible thing on this list. I started with a snowblower someone was trying to throw away. A famous example started with a paperclip. And look what these have turned into! My trash snowblower turned into multiple sports cars and motorcycles, the paperclip turned into a house. My biggest profit in one item was going from two thousand-ish dollars all the way up to almost eight *grand*.
Now, I know it may be intimidating, but it gets easier with time. I’ve gone through… at least eleven deals, and each time, it was easier. I did the first few with my dad doing most of the talking. As the deals continued, he was just there for safety, not as much to talk. During the most recent exchange, he said literally nothing the whole time, and just watched as I flaunted what he taught me.
Not only did I learn a *lot* from the deals we did together, but I also made lots of money in the process. That, and the experience too, the father-son bonding that came with all of that was priceless to the both of us. The monetary change has always been incredible, but it’s nothing compared to the amount that I’ve grown in the same time, what I’ve learned, the whole nine yards.
To Conclude
I know that was a hefty read, I get it. It was a hefty type too. But I really do hope that it helped you and your child, or at least inspired you guys. These are some of the things I wish I had done when I was younger, to learn about entrepreneurship at an earlier age. The money would’ve been nice too, don’t get me wrong, but it’s not always just about the money. It’s about the experience, the spirit, the mindset. These things sometimes are just more valuable, especially at such a young age. I was really impressionable at that age, and the bit of entrepreneurial spirit that I got from it has been invaluable. I hope that my blunder of not starting early enough helps you guys kick-start your own journeys!
