Whether it's starting a lemonade stand or launching your own product to pitch on Shark Tank,
there are a million different ways to earn some pretty decent money
as a teenager. So today let's go through my five favorite strategies including the one
that I used to turn $500 into $500,000. Alright let's jump right into it.
What is going on everyone I hope you are all having a fantastic day. So as someone who was an
ambitious teenager not too long ago I understand that it can be a little bit overwhelming with all
of the options that you have in terms of making money. We’ll start with the most basic and work
away up to the more insane strategies so the first money making method I used as a teenager
was…brace yourself for this one…getting a job. I'm not here to sound like your parent and I totally
understand that flipping burgers at McDonald's or in my case making Italian ice at ritas
is not the most glamorous thing in the world but beyond the financial compensation that you
can get from a teenage job, more importantly it's going to teach you the value of money
and again I know I sound like a total parent but trust me that will serve you well going forward
and later in your life when you start to make a lot more money you'll really appreciate it
because you'll remember the days when you made just a few dollars per hour. Plus when I had a
part time job in highschool I earned just $7.25 per hour which I realize is still the minimum
wage in a lot of states however there are so many jobs available right now many of which will start
at $15 an hour or more so even if you're only working just 15 hours a week which is very doable,
even after Uncle Sam takes his cut you're still looking at $1000 a month which as a teenager is
all the money in the world… at least it was to me. But moving on from there the second option is
where we're going to lump all of the token money making strategies for teenagers and that would
be starting a side hustle. There are a million options here but you could start walking dogs,
babysitting, washing cars, cleaning houses, working as a referee or a lifeguard, delivering
groceries or door dash depending on how old you are, teaching music lessons or tutoring,
some kind of online freelancing, and of course the most cliche money making method as a teenager
mowing lawns. The sky is the limit here and this doesn't have to be some confusing overly ambitious
formal company. You can just go knock on your neighbors door and ask if you can wash their car
or mow the lawn. It really is that simple and if you compare the hourly rate you can earn from
something like this compared to the hourly rates of working even at $15 per hour you'll likely come
out ahead with one of these common side hustles. Plus if you do have more time on your hands and
you're more entrepreneurial, you absolutely could turn walking a few of the neighborhood dogs into a
full blown business or mowing a few lawns into a lawn care service. Again the sky is the limit here
and the lessons you will learn will once again serve you well in the future. Now those first
two are great tried and true money making options for teens but they both involve trading your time
for money and if you really want to maximize your income you ultimately want to get away from that.
So let's move into the higher income options and work our way up to the strategy I used to earn
$500,000. The third strategy sounds really fancy at first but I promise it's not that complicated
and that would be social media marketing. Again this sounds really fancy like a proper
adult business but the fact is, a lot of the businesses in your area are likely owned by
older individuals who may not be as social media savvy as the younger generation. That's not always
the case but if you are familiar with how social media algorithms work and you understand how to
create content or navigate social media platforms then you can reach out to local businesses and
offer this social media knowledge as a service. This could include starting or running Instagram
pages Facebook pages LinkedIn profiles and even starting in e-mail marketing campaign on behalf
of a local business. Again this one is going to depend on where you live and what businesses are
in your area but this is another one of those things that you could offer to businesses as
a remote service by just emailing them with a short elevator pitch explaining how you can add
value to their business. Income with this sort of thing can range drastically but even if you
provide the service for just five businesses in your area and each of them pays you $500 per month
to make 5 postings, that's a total of $2500 per month or $100 per post and at that pace you'd only
have to make one post per day which shouldn't be too difficult. Plus as you learn this space
and are able to produce better results for the businesses not only will you continue to receive
recurring revenue from your existing clientele but you'll likely be able to charge more in the future
since you have that proven track record. And if you're saying to yourself right now that you have
no idea how to start an Instagram page or optimize for SEO on LinkedIn let me remind you that YouTube
is a thing and you can literally learn anything by doing a quick video search online. Alright
this next strategy is by far the most simple and will provide the highest return despite the fact
that it sounds kind of boring but that would be saving and investing in you. Let me explain… if
you're a teenager watching this then chances are you've asked yourself the question at some point,
should I go to college and that question has become increasingly difficult to answer
within the past few years. And while I am a firm believer that you can make a wonderful
living without a college degree and clearly there are some incredibly successful people
who are anti college, for your average individual it is still a proven fact that college graduates
earn significantly more over the course of their career when compared to high school graduates. In
fact the most recent report from the Bureau of Labor statistics put that wage gap between high
school and college graduates at $35,000 when looking at median wages. That means that over
the course of a 45 year career a college graduate easily earns $1,500,000 or more when compared to a
High School graduate. Now again we are looking at averages here and that is absolutely not
always the case plus this is assuming that you are smart about where you go to college
and what you decide to study. But using myself as an example, I went to in in State University, took
summer and overload credits in order to graduate early, and was able to earn two bachelors degrees
in three years for a total of $48,221.66. So if we view that roughly $50,000 as an investment
that will yield a return of over $1,500,000 throughout my career that means that investing
in myself is going to yield a better return and even investing that money in the stock
market over 45 years at a 7% annual return. Long story short investing in yourself and
your own education will almost always yield a higher return than any money making strategy or
investment could possibly match assuming that you get an affordable degree in a good field of study.
However I realize that is not the most exciting thing in the world so getting back to those of
us with that entrepreneurial mindset it's time to talk about the money making method I used to turn
$500 into $500,000 and a lot of you probably already figured out what this is but that would be
YouTube. Now let's preface this with a few things. Number one yes I legitimately spent a few $100 on
a YouTube course, a tripod for my phone, and a ring light all for under $500 and after years
and years of work this channel surpassed $500,000 in top line revenue. However taxes are a thing so
Uncle Sam gets about half of that and the cameras that I now record with cost more than my first
car so while running a YouTube channel absolutely can be a very low cost and lucrative business,
it can also be a lot more complex than your average viewer probably thinks. But even if
you're saying to yourself that you have nothing to talk about or you're shy on camera or you don't
know where to get started I want to encourage and remind you that number one I am an introvert,
number two I knew nothing about video editing or cameras or YouTube in general
when I first started, and #3 my first video is literally me in my college dorm room with my
iPhone and a ring light. Everyone has to start somewhere so if you've been thinking about
starting a channel for a long time then my biggest encouragement to you would be just start. My first
video sucks it's still on my channel you're welcome to go back and have a good laugh
but you learn and you grow and you have fun through that process and despite the fact
that I still have a really small YouTube channel in the grand scheme of things,
it still produces a good income and provides me with a flexible schedule that allows me to do what
I want when I want. It's not going to be the quick cash grab like going and getting a regular job
and it is going to take some time but it can be incredibly fulfilling and rewarding and I can say
first hand that it truly has changed my life as cliché as that sounds. So there you have it those
are my five favorite money making strategies for teenagers all of which I have used myself but I'd
love to know what you think of these strategies down in the comment section and what money making
strategy for teens you feel I left off of this list. Be sure to check out some of my favorite
financial tools using the links down below the like button and as always thank you so much
for your time I really do appreciate it so much take it easy and I'll see you in the next one!