11 Small Business Ideas for Teens

Looking for small business ideas for teens?

As a former teacher and a business owner (I work as a full-time online entrepreneur), I have loads of ideas for small business ideas for teens that they can start earning an income stream from right now.

This can help them:

• learn about money
• have an abundance of spending money
• save for post-secondary education, car or any other big-ticket items
• develop sharp business skills
• gain valuable skills, such as confidence, marketing and people skills through self-employment

Teens, because of the fact that they’re under 18, are more limited in the businesses they’re allowed to start and what they can legally earn money from. However, there are many ways they can earn a side income.

So, let’s jump in – here are small business ideas for teens that they can start from home.

Business Ideas for Teens

1. Making/designing clothing

There will always be a place for quality, local, handmade items. If your teen is able to do any of the following:

• Knitting (hats, sweaters, mitts, etc)
• Using a Cricut
• Sewing
• Ty-Dye

Then they can design clothing and accessories to sell for extra money. The costs for the items they sell should cover their expenses, plus compensate them for their time.

2. Homemade cosmetics and bath products

Making artisan bath products and cosmetics can be a fun and fulfilling business for any age, including a teenager.

I’ve seen a few small businesses in my small town completely owned by pre-teens or teens; they go to markets, sell online, and advertise in all possible avenues.

Some items that tend to sell well are:

Bonus: If your teen can learn to make gift baskets or kits, then they can sell them as ready-made gifts for teachers, friends and loved ones.

If your teen can market their products in a certain niche (organic, cruelty free, vegan, 100% local, etc, then they can charge more!

3. Teaching lessons/tutoring

Does your teen have a special talent or skill that they excel in? Some examples are:

• High success rate in subjects like math or science
• Fluency in a second language
• Music – voice, piano or violin, etc
• English as a second language conversation practice – online, or in person

A teen may be able to start a business teaching any of the above to others their age, younger kids or even adults.

Teens may not be able to charge as much for lessons as the going rate for a fully qualified or educated adult in the field, but they can absolutely get their foot in the door and start gaining clients and experience.

4. Blogging

For a teen, or anyone who lives writing, blogging is a really fun way to earn an income. Blogging is a fulltime job for some people (including me), but can be done part time as well.

You need to be 13 years old to have a WordPress.com account. So, this puts teens right at the beginning of the age range where starting a monetized blog is possible.

Some popular blogging topics that tend to earn money are:

• Travel
• Lifestyle
• Food (cooking or baking recipes)

Other blog topics I’ve seen make money are:

• Arts and crafts
• Book review blogs
• Gaming
• Sports

Tell your teen to think of a topic they’re interested in, that they could talk for hours about without stopping. This is the kind of topic that they should start a blog about.

5. Photography

If your teen has always been told that they have a ‘good eye’ for shots, then they may be able to make money from their photography.

Most people who hire a photographer are looking for weddings and family photoshoots. But sometimes, there’s a need for a photographer at smaller events too – kids birthday parties, anniversary dinners, etc.

Before I would hire a teenager for any of the above, I’d want to see that they:

• have a good portfolio of their photography
• positive references (if for a wedding or event)
• are mature/easy to talk to and work with

Since photography is very visual, it helps to start a social media page, and potentially a simple website with a portfolio and pricing info.

6. Dog walking/pet sitting

People are always looking for caring, reliable and trustworthy people to care or check on their pets when they’re not able to.

This kind of small business is especially great for teens who have experience with the pets or animals they want to work with.

A website with photos of your teen with pets, as well as description of their experience with animals, and services they offer with pricing would go a long way.

7. Creating printables or downloadable products

One teenager I know has designed her own Christmas cards, and sells boxes of them (6 for $25) at a local Christmas fair.

Uniquely designed printed products like greeting cards, invitations always sell – because people often give them away and need to buy more. If your teen is creative, then they can make something people will want to buy.

8. Babysitting

When you start a business, you should look for a problem to solve. Babysitting and help with childcare is a huge need that many parents are looking to have filled.

This can be for date nights, after-school care, or even a mother’s helper while the parents are home.

Teens best suited to starting a babysitting business are teens who:

a) enjoy and have experience being around younger kids
b) have taken a babysitting course

Parents of young children will want to see these things. Often, they hire teens if they know the parents, as well.

Bonus tip: If your teen is on the younger side (11-14) and hasn’t had a lot of experience with kids, then maybe they could start off marketing their services as a mother’s helper. There are many parents (moms and dads) looking for someone to play with their kids while they cook dinner, work, and other responsibilities.

9. Yard maintenance/gardening

Busy adults struggle to put the time into their plants, gardens and lawns as they’d like. It can end up being pretty time-consuming and physically demanding, especially for older adults:

If your teen is good at:

• Cutting grass (lawn mower)
• Snow removal/shovelling
• Planting flowers or vegetables
• Picking fruit (for people who have apple trees or other fruit bearing plants on their lawn)
• Maintaining a garden/ watering plants while people are away

Then this is a good side business idea. They could name their business “the green thumb” (or possibly something less cliché than that) and similar to other businesses; market their services to get clients.

10. Manual car washing

People love to have a way to get their car washed without having to bring it somewhere. Someone (such as a teen) who’s able to come right to their own home is a definite perk.

11. Social media management/engagement

Many teens tend to be tech-savvy, and this could be turned into an advantage when it comes to making a living with social media.

There are two ways to do this:

• Becoming a freelance social media manager – they can manage social media accounts for small businesses; maybe there’s an aunt, parent or a family friend who would appreciate their socials being taken off their hands?
• Starting a monetized social account, like a YouTube channel
• Social media engagement – Social platforms, including Facebook, TikTok and Threads will pay people to engage others (the goal is to keep people on their platforms the longest.) I wouldn’t recommend this job for a teen because it can be hard on mental health. I know an adult who did this for a while, and had to take a break from it as it constantly sucked her in. Also, selection is random, although this changes.

One Very Important Thing to Consider for Teen Entrepreneurship

Before you give your teen these ideas and tell them to go start their small business, there are a couple really important things that they, (and you as a parent) need to keep in mind.

Age requirements for earning money online

If your teen is going with any of ways to make money online, you need to consider how they will be able to receive payments.

There are some age requirements for online payment systems:

• Paypal – 18 years old
• Payoneer -18 years old
• Stripe – 13 years old

If your teen is younger than the above ages, then they can still earn money through any of the online jobs I mentioned above – however, they can’t have their own payment system set up. You as the adult would open the account for them until they’re of age to manage their own account legally.

Final Thoughts on Small Business Ideas for Teens

Starting a business as a teenager, and thinking of it as a business that they take pride in is such a great experience.

I recommend parents encourage their teens to think of jobs or topics they’re interested in, and start a small business based on that. For example, if they want to be a teacher or a principal one day, they could start a childcare business. If they want to go into fixing cars, they could start a car wash business.

Teens also may want to consider what kinds of jobs will be safe from AI, and the good news – being a CEO of a small business is an option to everyone. It’s a rewarding way to generate an income.