You don’t have to be an adult to start your own business. In fact, there are many different business opportunities that teens can use to get their entrepreneurial journeys started. Here are 50 business opportunities for teens.
Business Ideas for Teens
Academic Tutor
For students that excel in certain subjects, you can offer assistance to other students that need help in that area by starting a business as an academic tutor.
SAT/College Prep Tutor
Or you can get even more specific about your tutoring services and focus specifically on helping students and college applicants prepare for the SATs or other standardized tests.
Child Care
Babysitting and child care services are popular ways for young people to make some extra money. You can accept jobs that don’t conflict with your school schedule or other activities.
Handmade Shop Owner
If you have any art or craft skills, you can open your own shop selling handmade goods to people online on sites like Etsy.
Craft Fair Vendor
Or you could sell your items to customers in person at local craft fairs or other events that promote handmade vendors.
Social Media Influencer
For those who are skilled with social media, you can build up a following and then work with brands as an influencer to promote various products and services.
YouTube Personality
YouTube is also a popular platform for entrepreneurs. You can start your own channel and then earn revenue through advertising shares as you gain followers and views.
Podcaster
If you’re more inclined to create audio content, you can start your own podcast and then earn money through advertisers on your podcast or website.
Blogger
Blogging is also a viable business opportunity for people of all ages. You can start your own blog about a subject you’re interested in and then earn money through ads, product sales, affiliate links or other methods.
Cake Decorator
If you want to start a creative business or work with food, you can offer your services as a cake decorator for events, bakeries or other customers.
Car Washing Service
You can also start a mobile car washing service where you visit clients to wash and detail their vehicles.
House Cleaner
Or you can build up a base of clients through word of mouth and offer house cleaning services on a regular basis.
Laundry Service
You can even get more specific with your services and offer to do laundry for your local clients.
Errand Service
You can also offer a variety of different errand services to local customers, including picking up groceries, dry cleaning and more.
Inventor
People of all ages can invent new products. If you have a great idea for a new invention as a teen, you can build a prototype yourself or work with businesses or mentors to find a way to get it produced.
Lawn Care
Lawn care is a pretty easy and straightforward business to start. If you have transportation and equipment, you can build a client base of local homeowners in your area.
Dog Walking
Or you could focus on gaining local clients who are also pet owners and offering dog walking services on a daily or weekly basis.
Housesitting
You can also offer housesitting services to homeowners who need someone to look after their homes while they travel.
Gift Wrapping Service
During the holidays or other popular gift giving occasions, you can offer gift wrapping services to gift givers who don’t want to wrap their own items.
Tech Support
If you’re fairly competent with computers or technology, you can start a tech support business where customers can call or chat with you to get help solving their tech issues.
Computer Setup Service
You can also start a business that’s specifically geared toward helping people who recently bought new computers or devices and need help getting them set up.
Technology Tutor
Or you can focus more on teaching clients how to set up their devices or solve other tech issues on their own by starting a business as a tech tutor.
Online Graphics Seller
If you have some design skills, you can create your own printable or online graphics and sell them to customers as downloadable files online.
Clothing Designer
You can also potentially channel your design skills into creating your own clothing line and selling pieces online or in local boutiques.
T-shirt Designer
Or you can keep it simple and create your own designs to include on t-shirts and then get them printed to sell online or in stores.
Greeting Card Maker
If your creativity is suited more toward creating your own paper goods, you can also design your own line of greeting cards to sell.
Recycling Service
For those who want to start an environmentally friendly business, you can start a service where you pick up recyclables and take them to the proper facilities.
Party Entertainer
If you want to start a business where you work mainly at special events, you can start a business as an entertainer such as a juggler, balloon artist, mime or even magician that entertains people at events.
Musician
Or if you’re musically inclined, you can start a business with a band or as an individual musician who plays at weddings or events.
Custom Portrait Artist
For those who are more visually focused artists, you can offer your services to people who want custom portraits of their families, pets or other subjects.
Pet Photographer
You can also start a photography business that specifically caters to pet owners who want photo portraits of their furry friends.
Event Photogapher
Or you can offer your photography services at weddings or special events.
Farmer’s Market Vendor
If you have the space and the ability to grow food in your home or garden, you can start a booth at your local farmer’s market to sell those home grown food items.
Delivery Service
You can also start a delivery service business where you deliver items to different locations on behalf of your customers as long as you have a reliable form of transportation.
Starting a full moving service might not be super realistic for a teenager. But you can start a business that helps people pack up their items before moving in order to make some extra cash.
Co-working Service
Coworking services have gained a lot of popularity in recent years. And they can even be useful for young entrepreneurs. So you can start your own business by opening a coworking space for other teen entrepreneurs.
Graphic Designer
If you have some basic design skills, you can start your own graphic design business where you help clients by designing logos and other branding elements.
Web Designer
Or you can help them put together websites by starting a business as a web designer.
Ecommerce Reseller
Entrepreneurs of all ages can easily open ecommerce stores. So you can purchase items and then sell them at a profit on platforms like eBay.
You can offer editing or proofreading services to businesses, authors or individuals who need help perfecting their copy.
Videographer
If you have the right equipment and skills you can also offer your services as a videographer for local businesses or events.
Gift Basket Service
You can also fairly easily put together and sell gift baskets for holidays or other special occasions.
Scrapbooker
For those who enjoy putting together scrapbooks, you can build a business by offering custom scrapbooking services to people who want to preserve their memories in a special way without doing the work themselves.
Snow Removal
If you want to earn some extra cash during the winter months, you can offer to shovel snow for local homeowners for a small fee.
And during the fall, you can offer leaf removal services to those who don’t want to rake their yards on their own.
Garage Sale Organizer
Garage sales can be a great way to earn some extra cash. You can host your own to get rid of unwanted items or even help others who don’t want to put together and run their own sales.
During the holidays, you can offer services to put up lights and other decorations and adornments.
Personal Shopper
For those who enjoy shopping, you can build a business as a personal shopper and help others pick out the best items for them.
Pet Cleanup Service
It may not be glamorous work, but pet cleanup is a service that’s really in demand. So you can build a client base in your area and offer those services regularly.
Zine Publisher
If you want to share creative work, from visual art and photography to fiction and poetry, you can start your own zine and sell it to customers at events or online.
Related reading: 51 Business Ideas for 2020
Feature Image: Depositphotos.com
 Teens on Bench, Car Wash, Greeting Card, Clearing Garage Photos via Shutterstock
Aira Bongco
It is amazing how teenagers are now able to have their own business and make money with what they love. The Internet is truly fascinating.
Annie Pilon
Absolutely – there are so many opportunities!
Wunderkinder
Can you please help me out? I really do want to start a photography business but don’t know how
Sage Lewis
These are fantastic ideas!
I truly believe we are entering an era where being an entrepreneur is going to be critical for people to make a decent living.
Relying on an employer is a fools game these days. You simply can’t rely on someone to give you a reliable, good job any more.
Being an entrepreneur requires a set of skills that are unique and challenging for the newly minted business owner. And school is often a terrible place to learn these skills.
So if you don’t come from an entrepreneurial family you’re going to have to learn these skills on your own. The sooner you start the sooner you get get all the big mistakes out of your system.
Some of these are very inventive ideas! A garage sale organizer – who’d have thought! Another great business idea in the internet age is to teach what you know. Whatever you’re passionate about or whatever your trained in, there are probably others wanting to learn those skills online and you can learn how to share and monetize those skills. Failing that, there is also a t-shirt business. Go around local businesses sell your services to them!
i already do three of these jobs
Howard
These are fabulous ideas and very important that teenagers learn early the importance of working hard and making money.
Anthony
Wish i could shovel snow
yashita
love that
It was a great article
Thanks for updating the article
Chloe (Oof Queen Playz)
I really want to become a pet groomer but during coronavirus it’ll be very hard..
Kailani
For doing a pet groomer but during a pandemic, it can be hard Especially since you have to distant away from certain people. But on the other hand it could be easier to have a parent ask some family friends, that your family knows are healthy, and are able to let you take care of their animals.
Love the idea of a t-shirt business or scrapbooking. It is a great way to incorporate crafts and have fun while earning money!
cakegirl
i wanna try offering proofreading and editing services but don’t know how to, please help
cakegirl
i wanna try offering proofreading and editing services but don’t know how to, please help. i want to get a starting point
Thanks for the wonderful article you prepared
Sikandar Ghalib
I don’t think the majority of the “businesses” on this list are not “businesses.” They are rather part-time jobs that everyone knows about. Please do some better research next time. Plus a two-line description for each job on the list is insufficient.
badge
Thank you for update article
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