How to Empower Teens To Become Successful Entrepreneurs


teenage entrepreneurs

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Do you have a teenager at home who’s got the drive to be one of the best kid entrepreneurs?  Is your teen wanting to make some money? Or maybe your teen likes to go shopping for stuff that you don’t want to pay for (video games and expensive shoes come to mind)?

Even more than that, they probably have a car on the brain that they’re trying to save up for…and if you have a child who’s ambitious, quite possibly they’re wanting to build up their savings for college!

kid entrepreneur
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Kid Entrepreneurs – How Your Teen Can Start Earning Money on Their Own

Most teens are asking for or wanting money for something. Who am I kidding…All teenagers want money, right? Instead of fighting our kids about money, how about we help our kids move forward to succeed in teenage entrepreneurship?

Kidpreneurs: Teaching Responsibility For All Ages

I am big into teaching kids to be responsible and teaching them how to make money on their own. This lets them pay for those expenses that parents aren’t responsible to cover.  (toys, “wants” versus needs, etc.)

That being said, a regular job isn’t always the best option for teens. Maybe your teen plays sports or maybe they don’t have a car to get to and from work.

There are plenty of reasons why your teen might want to start earning money outside of a typical part-time job.  That’s why we are going to talk about the different jobs that your teen could do from home that will help them meet their money-saving goals!

Kids are inherently curious and learn smaller tasks quickly. These are all great inspiration for kid entrepreneurs.

Exploring Teenage Entrepreneur Ideas:

All of these ideas are a great way to teach your child how to become a teenage entreprenuer!

  • Virtual Assistant – A virtual assistant job is a great option for teenagers.  VAs typically work on their own schedule from their computer at home (or wherever they may be). I rate this one #1 for kid entrepreneurs. Be sure your teenager has a laptop and a good work ethic, this can be a successful venture!
  • Flipper – Thrift store flips are fun and can be a great way to earn money.  Teens have a special place in the flipping market because they typically know exactly what is hot in the fashion market which makes them perfect for flipping clothes.
  • Complete Surveys – Survey sites such as Swagbucks can be a good option for kids to earn a little bit of extra cash.  Teens spend, on average, nine hours a day online. A small portion of this time spent on Swagbucks can convert to extra spending money.
  • Graphic design-  Is your teen artistic and/or creative?  If they have the skills to create cool designs using an online design program such as Canva, they can sell these designs as logos, printable items, etc.  Plenty of people do this for full-time income.

Successful Teenage Entrepreneurs Need to Think Outside the Box

  • Tutor – Does your teen thrive at a specific subject?  They can be a tutor online (or in person) and make pretty good money.  There are several websites that you can advertise on (even Facebook and Craigslist make the list)!
  • YouTube streamer – YouTube has recently changed its parameters to make earning a little bit more difficult, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be done!  Plenty of people, teens included, make a decent living streaming on YouTube.
  • Social Media Manager – No one is better at social media than teens, right?  Okay, there are some of us “old folks” that are pretty great at it too, but teens just have that built-in knack for building their social media following and plenty of businesses will want to take advantage of that skill! Hey, for real kid entrepreneurs can ace this one!

Be sure and keep on reading because we are going to dig deeper into how your teen can get started in a couple of these money-making enterprises! Remember, we can all contribute to raising successful kid entrepreneurs!

How Your Teen Can Get Started as a Teenage Virtual Assistant

If your teen is ready to get started as a virtual assistant, there are a couple of things that they can do to help them drum up business and get started earning money as a virtual assistant:

  • Create a resume.  You need a resume to go out into the working world and there is no time like today to have your teen create theirs.  Yeah, they may not have too much working experience, but they likely have volunteering time, extracurricular activities and loads of knowledge and skills.  Make sure that your teen highlights all of these things on their resume!
  • Create a Virtual Assistant FB profile.  Social media is where everyone gets business now, virtual assistants are no exception.  Do a couple of projects and post them on this FB page to show what you have to offer.
  • Check out sites like Upwork and Fiverr.  Sites like Upwork are filled with websites and businesses looking for lots of different tasks to be done.  You will find jobs posted for things like writing needed, spreadsheets worked on, data entry, etc. With Fiverr you will post your skills and services and website owners or business owners will pay for those services.

Kid Business Owners Need These Tips:

  • Create a business card.  Check out websites such as Vistaprint or even staples and order yourself some businesses cards.  Businesses cards haven’t failed to be a good marketing tool even through the internet age. Umm, get a headstart on those skills, make their own on Canva!
  • Go door to door.  As important as social media and the internet are to this position, there is still quite a bit of personal connection needed for this position.  Go to local small businesses in your area, hand out your business card and/or flyer and let that business know how you can help them.

You’ll be surprised at how many small brick and mortar businesses have no clue how to set up a Facebook page let alone schedule and manage posts to help engage and grow their customer base.

What Your Teen needs in Order to Become a Virtual Assistant:

  • A laptop or desktop computer.  Most of the work you will be doing is going to be via computer so you definitely need one.
  • Create a resume.  You need a resume to go out into the working world and there is no time like today to have your teen create theirs.  Yeah, they may not have too much working experience, but they likely have volunteering time, extracurricular activities and loads of knowledge and skills.  Make sure that your teen highlights all of these things on their resume!
  • Create a Virtual Assistant FB profile.  Social media is where everyone gets business now, virtual assistants are no exception.  Do a couple of projects and post them on this FB page to show what you have to offer. (see below)
  • Check out sites like Upwork and Fiverr.  Sites like Upwork are filled with websites and businesses looking for lots of different tasks to be done.  You will find jobs posted for things like writing needed, spreadsheets worked on, data entry, etc. With Fiverr you will post your skills and services and website owners or business owners will pay for those services.

I’ve dropped in this video to give you a general idea on setting up a Facebook Page for self-promotion. The video is for a different business however, the concepts are the same.

Don’t Forget These Business Plan Tips n Tools as Well:

  • Create a business card.  Check out websites such as Vistaprint or even staples and order yourself some businesses cards.  Businesses cards haven’t failed to be a good marketing tool even through the internet age. I know, i have said this like a LOT already, get the hint!
  • Go door to door.  As important as social media and the internet are to this position, there is still quite a bit of personal connection needed for this position.  Go to local small businesses in your area, hand out your business card and/or flyer and let that business know how you can help them. Repeating myself? Yup.. you have to do ‘some’ legwork.
  • An internet connection.  Of course, you are going to need to be able to get online to connect with your clients and find more work! Coffee shops and even places like McDonald’s are awesome options too.
  • A phone. this is not even a requirement, but some clients like to have phone call meetings and some like to have you make calls for them, so for those, a phone will be needed.
  • A strong work ethic.  You will not succeed at this job without the desire to keep working and do your best.  Make sure you are prepared to do just that.

What is a Virtual Assistant, Is this for Kid Entrepreneurs ?

Above we talk about careers that your teenager can do, and what your teen needs to be a virtual assistant.  Let’s be real here though, being a virtual assistant is a legitimate job for people young and old(er) alike. Virtual Assistants are small business (and large) owners.

Age makes no difference whatsoever in your ability to succeed in this career. Now that we have that disclaimer out of the way, let’s talk about the career itself.

What is a Virtual Assistant Anyway?

A Virtual Assistant is someone who assists a website owner or a business owner with any tasks that need to be done.  These can be administrative tasks such as email management, writing letters and/or reports, making sales calls, editing, proofreading, writing up blog posts, maintaining their calendars, accounting help, etc.

Basically, you will become the “go-to” person for the times that the business owner has a task that they are unable to complete themselves.  It is very similar to an administrative assistant job, only you do it in your own space and often at your own time.

Sure, there are deadlines, but it is rare that you have to meet the 9-5 schedule that in-house assistants need to stick with.

Becoming a Virtual Assistant Can Mean So Many Different Things!

A virtual assistant can also be someone who speficially creates content for websites.  Website owners are often swamped with work and they hire out content creators to make sure that their calendars stay filled with ideas and work to keep the content coming.  There are many places where virtual assistants post their stuff for sale and do well doing it!

Successful Teenage Entrepreneurs Also Need to Remember This:

One of the greatest things I have found with the career of virtual assistant is that you have the potential to learn so much in doing it. In turn, means that you make considerably more money.  Once you have more services to offer, you will be amazed to see how much money you can make.

Keep in mind though that in order to be truly successful as a Virtual Assistant, you have to have good work ethic. This is a results oriented business. If you want to be successful, you need to be sure that you are working hard to build your business.

You are striving for great reviews. That is what leads to more work.

Like any other business, Virtual Assistant businesses can be competetive to start, but I assure you, there is plenty of work out there!  

How to Become A Teenage Entrepreneur – How Your Teen Can Make Money Flipping

teens making money online

How to Become a Teenage Entrepreneur by Flipping Items to Sell

I am all for helping teens learn how to make money on their own. A typical part-time job doesn’t work for everyone for various reasons and sometimes teens, just like adults, need to be creative in how they earn money.  Teen Entrepreneurs have been testing the waters quite successfully for years now, no reason your teen can’t do the same.

I recently got to thinking about how much I love to earn money thrift store flipping and there is no reason why teens can’t do the same thing!  I recently read a Business Insider article about a 23-year-old that makes $5000 per month, by flipping thrift store clothing.  What?! 23 isn’t that far off of being a teen, there is no reason teens can’t do the same thing.  I don’t know about you, but I was nowhere near making $5000 per month when I was in my early 20s. If only I knew then what I know now.

Being a Teen Entrepreneur Isn’t All That Hard To Do!

Flipping is a great job for teens for so many reasons, first of all, teens and young adults are typically more “in the know” as far as fashion trends go so when it comes to flipping clothes, they have an advantage over those of us that may not know what all the current trends and hot brands are.

They can also dip their hand into selling items like musical instruments they’re familiar with, art work that are on trend with their generation and well, the sky is the limit with the ‘one mans junk is another’s gold’.

Where Can My Teenager Find Items To Sell ?


If you think that your teen would like to see how they can do flipping their finds, here are a couple of tips to help them get started:

  • Thrift shops.  Since we mostly talk about thrift shop flipping, it is obvious that a thrift shop is where to buy the goods. However, while you are at the thrift shops be on the lookout for half-off deals and any discounted merch.  This is a great way to grow profits. I also highly suggest looking at these thrift shops in higher-end communities. These are the locations that you tend to find the more high-end brands.
  • Yard sales.  Do not discount yard sales y’all!  I highly recommend yard-saling in an affluent neighborhood early in the morning.  While this is not always the case, I have found that the goods in affluent neighborhoods tend to be higher quality. In my experience, those in these neighborhoods tend to be more focused on getting rid of stuff than they are on making money.

Don’t Forget About These Simple Areas to Make Money as a Teen!

  • FB Marketplace.  Believe it or not, you can find some really great deals when shopping on the FB Marketplace.  Again, often people are just looking to clear stuff out so items are priced super low. I especially like when people sell their items in a lot.
  • Their Own Closets. This should go without saying. Teen closets can be a notorious place to find unused clothing, shoes, games, etc.. A Treasure trove for buyers. As they say one ‘teens junk is another’s treasure!

Where Kid Entrepreneurs Can Sell

  • Poshmark. Poshmark is a great place to sell used clothes! Added bonus: Poshmark gives you referral credits for friends who you refer to shop there.
  • Ebay.  eBay continues to be a powerhouse in the thrifting game.  It’s great for selling just about anything (although shipping large items can get tricky).  There’s a reason that eBay has been around so long. People love the auction style buying game.
  • OfferUp.  OfferUp is a great place to sell items locally.  Even in the information age, not everyone likes to buy stuff online. Don’t be afraid to post here, you can find some great local customers that may end up being repeat buyers.

Check out this video for tips on selling on Ebay.

teen entrepreneur

Do you have any questions about how to get started?

How Your Teen Can Get Started as a Social Media Manager

We have been talking a lot how your teen can become an entrepreneur in their young age and as we have talked about. It is so doable for them to start earning money all on their own!  We’ve talked about different ways in which they can earn money and how they can get started. Today let’s talk about how your teen can get started as a social media manager.

Working as a social media manager is perfect for teenagers because they are so wrapped up into social media already!  Kids are great with social media outlets such as Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, etc. Businesses use all of these channels to help grow their business and they need help growing their following and building their brand via these channels.

It’s Time ~ Branch out as a Kid Entrepreneur!

  • Reach out to other social media accounts.  Have your teens search out Facebook pages that are smaller in size. Or look at ones that they have an interest or knowledge in and offer to manage that social media account for a short period of time (say 30 days) for free to see how they can grow the site in that time frame.  If they succeed, then they can offer to move forward another month (or longer) for a fee.
  • Door to door.  Yet again, personal touch is key.  Make sure that your teen knows that they need to get to know their potential clients.  Encourage them to go to local businesses in person, meet the owners, talk to them in person and let them know what they can do for them in the social media sphere.

If your child wants to see if they can make some money being a teen social media manager, here are some steps that they can take to do exactly that:

  • Build up their own social media accounts.  Teenagers or not, the businesses that will be hiring for this want to see proven success. That means that your teen needs to focus on growing their own social media accounts so tht they can show that as a frame of reference when talking to potential clients about their skills.
  • Be confident.  Confidence is key when trying to find clients.  Your teen needs to be able to showcase their skills and not be afraid to reach for their goals.  As a blogger, writer and business owner myself I can confidently say that this is key in business no matter what age you are.

Teens and social media go hand in hand, why wouldn’t teens take advantage of that to get them started into entrepreneurship?!

These are just a few ideas that your kid can become a business owner of their own. Can you imagine teaching them and giving them the tools to succeed in life about how to become a teenage entrepreuner. And who knows, maybe with it’s success will become the option to turn it into a full-fledged family business!

Now go set up that bank account and PayPal account, time to score that first entrepreneurial payday!

successful kid entrepreneurs

successful kid entrepreneurs

Matt R

Hi, my name is Matt and I'm the founder of Barefoot Budgeting. This site is dedicated to one thing... helping you budget and save money.

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