Many teens are anxious to earn some extra spending money in the summer. A traditional job can be great, but side hustles offer many benefits. Teens who start summer side hustles are actively developing their creativity and entrepreneurial skills. For tweens, often a traditional summer job is not possible either because they are too young, or can’t drive. My own children have found that often 16 is the minimum hiring age. Let’s explore some creative side hustles your teen can explore this summer.
Side Hustles for Teens who Love Tech
Teens are great with technology, so one side hustle idea is to help others with basic technology tasks, like setting up new devices, teaching computer skills, or troubleshooting problems. This is especially helpful to older folks. The local library is a great place to advertise your services, or talk with them about helping out with a class they already offer, or about creating one that focuses on your skill set. When I was in high school I taught a basic internet class at our local library and even designed the curriculum.
Social media is another area where teens thrive and can offer their skills to others. A teen could help small businesses with managing their social media accounts, creating content, or growing their following. This could also be a class you could talk to the library about offering, and certainly a place to advertise your side hustle.
Many local businesses want to establish an online presence but don’t know how, and don’t have the resources to hire a big company. A resourceful teen could go from business to business, offering basic website set-up and creation of social media accounts at a reasonable price while padding their resume.
Outdoor Side Hustles for Teens and Tweens
If you love movies, hosting an outdoor theater at your house can be a fun way to spend the summer. You can charge admission, sell popcorn, drinks and other snacks, and enjoy an evening under the stars. Find a projector and the side of a building, or hang a sheet.
If you want to stay active and love animals, you can take care of pets or walk dogs for your neighbors and friends who are on vacation or busy with work during the day. This is especially helpful to the elderly who can’t take their dogs out for a walk themselves.
There are number of people in every community that need help with mowing lawns, weeding gardens, watering plants, and other yard work tasks. Whether it’s those who can’t physically do it themselves, or others who don’t have the time, starting a yard work side hustle is a great way to earn extra money and help beautify the neighborhood.
Another outdoor idea is to set up a car washing service in your own driveway or go door-to-door offering to wash cars for a fee. You can also create a mobile car detailing service where you take all your gear with you and detail vehicles at the owner’s home. Home owner’s would really appreciate this no hassle approach to having their car detailed.
Side Hustles for Teens that Love Kids
If you excel in a particular subject, offer tutoring services to younger students who need help during the summer. This can be a great way to make some extra money and also be very rewarding.
If you excel at a particular sport, offer coaching or training sessions for younger kids in your neighborhood. A lot of parents are looking for people they can trust to help their children advance their skills. My mom paid the son of a friend to give my brother some baseball training when we were young, it’s a win for everyone.
One way to make some extra money between school years is helping others take care of their children. Take a babysitting course to learn the basics and then offer your services to families in your community. Many daycares will close for a week in the summer leaving parents scrambling. Parents of elementary school children may not want to leave their kids home alone for extended periods, but would prefer not to send their kids to daycare all day long. A local teen willing to babysit may be the perfect solution.
Home Focused Side Hustles
A clever tween can offer to house sit for neighbors who are going on vacation. Neighbors are often looking for someone to stop by during the day to water plants and bring in the mail, check for packages, turn lights on and off, and keep a general eye on the place, all of which is a pretty easy way to earn some more cash.
Just like there are people who need a hand with their pets and their yards, home and garage cleaning services is another need in most communities. Scrubbing toilets and vacuuming floors may not seem like the most ideal way to spend the summer, but it can be a profitable side hustle that highly benefits those who need a hand.
If you enjoy making things like bracelets, keychains, blankets, or artwork, you can set up your own online shop (think Etsy) or sell at local markets. If baking cookies, cupcakes, and other treats is more up your alley, you can sell them at local events, farmers markets, or to friends and family. My nephew who is only 13 has started a sports card selling business on eBay. The ideas and options are endless for this type of side hustle.
This is a winter example, but growing up, one year my friend and I took orders for Christmas cookies from our neighbors, and received quite a few orders from people who wanted a variety of cookies but didn’t have time to make every kind. This same principal could apply to neighbors hosting big summer events, and could use some help with desserts and treats.
While landing a traditional job might be the most obvious route to earn summer cash, encourage creativity with fun summer side hustles for teens and tweens. Not a teen? Checkout my ideas for Creative Summer Side Hustles for Adults.
