Make Easy Money7: 2014

Monday, August 4, 2014

Online Jobs For Teenagers: How to Make Money Online

Making money online can be hard enough as an adult, but for a teenager with little financial know-how and skills, attending school full-time and trying to balance a decent social life, it seems nearly impossible. In reality, there are some major advantages to having an online job, particularly for a teenager, and while it might have its cons as well, it’s an opportunity at least worth exploring.

If you’re a teenager looking to make money online, or a parent seeking out ways your daughter or son can use their skills to earn some extra cash, this guide is for you! Here, we’ll list some creative and easy online jobs for teenagers, plus give some tips on avoiding scams and other risks.

For more tips, check out this course on making money online, or this one on the art of online money making.

Why Work Online?

Working online is a great way to make money for teenagers who lack transportation. In this tough economy, finding retail or customer service work isn’t the easiest either, especially if they lack relevant work experience. Online work is something that can be self-made, something that you can slap on your resume, and something that you can control! For most of these jobs, you are your own boss, and your skills are your own to market.

Because it’s online, it’s something teenagers can do in their free time, after school and during the summer. Scroll down for some ideas!

Freelance

Freelancing means you work as an independent contractor for a client, who agrees to pay you a sum of money for your work. When you freelance, you’re not directly affiliated with your client or their company – if they have one – but you are, unlike the name suggests, paid for your work! If you’re not, then there’s really no point, unless you’re young enough that experience really is more valuable than money. There are different types of freelancing that you can do, depending on your skills. Below are some examples.

Freelance Writing and Editing

Starting your own blog, or even contributing to someone else’s, is a great way to make money if you have a knack for the written word. Having your work published online is an excellent thing to have on your resume, especially at an early age, plus it never helps to practice your writing skills in your free time and earn some money while you do it.

What’s great about freelance writing is there’s a niche out there for everyone. Do you like writing about sports? There’s a website out there for it. Do you like writing about video games? There’s a website out there for it. Do you like writing about cooking, or art, or film/television? There are websites out there for all of it!

Learn how to break into freelance writing with this course. If you enjoy writing, but feel like you could be better at it, improve your skills with this course on advanced writing strategies.

Freelance editing is kind of like freelance writing, only you’re not the one doing the writing – you’re just making sure the writing is good. This is a great, and usually less time-consuming job for someone who still excels in the writing department, but doesn’t want their name plastered all over the internet just yet. Some people just enjoy copy editing too, so there’s that! For some tips on improving your editing skills, check out this proofreading course.

Freelance Art

If you prefer taking pen to paper to produce art, rather than words, freelance art is a great way to make money and make a name for yourself. You can seek out clients who need logos, mascots, or other illustrations prepared for them, or you can even setup accounts on websites like Patreon, Store Envy, or Etsy and sell your art there. This way, you price the value of your art, and you control your fanbase. Check out this social media management course for tips on maintaining an active fan and consumer base through the internet. This is vital if you’re someone producing creative work like art, or even creative writing.

Freelance Web Design

Are you a teenage programmer looking to put your skills to work? Perhaps you’re someone with a knack for graphic design, or a multi-talented designer and developer trying to get their name out there? Designing websites for clients is an excellent way to get paid for your work. Finding work in this field might be a bit more difficult for a teenager, though, if you don’t have some kind of online portfolio available for viewing.

Check out this course on web design basics for some tips.

Make Video Tutorials

If you monetize videos on YouTube, it can be a great source of cash online. Start a YouTube channel, find your niche, and post regular video content. You can do everything from drawing tips, to make-up tutorials, to language classes, to video game walkthroughs, movie reviews, cooking guides, and more. Just make sure you have a parent’s permission to put yourself online, and understand the risks that come with putting your name and face on the internet.

Check out this course on becoming a YouTube star to get started.

Translate and Transcribe Data

If you type quickly and/or speak a second language, translation and transcription is a great way to earn extra cash. You can find work like this on professional job listing sites, or even Craigslist – just make sure you don’t accept work from strangers without your parent’s approval.

Find a Paid-to-Click or Survey Program

Some websites will pay you to click through advertisements, register for accounts on affiliate sites, or take surveys for them, with rewards coming in the form of money, gift cards, and store credit for online services. It can be a shady business, with plenty of scams cluttering up an occasionally decent marketplace. It’s recommended you find someone who has experience earning money this way instead of seeking out work on your own, as this way you can be pointed to trusted sites and not have to worry about wasting your time, or worse, risking your personal information.

Publish eBooks

Websites like Amazon allow you to publish your own eBooks on their online storefront, which are great ways to make money and get your writing out there. For Amazon’s online Kindle marketplace, you can earn up to 70% royalties from self-publishing your novels, plus there’s no long wait – your work will appear on the site in a few days after uploading.

If being a novelist is your dream, get started by publishing eBooks online. Check out this course on creative writing and learn how to hone your storytelling skills.

Money through internet

U-Haul

U-Haul is a well-known company (I’m sure you’ve heard of them) that occasionally has work from home customer service type jobs available. This is definitely more of a real job than an extra money gig like most of what is listed here. Most of the work from home customer service jobs I come across require that applicants be at least 18 years old, but U-Haul hires workers that are as young as 16!

You can read my full review of U-Haul here or go here to check and see if they have work from home positions available now.

Sell on Etsy

Etsy is an online marketplace for all things handmade and vintage. You can open up a shop on Etsy with your parent’s consent if you are under the age of 18. However, your parent or guardian will have to additionally be the one who manages your shop.

You can learn more about how Etsy works here or go here to read more about opening up a shop on Etsy as a minor.

My Likes

If you are a teen very active on social media (Facebook, Twitter, etc.) you can earn some money sharing links through My Likes. You can sign up for My Likes as long as you are at least 13. They pay out with Paypal once a week on Fridays if you have earned at least $1. You also have the option of getting paid with an Amazon gift code.

Go here to sign up for My Likes or here to read more about it.

Revenue-Share Writing

Are you a writer? You’ll find that most of the upfront pay writing sites won’t let you register until you are at least 18, but luckily many of the rev-share sites will let teens sign up to write. Revenue share sites allow you to write articles across many different subjects and accumulate money over time on those articles through ad clicks, social media shares, and more. Some revenue share writing sites that will let teens sign up are as follows:

Survey Panels

You can get paid a little bit for sharing your opinions as a teen. Many, many online survey panels do permit you to sign up as long as you are at least 13 years old. Like most other things you can do as a teen, this is money that is slow to build up. But the more survey panels you are a member of, the more survey invitations you should receive. Doing surveys here and there as you receive them can certainly add up to extra money in a month’s time. Below are some of the better panels out there that allow users to sign up at as young as 13. Note some links below are my affiliate links. Read my disclosure here.

Epoll – Read Review - 13 & up
My Survey – Read Review - 14 & up
Survey Savvy – 14 & up
Mindfield Online – Read Review – 15 & up
Chooz – 14 – 35
Springboard America – Read Review – 14 & up

Reward Sites

Reward sites are similar in a way to survey sites because it’s something you can do here and there to build up cash and rewards over time. These sites usually have a mix of different things you can do to earn — search the web, redeem offers, answer surveys, watch videos, and several other things. Most of them also pay in points. The more you participate, the more you can build up. The points can usually be redeemed for not only Paypal cash but also various merchandise and Amazon gift codes. Here is a list of some of the more popular reward sites you can begin using as a teen:

Swagbucks – 13 & up
Zoombucks – 13 & up
Quick Rewards – under 18 must get parent’s permission (this one pays out daily!)
Cash Crate – under 18 must get parent’s permission
Irazoo – 13 & up

Jingit

Jingit is a way to earn money watching videos, taking surveys, and also interacting with their various product campaigns. Teens that are at least 13 can sign up for Jingit. Other requirements are that you must have a Facebook account, a mobile phone with text messaging, and live in the US. Payments are made to a Visa debit card weekly. You will have to sign up for the debit card, you can’t send the money to a card you already have.

Go here to read my Jingit review and learn more about how it works or here to go ahead and sign up.

Enroll

This is a newer online tutoring site that lets you sign up to tutor people in virtually any subject. You do not need to be a professional and you can sign up at as young as 15 years old. So if you are a teen or know a teen that has vast knowledge in a subject that could be taught to others online, this might be a good idea.

Go here to sign up for Enroll.

Qmee

Qmee is a browser extension that you can install on pretty much any browser (Chrome, Firefox, etc.). Once installed, sometimes Qmee will show sponsored advertisements on the side when you’re searching on any popular search engine. Each advertisement will pay a certain amount (usually a few cents or more). If you visit any of the ads you see when they pop up, you’ll get that cash into your Qmee account. They will pay out instantly to Paypal no matter how much is in your account. Qmee is open to people ages 13 and up in either the US or the UK.

Go here to sign up for Qmee.

Make money

Resume/CV

The first thing you’re going to want to do is to write a resume or CV on which you put your experience, skills/ achievements, educational background and references. This is one of the most important aspects of your application as it sets the tone for the rest of your application. Make sure it’s the best representation of you, and you have managed to achieve the balance between arrogance andmodesty. Also don’t underestimate the importance of proofreading! An employer is unlikely to be impressed to find simple errors in grammar or spelling, because it shows either that you’re too lazy to read through it ,or you are incredibly careless, both huge stains on your application. If you’ve spelt detail incorrectly the employer, ironically, is unlikely to forget your ‘lack’ of attention to detail. Make sure this part of your application is perfect!

Applying and Outcome

Once you’ve written your resume, and your parents or teachers have checked over it, it’s time to apply. Many retailers place job vacancies online so that’d be a very good place to begin. Equally there are numerous restaurants, supermarkets etc... who do not publicise their vacancies online, so don’t limit your search to the internet! Also by going in person you have the extra advantage of having met the employer before they consider your application.

Usually employers will let you know the status of your job application within a few weeks, and don’t be disheartened if you get a few rejections because with the right resume and good interviewing techniques you will almost certainly land yourself a job.

Tutoring younger kids

As a 17 year old you will have had about a fifth of your life to develop your talents, and what better way to use them than passing them down to the next generation. Tutoring is a job which is constantly in high demand, and don’t think it’s solely limited to school subjects.Be creative! If you can play the piano to a high standard, teach it! It's an incredibly flexible and convenient way to make money, as you’re in charge of when, where and how much! Although it’s relatively simple to begin doing, firstly you will need to think about potential clients,(maybe through schoolsor family friends), how much you’ll charge , and naturally how it will fit alongside college or school.

No Amazon products found

Making Money Online

Think about how much time you spend on the internet on twitter, Facebook, You Tube etc...Now think about how great it’d be if you could make money on the internet. Well you can and EASILY!

You Tube

You Tube is a great place for people, especially teens, to make money. As themajority of people all over the world using the internet are young you are your market research. To begin with find a camera, either use an existing one in your home or buy a new or preowned one. Ideally, the camera should be able to shoot in 1080p full hd.Firstly create a you channel and choose a niche for your videos. Then film some original footage, edit it on your laptop or PC, then upload it to you tube. That’s the hard part done. Aim to publish around 2 videos a week to keep your subscribers interested, and spend time interacting with them and the you tube community, by commenting liking and responding to videos. Once you think you have a sufficient amount of activity and you are producing high quality videos, then I highly recommend you apply to the You Tube Partner Program. Once you’ve been approved you can turn on revenue sharing on all your videos and begin to earn large amounts of passive income! Another step to increase your income, is to open a google Adsense account which allows you to overlay adds on your videos and you are paid based on traffic. The key with earning on You Tube is High Quality persistence.

The 35 Ways To Earn Money

1. Make Money Online With Swagbucks

Basically this is a free site that offers you a bunch of ways to earn cash, gift cards, or other rewards.

You can earn by answering polls, taking surveys, doing simple tasks (like giving feedback about a website), trading in old video games or books, and even playing games on their site.

I have tried it out and have received multiple payments from them, so I can attest that it is legit. While you won’t get rich doing this, to me it seems like a great way for internet-loving teens to make some money. Find out more here.

2. Sell Stuff On EBay For Mom And Dad

I am sure mom and dad wouldn’t mind sharing some of the profits, if you sell some of their clutter for them. I say ask them for 50% of what you make from it!

3. Freebie Trading

A couple years ago I did an interview with a guy who made $28,000 in one year doing this part time. It is work and requires organization skills to do it well, but it is legit.

I tried my hand at it using Project Payday and their training materials to see that it was legit.

Basically companies are willing to pay you to do trial offers for their products. They know that many people who do the trial offer will like their product and continue to be customers, so they are willing to pay people to sign up for trial offers.

So one of the main ways of making money freebie trading is signing up for offers like a FreeNetflix trial, emusic.com, applying for a Discover Card, etc. The key to success seems to be having a calendar where you can keep track of when the trial periods end and make sure to cancel before they end.

If you are interested in learning more I definitely recommend Project Payday as they have a ton of training guides (free if you complete a couple offers) that will greatly simplify the process. Oh and they have a A+ rating with the BBB as well.

4. Take Online Surveys

I am not particularly fond of the whole online survey thing since I had a bad experience using CashCrate. But there are lots of online survey sites and people who do it successfully. Here are a few if you want to investigate it further:

I recommend proceeding with caution and definitely not paying anything to join.

5. Raise Money Online

If you are raising money for a community service project or missions, you might want to check out a site like GoFundMe.com. They make it easy for teens to raise money for any type of project. People have used it to raise the money for everything from mission trips to medical bills, weddings and honeymoons, business ventures, and even college tuition.

6. Build Websites For Others

I can’t tell you how many people have asked me to build them a website since I started this one a couple years ago. I am not seeking the work and people are requesting it, so if you do a little legwork and pursue small business owners, there is a lot of work available. Teens might be great for this, because they would be able to work for less than some higher end website developers, which would put them in the price range that it seems many small businesses are looking to spend. Here is a great course to help you get started.

7. Cleaning Out Foreclosed Homes

With there being as many foreclosed homes out there as there are, the bankers (who now own the houses) don’t want to clean them up and they are willing to pay hefty sums for those who will. So it is fairly easy to start a Foreclosure cleanup business and get paid pretty well in the process. If you are interested here is a course you can take to learn more.

8. Freelance Write

As they say on the web “content is king” and everyone wants it. Places like Elance or Odesk have thousands of different job openings available for freelance writers. If you are not in a rush for receiving compensation and know how to do keyword research, there is money to be made writing at Hubpages and Squidoo. For more on this method, check out How to make money with Hubpages.

9. Start A Christmas Light Hanging Business

If you aren’t afraid of heights and can handle being out in the cold, this is a pretty great business opp. Some people earn a full-year’s salary just hanging lights for 2 months each year. Here is a course that provides some more info.

10. Sell Plasma

Not sure how old you have to be, nor how painful it is, but if you are into that sort of thing, it can be a way to make some quick money.

11. Take Part In Medical Studies

I have a couple friends who have almost done this exclusively as a job. They were basically human guinea pigs, but they made some decent cash at it. Sometimes they would have be at the medical facility for up to 48 hours, so your schedule may need to be flexible. Just google “medical studies” + your city to find some options.

12. Fiverr

Fiverr is a website that allows you to sell your service for $5. There are all kinds of crazy things people are offering and getting paid for on there – like taking a picture holding a sign, recording 2 sentences in an irish accent, recording a video singing a certain song, and even prank calling a friend all for $5. So if you have a little creativity, there are some fun ways to make some money on the side.

13. Gigwalk

Gigwalk is a fairly new iPhone app that offers payment for completing simple tasks based on your location. For example users earn by taking pictures of a restaurant’s menu, verifying roadblocks and signage, and other simple tasks. If you are in a big city (which typically has more opportunities) there is some decent potential with this one.

14. Get Paid To Tweet

Did you know that advertisers will pay you to send out tweets about their products? As you could imagine the bigger your audience the more you will get paid, but you can find out more here – SponsoredTweets.com.

15. Have A Garage Sale

If it is something too large or that won’t sell on eBay for some reason, you can always have an old-fashioned garage sale!

16. Tutor Or Give Lessons

Are you great at math, science, or kicking a field goal? Why not advertise your skills to those a few years younger than you? Many parents are willing to pay a teenager to tutor their child in an area that needs development.

17. Create Myspace Facebook Graphics Or Pages

or Twitter backgrounds for that matter. Just set up a simple site to sell your work, get a paypal “buy it now link” and you are off and running.

18. Write Product Reviews

There are places like Ciao, Epinions.com, ReviewStream.com that pay for product reviews – if you have an opinion and can type quickly this might be a good option. Another one that just popped up is called Ukritic and they allow you to write reviews of products and then you can earn affiliate commissions from the sales of those products. It might not be quick cash, but for those who like to write it may be a decent option.

Jobs Requiring A Uniquely Mature Teenager

19. Buy And Sell Cars For Profit

If you love cars and aren’t afraid to haggle, you could start a car flipping biz. We have a friend of the family who has done this for years. He scours the classified listings for deals, lands a good deal and then drives the car while trying to sell it for a couple grand more. Sometimes he sells them quickly, sometimes it takes a little longer, but he gets to drives lots of cars (which he loves) and makes a nice side income as well. Here is an online course to help you get started.

20. Rent Out Your Car For $10+ An Hour

I just heard about RelayRides.com which allows you to either rent or lend your car to others – and get paid in the process. If you live in a big city, this could be pretty profitable!

21. Blogging

Two years ago I wasn’t sure if there was money to be made blogging, but I have since found it to work out nicely. It isn’t something that will provide much income quickly, but if you stick at it, it can. I wrote extensively about how to make money from a blog a few months ago.

22. Design Web Logos

If you have a flair for design, it may be worth trying to make some money designing logos for small business or blogs.

23. Social Marketing Consultant

Many companies are looking for qualified candidates who know the ins and outs of Myspace, Facebook, and Twitter to help them with their social marketing efforts. Head over to a job site and search for “social media marketing”.

24. Sell Articles

Following in that same vein, you can sell articles you write at places like Constant-Content.com,ArticleSale.com, Helium.com.

25. Start An EBay Business

Last year I experimented with starting an eBay business to see if there was money to be made. While profit margins can be thin selling on eBay, there are over a million eBay businesses, so it is a viable option.

26. Sell Digital Photos

Making money as a photographer has become easier over the last decade. There are now lots of sites looking to buy digital photos: Shutterstock.com, 123RF.com, Dreamstime.com, CreStock.com, Fotolia.com. As with most things, the better you are the more money you will make, but it can be nice passive income if you work at it.

27. Find Odd-Jobs On Craigslist

Some of these might be landscaping work, or similar odd-jobs, but it might be great summer time work for teens!

28. Sell Widgets On Etsy.Com

If you create any kind of arts or crafts or widgets of any sort, you should check out Etsy.com.

29. Join A Focus Group

There are likely to be focus groups in your area that may be willing to hire teens. Organizations are always looking for participants because there are business advantages for focus groups. Just Google “focus group” and your city to get started.

30. Sell Your Video Game Accounts

Are you a gamer? Try selling your accounts, virtual gold, or virtual weapons. You can often sell items like these on gamer forums or even on Ebay.com.

31. Be A Mystery Shopper

This is the dream job isn’t it? You get to shop and get paid! The added bonus is that you secretly have recourse when you are treated poorly in the store.

32. Offer To Do Jobs On Zaarly.Com

Zaarly is a website that connects those offering random services (like walking a dog, being a personal assistant for a day, giving guitar lessons, etc) with buyers who are looking for those services. I would suggest checking out some of the ideas listed on the site and sign up and offer those services.

33. Get Paid From Your IPhone (Smartphone)

There seem to be some apps popping up that pay you to do simple stuff like take a picture of a menu, or of yourself drinking a starbucks, or verifying that a road is closed – you get the picture. Here are a couple that I found:

34. Teach English (Or Other Language) Classes Online

35 ways to make money - some great ideas here

Did you know that English speakers are in high demand in Asia? As a result many are turning to freelance English teachers using websites likeItalki.com. The site is basically a virtual online classroom for freelance teachers and students. Anyone can offer lessons (and set their own price) and anyone can take lessons.

From a quick scan, it looks like making $15-20/hour is a fair expectation.

35. Make Money By Viewing Ads On Your Android Lock Screen

I’ve been trying out this android app called Locket that puts ads on your lock screen and pays you for each time you unlock your phone.

I’ve been trying it out for a few days and have made about 3 bucks thus far, so it isn’t huge, but at the same time, I didn’t really have to do any work to earn the money.

Anyway, if you are interested in checking it out, I have a quick video review that you can watch here…