Side hustles are activities that you can do to make money that is not a full-time job. It can be difficult for teens to earn money due to their young age and their academic obligations. Fortunately, here are seven side hustle ideas that vary in the level of flexibility and time commitment.
1. Sell Clothes & Other Items Secondhand
Selling secondhand works well if you have recently decluttered your space and have some extra items that you were not using in the first place. If you were planning to get rid of them, you might as well try to make a little bit of money back. You can take pictures and list them on a reselling website in your free time. Then, just wait for people to buy your items. Platforms for reselling include Mercari, eBay, and Poshmark.
2. Sell Your Art Prints Online
Whether you like painting, photography, or calligraphy, you can digitize your favorite pieces and sell them on the internet. Some platforms include Creative Market, where you can sell PNGs of your art, and RedBubble, where your digital file is printed onto an item like a t-shirt, water bottle, tote bag, sticker, tapestry, and more. You can increase your profit margins by printing it yourself rather than getting another company to do it. For example, you can directly communicate to your local print shop to print in bulk or screen printing yourself at home. However, creating these products by hand requires significantly more time, investment, and expertise.
3. Sell Handmade Crafts
Selling crafts is a great option for you if you already like to do crafts, such as making clothes, friendship bracelets, or crocheting. To sell these items online, you can choose a platform for the transaction, such as Etsy, or you can set up your own online store using resources like Wix or Squarespace. This can help you learn online marketing skills, which can be beneficial in acquiring an internship or full-time job in the future. If possible, you can also set up a stand at your local in-person market. A great advantage of doing this is that you can earn an income from an activity you already like to do.
4. Sell Stock Photos
If you like photography, you can capture some professional pictures and sell them to stock photo websites. You can take images of everyday objects, scenery, pets; the options are endless. You can sell these to major stock photo websites like Getty Images and Shutterstock. Doing this will encourage you to improve and continue practicing the hobby of taking photos.
5. Tutor Online Or In-Person
Tutoring works best for older teens, usually high schoolers and above. There are tutoring options at local organizations; however, you can also work individually if you have many connections to younger kids who need this service. Another option is foreign language tutoring, where you can tutor languages that you are fluent in online on websites like Verbal Planet or Italki. You can teach English or any other language for up to $30 an hour. While there is a lot of demand for tutoring, it can be inflexible since you have to coordinate your schedule with someone else’s, especially for in-person tutoring.
6. Social Media Management
If you know of some small businesses within your area, you can reach out to their management and ask if they are in need of someone to run their social media platforms. This would be a fitting job for teens since it is easier for younger people to navigate and promote social media. To begin, you would need to demonstrate proficiency with creating graphics, videos, or animations for social media. You can start with using sites like Canva to practice making posts. It also helps to be knowledgeable about online marketing. Once you become well-versed in the skills required to run a social media account, there is most definitely a business interested in your expertise. Your amount of work would depend on the company you are working for. However, it would be relatively flexible since you can create and schedule posts beforehand.
7. Transcription Services
You can make about $15 to $25 per hour by transcribing videos or audio on the internet. Platforms such as GoTranscript or Rev can match you (the transcriptionist) with a person who has submitted something that they need transcripted. You simply listen or watch the clip and write down or type what they are saying. This is fit for people with good listening comprehension and a quick typing speed. Transcribing is very flexible as you can do it anytime and anywhere.
To summarize, side hustles can be found anywhere. You can turn your favorite hobbies and crafts into a business. And with the internet, hundreds of opportunities to get extra cash are available at your fingertips.
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