11 Best Business Ideas For Teenagers (Any Teens can Start One)

I know a lot of the content on this blog focuses on online jobs for teens or side hustles for teenagers or ways younger people can make some extra money. But a lot of those ideas are more like side hustles or part-time gigs.

So I got to thinking what are some viable business ideas for teenagers that you can use to actually launch your own business.

So today I’m covering seven different business ideas for teens that you can use to launch your own business and grow it throughout high school and as you go through college or your first job. 

Business Ideas For Teenagers

Some of these business ideas pay money immediately while others will take a little bit longer to grow and get off of the ground but in my opinion there is never a better time to start than the present.

So if you’re having a little entrepreneurial itch and you want to start a business as a teenager this is absolutely the blog post for you.

1.  Clothing Resale Business

The first business idea for teens that i want to talk about is actually clothing resale but it’s not just buying thrift store stuff and then selling it at a garage sale or anything like that.

This actually involves launching your own DEPOP store. Depop is a marketplace for buying and selling unique fashion finds. 

So in other words, it’s kind of like poshmark but for outfits that are a little bit more out there.

So on depop you can make money selling menswear, women’s wear, jewelry accessory, complete outfits, handbags, pretty much any kind of you clothing or accessory you can think of you can sell on depop. 

And what i really like about depop is that it’s free to sell on depop and the platform only takes a 10% fee from sales. 

So it’s actually quite affordable, you don’t have to pay monthly fees, you don’t have to pay for your account or for your storefront or anything like that.

You just upload the stuff you’re selling to depop and then if you make a sale they take ten percent.

But why i wanted to mention depop in a content about business ideas for teenagers is that depop kind of has this like instagram component to it, where people can follow their favorite sellers.

You can kind of make curated collections and show off to other people on depop about your unique finds or what you’ve thrifted for the week.

So it’s kind of a bit more of a social platform which is why I think teenagers would be good at using it and kind of feel right at home. 

So nothing stops you from finding some products at flea markets or thrift stores or maybe making your own alterations to clothing to make it even a little bit more unique. 

Listing it on depop and seeing if you can grow a following there and kind of turn that into your clothing resale business.

Note: you have to be 18 or older to sign up for depop, so you’re going to need a parent or guardian or older sibling to open an account for you.

So this is kind of a common theme with some online business ideas and that’s something i’ve stressed before.

Do not be afraid to ask your parents or an older sibling for help because a lot of the time to use paypal or stripe or to open an online business somewhere you’re going to need to be 18 or older.

Actually, that doesn’t stop teenagers from selling, so don’t be afraid to ask for help and that has to be number one on the list of business ideas for teenagers.

2. Open An Etsy Store

The second business idea for teenagers involves opening your own etsy store. 

Now I know you have seen people  mention etsy a lot on their blog because frankly, i think it’s one of the cheapest ways to start selling online and the potential of the etsy marketplace is just insane.

I mean if you sell on etsy and your products actually rank organically on its marketplace you can get consistent sales and that’s not something you’ll always find if you just sell on ebay or poshmark or those kinds of apps.

So with etsy you know you can sell stuff like apparel, art, craft, supplies, home goods, digital downloads, jewelry, toys, gifts.

Those are some of the more popular categories you’ll find on the marketplace but again what’s really cool about etsy is just the crazy potential of the platform. 

I mean you sometimes find stories like “this 19 year old etsy seller who paid for her entire college tuition with her etsy jewelry shop” and if you look at that person’s store she actually has over 19,000 sales.

So she’s made over $100k just by selling on etsy and this was basically while she was still in high school.

Now again you’re going to need a parent or guardian to open an etsy shop with you but in my opinion selling on etsy is one of the best online businesses for teenagers.

Especially if you’re kind of crafty and you like to make your own crafts or you make artwork or you can even sell digital products like an Ebook or Stickers for planners things like that.

So Etsy has immense potential. That is the bottom line and that’s why I had to make the cut for this article on business ideas for teens.

3. Blog or YouTube Channel 

My third business idea for teenagers is to start a blog and youtube channel. 

I again have mentioned both of these side hustles a lot on this blog and the main reason for that is because that is a significant bulk of my income.

Blogging is how I make a lot of my income while youtube is an income source i’m trying to grow in the next year or two and while i’ve started this more recently.

So in my early-20s I actually started my first blog back in high school and it was such an ugly blog it was on a blogspot, I posted about gist, politics and celebrity.

I didn’t know anything about seo or web design or even writing, I then started the second blog a few years later and it was like a failed music website.

It also had awful terrible content, terrible design, it was not good but eventually I started this blog after i became a graduate.

This blog now pays for all of my bills all my living expenses and it only took two to three years for the blog to actually turn into a pretty considerable source of income.

I then started a youtube channel anonymously (faceless) and here we are, so welcome to my blog but really the point of this for teenagers is that starting a blog or youtube channel or both is just one of the most valuable practical ways to learn new skills.

I mean nothing else is going to teach you web design, writing, copywriting,  marketing or just kind of growing an online business quite like starting a blog or youtube.

So I think if you don’t need money immediately but you’re interested in learning some new skills and maybe leaving high school with an asset or two under your belt.

Blogging or youtube is absolutely the way to go and again you don’t have to get all serious and make a blog about finance like I did just pick a topic you think is going to make a lot of money. 

You can blog or make youtube videos about content that interests you, any hobby or interest you might have.

I mean I know someone who runs the blog modern teen, and this blog is just about teenagers and you’re a teen so nothing stops you from making content for teenagers or an audience you understand.

You can do it about hobbies, sports, entertainment, you can really do it about anything.

So I have a ton of content on this blog about picking a blog niche, how to make money blogging, how to start a YouTube channel, all that stuff. 

So definitely recommend checking that out if you’re interested in this business idea.

4. Pet Based Business

The fourth business idea for teenagers is starting a pet sitting and walking business.

This isn’t anything crazy or revolutionary but it’s a business model that’s existed for a long time and it will continue to exist.

Think about it, people travel or people get busy with their daily lives and they’re more than happy to pay teenagers oftentimes to take care of their pets.

So if you like dogs I think a dog walking, dog sitting business is really a natural fit and it’s not very difficult to get started in the first place. 

I mean you can list your services on the facebook marketplace or craigslist and just say “hey here’s who i am, i’m a teenager i’m starting a dog sitting, dog walking business. i can walk your dogs x number of days per week for this amount of money”

You should probably look into some rates in your area, so you’re a little competitive.

You can also try the good old-fashioned putting flyers over town to advertise your business and when you turn 18 you can actually sign up for Rover which is basically a gig app that connects pet sitters and walkers with people who need help with their pets over time.

You also have opportunities to expand this business like you can learn how to make dog treats and sell dog treats to people in your neighborhood.

You can learn pet grooming and offer dog haircuts or pet grooming services and things like that.

So I think this is a very broad base of thought about how you can start a business as a teenager and how far you grow it or where you expand is ultimately up to you.

So I definitely wanted to include this one and if you like dogs it’s definitely the one I recommend thinking about.

5. Offer private Tutoring

The fifth business idea for teenagers is to offer private tutoring to other students or people who need help learning a specific subject.

This could be local tutoring, online tutoring, you can maybe offer tutoring to people at your very own school.

If they’re struggling in a subject you’re quite good at but you can also take this a  step further and actually launch a legitimate tutoring business.

There is a youtuber I know, her name is Alexa Madison. She has her own YouTube channel, so I definitely recommend checking it out.

Alexa actually put out a video sharing how she made over a hundred thousand dollars by the time she turned 18 from her tutoring business.

So alexa actually started teaching people piano when she was only 10 years old and from 10 to 18 this is how she grew her business and made over $100k.

It’s crazy she has a video on her channel that you can check out but I’m just going to read a little excerpt from her description box where she kind of breaks down her journey.

So alexa says “when i was 12 years old, i started my own business, i posted a mailbox and made business cards, i failed for years trying to get customers to come to my business.

At 14 years old i built my own website with wix but i didn’t do a great job advertising myself as a business and making money.

At 15 years old i finally figured out how to attract the right customers to my business and made some big changes with my website.

In six months i got 20 customers and by the end of the year i made $20,000.

At 16 i started an online store with shopify and sold digital products and did drop shipping for hard copy books.

At the end of that year, i made $35,000 at 17 i hit my maximum number of customers i could take on raise my rates and that year i made $65,000″.

So if you ask me, that’s a pretty cool story of how you can start a business as a teenager.

So alexa started just a basic piano tutoring business where she taught kids piano and then you slowly figured out ways to scale your business like alexa opened a shopify store and sold digital downloads. 

Raised her freelancer rates or her tutoring rates and just made more money per client and made over a hundred thousand dollars by the time she turned 18.

So if that’s not an awesome story of how you start a business as a teenager and make a crazy amount of money I don’t know what is but definitely check out her channel she makes some cool videos on teen entrepreneurship. 

Her idea kind of inspired that point and I had to include it in this article on business ideas for teens.

6. Service Based Business

Number six for business ideas for teenagers is just to start a local service business.

This is kind of similar to that pet sitting and walking idea i mentioned but you can apply that idea to pretty much any kind of service.

Examples of services you can apply it to could be snow removal, painting, window cleaning, landscaping, just any kind of service people would probably be willing to pay for. 

If you can learn those skills and offer them to people in your neighborhood, that’s a pretty easy way to make some money. 

My friends and i would do this actually every winter when we were younger we’d go knock on doors and say “we can shovel your driveway if you can pay us 10 bucks or something” 

It wasn’t crazy money and we didn’t actually turn it into a legitimate business or anything.

But nothing really stops you from actually knocking on doors or getting to know people in your neighborhood or listing your services on facebook or craigslist and saying “hey i’ve started this business i can do this service for you at this rate”

You learn the skills, maybe your parents can help you, maybe this can be a business you run together and next thing you know maybe you have a few clients and you’re making a few hundred dollars or a thousand dollars per season and you’ve launched your own business

So this is another simple idea to consider. Don’t be afraid to start it because people are willing to pay for all kinds of things.

A lot of this work is just manual labor which you can learn pretty easily and it’s just about putting the work in to actually get paid.

7. Flea market Flipping

Number seven and the last idea on business ideas for teenagers is flea market selling.

This is basically flipping products for cash and it’s kind of similar to selling on depop where you buy clothing, you alter it and then you sell it on depop.

This is a little bit broader and i like it because it kind of gets you down that retail arbitrage rabbit hole which is honestly a really cool side hustle.

It’s something I’ve been itching to try for a long time because I’ve discussed with people who do retail arbitrage.

I know a few people who do it and it’s a pretty cool business model especially when done at scale and I think it’s something teenagers can do as well.

Anyways the idea here is basically to buy popular products at a discount at places like flea markets or thrift shops or even at stores like walmart or kohl’s where you can kind of shop the clearance and find some products at a discount.

And to then resell those popular items for a slight markup on websites like ebay, the facebook marketplace, poshmark or even just at a garage sale.

You eventually throw yourself and So really the idea here is to find those popular products like i mentioned that sell quickly.

Here, you don’t want to be holding on to inventory forever but this could be things like books, apparel, electronics, collectibles, toys video games. 

You have some kind of common categories that retail arbitrage sellers really gravitate towards.

when in doubt just look on amazon check the product you’re selling if it sells well on amazon it has a lot of reviews and a high order volume then you know you probably found something that’s going to sell pretty quick.

Now the real downside of this business idea for teens is that it just takes some starting capital to get off of the ground.

so you’re going to need at least let’s say 50 to 100 bucks to buy a few products and to then resell them it also might take time for you to get your first sale.

So this is something where if you need money immediately i probably would go with a service based business instead rather than flea market flipping but i think it is one of those cool businesses you can scale over time.

Arbitrage is just kind of one of those weird side hustles where it’s you who know the sky is actually the limit.

Some people do it full time and make millions of dollars, while some people make no money.

It’s quite interesting to me so i wanted to include it in this article but again if you need money immediately maybe stay away from this one.

8. Digital Services

What is your teen’s special talent? Are they skilled at creating web videos? graphic design? Writing?

Young teenagers can use the online marketplace Fiverr to earn $5-$10,000 by employing abilities they already have.

They can create website, provide voiceover work, and even administer social media accounts. The possibilities are endless! To become a seller, you must be at least 13 years old.

9. Become A Designer

If your kid is creative, they can earn money by designing and selling t-shirts on Teespring.

The platform is free to use, and kids can promote their items via social media networks once they have made them. They will be paid a specific sum for each product they sell.

Payments are made through PayPal or Payoneer.

Teespring is open to kids aged 13 to 18, but they must have parental consent if they are under 18.

10. Babysitting

If your teen enjoys working with children, babysitting could be their ticket to financial independence.

While your teen can provide babysitting services to friends, relatives, and neighbors, there are a few applications that allow young teens to join (with parental permission, of course).

When a parent becomes a Consenting Parent User, teens aged 13 to 17 can join Bambino.

Teens between the ages of 16 and 17 can open a parentally controlled account on Care.com. Other sites, such as Nanno and Sittercity, demand sitters to be at least 18 years old.

11. Vocal Creator

Teens aged 13 and up can create written material for money at Vocal! Create an account and upload your written content to the website to get started.

Creators will receive $3.80 for each 1,000 reads of their content.

There are also possibilities to get reader tips and win money through contests.

While it is not a lot of money, it is a wonderful way for your kid to enhance their writing and editing skills as well as create solid writing samples for additional freelancing jobs.

Vocal allows creators from all over the world, and payments are made through Stripe. However, before you can request payment, your account must reach a $35 balance.

Final Words

Alright guys, there you have it. Those are seven different business ideas that are teenage friendly and that you can start today.

Like I mentioned some of them are going to require working with a parent or guardian or older sibling to kind of get the online payment bill sorted out but there are some in-person business ideas as well that you can use.

So you can deal in cash you don’t have to worry about being under 18. figure out what you like and don’t like, and to learn some new skills that are going to serve you for years to come. 

So if there’s one takeaway from this blog post, it’s really that learning is all part of this and I think you learn by doing.

Anyways that’s all for this one i hope you’ve enjoyed, you can leave a comment if you like.