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How to Start a Business as a Teen?

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How to Start a Business as a Teen

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Every teenager has a dream: to become rich and famous. And that’s quite natural too. As the old adage goes, we weren’t born to pay bills and die.

However, the question here is, how does a teen start working towards building that business and fortune?

The answer isn’t really difficult, if we look at some of the teenage millionaires around the world. I’ll list a few of them for inspiration.

Famous Teen Millionaires

From Hollywood starts to activists and influences, teens are making a mark everywhere. And business isn’t any different as examples of these three rich and famous persons who started businesses as teens would show.

  • Felix Arvid Ulf Kjellberg (Sweden): began YouTubing as teenager and now owns the world’s most popular YouTube channel, PewDiePie.
  • Fraser Doherty (UK): started making jams with his grandma’s recipes and selling at local stores. He’s now famous worldwide as the ‘Jam Boy.’
  • Moziah Bridges (USA): who learnt making bows from his grandma by stitching spare bits of cloth. He now owns Mo’s Bows.

Most of us wrongly believe that a teen can’t start a business or that opening an enterprise involves lots of money. Understandably, nothing comes free because you have to spend time and effort on setting up any business. And a little money does prove useful s start making money from small stage, one of the best way to do this is summer jobs.

How to Start a Business as a Teen?

Therefore, let’s look at how to start a business as a teen. Before we begin, I’ll suggest you check the local labor and business laws before you start own business as a teen. In some places, a person below the age of 13 cannot engage in various kinds of paid work.

Usually, strict child labor laws come into play when you try to do anything as teen. These laws would also cover specific type of businesses. More so if you’re under 16 year of age. In this article, I’ll also be showing some business ideas for younger teenager.

Understand Your Skills

The first and best way to start a business as a teen is by fully understanding your skills and interests. The teen millionaires I mention above are rich and famous because of their skills and a passion to do something with them. In fact, you can coach or train people on your skills. You’ll find quite a few people that wish to learn it.

Actually, your skills would compensate for lack of money. If you have excellent skills at making or doing something, they will prove as the deciding factor for the success of your business. To understand your skills, write down what interests you and how you can use that interest for business. And the skills you have in that specific field of interest.

Start Blogging

If you have superb writing skills, are passionate about something and can find newer ideas that would interest people, start blogging. Actually, blogging is the best way even for junior teenagers to open business and start making money. Opening a blog is free, if you use any of the countless resources online. Or you can buy a domain name, website hosting and other necessary things to launch own website.

Since blogging doesn’t come under labor laws as such, even a 13-year old can launch this fantastic business. And if you can learn few tips and tweaks of digital marketing online, your blog can make you a celebrity blogger in a short span of time. There’re no hard and fast rules about what you can blog about. All you require is a passion for something that a lot of other people also like and superb writing skills.

Affiliate Marketing

And if you’re able to review stuff like PlayStation, computer and video games, movies and others, it’s also possible for teens to enter affiliate marketing business. This is a home-based business and generally doesn’t have age restrictions. However, do check with websites such as Amazon and others for minimum age requirements while signing up.

Affiliate marketing is the best way to start a business as teen. You can also do affiliate marketing through social media pages such as Facebook. There’s no need to open a website or blog in such cases. However, you should have adequate knowledge about the stuff you’ll sell as affiliate marketer.

Handmade Products

And if you’re creative and can make anything from greeting cards to gift items with your skills, you can consider opening a handmade products business too. The only investment you’ll require is to buy the raw materials. However, you can avoid or minimize this expense too by recycling products such as glass and plastic bottles, metal pipes and other.

Explore various ways and means to sell this stuff. Etsy.com allows you to open own marketplace for a small monthly fee. You could also try Shopify.com and nearby stores. Or the best solution is to setup own online store using the Marketplace feature on your Facebook page.

Recycling & Natural Products

Coming back to recycling you can start a business as teen by recycling lots of stuff. For example, recycling food waste in the proper manner allows you to make and sell compost. You’ll require a composter to make this excellent and high-demand fertilizer.

However, there’s no need to spend on a composter: it can be easy made at home with junk lying in your backyard or basement. This is a profitable, year round business for teens. And since this business is environment friendly, you needn’t take any special permits to produce compost.

Teens & Taxation

Now here’s something you need to fully comprehend. Inland Revenue Service (IRS) may exempt you from paying taxes if your income from business is small. However, you have to file tax returns all the same.

Speak to your local tax office or accountant on taxation laws that are applicable for teen businesspersons.

In Conclusion

Now that you know how to start a business as a teen, go ahead and give it a try. Surely, with some effort and dedication, you’ll make a tidy amount of money. And who knows? You might emerge as one of the richest teenagers of the world someday or pave way for a large company.

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