45 Most Profitable Business Ideas for Teens

Small Business Ideas for Teens – Teenager Entrepreneurship Opportunities

What are the best business ideas for teens? There is no better time to start a business than in your prime.

An advantage of this is that you gain experience at a young age from all the mistakes you make while trying to start a business.

Mistakes create learning opportunities people learn from. It is noteworthy that every successful entrepreneur today has made mistakes at least once in their quest to run successful businesses.

This article unveils some great business ideas for teens to choose from for people interested in starting a business.

How To Become A Teenage Entrepreneur

Interested in small teenager business ideas? If YES, here is how to start your own business as a teenager with no money and no experience. How much does it cost to startup?

Do you know how to start a business at 16 years old and in the significant teenage years?

Over the years, we have heard remarkable stories of entrepreneurs who started their business empires while still teenagers. Today, these businesses are thriving and massive. How did they do it?

Starting a business at a young age allows you to overcome several inevitable challenges.

However, a positive lesson that is always learned is that you get to understand what led to these problems as well as practical ways to avoid them. As long as you are in business, there will always be challenges.

Knowing how to weather the storm distinguishes an experienced entrepreneur from a newbie. However, it is the latter that we are interested in as we seek to disclose how to start a successful business as a teenager.

Step 1: Taking the First Steps

Naturally, a teenager is expected to start small. This is because, at this stage, they have little or no experience at all.

Hence most of the vital business lessons learned at this level come from observing how adults transact business. This will start from the home and extend to the neighborhood.

These ways of exchanging products or services for money gradually develop, and teen begins to venture out of their comfort zone by offering to help neighbors.

Such areas may include having to help around with domestic chores such as washing the cars, dog walking, babysitting, and many more.

This is the most active and adventurous stage of growing up. It is at such a stage that teens get to discover a particular area they are skilled at.

They hone these skills by monetizing them with encouragement from family and friends. These may include providing handyman services and tutoring kids, among others.

Some go on to perform in shows and fares as clowns, working as shop or store attendants, and learning IT skills such as programming and other related fields.

Step 2: Learning the Crafts

Being very imaginative, teenagers can learn multiple crafts such as painting, creating a blog, learning photography, carpentry, recommending products, or selling the same through affiliate marketing.

The services provided here can be hosted on an amateur blog.

By clearly identifying your status as a teen alongside products developed, people are likely to purchase these products or services even when they are not up to par with similar goods of higher quality.

This act is done simply to encourage your business as a teen.

Step 3: Finding a Catchy Name for your Business

A business requires a name to identify it quickly. This is the identity with which people can patronize and refer others. Your business name must convey an idea of your services to your potential clients.

You mustn’t rush this stage of your business as a good name will contribute significantly to the success of the offline or online business.

In choosing a name, do not overlook the advice of friends and family, as they can be of tremendous help in this regard.

After finding a suitable name, the next step is researching possible businesses using the same name.

There are free search tools you can easily use. One such is the Thomas Register, where you find a list of unregistered businesses.

Step 4: Finding Information about your Competition

You must understand that for every business, there are similar businesses. Turning a blind eye to their existence will be a great disservice to yourself and your business.

The strength of your competition, their reach, and how their products and services are offered are important insights you need to have.

This will require you to conduct online research, visit these businesses, and make basic inquiries. Although they may see anyone making these inquiries as a competitor, the fact that you are a teen allows them to be more open as they would hardly see you as one.

In doing this, you will gain critical insight into what determines client/customer choices, as well as the particular services and products in demand and those which are not and why they are not.

Step 5: Who are your Target Audience?

Is there a real demand for your products or services? if yes, which segment of society most needs your services?

Identifying these will go a long way in ensuring you produce relevant products that meet specific needs.

In the course of finding out your target market, you also need to find out if there is a possibility for sustainable demand for such services.

If these demands are sustainable, then such an area should be properly exploited as the future of the business depends on this.

Step 6: Financing your Business

Financing plays a critical role in the success of a business. You need to know the level of financing required for your chosen business.

Are your savings adequate to ensure the commencement of business operations? If not, how do you intend to raise the required funding? You may get assistance from investors who are interested in the business idea.

However, for any investor to commit their resources to a project, they must know that the business idea is viable.

Your business plan will be required for obtaining investments. Your plan will reveal the viability of the business.

Hence it is necessary to seek the services of an expert in writing a good business plan. This is because doing a shabby job will not only make investors uninterested but will also harm the business if at all you can float such business.

Although there are other ways of starting a business as a teenager, these are the most crucial you cannot do without as they will determine how successful your business turns out.

GOOD BUSINESS IDEAS FOR TEENS

These business opportunities for teens have been tested with the tremendous success achieved. You are being introduced to these great business ideas to choose from.

With proper planning and the right approach, your goal of setting up a thriving business in your teens is well within reach. Find some of these exciting business ideas below;

  • Errand Service for Seniors

This is a great place to start from. As people grow older into their 70s, 80s, and above, they increasingly become dependent.

If you are interested in this line of work, they are ever willing to pay for your services. The job description includes several errands such as grocery shopping, mowing, picking up dry cleaning, and many more.

You can start an errand business because teens are very energetic and can provide your service in exchange for money.

  • Web Design

Web design has become increasingly relevant to how communication and business are done or conducted.

Website design skills will open doors of opportunities for you as you can design websites for small businesses for a fee. Several online courses teach website design.

Some of these can be found on edX, one of several online tutoring platforms that offers courses on various subjects.

  • Handling Mechanical Repairs

As a teen with some mechanical knowledge, you can easily start a mechanical garage where you fix various mechanical faults for several engine types such as boats, cars, mowers, and many more.

For this business idea to be fully functional, you must obtain the right tools. This business idea can be started on a small scale and later expanded as the demand for your services grows.

Your friends, families, and neighbors are likely to be your first set of clients.

  • Starting a Blog

This business idea requires a great dose of creativity.

As a teen, you need to choose your area of competence. If you can create great content in your chosen field that addresses a variety of needs, then you will succeed in building a growing readership audience.

There are varieties of blogs on different topics. These include fashion blogs, sports, comedy, business, finance, and many more.

  • Start a Video Game Shop

It is a fact that a large percentage of those playing video games consists mainly of teens.

Hence, you can exploit this business idea by taking advantage of being a teen to provide a service to other teens.

Teens are likelier to patronize businesses owned by someone within their age bracket. You should not let this opportunity elude you.

  • Starting a Cleaning Service

A small-scale cleaning service can be started within your neighborhood. This does not require significant investments.

As a teenager, you can start this business by marketing it effectively within the neighborhood. In this case, your likely targets will be households with busy owners who hardly find time to effectively clean their homes and surroundings.

As your business grows, you can consider expanding your operations to include corporate clients.

  • Laundry

To start this business, you may need approval from your parents to use the washing machine.

Other things required include detergents and stain removers, an ironing board, a dryer, and a pressing iron. This can be started right from your home.

On the other hand, if you don’t possess significant equipment, such as a washing machine and dryer, you will need to raise capital to purchase them.

  • Become a Baby Sitter

Everyone loves babies. However, not everyone has the patience to take care of them properly.

If you love and care for babies, you may want to start a babysitting service where you take care of kids for busy parents.

As a teen, you can offer this service on weekends or during breaks.

  • Starting a Bakery

Teens are known to be very curious and willing to learn many things during this time. Hence if you possess baking skills, you can start a bakery right from the comfort of your home.

This business idea allows you to produce various bakery products such as cookies, cupcakes, and more.

While patronizing your business, your immediate family and friends can help market these for you.

  • Teen Magazine

What better way to take advantage of your unique market than starting a teen magazine? Having a flair for information gathering and sharing is a great attribute for starting this business.

This business entails researching information online to gather current and relevant information and publish the same. It is important to have an effective marketing strategy to attract your target market.

  • Graphics Design

As a tech-savvy teenager, you may have learned graphic design skills or have an interest in learning. You can exploit this business idea by creating graphic content for your clients.

To stand out from the rest, you must be good at your work. The better your designs and marketing skills, the greater the number of clients you will attract.

  • Computer and Phone Repair

You can learn this vocational skill and use it to start a phone and computer repair business.

Many PC and smartphone users will experience problems with their gadgets. Knowing how to fix these is a great way to earn a decent income.

Learning this skill as a teenager allows you to specialize further in more technical areas and gain a growing level of expertise.

  • Selling on eBay

Teenagers can start successful businesses by selling products on eBay.

This platform offers a meeting place for buyers and sellers as millions of people search for specific or general items online. Your clients (buyers) will purchase if they agree to your deal.

There is a vast collection of items you can easily sell. However, before doing this, you will need to read the terms and conditions for doing business first.

  • Becoming a Freelance Writer

Freelance writing gives you the freedom to choose who you work with. You can create content for different blogs on various subjects, especially those given to you.

These may range from history, finance, business, comedy, and many other areas.

However, as a teen, you may choose to write content with a special focus on teen interests. The important thing here is choosing a niche you have an interest in.

  • Ticket Sales

One of the business ideas you can consider as a teen is the sale of tickets, where you earn commissions from tickets sold for various youth sports events.

To earn higher commissions, you will need to sell tickets for significant events with a higher commission rate in addition to the high turnover from sales which significantly adds up or increases your earnings.

  • Photography

Do you have a flair for photography? Have you had a passion for capturing beautiful moments whenever you witnessed one?

Then you may want to consider starting a photography business. This business idea is ideal for a teenager as it needs stamina and patience to obtain the perfect shot.

During events, you will take many snapshots and make sure they come out sharp. The basic things needed include a camera, printer, editing software, computer, and many others, depending on the scale of your business.

  • Starting a Car wash

The number of car owners is increasing as a greater number of persons now have multiple cars. This offers a great business opportunity as teens can exploit this by starting a car wash.

In starting a small-scale carwash, the cost implications are significantly low. Hence you do not require much startup capital. However, your carwash should be located in busy neighborhoods.

This contributes to the level of patronage.

  • Retailing Hair Extensions

More women are now using hair extensions than they ever did.

This trend resulted in the production of various hair extensions from different parts of the world, consisting of synthetic and human hair.

You can take advantage of this boom to provide hair extension retail services. Other cosmetic products can be added.

  • Tutoring Services

As a teen, you possess a lot of knowledge you can impart to younger children for a fee.

You can therefore start a tutoring service where you offer to teach kids various lessons, including music, arithmetic, French lessons (or any other languages), and many more.

  • Sale of Educational Materials

A lot of kid and teen educational materials exist that you can start selling. Many families are open to buying educational materials to improve learning and make it more fun.

There are several of these materials to choose from. These include pads, toys, jigsaw puzzles, lego, recorded educational content on DVDs, and many others.

  • Starting a YouTube Channel

A YouTube channel requires a lot of work and dedication on your part in creating original content. You should have a specific niche you are targeting.

It requires updating your channel with a lot of relevant content (mainly videos) that will be of interest to your audience.

  • Providing Lawn Care Services

With increasing numbers of people finding less time to handle certain jobs, you can start as a lawn care provider by mowing lawns for neighbors.

This great business idea for teens allows you to control several clients and dictate your work schedule.

  • Pet Sitting Service

Just as there are babysitting services, there are also pet sitting business ideas you can try out as a teen. This may include dog walking and grooming services.

If you love animals a lot, this offers you an opportunity to always be close to pets and give them the best care possible. During this time, you will have to feed the pets too.

Considering this business idea is necessary as pet owners become busier and busier with business, work, and vacations.

  • Greeting Cards

Greeting cards offer an opportunity to earn some income from your crafts and ideas. The best part of this business idea is that it requires no substantial investments.

In addition to this, it can quickly be learned by anyone within the space of a short time. To make unique greeting cards, creativity is highly essential in achieving this objective.

  • Start a Handyman Service

Have you always wanted to fix any damaged furniture, appliance, or part of a building?

If your answer is yes, you may want to consider this business idea. People often try to keep up with damage done by them or kids to properties.

They need help to fix some of these problems. As a teen, this allows you to help people solve their problems while also gaining critical experience. It is necessary to have the necessary knowledge.

This can be learned on the job by becoming an apprentice first.

  • How-To Videos

We live in an era where people no longer need to look for physical places to learn stuff as everything is now easily accessible via the internet.

Creating videos that teach these skills should be done for teens with certain skills and wondering how they can commercialize such knowledge.

There are several online platforms where such videos can be hosted. You can market these on social media platforms with links where people can easily be redirected to your site.

After paying for the course, they can gain access to these videos to watch online or download.

  • Invention

The invention is a great business idea teens can consider. If you have always wanted to create something new that will help make work less stressful, then maybe you need to implement these ideas.

The good thing about this business idea is that there are several channels through which you can reach your target audience.

These include social media, YouTube, and related blogs.

  • Selling at Craft Fairs

If you know about crafts, whatever the type, you can start making these and selling them to interested clients.

It is necessary to target craft fairs as an avenue for showcasing your products.

This is a huge platform available to you to display your products. Everyone coming to such fairs is interested in either purchasing some or window shopping.

  • Selling Ice Cream

Another business idea for teens is the selling of ice cream.

To satisfy ice cream lovers, you need to have different flavors available. The more variety you have, the greater the patronage. Sales are usually higher during the summer season.

For increased sales, it is necessary to target areas with high foot traffic, such as sports centers and beaches.

  • Starting a Dropshipping Store

We live in an era where people are not restricted by age in starting a business.

In their teens, people can set up a dropshipping store without investing. All they need is to create a Shopify account where they promote the products of others on their blogs and social media sites.

By entering into a partnership with sellers, a percentage of any purchase you attract goes to you. You do not need to stock up on any product.

  • Affiliate Marketing

Teens can start as affiliate marketers. As a teen, you must simply visit any online store, register under the affiliate section, and choose the products you would love to promote.

You are given a unique link and banner which you can place on your blog and only your social media account or a special page dedicated for such purposes.

Any sale made through any of your links automatically qualifies you for a percentage of the amount paid.

  • Starting a Non-Profit

Running a non-profit requires dedication and a reasonable allocation of resources.

This business relies mainly on donors, who may consist of individuals and organizations. Non-profits always pursue worthy causes. Thus you need to select a cause most dear to you.

The main difference between this business model and others is that it is established not for generating profits but for touching lives.

  • Social Media Influencer

This business idea is for teens who have successfully built a huge following on social media due to a variety of reasons.

Brands and businesses are always interested in working with these people as influencers. This is because whatever you say will likely be taken seriously by your followers.

You can work with these brands and businesses to create a steady income source.

  • Starting a Podcast Service

There are several ways through which businesses use to reach out to their target audiences.

One of such is by starting a podcast service, a voice-only recording where knowledge on a wide variety of issues is discussed and answered. You can create a blog where a variety of content consisting of videos, podcasts, and images are contributed.

  • Cake Decoration

As a teen with cake decorating skills, you can work as a cake decorator for various functions. Having exceptional cake decorating skills will significantly increase sales.

  • Setting up a Computer

As simple as this may seem, having a basic knowledge of computer operations is an idea you can use to make some money.

This service is vital for people without much computer skills, such as seniors. You can help them set up their computer as well as help them navigate through basic tasks for a fee.

  • Selling Stock Photos

Many people often go online to look for certain pictures to use on their blogs. Many are ready to pay for these pictures. Hence you can use your camera to snap professional photos.

You can either choose to focus on a specific niche, or you may choose to shoot general photos. These are hosted on blogs as downloadable products and targeted at clients interested in buying such photos.

  • Starting your Clothing Line

You must be good with design to thrive in this business area. You can start your clothing line where you may decide to start a clothing store or offer samples.

There is no limit to what you can do as a clothing designer. You can provide lessons to persons interested in learning too.

  • Music

Having musical talent is not enough. You have to put it into use.

Choosing this line of business as a teenager depends on many things, some of which include the genre of the music, how receptive your music has been so far, and signing with the right record label.

These are some of the critical areas that need to be given attention to if you must succeed.

  • Comedian

If you are good at making people laugh, chances are that you might have received a lot of advice to become a stand-up comedian. This field of business requires constant creativity to stay fresh, as some jokes turn stale if repeated severally.

For successful takeoff, they were seeking advice from those who have been there before you is necessary. Their advice will prove invaluable to you.

  • Starting a Delivery Service

As long as you have a good source of mobility, you may want to consider starting a delivery service. This business idea is excellent for energetic teens who wish to explore further.

You will be responsible for delivering goods for your clients. This means that you will constantly be on the move.

  • Proofreading

Many authors and writers are too busy to go through their work and make the proper adjustments.

While some may have all the time, others just need a different set of eyes to go through their written work and identify mistakes or errors and apply the proper corrections.

You can choose to offer your services here if you have a passion for such.

GUIDE: How to Invest Money in Your 20s

These are some excellent business ideas for teens that you can quickly start. These are not just abstract ideas but have been tested with excellent retention.

For all of the above, it is necessary to be driven by passion, as only this will sustain you and enable you to achieve your goals.