Summer is almost here for high school students. That means it’s finally time to enjoy life without those boring classes and to sleep in until noon. Hopefully you pass all of your courses and don’t have to worry about summer school. Some high school students will want to use the summer to make some money to buy Diablo 3 or whatever you want to get your hands on.

When I was in high school I worked every single summer. I remember the summer after grade 10 I landed myself a few jobs and I worked pretty much every single day. I would work at the grocery store in the morning when I was called in, do lawn care work for elderly citizens whenever I was able to book the appointment for, and then referee soccer games in the evening. I rode my bike everywhere I went every single day. It’s safe to say that I got myself into pretty good shape that summer (I believe I actually had visible abs).

One of my regrets from working summers in high school was that I never started my own business or allowed myself to pursue any entrepreneurial plans. I always took the easy path and worked traditional jobs instead of trying to create my own job.

I wanted to share a few quick, yet highly profitable business ideas for high school students:

Go online.

I’ve said this million times and I’ll mention it again. You can easily start an online business with almost no money down. You can create logos, design websites, create your content, offer tutoring, or create something totally innovative online these days. The beauty is that we all spend so much time online that it only makes sense to attempt to make some money while we’re on the computer already. I’ve covered this enough so I’ll leave it at this, it only costs a few dollars a month to sign up with Bluehost.

Landscaping work.

Every single lawn out there needs to be taken care of.

I was pretty much an independent contractor when I did lawn care work. I signed up with this firm that worked with senior citizens and they would give me the contact information of the ones that needed landscaping work done. I would then be responsible to set up appointments, do the work, learn how to do additional work, and then get paid.

I remember I thought I had it made when I found an elderly gentleman that just wanted someone to WATER HIS LAWN. I would get paid $7/hour to water his lawn for 2-3 hours a few times per week, while I got to read or just listen to music on my mp3 player. I thought the was the good life at the time.

Tutoring.

One of the best business ideas for students is tutoring because usually the parents pay for this service. In the summer time you can find younger students that either failed in a previous course or want to excel in a new course. Either way there’s money to be made from tutoring.

I shared in the past how my friend made $2,100 from tutoring his peers. You can check that post out for a more detailed guide on how the process of getting paid to tutor works.

Babystting.

Anyone with little children out there knows how expensive professionally child care is. This is why many parents are willing to find a young person in the community that they TRUST to watch over their kids while they go to work. Babysitting for money has been around probably as long as kids have been around for.

These are all simple ideas to help you get started right now. There’s nothing Earth shattering in this post. These are all ideas that you’ve heard of before. The reason I kept it simple is because you don’t always have to reinvent the wheel. You just need to keep the wheel spinning.

You also don’t necessarily have to start a business in high school or make money on your own. You can find a part-time job in your community at the grocery store (what I did).

“Dictionary is the only place that success comes before work. Hard work is the price we must pay for success. I think you can accomplish anything if you’re willing to pay the price.” — Vince Lombardi

{ 0 comments }

Yesterday I brought up my challenge to make $5,000 from freelancing this summer. The truth is that I’ve come to enjoy freelancing and the freedom that comes along with it. I also go out of my way to support young people that are trying to make it in freelance work or anything along those lines. In doing so I’ve also noticed a few common mistake among new freelancers.

There’s one piece of freelancing advice that I picked up in online articles and through my formal education. I wanted to share this with you today so that you avoid making any foolish rookie mistakes.

What’s this quick tip for success in freelancing?

As a freelancer you need to do the work for your client and make their life easier. That’s what you’re paid to do!

You’re getting paid to get the job done. You need to do all of the thinking. You need to do the work. You don’t need to ask any pointless questions. You especially shouldn’t get your client to work any harder than they have to. They pay you to do the work, the thinking, and everything else in between.

Where’s this post on freelancing coming from?

I’ve had some poor experiences with hiring others to do work for me ever since I started an online business. I like to do what I can and then outsource the rest. When I outsource something I want that person to do the work for me. I outsourced the work because I don’t know where to start. I wanted to give you an example that comes to mind.

I recently wanted to hire someone to do some work for me. I reached out to them and told this person that I was interested. Instead of providing me with samples of work or past results, I get random emails with articles trying to convince me to take action. I thought to myself, “I was planning to take action. Why else would I ask you for your services!?”  I wanted this person to make life easier for me. I didn’t want to receive emails with articles that I didn’t feel like reading. I don’t want to do more work when trying to outsource something. I’m not sure what’s going to happen next, but I don’t care about useless emails. I want results!

As a freelancer you need to make life easier for your client. You need to do the thinking. You need to do the legwork. You’re getting paid for a reason. Don’t make your client think about crap that they don’t need to!

For a basic introduction to freelancing, you need to read my freelancing 101 piece. Good luck!

{ 0 comments }