Are you a teenager wanting to make some money alongside your studies and other day-to-day activities? If yes, then you have landed on the right post.
In today’s world, making money has been so much easier and more accessible than in the past. Not just adults, but even teenagers can make money doing some simple stuff from or outside of their home.
With the advancement of technology and urbanization throughout the world, new ways of making money are emerging day by day. And most of these opportunities are available to people from nearly every age group.
So, in this post, we will take a look at nine different ways a teenager can make money online in their spare time.
1. Freelancing
2. Selling Digital Products
3. Virtual Assistant/Social Media Management
4. Online Surveys and Testing
5. Content Creation
6. Online Tutor
7. Selling Study Notes
8. Blogging
9. Stock Photo/Videography
How Much Money Can You Make?
So, now you know you can make money online as a teenager, but you may have a question in mind: How much money can I make? The answer to this question is; it depends on you, the amount of time you’re spending, and the method you’re using.
If you’re doing virtual assistant jobs, social media management, online tutoring, surveys, or freelancing, then you can expect to make $3–$40 per hour or more. But if you’re selling digital products, creating content, blogging, selling study notes, or stock photos or videos, then there is no limit on how much money you can make. There can be a period of time where you will make absolutely nothing, and there can be times where you will be making hundreds or even thousands of dollars every single day.
Before you get into any kind of online earning jobs or sites, make sure to check their ratings and reviews because most of these opportunities turn out to be scams that make you work but never pay. So, do your research properly before getting into anything on the internet.
Now let’s take a look at them one by one.
1. Freelancing
If you’re good at any kind of skill that you can sell digitally, then freelancing might be the best option for you to make money.
In freelancing, you’re selling your skills to someone else who needs them on an hourly basis or at a fixed price.
A new freelancer can make somewhere between $2-$30 per hour or $5-$100 per project. Sometimes it can be higher too, depending on the duration and complexity of the project.
You can find freelancing jobs on platforms like Fiverr, Upwork, Freelancer, etc., or you can reach out to your potential clients yourself through emails or social media to pitch your services.
Nowadays, there is a high amount of competition in every field of freelancing. So, in order to land jobs in such competition, you need to be perfect in your field and should be able to deliver the best quality output to your clients, plus you need to have competitive pricing. I would suggest you start with low pricing and gradually increase it as you start to gain more clients and experience.
To succeed in freelancing, you need to build a strong profile to showcase your skills and share your past projects, maintain a good rating, and have good communication skills.
So, here are a few high-demand skills that you can learn in a short period of time for FREE on YouTube!
1. Web Development
In web development, you need to create websites with or without coding. You can learn coding to create a website, or you can learn drag-and-drop website builders like WordPress, Wix, Squarespace, etc. These platforms let you build and customize your website very easily without coding. After learning the skills you need to create a website, you can start selling them.
Here are some tutorials to get you started:
WordPress Tutorial for Beginners
Wix Tutorial for Beginners
SquareSpace Tutorial for Beginners
2. 2D/3D/White Board Animation
Nowadays, Businesses, Educational Institutions, and even YouTubers are using animated videos to promote their businesses and explain different topics. Animated videos make learning a new topic much more easier and understandable. So, this is a golden opportunity to learn and get into the world of animation.
You can learn Adobe Animate or Cartoon Animator 5 to create 2D animations, Blender or Maya to create 3D animations, and VideoScribe or Mango Animate to create whiteboard animations.
Here are some tutorials to get you started:
Adobe Animate Tutorial for Beginners (2D)
Blender Tutorial for Beginners (3D)
VideoScribe Tutorial for Beginners (Whiteboard)
3. Copywriting
Copywriting means writing something with the goal of selling or promoting something. In copywriting, the written text is called “copy,” and the writer is called “copywriter.”.
The main purpose of copywriting is to increase conversions and sales.
Copywriting is used in writing web pages, advertisements, social media posts, emails, posters, billboards, etc.
Here are some tutorials to get you started:
Copywriting Tutorial for Beginners
Copywriting Complete Course (A-Z)
4. Video Editing
Video is a great way to share information, get entertained, and market a brand. Due to this, video sharing platforms like YouTube, TikTok, etc. have billions of active monthly users on their platforms.
By posting content, creators make money. Due to this, the number of creators is also increasing. And this presents a big opportunity for video editors to make money. So, if you become good at video editing, then no one can stop you from making money.
Video editing can be done on both; mobile phone and computer. You can use apps like KineMaster, Capcut, etc. to edit videos on your mobile phone, and Adobe Premiere Pro, Filmora, etc. to edit videos on your computer or laptop.
Here are some tutorials to get you started:
Adobe Premiere Pro Tutorial for Beginners
Kinemaster Full Tutorial for Beginners
Capcut Complete Tutorial for Beginners
5. Graphic Design
If you’re good at drawing and designing, then graphic designing is the one for you.
Graphic design is used to create graphics such as social media posts, posters, banners, album covers, movie posters, and much, much more.
Just like video editing, it can be done on both mobile phone and computer. You can use apps like Canva, Pixellab, and Picsart to create graphics on your mobile phone, and Canva for PC, Adobe Photoshop, etc. to create graphics on your computer.
Here are some tutorials to get you started:
Adobe Photoshop Tutorial for Beginners
Canva Full Tutorial for Beginners
2. Selling Digital Products
Selling digital products is a great way to make money online. Digital products are products that are created online and that can only be accessed online. They don’t exist in the physical world.
Here are some examples of digital products:
- Ebooks
- Online Courses
- Printables
- Templates
- Website Themes and Plugins
- Digital Art, etc.
Printables are one of the few digital products that are created digitally but can be accessed in the real world.
You can sell digital products by creating your own website or by hosting them on other sites like Gumroad, Teachable, Etsy, etc.
Unlike physical products, you don’t have to worry about packaging, shipping, or anything else in case of digital products. You don’t even have a limitation on whom and where you want to sell your product because, after someone buys it, they immediately get access to it.
There are two ways to promote your digital products: one is through organic marketing, and the other is through paid advertising. If you don’t have money or want to start for free, then you can grow your social media accounts and promote your product through those accounts. But if you have some money to start with, then you can run paid ads to promote your product.
Organic marketing will take some time to generate sales, while paid advertising can bring you sales immediately if you set it up properly.
3. Virtual Assistant/Social Media Management
(I’m keeping both of these topics under the same umbrella as they have a lot of similarities.)
If you’re good at scheduling appointments, handling emails, or typing documents and have some knowledge about social media marketing, then you can be a virtual assistant.
A virtual assistant is a person who assists another person virtually. Business owners, E-commerce stores, Agencies, etc. are always looking for virtual assistants to assist them in their day-to-day tasks.
As a virtual assistant, you can earn somewhere between $5-$40 per hour.
You can improve your organizational, management, and communication skills to land more virtual assistant jobs.
And if you’re good at social media marketing, then you can be a social media manager. There are many brands, organizations, and agencies trying to grow their presence on social media. So, you can help them and make money by being their social media manager.
As a social media manager, you must be good at social media marketing, graphic designing, video editing, content scheduling, etc.
As a social media manager, you can earn somewhere between $5-$35 per hour.
You can use freelancing platforms like Fiverr, Upwork, or social media to find virtual assistance and social media manager jobs. In my opinion, LinkedIn works the best for it, as it is mostly used by brands and professionals, so they may be in need of someone to help them with their day-to-day tasks or to grow their social media presence.
To land more social media management clients, you need to grow your own social media accounts first as proof and to assure them that you’re capable enough for the job.
4. Online Surveys and Testing
If you’re totally new to online earning or if you don’t have any kind of skill to make money, then filling out surveys is the best way for you to make money. You don’t need any skills or experience to do it. You just need to be a human and be able to speak. That’s it!
There are hundreds of sites where you can fill out surveys and make money. Here are a few of them:
- Swagbucks
- Survey Junkie
- Sproutgigs
- Freecash.com
- Pawns.app
Other than filling surveys, you can also test apps and websites to make money. In this task, you need to review apps and websites and give feedback about them: what you liked about them, what you didn’t?, what can be improved?, and much more.
Here is a list of a few sites where you can test apps and websites to make money:
- UserTesting
- PlaytestCloud
- Amazon MTurk
- Userlytics
- TestingTime
Most of these sites want you to record your screen and audio while reviewing the apps and websites.
You can make somewhere between $1-$15 per hour by filling out surveys and $10-$120 by testing apps and websites. But remember that app and website tester tasks are quite rare. You may get only 1 or 2 tasks per day.
You should provide correct data and information while filling out surveys and testing apps and websites to increase your chances of getting high-paying surveys and more testing jobs.
5. Content Creation
Content creation is a great way to make money and to build your brand and identity. Nowadays, most kids dream of being content creators. And I believe this is the best time to become a content creator.
You can create either video content or image content. You can create and post video content on platforms like YouTube, Facebook, TikTok, etc., and image content on Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, etc.
Many people want to get into content creation, but they are camera shy or don’t want to show themselves online. If you’re one of them, then you can start creating faceless content. You can start a theme page on Instagram, create videos with screen recordings, stock photos and videos where you don’t have to show your face. You can voiceover your videos using your own voice, or you can use text-to-speech software to do it.
You can monetize your content with the help of Ads, Affiliate marketing, Sponsorships, Memberships, Merchandise, and much more.
To be a content creator, you must be good at either video editing, graphic design, or both. If you’re not good at both of them, then you can start learning these skills. It takes less than a month to go from a beginner to an advanced level in both of these skills if you really want to learn them.
You can increase your chances of growing as a content creator by creating good-quality content with proper hooks, fast-paced editing, proper sound effects, and high-quality graphics.
As a content creator, there is no limit to how much money you can make.
6. Online Tutor
Online tutoring offers a big opportunity to make money by sharing your knowledge with others. If you think doing surveys, creating content, etc. is a great way to make money but doesn’t align with your studies, then this is the perfect way for you to make money.
By being an online tutor, you can teach subjects that you like or assist kids with their homework, assignments, and much more. This won’t just make you money; it will also help you increase your knowledge and learn new things.
As an online tutor, you can make somewhere between $15-$30 per hour.
You can find online tutoring jobs on these sites:
- Chegg Tutors
- Tutor.com
- TutorMe
- Preply
- Skooli, etc.
These sites pay you to share your knowledge with others. Isn’t that cool?
Remember, it’s not as easy as it sounds to become an online tutor. You need to apply to be a tutor and get accepted by these sites to start tutoring and make money. Sometimes, they may ask you about your educational qualifications and certificates too. So, if you want to be an online tutor, be ready for that.
Still, you can increase your chances of being accepted by these sites by improving your communication skills, passing the qualification test they may take with a good score, and, of course, being good at the subject you want to teach.
7. Selling Study Notes
If you create notes to study about different topics, then you can share them with other students to make money.
This can be the best way for students to make money online. All they need to do is take pictures of their notes, convert them into pdf, and list them for sale.
You can earn somewhere between $1.5-$20 per note sold. And there is no limit on how many notes you can sell.
You can sell your notes on sites like:
- Studypool
- Stuvia
- DocMerit
- Nexus Notes
- NoteGen, etc.
You can sell both handwritten and computer-typed notes. But as far as I have seen, handwritten notes sells the best. If you need a hack to convert your computer-typed notes into handwritten notes without writing them yourself, then comment below.
Notes related to normal subjects and topics don’t sell as well as notes that contain research findings or notes that were made by students studying at popular colleges and universities.
To increase your chances of getting sales, start uploading as many notes as possible and try to upload notes related to different topics.
8. Blogging
If you love researching and writing, then you can start a blog and start sharing things you love and things you’re good at. Blogging means writing articles and sharing them online.
You can start a blog for free on sites like blogger.com or medium.com, or if you have a little money to start with, you can purchase a domain and hosting and create your website on WordPress.com. You can purchase a domain and hosting for less than $40 for an entire year.
Here are some popular sites to start your blog:
- WordPress.com
- Blogger.com
- Wix.com
- Medium.com
- Weebly.com
You can make money with your blog through Ads, Affiliate marketing, Sponsored posts, Email marketing, and much more. And there is no limit to how much money you can make blogging.
Check out my article on “6 Different Ways to Make Money with a Blog“
To grow your blog’s traffic, you can promote it on Pinterest, Flipboard, Facebook groups, etc. It will take some time to grow it and make money, but the wait will be worth it.
Check out my article on “14 Different Sites to Promote Your Blog Posts for Free“
Writing high-quality, detailed articles is the best way to grow your blog.
9. Stock Photo/Videography
If you love taking photos or videos, then this one might be the best option for you to make some cash.
You can take photos and videos, record time lapses and sell them online. You don’t need a professional camera to do it. You can do it with your phone as long as the output is of good quality.
You can make somewhere between $0.05-$30 or more per sale by selling photos and videos.
You can sell stock photos and videos on these sites:
- Shutterstock
- Dreamstime
- Getty Images
- Alamy
- Adobe Stock, etc.
You can take photos and videos of sunrises, sunsets, moons, rivers, lakes, animals, everyday products, etc. and sell them.
List high-quality images and videos and list as much as possible to increase your chances of getting sales.
Wrapping It Up
So, these were nine legit ways to make money online as a teenager. Choose the method that suits you the most and that can pay you well. And be aware of the scams. Comment below: Which method do you think is the best to make money online as a teenager?
