Get your business ideas right here. Learn how to start a business in high school and make money.
Top 10 Business Ideas for High School Students: Starting your own business can be one of the most rewarding things you’ll ever do, but it’s also one of the riskiest because failure can happen to anyone and at any time.
Top 10 Business Ideas for High School Students
However, there are ways to minimize that risk and increase your chances of success by taking small steps towards your entrepreneurial dream with small business ideas that are within reach even while you’re still in high school. Here are 10 business ideas for high school students that will help you start making money right away and get you started on the path to bigger, better things in no time!
#1 – Student Tutoring
Tutoring is a great way to make some extra cash. Simply research local tutoring agencies in your area and reach out with an application. You’ll most likely be asked to take an exam prior to getting accepted. Many tutoring agencies will offer you a few different tutoring options like after-school, summer, or weekend classes. If you’re available during any of these times, it’s pretty easy money.
The nice thing about tutoring is that it’s flexible so you can do it on top of schoolwork and extracurricular activities – and it won’t even feel like work! #2 – Sell Stuff: We all have stuff we don’t need anymore but still hold onto because we think we might use it one day. Why not sell those items?
Whether you sell them at a garage sale, put them up on Craigslist or eBay, or sell them through Facebook Marketplace, there are plenty of ways to get rid of old items and earn some cash while doing so. This is also a good opportunity to clean out your room (or basement) while making money at the same time!
#2 – Car Washing Service
This can be a quick service to provide at local car washes. Contact local car washes and inquire about their prices, as well as if they offer other services such as interior cleaning or exterior polishing. Set your rates based on those given by competitors in your area and advertise your services through word of mouth, social media, and fliers around town.
Offer free estimates over email or phone so customers can decide if they want you to do work for them before giving you money upfront. If you’re under 18, I’d recommend speaking with a parent before contacting car wash owners. #3 – Pet Sitting: A great business idea for high school students who love animals is pet sitting. You could start out by offering basic pet sitting services—feeding, walking, and playing with pets.
And then expand into offering grooming services once you’ve built up some experience and a good reputation. If you’re planning on starting your own business from home, make sure that all safety precautions are taken when caring for pets—you don’t want any accidents to happen! And remember that it’s always best to check with parents first before taking care of someone else’s dog or cat!
#3 – Pet Walking/Sitting
Starting a pet-walking or sitting business will allow you to make money while getting some fresh air. It’s a great side hustle that can also be turned into a full-time business if you’re enterprising enough. To start, you’ll want to reach out to your local animal shelters and volunteer, or even just stop by there frequently to check out their need.
If you’re bringing home some extra cash, consider spending it on your pets – whether it’s investing in a dog walker at home, a pet food delivery service, or anything else that makes life easier for your furry friends. Here’s an interesting read about how much people are making with their own pet walking businesses!
#4 – Selling Craft Items
Do you have a knack for making things? Selling homemade crafts at a local fair or online through sites like Etsy is an easy way to earn money. If you’re going the fair route, consider offering your wares during holiday events when there’s more foot traffic. For online sales, market your craft items through social media and content sharing sites like YouTube or Vimeo to get in front of as many eyeballs as possible.
Making Candy: Just because you can’t eat all those sweets doesn’t mean you can’t make some cash off them. Many grocery stores sell bulk candy that they don’t want anymore. Buy it up, then resell it on eBay or Craigslist for profit.
#5 – Private Tuition
As soon as you’re finished with high school, it’s time to get serious about earning money. If you want to make real money rather than just pocket change, tutor students or adults in subjects that you know well. Check out your local college, community college, and night school center; they should be able to give you a sense of how much tutors are making and what an hourly rate like that will look like. This can be a great way to start making money on your own.
Once you figure out how much work you can handle and feel comfortable doing it by yourself, upgrade to setting up a small private tutoring practice with other qualified friends who are also looking for some part-time income. You can build up your client base slowly but surely! #4 – Rent Out Your Room: If you have a room in your house that’s not being used all that often, consider renting it out to travelers via Airbnb or another similar service. Many people don’t realize how lucrative Airbnb hosting can be—in fact, if you rent out a room three times per month at $100 per night (the average price).
Over 30 years you’ll earn $1 million from renting your spare room alone! That’s pretty incredible considering most people don’t have extra rooms lying around and haven’t even considered turning them into income-generating assets. But don’t worry—if it sounds too good to be true, there are many things you need to do before getting started so that everything goes smoothly when guests arrive at your place.
#6 – Data Entry Service
Get paid to enter data into a computer. If you’re really good at typing, you can use your services for simple data entry tasks such as transcribing audio files, programming and updating software and writing articles from online research. The catch here is that you’ll have to develop a consistent schedule when you are available to do assignments or else you may lose customers fast due to inactivity.
Get creative with your schedule and find ways of ensuring work gets done on time so that it doesn’t pile up. Part-time employment opportunities abound in fields ranging from virtual assistant jobs to medical transcription if you’re able to type quickly (and accurately) but these positions aren’t easy pickings if you need to earn money right away.
#7 – Bookkeeping Services
Many small businesses don’t have their own in-house bookkeeping department and depend on hiring outside help to take care of their finances. If you’re a high school student with experience with QuickBooks, offering your services as an independent contractor can be a great way to make some extra money in your spare time. Depending on what type of bookkeeping services you offer, you could earn anywhere from $25 to $75 per hour.
Keep in mind that self-employed individuals need to pay self-employment taxes, so if you’re earning money from freelancing or consulting (or any sort of independent work), do your research about paying yourself appropriately. #8 – Product Sampling: You may not know it, but product sampling is one of the most lucrative ways to make money online. Companies like BzzAgent and Vocalpoint will pay you to sample products like drinks, snacks, beauty products, and more!
To get started with product sampling, find companies who will send samples directly to you then look at reviews online before deciding which ones are right for you. Then simply contact them via email or phone – no recruitment required! Once they get back in touch with you, all that’s left is to set up your payment method and start receiving free products! This is a fun way to get paid while trying new things out too! #9 – eBay Selling: Do you love browsing through garage sales?
#8 – Social Media Consulting
Building an online presence can be tough if you don’t know what you’re doing. Especially on social media, where there are so many conflicting opinions about best practices, what works, and what doesn’t work. If your school has a good business program or you have access to online courses that teach you best practices, then you can help local businesses improve their social media accounts.
This could be as simple as following basic instructions about how to build their accounts and writing engaging content or taking it further and providing more in-depth advice on strategy and goals. You could also try consulting businesses outside of school; it may take longer but will give you experience if that’s something that interests you long-term. #7 – Party Planning: Do you love throwing parties? Then why not turn that passion into a side hustle?
Whether it’s for kids or adults, planning parties is fun and easy—especially when you do all of the work yourself! Ask around at school or with friends and family members to see if anyone needs party planning services. Offer them special deals just for students (or parents) like discounts on decorations, food, and drinks. Then start building up your portfolio by offering these services free of charge (just make sure they understand they won’t get any freebies). Once people start seeing how great your parties are, they’ll come back again and again!
#9 – Website Building Service
Starting a website building service is a great way to make money from home. Many businesses don’t want to mess with setting up a website, but you can help them get on board – and grab some valuable experience in business and coding along the way. Start small by offering your services as a freelancer first. Here’s how you can start your own website-building service today. Click here to discover 3 strategies you can use right now to start earning an income from home.
Mobile App Developer: You could develop mobile apps or websites for businesses that need to build their online presence. Depending on your skillset, you could specialize in one platform (such as iOS or Android) or develop cross-platform apps. Again, it depends on your particular skillset. For example, you could become really good at developing Android apps if you have prior experience or exposure to Android app development.
Or if you know several programming languages like Java and Python then consider developing mobile websites instead of native mobile apps (which requires Objective C or Swift knowledge). Again, build yourself a portfolio of work before trying to find clients so that when potential customers do come knocking they’ll see examples of your work that they like.
#10 – Start a Virtual Assistance Business
Virtual assistants work with individuals and small businesses remotely. VAs help their clients with a variety of tasks, such as answering emails, updating social media profiles, making travel arrangements, and organizing day-to-day details like scheduling appointments and running errands. Virtual assistants provide a very personalized service—usually providing one-on-one support to each client—and usually work with little or no supervision.
The skills needed include superior written communication skills, an eye for detail, organizational abilities, and self-motivation. Many virtual assistant positions are full time and telecommuting is available in some cases. #9 – Become a Social Media Manager: A social media manager helps companies establish and maintain a presence on popular social networking sites.
This person monitors conversations on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+, Pinterest, Instagram and other networks; responds to comments; interacts with customers; posts updates; creates content; curates information from other sources; analyzes data; provides feedback to management about how things are going online; suggests changes that could improve performance and more. This job typically requires at least two years of experience working in marketing or communications management (or another related field) along with excellent writing skills.
Also Read: Top 10 Business Ideas for Husband and Wife
Conclusion
If you have a good idea and are willing to work hard enough to make it happen, there’s probably a business that needs you. So fire up Google (or your favorite search engine) and start looking!
The most important thing is that you just get started – after all, if your idea really is as good as you think it is, somebody else will probably beat you to it. Good luck!
