How to Get Rich Quick if You're a Kid

Co-authored by Andrew Lokenauth

Last Updated: April 11, 2024 References

You see something that you absolutely want at the store. Unfortunately, you do not currently have enough money right to buy it. If you would like to know how to get money fast to buy something you want, then read on!

Method 1

Method 1 of 4:

Becoming an Expert Salesperson

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Cell phones, MP3 players, or camcorders that you don't use anymore are all fair game. This helps as you can make money. They are actually still valuable! Just be sure that you perform a factory reset on the device before selling it. If you don't do that, the buyer will be really confused with weird calls and songs they may not like. You can sell them on websites like eBay or Amazon or even to your friends.
Buy multi-packs of candy for 50 cents and sell them at school, a candy stand, etc. for $1 each. If you manage to sell twenty in a day, you'll make $20. Alternatively, you could make a lemonade stand and sell 1 glass for 50 cents or $1. ^{[1]
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Because this is a sales job, it means you have to go up to people and talk them into visiting a store or buying a product/service. Just put a smile on your face and remember that most adults love children. You were born to sell!
Do you have any junk that you don't need or any toys that you don't play with anymore? Sell them! One man's trash is another man's treasure. If you live in an apartment this may be hard. If so, then contact a friend and ask if you can "borrow their yard" for a day. Don't forget to get a Garage Sale permit from your city or township. ^{[2]
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Make a business of your own. If you know how to make bookmarks, for example, make them, and then set up a stand on the edge of your yard, or hand out fliers at school. Just know that some schools frown on this practice. Be sure to talk to your school before doing this. ^{[3]
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Research source} Some quick and easy business ideas for you to consider:
- Make toys for pets. People love their cats, dogs, parakeets, and fish. Why not design toys for their pets to enjoy?
- Make food arrangements. Candy, fruit, and other foods are begging to be arranged in nice ways for people to show off before they eat it. An easy way to turn a nice profit.
- Make use of holidays. It's Halloween, so why not offer to carve pumpkins? It's Christmas, so why not make homemade ornaments for people to hang on their trees?
- Offer to make scrapbooks for other people. Scrapbooking is a very profitable industry around the world, and for good reason: People want to capture their memories in one place and cherish them. Offer to help people do that.

Method 2

Method 2 of 4:

Making Money by Sharing your Skills with Others

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This is an effective way to earn money and works really well if you are excellent in certain school subjects such as mathematics and language. Really try to teach your pupil different ways of completing problems or thinking about the subject. You won't get that many repeat customers if you're not a great teacher and you charge a lot of money for the privilege.This will or may not be hard if parents want you to tutor their kids on the subject your bad at. ^{[4]
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Make money by playing music . People love hearing music, and live music is even better. If you know how to play an instrument and you're not making money playing it, you're missing out on an opportunity. Try these simple ideas to monetize your skills:
- Try teaching other kids an instrument you already know. If you know how to play any instruments (guitar, drums, piano, flute, etc.), advertise to teach others for $5-$10 a week.
- If you provide musical entertainment, go in a public area and put out a hat and a sign to advertise your "act." People may give you a bit of money if you're good enough. They will probably only give you change, but you could make lots, if you keep at it. Ensure beforehand that the location allows this type of activity so that you don't end up in trouble.
Some people like to have an animations of their own, and if you know how to animate, a 30-second animation can cost up to $30! Animation is easy to learn and is an awesome way to make money. Start to learn how to animate by getting a simple animation program such as Scratch, or if you are already pretty good at animating (or drawing) go to Deviantart.
Make a website that features something that you know is insanely popular and have a section of your website devoted to a fan club for the thing/animal/food etc. Ask people to join for $20 per person, and voila! You're rich, if people think it is worth it! Most of the popular website names are already in use, but if you think of a good one that is not in use, then your website could be a hit! ^{[5]
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Start a YouTube series to promote your talent. If you get popular, you can apply for the Partnership program and get paid. (If you are under 18, you will need your parent's email address, but that shouldn't keep you from trying.) If you can suddenly get your video to go viral, you could be making tons of money each month, with the added possibility to make more with successive videos. ^{[6]
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- Try video game tutorials. What's the latest video game craze? If you can make or do something awesome in a popular video game, you'll definitely get some followers. Minecraft , Halo , Call of Duty , Bioshock, and more are currently very popular.
- Teach people how to solve a popular problem. Do you know a really cool way to boil an egg ? Do you have a surefire way to ask a boy or girl out? Make a video about it and watch the views rack up.
6
Sell your artwork. You can draw amazing pictures for people, perhaps, or maybe even take wonderful black and white pictures if you're a good artist. Why not make some extra money on the side by selling your paintings, landscapes, or profiles?
- There are lots of online websites, such as Etsy, eBay, CafePress, Kijiji, or Facebook Yard Sales where you can list or auction off your artwork to people around the world.
7
Teach someone how to use electronics if you're a computer whiz. You can help someone about how to use a computer and teach them tricks you can do on a computer (changing the background or using shortcuts). If you fit this profile, you should definitely consider making some money by helping other people out.
- Why not make a website advertising your expertise? Of course, advertise the fact that you're still young, but offer great prices and testimonials describing how professional and useful you are. Who knows — your business could take off!
Who says you need to be a grown-up in order to put on a show? It can be a talent show, a sketch comedy show, or something else. If you're into doing a one-man thing, you can keep all the profits of your show. If you involve other people in your show, you should of course be prepared to pay everyone who helped you out or performed with you in your show. The fee should be $5 per ticket.
If you are especially good at designing PowerPoints, you can get information from people and then format a presentation out of it for them. Especially at online sites such as Upwork, you can work freelance for people if you are chosen for the job.

Method 3

Method 3 of 4:

Making Money at Home

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Your parents might give you an allowance. A high allowance will work for getting rich quick. Chores without being asked are great bonus points. Even if you get five bucks a week, know that this money can add up very, very quickly.
You never know what you might find! Look anywhere for loose change. Just make sure that your parents aren't planning to use that extra change.
3
Ask your parents to give you a bigger allowance. If you don't have an allowance, ask for one, but don't bother your parents. To convince your parents that you deserve a bigger allowance, do your chores extra well, do extra chores that you don't really need to do but need to be done, and be super helpful.
- Make an agreement with your parents. For example, tell your parents that you'll earn at least an "A" or "B" in all of your classes if you can get an extra $20 per month. Then, both parties are happy: Your parents are happy you're doing well in school, and you're happy that you get that extra dough.
This works especially if you have a means of transportation, such as a car, but it's still doable even if you don't. Walking places is an option, as is taking the bus or asking a friend for a ride.
5
Clean your house. Cleaning your parents' house can earn you cash in a few hours, especially if you do a good job. Make sure to hit the windows, the awnings and gutters.
- Make sure to get the inside of the house as well as the outside. Your parents probably don't want to do the kitchen or the bathroom, but because you're super-motivated to make some extra money, it won't be a problem for you. Get the proper cleaning supplies (all-purpose cleaner, rags, gloves, etc.) and get to work!

Method 4

Method 4 of 4:

Making Money by Selling Simple Services

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1
Depending on how old you are, try babysitting . You probably won't be able to babysit until you're a teenager, but babysitting can be an easy and quick way of making tons of money. ^{[7]
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- After you babysit your first family, ask for a recommendation or "referral" from the family. It'll be a lot easier to get new families to employ you if you come with a recommendation. Just make sure the recommendation is a good one and you know the people!
2
Try pet-sitting. Ask someone if you can pet sit for extra cash. Find out who is going away on vacation or simply just going away for the day and offer to take care of their pet for the day/duration of their vacation. ^{[8]
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- You can also make a lot of money walking dogs, especially if you walk multiple dogs in a day. You can start your business by putting up a poster in your neighborhood that lists how much you charge and the times when you're available. You should charge about $5 per walk; you can begin to charge more as you do it more often and become more experienced. You can start by walking dogs for free to build up the experience and then start charging for your services.
There's no glamour in having a paper route, but it can be really good pay. The pro is that it's a pretty easy job. The con is that you have to wake up really early (usually) in order to deliver your papers.
4
Mow lawns . Ask your parents to borrow their lawn mower and start going up to your neighbors, offering to mow their lawns. Few people like the idea of mowing their lawns, so you can generally charge people pretty good money in order for your service. ^{[9]
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- Try setting up a plan with your neighbors: Tell them you'll mow their lawn every weekend for an entire month. Tell them you'll give them a good deal for letting you mow their lawn four weekends in a row.
- Spice up the mowing by going diagonally instead of using straight lines. This looks really fancy and it's just as easy to do as straight lines. Of course, ask your neighbors first whether you can cut diagonal lines.
- Take pictures of your mow jobs and show them to your neighbors. This should make them less apprehensive about hiring you if they have any apprehension.
Learn how to prune trees , rake leaves , plant flowers , or sweep the sidewalks. The more you know how to do around the yard, the more employable you'll be. That means more money. That means becoming richer quicker.
6
Rent a pressure washer for the weekends. Renting this will cost approximately $50. Get agreements ahead of time to do as many driveways as you can and price it at somewhere around $50 each and you'll be rich over the weekend.
- Caution: a pressure washer may damage property, splash dirt on automobiles, and hurt people's eyes and such so if you decide on doing this step, please be careful while using the pressure washer and do not play around with it. Ask one of your parents to help you figure out how to use it before operating it.
You can start with low prices then start to get higher prices. Start off with your own driveway and then start asking neighbours. Some people don't have time to shovel snow before school/work. You can get rich easily with 15-20 dollars per customer.

Expert Q&A

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Question

What are other ways to make money when you are still in high school?

Andrew Lokenauth
Finance Executive
Andrew Lokenauth is a Finance Executive who has over 15 years of experience working on Wall St. and in Tech & Start-ups. Andrew helps management teams translate their financials into actionable business decisions. He has held positions at Goldman Sachs, Citi, and JPMorgan Asset Management. He is the founder of Fluent in Finance, a firm that provides resources to help others learn to build wealth, understand the importance of investing, create a healthy budget, strategize debt pay-off, develop a retirement roadmap, and create a personalized investing plan. His insights have been quoted in Forbes, TIME, Business Insider, Nasdaq, Yahoo Finance, BankRate, and U.S. News. Andrew has a Bachelor of Business Administration Degree (BBA), Accounting and Finance from Pace University.

Andrew Lokenauth

Finance Executive

Expert Answer

I think one of the most popular and fastest-growing ways to make money when you're young is teaching English. Many countries, like India and China, hire American tutors. All that is required is to be fluent in English or have a high school diploma. You can work remotely and they set your schedule for you.

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Question

What are the benefits of starting a business when you are young?

Andrew Lokenauth
Finance Executive
Andrew Lokenauth is a Finance Executive who has over 15 years of experience working on Wall St. and in Tech & Start-ups. Andrew helps management teams translate their financials into actionable business decisions. He has held positions at Goldman Sachs, Citi, and JPMorgan Asset Management. He is the founder of Fluent in Finance, a firm that provides resources to help others learn to build wealth, understand the importance of investing, create a healthy budget, strategize debt pay-off, develop a retirement roadmap, and create a personalized investing plan. His insights have been quoted in Forbes, TIME, Business Insider, Nasdaq, Yahoo Finance, BankRate, and U.S. News. Andrew has a Bachelor of Business Administration Degree (BBA), Accounting and Finance from Pace University.

Andrew Lokenauth

Finance Executive

Expert Answer

You learn a lot of valuable lessons. You can also learn many soft skills such as communication, organizational, and interpersonal skills.

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What age is good to start babysitting?

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If you know the person you are babysitting, you could start at a younger age, like 13. If you're trying to get jobs from strangers, we recommend you start at an older age, maybe 15 or 16.

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Tips

Always bring a phone with you if you are babysitting with at least two emergency contacts and a list of any medical conditions the kid(s) have.

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Don't do anything illegal/unsafe or give in to peer pressure for money. There will be serious consequences if you do. So no gambling, drugs, alcohol, or cigarettes.

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Always try to sell things online. They sell for much more than at a garage sale.

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The advice in this section is based on the lived experiences of wikiHow readers like you. If you have a helpful tip you’d like to share on wikiHow, please submit it in the field below.

Save money in the bank, even if you're just a kid. Ask your parents to open a bank account where you can save money and build interest. Some banks even have "junior savers" plans.
If your trying to find places to sell any craft of yours, craft fairs can be a great place to do it! But keep in mind that there may be competition.
Sell duct tape wallets with all different colours. They're unique and fun to make, and other kids love to use them!

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Warnings

Be nice to the people you ask. They won't hire you if you are mean or immature. Make sure that you use your manners!

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At some schools you could get in serious trouble for selling things on campus.

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Don't try to do things beyond your capability. If you can't control a 100 lb dog charging into the road after a squirrel, don't offer to walk that dog.

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Be patient. If you ask your parents to give you a bigger allowance and they say no, don't freak out. Show them that you aren't a baby and you can be mature.

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Only do one or two jobs at a time or things could get out of control.

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Make sure you have your parents' permission to do all of this first. Clear each job with them and get their approval.

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If you do anything wrong, don't keep it a secret, calm down and tell an adult.

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Be careful when dealing with strangers; avoid them, and never go into their house. If a person is acting suspiciously, get away and find a trusted adult quickly. ^{[10]
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How to Get Rich Quick if You're a Kid

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Becoming an Expert Salesperson

Making Money by Sharing your Skills with Others

Making Money at Home

Making Money by Selling Simple Services

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Tips from our Readers

Warnings

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