You’re probably in this article because you’re a teenager living with your parents and you’d like to know all the ways to make money as a teenager online. Maybe you’re not old enough to get a job yet or you just don’t have the education or experience necessary to get one. That’s totally OK! I am one of those teenagers, so you’re certainly not alone!
The good news is that even if you’re a teenager under 18, you can definitely start making money online. And, in this article, I’ll show you 14 ways to do it! I’ll explain to you how each of these ways works and how you can get started.
And the last method I’ll share with you is going to be my top recommendation. This can give you a life-changing income that even a teen like you can make!
I hope you’re excited to make money online as a teenager and make your family proud. So, with that being said, let’s go through the 14 ways you can start earning online as a teen.
1. Freelancing jobs
When you’re a freelancer, you basically offer other people your skills. This is a great way to make money with the talents you might have.
The first thing you need to figure out is what skills you have to share with the world! Then sign up for a freelancing website and complete your freelancer profile. Explain what skills you’re offering to do and how much you are charging others for it.
I recommend that you keep your price low until you start getting good reviews and a good number of customers coming back to you. That’s when you take advantage of your success and upping your price little by little as you go.
Where to Start: Fiverr, Upwork, Freelancer.com
2. Transcription jobs
Transcription is when you hear audio files and type out what you’re hearing, sometimes including who is speaking as well as any background sounds and music. To be a good transcriptionist, you need to be a pretty fast typer to avoid wasting time. A good typing speed would be at least 50 words per minute.
Make sure, as you’re transcribing, that you are observant of details. You want to maintain good accuracy with what you hear. You should also double-check your work for any errors in spelling, grammar, capitalization, and punctuation.
In most cases, you’ll need to pass a transcription test before a website can allow you to transcribe for them. I recommend you go with Rev.com if you’d like to have the best experience transcribing online. You can read my review of Rev.com so you’ll know how Rev works before you even sign up!
Where to Start: Rev.com, TranscribeMe, Scribie, CastingWords
For more places to get started with transcription, check out my article on the 10 best sites to start transcribing online.
3. Translation jobs
If you know another language and are able to translate audio or video, that gives you a strong advantage. There are several companies out there looking for people who are able to interpret foreign languages for them. They’re even willing to pay big money because it’s not a job everyone can do.
So be thankful if you are multilingual or even just bilingual! There’s money to be made translating foreign languages.
Where to Start: Stepes, Unbabel
4. Testing jobs
There are a few websites that are willing to pay you well for simply trying out a website or app and recording your opinion on it. All you need to do is go through the website or app being tested. In some cases, you may have to record your screen. Other times, all you have to do is have a mic available. That way, you can speak your thoughts as you react to what you’re seeing (and hearing).
Make sure, as you test, that you’re transparent about your opinion. Don’t sugarcoat your opinions or make them sound like garbage either. Mention all the good and bad points that you can find. Compliment any likable features and report any bugs you catch. That’s the key to good testing!
Where to Start: UserTesting, Testing Time, UserCrowd
5. Listening to music
Note: This way of making money online seems to be dying! However, this topic is certainly worth researching if you’d like to find sites that allow you to do this.
Whether you’re a music nerd or not, there are actually websites out there that will pay you to listen to music and give the artist your feedback on it. Basically, you tell them how the music sounds and what improvements they can make.
Again, you want your review to be as transparent as possible, so make sure that you’re honest in giving all the good and bad points of the songs that you’re hearing. I will make an article in the near future on different websites where you can earn money by listening to music.
6. Reviewing stuff
We all have opinions on the stuff we use every single day. These opinions are valuable to companies and brands who make this stuff because it will help them understand what to think about when creating their products.
Typically, the way these websites will pay you for your reviews is by getting you to try out products they may send you or products you might already have at home. You would then record a short video going over the product and talking about what features of the product you found good or bad.
Where to Start: Check out my article on the websites where you can try out products at home.
Making money by giving your opinion is really awesome. It makes you feel good as a person, right? But maybe you’re camera-shy. Well, the next method I’m about to show you allows you to give your opinion without showing your face!
7. Online surveys
This was one of my favorite ways to make money online as a teen. The concept is very simple: you answer some questions and give your thoughts, and when you’re done, you earn some money (or points that convert to money). I like online surveys so much that I still do some occasionally today.
You see, companies are willing to pay people like you because they need people’s thoughts about things so they can figure out the ongoing trend of society and what they can do to meet people’s needs. Sometimes, they’ll ask you open-ended questions on various topics that pertain to today’s lifestyle and culture, so trust me: you’ll have fun letting your opinion make you some money.
When you sign up for one of these online survey sites, you either check it regularly or be notified by email when new surveys are available for you to take. If you qualify and you complete it, you earn money. Keep in mind some surveys may screen you out because you might not be the right fit. But keep trying! There’s always someone who can use your opinion!
A good paying online survey site is ySense, and I’ve done a full review of ySense if you’d like to preview it before you sign up. Another good site is Swagbucks and I have done a complete Swagbucks review as well.
Where to Start: Check out my full list of online survey sites as well as my full list of mobile survey apps.
8. Micro-jobs
Micro-jobs are very, very simple tasks that are assigned to people like you because the company does not have time to complete all of their little tasks themselves. So, instead, they outsource them to hundreds of people like you and pay each of their workers a bit of money for completing one of their micro-jobs.
There are so many examples of micro-jobs, like identifying objects in a picture, writing out text inside a picture, transcribing little video or audio files, rotating pictures so they’re right-side-up, doing captchas, and the list goes on and on.
This may seem like a really measly way to make money because you only earn about 20-50 cents for every completed micro-job. However, if you keep working at the micro-jobs, your earnings can start to build up.
Where to Start: Remotasks, SproutGigs (formerly Picoworkers), Microworkers, Amazon MTurk
9. Referrals
So there might be certain websites you are using right now that you really enjoy and you could be sharing with your friends. What if you could make money actually getting your friends to sign up? That’s where referrals come in.
Look around the site and see if there’s a place where you can refer other people to it. You will be given a referral link that you share on social media and, when your friends see it, click through it, and sign up, you earn extra money (or points that convert to money)!
For example, I mentioned taking online surveys. If you were to join survey sites, they usually have a referral program where you can get others to join too. Or maybe there are some games that you love playing and want others to play with you. Perhaps there’s a way you can earn free points inside the game just by recommending the game to others on social media.
I love the idea of referrals and the top recommendation that I’ll be sharing with you is actually very similar to this method.
Where to Start: (See if your fav site/game has a referral program.)
10. YouTube channel
All right, admit it! You enjoy watching YouTube videos as much as I do. But imagine yourself as the YouTube creator, getting people to watch you. The best part is: all you need is a free Google account to start a YouTube channel and you can be as young as 13 to open a Google account!
So what content do you create? Whatever you enjoy! If you like unpackaging children’s toys, set your tripod up and start reviewing. If your passion is video gaming, record your screen and your real-time reactions as you play.
Over time, you will get noticed by other viewers. The more views you have, the more money you can possibly make. If you’re ready to start, I have an article on how to make money on YouTube that you should check out so you know how you can monetize your YouTube channel.
And, if you’re camera-shy, that’s all right, I am too. There are many other methods that I am mentioning in this article, like this next one.
11. Selling handcrafts
If you are skilled with handcrafting good-looking stuff, then you’re able to earn good money selling them to others. All you have to do is craft the best item and sell it at a reasonable price. It can’t get any simpler than that.
This is a great way to show your creativity to the world while earning money in the process. And, even if you’re not so good at crafting, there are many arts and crafts tutorials you can find on blogs and YouTube videos. If you can learn it, you can earn it!
Where to Start: Check out my list of sites where you can make money crafting so you know where you can get started.
12. Publishing books
Writing books can be a very profitable way to earn money online. Obviously, putting together a book is going to take a lot of your time, but it can earn you a ton of money after you put in all that hard work.
What’s awesome is that you can write books of all sorts, whatever suits your fancy. You can use your imagination and write heart-wrenching fantasy stories, or you can write a complete guide on how something is done or how something works. The sky is the limit when it comes to what book you want to write.
Amazon makes it super easy to publish your book, sell it, and have it found on its marketplace. Just head over to Kindle Direct Publishing, upload your book text as a PDF, provide a cover image, and you’re ready to sell!
Where to Start: Kindle Direct Publishing
13. Reselling for profit
Last but not least, you can actually take your used items and resell them for profit. Just like you would with handcrafted items, you would be selling used items in a similar fashion. Think of it as having an “online rummage sale”.
And, if you don’t have a lot of stuff you can get rid of, you can go to a low-end store such as a thrift store or bargain outlet where you can buy these kinds of items. Then just turn around and resell them at a higher price, and the profit you make is the money you earn.
Where to Start: Obviously, there are several places on the Internet where you can start selling stuff. Amazon is the big one, but you can also use eBay to sell used items.
Wherever you choose, keep in mind that you have big responsibilities as a seller, so I do advise that you work together with your parent or guardian to help you with preparing your items and having them shipped right.
Final Words
My Top Recommendation (#14)
Now that we’ve pretty much come to the end of this list, it’s time for my top recommendation for you to make money online as a teenager. And that is to actually start doing affiliate marketing!
Earlier, I said that referrals (number 9) was tied to this method of affiliate marketing. Well, it’s true. Remember that referring means you recommend a site or a game you enjoy to your friends on social media. Well, affiliate marketing is a similar process where you’re recommending someone to buy something someone else is selling. When you do that, you can earn money from that, and you could possibly earn really good money!
If this sounds cool to you, then you might want to check out my beginner’s guide to affiliate marketing. And, if you’re ready to get started, I’ve laid out a step-by-step guide on how to do affiliate marketing.
And, just so you know, there are people out there that are earning hundreds of dollars a day doing affiliate marketing. If you do affiliate marketing the right way and have enough drive to make it through the hurdles as a beginner, your work could maybe allow you to earn just as much as your parents make, if not more!
Conclusion
And that’s it for my list on the 14 ways you can start making money online as a teen. I hope you’re now convinced that there are actually opportunities for you to earn money without having to finish your education or go job hunting. The Internet is a growing place and, as it continues to expand, more and more moneymaking opportunities are going to come your way. Why miss out?
Anyway, I hope this article helped you and inspired you to start earning online. Now, if you haven’t already, go over this list and see which one of these ways looks good to you, then just get started and make money… as a teenager!