Best age to start generating income?

[Dilman]

I'm 13, and I'm wondering when is the best age to start doing stuff for money, and what kind of stuff to do. Like blogs, or just a job, what has good pay.. etc.

[ahimel]

ASAP!!! It's NEVER too early to start. 13 is a great age, because:

• You're (I hope) not trying to make a living, just get some extra cash. This takes off a lot of the pressure
• Compound interest works best when you start young, and there's no reason you can't save some of your earnings
• You're too young (at least in the US) to take a normal job, so you'll have to learn how to generate income in other ways <- personal bias alert

I'd start with what's interesting to you. If you have a topic you think you could blog on and other people would like to read it, then start a blog.

If you like to make things (woodcraft, clay modeling, knitting) then sell them on ebay or set up a website.

If you like to bake/cook, see about setting up a regular bake sale or helping busy families cook dinner.

If you like kids, try babysitting. If you like outdoors, try lawnmowing (to make your business stand out, offer general landscaping like raking leaves, weeding gardens, etc.)

I'd be happy to help you brainstorm income generation. Private Message me with your interests, hobbies, or things that you don't currently do but are interested in trying.

[Cat Dancer]

Originally Posted by Dilman

I'm 13, and I'm wondering when is the best age to start doing stuff for money, and what kind of stuff to do. Like blogs, or just a job, what has good pay.. etc.

I think you have a tremendous advantage in learning how to make some money now. Many people put off learning about how to make money until after high school... until after college... then maybe they go to graduate school and put off learning how to make money until after graduate school... and they live with a fear, maybe not a big fear, but a fear none the less, that they won't be able to make money. Or that they won't be able to get a job. Or that making money will be really hard. Or that the only job they'll be able to find is one that is unpleasant. And living with this fear, it's hard to make good decisions. They may make "safe" choices, when it would have turned out that making money wasn't that hard.

So learning how to make money is tremendously freeing.

To make money, you do something that someone else wants. For example, someone wants their lawn mowed. You mow their lawn, and they give you money.

The trick, the secret, is to find something that other people want that you enjoy doing.

When you enjoy your work, it's easy to do. You do it a lot. You work hard, and you don't mind. And when you do it a lot, you get good at it. And when you are good at something, and you work hard, people will pay you a lot of money.

The second trick, the second secret, is to get paid for what you get done. For example, let's suppose you enjoyed mowing lawns. Now, I don't know if that's true for you really. You could be thinking, "yeah! Kind of fun!", or maybe, "yuck". But let's imagine, for the sake of argument, that you like mowing lawns. Now you could go to someone and say "please pay me $X per hour for mowing your lawn". Now they don't know how long you're going to take, or how hard you will work, or if you're any good at mowing lawns. So they might say, "OK, I'll pay you $3 an hour to mow my lawn". But if instead you said, "I'll mow your lawn for $40", now they have no worries. It doesn't matter to them if maybe you'll be really slow or lazy or something, they still only need to pay you $40 when the job is done. If you wiz through that lawn in an hour, you'll be making $40 / hour! Wow! (third trick: offer to mow smaller lawns )

Mowing lawns is just an example. It all depends on what you enjoy doing, that someone else wants. Maybe it's installing software. Maybe it's showing someone how to blog who doesn't know how to blog. The same principle applies. You can say, "I'll show you how to blog for $20", and you'll be making good money.

[scottyp]

Get into making money online AS YOUNG AS POSSIBLE.

I used to make some money from mp3.com in 2000-2001 when I was 16 and it was great. They used to credit you every time someone played a song. Advertised a lot, made stickers and business cards, and I got money from their payola system. That and a paper route made me plenty of money. Those were the days.

[thef0x]

start doing odd jobs (babysitting, chores, small stuff) for 10$ an hour, 1 to 2 hours, and promise that you'll stay longer if they aren't satisfied. Try to work every day for an hour, thats 70$ a week, thats 280$ per month. In a year you'll have 3360$. Realistically you won't be able to work that much, but think about how much you can make! And invest that cash soon because, once you keep investing, in 20 years you'll have a lot of money.

I think you should spend your time on your productivity and effectiveness because learning and habitualizing those skills at a young age is the best thing you could do for yourself and the rest of your life.

So, while money is great, try to spend your time learning how to be effective. Such a great habit.

Also, you might want to think about what you and your friends love, but don't have enough access to. Then try to give access to your friends and charge a bit.

Learning these skills at 13 is going to make you 100x better than a normal person when you're 20. I am jealous I didn't find this community at 13.

[Dilman]

Babysitting! I've wanted to start doing this for a while... What do you think would be the best way to get started? Like maybe take a heimlec(Lol, I have no idea how to spell that) class or something? Also, would putting up a bulletin at say the local library be good? Also, I think the local library actually let's 13 year olds work there for $10 an hour...

Also, I know a lot about videogames... Maybe a blog about videogames? And I'd seriously be fine with a blog that gives me a few bucks per month. I've already got over $500 in total chore money saved up in my bank account, making a whopping 15 cents per month.

Wow, I was thinking you would all say 13 is a tad early... Guess not.

One major thing I'm working on is procrastination. I fail a getting stuff done early.

Thanks for all the feedback!

[Steve]

Originally Posted by Dilman

Wow, I was thinking you would all say 13 is a tad early... Guess not.

Heck no! The fact that you have a savings account and you're actually thinking about ways to make money is a pretty damn good start.

Do you like video games or just know a lot about them? Or both? If you think you'd have fun writing a blog about video games, go for it. Even if you don't make any money from it (which you might anyway), you'll learn a lot.

[Henry]

Go outside and play. You don't want to grow up and be like my Uncle Scrooge. You can't sign up for adsense or even legally own a mutual or stock portfolio.

Start saving your allowance. That's a great start.

[SergiuB]

It's good that you think about this at your age. Some don't even at 20. I started working for money at 14 (I helped my father repair computers, then I passed to cars ). That helped me a lot. Having your own money is great.

[Scorpibear]

Originally Posted by Dilman

I'm 13, and I'm wondering when is the best age to start doing stuff for money, and what kind of stuff to do. Like blogs, or just a job, what has good pay.. etc.

Start discovering your purpose in the life and acting according to it. Money will come by itself.

[ImOpen]

Don't listen to the americans in this thread. You are just too darn young.
If you really want something, save your allowance. Otherwise just spend and have fun.

[ahimel]

Originally Posted by Scorpibear

Start discovering your purpose in the life and acting according to it. Money will come by itself.

Definitly true. Good call, Scorpibear. I always forget that step, because I haven't found my purpose yet.

Originally Posted by Dilman

Babysitting! I've wanted to start doing this for a while... What do you think would be the best way to get started? Like maybe take a heimlec(Lol, I have no idea how to spell that) class or something? Also, would putting up a bulletin at say the local library be good? Also, I think the local library actually let's 13 year olds work there for $10 an hour...

Taking a first-aid/CPR class is a good start. Then start marketing. I see two major reasons parents might not ask you to watch their kids: 1) They don't know you're available and 2) They don't know how reliable/trustworthy you are.

To deal with (1), flyers are a good start. Post them places parents are likely to go with kids. The rule I've heard for small businesses is to aim for 5 marketing methods going at a time. That might be flyers, business cards (once you have enough capital to buy them - they're not that expensive), having your parents tell all their friends that you babysit, see if your school will let you put an ad in the school newsletter (or better yet, your younger sibling's school newsletter).

To deal with (2), the easiest way is repeat business, and to always be trying to improve yourself. CPR is a good example -- putting it on your flyer encourages parents to call you. Read books and/or take classes on being a good babysitter. Remember at the end of the night when you get paid to ask the parents to tell their friends about you.

Also, I know a lot about videogames... Maybe a blog about videogames? And I'd seriously be fine with a blog that gives me a few bucks per month. I've already got over $500 in total chore money saved up in my bank account, making a whopping 15 cents per month.

The only thing with a blog is that there's millions of 'em out there, so you have to somehow be different/interesting enough for people to read yours. Knowing a lot about videogames isn't very unique, although a 13-year-old serious blogger might be. So I'd say go for it, and always be looking out for ways you can make your blog unique and helpful.

I'd look at other ways videogames can help, too. You have a pretty good perspective on how teens and pre-teens feel about/respond to video games, being, well, 13. But you're also quite mature, as evidenced by your presence on this forum and your desire to start improving yourself. So think about ways you can be a liason between teens and parents on the video game front.

• Help parents pick out video games for their kids
• Give a seminar on the effects (good and bad) of video games for kids. (Your parents and/or English teacher would be thrilled to help you put this presentation together. See if you can negotiate extra credit for English class.)
• Tying to the babysitting thing, our local gym has an open babysitting gig on Friday nights. They rope off one gym for kids only, and parents can bring their kids and drop them off for $5/night or something. You could see if your gym has one, and if not start one. Or ask your parents if you can use the basement, and do a video game night.

Obviously, not all of those ideas would apply/appeal to you. This is just to get you started -- feel free to modify or discard any or all of my suggestions.

Wow, I was thinking you would all say 13 is a tad early... Guess not.

It's too early to be trying to make a living or worrying exclusively about money. Don't let income generation take over your life -- it's important to get out and do things you enjoy also. But all of us wish that we'd started making money at 13, and we envy that you have the opportunity to do so. And I, personally, envy you the opportunity to make money by doing the things you enjoy.

One major thing I'm working on is procrastination. I fail a getting stuff done early.

*LOL* You have no idea how funny that sounds coming from a 13-year-old starting a business to someone who didn't even get a job until she was 19.

But I understand what you mean. Think of it like weight-training. Doing everything as soon as you get the assignment is like curling 20 pounds -- you can't do it right away. Just keep practicing, and keep track of how you're doing. Maybe keep a sheet each week with two columns, and put a mark in one column for every project you left until the last minute, and a mark in the other column for every project that was nearly done by the time the deadline got close. If you work on building your willpower muscle a little bit at a time, you'll be amazed at how quickly you'll accumulate marks in the "I started early" column.

Good luck with everything, and let us know how it goes!

[gberardi]

While I would agree that you are young and shouldn't try to focus your energies on making a living, I would disagree with the idea that you should just spend and have fun without worrying about savings. That's what most people do as adults, too, and most people seem to be having trouble with debt. Who wants to be like most people?

When I was your age (eep, I'm old!), I used to purchase comic books and other things immediately after getting my allowance. Eventually I learned that I had to save to make the larger purchases. Super Nintendo games were $75 in some cases! If I just spent my money immediately, I wouldn't be able to afford the larger purchases.

Here are a few ideas to keep in mind:

1) What do you want to make money for? Lots of people just try to make more money without giving any real thought to what they want to do with it. Money is just a means to an end, not an end in itself. What's your end? Whether it is a long term goal of being a millionaire by the age of 30 or 40, or a short term goal for buying yourself a Wii or Xbox 360, you'll find that by picking a goal for your money, it is easier to save it and find ways to make more of it.

2) Compound interest is one of the most powerful forces in the universe. At least, Einstein said so, but he wasn't very good at math so maybe his advice isn't so solid. Seriously, though, even if you don't sock away all of the income you make, put away a percentage. I remember coming home and putting almost all of my singles into a drawer each day. If I broke a 5 or a 20, there would likely be singles, and I would keep those in that drawer. Eventually, it added up, giving me a nice source of "emergency" cash. As I got better paying jobs, I started socking away more and more money into my bank account. I could spend some of my money, but a portion of it is paid to my bank account. At the time, I didn't care about inflation, and with the money I was making, it really didn't make that big of a difference so I don't think you'll need to worry about it at first. These days I am thinking about investing in other things, but the idea is that you pay yourself first.

3) Pick a hobby/skill, and develop it. I didn't get into computer programming until I was almost out of high school, and now that I have been out of college for almost two years, I wish I had spent more time just tinkering and hacking. At 13, you aren't likely to know what you want to do with your life, but if you like doing something or want to learn something, the best thing you can do is practice it. Studies have shown that people who are considered experts aren't born gifted. They practice for thousands of hours. If I would have practiced programming on my own more in college, I'd be much more advanced in my expertise than I am now. You seem interested in starting a blog, which would be great exercise for writing (which is good for developing your communication skills, by the way).

In the end, it sounds like you are learning the value of a dollar early. A lot of people don't learn that lesson throughout their entire lives. Just be sure that by the age of 20 you aren't regretting that you missed out on childhood. Make sure to have fun.

[tropicality]

Originally Posted by ahimel

The only thing with a blog is that there's millions of 'em out there, so you have to somehow be different/interesting enough for people to read yours. Knowing a lot about videogames isn't very unique, although a 13-year-old serious blogger might be. So I'd say go for it, and always be looking out for ways you can make your blog unique and helpful.

I'd look at other ways videogames can help, too. You have a pretty good perspective on how teens and pre-teens feel about/respond to video games, being, well, 13. But you're also quite mature, as evidenced by your presence on this forum and your desire to start improving yourself. So think about ways you can be a liason between teens and parents on the video game front.

• Help parents pick out video games for their kids
• Give a seminar on the effects (good and bad) of video games for kids. (Your parents and/or English teacher would be thrilled to help you put this presentation together. See if you can negotiate extra credit for English class.)
• Tying to the babysitting thing, our local gym has an open babysitting gig on Friday nights. They rope off one gym for kids only, and parents can bring their kids and drop them off for $5/night or something. You could see if your gym has one, and if not start one. Or ask your parents if you can use the basement, and do a video game night.

Obviously, not all of those ideas would apply/appeal to you. This is just to get you started -- feel free to modify or discard any or all of my suggestions.


It's too early to be trying to make a living or worrying exclusively about money. Don't let income generation take over your life -- it's important to get out and do things you enjoy also. But all of us wish that we'd started making money at 13, and we envy that you have the opportunity to do so. And I, personally, envy you the opportunity to make money by doing the things you enjoy.

That is pretty much the same thing I got thinking about after I finished reading this post yesterday, if you think about it, there are not many younger mature people that give advice and write about experiences at younger ages (when they are experiencing them) that can help parents out. Where do parents go for advice on childcare and other child related things? They go to other adults, this can and does work, but these parents that give the advice are way past that time, how can they possibly remember all of the emotions, thoughts, and feelings they were experiencing at that age? If a younger child was able to document all of it in a good way, and in a way that parents can learn from, I think there could be huge potential for a young guy like that, I bet you could even get into magazines and on TV shows etc. Could be fun! Not to mention the personal growth you would experience.

And I bet if you got started on a blog, alot of people here would help market and link to it for you once you had some good content, because well, we know how, don't we?

I also feel that yes, it might not be important to go out and focus on making money right away, but if you want to be wealthy (once you get a little older) you have to recondition yourself to make earning money FUN, if you view what you do as boring, you aren't gonna make it very far doing what your doing. I am sure many people can agree on this. So why not start conditioning yourself to making money 'fun' at a younger age? I know I certainly wish I did.. its all about your mindset and beliefs (and you have full control over what they are). And at a younger age its alot easier to find things that are 'fun' that can earn you a little money! You just have to learn to keep an eye out for them.

[Wanderer]

Age 1 as a model lol
The earlier you can start earning the better, but remember to still be a kid, you dont need to work hard - so dont! Enjoy your childhood

[Cat Dancer]

Originally Posted by Dilman

Babysitting! I've wanted to start doing this for a while...

Definately!

What do you think would be the best way to get started? Like maybe take a heimlec(Lol, I have no idea how to spell that) class or something?

Nah. You do babysitting for a bit, see if you really like it, then you can take a class to become an even better babysitter. In the meantime, you are the babysitter who can dial 911!

Also, would putting up a bulletin at say the local library be good?

Awesome! Yup, any place there might be parents, you can put up a flyer.

[moltar]

Seth's Blog: When to start

[Bonkers]

Originally Posted by tropicality

That is pretty much the same thing I got thinking about after I finished reading this post yesterday, if you think about it, there are not many younger mature people that give advice and write about experiences at younger ages (when they are experiencing them) that can help parents out. Where do parents go for advice on childcare and other child related things? They go to other adults, this can and does work, but these parents that give the advice are way past that time, how can they possibly remember all of the emotions, thoughts, and feelings they were experiencing at that age? If a younger child was able to document all of it in a good way, and in a way that parents can learn from, I think there could be huge potential for a young guy like that, I bet you could even get into magazines and on TV shows etc. Could be fun! Not to mention the personal growth you would experience.

On that note, its amazing how much kids know, I always thought that back when I was 12/13 years of age I was quite naive and knew nothing about how the the world works, but reading back on old diaries and so on I have notes about marketing to the best of my ability, different business ideas and so on, its amazing reading back and seeing how much I knew back then.

I Most defiantly say start at 13 when your at home and you don't need to support yourself. You may not and I know I certainly didn't realize at the time when I was living at home, just how hard it is to start businesses and work on them when living out of home. I'm a college student now (18 years old) and its very very hard to find time to do any extra money making actives with study, part time work and friends always wanting you to party (which I probably do a little too much )

Back when I was 13 I started my first business, selling Magic the Gathering cards online, even at such a young age I made $150, I moved onto buying computer parts, putting together PC's then reselling them when I was 16 and made about $1,500, It was at this point I found world of warcraft and got a girlfriend then gave up on putting the effort into selling PC's . Currently I'm working on an online game which i'm hoping will bring in some money.

The reason that I listed all of these ventures is there are common links between all and how they worked for me. These common links are:
1. Doing something you love - If you love doing it, it's not work, it's a fun hobby that makes money.
2. You don't need capital to start - I started my MTG business by selling cards I already had, then buying more with the profits, I started the PC business by selling an older PC we had lying around, then buying more and selling, buying more and selling etc.

So In conclusion:
1. Don't get addicted to any online games.
2. Don't get a girlfriend (I kid, I kid, their awesome, just don't get one that bitches about you spending too much time on your PC)
3. Have fun!

Cheers, Tim

[RT Wolf]

read this stuff:

Fool.com: Fool's School

Fool.com: Fool's School

[Radical]

Get off this forum and enjoy your innocence while it lasts. 13 is too young to be caring about money, you are only a kid once!