There’ a ton of jobs for 16 year olds and sadly, most of them suck. But there are a few good ones out there, if you get off to the right start. Now, you might be thinking, why the heck am I writing about jobs for sixteen year olds? What does this have to do with anything about saving money? Well, if you like me got your first “real” job in coorporate America at the age 16 like I did, there’s quite a lot of importance to it and how you save money actually.
At sixteen, nobody really takes you seriously. You don’t have experience, you probably don’t have much of a work ethic, and you being a minor are likely limited to how many hours you can work without needing a break and how late you can work. When the only places that hire teenagers are fast food joints and retail stores, this can make it tricky to really do what you want to do.
But, at the same time, when you turn 16 that’s the first time you really need money, too. Maybe you want to go to a movie with your friends, maybe you want to buy a car, get some designer jeans your mom won’t let you buy because they cost you too much. If you remember being 16, I’m sure you remember what those things you so desperately wanted money for.
And this is where a lot of us got started on the wrong path to becoming independently wealthy. It’s hard to believe that 10 years ago I thought it was okay to waste 30 hours of my life a week “working for the man” just to bring home a measly $300 paycheck every two weeks. These days I have a completely different train of thought, and i I can catch a few teens who are thinking about ways to make money – and what to spend it on now, there’s a lot of good that can come of that – hopefully you can avoid all the mistakes we made where we basically just wasted all of our time in the hopes of having a couple of bucks.
It’s really hard to get out of the train of thought of working by the hour once you get stuck into it. Even those who get paid by salary can get stuck in thinking their salary is worth all the bull you have to go through with the hopes of making money. You don’t really save any money that way, especially not right away since nobody lands a job that pays six figures without a high school diploma, a college degree, and a boat load of experience.
So, with all that being said, I think it’s important to instead of looking for a job, look for money making opportunities. Because you’ll always do better with opportunities to make money than you would if you instead decided to go flip burgers or make tacos or run a cash register. You’ll also avoid thoughts of suicide while standing there.
Even if you’re not 16, you might find some of these jobs are more promising that the ones you have now. You never know 
Work Opportunities for 16 Year Olds
1. Babysitting Business: When I was a kid my favorite books were in the series The Babysitter’s Club by Ann M. Martin. Now I personally hate babysitting, but there was something intriguing about what those girls in that book did – they started a babysitting business. Not just watching kids for a few hours a week but making it so that someone could call them up and get one of the sitters. Another alternative could be to be available from say 4:00 to 7:00 after school and watch a group of kids after school. Don’t look for a babysitting job – think about how you could start a babysitting business. Obviously, you’ve got to like kids, have experience in that type of thing and being certified in CPR first aid and making sure you’re not breaking any laws in your state. You’ll also have to do some basic marketing, but think how much better “started own babysitting business generating $2000 in gross revenue a month” looks on a resume than “Washed dishes all night long”.
2. Delivery Service: If you’re old enough to drive or live in a place where you could get by on a bike with a wagon, starting your own delivery service is another option. You could deliver meals from restaurants that don’t offer delivery or you could even go get groceries for people. Again, this is going to take a little marketing and planning, but you’ll be your own boss.
3. Offer Landscaping Services: If you can rake leaves and mow the grass, this is a great job. Find out what local landscapers are charging and charge about $5-$10 less. You’ll make more money by finding your own customers than you would by settling for minimum wage from landscape companies.
4. Start an Online Business: Think online businesses are all scams and you never make money? I did too, until I started replacing my full time salary with the money I earn online. Whether you create a website and sell products off of it or advertising space, there’s a lot of money to be made. Alternatively, you could think of something fantastically great and launch the next Facebook, Twitter, or YouTube. The internet is never going to go away anytime soon, and you can start working now on something that will provide you with residual income all the way through college and while you go and pursue your other dreams.
5. Make and Sell Crafts: Do you love art? Like making stuff? You can make and sell stuff to your hearts content, whether you sell at local craft fairs and consignment shops or if you decide to instead sell it online at shops like Etsy and others.
6. Fix Cars: If you get a job with a mechanic, they’re at best going to pay you like $7 an hour, even if they do charge $50 an hour or more for labor. If you love working on cars, then do as much as you can do to learn and post ads on Craigslist or through your community that you’ll do things like come to someone’s home to change their oil, adjust a fan belt or patch a flat tire.
7. Sell Music/Videos: Ah, yes, when I was in high school I dreamed of being a rock star. Of course, Geffen never did discover me. But these days you don’t need a record label, you don’t even need a recording studio to make decent sound tracks. There’s a lot of inexpensive and even free audio recording software out there. You could also try to land some small paid gigs at coffee shops or other places. (Think $50 for a 4 hour show – that’s still more than you’d make with a “real job”)- Then all you need is a website and a following and start selling a few tracks. This is probably the hardest of everything I’ve listed here, but if you want to make money by making music, this is a good start.
8. Dog Walking: Dog walking, pet sitting, all other good ideas for a business you can start as a teenager, or any age for that matter. All you need is to like dogs and find some people who need to have their dogs walked while they’re at work all day.
The point of this post is it doesn’t matter what you do to make money – but don’t get a job. Start a business. Find money making opportunities. And once you start making money, don’t blow it all on stupid crap like going to the movies or buying those pants just cause they look cool. Save it. If you start saving just $200 a month now (while your parents still cover most of your living expenses), you’ll have $7200 saved up in three years.