How My Kid Made Money

by Jordan
(Nashville)

Up until my kid turned 16, I was surprised at how many ways he tried to make money without applying for a paycheck-receiving job.

At the age of eight, he wanted to make some spending money so he could buy a CD. I was currently between jobs at the moment, so I was heartbroken to tell him originally that I couldn't shell out $20 to help make his day (nothing any parent wants to do).

However, my son decided to take matters into his own hands and asked me to help him set up a lemonade stand in front of our house. We had a can of lemonade mix and a Gatorade dispenser from back in the day. I helped him set it up and put together a few signs (we put one at the end of our street advertising it and one on the stand itself.) At fifty cents a cup, I doubted it would turn that much of a profit. To my surprise however, he ended up turning a $25 profit in 3 hours. Not bad for an 8 year old!

At the age of fourteen, my son now needed an extra job and had grown a bit too old for the lemonade stand idea. Conveniently enough, my neighbors were going out of town so we asked if he could help watch their dogs when they left. The dogs were being put in the kennel, but they said they would pay him to water the plants while they were gone.

My son got up every morning at 6 am to water. I was extremely disappointed that my neighbors only paid him $20 for working 2 hours a day, 3 days a weeks in the early mornings. However, if your neighbors aren't cheap like mine are, this is another good way to make some additional spending money.

My son continued to look for other jobs like this and even put a few flyers around the neighborhood advertising himself. I remember the funny part being that he had the ad say "have a bike, will travel." Fortunately, this worked and he kept himself busy watching/walking dogs, watering plants and mowing lawns. He could pull down about $70 a week doing odd jobs! At fourteen years old!
My son proved that there are many ways of making money at a young age, you just have to be driven and think outside the box.