Top Side Hustles for Teens 2026 - How to Make Money as a Teenager

[00:01] over the top side hustles for teens. Basically, if you want to make money as a teenager in 2026, this video is for you. Now, in my teenage years, I did a obviously, things have changed, so I've basically done the research. These are

[00:14] the 10 best side hustles that you guys can do in 2026 and beyond. It led me down a path of entrepreneurship, and now I have stuff like this. So, let me show you guys. So, this is my car, one of my cars, on the second story in my house.

[00:28] entrepreneurship, doing side hustles, it hustles have a really good combination of being really realistic, things that of money. So, without further ado, let's get started. Okay, the first side hustle

[00:42] I want to talk about is painting house numbers on curbs. Now, you guys are young watching this video, and trust me, you have a huge advantage when it comes go up to a neighbor and ask if I could paint their house number on the curb,

[00:55] Well, you guys are young, and they're going to be way more likely to actually live in the suburbs, you'll know that almost every single house on the block is going to have their house number painted on the curb. Now, a lot of these

[01:08] are really aged and dated, so you can barely see them, and they'd look a lot repainted. So, basically, all you have to do is go out there, get some materials. Essentially, it's going to be spray paints, uh stencils for different

[01:20] doing is walk around through your neighborhood or through any neighborhood, basically. Knock on doors, ask them if they'd like you to paint yeah, you guys will get rejected, definitely. That's a certain, but there

[01:33] are going to be people that say yes. And this is going to teach you guys so many knocking, as well as client fulfillment. So, basically, if you knock with, say, clients from that, and it's up to you guys how much you want to charge. I'd

[01:47] say something between 10 to 30 dollars. You can also do a donation base, so you can just say you guys can pay whatever. I think most homeowners would give you at least 20 bucks, if I'm being honest. Yeah, super super great side hustle,

[01:59] One of my best friends actually did this when he was in his teenage years and he absolutely crushed it. Like I think he made hundreds of dollars in a single day yeah, really really cool. Next up is going to be TikTok Shop. Now, chances

[02:13] that TikTok Shop is absolutely blowing up. Now, the greatest thing ever right now is that anyone with a phone, so all you guys watching this probably, can literally pick it up, start making short-form content for TikTok and sell

[02:27] easily browse to see what products you guys can promote and it's going to show going to get or the dollar amount. And then all you have to do is create these UGC user-generated content videos, post

[02:40] product and then when someone actually watches your video and buys the product, I know creators doing tens of thousands of dollars per month and they're really interesting and cool way to make money. What I would do is just browse TikTok

[02:54] really well on there, that are selling really well with solid commissions, sign up for them, maybe purchase the product if needed or maybe you don't need to and then just start making content. I would film three to five videos per day and if

[03:08] basically guaranteed to have at least one viral video. And those viral videos you can actually make a really solid amount of money doing this. This teaches you content creation and it basically teaches you how to hustle. Not all of

[03:24] your videos going to do well, so do not expect that, but a small percentage of them will and those are the ones that are going to, you know, result in a lot of commissions. Perfect side hustle for anyone that's good at content, so highly

[03:36] hustle I want to talk about for teenagers is going to be selling candy actually did when I was in middle school. I would go to Costco, buy big packs of candy bars in bulk and then I would sell them at school. Now, this

[03:51] could be something else. It could be snacks, anything that you can sell to this is that it's very likely that your school probably doesn't allow this. So, discreetly, right? You're going to have to sell out of your backpack, sell out

[04:06] of your locker. And I know I did this until I was told I couldn't do it, but I still made some good money. And it really taught me how to buy low, sell high, right? Like the whole concept of buying stuff in bulk and then selling

[04:18] individual items for a more expensive price is something that you'll do later on in the future if you want to get into e-commerce, basically anything. It also right? You also need to be discreet about it. And yeah, all of the people I

[04:31] know selling candy back in middle school or high school are pretty successful correlation, and that's why I think you guys should try this one out. Obviously, ask your friends first. Word is going to travel by word of mouth, so people are

[04:45] this candy, you're selling these snacks, coming up to you. And yeah, it's going to be a pretty interesting business to hustle I'm going to talk about is building websites for local businesses.

[04:58] for those of you that are like really young, but if you're in high school and beyond, I think this is a fantastic side hustle that is a perfect blend of like technical expertise, making a lot of money, as well as being fully online.

[05:11] just basically learn how to build websites on one platform, and then get take you two to four weeks. And then what you're going to do is you're just businesses around you, or you're going to call up a bunch of businesses in the

[05:27] call. Ask them, I can actually build you a website that looks a lot better for X price. I recommend doing either a flat fee or doing some type of retainer where you charge them monthly for, you know, keeping their website up to date,

[05:42] that. And there's so much demand for this, you guys. There are so many businesses out there, especially local businesses that are brick and mortar, that have really, really bad websites. So, young people they're really good at

[05:55] You're probably also going to charge a lot less than some gigantic website agency out there. And so, it's really a win-win for everyone. Now, for the you can do this is through Hostinger. That's probably the cheapest way, and

[06:08] one single plan can help you build multiple websites. I'll have a link down below as well as uh some videos that I made on how to build a website with take this seriously, I recommend using something like GoHighLevel. This is a

[06:20] something like GoHighLevel. This is a bit more expensive at $97 to $297 per month. But, with that $297 plan, you can actually build unlimited websites for amazing. This is probably what I would do. And yeah, if you guys use my link to

[06:34] you all of my snapshots, all of my website templates. You're going to get $15,000 of bonuses that are only for my audience. And like I said, you use one for all of your different clients. You can build those websites within there,

[06:49] and then basically sell those to all these local businesses. Fantastic way to make money. You can easily make $5,000 or month or more, and definitely one that can scale into a real big business. So, I'll put a link down below to

[07:02] It's basically the platform I use to run all of my online businesses. The next reselling. So, reselling has been been doing for decades, right? I used to do it when I was young. Uh I would buy

[07:16] stuff for a low price, and then sell it for a higher price. It's a very simple concept, but this concept literally applies to business everywhere, right? All businesses resell stuff that they get for a lower price for a higher

[07:28] price. So, you're going to learn a ton about e-commerce, about dealing with clients, finding clients, uh listing products online, listing products uh in person. And you also get to understand the pricing for a niche really, really

[07:41] for example, shoes. So, you have to be really well-versed in the different of them, buying low, selling high, of course. Clothes, right? Furniture. This is a great one that's a little bit more challenging since you'll probably need a

[07:55] bigger truck or car. Uh collectibles, like Pokémon cards, pretty much hustle because you can literally do it anywhere, right? You can also do it completely online if you want. This will teach you e-commerce, right? Like

[08:08] packing, shipping products, dealing with customer service, stuff like that. You can also do reselling in person through Facebook Marketplace, Craigslist, apps. And yeah, you can make a lot of money, guys. If you know the markets

[08:21] well and you know what to buy at what price, you can easily sell it for, let's price, you can easily sell it for, let's say, a 20 to 40% premium. Now, in terms of where to buy stuff that's cheaper, I would say slickdeals.net has a lot of

[08:34] going to be the most relevant to you guys is just looking on Facebook Marketplace, looking on OfferUp. Look for used things that people are just price they're going to get. It might need some paints, it might need

[08:47] something like a really quick fix. Do that, take better photos, and then just A lot of entrepreneurs I know today used to do reselling. So, I think this is a great way to get into entrepreneurship and make some money. Next up on the list

[09:00] yard work. So, depending on where you guys live, you might do grass mowing, right? Or you might do snow shoveling. Whatever it is, you're basically doing a service, which I call a rather high-value service. It's something that

[09:15] people need done, but really don't want to do. And so, they're actually willing to pay a solid amount of money for it. Like you should easily be able to make between 20 to $40 per hour doing lawn care and yard work. This is a classic

[09:28] the best business types that I recommend for new entrepreneurs. And the reason for this is because it costs almost $0 to start. You might need a few tools and supplies, but beyond that, right? Nothing else. It's all service-based,

[09:42] meaning you are trading your time for money. And some of you guys might be money. Well, for young people and for people that are learning, trading your time for money is one of the best ways to actually make money. The only thing

[09:54] high-value skill. Don't trade your time for money at, let's say, a local fast-food spot. Yes, you will learn stuff about working and jobs and stuff, entrepreneurship experience. Plus, the pay is going to be a lot lower than if

[10:08] on this list. Obviously, you need to be okay at the lawn work. You need to have some skill in it. So, don't do this if you are a complete noob. But, if you're, let's say, at least intermediate level, then you can easily offer this as a

[10:22] service. And what I would do is basically create ads on Craigslist and Facebook Marketplace. Maybe print a flyer and put it in your neighborhood. you'll talk to potential clients. Tell them your pricing. I recommend just

[10:36] getting clients on a monthly retainer. So, basically, they pay X dollars per month, you go in and do X services per month, and that just creates really consistent cash flow, which is amazing. If you do a good job, you're going to

[10:48] mouth. You can also start doing ads if you want to really grow this into a there's a ton of different ways you guys can scale any of these side hustles, but for all of them. The next side hustle on this list is drop shipping. Now, drop

[11:04] shipping is definitely on the harder side of actually being able to make a list. But, I think that every entrepreneur needs to do some type of their life. I know that I did it. I know that all my friends did it. And the

[11:18] easy way to actually start building an online store, learning about e-commerce, learning about inventory, learning about Facebook ads, all that stuff. Now, when day, I had to build a website using Shopify, and I had to do it manually, so

[11:32] are AI tools that help you build a Shopify store in literally like 5 no problem at all. All you guys can literally just use the link down below. It's a free Shopify store builder that builds your entire site and gives you

[11:47] items to sell in about 5 to 10 minutes, completely free, and there's also a that if you want to at some point get into e-commerce. And yeah, all the in this video, I'm going to drop them in the description. So, make sure to open

[12:00] links, and if any of these resonate with you, I recommend just taking action. with drop shipping, obviously, it does take some time for you to actually start setting up your store anymore or finding products. It is actually the marketing

[12:15] part. So, if you want to get really good at marketing, then drop shipping is a really great side hustle to start. Facebook ads, Google ads, creating content, working with content creators, there's so much cool stuff that you guys

[12:27] e-commerce in general. And the great thing is that all these skills you're going to take with you, and it's going to help you on your next business. The be photography. Now, I did photography all throughout my teenage years, also

[12:40] college. And this is one of those perfect high-value services that you can offer, where you can get paid a pretty ridiculous amount of money hourly while future. So, for me, I really like doing portrait photography, and I recommend

[12:55] something that interests you. Because portraits, you can make the most amount of money from, right? So, we're talking graduation shoots, we're talking family photo shoots, weddings, engagements. All these things can command a huge amount

[13:09] of money per shoot. So, I was regularly making between 100 to 500 dollars per that's because I learned a high-value skill like photography, invested a bit of money into some decent equipment, learned photography as a skill, and got

[13:23] really good. If you guys are watching this video, and you are really into video or photography or any of these like creative disciplines where you can do a service for a person and they'll pay you, then I highly recommend trying

[13:35] business around photography or video, stuff like that, can make you a ton of money. And the way that I grew my business as a teenager was I essentially did a few free photo shoots, I did a good job, they told their friends, got

[13:48] delivering a good product, more and more people are going to hear about you. and you just going to get clients really organically. If you really want to take faster though, you'll do content creation, so you'll make IG reels,

[14:03] showcase all of your work, tag your clients. Now, that is a great way to use social media to actually, you know, get clients. With photography, you should easily be able to make between 50 to, let's say, $300 per hour depending on

[14:17] customer service, being personable with your clients. And yeah, I highly recommend this as a side hustle. Next is selling a digital product and pairing it with social media. So, this is something that is rather new, but it is a great

[14:30] money online. So, essentially what you're doing is you're creating a digital product, so this could be a course, this could be a PDF, this could be a template, something like this that can be made in Canva or HighLevel can

[14:44] tons of different softwares you guys can use to actually create these digital once you create one time, there's basically zero fulfillment cost, right? invest some time and maybe a little bit of money to create it, and then every

[14:58] single sale you make, it costs you basically $0 to fulfill it. All you do person. It's a lot different than e-commerce where there's costs associated with every single purchase. This means that you have a 100% profit

[15:12] more money on ads, you can spend more money and time on creating content. And yeah, if you pair this with social media by creating some type of niche-specific absolutely blow up and make tons and

[15:26] you guys can do this is let's say you want to sell Notion templates, right? Notion is a platform that people use to organize their life as well as even run different templates and sell these templates to people. Now, what I would

[15:39] do is I'd create a Notion focused Instagram page, name it something with Notion in the title, and then only put out educational content talking about Notion, showcasing your templates, all that stuff. This is the number one way

[15:52] and if you do this correctly, this should become a six can even become a you're good at content, this pairs really well with you. Just make educational content in that specific niche of your digital product, and sales

[16:07] will come naturally. Okay, next and our last one on this list is selling art online on websites like Etsy. Now, a lot of you watching this are probably really creative and quite talented at some form of art. And the great thing is that art

[16:22] can be made for not too much money, right? It's more of an investment of your time and effort, but can be sold for pretty ridiculous amounts of money. that someone is willing to pay you, well, it just depends on what they want

[16:35] that's really unique, it's really special in some type of way, then you websites like Etsy. Personally, if I were to do this, I would do canvas art. premium because the amount of money that

[16:50] for nice art that's hung on their walls is absolutely insane. So, for example, if you like cars, you can do a type of art where it's a canvas, you can have cars on the canvas like little model cars, you can paint, and you'll have art

[17:04] that maybe some car collectors might really like. You can also buy a huge, let's say 4 by 6 foot canvas from Michael's for maybe 100 bucks, buy paints, create a more like abstract piece of art on it using all the paint.

[17:17] like that. And if it looks good, right, you can sell the artwork for a lot more. One way to put a huge premium on this is to actually frame it. So, there are tons of different services online where you can actually get these custom canvas

[17:30] frames on your complete canvas artwork, it makes it look like 10 times more willing to pay a lot more money. You can sell on Etsy, you can sell on Facebook Marketplace, on Craigslist. You can create your own social media page. And

[17:44] yeah, overall, there's of money that can be made for arts. So, yeah, if this is and your talents, definitely give it a shot. So, those are 10 of the best side hustles that I recommend for teenagers that want to make money in 2026 and

[17:57] types of side hustles. And so, obviously, not all of them are going to this video, some of them really stood out to you. And what I would say is just thing about side hustles is that you don't need to do it forever. They are

[18:10] great stepping blocks to learn entrepreneurship, to make some money. cooler than making money when you're older. Plus, doing all these will lead which I think is the greatest thing in the world. And so, hopefully, this is

[18:24] journey, right? Maybe one day in 30 years, you'll have a massive Fortune 500 started one of these side hustles. Don't just do it for the money, do it for the best of luck. Again, I'll have all the links to the resources we talked about

[18:39] description. So, make sure you take advantage of those. And if you guys got give it a like, a comment, share with a friend, and subscribe if you want to see contents about entrepreneurship, personal finance, business. And yeah,

[18:52] more financially successful life. Thank you so much for your time and I'll see you so much for your time and I'll see you in the next video.