Ways for teens to make money

State and federal laws often make it hard for a teenager to work at a regular paying job to earn some money for themselves or to help support the family. They can run out of lawns to mow or cars to wash and often those small jobs are limited to teens living in the city or suburbs.

Thank goodness for the internet. It opened up a whole new world for teenagers and even children to make money online. For the creative teen there is making items to sell on eBay, designing myspace pages for other myspace users (my daughter did that last year and wrote articles on how to do it), writing their own blog for money or designing avatars. They can even write and publish their own books for free at lulu.com The list can go on depending on the drive and intelligence of the teen.

For anything that the teen puts on the web to sell or promote will require typing, excellent grammar and spelling and an understanding of design appeal. I can often spot a web site done by a child since it will come with annoying music, lots of twinkles and jammed packed with photos that take too long to load. Come to think of it I know a few adults that have web pages that fit into that group too. Those people also never sell anything and wonder why.

Now the biggest obstacle you will find is that many places will not allow teens to get paid if they are under 18. Here is where the parent has to become the banker. For example you use your Google Adsense account and use the code on your teens' blog or website. When Google sends you a check you then pay your teen. You will also have to play banker if the company pays via PayPal. The earnings will have to be in your name for tax purposes but you can work that out with a tax adviser or just claim the income.