5 ways to make money as a high schooler

Let’s be honest, everyone wants money. Having a job can be a great activity to put on your college applications and future resume. However, it can be hard to make money, especially if you’re in high school. Here’s some things you can do that can do to make money as a kid 🙂

This post was specially requested by someone on my Instagram! If you have any specific topics that you’d like me to make a post about, you can let me know on Instagram or on Tumblr 🙂

Get an internship

Now, it is possible to make money with an internship, but it’s pretty unlikely, especially if you don’t have much prior work experience. However, it’s one of the best things you can do to strengthen your college applications. If you do want to get an internship, then try asking your school counsellor for a list of companies that provide internships, and start cold-calling them. If you’re more interested in money than strengthening your college applications, check if your local retail shops are hiring kids your age.

Become a referee/umpire

If you’ve got a couple of years’ experience playing a sport, then you can probably get paid to umpire matches. This can also be pretty helpful for college applications, especially if you’re a sports-oriented person. Note that it’s a pretty seasonal job, since it depends on when your sports legaue plays.

Umpiring is something I do myself, and it’s quite enjoyable. Nevertheless, it took a lot of effort to get certified to umpire – I had to take a short course, pass a written assessment, shadow real umpires for a season, then pass a practical assessment. Once you get certified, it pays a nice amount of money per game, and it’s really rewarding to help out younger kids 🙂

Tutor people

I believe that tutoring people can combine the best of both worlds – it’s a really good experience to put on your college application, and you can make a good amount of money doing it. Decide what you want to tutor kids in, but make sure you actually have the credentials. Don’t teach maths if you barely know the Pythagorean theorem.

To find kids to tutor, reach out to the parents of children in younger years/grades, or ask your younger sibling’s friends if they need any help. If you want to tutor people online (e.g. through Zoom) you can use local parents’ Facebook groups to market your services, but remember to THOROUGHLY VET YOUR CLIENTS so that you can stay safe on the Internet.

Social media & blogging

You might have noticed that I run a (tiny) blog, and also I manage all the social media for it. If I’m being honest, then no, you probably won’t make millions on social media, whether that’s YouTube, Instagram, or by running a blog. However, it is possible to make money, though it takes a lot of waiting around. As well as this, it can look nice on your college application if you blog about a topic you’re interested in, or if you want to study marketing.

In my experience, social media isn’t particularly difficult or time-consuming. It takes me between 3-4 hours a week to write posts, take photos and videos, and make infographics. All in all, I find it really enjoyable. The only real downside is that you’ll be putting your work out into the void for a good while until you start making money. If you do want to know more about my experience, you can request a post by DMing me here or here 🙂

Babysit or petsit

While babysitting is a pretty popular job for kids, it’s not the best way to make money or to gain work experience. However, if you want to be a teacher or social worker, then this might look good on your college applications. If you do want to babysit, you can ask your parents if they know anyone who might need a babysitter. You can also advertise your services on Facebook parents’ groups, or on school noticeboards.

I hope you enjoyed this post! I felt pretty out of my element here, since I normally post study and productivity advice, but it was requested and I’ve got some work experience that applies here, so I thought I’d give it a shot 🙂 I purposefully didn’t include some of the easy money-making things you can do (like transcribing videos) since I think they aren’t really great for work experience.