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Passive income, working from home, I dunno about you but these buzzwords seem to have taken over the digital marketing space on YouTube as of late with so-called online gurus seemingly getting younger and younger earning six figures a year. So is it possible to do the same and can you work from home as a 16-year-old?
To work from home as a 16-year-old, look for low-skilled jobs such as watching ads for money, or become a data reviewer. You can also search for a side hustle that allows you to earn passive income that you can manage a few hours per week such as dropshipping or selling e-books.
So which of these jobs are the easiest to follow? And is what is the best ten-step plan to start working from home as a 16-year-old? Keep reading to find out more!
(Just a heads up a lot of people reading my blog are in the process of designing their own home office. If you want to save some of the painstaking time I did in designing my office, you can find my recommended products here)
Set up a bank account
So if you’re 16 years old and reading this post I just want to say, way to go, you’ve easily got way more drive than I or the majority of other kids had out there when they were 16 years old.
The first step then you will need to follow before you even think about applying for any jobs or starting any side hustles is to set up a bank account.
A lot of 16-year-olds are used to their parents paying for everything and if you will be earning any significant amount of money (i.e anything close to the minimum or living wage) then you are going to need a place for all your money to go.
On top of this, If you are starting a side hustle like dropshipping and want to start selling in the US market then you’re going to need to set up a bank account with a US address.
Luckily I’ve listed the best ones below:
Best general bank accounts for 16-year-olds in the UK (source: Money.co.uk)
- Santander mini current account
- The first direct first account
- Starling Bank Current account
- Barclays Bank account
- TSB Spend and Save +
Best general bank accounts for 16-year-olds in the USA ( source: Finder)
- Axos Bank First Checking
- Copper
- Alliant Credit Union Free Teen Checking
- Capital One MONEY
- Wells Fargo Teen Checking
- USAA Youth Spending
Just be aware that you will need a minimum amount to put in these accounts and will likely need a parent present to open some of these accounts.
Don’t quit school
This is a little controversial.
Sadly, a lot of the information out there around quitting education and starting a business or job working from home, and living an easy life where you’re in control of your schedule are massively exaggerated.
You see a lot of the people who promote this type of lifestyle have confirmation bias meaning that they are the 1% who have actually managed to achieve what they wanted by the date they first anticipated.
For the rest of us, it might take a little longer than that.
As such, dropping out of high school or avoiding going to college altogether ( especially if you are studying a skill that can only be learned there such as Engineering) is a bad idea.
You always want to make sure that you have something to drop back on in case things go wrong and so just ensure that even though you will be working from home as a 16-year-old, you will need to have the skill to help you out in the future too.
Decide how much money you want to earn working from home
So you’ve set up your bank account and still spending the majority of your time at school.
The next step and realistic question you need to ask yourself is how much money you want to earn working from home.
If you just want an extra allowance to help you get through the week say around $100 or £100 per month then the route you go down is going to be vastly different than if you decide to opt for something that will earn you a lot more money say $1000 – $10,000 + per month.
By working backward you will also set yourself much more realistic expectations – after all, earning $100 per month extra is a heck of a lot easier than earning $10,000 per month extra.
Work out how many hours per week you can work
Once you have a figure in your head, the next step is to understand your schedule and how much time you have.
One of the good things about a 16-year-old is that typically ( but not always) you have a lot more free time than the rest of us.
Family and work commitments are likely a lot less than the rest of us with school taking up the majority of your time.
As such, I would recommend writing down exactly how many spare hours you can dedicate per week to working from home.
Decide if you want a job or start your own business
The final setup then to working from home as a 16-year-old is to get an idea of if you want a job or to start your own business.
Now both of these have major benefits and drawbacks so to help compare the two I’ve put together a table below:
|
Type |
Advantages |
Disadvantages |
| Job |
|
|
| Business |
|
|
Best jobs to work from home as a 16-year-old
So if you’ve decided to work from home for a 16-year old I found that the following jobs are the best types to start earning money on the side from the comfort of your own home;
Online Surveys
There are thousands of companies worldwide who are interested in market research when it comes to their services or products.
Heck, a lot of governments like for you to do surveys to help them get a better idea of how their policies are going down so doing surveys are a fantastic option.
The best surveys then I’ve listened down below:
- Toluna – You have to be 13+ to sign up
- Swagbucks – You have to be 13+ to sign up
- Survey Junkie – You have to be 13+ to sign up
Customer Service jobs
Other jobs that can work well for 16-year-olds are customer service jobs – these typically don’t take too many hours per week and can earn you a pretty good income.
Again I found the best ones that allow you to work from home are:
Uhaul – This pays around $7.50 per hour and they are actively recruiting for 16-year-olds – just ensure you have a few months of customer service experience at your disposal.
Music review jobs
For those of you who are more musically inclined this might be the right opportunity for you.
There are a few companies out three that will pay you money for listening to new music and to leave feedback.
This is typically pain into your PayPal account and can vary from 5 – 20 cents per song. This could be a good way to earn an extra few dollars per week listinign to music on your commute to and from school.
- Slice the pie
- Music X-ray
Direct sales opportunities
A lot of direct sales jobs out there on the marketplace are a scam.
There I said it!
A lot of them will have you working long hours per day to try and sell general products.
That being said there are a few decent ones out there that I’ve to listen to below that you can start under the age of 16 that really allow you to earn some significant money on the side.
Just be warned that you may need to invest some money before getting started with this.
I would recommend doing this for a few months and then potentially finding a normal sales job which will likely earn you a lot more money on the side than this:
Be sure to check out my video below which explains a little more about this:
Music review jobs
For those of you who are more musically inclined this might be the right opportunity for you.
There are a few companies out three that will pay you money for listening to new music and to leave feedback.
This is typically pain into your PayPal account and can vary from 5 – 20 cents per song.
This could be a good way to earn an extra few dollars per week listinign to music on your commute to and from school
Become a copywriter
Some of the things websites, blogs, and publishing companies are always looking for are quality writers, particularly from English-speaking countries who have a fantastic grasp of the language.
If English is one of the strongest skills you have in school then this could be an opportunity for you.
Typically for copywriting jobs, a good place to start would be on sites like:
Both are freelancing sites where you can start your journey writing. I would also recommend shaving a look at the likes of text goods and enquire to them about becoming a writer. You can contact them here.
Best business to start as a 16-year-old
So if you have decided that you want to earn some real money as opposed to a general side hustle then one of the best things you can do is start a business.
Just be aware that this will take a lot of time and effort to really start earning any money and that often your first few business ideas won’t take off through no fault of your own. It’s just a lack of experience.
To find a comprehensive list of 100+ business ideas you can start at home check out my blog post.
YouTube
Youtube is a fantastic opportunity that I don’t think enough people take advantage of.
Did you know that youtube is the world’s second-largest search engine?
Find a topic that you are passionate about whether this is music, video games, or movies, and start making videos about the topic.
Once you have around 1000 subscribers and 4000 of watch time then you can start to earn a decent amount of money.
To find out more about YouTube check out my blog post on how easy it is to get to 1000 subscribers here.
In terms of investment, this is initially going to be very low cost with you only really needing an internet connection and a phone to record yourself from.
Blogging
Another fantastic opportunity on a business that you can start working from home as a 16-year-old is to start blogging.
Your reading my blog right now and so find a topic that you can talk about or have an interest in, do some keyword research to find out how competitive that niche is, and then write really useful strong content around the topic.
You would then make money through your blog through people buying products through your affiliate links and ads placed on your website.
I personally recommend using project 24 from Jim and Ricky over at income school, Check out their video below which can explain a lot better than I can around how exactly they set up their blogs to earn 6 figures per month.
Dropshipping
Dropshipping is the idea of sourcing products (typically from China or other countries) and then selling them to potential customers.
A lot of people do this through Shopify stores however in my experience one of the better varieties of drop shipping has to be fulfillment by amazon.
If you choose the right product you can look to profit an extra $2000 – $3000 per month.
This can be one of the faster ways to make money as a 16-year old however you need to be aware that the learning curve on this is incredibly tough and that it will usually require a decent-sized investment of $3000 – $5000 to get started.
Also as a rookie, it’s not likely your first two or three products will be successful so this could leave you worse off when your first start.
Ebooks
Similar to selling physical products, there is also a marketplace for ebooks and physical books and so print on demand is another fantastic option.
You can weather opt to write books on underserved topics yourself or hire an expert writer on the field.
The investment is usually a lot less here too with you usually charging $300 or so for a complete book and then around another $300 getting the book advertised on sites like Amazon or Ingram Spark.
Some of the best e-book publishers can realistically earn an extra $1000 per month
Freelancing
Finally, if none of the business options above suit you then another great option is just to freelance.
We touched upon the sites already but websites like Fiverr and Upwork are brilliant options for you to get a foothold in your industry.
These websites can cater for literally anything whether it is coming up with a logo or designing a website and writing code.
As such if there is one skill that you are good at and enjoy doing, it is likely that you can start freelancing on Fiverr to really start your business.
Finally, a lot of people reading my blog want to know what products I recommend for a home office/remote working. You can find out my recommendations here and learn how I make money whilst working remotely on the side here.
The content on this site has been written by Fehed Nicass who has over a decade worth of experience in sales and has worked remotely for the past 2 years.