It’s very true, and teens all over the nation are making good money as writers. The best part is that this is one job you can do in the comfort of your own home. No more slinging hamburgers on a hot day if you don’t want to.

Now, you might find paid writing internships at local newspapers, and that is a great step if you want to become a report one day. The best opportunities, however, come with writing web content for businesses.

Have you ever visited a website and wondered who did all that writing? Sometimes the webmasters or owners do the writing themselves if they have time. Other times they will hire a freelance writer to do it for them. This can also be called ghostwriting.

Do you know any local businesses who have a website? It’s a great idea for you to offer to write some content for their site. Explain that it will help them get more visitors, rank higher in the search engines, and make more sales.

Another way to get started is to set up a website offering your services. You can even set up a free Squidoo lens if you’re not comfortable creating a website yet. You want to include samples of your writing (that your English teacher would approve of) to show off your awesome writing skills.

You need to think about how much you are going to charge businesses and website owners for your writing. Writers for the web tend to start out a little bit lower than normal to get their foot in the door. This will help you get more clients that land you great referrals in the future. $5-$10 is a good starting range per article.

Imagine that! You can make money from the same kind of writing you would normally do for free to get a grade. Often, you can make a lot more than you would working retail or at another job that teenagers typically take.

A great way to get started earning right away is to sign up for Associated Content.

Associated Content is a company that has you submit your articles before payment. They will review your articles and then let you know how much they are worth. You can accept the payment and they will pay right into a PayPal account (free at http://www.paypal.com )

One problem you might run into as a teen who wants to write for profit is not being old enough or being looked down on because of your age. You can prove yourself by writing great content and presenting yourself in a professional manner. If you are simply too young to be accepted you can encourage your parents to help you get started. They can be the ones with the writing business, while you help them out by writing some content (and getting paid in the process).

Writing for profit is the best option for you if you’re a teen who loves to write. There are few jobs out there that can be so fun. You can do this on your own time and feel like you’re really accomplishing something great.

First of all, this is definitely a business that’s best for those ages 16 and up unless you live in a small town where you can walk everywhere.  Many errands that people will need done require reliable transportation so you can go to the different places that people need you to go.  This is also a business that requires a lot of responsibility and independence.

Some errands that people may hire you for are:

• Grocery shopping
• Picking up dry cleaning
• Buying gifts
• Meeting people at their home (cable guy, delivery, etc.)
• Business related tasks
• Coordinating entertainment (like picking up movie tickets)

Of course, different clients will have different demands for you.  They will likely give you a list of errands they need run at the start of your time working for them.

To get started you need to advertise your services.  You can do this by placing flyers around your neighborhood or even advertising online.  It’s helpful to have a computer so you can keep up with e-mails (as that is how many business people prefer to stay in contact). You should also have a cell phone to keep in contact with clients.

Another thing you’ll need to think about is your payments schedule.  Some errand runners prefer to get paid on a per-hour basis. This might be a good idea for you since it makes calculating the money that is owed to you very easy.  You could also charge per task that you complete, which is also a nice option because people often appreciate knowing how much they will be charged beforehand.  You might try both to see what will work for you in the long run.

Since you’ll be running your own business, you should also look into getting a business license.  Check the laws for your state, and find excellent information for teen businesses here: http://www.sba.gov/teens/tips.html.

Some people might be wary of hiring you if you have little experience.  That is why setting your errand business up the right way from the start is so important.  You can even start out by running errands for family members or family friends to get some referrals under your belt.  If you do a good job you’ll have references and the word will quickly spread as people share their good impressions.
Don’t worry if this all sounds overwhelming to you right now.  You’ll start to become more comfortable with organizing and running your errand business the more you do it.  Don’t forget to charge what you’re worth, and realize that you’re doing people a huge favor when you do the important tasks that they don’t have time to do.

In order to become a pet sitter and have people hire you they will want to make sure you know enough about animals to do a good job.  They love their pet and want their furry friend to have the best care possible.

That means you should have some experience caring for animals.  If you have your own dogs or cats that is a good head start.  If you’ve never had a pet you might want to visit a friend or family member who have one so you can see if pet care is something you are good at.  You might even volunteer to take care of your own pet without your family’s help for a couple of days, or volunteer to take care of your friend’s pet.

Taking care of a pet means:

• Feeding it on time
• Making sure it has enough water
• Taking it out to go to the bathroom
• Making sure it gets enough exercise
• Taking care of it when it gets sick
• Knowing what the pet likes and does not like
• Sticking with the pet’s routine

A friend, neighbor, family member, or client might hire you to do these things for their pet when they go away.  A lot of people would rather hire a pet sitter than send their pet off to a kennel.  You’ll usually go to their house to sit for the pet, which means the pet will get to stay in its home environment.  Sometimes the pet might stay with you in your house instead.

If you are too young to start your own business this might be something you can help another pet sitter do.  Sometimes pet sitters who have their own business like to have an assistant to help with things like going for walks or feeding.

If you are old enough to start your own business there are some things you need to do to protect yourself and get clients.

1. First, you need to learn all you can about taking care of pets.  There are several different books on the market that can help you.  “Pet Sitting for Profit” by Patti J. Moran is an excellent one to start with.

2. You or your parents need to think about protecting yourself in case something goes wrong while you are sitting.  Sometimes things do happen, and pets get sick.  A professional pet sitter with a business needs to be bonded and insured.  See this link for more details: http://www.petsit.com/content316684.html.

3. You can also get accredited by joining at PSI.  This definitely encourages more people to hire you so you can grow your business.  You can find more information about becoming a professional pet sitter at this address: https://www.petsit.com/members/register_step1.php

4. Since you want to provide the best service possible, it’s a good idea to find out what people consider to make up a good pet sitter.  This humane society article on choosing a pet sitter gives you a good idea of what people want: http://www.hsus.org/pets/pet_care/choosing_a_pet_sitter/

5.  National Association for Professional Pet Sitters (NAPPS) is another resource you can look at to become better in your business and get more credibility: http://www.petsitters.org/index.cfm

6. It can also help to read about how other people’s pet sitting businesses are going and how they handle the daily life of caring for pets.  A great example is: http://www.charlottereed.com/images_press_print/2001_0305_cnnmoney.pdf

Pet sitting can be a hobby that you do to help out friends and family members, and to make a little bit of extra money.  Or, you could make it a very profitable and long-term business by becoming accredited, getting insurance, and advertising for many customers.  It’s hard work, but it can be a lot of fun too!