Teen Money Making Ideas » Steve / moneywizkid

20 Creative Ways To Advertise Your Lawn Care Business in Your Neighborhood

Steve / moneywizkid — Fri, 18 Jun 2010 13:26:36 +0000

The following article is from TeenMoneyMakingIdeas.Com:Lawn care is a great business idea for teens to make money. But without advertising, you don’t make any money. One of the first places you should advertise your lawn care business is in your neighborhood near where you live and where you’ll be mowing lawns. So if you’re at a loss for ideas for how to get customers or market your lawn care business, I’ve gathered all the related tips that we’ve written about in some of our previous marketing articles in this article on 20 creative ways you can advertise your lawn care business in your neighborhood:

One of the very first ways you should advertise your lawn care business is by telling your family and friends about it. They are your first pool of support and moral boosters. Tell them about what you are up to during visits or even call them out of the blue to say hi and update them on what’s happening with you. Let them know how much you appreciate their help and make them feel that they are a big part of your growth as a budding entrepreneur.
Ask your family and friends in your neighborhood if you can borrow their window spaces. Design their windows for free in exchange for putting your advertisement up there. Use bold signs, big letters and bright colors to attract attention. Make sure that it can be seen from afar.
Put up a sign in your lawn. Make it big and use creative pictures.
Create key-chains or key-rings with your name and logo on it to give them away at locksmiths, car shops, gasoline stations, etc in your area.
Get custom apparel like caps or shirts and wear them whenever you go out. You could also give some of these away as in the above example as well.
Get a lot of balloons, tie your information on the strings, and let them all just fly away or better yet, stand on the corner and give them away.
Design creative bumper stickers to give away that people can put on their cars too. For example “Baby in car” or “Student driver” – they are useful to a lot of people. You can design this with your website or name of your lawn care business in a much smaller font at the bottom or at the top.
Offer discounts during important events or seasons and then distribute them throughout your neighborhood
Distribute Missing or Wanted posters all over the neighborhood that goes something like this: “WANTED: A client who wants their lawns mowed for a cheap price”.
Go door-to-door in your neighborhood and let people know what you are all about. Give away some of your keychains/key rings, tshirts, baseball caps and balloons discussed above.
Walk around in your area in a costume and give out flyers or business cards or some of the free gifts discussed above.
Join school organizations or attend community events and tell people about your business.
Have a garage sale. Every time someone makes a purchase, make sure that you include your business card in the bag or a flyer advertising your lawn care business.
Put your flyers about your business on parked cars in your area and in at the parking lots in your neighborhood
Visit restaurants in your neighborhood and drop your business cards in the customer drop box.
Visit your local library and discreetly insert your business card or flyer in DIY or home fix-it books.
Make free bookmarks and distribute them in bookstores and libraries near where you live for free. You can even insert them in random books. Just make sure that you don’t get caught! You can also discretely give them to people sitting in the library. Put all your information on the bookmark, but make sure that you also create cool designs so a lot of people will like it.
Visit restaurants in your neighborhood and drop your business cards in the customer drop box.
You should be marketing your lawn care business all throughout the year. So during halloween, when kids go trick or treating, give them candy and slip them your business card as well. They might not be interested in it, but their parents might be!
Once you do have customers, offer them a discount in exchange for promoting you or referrals.

[photo credit]For more information like this, visit TeenMoneyMakingIdeas.Com.

Photo Essay: 7 Things You Probably Should Never Wear To a Job Interview

Steve / moneywizkid — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 12:02:01 +0000

The following article is from TeenMoneyMakingIdeas.Com:Amber and Erica have some great job interview tips they’re going to be posting over the next week or so since this is a time of the year that a lot of teens are hunting for jobs. So I thought I’d have some fun by starting things off with a photo essay of what NOT to wear to a job interview:

1. baggy pants that hang off your but no matter how trendy and cool you think it is.

2. Baseball cap

3. Mini skirt, no matter how cute you think you look.

4. Sandals or flip-flops, even if you just got a pedicure.

5. Tight Jeans

6. Fishnet stockings

7. Leggings

Did I miss anything? If so, add to the list by commenting below.

photo credits: [flickr.com/photos/malenails/, flickr.com/photos/lelak/]

For more information like this, visit TeenMoneyMakingIdeas.Com.

5 Upsells for Your Lawn Care Business to Make Maximum Profit

Steve / moneywizkid — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 10:12:44 +0000

The following article is from TeenMoneyMakingIdeas.Com:As a teenage entrepreneur, you want to make the maximum profit in your business. The lawn care business is no exception to this. Apart from mowing lawns there are a lot of other ways to make more money on your existing customers if you know how to upsell. Even if you don’t know what upsell is, you probably encounter it at least once every day.

Picture this: you’re in Starbucks ordering your favorite drink when the cashier casually suggests to you that for $1 more you can get the next larger size. And without thinking about it, you agree. Another example is when you order a Big Mac in McDonald and just before you pay for your order, the cashier asks you if you would like to add a drink to your order for an extra dollar. Without much thought, you dig a little deeper in your pocket and pull out an extra dollar. Guess what? You’ve just been zapped by the magic of an upsell!

Like most people you probably know the concept of what an upsell is, but you’ve never really understood it. But mastering this strategy means that you’ll be able to make extra money from your existing customers. If you already have lawn care customers, here are 5 additional service or upsells that you can offer your customers to increase the profit from your lawn care business:

Offer driveway edging – edging is when you trim away the excess grass and dirt over the sidewalks and driveway to leave the yard looking neat and manicured. A lot of people love the way their lawns look when the edges of their lawns have been trimmed, so this should be an easy upsell.
In the fall, offer to rake leaves. This one is huge – so don’t overlook it! In the fall when there are a lot of leaves, no one likes to rake them up. So this where you can come in.
In winter you can offer your lawn care customer to shovel snow for them.
Offer to plant trees, flowers, or bushes for your customers.
You can offer to trim existing shrubbery on your customer’s property.

As I’ve pointed out before, if you’re out of school for the summer or even after school, the lawn care business is a great idea for you. Don’t think that because there are a lot of commercial lawn care businesses out there that you won’t make money at it. Trust me, there is still plenty of business out there for you.

Also, another good thing about the lawn care business is that if you live in a residential area, your parents probably already have of the equipment you need to get started. Just make sure you take care of their things so they allow you to continue using their equipment.

Just today, my kid brother made $100 in just a few short hours of yard work near where we live. Plus, he’s set up another job for $40 for next week. You can do it too. You just need to get out there and make it happen!

credits: [photo 1] [photo 2] [photo 3]For more information like this, visit TeenMoneyMakingIdeas.Com.

How to Set the Right Prices in Your Lawn Care Business

Steve / moneywizkid — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 14:25:42 +0000

The following article is from TeenMoneyMakingIdeas.Com:I’ve already shown you how someone can make over $100,000 in the lawn care business by using the example of Emil Motycka who started his own lawn care business at the age of 9. Most teens have experience mowing the lawn at home so starting up this kind of business should be a piece of cake for a teen who isn’t afraid of breaking a sweat. But the one thing that a lot of you might have trouble with is setting the right price for each job that you take on. Well, being the investigative reporter that I am (*clears throat*), I searched around the internet to see what other people are charging and came up some averages that you can use to set your own prices.

First, there are a couple of ways to set prices. You can either set hourly rates or you can set rates by the job. Let’s look at the average hourly rate first. On the lower end, I found that in places like Orlando, and Chicago, the rate is between $15-$25 per hour. But on the higher end, the rate is between $25-$40 per hour in places like San Francisco and Cincinnati. This should give you an idea of what you might want to charge in your own area. But before making a final decision, do a little research a little more research by talking to people near where you live and even talking your prices over with your parents.

The second way of setting your prices in your lawn mowing business is by the job. However, this isn’t really recommended until you have a lot of experience at accurately sizing up a lawn and setting the price. The last thing you want to do is to underestimate a job and end up getting paid a lot less than the job is worth; nor do you want to overestimate the price because if you do that, you’ll end up losing customers to the next guy who is charging a lot less. With enough experience completing hourly jobs, you should be able to look at a lawn and tell how long it’s going to take you to finish it. So, for example, if you think the lawn is going to take you about an hour to mow, then you might charge $35. Eventually, when you get really fast, you might be able to cut down the amount of time it takes you, thereby you’ll be able to make more money in less time.

One research tool that I highly recommend is a site like www.craigslist.org to see what other people are charging in your area. I’ve said this before about starting other kinds of business: start out by charging a little less than what other people are charging in your area; this way you have an advantage over your competition. Once you have several customers, then you can level out your prices a bit to what other people are charging.

Good luck and happy lawn mowing!

For more information like this, visit TeenMoneyMakingIdeas.Com.

How to Step up the Game on Your Dog Walking Businesss to Earn Even More

Steve / moneywizkid — Fri, 28 May 2010 07:04:26 +0000

The following article is from TeenMoneyMakingIdeas.Com:Dog walking is a great business for a teens to start and we’ve already shown you how to set up your business and then how to market it. Well now I’d like to show you how to step up the game on your dog walking business so you can earn even more money.

With any business you start, your goal should always be how to take it to the next level and help your business to grow and expand. The same goes for the the dog walking business. Think of it in this way: the dog walking is the main course, but what about the appetizers and the dessert? You want to be able to make money in other ways too, not just on the main service that you offer – which is the example of the main course. The more add-on services you offer people, (appetizer and dessert), the more money you can make.

So just what are some add on services that you can offer? Well there are lots. Pet Sitting, for one thing, is a great additional service that you can offer to your customers. There are so many times that pet owners need to be away from their animals for extended period of time and they have no one to care for them. On top of that, they hate the idea of putting their pets in a kennel. They would much rather leave their pets with someone who is going to give them the one-on-one attention they would like them to have.

This is where you can come in. Your pet sitting service can include staying with a customer’s pets – either dog or cat (if you’re a cat lover as well), for an extended period of time in their home or yours. Of course you will need to discuss this with your parents ahead of time to get permission to do this and figure out exactly how it will all work.

During the time that you’re pet sitting, your responsibility will be to keep the pets entertained, take them outside for exercise, feed them and give them water. How easy is that! And how much fun is that – especially if you love pets anyways! Oh and don’t forget that you will also have to clean up any mess that dog or cat makes as well. That’s not so much fun, but it goes with the territory. You will also need to decide if you’re going to administer meds the the animal may be on while your customer is away. I wouldn’t suggest that you accept to pet sit any animals that you have to administer medication to, because I think that’s just too much responsibility that you would have to shoulder if anything was to go wrong.

The pay for pet sitting ain’t to bad either, I might add. According to PetSitters, the average rate per visit is $14 but other people suggest a rate of $50 per day visit. If it’s an overnight stay, the rate goes up significantly; around $60 per night according to PetSitter, and some people charge as high as $100 per night. To figure out what you should pay in your area, check out your local Craiglist to see what other people are charging. You can beat the competition by charging $5 or more less than what everybody else is charging.

If you’re going to be doing pet sitting in the customer’s home, other services you can offer are watering their plants, collecting their mail, picking up their clothes from the dry cleaners; maybe even some lite house keeping such as dusting. If someone is going to be away for a day or more they may need all those things done, and it’s a chance for you to make more money. If you’re going to offer these extra services, your rates, of course, will be higher than the ones I quoted you above. You can add on anywhere from $5 on up depending on the number and complexity of the tasks you’re going to be doing.

Other services that you could offer are feeding of other small animals such as fish, birds and cats!

If people are animal lovers it wouldn’t be unusual for them to have any of the above additional pets in their homes. You can offer your services to care for these animals as well.

And while you’re at it, what about a bit of lite yard work such as mowing the lawn or clipping the hedges? There are so many ways to make extra money from what you’re already doing, that you’re only limited by your imagination! If you have dog walking customers, there are tons of other ways that you can step up the game on your business by offering customers that you already have other valuable services. And I’ve only scratched the surface here in this article. Now it’s up to you to take what I’ve said here and put it into action so you can earn even more.

credits: [photo 1] [photo 2]For more information like this, visit TeenMoneyMakingIdeas.Com.

How to Make Over $100,000 in the Lawn Care Business

Steve / moneywizkid — Thu, 27 May 2010 06:38:35 +0000

The following article is from TeenMoneyMakingIdeas.Com:As summer approaches many teens begin to think about ways to get a job and earn some spending money. After all, school is out and you have more time on your hands. But if the idea of working long hours for someone else doesn’t appeal to you, then why not consider starting your own business? One business idea that does really well in the summer months is lawn care.

In the summer, lawns tend to grow a lot faster than they do in the winter months. And we all know how most people feel about mowing their own lawns. It’s just not a job that most people enjoy.

In addition to this, people tend not to have as much time to take care of their own lawns because they would much rather spend their summers going to the beach, shopping, vacationing and other fun activities.

Also, according to news-record.com, “Americans spend $30 billion a year on their lawns, more than the gross national product of dozens of countries”. For a teen with an entrepreneurial spirit, those figures should spell opportunity. The lawn care business is a booming business so why not get in on it now while the opportunity is still there? If you enjoy the outdoors and want to earn money working for yourself, the lawn care business may be just thing for you.

So what doe this have to do with earning over $100,000? Well, by starting your own lawn care business, you will be joining the ranks of people like Emil Motycka who “began mowing lawns at the age of nine, after a teacher challenged students in his elementary school class to figure out an alternate way to pay for college”. Emil later formed his own company and by the time he was a senior in high school, his company earned over $135,000 from it!

Who would have guessed that you could make over $100,000 mowing lawns? The truth is, with determination and drive you can make more money than you can imagine .

One of the keys to Emil’s success was the help of his parents who he credits for accompanying him to make sales calls and driving him to his lawn mowing jobs when he was too young to get his license. So if you’re a teen and you’re interested in starting this kind of business, it’s important to get the support and help of your family because they can be an important key to your success.

In addition to this, you should also be prepared for the type of work that lawn care entails. Mowing laws involves a lot of long hours and manual labor. However, if hard work doesn’t intimidate you, then you may be just the type who can easily make over $100,000 in the lawn care business.

To be successful, you should also research the area you live in to locate people that are in need of your services. Your neighbors are a good place to start and from there you can branch out a little further. Of course, the further out you venture away from home, the more in need of help from your family you will need. Again, try to get the help of your parents or older sibling.

Having the right equipment is also important to your success. Without it, well, you just wouldn’t get very far in your quest for riches. So be sure to get your equipment together first before starting out. You should be able make a deal with your parents to use the family equipment until you make enough dough from your earnings to save up to buy your own. Or, as Emile did, took out an $8,000 bank loan which his parents cosigned for so he could buy his own equipment. Of course most people aren’t going to agree to give you a loan or to cosign for one without evidence that your business has potential to make a lot of money. So the first thing you need to do is get your business off the ground first. Some of the basic equipment you need include:

lawnmower
rakes
gloves
safety glasses
work shoes
proper clothing

Last but not least, if you’re going to make a lot of money in your own lawn care business, you need to market yourself well because no one is going to hire you if they don’t know you exist! Making up fliers and slipping them under people’s doors is one of the cheapest ways to do this. You should also get up early on weekends when most people are out mowing their lawns. This is an excellent opportunity for you to go though your neighborhood and introduce yourself and your services by handing out your fliers. Also post your fliers in places like supermarket bulletin boards, libraries, laundries and dry cleaners.

Although it’s a lot of work, having a lawn care business is very rewarding. At the end of a job, you you can look and see your accomplishments. Also, you’ll have all the benefits of working for yourself and watching your lawn care business grow. Now in his 2nd year of college, Emil Motycka’s business grew from a tiny neighborhood service into Motycka Enterprises, LLC in which he now offer year-round property services. With a little hard work and patience, your business can be a success too.

photo credits: [photo 1], [photo 2], [photo 3]For more information like this, visit TeenMoneyMakingIdeas.Com.

5 Way To Advertise Your Dog Walking Business and Get Even More Customers

Steve / moneywizkid — Thu, 20 May 2010 10:14:16 +0000

The following article is from TeenMoneyMakingIdeas.Com:A dog walking business is a pretty easy and inexpensive business for a teen to start-up. But getting your first customers is probably the most difficult part of starting up. This is why before this, I gave you some pretty powerful tips to landing your first customers. If you’re at the point in your business, however, that you already have your initial customers, then you probably want to know how to step up your game a bit more so you can make even more money. If this is the case, here are 5 tips to help you:

Get referrals from your current customers – it may not be as difficult as you might think and I show you why here; but once you do have your first customer, don’t forget to ask them for referrals. Dog lovers often know other dog lovers. And this would be the perfect way for you to pick up a few more clients. Simply ask them to give your name and phone number to people who they know that might be in need of your valuable service. Never underestimate the power of word of mouth advertising. It’s still the most effective marketing strategy there is.

Distribute business cards and flyers- with the help of your parents a relative or an older sibling, you can go from door to door distributing your flyers and business cards to let people know about your valuable service. There are a lot of online sites where you can order a couple of hundred business cards for free (pay only the shipping), and flyers are fairly inexpensive to print at a local copy shop. You can also post flyers in your local supermarkets, grocery stores and put them on cars in parking lot and other places.

Make a website for your dog walking business – nowadays a website is an indispensable tool for marketing your business. If you’re really serious about stepping up the game in your dog walking business, then this is one step you don’t want to skip. If you don’t know how to build a website or you’re on a tight budget, you can easily just start a blog on a free service which we discuss here. It’s simple to do and initially you only need 3-4 pages just to tell people about the service you offer, your prices and a way to contact you. Of course if you’re going to have a website, you need to learn how to get traffic to your site and we discuss that here.

Veterinarian referrals – there is probably no better place to advertise your dog walking service than with your local Vet. In fact, it’s probably the single most effective way of getting more customers in this case. All that’s required is for you to do is go to your local vet’s office and introduce yourself to them there and ask if you can leave some of flyers or business cards. You can bring along a nice business card holder or holder for your flyers (get these from an office supply store), so you can show them the you will be displaying your flyers in a neat and professional way – rather than just leaving a bunch of flyers for them to keep organized. Many people will not mind you doing this so the key is to overcome your shyness and simply ask! You can also leave your business cards in clever places such as animal hospitals and pet stores.

Join National Association of Professional Pet Sitters – there may be other pet associations in your area, but if not then the NAPPS is a great organization for you to join because it allows you to get a free listing in their referral network. This network can be accessed by pet owners either by phone or online when they are looking for a dog walker in their area. Being apart of an organization will give you even more exposure and help you to get more customers. Not to mention the fact that it makes you look more professional that you took the time to join an association.

Getting customers is the key to most businesses surviving. Without a good customer base, you dog walking business may not last long. So it’s important to advertise in the best ways possible so that you can increase your bottom line. Money! Now go on out there and have a dog-gone good time!

[photo credit]

For more information like this, visit TeenMoneyMakingIdeas.Com.

3 Surefire Ways To Land Your First Customers in Your Dog Walking Business

Steve / moneywizkid — Thu, 20 May 2010 06:06:52 +0000

The following article is from TeenMoneyMakingIdeas.Com:When you start a new business, it’s sometimes difficult to land your first customers. Starting up a dog walking business is no different in that sense. For one thing, most people don’t want to hire you if you don’t have any experience. But how can you get the experience if no one will hire you? It’s a vicious cycle and it can be quite frustrating but here are 3 surefire ways that almost guarantees you landing your first customers:

Volunteer at an animal shelter – one way you can get some experience is by volunteering at local animal shelter near you. At least this is what Lindsay Stordahl did when she quit her full-time job to start up her dog walking business. Lindsay says that she started out by volunteering to walk shelter dogs and that gave her the experience she needed. In no time at all, you should have the experience that people will be looking for to hire you to walk their dogs. You should also be able to get the shelter to write a letter of recommendation for you which you can use to win over potential customers.

Recruit your neighbors dogs – Lindsay suggests that if you can start off with just one customer, that first customer will more than likely tell other people about your services and more customers will follow. Lindsay says that she was able to find her first customers in her apartment complex just by handing out flyers. Heck, you could even offer to walk their dog free of charge for one week. Then after that, if they like your service, they can hire you.

Join a pet sitters association – another thing that you can do is join an association such as the National Association of Professional Pet Sitters. Members of NAPPS are “listed in their referral network, which can be accessed by pet owners online or via phone”. This of course mean that more people who are looking for pet sitters and dog walkers will be able to find you.

Starting a dog walking business is no monkey business (I can’t believe I just said that!) and you have to know how to get customers if you’re going to make any money at it. But if you follow these three tips that I just gave you, I’m sure you’ll have no problems at all getting your dog walking business off the ground! Good luck and I hope you have a dawg of a good time! For more information like this, visit TeenMoneyMakingIdeas.Com.

How to Set-up Your Dog Walking Business in 10 Easy Steps

Steve / moneywizkid — Fri, 14 May 2010 08:59:54 +0000

The following article is from TeenMoneyMakingIdeas.Com:In a previous article I gave 20 good reasons why you should start a dog walking business. If you were convinced by those reasons (and I hope you were!), then this article will show you how you set it up. The dog walking business is a great way for someone who loves animals. It gives you the opportunity to earn money doing something enjoyable – getting exercise, being outdoors and caring for your favorite pet. But exactly how do you set up your dog walking business? The answer to this depends entirely on you and what your goals are and what you want to get out of it. To make it easy for you, I’ve broken things down into 10 easy steps for setting up a dog walking business:

Decide which services you’re going to offer – before starting your dog walking business, you need to decide what you’re going to be offering to your future customers. For example, do you want to start out with walking one dog or will you walk several at a time? Will you be offering pooper scooper services or will you charge extra for that? For many dog walking services, cleaning up after the dog is included in the rate. But to make extra money, you can offer to clean your client’s yard (if they have one) for an additional fee. Also, you can offer dog running services to customers who want their dogs to have additional exercise.
Set your rate – after figuring out what kind of services you’re going to be offering, you need to set your rates. Some dog walkers charge for every 15 minutes that they spend with the animal. So, for example, a 15 minute walk is $10, while 30 minutes is $20 and so on. This rate would be for as many dogs that your client has in one household. It may not be a good idea to charge additional fees for more than one dog as this might be a turnoff for many people. Instead, the customer with more than one dog can purchase a longer time slot because you’ll need to spend more time to get the job done properly.
Come up with a cool name for your business – let’s face it, the name of your business is the first thing that you’re customers may encounter so you need to come up with something that will get their attention. The name you choose should let people know exactly what you do and the things you offer. Some people choose to include their personal names in the name of their business name. For example, Steve’s Dog Walking Services. But if you’re going to be offering more than just dog walking, you might want to include that information in your name too. So, Steve’s Dog Walking and Pet Grooming Services may be a possibility for someone who will be offering more than just dog walking.
Decide if you will run the business solo or if you’re going to team up with some of your friends – if you think you’ll have to deal with a lot of customers, then you may want to work with some of your friends to get the job done. In this case you would work out a schedule with each of them walking two or more dogs per day. Also you would work out the routes and areas that your dog walking business will cover. If you’re not going to be working with other people then this makes it simpler, and you only have to decide these things for yourself.
Make a service agreement – to give your business a more professional image, you may want to offer customers a service agreement. For a service agreement you can type up a simple form on your computer that mentions the details of your services and the cost. Your service agreement should also contain the name of your business, phone number and any other important information you want your customers to have.
Get some business cards and flyers – spreading the word about your services is an important part of your business. But you don’t have to spend a lot of money on these things. You should be able to make cheap flyers at your local neighborhood copy shop and you can get business cards for free online – you only pay for shipping.
Set up a website – having a website is an excellent way of generating more business for yourself. A great example is Lindsay Stordahl’s website where she advertises her dog running and dog walking services. You can set up a simple blog for free and you can even have a myspace page to reach out to even more people.
Start a marketing campaign – after getting your business cards/flyers, and setting up a website, go on a marketing blitz to spread the word about your business. Tell as many people as you can, and put your flyers and business cards under your neighbors doors. Go out side in the early morning and late evening and see who is out walking their dogs and go up to them and introduce yourself and your services to them. For even more ideas, check out 3 Surefire Ways Of Landing Your First Dog Walking Customers.
Continue to research and grow your business – beyond learning the basics, setting up your business and growing it requires constant research. Visit the websites of other people who are in the same business as you to get ideas on how you can improve your business.
Have fun and enjoy what you’re doing – setting up your business is hard work but it doesn’t mean it can’t be fun. Don’t forget to have some fun and enjoy the experience.

For more information like this, visit TeenMoneyMakingIdeas.Com.

20 Good Reasons Why You Should Start A Dog Walking Business This Summer

Steve / moneywizkid — Thu, 13 May 2010 07:56:46 +0000

The following article is from TeenMoneyMakingIdeas.Com:The summer is the main time of the year that teens can focus on making the most money. For one thing, you don’t have to worry about school during the summer months and hopefully it shouldn’t be difficult to get your parents to agree to you getting a job or starting a business. But what kind of a job should you start? Well we think that a dog walking business is a pretty good business for teens to start, and here are 20 good reasons why:

You’re too young to get a job or you’re having trouble finding one – here at TMMI we get a lot of kids saying they are too young to get a job and yet they still want to make their own money. Well, one of the the ways you can make money is by starting a dog walking business. It may not be the coolest or the most glamorous job in the world, but who cares? The most important thing is that you are making your own money and you’re learning to be financially independent. Also, if you’re a dog lover and have a special ability to relate to pets, then it’s the perfect business for you.
People spend big money on their pets – according to smallbiztrends.com, “Americans spend $10 billion a year on pet supplies and over $3 billion on pet services — and those numbers are projected to grow in 2010″. In other words, Americans love their dogs! So what does this mean to a kid trying to make their own money? Well it means financial independence, dude! You can capitalize on this and make a business that caters to people who love their dogs but don’t have the time to walk them as much as they should.
You can make anywhere between $5-$20 an hour – You can make your own money and you don’t have to worry about asking your parents for the cash you need. In your own dog walking business you can make up t0 $20 an hour depending on where in the States you live. And the best part is, you don’t need much start-up capital to do it.
Great working hours – working hours for dog walkers are great! Usually from about 12-5 pm every day is when most dogs need to be taken out. Those are the perfect working hours and you still have your mornings off to find other jobs. Or, you can just hang out with your friends.
No special training required – one of the great things about starting this kind of business is you don’t need any special training. You should have a basic understanding of dogs and pets in general. And like I mentioned earlier, you should relate to animals really well. Experience with dogs is also something that you should have and you should be familiar with warning signs of dogs, and know how to handle a leash. And of course, you should make sure you can handle the strength and size of the dogs you’re going to be walking.
No start-up capital needed – you don’t need much money, if any, to get started.You can get started just by talking to your neighbors and word of mouth. If you have a little cash to spare, you can start your dog walking business on 25 bucks or less to get yourself an appointment book for making your schedule and business cards or flyers for spreading the word.
No license required – in most states, you don’t need a license to be a dog walker. Yipee!
You can easily add on extra services – the dog walking business can easily be combined with other services such as basic pet sitting, dog grooming and lawn & yard care; for which you can charge extra money.
It’s a valuable community service – the dog walking service is actually a very important service that you can offer to people in your neighborhood. Let’s face it, many people just don’t have enough time on their hands to take their dogs out for a walk. Dogs suffer in this situation because they end up spending a lot of time locked up in the house. The dog may also have a lot of high energy and may need to spend more time outdoors. This is where your services as a dog walker are needed. If you still have trouble finding customers, I give you 3 Surefire Ways of Landing Your First Customers.
It’s great exercise and you get to spend a lot of time in the outdoors – if you like pets and you like the outdoors, there’s really no better way to spend your summer. And guess what? You’ll be making money doing it!

And I thought it would be interesting to add the the following 10 reasons from Lindsay Stordahl’s site, That Mutt, who gives her reasons why she quit her job as a newspaper copy editor and page designer last year, to start a dog running business (good for you Lindsay!).

You’re doing things you love.
You have more freedom
You’re not wasting your life away at a desk.
You’re never bored.
You hang out with dogs.
You can take vacation from your work whenever you want.
You don’t have to ask permission for anything.
You stay healthy and in good shape (no really! Studies show that people who have contact with pets are healtier and happier than people who don’t.)
No one tells you what to do.
You’re not helping someone else get rich.

For more information like this, visit TeenMoneyMakingIdeas.Com.