Self-employment opportunities for your teen

The holidays can be full of opportunities for our youth to develop in preparation for adult life. For many of us, we would like to see our young people develop skills that cannot be developed as a simple seasonal employee. Skills such as resource and skill planning, negotiation skills, expense management, time management, and establishing work-life balance are just a few that we can hope teens can learn by establishing a holiday business, which could of course be extended. to part-time work if industry and study commitments allow.

Before we look at any specific jobs that young teens can apply for, let’s look at the learning opportunities they can experience as they go through this process.

Calendar

Your young teen will have the opportunity to self-assess their skills and abilities, as well as their strengths and weaknesses. They will also be able to spend time assessing the needs of the community and identifying which one matches their own skills and has enough demand to provide the income they are looking to generate. They will also need to consider what tools or equipment, as well as consumable items, they may need and how they will obtain them to do their job. They should also be encouraged to consider the wear and tear or maintenance and replacement costs of these items and add them to their budgeted income requirements.

Promotion

Once your teen has worked out the logistics of what she intends to do, she needs to determine who she’s going to do it for and how she’ll make herself known. Consideration should also be given to how they plan to fit work into their current schedule and, if they are going to complete the task outside the home, how they will communicate their location to you as a parent. This aspect of the process is perhaps one of the most critical that parents need to be involved in so that they know that their child is safe in their chosen vacation business.

Negotiation skills

Once you start having business consultations, your teen will need to learn negotiation skills. They will need to negotiate start times, justify the time spent on a task, and the remuneration involved. They will also need to schedule their work to balance the needs of their clients with the demands that may be placed on them at home, at church, or as part of other community organizations. Be sure to support them through this and discuss your options for customers with them so they are empowered to develop excellent customer service skills.

Self-management

Once they’re on the job, your teen will gain valuable experience in self-management. Learning to stay motivated and focused on the job is a vital skill and will be rewarded, as well as ensuring work is completed to the level of detail expected by the client. Developing good habits, particularly in sleep habits and the process of getting ready for the day, are also rewards that can pay dividends for parents who take their children through this process – those habits can be kept!

Money Management

After the job is said and done and they return home with their paycheck, your teen will need to consider how that money is divided between replacement consumables, maintenance or replacement of tools and equipment, as well as the option to expand their range. . They should also consider giving some of their earnings to their church or charity before pocketing the money. Depending on your age and the tax laws in your area, you may also need to set aside additional funds to meet your tax requirements.

When you sit down and think about it, there are many skills that can be learned when setting up a vacation business. Your teen will have a great opportunity to develop self-confidence and communication skills by meeting the needs of others during the holidays. So what can your teen do to earn money over the holidays? Consider the following options:

• washing and ironing clothes,
• House cleaning
• babysitting, babysitting or being an assistant to a parent of a young family,
• pet sitting or dog walking,
• washing windows or vehicles,
• mowing the lawn and basic yard work (including shoveling snow and chopping wood),
• distribution of promotional materials, newsletters or documents,
• use a craft to produce salable goods,
• develop a garden that produces products that can be sold, and
• anything else that comes to mind as a salable skill or ability.

Another valuable lesson that can be learned through the process of working during the holidays is the value of time and that, although there are moments of relaxation and celebration, it is important not to waste this precious resource that we have no control over. Your teen may not see as quickly as you do how quickly our lives go by, but they can learn how to make the most of vacations to be productive and thrive as young adults.