Got an entrepreneur kid? Teens are cashing in with online businesses

It seems more and more people these days have a side hustle — even teenagers.Especially teens, perhaps.New data has found that 2 in 5 teenagers are actively earning money online in the US.

What’s more, an increasing number of 12- to 18-year-olds are earning more money through digital channels than they are through traditional employment in 2024.So are the days of babysitting, ice cream shop swirlers and lemonade stands gone? No, but making money online is easier than ever, inspiring many youngsters to launch their first business initiatives in the digital realm instead of IRL.“In the past, you had to find somewhere to sell a product, set up a payment platform, network and build up a community of potential customers before you could even think about launching your own business,” said Cameron Zoub, co-founder and chief growth officer at Whop in Brooklyn, an online business platform which has conducted research on the demographic.“Now, all you need is a phone and an Internet connection.”According to the Whop survey, the most popular ways teens are making money online include selling clothes, footwear or apparel accessories, streaming video games to earn in-game currency and video game tournament prizes, product reviews, brand sponsorship through social media accounts and drop-shipping (buying and selling products).Zoub isn’t surprised that these are popular ways for teenagers to earn money.“They’ve had the advantage of growing up with the Internet and seeing those fields take off,” he said.

“These teens see other successful young entrepreneurs make money online and want to be a part of that too.”Tinus Klauser, an 18-year-old TikTok creator based in Germany, recently expanded his operations.“I started selling on Whop around November 2023 because, in addition to the TikTok pages I run, I wanted to build myself another reliable source of income,” he said.Klauser now makes $25,000 to $50,000 per month just from teaching others about how to mak...