How do people do this? (ECs, entrepreneuring)

Pre-College Topics High School Life
1

<p>I've heard about teenagers starting their own companies before, and I wonder: how do they do it?
Do they have a personal lawyer and accountant, are emancipated and can sign contracts, or just have relatives who are entrepreneur geniuses? And these teenagers I've heard about were 14-18 and in the USA. Can you even start a limited liability company then?</p>

<p>The thing is, I've been rejected to so many jobs and work experience placements over the last 10 months, and I apply to everything I see that is within my skill range (so things like retail, libraries, fast food, not bookkeeping or driving), within walking distance (5 miles or less, one way), and weekend/evening hours only.</p>

<p>I can program (don't know if it's up to industry standard or if it's decent quality, though), proofread (I know grammar, I just don't usually use it), or do data entry. I was wondering whether freelancing would be viable or even legal at the age of sixteen, just to earn no more than $100 per month. (Yes, it would be working for way under minimum wage, but it's better than earning nothing at all... not like I have anything better to do.)</p>

<p>When I took business studies, there was a homework where you had to imagine your own business. I had heard about young entrepreneurs on the news, so I asked my teacher about self-employment and creating a business. (I was only 14 at the time, and very idealistic/impressionable.) She said that it wasn't a good idea at that age, due to legal issues. From other sources, I realized the dangers of being sued, conned, and that with online freelancing, you don't know the person's credibility, or even if they're going to pay you. Also the necessity of registering as self-employed (legal in the UK from 16 years) and filing a whole load of documents just to earn $1,200 per year, if you're lucky.
This is all because I can't find a job, and with the sparseness of vacancies, I don't know if I'll be able to find one anytime soon.</p>

<p>(PS: Not to be negative but I understand about "taking risks" and "innovation," but it's kind of irrelevant if your parents or relatives would have to bail you out because of your mistakes or irresponsibility, which you weren't required to do in the first place.)</p>

<p>Regardless of that note, would anyone have any ideas, or have a story of how they made their own business or earned money from freelancing? Are there any legalities that you had to go through, or did you get someone else to deal with them for you? Is it something that you'd advise to someone only 16 years old?</p>

2

<p>“The thing is, I’ve been rejected to so many jobs and work experience placements”</p>

<p>This is what worked for me:
Apply shortly before the beginning of the summer and say you can work 40 hours a week. You most likely won’t get anywhere near that many hours if it’s a part-time job, and they’ll keep you on during the school year.</p>

<p>As far as starting a business, I think most minors who have successfully done this have had pretty good connections because of their parents. It’s difficult enough to run a business as an adult. I wouldn’t really recommend it.</p>

3

<p>I’ve heard of some people within my area trying to create their own businesses, and none of them really went well. Heather’s right, running a business is difficult enough as an adult. When the students I knew tried to do this, they became totally absorbed within the business that they had not gotten time to do any schoolwork, and their grades fell fast. Not only that, they realized it was not as fun or successful as they had thought it out to be.
I would only recommend doing something like this if you know you have time and can handle all the stress of both school and work, are very determined about their business but not to the point the business is their life, and are very knowing of what they are getting themselves into. You will hear those success stories, but very few teens that actually start business have such stories. Very few.</p>

4

<p>I know a girl that made quite a good amount with her own small business. </p>

<p>She really enjoyed baking so she started posting up advertisements on local websites and putting out flyers. People from school would try out the sweets and post recommendations online in order to convince people to buy them. She was even able to convince the boss she worked for at a cafe to help her out. So even though it was mostly an at home business it actually worked out. If I remember correctly, she used the money to travel abroad for a school trip.</p>

<p>I think having a business is a mix of charisma, luck, talent, and knowing the right people to help you out.</p>

5

<p>Thanks for the advice; I really appreciate it. :)</p>

<p>What would you say about online freelancing, with small jobs like data entry, programming, or design? Maybe emailing/calling local businesses without websites, and offering to create one for them?</p>

<p>I understand the balance between school work and extra-curricular, and now, I generally complete all my homework at school, and if I have extra, I’d go to the library for a few hours. Apart from that, I have 6+ hours of free time every weekday, obligation free. (I live in the UK, and finding after-school ECs that aren’t $15 for one hour is difficult. The focus is more on academics here.)</p>

<p>Does anyone have any knowledge of how the students actually get paid? Is it something like PayPal or checks, or cash-in-hand? How do they file it under tax, or is it too low to need to file? (I’ve read that if you earn less than £2000 per year, you don’t pay tax or NI, but I’d think you’d still need to register, so you aren’t earning unreported income.)</p>

<p>I definitely plan to apply for a summer job, but summer starts in July here, not May. Last summer when I applied I said I was available to work full time, but nothing came out of it. But I’ll try again in July. Do you have any application tips or resume tips? (E.g. answering the questions on McDonald’s or retail store online applications, or any key words.) I’ve had only one telephone interview.</p>

<p>[Edit: I’ve looked for work experience in programming and IT and emailed local companies, but there wasn’t success. I’d find a way to do work experience to supplement my resume (I’ve been volunteering in a charity shop, but retail work experience might lead to a paid job), but again, I can’t find anything.]</p>

6

<p>If you feel that IT is a good job for you, don’t get discouraged by no response to your e-mail. You really need to approach companies face to face with a resume. I get IT help solicitations via email all of the time and I would never expose my company’s sensitive information to a stranger based on an e-mail. I would suggest that you build a resume by helping IT guys at your school. You have to have some credibility and trustworthiness before ANYONE will give you access to sensitive documents, and that can only be achieved through several personal contacts-not through an email. You might even just stop in a couple of places to check on people that are familiar with you and ask them if they have any computer issues that you can help them with and then leave your business card.</p>

7

<p>Thank you for the help.</p>

<p>I’m not asking for sensitive documents… I was just asking if they had work experience available. [Edit: If you mean data entry, I was meaning literally entering products for a store into a database, or destinations into a travel agent’s, not personal details.] Someone I know did work experience at the Guardian (a UK newspaper) and some of my friends are going to do work experience at GlaxoSmithKline. If people can work with major newspapers and science companies… working for a local IT firm after an induction doesn’t seem like too much of a problem?
I’m more interested in programming websites or applications than computer repair, and I would never ask someone if I could repair their computer… I don’t have the skills for it, and it’d just be intrusive.
(I don’t know if you have work experience in the USA, but it’s just one or two weeks working at a company unpaid. It’s like a much shorter and less demanding version of an internship.)</p>

<p>My school’s website is outsourced, and students don’t volunteer in the IT support of my school. That would expose the private information of all the students. No one is really interested in computer repair/programming/IT in my grade, as far as I know…</p>

<p>(As for jobs now (as opposed to after a bachelor’s degree) I’m more interested in retail, fast food, customer service, etc. But it’s just so difficult to find viable vacancies, let alone secure an interview against 50+ applicants, where many of them have years of experience in the sector.)</p>

<p>But if I’m mistaken about any of this, please let me know</p>

8

<p>Does anyone have any advice, with the legalities and actual possibility of online freelancing as a minor?</p>

<p>I can literally not find any vacancies anymore. I used to find a new one every two days, and it’s been five days now. I don’t like doing nothing, but when there’s no vacancies to apply for that you can actually work at, there’s not anything to do.</p>