Mind Your Own Business: Volume 3 Teenager Starting a Business With Only 1000

Welcome to Mind Your Own Business Saturdays where I take your questions and do my best to answer them. Sara Y. asks,

?I am a teenager and have 1000 I can invest in starting a business. Any ideas?? 

Sara, thank you for your question! Please allow me to applaud you for taking such a big step as a teenager! Entrepreneurship is a big step, and once it gets in your blood, it?s hard to get out. 

What I want you to do is to look around your community, and around your online community. Look for problems that you might be able to solve. Chances are that your creativity will give you a far better idea than I will, but I?ll throw a couple at you. 

Cleaning Business

My wife and I had a very successful cleaning business that cost far less than 1000 to get started. We used all natural cleaning products. You need a disinfectant, degreaser, and toilet bowl cleaner. We also used a heavy solution of water/vinegar to help keep calcium build up on the shower heads down. We also kept some Bar Keeper?s Friend for heavy issues in the stove. Microfiber rags and a couple good brushes. We avoided bleach for most clients. It is too easy to damage things with bleach and there are safer alternatives out there. 

You are going to want liability insurance, our cost around 28/mo for a million in coverage. This is useful in the event you accidentally scratch a 3,000 refrigerator, or your vacuum (even their vacuum) snags a fiber and damages their carpet. It will also give you better access to larger contracts, such as with apartment complexes. 

The result was that my wife made around 30/hr doing basic cleaning, laundry, and organization for people. She could set her own hours. She used our vacuum most of the time, but many clients preferred their own to be used. A steam mop was also useful, but again the clients often had one if it was required. 

This is also something you can easily continue to do during college if you take that education path. 

Safety Matters: There were a few situations that my wife walked into where she didn't feel comfortable. I'll tell you what I told my wife and would tell my daughter. It's okay to decline the job. It's okay to walk out if you feel unsafe. It's okay to call for help if you feel unsafe and are unsure if you can exit safely. Always make sure you have your cleaning calendar, with names and addresses shared with a trusted person as well.

Mixing Ammonia and Bleach. I highly recommend that you avoid using either, but sometimes that's what people want to use. If you do use one of them, make sure you only use one or the other. I had a manager at Subway when I was in high school nearly kill himself because he cleaned a toilet with one and forgot he cleaned it, and came back and cleaned it with the other. The result is a noxious gas that can kill you. Have one or the other in your bag, in your house, but not both. Since you don't know what the homeowner has or uses (like those tablets in the toilet) it is best to carry and use neither.

Recommended Products on Amazon:

• Disinfectant
• BRIOTECH Sanitizer - NO VOCs, Fragrances, or dyes. Kills bacteria and viruses, and is food surface safe.
• Degreaser
• GP66 Green Miracle Cleaner - GP 66 is a high rated degreaser that has always been a good thing to have on hand.
• Glass Top
• Weinman Glass Top Cleaning Kit - This includes a scrubber and razor to help clean glass tops. Make sure you know how to use them without hurting yourself or the cooktop before using. Be aware that many clients will also already have a preferred cleaner. If they do, use their cleaner.
• Mirror
• Windex Ammonia Free - I highly recommend ammonia free and bleach free products, but like I said before if you plan on using one or the other, only use one or the other. Don't risk mixing bleach and ammonia
• Stainless Steel
• Weinman Stainless Steel Cleaner 2-Pack - Again Weinman is a top rated brand for this, but remember that a lot of people who have stainless steel would prefer you to use the products they already have. A clean microfiber cloth can also do wonders.
• Brushes, Squeegee, and Rags
• OXO Good Grips Deep Cleaning Brush Set - If you were to consider just one of my recommendations, let this be the one. These brushes are incredible and I don't know how we survived our own house keeping without them Good strong bristles for cleaning those hard to reach places.
• Microfiber Cleaning Cloths 50 Pack - A good set of cleaning cloths is very important. Microfiber will make the work easier and leave fewer issues to come back and fix. We typically allocated 20-25 for each job so a pack of 50 should give you enough for 2 jobs. Wash in cold or warm water and tumble or low dry. Over heating the fibers will cause problems.
• OXO Squeegee - Just a small Squeegee to help clean the mirrors. It isn't required. We usually used a cleaning cloth, but a good squeegee makes the job faster, and better in my opinion.

If you decide to get into carpet scrubbing, we have Bissel Big Green Commercial Carpet Machine that we love. It's a bit pricey, and I wouldn't recommend a carpet scrubber if you are just starting out.

Dog Walking/Sitting/Boarding

People love their pets! We try to take our dogs with us every time we head out of town, but finding hotels that accept 160/lb Mastiff and a 65/lb Bulldog is often a challenge. So if we are headed on a real vacation (not visiting family) we generally have to find a pet sitter, and we usually use the same person every time if we can. It typically costs us 30/day for 3 bathroom breaks and a feeding, and then we tip another 10-15%. 

Some people we?ve used are also willing to bring the pets into their home and treat them like family while we are out. It also typically costs more. 20-30/night per animal. You can also charge extra for giving medications, or offer a bath before the rest of the family gets home. 

I would again suggest liability insurance in the event a dog attacks someone while you walk them, or something happens and the dog escapes. 

Couple this with cleaning services, because everyone loves to come home from a long trip to a clean house. 

DoorDash or Uber

I am not sure if I would call driving for Doordash, Spark, Uber, or Lyft a business, but the IRS disagrees with me. What it is though, is a way that you can set your own hours and get paid. 

Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate Marketing is something you can do for much less than 1000, or spend much more than a 1000. It also doesn?t have a quick return on investment for most people. Most of us spend months before making our first dollar and some spend years trying to figure it out. 

My monthly expenses for this blog are a mere 17.90 a month. You could potentially do the same thing using TikTok,YouTube, or another platform for free. It all depends upon the strategy you choose to use. 

If you choose to blog, like myself, there are also blogs that will pay you to guest blog for them, or you could turn to Fivver and write for people. 

I recommend having a mentor, but that?s generally more expensive than the 1000.00 budget. It?s worth the investment though if you are serious about doing affiliate marketing, and I can make a recommendation for a good mentor. 

I use Dean Holland and Internet Profits. They have quality training, daily coaching, and even content that we can use.

If you aren?t ready for that kind of investment though, hang out with me awhile and I?ll share a lot of what I know. 

Wrap it Up Already!

I've said all that to come back to this thought. If you look around your community for problems that you can solve, you'll probably find something great for you to do.