Help your teen find a part-time job

The budding freelance economy, fueled by online platforms such as Uber and Postmates, has made it a lot easier for most adults to find part-time work. But it’s probably not so easy for your teenager.

That’s because only a relative handful of the hundreds of online platforms that provide flexible, part-time work allow job-seekers under the age of 18 to use their sites. And, even those sites are likely to require parental permission.

Now, if your child has a work permit or is over the age of 16, and has the sort of regular schedule that traditional employers such as local retailers require, he may not need to look for part-time jobs online.

And that might even be better, since he’ll have an on-site boss, who can provide both guidance and, if he works hard, future personal and professional references that he can use to get into college—or get other jobs —later.

If, however, your teen is too young for a work permit, or has a schedule too irregular or work-hour unfriendly to accommodate a traditional schedule, the flexibility of online job sites can make them the preferable way to make money.

Here are 10 teen-friendly online platforms that offer attractive money-making opportunities that can easily be scheduled around school and sports. 

Fiverr is an online marketplace for a wide array of both skilled and unskilled jobs. Your teen can use this site to find work building websites, providing accounting support—or to advertise her services as a psychic reader or giver of sage advice. She should set the rate of pay knowing that Fiverr will take a 20% commission off the top.

Some of the other things she might be able to do: Set up social media profiles for other people and companies; provide translation services; do animation—both drawn and computer-based; design greeting cards; and do voice-over work. She can register on the site as long as she’s at least 13 years old.

Bambino is a child-care community that charges parents an entry-fee to get access to babysitters screened via social media. The site allows workers as young as 13 to sign up, but anyone under the age of 18 needs parental permission. Babysitters set their own rates and don’t pay a commission to the site.

Just make sure your child understands that once his hourly rate is set, he can’t change it based on factors like the timing—for example, if it’s New Year’s Eve or some other high-value date night—or even based on the number of children he’s watching. Bambino also doesn’t allow for tiered rates, even if the family has five kids under the age of eight. He can, however, turn down a job that doesn’t appeal to him.

Etsy is a marketplace for sellers of arts and crafts. Although your teen can’t open his own account unless he’s at least age 18, you can open an account for him.

This allows her to sell home-made arts and crafts on the site by paying just a small listing fee of 20 cents per item. If an item sells, she’ll also have to pay about 6.5% in sales and processing fees. But the rest of the sales price is hers.

Society6 and RedBubble, like Etsy, allow people to sell their art. However, these sites don’t expect a finished product to sell. They want users to upload art that the site will then transfer onto t-shirts, coffee mugs, phone covers and hats, among other things.

The sites require that you respect copyrights and licenses of others, so your child can’t simply reproduce or alter someone else’s artwork. Original art and designs are welcomed, however.

Since users are not paying for the supplies—say, the t-shirts or coffee cups—these sites only pay a relatively small “royalty” on each sale. That said, if your teen comes up with a popular design that sells briskly on multiple products, he can make a lot from just one upload.

Notably, Society6 sets the royalty rate by the product; RedBubble lets users determine their mark-up. (But the mark-up affects the sales price, so if it’s too aggressive, it’s likely to discourage purchases.)

Has your child been playing baseball, football, lacrosse, golf or tennis since she was old enough to walk? Then there’s a good chance that she’s got a closet full of old gear, ranging from cleats to rackets, that she grew out of and will never use again. GearTrade, Sideline Swap, Letgo and Craigs List all provide ways to sell lightly used stuff to families who need it.

Nextdoor is a community-oriented social media website that allows neighbors in tight geographic regions to gossip, report crimes, list items for sale and look for local work.

The site is often used by teens to hit up their neighbors for odd jobs, from helping with yard work to cleaning out garages. Does your child tutor? Babysit? Wash cars? Fix computers? Dog-sit? Clean? It’s easy to advertise his availability and rates. Advertisements on Nextdoor are free.

And, since these are your neighbors, you can also ask them to recommend your teen on the site, which should boost his chance of getting more jobs.

This article originally appeared on © SideHusl.com