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Summer Businesses for High School Students?
An anonymous reader asks: "A friend and I are going into our final year of high school, and given a variety of factors (the relative paucity of technology jobs for HS students, etc.), would like to start our own business. We'll probably have about $1000 in capital, but (in effect) start out with no other resources other than our own skills (technical and otherwise). We have no constant access to a car, which means on-site tech support is effectively out. We'd like to start something in the technology field (IT, software design, hardware construction - we can solder, web design, etc.), but are open to any suggestions. We'd also like some sort of business we can start this summer, but can continue to maintain. What do you suggest as a business idea for the summer->longer term?"
1) Spend $1,000 on clothes and a lease on a phat car
2) Use clothes and phat car to get hot women
3) Pimp out hot women
4) Profit, motherfucker. Profit.
I beleive if you live in certain places, they pay you for donating sperm. My summer job when I was a teen, was more like summer volunteer work.
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Programming of any sort (including web design) is probably the most portable of the IT trades. You can do it from your house, or from your dorm room if and when you go off to college. Beyond that, maybe building custom-order systems for people, but it's unlikely you could ramp that up in 3 months. You might also check out itmoonlighter.com for some available contracting work in your area which might not require you to be on-site.
I'm not a cool guy, I just play one on T.V.
Since you guys are (most likely) minors and can legally repudiate any contracts you sign, many folks are going to be rightly cautious about dealing with you. You can make decent summer cash with a gas can and a lawnmower. I would have said get a paper route, but most paper carriers these days are retired folks with station wagons. One retired guy with a station wagon replaced me and my two brothers, plus a few other paper carriers when we gave up our routes in the late early 1990's. If you have friends who run a business, you might be able to get some web design work tossed your way, but I think you'll find that mowing grass will provide a more steady stream of income. Sorry to be a buzz kill, but I was 16 once, too. Don't lose your entreprenurial bent, though - it will serve you well once you join the majority. I've started 3 companies - cratered two and sold one, but I've had a lot more fun than my friends who've stuck with their "safe" jobs.
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I have an excellent opportunity for you. I am the ASSISTANT COLONEL VICE FINANCE MINISTER of a corrupt third-world dictatorship, and I am trying to embezzle foreign aid money. I have diverted FORTY-SEVEN MILLION UNITED STATES DOLLARS ($47,000,000) from the International Petroleum Reserve Slush Fund to a separate expense ledger sub-account within my country's incomprehensibly complex banking system.
Unfortunately, my country's laws require me to find a RANDOM STRANGER ON THE INTERNET to complete this transaction. If you have the IQ OF BREAD MOLD, this could be you! I need to transfer the money into a U.S. bank account, rather than an account in an actaul banking haven. We would split the money as follows:
Now, to begin the transaction I simply need $1,000 from you as an EMBEZZLEMENT TRANSFER FEE. For reasons I can't explain, because I'm making this up as I go along, I am unable to pay this amount myself, though it amounts to FIVE THOUSANDTHS OF ONE PERCENT of my profit.
Simply withdraw your money in small bills and FLUSH IT DOWN THE TOILET and my operatives will remove it from the sewer system and deposit the money into your account. I TRUST IN THE NAME OF THE LORD JESUS H. FUCKING CHRIST that you are a trustworthy person who will do the right thing.
Sincerely,
COLONEL DOGUM GUNUN KUTLU OLSUN
1. You are right, most people can create a web site, and few do it well. However, those that want a good web site are still willing to pay money to have it done professionally. Create a couple of demo sites to show prospective customers, everything from very flashy with bells and whistles, to the business web site. Also, make sure you explain how you can make thier web site rank high on some of the more populer search engines. A business web site should make money or provide some benefit to the business. Show your customer how you can make that happen.
2 and 3. There is still money to be made repairing PC's. People that tell you the only way to repair a Microsoft product is to wipe and re-install generally do not know what they are doing. If the first response I got from a consultant was wipe and re-install, I would look for another consultant. Most experianced techs can repair a Windows PC without wiping it.
4. Hardware issues can be fixed. Power supplies can be replaced. I have often replaced caps on a motherboard, or disabled a built in device on an expensive board then installed an add-on replacement. For example, we had a lightning strike in the area, lightning surged through an unprotected hub and took out 9 computers. On 8 of the computers I was able to disable the on board lan, install a NIC card and get them back on-line. The 9th PC and the hub was toast. I also find many hardware issues to simply be bad fans, faulty memory or such. Always troubleshoot. Customers appreciate it if you look at thier machines before you tell them they need to be replaced.
5. Ok, you're high school students. You will need to try harder and prove you have your stuff together. Dress neat, be well groomed, be polite, and act professional. First impression's count for a lot. If you give a bad first impression you probably will not get a chance to make any proposals.
Finally, the consultant is not supposed to be any particuler age, but should be a professional, who can help the customers bottom line.
The summer before my last year in high school I had a cheap beater of a pickup truck (a 1970 Ford F-150 with a motor and transmission out of a Mustang (V8-302, 3 speed manual tranny) - it was ugly, beat up, and cheap. Also had lots of room in the back for gear. Estimated cost : $500
... something that involves pushing buttons and moving a mouse around ... if you do let us know because a bunch of us would love to do the same.
Bought a used lawn mower, cleaned it up and sharpened the blade with a file. Estimated cost : 100 total.
Got an electric weed-eater for about $40 new w/ a 100' heavy duty extension cord.
Other crap : eye protection, ear protection, maybe a second mower and trimmer because there are two of you.
Total cost, roughly your entire $1000 budget.
Get started by printing out 1 page flyers to put on people's doors in neighborhoods (nice neighborhoods.) Each place you do will take you about 2 hours max with two people, and will pay $40, and needs to be done every two weeks. You can do like 4 each day tops, and if you do a GOOD job you will have awesome repeat business. Totally a cash business, so no taxes.
It takes some time to build up a client base, but once you two do a good job you will have more business than you can imagine. $800 free and clear every week on a full schedule, possibly more. That's $400 a week per person free and clear, $1600 a month.
It is hot, sweaty, dirty, demeaning work - which is why you will have so many people eager to have you do it for them. If you aren't too proud to sweat you will make more doing this than doing 'computer work' - esp. now.
Maybe you will find something that you can do with your $1000 start up fund, something that will net you $5,000 apiece in three months without access to a car
Glonoinha the MebiByte Slayer