I'm a 15 yo kid and i need to start making some money (i need suggestions)

[ddaviiqq]

Hi, im a 15 yo kid who lives in italy and i need to make some kind of money due to a family situation, i've already spent a considerous amount of time thinking for some kind of way to help my family. In the past year or so i started to play around the world of tech and fell in love with building computers, i have built some high spec PCs as well as some low end ones and i'd like to know if someone started or knows how to start some kind of "business" if it can be called one. I saw the videos on the channel where Jake said that he started helping people for free and i'd be open to do something like that but i don't know where to start.

I'll be happy to read any suggestions

 

[ToboRobot]

Find people who will pay you to build a computer.  Cost of parts + cost of labour to build it.

Find people who need basic IT service, fixing computers etc, as this will lead to people to build computers for.

If you can network and find customers without marketing great.  If you have to advertise to find customers it can get expensive. 

A lot depends on the local market and if someone is already providing (good) service in the area.  So do some research.  You might also need some capital to buy parts, if you can't get people to pay a full deposit.

It's a nice hobby or lifestyle business but generally I think getting a job is going to pay better.

[ddaviiqq]

7 minutes ago, ToboRobot said:

Find people who will pay you to build a computer.  Cost of parts + cost of labour to build it.

Find people who need basic IT service, fixing computers etc, as this will lead to people to build computers for.

If you can network and find customers without marketing great.  If you have to advertise to find customers it can get expensive. 

A lot depends on the local market and if someone is already providing (good) service in the area.  So do some research.  You might also need some capital to buy parts, if you can't get people to pay a full deposit.

It's a nice hobby or lifestyle business but generally I think getting a job is going to pay better.

I've already tried to find a job but here nobody is going to offer me any kind of job.

 

I thought about something tech related because it's basically the only thing that i can do that nobody in my area can't.

 

To make some capital i'm ready to sell my recent xbox as well as my logitech wheel so i'd be able to get around 500 to 600 euros.

 

The hardest part of all is finding people that need computers, the majority of people just goes to  the local mall and overpays for the biggest pieces of bullcrap known to man.

[ToboRobot]

1 minute ago, ddaviiqq said:

I've already tried to find a job but here nobody is going to offer me any kind of job.

 

I thought about something tech related because it's basically the only thing that i can do that nobody in my area can't.

 

To make some capital i'm ready to sell my recent xbox as well as my logitech wheel so i'd be able to get around 500 to 600 euros.

 

The hardest part of all is finding people that need computers, the majority of people just goes to  the local mall and overpays for the biggest pieces of bullcrap known to man.

Do you not think people will have similar issues with offering you a job to build them a PC?

If you have 500 euros and you can get a customer to give you a 50% down payment for their computer (final payment on delivery), you can build 1,000 euro systems.  Save money and you can increase the budget, or ask for a greater deposit.

Yeah, finding customers is the job.  Building a PC isn't really hard or a rare skill, people can learn on YouTube.  Finding people who can't or won't build their own computer and don't want to buy one from a big store or company with warranty and support, isn't exactly easy. 

It's not a great way to make easy money, it will take lots of hard work.  Building computers for profit isn't a whole lot of building computers.

[ddaviiqq]

7 minutes ago, ToboRobot said:

Do you not think people will have similar issues with offering you a job to build them a PC?

If you have 500 euros and you can get a customer to give you a 50% down payment for their computer (final payment on delivery), you can build 1,000 euro systems.  Save money and you can increase the budget, or ask for a greater deposit.

Yeah, finding customers is the job.  Building a PC isn't really hard or a rare skill, people can learn on YouTube.  Finding people who can't or won't build their own computer and don't want to buy one from a big store or company with warranty and support, isn't exactly easy. 

It's not a great way to make easy money, it will take lots of hard work.  Building computers for profit isn't a whole lot of building computers.

You made some great points and the fact that i may not achieve anything makes me doubt a lot.

 

I wrote on this forum because i wanted to see my idea from other points.

 

Do you have any idea for some kind of job that i could start? Even outside of tech at this point

(Lawn mowing and pressure washing don't work here because in big cities 99% of people live in condos)

 

 

[ToboRobot]

1 minute ago, ddaviiqq said:

You made some great points and the fact that i may not achieve anything makes me doubt a lot.

 

I wrote on this forum because i wanted to see my idea from other points.

 

Do you have any idea for some kind of job that i could start? Even outside of tech at this point

(Lawn mowing and pressure washing don't work here because in big cities 99% of people live in condos)

 

 

There are jobs that people will pay other to do not because they can't do it, but because they don't want to. 

Not sure about what is local to you, but things like cleaning or walking dogs are often jobs that people don't want to do.  Plumbers and electricians will always have jobs because poop is gross and electricity is scary.

[Mud23609]

1 hour ago, ToboRobot said:

There are jobs that people will pay other to do not because they can't do it, but because they don't want to. 

Not sure about what is local to you, but things like cleaning or walking dogs are often jobs that people don't want to do.  Plumbers and electricians will always have jobs because poop is gross and electricity is scary.

This ^^^^^^

 

Find the stuff nobody else wants to do and use it as a stepping stone to move on to bigger and better things. I was a little younger than you when I got my first job. It involved a pitchfork and a whole lot of cow poop, but it helped me to gain experience and also to start building a reputation as a reliable hard working individual which helped me when I later went on to open my first business. My first customers were the same people who knew me as the kid who rode his bike all over the county to clean calf pens.

[wasab]

You can jailbreak people's phone for a fee

[BrandonLatzig]

if you need to make money, check any restaurants or retail stores. Sure they arent ideal, but if you need money, you dont get to be picky

[jre84]

day trading. right now AI is volatile. buy low sell high. less risky but more time consuming constantly buying and selling, good way to make 50-400 a day doing nothing.

[wasab]

18 hours ago, jre84 said:

day trading. right now AI is volatile. buy low sell high. less risky but more time consuming constantly buying and selling, good way to make 50-400 a day doing nothing.

90+% day traders lose money long term. the first couple of winning gambles trades are luck, you earn 50%ish+ returns from your trading. you then have a giant ego, believe you are a genius, misunderstand your luck for skills, and then go on to increase risks like degenerates and end up losing everything like the 90% of traders out there lol. i guarantee that is the fate of all-day traders with 90% certainty as time goes on.

 

it is the same reason i advise against buying stocks and would suggest investing in index funds instead. 90% of stock pickers underperform index funds over 30-year period, the longer the time, the larger the difference. i am not talking about your average day people, these are hedge fund managers with fancy Harvard business/finance degrees who work at wallstreets here. 90% of them underperform index funds for buying and selling stocks over 3 decades. can you imagine? you get more money by buying index funds than from hedge fund managers buying stocks for you.

 

index funds has proven to always turn a 100k+s into millions of dollars after 3 decades in the market due to compounding returns since... well since the stock market has existed. You just need to buy American S&P and diversify, and yet people always say if there is such a magical way to get rich, why isnt everyone doing it? well, probably the same reason people go buy lottery tickets instead of investing in their 401ks. why save/invest when you can gamble?

 

in short, please dont day trade and doing listen to such advice. 

[ThousandBlade]

Don't do it. 

Because you're going to attract mostly these types of people:

 

The type that expect you to build a $500 PC that plays all AAA games at ultra 4K 420hz

Or the type that wants to buy a $4000 PC and won't pay for anything upfront.

Or the type that pays for the CPU and GPU, and expect you to find everything else and build it for $100

Or the type that thinks the speed of the computer is based how much RGB light you have on it.

Or the type that agrees to a price and wants a 50% discount after the build is done.

Or the worst kind of them all, mac users.

 

19 hours ago, jre84 said:

day trading. right now AI is volatile. buy low sell high. less risky but more time consuming constantly buying and selling, good way to make 50-400 a day doing nothing.

Investing is something your going to have to learn eventually if you wanna get ahead. But at 15 your not mentally prepared for the strain. 

 

On 2/4/2024 at 7:41 PM, wasab said:

You can jailbreak people's phone for a fee

This is a solid idea.

[Dillpickle23422]

On 2/4/2024 at 5:40 PM, ddaviiqq said:

You made some great points and the fact that i may not achieve anything makes me doubt a lot.

 

I wrote on this forum because i wanted to see my idea from other points.

 

Do you have any idea for some kind of job that i could start? Even outside of tech at this point

(Lawn mowing and pressure washing don't work here because in big cities 99% of people live in condos)

 

 

Any farms/ranches nearby? I started working at a local farm when I was 15. Not going to be a particularly fun job at first, you'll be doing a lot of menial tasks for minimum wage, but once you show them that you're willing to learn, put in the work, and do the job right the first time, you'll find yourself with more responsibilities and also more pay. I still do some part time work when needed for the farm that I worked at when I was 15. I started out just cleaning equipment, and packing boxes, and now do a lot of the setup for irrigation, and haul corn wagons, making quite a bit of money

[wasab]

8 hours ago, ThousandBlade said:

Investing is something your going to have to learn eventually if you wanna get ahead. But at 15 your not mentally prepared for the strain. 

nonono, you need to be investing as early as possible. heck, i would like to invest money back when i was a fetus in my mothers womb if i could. Time is everything. the longer you put money into the stock market, higher the return. if you start at age 20 and wait until 60, every $1 becomes $86. if you start at age 30, every $1 only becomes $32. by being late just 10 years, your returns drop by more than 60+%

 

if there is truly such a thing as a magical way to gain wealth without any work, compounding is the closest thing there is to it. of course, it is not entirely free money, you are instead being paid for taking on risks. you will probably begin moving money away from stock market and into bonds as you grow older. young people have decades to wait for any losses to recover, old people do not. 

[jre84]

lol. telling someone stock trading is 99 percent losess? dude thats a comment for your doctor. sometimes you win sometimes you lose thats why educating yourself is important, to lower the losing. I don't think trading stocks is just for 30 and up but he asked for tips on how to make moeny and its a solid idea. it requires research and time to profit. its less luck.

[ddaviiqq]

On 2/9/2024 at 3:24 PM, Dillpickle23422 said:

Any farms/ranches nearby? I started working at a local farm when I was 15. Not going to be a particularly fun job at first, you'll be doing a lot of menial tasks for minimum wage, but once you show them that you're willing to learn, put in the work, and do the job right the first time, you'll find yourself with more responsibilities and also more pay. I still do some part time work when needed for the farm that I worked at when I was 15. I started out just cleaning equipment, and packing boxes, and now do a lot of the setup for irrigation, and haul corn wagons, making quite a bit of money

I have worked at a local farm and i can't say that it was a horrible experience but neither a great one.

 

The great part was that i had learnt the value of money because the worst part was the pay ( they paid me 4 euro an hour) and they made me do the most annoying tasks such as collect asparagus or courgettes.

 

I ended up quitting because in the summer they made me work in greenhouses at 120F for 4\5 hours straight and i ended up blacking out a couple of times due to the eccessive heat.

 

I' be interested in working in some kind of constructionn but it's more monitored than farms so nobody could sneak in a kid to work

[Donut417]

On 2/4/2024 at 5:03 PM, ddaviiqq said:

I'll be happy to read any suggestions

At what age is legal to work in your area? Here in Michigan for example is legal to start working at 14 at many jobs. There are jobs that you cant do, due to hazards and have to be 18 for, but there are tons of jobs for younger people. Many times however there are restrictions on how many hours you can work during the school year and the hours you can work.

 

I dont know how things work in your area. But im part of some Facebook groups where I have seen people ask for help with odd jobs. One of the groups Im part of is a job group for several communities in the area. I see people posting all the time who need jobs and they get responses back. Maybe look at staffing agencies if they exist in your part of the world, they might also be known as temp agencies, as these are for companies who need temporary workers for specific time periods, etc.

 

One of the old past times here in the US is kids would do yard work. Mow lawns, rake leafs, shovel snow, etc.