This summer, instead of following the path that many parents take and insisting your teen get a minimum wage summer job, give your teen the edge they need to survive in tomorrow’s business world by encouraging them to become teen entrepreneurs and go into business for themselves.

They will learn the same values, such as the value of working hard and how to be a team player, as they would in a traditional summer job. However as a teen entrepreneur, they will learn other invaluable skills, such as networking, persevering in the face of setbacks and how to generate income, which will serve them for a lifetime.

As a bonus, your teen will give your wallet a much needed break when they are able to pay for all of the things they want with the money they earn from their business.

Below are five ideas that your teen entrepreneur can use as the basis of their entrepreneurial venture.

Start a Pet Care Specialist Business

Does your teen love animals? Were they especially responsible with the family pet growing up? Instead of making them get a summer job at a pet shop, your teen entrepreneur can start their own pet care business.

Many pet owners view their pets as family, but because of busy schedules are unable to give their pet the care they need. Your teen entrepreneur could offer personalized, front door service that saves their clients time and money with a menu of services that include pet walking, pet sitting, pet grooming and visits to the vet.

While your teen will do most of the work, you may have spend a little time screening out dogs that are too rowdy as well as help make flyers to advertise the business. If you are really short on time, encourage them to partner up with an equally enterprising and responsible teen for maximum productivity.

Start a Web Services Business

If your teen cannot be pried away from the computer with a crowbar, then encourage them to do something useful with it like start an online business offering web services. These services can be anything from web design to graphic design to online freelance work.  You may be surprised but every day I see many teen entrepreneurs, some as young 11 and 12, making good money with online businesses.

Depending on the age of your teen, you may have to do some monitoring to ensure they don’t end up in a bad online neighborhood. But there are many online tutorial sites that will teach teen entrepreneurs all they need to get started. Best of all there are so many free services available for business startups that you don’t have to invest a dime. Just a little time and, really, what else is your kid doing these days?

Start a Lawn Care Professional Business

Some people like working in their yard but a good majority don’t; especially when the summer heat is on. I mean really, who wants to be out in hundred degree weather cutting grass? I know. Your teen entrepreneur.

Like the pet care business, teen entrepreneurs can start small by only offering a lawn cutting service. When they’ve gotten their feet wet, they can add other services like pulling weeds, watering the lawn and trimming hedges. When fall comes along they can add raking leaves to the list.

If your child spent the last few summers watching you mow the lawn, you may have to invest some time in teaching them the basics of lawn mower operation and safety. If it is an electric lawn mower, you may be making an extra trip to the gas station every now again so they can fill up the gas can (with their money of course).

Start an Auto Detailing Service Business

This is really just another name for car washing. Except instead of having them work a summer job at a car washing station, your teen entrepreneur can offer front door service by going to their client's home to wash their car. They could offer basic wash and dry or a full detailing that includes washing the windows, cleaning the dashboard and vacuuming the floors.

If you are a little leery about sending your teen off to a stranger’s home, an alternative would be to contact a local self service car wash station and ask if your teen entrepreneur could offer a hand wash option to their menu for an even split of the profits.

Your outlay of effort may include a trip to the store for supplies or helping to negotiate a contract with a local self service car wash owner. However you can negotiate free car washes as compensation for your efforts.

Become a Personal Assistant

Time is the number one commodity these days with people attempting to do more with less. Think about your typical day. How much would you pay to have an extra hour each day? That’s how much your teen entrepreneur could be making per hour as a personal assistant.

They can keep things simple by offering to do basic chores such as grocery shopping, picking up laundry and dropping off packages at the post offices. Your teen entrepreneur can also choose to specialize in one service (only offer their service as a personal grocery shopper) or they can offer a range priced by the hour or by the service.

You will have to help them secure transportation of some kind whether it is using your car, getting them a bicycle or helping them figure out how public transportation works.

Whether you are an adult or a teen, entrepreneurship is fraught with challenges. However with a little ingenuity and hard work, you teen entrepreneur can make their business a success using skills that will serve them for years to come. Who knows, if your teen is successful enough, maybe you can quit your day job and become their business partner.  If you don’t like any of these ideas, spend some time looking around the opportunities archive here at MoneyStance.com, you’re sure to find something of interest.