Working Teens
By: Ben Brune
Tags: Business, Teenagers, Jobs, Work, Revolution

Photo by Anton Darius on Unsplash

I’m sure you’ve seen a million video advertisements of a seventeen year old in his mansion or next to his million dollar car telling you to pay for his course on how to make millions from home. Sounds great doesn’t it? I mean who wouldn’t want to make millions from home, working for yourself, with flexible hours? But if it was as easy as they make it seemed everyone would be doing it.

Amazon FBA, drop shipping, and many other names take the form of a business model that basically entails buying cheap, garbage in bulk and selling it to people for way more money than it’s worth. These products can be anything that “solves” a common problem. One example I have seen is an “ab stimulator.” Basically, this sticks to your stomach and shocks you to activate your muscles and ideally gives you six-pack abs. On a website such as AliBaba, where you can buy products in bulk for cheap, these sell for about $3. People buy this and then sell it for around $30. That’s some damn good profit. Throw your product on amazon, advertise on Facebook, advertise on Instagram, and boom! You just made a million dollars. It isn’t that easy though.

The trouble comes in when you have to put your own money in upfront. If your product flops and doesn’t sell, well… you’re in a world of hurt and maybe even debt depending on your financial situation. A lot of luck plays into finding the right product and a lot of expertise comes into advertising right. This is a pretty dangerous endeavor, but it could have a great payoff. If you want to put the risk in go for it. If you want to put the research and effort in go for it. You could strike it rich and make millions. Or… you could fail miserably and lose all of your money because you picked the wrong product.

On top of that, there is the morals. Now I’m not here to judge you if you decide to try this business. I really don’t care what you do. You are a big boy and can make your own decisions, but just think about this. By buying a terrible product for cheap and selling it to people for way too much, you are not filling any need in the market. You are ripping people off and most likely selling garbage. It’s a great business model… for you, but not for the people you’re selling to. Any normal 9–5 job, any part-time job, any manual labor job, benefits society. If you are a cashier, you are providing people with a valuable service. Society could not function without this job. If you are a roofer, or interior designer, you are providing a valuable service. People’s houses would never look nice without this job. If you rip people off and sell junk your service is actively hurting other people. You are stealing from hard working people without them even knowing.

I guess it’s only fair to tell you I myself have considered attempting this market and still do. It really is easy money if you’re good at it and lucky, but there have to be better options. Maybe there is some middle ground of money and morals.

My parents are pressuring me to get a summer job this year. This has led me to start browsing options. Today I asked, “If I can start my own business and make money from that will you still make me get a job?” And although they don’t believe I can be successful in starting a business they agreed that if I somehow can then I would not need to apply for any more jobs.

Truthfully, I don’t know if I could start my own business successfully either. It takes time, dedication, and hard work, but I don’t even know what business I would start. I would prefer something online that I could send out and get money sent directly to my bank account without even meeting the person. But then again, that’s what everyone wants, the easy way. I have some experience with graphic design and editing videos, but not enough to make an entire business out of it.

The markets of social media consultants and advertising through facebook are growing rapidly. I could learn how to be the best in the world at this, but still, nobody wants to hire a sophomore in high-school to manage their business’s picture to the public or growth.

I’m a teenager that nobody has a reason trust. What a great excuse. People love to make excuses, me included, and there’s mine. “They didn’t hire me because I’m too young.” “I can’t start my business because I’m too young.” No, they didn’t hire me because I didn’t give them a good enough reason to overlook my age. I can’t start a business because I haven’t worked hard enough to be better than my age suggests.

So, what are the next steps for me and other teens to take to beat this age barrier. Work that little bit harder to show people that your age doesn’t define you. I deserve just as much a right to work and get paid than the drunk college student partying his life away. I deserve just as much a right to vote than the two parents too busy to actually look into who they’re voting for. I deserve just as much a right to drive than the guy with 13 speeding tickets and 2 DUIs who’s probably drunk right now.

The reason adults don’t trust us teens is because they haven’t given us a chance. They haven’t given us a chance to learn how to be hard workers and improve our society. We haven’t proven ourselves unworthy, so give them a reason to let us show them how great we can be. Work harder than every adult. Show them that we can become the greatest. Because adults like to think that teens can’t think for themselves, that teens can’t work hard, that teens can’t fight for what’s right. We now have an opportunity to lead the adults in our lives. Show them that we could take their jobs if we wanted and make them beg you to hire them. They don’t have anything we don’t. And do you wanna know what we have that they don’t? Heart.