It's a matter of scale. How many teenagers do you know who make $5 here, or $10 there, just mowing lawns, cleaning windows, or doing babysitting?
They're making money without luck, without scamming, and without being terribly valuable.
The problem is those things don't scale. I can imagine a couple of happy teenagers raking in $400-$500 a week, if they really push themselves, but it will be very seasonal work.
Hrm. uber for lawns? facebook for windows? (There are a lot of agencies that work as middlemen for childcare, where often vetting and background checks are involved. I'm not familiar with such a thing for pet-walking, window-cleaning, or lawn-mowing. Perhaps they exist, or perhaps there's your cheap and easy idea! Physical labour is cheap, anyway :)
Not to disagree or agree, but this reminded me of more than one story I've read of a young lawnmower person who got enterprising and started their own lawncare business, employing other people (and becoming quite successful).
They probably didn't have passion for mowing lawns, but perhaps their on-the-ground experience taught them enough that they could then use their other intellectual/social skills to scale up.
I don't have any formula for how to translate these anecdotes into new ideas... else I'd be doing one myself.
They're making money without luck, without scamming, and without being terribly valuable.
The problem is those things don't scale. I can imagine a couple of happy teenagers raking in $400-$500 a week, if they really push themselves, but it will be very seasonal work.
Hrm. uber for lawns? facebook for windows? (There are a lot of agencies that work as middlemen for childcare, where often vetting and background checks are involved. I'm not familiar with such a thing for pet-walking, window-cleaning, or lawn-mowing. Perhaps they exist, or perhaps there's your cheap and easy idea! Physical labour is cheap, anyway :)