How Can My Computer Illiterate 16 Year Old Make Money

[onyxgem]

Today my 16-year-old son came to me and asked me if he can make a lot of money on Ebay. He recently saved $160 from a summer job to go shopping and when I asked him why he hadn't gone shopping yet, he said he wanted to invest it in buying some stuff on Ebay to sell. So sweet. I am not a big Ebay fan as I see it as a huge discount warehouse and I'm not sure the work would bring a lot of results.


I would love to take him under my wings and teach him how to make money online. However, he is computer illiterate (just not one of his strengths). I thought about him using flyers to advertise some sort of affiliate program (such as cell phone sales) that didn't involve him having to maintain a site.

Any ideas of how he can make money using internet marketing would be much appreciated.

Thanks.

[Lou Diamond]

Hello,
there is a very big market for used video games.
My kids buy a new game for $60.00 and then trade it back in the
next month for just $20.00 store credit.
He can buy and sell used video games from all of his friends
and he has a new business ready to go.
Good luck.

[appsrus]

did you just compare his son to a monkey?

I'm sure there is a better example out there somewhere... hahah

[Joe Giannetti]

nice going nathan!

great way to build relationships!

[Danny Cutts]

ebay is a doddle to use and also wordpress is very easy he will get the hang of it I am sure!

He could just go round teh house selling all the junk that way he will see some quickish money and this will motivate him some more.

The computer game idea is a good one as well. Anybody can learn how to use a computer and ebay is a good place to learn teh basics as it will involve cut and paste uploading images ect ect

Good luck

Danny

PS very wise wanting to invest at 16

[kimvalerio05]

I’m sure if he is really interested to learn something, he will be able to do everything just to get what he desires. And it’s better if you his father are the one who will teach him so that he will further appreciate it. Good Luck <-,->

[Thomson]

I would suggest you to ask him whether he is interested in earning money through internet marketing as this is really gonna develop a lot in future.

I think you will be able to teach him more about internet and online marketing and if he is able to develop interest in this, he will go ahead and hopefully earn a good amount of money in future with internet marketing

[sbucciarel]

Originally Posted by appsrus

did you just compare his son to a monkey?

I'm sure there is a better example out there somewhere... hahah

ROFLMAO

Sorry, forgive me. I had to laugh at that one.

At 16, I would be encouraging him to learn computers and his school work inside and out and get a part time job in town somewhere like most teens do. I would want him to be preparing for college and the real world and having the kind of offline fun that teens do.

Plenty of time for him to become an online entrepreneur, but not very likely for a computer illiterate to become one. Not only that but computers play an important role in a lot of professions, so I would be getting him so training.

[appsrus]

Hey, I thought I should add something more valuable here...

A great way to get your son started on his path to computer literacy would be (assuming YOU know how to do these things and can teach him) to get him used to working with an FTP program, registering and setting up new domains, and installing simple scripts like Wordpress, as Danny mentioned above.

While these are by no means "basic" computer skills, I'm sure that your son already has a firm grasp on using programs like Microsoft Word, using a browser to search the web, etc.. in short, in today's day and age I find it extremely hard to believe he could be completely "computer illiterate". Hell, they even teach these basic skills in public schools now as a mandatory class.

So, while those skills (using Office, browsing Web) are what I would consider "basic skills" that an average person of his age will already have, the skills I listed above "use FTP, install Wordpress, register and setup domains) are basic skills that every Internet Marketer SHOULD have under their belt.

Besides, these things aren't really that hard to do. If you can sit him down and show him how to do these things a few times and then let him experiment himself a bit, he would inevitably pick it up in no time, and you have just taught your son life skills that he can even use to create a living for himself with. These skills are the building blocks of internet marketing, if you are doing it seriously.

Once he understands these things he could offer simple services to online or offline customers, get into web design, start running blogs or websites for cash, flip websites or blogs for cash, take what he has learned and (eventually) sell it to other people, move on to learn SEO to drive traffic to his sites, etc!!! the list goes on!

In my opinion this would be much better advice than trying to teach him to make a few bucks on eBay, which is in my opinion a dead-end road, as well as not being Internet Marketing. Some may consider working on eBay Internet Marketing, but in my opinion they are completely missing the point. Your son has the right idea by wanting to make money online, he just needs to be pointed in the right direction

He could get started by buying a domain ($10), buying a $5/month shared host (enough bandwidth here to host many different sites) and still have enough money to play around with eBay a bit... That is what I would advise for him

[onyxgem]

Thank you. This is an excellent idea.

Originally Posted by Lou Diamond

Hello,
there is a very big market for used video games.
My kids buy a new game for $60.00 and then trade it back in the
next month for just $20.00 store credit.
He can buy and sell used video games from all of his friends
and he has a new business ready to go.
Good luck.

[onyxgem]

In all fairness, I should have said he has a learning disability. He does not have the patience or ability to learn computers. He has a hard time with Microsoft word. Trust me.

And yes, he is preparing for college, but because of his disability, he has a hard time following directions and an office job, for example, would not be the ideal job for him.

I believe when he is an adult, having an automated business where he can outsource or hire someone to perform most of the functions would be ideal.

Thanks everyone for the ideas.

[RobotGirl]

"Ebay is a doodle to use..."

This Canadian had to look that one up. Doddle (NOT a misspelling of doodle) means:

noun Brit. (informal) piece of cake, picnic (informal) child's play (informal) pushover (slang), (informal) no sweat (slang) cinch (slang) cakewalk (informal) money for old rope, bludge Austral., N.Z. (informal)