Summer is here and many people are looking for temporary work, including teachers, high school students, and college students. Depending on where you live, a summer job may be next to impossible to find. An alternative may be to start your own summer business offering a service. Here are some summer business ideas.
There are always the standard summer services including:
- Lawn mowing and landscaping – competitive pricing and professional service are the keys to success.
- Child care – many parents need babysitting or mother’s helper services for school-aged children during summer vacation.
- Car washing – consider going mobile; wash cars at owners’ homes or place of business.
- House sitting – many people go on vacation and having a house sitter adds some security in addition to keeping the plants watered.
- Pet sitting – an added house sitting service.
- Painting – indoors and out.
- If you have a particular skill perhaps you can put it to use for the summer:
- Photography service – take pictures at family reunions, beach parties, and other summer parties and events.
- Tutoring – many parents look for help for their kids to catch up or get ahead during the summer.
- Here are a few ideas that aren’t as common:
- Yard sale organizer – many homeowners would welcome the help to set up and run a yard sale.
- Window washer – while many people keep the inside of their windows clean, outside window washing is often a job that homeowners put off.
- Specialty cleaning services – think about specific items that could use a special cleaning like home computers and laptops, collectibles, all the framed artwork and photos hanging in the home.
- Specialty organization service – organize pantries and kitchen cabinets or collections of CDs and DVDs or books.
- Mover – many people move during the summer and need help packing and loading the truck. Or offer your services to help students move in and out of the dorms.
- Party helper – offer your services to help set up, serve guests, and clean up for summer parties.
With a little creativity and advertising you may find yourself very busy and well-paid all summer. Sometimes all it takes is finding that first job and word-of-mouth gets you booked for the rest of the summer. And if nothing else, it’s a great time to clean your own home and sell your unused items at your own yard sale or using an online auction site such as eBay.
Are you running a summer business? Leave a comment to let us know what you’re doing and how it’s going.
Heya¡my very first comment on your site. ,I have been reading your blog for a while and thought I would completely pop in and drop a friendly note. . It is great stuff indeed. I also wanted to ask..is there a way to subscribe to your site via email?
Hi Dawna. Thanks for stopping by. Yes you can click here to subscribe by email. The RSS feed can be found here.
When the weather has been as good as it has recently, I think I would rather be outside in the sunshine washing cars
I remember we did some weird jobs to earn cash back when I was a student including one time when we spent a week cleaning the moat on a castle!
when I started my cleaning business a few years ago I had no money to start up really , thats what makes this business so awesome , anyone can start one and grow it to any level with little money. I have a whole staff now and live comfortably. It can be hard at times and at times I feel like quitting but it in the end its the best business to be in
I love running my own landscape business But I do have to say that last few years have been difficult, But, I expect things to start getting much better I love being in this business and if you do too
Lawn mowing and landscaping is not just for summer. It is something that my brother has done for over 25 years, to this day he and his crew manicure the lawns of our community and even a few famous high end clients.
True, depending on where you live a lawn mowing and landscaping business may be a year-round business. (Here in the northeast, there’s no winter landscaping or lawn mowing, but most of the landscapers do plow snow.) This article was written to offer summer business ideas for students and others who just need temporary work, however some might find they like it and have enough success to change careers and continue year round.
Great tips on how to find temporary summer jobs. Detaillxpert is offering to train individuals who might be interested in setting up a Steam cleaning car wash franchise. An indepth training program designed to help anyone to be successful & acquire all the skillс needed to establish a car wash franchise.
Hi Chuck. Thanks for stopping by and commenting. A car wash wouldn’t be a temporary summer business though. Of course many of the suggested summer business ideas could also be turned into year round businesses, this post was more about seasonal work.
Those are really great ideas. Thanks for taking the time to write this article. I have to agree with Linda these ideas are good for year round businesses.
There’s also the popular lemonade stand. If you’re over 21, you can start an “adult” lemonade stand and probably make much more money!
LOL Bryan! If by “adult” you mean alcohol, I don’t think that would go over very well with the authorities. Aside from the question of liquor license requirements, there’s the problem of people coming by in cars, and there are even laws against walking around with an open container in many places. I’d strongly advise against starting that type of summer business!
Lawn care businesses are certainly a mainstay in the summer months. I saw a fellow who set up shop on the weekend in a parking lot with a sign that said “Lawn mowing – name your price”! That was a new one for me!
In regards to this offer Lawn mowing and landscaping – competitive pricing and professional service are the keys to success. Do you think it is better to ask for this kind of services or it is better to get a lawn mower and do the job ourselves,,, I think it would be linked to our day time and free time,,, but I wanna know your opinion