Starting a free online business is relatively easy. Your teenage kids are probably very comfortable with computers and social media web sites such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. Instead of letting them flitter their time away channel their talent into creating a business online. The costs involved are mostly an investment of time.

1. Sell products on eBay

I have a nephew which builds outdoor furniture from free wood he gets from an orchard owner. He then sells the furniture on eBay. When he needs more money he just makes more furniture.

You can do the same with someone else's products by offering to sell it for them. Some folks go to garage sales to purchase inexpensive items then sell it for profit on eBay.

2. Writing articles

If your kid has a good writing style he/she can offer his/her services to online firms who are looking for good content writers. I suggest creating a small portfolio of essays he/she has written for English classes so potential clients can instantly view how good his/her skills are.

3. Create online presentations

Creating Powerpoint presentations for school projects are very common these days. Businesses spend a lot of time and money putting these together. Your child can become a virtual assistant online by offering to create these.

4. Create videos

Online videos are very popular because they engage visual and auditory senses of visitors. Businesses use video blogs, video sales pages, video squeeze pages to promote their products online. It takes a bit of a learning curve to create a good video and time to submit a video to all the video sharing sites. If your kid is experienced in creating videos he/she can use the skill to make money.

5. Write a short report

Throughout your kid's school life they always have to write essays or do a report on a project. They can use this expertise to create their own report on a subject they are passionate about then sell it online for profit. The report can only has to be 7-20 pages long. It should only contain content people can use, not a lot of fluff.

After creating the report, build a small web site containing the sales page and graphic of the report then market it on social marketing sites, blogs and forums. The key to making a profit from the report is to find places online where people interested in the topic of your report gather together.