re: Advice on my teenage son doing odd jobs around the neighborhood (2 YR UPDATE - QUESTIONS)

The kid in my post about having a lawn service literally had more business than he could handle in his own neighborhood just by being nice and approaching people going door to door wearing his football jersey. It is refreshing to see a high school aged kid, more like a young adult, hustle yard work and do outdoor type stuff as a business since it is so rare these days to see that work ethic from kids his age. I will say the dad did help him but it was guidance mainly. The kid got a pretty nice truck, trailer, lawn equipment, and even funded his duck hunting habit all through his little lawn hustle.

Target the culdesacs. They are usually pretty tight-knit. Get one of houses, then get them all with a culdesac discount. 5 houses in 3 hours, everyones lawn is cut evenly with each other's at the same time. That's how our culdesac does it. It's a kid from the neighborhood, but he's grown up and married now so not really a kid, but he did grow up here and is still considered a "kid" if that makes sense.

A person in my neighborhood hired a kid to do work around the yard and the child got hurt really bad. The lesson I learned from that situation is never let anyone do anything on your property unless they are bonded and insured.
Blows my mind that in this day and age kids getting paid to do yard work is still a thing.

Yea knock on doors. Offer a service so cheap they can’t refuse. $10. Saw some kids knocking on doors offering to paint or repaint their address on their curb For $10

You sir are a huge vagina.

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Blows my mind that in this day and age kids getting paid to do yard work is still a thing.

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Most kids have their entire childhood and teenage years without any real responsibilities outside of ‘school.’

So kudos to the parents out there teaching their kids the value of work and money management.

It's hard to believe it's been 2 years since I started this thread.

Son is a Jr in HS, has a truck, has built up a regular customer base and is picking up new customers. He's been handing out cards, and those people have been handing out his cards. He's even bought some of his own equipment. He's learned a lot, taken some jobs that were more than he should have taken on for the price, etc. But it's been a process.

He's now ready to hit this summer full speed, so he's wanting to expand his advertising. He's making signs to place by his truck while he's doing jobs.

Another thing he wants to do is create a QR code that leads to a webpage that gives a little more information about what he offers, as well as before/after photos. He has someone that can help him set up a domain and build it. Some questions about this...

- He has a name he calls his "business." I've been told that if he likes the name, he should apply w/ the state to have a trade name so noone can take it. He's planning on going into the military after HS, and isn't really concerned with this. Should he do it anyway, at only an $80 fee w/ the state of LA Secretary of State dept?

- Are there any limitations on what he should advertise? Basically anything that requires a license?

- I tend to think "less is more" for the webpage, so thinking that if he can have it pull up so that most of what he wants to communicate is immediately visible without much scrolling, the better. Then maybe a link to "before/after photos" someplace.

- Not related to advertising, but for tax purposes.... I assume that all along he should be keeping up with earned income and expenses to file a return. Any other tax considerations to keep in mind?

Thanks for the input.

What comes with an LLC? I kuee see t don’t want ringer bot be something later that wasn’t aware of.

I guess we could get him on Facebook.

What kind of content? Videos?

Build the page with AI. It's very easy these days.

No need for the LLC to contribute to a Roth and honestly we all get so LLC happy these days but has anyone ever had one help them prevent liability in court lately?