Julie Fryer - The Teens Ultimate Guide to Making Money When You Cant Get a Job. 199 Ideas for Earning Cash on Your Own Terms

A few years back we lost our beloved pet dog Bear, who was not only our best and dearest friend but also the Vice President of Sunshine here at Atlantic Publishing. He did not receive a salary but worked tirelessly 24 hours a day to please his parents.

Bear was a rescue dog who turned around and showered myself, my wife, Sherri, his grandparents Jean, Bob, and Nancy, and every person and animal he met (well, maybe not rabbits) with friendship and love. He made a lot of people smile every day.

We wanted you to know a portion of the profits of this book will be donated in Bears memory to local animal shelters, parks, conservation organizations, and other individuals and nonprofit organizations in need of assistance.

Douglas and Sherri Brown

PS: We have since adopted two more rescue dogs: first Scout, and the following year, Ginger. They were both mixed golden retrievers who needed a home.

Want to help animals and the world? Here are a dozen easy suggestions you and your family can implement today:

• Adopt and rescue a pet from a local shelter.
• Support local and no-kill animal shelters.
• Plant a tree to honor someone you love.
• Be a developer put up some birdhouses.
• Buy live, potted Christmas trees and replant them.
• Make sure you spend time with your animals each day.
• Save natural resources by recycling and buying recycled products.
• Drink tap water, or filter your own water at home.
• Whenever possible, limit your use of or do not use pesticides.
• If you eat seafood, make sustainable choices.
• Support your local farmers market.
• Get outside. Visit a park, volunteer, walk your dog, or ride your bike.

Five years ago, Atlantic Publishing signed the Green Press Initiative. These guidelines promote environmentally friendly practices, such as using recycled stock and vegetable-based inks, avoiding waste, choosing energy-efficient resources, and promoting a no-pulping policy. We now use 100-percent recycled stock on all our books. The results: in one year, switching to post-consumer recycled stock saved 24 mature trees, 5,000 gallons of water, the equivalent of the total energy used for one home in a year, and the equivalent of the greenhouse gases from one car driven for a year.

Introduction

There's one constant when it comes to being a teenager you need money. You know it, your parents know it, and you've probably spread the word to all willing relatives as holidays and birthdays approach. Next to birthdays and the Bank of Mom and Dad, though, the only sure way to get money is to earn it. The question is: How in this economy are you going to find a way to put money in your pocket? If you've been out looking for jobs, you know how few jobs are available, even if you're looking for just a few hours a week. If you have not started filling out applications, here's a sobering statistic: As of October 2011, the national unemployment rate for youth ages 16 to 19 was 24.1 percent. Sadly, this is an improvement from 2010, when the youth unemployment rate hit a record high of more than 27 percent. These statistics do not count those under 16 looking for work or teens who have just plain given up. For the most up-to-date statistics, visit the Bureau of Labor Statistics website at www.bls.gov .

This situation mirrors the overall national unemployment rate that for the years 2010 and 2011 averaged at above 9 percent. These are jobless levels not seen since the early 1980s. It's the highest unemployment rate recorded in your lifetime, and probably in your parents lifetimes, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Complicating matters further, the average length of unemployment is 40.6 weeks, which means a high percentage of people have been out of work for three-fourths of a year. These once well-employed people are forced to take part-time, minimum wage jobs to make ends meet and keep the bills paid. Not so long ago, these part-time jobs were filled by teens. Now when you go apply for a job, you're competing against older, more experienced workers desperate for any kind of employment.