Are you a young person looking for a summer job? Are you not sure of what types of jobs to apply for?

With the summer temperatures here, I’m reminded of some of my past summer jobs. I’ve held a summer job every single year ever since I can remember. I’ve always been a greedy kid.

We already looked at jobs to avoid. There are certain jobs that should be avoided. But today, we’re going to look at the opposite side of the spectrum here. Let’s look at my top summer jobs that I worked.

Lawn care.

I cut grass, watered plants, and did all sorts of lawn care for elderly people in my community.

The job was fun at times. I got paid $7/hour and grass grows pretty fast in the summer months. Some folks were a pain to deal with. They would hustle me and get the most work out of me in a one hour period. Then they would pay me $7 and send me home.

Others folks were a pleasure. Some just wanted someone to hang out with. One really ill gentleman paid me just to water his plants. I would sit down for hours with the sprinkler running. Pretty sweet.

Soccer referee.

Do you enjoy soccer? Do you want to get paid to exercise?

I really enjoyed being a soccer referee because I love playing and watching the game. I was also pretty happy with the pay. If I could do two games in an evening I would earn myself $45. Not bad for an evening of soccer.

Most of the games were in my area and I would ride my bike to work. There was never a shortage of exercise involved. I was always outdoors and I got to meet lots of folks.

Plus, there may have or may not have been a few occasions where I worked games that my brothers paid on. Conflict of interest? Perhaps. But that’s our little secret.

Paper boy.

I was a paper boy for like ten years. I got the job when I was in like grade 2 or something like that. I delivered the newspaper in my community.

The job didn’t pay a fortune, but I believe I made $200 a month or so. I had to deliver the paper on Wednesday, Friday and Saturday. It was tough on Fridays because after school I really didn’t want to spend the evening working. I wanted to play soccer with my friends or just hang out. The most annoying part was actually putting the flyers into the paper and organizing everything at home. It was really messy and would take hours at time. Why didn’t they put the flyers in for me? Wtf?

The good part of the job was that I stayed active (even in the winter) and I knew everyone in the community. Everyone knew me and it was pretty fun. If I have kids, I’m definitely going to make them deliver flyers since I had to go through it.

Those were my favorite summer jobs. Applying for them is a different story. Every job has its own application process. To get into lawn care, I found it through an organization in my community that setup elderly citizens with young people to cut their grass. To become a paper boy I saw an ad in the newspaper. To become a soccer ref, I had to earn my certification.

What are some of your favorite jobs? Are there any jobs that you would suggest that the young people reading this apply for?

Are you finishing up school this term? Have you been thinking about a major trip?

I’m going to assume for the sake of this article that you’re wrapping up your studies or have already done so. You also likely want to finally let loose. You’ve had enough of the exams, cramming, and struggles from the past four years (or five). Now you want to go on a trip. It may seem a bit overwhelming at first, but that’s what I’m here for.

Let’s work together to plan your post-college trip. We’re going to look over common questions:

What’s your budget?

How much money do you have? Chances are that as a young college student, you don’t have all of that money. That’s understandable. This is why you need to use your creativity to figure something out.

Your budget will determine everything. You can take a few months to work before you go on your trip or you can work a part-time gig in college. It really depends on what you want to do and what your schedule allows.

My advice here is simple: start saving right now! Put away as much money as possible. Don’t wait.

How long will you go for?

I personally usually go away for a week. My longest trip ever was a month in Europe. I don’t like the be away from home for all that long. I love my friends, family, and my gym. I don’t like to be away for love, but I love to travel.

What’s your situation like? If you want to get away for long, this might be your one chance. You can look for work abroad opportunities or you can secure a job for yourself that you come back home to a job.

What length comes down to is finances and your future plans. A friend of mine had a job lined up and chose to go away for four months. He knew that his job was waiting for him and that real life would begin. He did his best to get the most out of this trip.

Where do you really want to go?

Anything on your mind? Any travel destinations that you’ve had on your mind for the longest time?

This could be a once in a lifetime opportunity. Will you seize it?

You need to be realistic with what you can afford. You likely don’t want to get into debt since you’re reading a personal finance blog. You don’t want to go somewhere you can’t afford. This is why you need to choose wisely.

Who’s all in?

Who’s hitting this trip with you? A solo adventure? Is there a big group that wants to go away with you?

Oh and please, don’t let your friends hold you back. Every single person gave me excuses. I became fed up and booked a solo ticket to Europe. My parents thought that I was crazy. Then they found out how much fun I was having and they changed their minds.

Now it’s time for you to pack and buy your ticket. Are you ready to prepare for your first trip after your graduation?

You don’t need to be totally organized to save money. You don’t have to be boring to launch a business. You don’t have have to have everything together. Most of us are waiting for some magical moment to happen. For some life-changing experience. You don’t have to grow up and become mature to get results in your 20s. You’re fine the way that you are right now.

What can you start doing right now even if you don’t have it all together?

Just start making money.

You absolutely don’t need any business cards, the best resume in the world, or venture capital to start making money. Anyone can start making money today. I worried and stressed about launching a site forever. I just couldn’t do it. Then finally I threw all of the excuses out and just launched.

You don’t need a 100-page business plan. You especially don’t need business cards. Those are great to have, but are absolutely not essential.

I see this happen all of the time with friends. They create some crazy business cards and hand them out. Then they change their Facebook occupation to “Owner of …” They do everything, but make actual money. Screw that. I want to see you make real money and then worry about the business cards later.

Put a few bucks away every single time you get paid.

You don’t have to learn any of the following to save money:

• Day trading advice.
• Different investments to get involved in.
• Dividend trading.

If you want to start saving money, just put a few bucks away every single paycheck. The next time you get paid, put aside a small amount of this.

I started doing this back in 2005. I signed up for automatic paycheck deductions. From every single pay, a few bucks would get deducted and go into an account. Then I would very limited access to this money. I was forced to save money. It was like a pay cut except the money was all mine. The interest rate on this money sucked, but I didn’t care about that. I’m very happy to this day that I decided to put this money away. This account has grown nicely over the years.

So please, if you want to start saving money, just save. Don’t worry about the stock market or complex investments.

Make mistakes.

“A man must be big enough to admit his mistakes, smart enough to profit from them, and strong enough to correct them.” — John C. Maxwell

Mistakes are apart of life. So what if you’re not perfect? Everything doesn’t have to be organized and perfect to work. It’s okay to make mistakes and fail. The scariest thing is not trying. I can deal with failure. But not trying is just sad.

You don’t have to worry about being organized and on top of everything. Some of the most successful people that I know don’t have it together by any means. They’re often confused or lost. You just need to get started.