Cottage Business Connects Teens With Home Duties

PALO ALTO, CA -- When Janet Shah had heard enough of the whining and whims of her teenagers' wants and "gotta haves," she put her foot down and her ideas down on paper.

What she penned out was a uniquely creative business that sends teenagers out on odd jobs, honey-dos and home duties for those adults who either don't have the time, ability or wherewithal to perform.

The company called TeenJobFind safely matches teenagers with these neighborhood jobs that range from babysitting and tutoring to housecleaning and yard work. For the latter, she tells her collective of workers to prepare "to get dirty" for these jobs.

The mission takes an old school concept of hiring teenagers for jobs close to home and puts a modern-day spin on it -- with technology.

The breakthrough job marketplace thrives two-fold:

• Creating a sense of community
• Teaching teenagers the value of earning their own money

Shah learned from experience the motivation behind the business.

"I grew up on the East Coast and started working when I was (age) 12. My parents instilled in me a work ethic and the understanding in the value of money," Shah told Patch.

A few years ago, Shah noticed her three children -- now ages, 13, 15 and 19 -- started asking for expensive items and gifts -- including $100 "Lulu lemon" pants, which are all the rage.

"And it wasn't even a holiday," she said.

In turn, she would respond with her "motherly" voice that most of us have heard before: "When I was your age, any want that I got was for me to get it."

By the same token, she understood their academic and extra curricular demands had to be balanced with those life lessons.

"I was thinking: 'Am I the only one who wants my kids to work?'" she asked herself. After all, her family is surrounded by households in the upper echelons of national incomes where many parents make enough to support several average families. It's no wonder the teenagers of today think they can ask for whatever they want.

Shah's "aha" moment came when she noticed jobs her teens could do around the neighborhood to earn money.

She quickly developed an app to run the computer-based business with safety checks and balances, along with a business plan to set it into motion. Word has caught on fast, and now she sends the young worker bees out on assignments from Belmont to Mountain View. Some job posting users will even ask for the same teen to come out. Profiles and skills are highlighted to get the best teen-to-job match available.

The jobs run $15/hour -- which will be the minimum wage in most Silicon Valley cities next year. It's established where the teens make $12 of that, and Shah places the $3 remainder back into the community, specifically for marketing efforts.

Currently, there are 600 users in the program, with teenagers outnumbers the job posters by a four-to-one ratio. The business is going so well, Shah is considering expanding into jobs specific to filling gap years, defined as the period between high school and college. She has even dealt with the notion of going national or even global with the concept -- perhaps involving volunteer work and internships.

"There are so many avenues this could go in," she said.

For now, the entrepreneur is especially inspired by how well received the system is to not only seniors in the neighborhood who may not want to move heavy furniture and need help but to teenagers who give her a refreshing take on working.

"I've had teens say to me what they like about it is not only is it good to get out, but it's a good alternative to the computer," she said.

Now there's a departure from a teenager's way of life.

Information on the company can be found at https://teenjobfind.com.