How can I make $1,000?

I'm 15 and I'm trying to start a business in video game and computer programming. There are a few special programs that make programming a lot easier that I need. Some of these programs are expensive to get and require a stronger computer than my parents'. I estimated about 500 to 1000 dollars worth of computer, programs, system requirements, and upgrades.

You're young, you can bootstrap yourself.

For programmers who like what they do, there are choices to make:
* bread and butter stuff (things that pay the bills)
* pie in the sky (the stuff that you really want to do)

You can do both of those, but you have to get the bread and butter stuff going first. That will help you make money, pay for your new computer and so on. THEN you can focus on the stuff that you really like to do.

Now, the payoff is when the stuff you like to do becomes your bread and butter :-)

Good 'bread and butter' things?

1. Fixing/Upgrading your friends and neighbors computers for a fee
2. Making websites for friends ane neighbors
3. Teaching some aspect of computers that you know a lot about

Anyway, good luck! I wish I was young like you and could start over again! Then again I'd do everything I did the first time.

great choice in career(im even tinking of being a programmer),I dont really know how you could make money though, I guess you could get a job for a while until you ern enough cash.

College students can get a lot of software for a fraction of its retail price. If you sign up for a community college class you should qualify for this pricing.

There is also the open source route. You can install Linux, gcc, emacs, etc. without spending a single red cent.

Good luck! My only stint at being self-employeed was doing mailing lists for bicycle shops before personal computers were so common. I never made much money but at least it paid for some of my equipment.

I make good money with content generation on websites using adsense to monetize the work and revshares to add extra bits to my totals. However I believe that esconsult1 is correct. His three basics are stable places to start. Find the going rate for the GeekSquad and undercut the basic stuff that they do and overprice the stuff that is more 'pie in the sky'. Learn about internet forensics or get into adware/spyware/malware removal as well as basic trojan cleaning, minor worm killing, etc. Computers all over the US have these issues and you can upsell a client who is doing something 'bread and butter' with a quick scan in the right directories to get the extra 'pie in the sky' service.

from my parents