Around a third of the job is a reasonable shape for a first helper. Start from what is left after paying them, because if a thirty dollar job takes two people an hour and the friend gets fifteen, you earned half of what you used to for the same hour plus all the arranging and the risk. Paying almost nothing because they are a friend is how a helper becomes resentful by week three.
Start from what is left over rather than from what feels generous, because the number that matters is the one still there after the friend is paid.
Say a job pays thirty dollars and two people finish it in an hour. Paying the friend fifteen means you earned fifteen for the same hour you used to earn thirty for, plus you found the customer, set the price, own the equipment, and take the complaint if something goes wrong. That is a worse deal than working alone, and it is the most common way a first hire goes wrong.
A reasonable shape for a first helper is somewhere around a third of the job. Enough that the friend is genuinely paid for their time, and enough left that you are paid for the part nobody sees.
What is not reasonable is paying almost nothing because they are a friend. That is how a helper becomes resentful by week three, and the friendship is worth more than the difference.
Three ways to structure it.
Per job. Ten dollars a lawn. Simplest, easiest to understand, and it rewards being quick. Best default.
Per hour. Clearer when jobs vary a lot in size, though it quietly rewards working slowly.
A split. We each take half. This sounds fair and usually is not, because it ignores everything one of you did before the work started. A split is a partnership rather than a hire, and it should be a choice rather than something you drift into.
Write it down before anybody works: what the job is, what it pays, and when. Four lines is enough. The point is not paperwork, it is that you both heard the same thing on a day when nobody was annoyed.
And if there is genuinely nothing left after paying a fair rate, the problem is the price rather than the pay.
Five questions about age, budget, time, and what they actually like doing. Four matched ideas at the end, free, with no email needed to see them.
Take the quizA kid who cuts, edges, and cleans up usually starts between $25 and $40. Professionals charge about $30 to $85 a visit, and a young founder starting below that is being paid less for being unproven, not for being young.
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What should a kid charge to mow a lawn?Ten people who already know them, one prepared sentence, and an easy way for each of them to say no.
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How does a kid find their first customer?Less than almost anyone expects, and for a lot of these ideas the honest answer is nothing until somebody has already said yes to a price.
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How much money does a kid need to start a business?Earlier than most people think, as long as the business matches what the kid can actually handle. The limit is rarely age itself.
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What age can a kid start a business?A program from Founder's Best Friend. Built for kids 8 to 18 who want something of their own.