The teenager

Economics is probably one of the most boring topics for young and old people alike.  Unless you are an economist, you probably steer away from every mention of the word.  The funny thing is that economics is part of your every day life, and you're likely talking about different aspects of economics every day without even realizing what you are doing.
What do I mean?  Price of jeans, cost of gas, hourly wages...  All these and many more items factor into the field of economics.  You probably don't care about what drives the cost of gas up, just that it keeps going up.  And you probably complain about not having enough money or needing more money.  So, what do we do to better our economic status?
We plan.
It's common sense, really.  We're taught in elementary school, make an outline before writing a paper.  It helps us to define where we want to go and how we are going to get there.
The same goes for life.
So, if you are a teenager looking for a part time job to earn some money while finishing high school, here's how you start.
1. Pick a good company that will get you through high school and into college.  Plan to stay there for several years.  (Thinking ahead tip: When companies are looking at applicants for positions, they don't like to see a lot of jobs on your resume within the space of several years.)
2. Don't waste the money you earn now on junk.  You are working while in high school, so most of this money is going to be your extra spending money.  Instead of telling you to save a certain percentage per check, I'm going to save you having to do the calculation.  Take one paycheck a month and put it somewhere you will not touch.  If you want to add others to it, go right ahead.  This will get you in the habit of saving in the future and build a nice little savings before you get to college.
3. Don't let your grades drop because you think high school doesn't matter.  It does.  What you do in high school affects many things later on; your grades determine whether you get scholarships; your focus on topics determines whether you might test out of a class in college.  These are some major cost-cutting measures you need to think about.
4. Start thinking about what you want to do with your life.  Pick something that really interests you, that will make you want to keep coming back day after day.  Don't choose a career just because you can earn a lot of money.  You can almost guarantee yourself a long path of unhappiness.
Remember, this is just a foundation.  But you have to build a foundation to build a house, and without one the house will just crumble and deteriorate.  So work hard on building your foundation now.  We'll get to the neat stuff later.