There is numerous side hustles nurses can take advantage of to earn extra money.
Multiple healthcare professionals have even turned their side hustle into a lucrative full-time career.
In some instances,nurses generate six-figure yearly incomes from their business on the high-end.
Although this isn’t always the case, knowing diverse ways to make a comfortable living is inspiring.
Here are 12 side hustles for nurses who want to earn extra money.
Some side hustles include blogging, selling products, freelance writing, tutoring, consulting, and transcription services.
1. Build a Profitable Blog
Over the years, blogging has become a substantial part of many nurse entrepreneurs‘ businesses.
It has allowed hard-working nurses to earn a six-figure income each year.
Although blogging won’t make most people an overnight success, it can become a lucrative side hustle.
It’s especially true for those willing to learn how to build a profitable business around their blog.
Examples such as dollarsprout.com and thenerdynurse.com prove entrepreneurial nurses can make full-time lives as bloggers.
However, aspiring entrepreneurs must treat their blog as a business, not just a hobby.
One of the best things about starting a blog is that it’s inexpensive to get started.
The earning potential is also incredibly high with the right strategies, effort, and patience.
Blogging allows nurses to set their schedules and work at their pace.
It’s why it’s such an incredible side hustle for entrepreneurial nurses.
Nevertheless, it requires consistency and practical strategies to grow the blog/website into a successful business.
To illustrate, here are six methods successful nurse bloggers use to earn extra income.
6 Ways Nurses Make Money Blogging
- Sell eBooks
- Promote affiliate products/services
- Sell their own products/services
- Offer advertising space on their blog
- Get sponsorship deals
- Create a paid membership
For nurses who don’t want to sell their products/services, affiliate marketing is an excellent way to make money.
There are thousands of products online that you can promote and sell.
Best of all, by matching your audience’s needs with valuable products, you help them achieve their goals.
Consequently, you earn money by promoting those helpful products when you make a sale.
Using this method, you don’t have to worry about creating a product, customer service, or dealing with finances.
Your only responsibility is to promote great products that fit your audience and is helpful.
Just make sure you select suitable, trustworthy affiliate partners that treat you and your audience with honor.
Numerous online resources exist for nurses who prefer to create, market, and sell their products.
For instance, websites such as Amazon and Etsy make it easy to sell products to millions of people.
Alternatively, nurses who want to sell their products on their blog/website can utilize platforms such as Shopify.
This platform allows bloggers to create a personal store and sell their products directly to their audience.
This method allows nurses to generate higher profits because they don’t have to split their earnings with other companies.
Another option is to create digital products such as eBooks, membership sites, and software.
These can be highly profitable as there aren’t physical products you must continually build and manufacture.
Once you create the product, you can sell it infinitely for little to no cost.
Software and membership sites may require frequent updates depending on the product.
2. Become a Social Media Influencer
Social media influencers have developed an online following through social media platforms such as Instagram, YouTube, Twitter, and Pinterest.
These influencers have an audience interested in what they have to say, share or promote.
There are influences in every niche, including fashion, dieting, exercise, lifestyle, technology, education, and nursing!
If you have a social account and follow someone you like, they influence you, whether small or large.
Many successful influences focus on a particular niche or topic.
In these niches, fans follow accounts that have people, opinions, and interests on things that are important to them.
Those who run financially successful social accounts provide their audience with value.
Furthermore, they sell products, services, and sponsorship deals to earn an income.
Building a Social Media Following Takes Work
Building a social media account requires consistency, branding, marketing, and connecting with other influencers.
It includes bloggers, social media influencers, celebrities, news sites, and other social platforms.
Connecting with other influencers can substantially grow and sustain an audience.
With that said, successful influences have built their accounts without outside help.
In these cases, influences create viral content that gets noticed, shared, and viewed.
Over time they may collaborate with other influences and continue to grow their audience.
In the end, if you can get lots of eyes on your content, you can build an audience.
Once you’ve built a dedicated audience, find products, services, and sponsorship deals that help your audience achieve their goals.
It includes anything from beauty, healthcare, educational and physical products to your clothing apparel.
Those with dedicated fans can even sell their clothing, which fans buy to support their favorite creators.
The best part of being an influence is choosing something that interests you.
Whether you want to focus on nursing or build an account based on another interest, you can do it!
Influencers don’t have to tie what they do online with their day-to-day life.
How Social Media Influencers Make Money
- Promote affiliate products
- Sell their products
- Get sponsorship and brand deals
You can earn an excellent side hustle income by matching your audience’s desires with valuable products and services.
The most popular influencers earn a full-time living from their social media accounts.
Social media examiner provides valuable information for those who want to learn about social media marketing.
There are also successful influencers that sell courses on growing a social following.
3. Tutor on the side
Tutors are an essential part of the education system. Those who build a reputation earn an excellent wage by tutoring on the side.
Tutoring is excellent because it can be a flexible side hustle for nurses who lead busy lives.
Notably, it allows nurses to set their schedules and choose which students they want to assist.
Notably, there’s a lot of flexibility regarding when you can work and where you can work.
As long as students are willing, wanting, and able to work with you, the ability to earn a good side income is high.
Tutors Help Students In various Settings, Including:
- Online (work from home)
- In a college setting
- At a local library
- In-person home tutoring
There are numerous options for those who want to work with a college, online program, or in-person tutoring company.
In this case, the college/company will provide students.
Alternatively, tutors can work as independent contractors where they work for themselves and find their clients.
Although it’s more work, tutors can earn more money. That said, it requires higher effort, marketing, and business knowledge.
However, some independent tutors can work with a company for study space and help to find clients.
How Much Can Tutors Make?
A tutor’s money varies depending on education, experience, location, hourly rate, and clientele.
The income difference between two tutors can vary dramatically based on the previous factors.
That said, tutors can earn five to six-figure income by providing high-quality aid to students.
For example, this article from Business Insider describes a tutor who makes $90,000 a year doing what they love, teaching!
It also explains how he earns his income and how others can use the same process to earn a living.
If you are interested in becoming a tutor on the side, also consider starting your own blog/website.
It’s an excellent platform for establishing yourself, finding clients, and building your resume.
You can even sell services or products to earn extra money and help others interested in your content.
Successful entrepreneurs make an excellent living building multiple incomes streams.
4. Medical Transcription Writer
Transcription writers specialize in transcribing audio content, reports, and records into written text.
These transcriptions are read and utilized by lawyers, medical professionals, and other individuals who require a text version of their recorded information.
Some transcription writers transcribe live conversations to add a textual format for later use.
Essentially, they create documents for reading and reviewing.
Those who work as medical transcription writers require good listening, writing/typing, and comprehension skills.
They must have an excellent comprehension of the language they are transcribing.
Furthermore, medical transcription writers need a fast internet connection as they frequently work from home.
Although transcription writers can work for a company or agency, many writers are considered independent contractors.
These individuals may work on a client-by-client basis or have several jobs.
Depending on the job’s sophistication level, a client/organization/company may require a screening test to determine your competency level.
Jobs are often categorized as general, medical, or legal to make finding transcription work easier.
It helps transcription workers specify their areas of expertise for potential work.
It also helps companies narrow their selection to those qualified for a specific transcription job.
One of the best things about doing transcription jobs is working on a case-by-case basis.
As a result, you can schedule and accept transcription jobs during your free time.
5. TeleHealth Nursing
Telehealth nursing is an area of nursing that takes place over a phone or internet connection.
In this profession, nurses provide remote care to patients needing medical services.
As a telehealth nurse, you use video and audio sessions with patients to make assessments and recommendations based on their medical condition.
It benefits patients who want to speak with a medical professional quickly.
Through telehealth nursing, patients can determine whether their condition is treatable at home or if they require care at a clinic, healthcare facility, or hospital.
If patients can treat themselves at home, it saves them time and money by reducing their need to visit a clinic.
It also frees up space for healthcare professionals to care for those who need in-person care at the healthcare facility.
Telehealth nursing can dramatically speed up medical sessions by immediately connecting patients to medical professionals.
Ultimately, it reduces clinic visits, waiting room stays, filling out paperwork, and navigating the facility.
Telehealth nursing is excellent for nurses who want to work from home.
With that said, telehealth jobs allow medical specialists to work in a professional setting.
These jobs can be part-time or full-time, and some services may offer a flexible schedule to fit telehealth nursing into your busy schedule.
6. Freelance Healthcare Writer
Freelance healthcare writing is a great side hustle for educated nurses who enjoy using their knowledge to write.
These professionals can work for popular websites, blogs, and news publications, among other writing-focused jobs.
Experienced freelance writers can earn $25 to several hundred dollars per article with a deep understanding of nursing and healthcare.
Of course, this depends on the article’s complexity, topic, and length. It also depends on the healthcare writers’ rate.
Some publications even offer a revenue share based on the amount of traffic an article brings to the website.
In this case, publicans offer higher payouts or ongoing income for articles that consistently generate traffic.
Freelance writing is also a fantastic gig for nursing students who want to earn extra cash while attending nursing/medical school.
Essentially, they can apply what they’ve learned from your classes to freelance work.
Freelance writers can work on a per-article basis or accept several articles simultaneously.
It provides flexibility regarding when and how much work you want to do.
There are proofreading and editor jobs for those uninterested in freelance writing.
These jobs essentially allow nurses to review articles and make the necessary corrections before publication.
It includes checking for grammatical mistakes, spelling errors, and factual information.
Consequently, this ensures the article is as clear, concise, and accurate as possible before being released to the public.
7. Nurse Consultant
Nurse consultants work in various fields providing consultation work to numerous employers.
Typically nurse consultants advise professionals in settings that require medical advice and expertise.
For example, layers, judges, and other legal jurisdictions deal with cases that require medical experts.
In this case, legal nurse consultants examine, assess, and explain medical-related factors to law enforcement.
They may interview the people involved, perform physical examinations, and manage other determinants necessary to conclude accurately.
Once they’ve gathered the necessary evidence, they can present it to the lawyer, judge, or legal members.
Ultimately, their knowledge is vital for determining the outcome of criminal cases.
With that said, nurses can consult in professions unrelated to law performance.
There are plenty of careers that require medical expertise from knowledgeable healthcare experts.
For instance, registered nurses can work as nurse medical cannabis consultants or wellness consultants.
Primarily, these professions help individuals lead happier, healthier lives through medicinal, physical, and mental care.
Nurse consulting jobs can be part-time, per assignment, or full-time. Furthermore, they can work as independent contractors or for a company.
8. Seasonal Flu Clinic Aide/Immunization Nurse
Working as a seasonal flu clinic aide is a great way to earn a side income.
In addition, these professionals provide flu vaccines to patients and the local population.
You can find flu clinics in various settings and operate as pop-up locations or permanent facilities.
For instance, seasonal nurses work in community centers, colleges, retail pharmacies, hospitals, and pop-up clinics.
This work aims to vaccinate as much of the population as possible.
In turn, this reduces the spread of viruses and the severity of illness among those that become sick.
Flu clinic jobs are customarily popular right before and around flu season.
As a result, job applications often pick up around the year’s colder months.
The work is straightforward for those taking jobs as seasonal flu clinic aids.
Essentially, these healthcare providers focus on administering flu shots and answering related questions.
With that said, there are full-time registered nurse clinic jobs that operate all year long.
In this case, nurses provide various healthcare services to patients in a clinical setting.
It includes performing screenings, administering flu shots, medications, and treatments, and educating patients.
There are also other tasks required by registered nurses depending on the clinic.
One advantage of working as a full-time registered nurse in a clinic is the regular hours.
For instance, some clinics operate Monday thru Friday until 5:30 pm enabling nurses to receive weekends and nights off.
9. Sell On Etsy or Shopify
Etsy is a trendy online marketplace for people who like to make handmade goods.
This store is for entrepreneurs, such as nurses, who want to sell their physical products.
What’s great about marketing on Etsy is that there’s already a customer base with millions of monthly visitors.
If you can create, market, and sell successful products, you can make a good income.
However, other ways exist to create, market, and sell products.
Another conventional approach is selling products on your website for those who don’t want to pay Etsy’s fees.
In this case, Shopify and similar platforms allow you to create your store.
The benefit is that the fees are minimal, and you don’t have to pay a marketplace to sell products.
Consequently, you can make more money, and you don’t have to compete on the same website with competitor products.
When you own your website, every product on that site is yours. As a result, conversions can be higher, and you can sell products at a higher price.
Best of all, no matter which page they click on, you don’t have to worry about lower-priced competitors on the next page.
You are responsible for promoting your products, the store’s appearance, and various legal/business components.
Therefore, you must determine which method of selling is best for you. Finally, you can sell your products on your website and an e-commerce site.
It allows you to get the best of both worlds and cast a more extensive marketing net.
Popular Items Etsy/Shopify Sellers Market
- Art decor
- Candles
- Face masks
- Jewelry, stethoscope charms, covers
- Key fobs, chains/, lanyards
- Pens, pencils, and other writing essentials
- Personalized gifts, graduation presents
- Shirts, hoodies, jackets, socks
- Scrub caps
- Stethoscope covers, name signs, I.D. tags
- Stickers, banners, and decals
- Study guides, planners, books
- Tumblers, totes, coffee mugs, shot glasses
That said, you cannot sell specific software and digital products on markets such as Etsy at the time of writing.
However, you can sell them in your store.
If you want to sell digital goods, you either want to create your store or sell on a digital storefront.
It includes the App Store, Google Play Store, Steam, Microsoft Store, and other digital markets.
As mentioned, this can be highly lucrative as you don’t have to manufacture the product repeatedly.
Plus, you can charge recurring subscription fees for specific products.
10. Work as a Part-Time Educator
An instructor/educator is another excellent way to earn extra income.
Educators teach classes related to their field of expertise to help students pass their courses/exams.
For instance, educators work as CPR instructors, nurse aides, clinical educators, and more. They also teach part-time at colleges and universities.
Because there is a considerable market for part-time educators, I cannot list all the available jobs.
However, here is a shortlist of potential jobs nurse educators can do in their spare time.
Educator Jobs For Nurses Include:
- CPR teacher
- BLS (essential life support) instructor
- Nurse aide instructor
- Part-time online/remote educator
- Adjunct clinical nurse instructor
- Developmental nurse educator
And numerous other part-time gigs. Besides working directly in healthcare, nurses can consider part-time employment in other fields.
If you have the education and experience, you can work in a non-related discipline.
For example, if you are passionate about art, dancing, or programming, there are part-time jobs to make extra cash.
Feel free to think outside the box instead of sticking to the healthcare field.
In the end, this can be a refreshing change of pace and rewarding for those who enjoy other occupational pursuits.
11. Pick Up Side Work at a Hospital or Clinic
Working part-time at a hospital or clinic is a traditional side hustle for busy nurses.
Numerous clinics and hospitals hire part-time or per diem for those who want to stick to healthcare.
These jobs are ideal for nurses who have free time and want to earn extra money quickly.
Best of all, nurses are already familiar with this line of work, so there isn’t a significant learning curve.
Although working part-time at a hospital or clinic isn’t as thrilling, a good employer can provide a steady income.
Besides earning extra money working in a related field is a great way to have experience.
Working in an adjacent field can be great for the resume and lead to better opportunities in the future.
12. Work with Postmates, Uber, or Lyft
Services such as Postmates, Uber, and Lyft allow individuals to earn money on their schedules.
Those working with these companies require a driver’s license, personal vehicle, background check, and smartphone.
From there, independent contractors are free to log into the app and work when they’re available.
Depending on the company and location, work is available 24//7.
In fact, in popular cities, apps like Uber and Lyft always have customers that need a ride.
Qualified and respectable drivers can quickly turn their apps on and make money.
Best of all, independent contractors work when they want and can operate as little as a half-hour or for numerous hours.
This side hustle is popular among students, part-time workers, and those who prefer to set their schedules.
That said, independent contractors are responsible for their vehicles’ condition and must follow the company, state, and federal laws.
Furthermore, it’s not for everyone, especially those not interested in picking up strangers.
In this case, Postmates, Doordash, and Uber services allow independent contractors to make money by delivering food.
Although you don’t need to drive people around, you still need a vehicle to deliver food.
Therefore, you must determine whether you’re comfortable using your vehicle and driving to various locations.