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Treating patients in 1:1 consultations is a necessary and honorable practice, and it’s how most healthcare professionals are trained to deliver healthcare. However, more and more colleagues are looking for passive income for physicians, and for good reason. Passive income for physicians means that doctors can earn money and work towards financial independence without constant effort. However, there’s a difference between passive income and side hustles; doctors are using both to expand their practice and generate extra income.
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Side hustles for doctors allow them to be involved in separate businesses that allow them to spread their hard-earned knowledge to a broader audience, expanding their reach and impact. As a physician, having a side hustle may also help you work from home, which can save you time and provide some much-needed balance in your life.
Best 9 Passive Income Ideas for Doctors and Other Health Professionals
According to , up to 37% percent of medical doctors, despite their demanding specialties, are joining in on side hustles for medical professionals to generate income. Many cite reasons from having an outlet for extra income to reduce stress to career pivot planning.
As always, it is your responsibility as a licensed professional to check with your regulator to ensure your passive income activities are in line with your local legislation.
In the event this peaks your interest, here are our top nine passive income ideas for doctors and other health professionals.
1. Use Subscription Telemedicine
Though not technically a passive income source if you facilitate these sessions yourself, running virtual consults can help you expand the reach of your practice.
Many physicians associate the rise of telemedicine with the global pandemic, but telemedicine services can be a helpful side hustle and an effective way to deliver care to your patients in any circumstance. Using telehealth platforms in creative ways can help you expand your reach to new patients and earn money outside the walls of your clinic.
Physicians can use telemedicine in the several ways, including:
Online coaching: Offer virtual wellness coaching or consultations that are facilitated by either you or associates in your clinic.
Health webinars and group programs: Host paid webinars on health topics or lead group coaching programs that allow people to learn together and from each other.
Memberships and subscriptions: Create exclusive membership-based health services and regularly deliver consultations and content to subscribers.
Having the right software that enables HIPAA-compliant telehealth, messaging, and automatic payments can help make setting up your virtual practice simple and easy. If you use a practice management software that integrates with Fullscript, like Practice Better, you can easily send your patients your preferred supplements straight from the same software that runs your video consults.
2. Create Online Health Courses and Webinars
Online courses can be an effective passive income source for doctors and a way to educate patients and other practitioners. You can create courses, webinars, and other educational materials related to your medical specialty or area of practice and then make them available for a fee.
There are several important considerations that physicians should keep in mind when creating effective online health courses that you can sell passively, which include:
Regulatory compliance
Your target audience
Course structure and format
Platform selection
Engagement and interactivity
Marketing and promotion
Customer support and feedback
Regulatory Compliance
First and foremost, ensure that your course content complies with medical and healthcare regulations. Consider any legal and ethical constraints, such as patient confidentiality and informed consent. It’s your responsibility to ensure you are operating within the boundaries of current regulations.
Target Audience and Course Content
One of the first steps to creating a successful course is to identify your target audience. Are you creating courses for patients, medical professionals, or individuals interested in health and wellness?
Once you’ve identified your audience, choose specific topics within your field of expertise, defining clear learning objectives and outcomes for each course.
Course Structure and Format
Depending on your audience’s preferred style and your strengths, you need to decide on the course format (such as video lectures, written content, interactive quizzes, or webinars) and organize your content logically, breaking it into modules or lessons. Quizzes, video, and other multimedia can enhance engagement, and there are plenty of video and design tools that make content creation easier.
Platform Selection
Choose a reliable e-learning platform or content management system to host your courses.
Consider the platform’s features, pricing, and user-friendliness, in addition to whether it can store patient or client data according to HIPAA requirements. Practice Better has a built-in course feature that connects patient data with your course data, allowing you to smoothly run all parts of your practice in one software.
Engagement and Interactivity
Some course platforms, like the one offered on Practice Better, offer group chat feeds that allow you to broadcast secure messages, helping you build a strong and active community. This feature fosters connection and can make patients feel as though they’re undertaking the same health journey as their peers. In one study, group coaching was shown to bolster positive health outcomes for patients.
Marketing and Promotion
In a modern digital landscape, you can tap into your social media following, email list, and partnerships to grow awareness of your practice. Leverage your existing network, patient base, and medical associations to promote your courses. You may also consider offering a free class for people to experience your course before they purchase your complete offering.
Customer Support and Feedback
Providing clear contact information and responsive customer support is key to addressing learner inquiries and handling technical problems or refunds. Make sure to gather feedback from learners to continuously improve your courses; you can easily do this using a feedback form within your course software or practice management software.
Creating online health courses can be a rewarding endeavor, allowing you to share knowledge and have a physician side hustle from home. However, success depends on careful planning, adherence to regulations, and continuous improvement of the courses to provide education for your learners.
3. Publish a Book or Medical Content
If you’re an avid writer, passive income for healthcare professionals can take the form of books, e-books, or articles about your area of expertise. If you’re not looking to go the traditional route of pitching a book to a publisher, you can self-publish on platforms like Amazon, iBooks, or your business website. The content can cover disease management, wellness, or specific medical conditions.
Self-publishing a book offers a unique opportunity to share medical expertise and insights with a broader audience. Before embarking on this journey, you should consider the following:
Clearly define your book’s purpose and target audience, tailoring content accordingly.
Ensure that the content is well-researched, up-to-date, and accurate.
Consider any legal and ethical implications of recommending certain treatments.
Invest in professional editing, proofreading, and book design.
Choose a self-publishing platform that aligns with your goals, considering royalties, distribution, and features.
Secure an ISBN and, if needed, copyright protection.
Determine an appropriate book price, considering content length and target audience.
Develop a marketing plan, leveraging personal and professional networks.
Decide on distribution options, considering both digital and print formats.
Establish and maintain an author brand for credibility.
Interact with readers, encouraging reviews and feedback to enhance future publications.
Ensure compliance with regulations and laws, especially when offering medical advice.
Stay up-to-date on self-publishing trends and techniques.
Turn the book into an email-based course to help further educate your growing base of readers and help you generate more revenue. With careful planning and dedication, you can successfully self-publish books that educate, inspire, and generate passive income while expanding your reach beyond the clinic.
4. Create a Blog or YouTube Channel
Starting a health and wellness blog or YouTube channel can be an effective method for attracting a significant audience. While producing high-quality written or video marketing content that your audience loves requires consistent effort, this is one of the best side incomes for medical professionals that allows you to be creative and work from home.
Creating a YouTube channel or blog as a side hustle can be a rewarding endeavor for physicians, allowing them to share medical knowledge, personal experiences, or health and wellness insights with a broader audience. Some doctors, such as Dr. Mikhail Varshevski, a physician and content creator who boasts over 11 million subscribers, have taken to YouTube to provide both educational and highly entertaining content.
Key Considerations for Physicians When Creating Content
Here are key considerations for physicians venturing into content creation:
Define your niche and audience
As always, you must identify a specific niche or focus for your content. The best content creators have something they stand for. This point-of-view could be medical education, wellness, lifestyle, or personal experiences. Stephanie Long, business coach for nutritionists, espouses niching as a business practice, and insists that “when we try to speak to everyone, we end up speaking to no one at all.” Having worked with patients, you can use your understanding of your target audience to create content tailored to their needs and interests.
Consider content quality and consistency
Select your desired platform, learn its algorithms and success factors, and then produce high-quality, evidence-based content on a regular basis. It’s also important to invest in good audio and video equipment for YouTube and ensure polished blog writing. Creating a content calendar will help you plan and organize your topics and publishing dates.
Focus on engagement and interaction
In order to climb up the algorithm, engagement is key. Foster a supportive community by actively engaging with your audience and encouraging interaction through comments, questions, and feedback. Be patient and persistent with your efforts; sometimes, establishing credibility in your chosen niche takes time!
Use monetization strategies
If waiting for your blog or channel to grow organically isn’t your thing, you can explore various monetization options such as paid ads, affiliate marketing, sponsorships, merchandise, and paid memberships. Be transparent about affiliate marketing and sponsorships, ensuring they align with your content’s integrity and current regulations.
Use marketing and promotion strategies
Once you have published content, you’ll need to ensure the right people see it and engage with it. Use social media, email marketing, and collaborations with other content creators to increase your reach. Also, consider leveraging your medical network of colleagues to share your content and build an initial audience.
Consider laws and regulations
Ensure your content complies with healthcare laws and regulations. To avoid any issues, be sure to include disclaimers when offering medical information while being mindful of patient confidentiality and privacy regulations. You should be transparent and clearly state your content’s purpose and limitations.
Cross-sell your products and services
If you already have other passive income streams mentioned in this article like ebooks and courses, you can use these content platforms to promote your other products creating a flywheel of additional revenue for your medical practice.
Creating a YouTube channel or blog as a side hustle can provide additional income and allow physicians to reach a wider audience. It’s essential to balance content creation with your clinical responsibilities and maintain a commitment to quality, ethics, and engagement to ensure the success of your side hustle.
5. Attend Speaking Engagements and Host Workshops
Whether online or in-person, doctors can leverage their expertise by giving talks, workshops, or keynote speeches at medical conferences or events. These engagements often come with speaker fees that you can negotiate. While this stream of income isn’t necessarily passive, it’s a physician side hustle you could pursue from home if you’re looking to speak at virtual events.
Like virtual content creation, speaking engagements are another opportunity to promote your upcoming courses or books or to earn a loyal following of people who want to work with you—all without overtly promoting yourself. People will follow you if your insights are relevant to solving their problems. For example, Practice Better recently invited Dr. Alex Keller, ND, of Fullscript to speak at the Programs Summit event. Dr. Keller spoke about how to use direct-to-patient supplements as a source of passive income.
Pitching oneself for paid speaking engagements as a physician requires a strategic approach to showcase expertise, credibility, and value to potential event organizers. Here’s a step-by-step guide:
Identify your niche and expertise: Clearly define your area of expertise within the medical field. Remember that specialization adds credibility.
Build an impressive speaker profile: Create a professional speaker profile highlighting your qualifications, experience, and accomplishments. Showcase your past speaking engagements, videos, articles, and any other relevant content. Develop your signature talk and then tailor it to the needs of event organizers.
Craft a powerful speaker kit: Prepare a speaker kit that includes a one-sheet with your bio, topics you can speak on, testimonials, and contact information, and include a compelling bio that outlines your medical background, unique perspective, and speaking experience.
Research event opportunities, then make connections: Identify conferences, seminars, webinars, or organizations that align with your expertise, Then, build relationships with event organizers, fellow physicians, and healthcare professionals who can introduce you to new opportunities. Lastly, craft your persuasive pitch and get your name out there.
Stay persistent: Like any side business, you need to set the foundation. Securing paid speaking engagements may take time. Don’t get discouraged by rejection; keep pitching and refining your approach.
Pitching oneself for paid speaking engagements as a physician involves effectively showcasing expertise, credibility, and the unique value you bring. With the right approach and persistence, you can secure rewarding speaking opportunities.
6. Become a Key Opinion Leader on Social Media
Even as a healthcare professional, you’re not confined to the clinic. In the digital age, thousands of practitioners are leveraging their knowledge and influence across all major social media platforms.
Embracing this role gives you a platform to share health insights that resonate with and benefit your followers. For instance, a nurse practitioner specializing in women’s health can offer holistic strategies to manage common oral contraceptive-induced nutrient depletions effectively.
Social media gives you the opportunity to expand your reach by providing valuable health knowledge and promoting products and services you trust. By sharing links to relevant products or subtly promoting your practice, you can generate a passive income stream. It’s just another way you can leverage your expertise and influence while growing your practice.
7. Endorse Supplements and Products You Trust
Ready to boost your impact and income while promoting health and wellness? When you back the supplements and healthcare products you believe in, you can earn each time a purchase is made!
Sharing product links on your preferred communication channels with your followers can positively influence them to take the right steps toward optimal health, and if they make purchases based on your endorsement, you could earn extra commission!
The earnings you receive will depend on the specific product and company, as well as the reach of your audience. Naturally, a larger audience can potentially lead to greater earnings. Let’s work towards advancing health and wellness together.
8. Use Automation and Engagement Tools Available Within an EHR
Practice Better supports all healthcare professionals in gaining more autonomy in running their practices. They focus on empowering passive income for doctors from home, for example, with HIPAA-compliant telehealth and messaging tools and course software that fully integrates into your patient management system. Practice Better supports over 10,000+ health professionals in having more impact, more freedom, and more time in their practices.
While many enterprising physicians participate in various additional side businesses to earn passive income streams, from consulting for health tech start-ups to venture capital and real estate, Practice Better specializes in helping you automate aspects of your practice so you can earn an income from home while increasing your impact. Extending your practice beyond 1:1 patient visits with engagement tools such as secure chat, quizzes, and group meetings empowers your audience to live healthier lives.
Learn more about using Practice Better to generate additional revenue for your practice.
9. Earn Income From an Online Supplement Dispensary
Did you know there’s a free way to earn extra money from dispensing supplements without having to manage inventory or worry about overhead costs? That’s right! Fullscript is the leading online platform for practitioners to manage and dispense healthcare’s best supplements—in-office or delivered to patients’ doors.
When practitioners create a Fullscript account, they become a safe, convenient source for trusted wellness products with the choice to offer savings, earn revenue, or both. The Fullscript platform also offers time-saving features, medically reviewed resources, automated adherence tools, and more to minimize administrative efforts, grow physicians’ practices, and free up more time that can be spent with patients.
Did you know there’s a free way to earn extra money from dispensing supplements without having to manage inventory or worry about overhead costs? That’s right! Fullscript is the leading online platform for practitioners to manage and dispense healthcare’s best supplements—in-office or delivered to patients’ doors. When practitioners create a Fullscript account, they become a safe, convenient source for trusted wellness products with the choice to offer savings, earn revenue, or both.
The Fullscript platform also offers time-saving features, medically reviewed resources, automated adherence tools, and more to minimize administrative efforts, grow physicians’ practices, and free up more time that can be spent with patients.
Did you know? Fullscript now lets you recommend industry-leading labs on the same supplement dispensing platform built to help you deliver whole person care.
How a Fullscript Online Supplement Store Works
Setting up an online store on Fullscript is simple and totally free to get started! Once you sign up, you can choose your own profit margin of up to 35% to help you grow your practice, offer your patients discounts, or strike a comfortable balance of both. You’ll have the ability to send patients online supplement recommendations or let them shop freely by setting your permissions to an open catalog.
As orders from your store ship, earnings accrue and are triggered as a lump sum payout to the business bank account you’ve set up in your Fullscript account every 30 days.
Add a new side hustle with a free Fullscript account!
Join 100,000 healthcare providers who rely on Fullscript to dispense top-quality supplements and labs to their patients.
The information in this article is intended for healthcare practitioners for educational purposes only, and is not a substitute for informed medical, legal, or financial advice. Practitioners should rely on their own professional training and judgement, and consult appropriate legal, financial, or clinical experts when necessary.
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