DNP Ep. 84: Why Every Nurse Needs a Side Hustle to Prevent Burnout

Dr. Nurse Podcast fam, welcome to another week of the Doctor Nurse Podcast. This week we’re gonna be doing something a little bit different. I normally have a guest on the podcast and every week we chat about something nurse business related as it ties into careers, career options, choices. Hopefully you’ve had a chance to listen to my other episodes, hear from other nurse practitioners and nurses in what they’re doing as far as their careers are concerned.

And then even last week, I had my mom on for a special Mother’s day episode. Are we chatted about her experience as a stay-at-home mom, entrepreneur and retired teacher. I think it was actually really nice to go back and listen through the episode and it’s something that I’m gonna cherish forever just hearing her and her journey and.

I hope you guys enjoyed it and you got to kind of see where I’m from. I’m publishing an episode of the Doct Nurse Podcast unscripted this week where I recorded a conversation with Nick Loper. He is the host of the Side Hustle Podcast, and I thought before I published that episode, I would do a short mini episode with you guys to kind of set the groundwork for Side Hustle.

Gets you guys thinking about, what it entails, what’s it mean? I thought that it would be a great thing to kind of introduce the topic and then at the end of the week when I launched the podcast you guys will really have a good foundation for understanding and navigating the conversation even better and hoping that it can spark something inside of you that you can start to see and grow for yourself.

So let’s dive in. We’re gonna start with kind of what a side hustle is. Let’s start with the basic definition that it is a secondary job or income generating activity that individuals pursue in addition to their primary source of income. It’s undertaken outside of regular working hours, and it can be a means to explore personal interest, additional income, or develop entrepreneurial skills. Side hustles could take on various forms such as service-based jobs such as freelancing. Another side hustle option could be selling products such as an online business merchandise and the third an audience-based business.

Podcasting as an example, or even YouTube as an example. side hustle can provide individuals with the flexibility to earn money , diversify their income stream and use that money to either get outta debt, save for something special, or grow a nest egg.

The reason why I harp on this and what I begin to find in. My almost a hundred episodes, we’re on episode 84 this week of chatting with entrepreneurs and people that have started businesses, creating sign income streams, is that they were looking for.

Something to help them with the burnout from nursing. Nursing burnout is something that I’ve talked about at length and probably at nauseum because I really do feel like it is our responsibility as nurses to Protect ourselves from it. We know that we have a very demanding career and it behooves us to protect ourselves from it.

And what I have found is that if you are able to go part-time at your job, there’s a special formula that I’m starting to see as a theme that keeps emerging itself, which is side hustle, part-time job. Working your nursing job part-time is something that I’m seeing protects from a level of burnout because you are no longer working from this state of deficit.

You’re working from overflow. You wanna be working from overflow. And what I mean by that is you’re not burned out. And so when you go to take care of your patients, You have a lot more to give because you’re not so empty. And then in order to compensate for that missing income, a side hustle that can be producing and generating revenue and income for you is the way to go.

It’s to protect yourself from a career that can burn you out. I really do see that this is a very viable career option. It also gives you the chance to learn something new. So, like I was saying before, You know, there’s service-based jobs. This is where you start to learn what am I good at?

What can I do that I can then turn around and offer as a service? Am I creative? Do I like to design stuff? I, am I a good drawer? Am I, you know, different things that you might be naturally good at? And turning that into something that you can actually get paid for. I think that that. Is one of the ways to really develop yourself.

You’re not dependent on a hospital to offer you opportunities to grow yourself. That’s one of the things I’ve noticed as a nurse practitioner. I’ve been especially since being part-time, I’ve been in told that there’ll be less opportunities for me because of my part-time status.

So once you realize one. That I’m not beholden to you to grow me. I can grow myself. Then you will start to look for things that you are good at. Like right now, with the skills that I’ve developed as a podcaster, I am able to start initiate podcasts, continue podcasts, edit podcasts. These are not skills that I had two, three years ago.

This is something that I have gone over time, I’ve been able to grow and so again, I didn’t wait on the hospital to gimme that opportunity. I went and found that opportunity for myself, and I want more nurses to do the exact same thing. So if you are thinking, all right, I want to choose a side hustle, there’s some things that I might be good at, but kind of where.

Can I get started more specifically?. So you could start with a passion or an interest. I’ve had people on the podcast that have developed things that they have said has been a nice escape from some of the tough things that we deal with as nurses. You can build a new skillset if that’s something that you’re like, I kind of think, I like to do pottery. You could start with pottery and just try it out maybe as a hobby and then see if it’s something that will grow for you. If you know, again, that’s gonna take more time. So be realistic with yourself. You’re probably not gonna be an amazing potter.

You know, the first day you sit down, if you are wonderful, but you’ve gotta give yourself some grace. And it could be that the pottery is just a nice escape and then you start. Making pottery earrings, and you’re making really cute nursing pottery, earrings. I don’t know, exactly what it could be for you, but I think you’ve gotta start somewhere. Knowing that it can increase your flexibility for where you can work. Cause a lot of nurses are wanting to get away from the hospital setting. They’re wanting to do more remote work. It’s one of my most listen to podcasts is, working remotely.

And so again, developing another set of skills that would allow you to work remotely, such as nurse writing. Wrapping this part up, overall a side hustle can provide a range of benefits, like starting from financial gain to personal fulfillment.

And whether you’re looking to earn extra income, pursue a passion, test out a new idea, a a side hustle can be a great way to achieve your goals. I’ll take you through just seven steps to kind of help you launch your side hustle business. Starting back at those skills and interests.

Think about what you’re passionate about. And consider turning those into a business. . You wanna do something related to nursing because, that’s your level of expertise, right? You’ve spent a lot of hours studying for school, preparing for your career as a nurse and.

Stepping into that space in a side hustle is really easy because you have a, you have a foundation that’s pretty solid. And so I recommend doing something relating to nursing. And I’ve given a ton of examples on my podcast. I’ve had people on explaining how, and, giving options for different side hustles.

There’s an a, there’s an episode where I spoke with a sleep consultant. She’s had a lot of nurses on, I’ve had a nurse practitioner doula on I’ve had NP hub ceo. He was on the podcast offering that as a viable side hustle, precepting. I should have a, an adjunct professor on. Shortly. I, I think I’ve had one or two reach out to me and I need to follow up with them, but I.

I know that’s another viable side hustle that you can do if you enjoy teaching. So again, I think starting with the nursing base is really smart because you just, you already know so much about nursing, so you can go invent the wheel, which again can be a separate thing that we were talking about, like pottery, or you can really just start with what you know, which is, I know how to be a nurse, so that’s a really good start.

The next thing I say is research the market. Once you have an idea for what you’re thinking about for your side hustle, Re figure out who your target market is to see if there’s a demand for the product or service that you’re looking to provide. Look at similar businesses, competitors, what are they offering and how can you make yourself different? , there’s only one you right? There’s nobody else just like you. People are gonna connect to you differently than they’re gonna connect to others, which is why people that listen to my podcast, they were like, I like Sandra. She’s kind of my people. And they might talk to other people and go, no, she’s more my style.

Or, Whichever, but there’s only one me. There’s only one you. And you can only do whatever it is that you’re wanting to pursue as a side hustle the way that you’re gonna do it. So do it to the best of your ability. Develop who you are and wait and see what comes from that. Because one of the things that I’ve seen with just even this podcast has been.

I’ve had other opportunities that have stemmed from it. Even though I was pursuing one vein, something’s branched off from it. And I was like, I would’ve never thought, if you would’ve told me when I launched my podcast that I would be involved in these different side revenue streams. I would’ve been like, you’re crazy.

There’s no way. And yet it’s totally happening. And yeah, very unexpected and not how I planned it all, but. It’s really not about the planning, it’s really about the doing. So just get started. Again, kind of going back to developing a business plan. I mean, you can write a business plan on the back of a napkin and get started.

So just create a business plan that outlines your goals, your target market, your marketing strategy, your what you’d like to. Make. One of the things that I find really interesting when I read different books like, the Prosperity Bible different books by like Carnegie and ah, the book name is escaping me right now, but these books where they talk about money and fixating on your mind on something, the laws of attraction and how if you, Set in your mind what you’re going for, you will get closer and closer to it, more so than if you don’t have a goal at all and you’ve got nothing that you’re aiming at, you’ll hit nothing every time.

So set something up, even if it seems outrageous and you might not make it, but at least, if you shoot for the stars and or you shoot for the moon and you miss it, at least you’re up by the stars. Those are just something that I’m, I want you to, to kind of think about is maybe you just wanna make $500. Maybe you just want to pay for, your kid’s college fund. I just want to make enough for this and start there and see what it, see what it grows into. Financial projections, I think that’s important because again, it’ll, you’ll attract it. And then any other important details about your side, household that you think you need to write down?

You can start on a piece of, you know, napkin paper and go from there. Register your business. So depending on the type of business that you want, you’d wanna register your business with the state or local government. This is a way to, again, get licensed permits and also to, you know, receive those tax benefits from being a business owner.

And I’ll have another episode in a couple weeks on that. And the benefit of starting a side hustle financially And how that helps your bottom line. So be waiting for that episode to come out. Set up your website, social media accounts. People need to hear about you.

That’s one of the reasons why I’m on social media. It’s super draining. I’m an elder millennial, so I enjoy social media just from how I’ve met so many people on there. I mean, just incredible humans. But it’s also super draining. set up the social media accounts, the websites, all that stuff.

You can start with a cheap website. You can even build one on Canva, which is pretty cool. So you could start off with a free Canva account. I don’t know if building a website is free on Canva, cuz they have certain things that they locked out with, like Canva Pro. But like if you buy basic Canva and then you can look and see if you can even build a website free on Canva that you can send people to as you get started.

So these are just. Minimal cost. I think Canva’s like $12 a month. Totally worth it. You can build social media content on there. Just to get brand awareness so people know what you’re building. Even if it’s not a nursing side hustle, just anything to get people to see you. People need to know you’re there.

If you don’t announce that, Hey, I got a podcast, come check it out. This is what I’m doing. Come check it out. People don’t know you exist, so you gotta market. Determine your pricing and payments. Now, this is really hard.

This is still hard for me. I mean, I, my husband says it all the time, he’s like, you’re, you’re not asking for enough. And I’m like, I don’t know why. But so much of my heart is just like, I just wanna give it away. I’ve met so many entrepreneurs and people that make money that talk about how the more they give, the more they receive.

And I believe there’s universal laws that govern the world that you can’t outgive. You can’t outgive God, you can’t outgive you just can’t outgive. So I tend to just give a lot of stuff away. If you wanna pick my brain, go ahead. I’ll tell you whatever I know. So this part I’m still, working on every day, but to sign your pricing strategy and how you’ll accept payments Venmo, PayPal, stripes Bo, Shopify.

There’s so many different things that you can use to get paid for the services and the products that you’re, that you’re selling. Or as you build your audience, Patreon buy me a coffee. There’s different Things that you can use when you’re building your audience and then launch your business.

And once you have everything set up, get out there, just get going. I wouldn’t even get hung up on all all of these things per se. If you want to get started on something, start today. That’s been one of the things, like I said in Nick Lopers episode that you’ll hear at the end of the week. He says, just don’t delay.

That’s the number one thing that he recommends. He gives a ton of other, like, wealth of information, but that’s his real big sitting point is just don’t delay. I read his book, the Side Hustle. How to Turn Your Spare Time into a thousand dollars a month or more. It’s a fantastic book and it’s a really easy read.

I mean, it literally took me half a day to read the book. Less than 200 pages. Yeah, it’s less than 200 pages. Got it. On Amazon. And basic information on how to start a side hustle and get going. All right. So that’s, that’s kind of my seven steps to launch.

I would. Recommend if you’re starting a, side hustle to keep yourself mindful of the fact that it can take time. I didn’t make money on my podcast for probably, I want to call it six or seven months. I wasn’t making any money at all. Well, very little money from making the podcast and it takes a lot of time and effort.

It’s not always guaranteed that you’re gonna be successful. It’s not a guarantee that anyone’s gonna listen to this podcast. There’s no guarantees. But what I do know is that the podcast has grown a lot in me as a person. And that is invaluable. And so the connections that I’ve made And it will be the same for you and whatever it is that you’re launching, you’re gonna meet people in, be in rooms that you think, how am I in here right now with these people?

What is going on? And it’s because you believed in yourself, and that’s what the side hustle gives you. And I, and I know this is so strange, but it’s true. The side hustle gives you the belief in yourself that sometimes I find. Hospital based jobs or employer based jobs, or you’re the employee, you kind of stop believing in yourself because you’re in the system, right?

But once you launch that side hustle and you go, I’m believing myself for this, it’s change in your identity. And it’s kind of neat to, to see that and watch that in yourself. But be persistent, be patient and don’t be afraid to try new things. Connect with other nurse influencers, creators.

Connect with me. I’d love to hear what you’re, what you’re thinking about, what you’re doing and share what it is that you maybe are thinking is a good idea. I did wanna leave you guys with some options, and again, these are just a list of things that are easy, low entry, side hustles that you can get into, and then again, Take off from there.

Right. And you, the world is your oyster. You’re not limited by, yeah. Sorry, but Sally’s been here two years longer than you, so you can’t do that because she’s got first dips or, oh, well, you know, you haven’t been here long enough or, you know, you’re just a little You’re just not really right for the j.

It’s like there’s none of that. Whenever you are making something for yourself on top of being a nurse, it’s hard enough. And then to not necessarily feel like you’ve got a ton of options on top of it, meaning you’ve gotta be beholden on somebody to give you an opportunity. The side hustle is you giving yourself an opportunity.

Yeah. So here are some options. As I close out this episode, let’s start with. Nurse coach, I’ve had a bunch of nurse coaches on just listen to the podcasts. I probably have titled them coaching or something along those lines in the episode.

Adjunct Professor, nurse writer I’ve had them on my podcast. Nurse blogger, nurse podcast a nurse, YouTube channel nursing digital products. This is something that I’ve launched with my best friend. Jackie King, she’s a nurse practitioner and we launched an Etsy shop and we make digital products.

And yeah, we’ve been grinding and hustling while being busy moms and working part-time as nurse practitioners. I’m not gonna lie to you, it’s a lot of work. This is not, there are nights where I would break down and just be upset because I’m like,

I want to be in bed, or I want to be with my kids and I see them in the living room playing and I want to go, but I’m telling myself like, I’m gonna create this because I hope this is something that is helpful for someone. Another example would be nurse merchandise., lanyards. You can make the ID badges, cute t-shirts designs. I’ve had a bunch of t-shirt design. Shop owners on my podcast again, just scroll up and you can see that I’ve chatted with them and, and how they’ve started and how they got going.

CPR instructor, a tutor, like I said, a doula Cosmetic injector. I’ve had Dr. John on the podcast and he teaches people how to inject. I’ve had Dr. Jones on the podcast, she teaches people how to, to do like med spas, build those and then online course creation. Again, if you’ve been a NICU nurse, there’s something you know really, really well that you could create a course on.

How to do it even better because of what you’ve been able to cultivate in your skills. So again, these are just some tips, tricks, thoughts around side hustles and how to get started. And I wanted to put them down and kind of set the groundwork for the podcast with Nick Loper at the end of the week.

So guys, stay tuned for that episode coming out. He’s got a total of 17 different income streams which is crazy. And yeah, he’s been able to quit his nine to five by starting An online shoe business and he just really just kind of went off from there. And he’s been learning a bunch of stuff, doing a podcast that he’s got like 500 episodes I think.

Like just crazy. He’s a hustler and he believes in himself and now you walk and you talk with a certain level of confidence that can only come whenever you say, I think I can do this. And you do it. So it’s really neat. And guys, I need nurse friends, nurse creators, nurse business owners to come on the podcast and talk about how they created, what they created their businesses. I need you guys to, to help me. because Even if I had 50 nurses that knew another nurse and they all sent me one, That’s 50, nurse business owners that I could chat with and put their stories on the airwaves. Send me like people that you know, that their business and their journeys and their career options are really, really neat. Dr. Nurse podcast@gmail.com is where you can easily email me if you’d like to share your career with me . Hop on a quick call. It takes me like five minutes. We can chat about what you’re doing and, we can schedule a podcast episode and record it. So that would be really cool.

I’m actually gonna take a break from podcasting for the next two weeks. It’s my last two weeks of maternity leave. And so my mama heart just really wants to focus in on my babies for the next couple weeks as I get ready and geared up to return back to work. So I just wanna soak up time with my sweet babies, so I’m gonna be doing that and outta town and all the different things. I am gonna leave the laptop behind and Be present and not feel like I gotta work anymore than I’m already gonna have to be doing in the weeks to come. Stay tuned for more content. It is definitely no small feat to be a mom of two. It is busy. It is on. As soon as you get one down, the other one wakes up.

It’s almost comical. Or as soon as you put your plate down to eat, one wakes up. I mean, it’s just, it’s nonstop ongoing. I wish I could put out even more content cause I really enjoy creating content. It is such a joy. It’s easy and fun. And yeah, just sitting here while my babies are down recording this podcast episode is just gold. I just need to give myself margins so I don’t get burned out and again, That’s what the side hustle is, right? The side hustle is the margin in your nursing career to, to prevent burnout. I think it works. One of the things I’ve been wanting to do more of is at the end of an episode to quote a piece of scripture, something that it’s just like uplifting to your soul. The scripture I’m gonna be sharing today is Philippians four 19 and it says, my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus. And I think that’s a great scripture just to remind you to trust on the Lord for contentment as you pursue your side hustle and your regular jobs and just realizing that it all comes from the Lord. So guys, have a good week and thanks for hanging out with me.