If you’re a healthcare professional interested in making extra money through working a flexible schedule and generating passive income, one way to earn extra income is by investing in passive income streams. Many nurses and other professionals in the healthcare industry have access to a wide variety of roles and income opportunities outside of their main roles.
By now, you must have heard about passive income and its close relation to easy money. Although that’s not exactly the case, passive income allows you to earn money without putting in too much effort. Moreover, you don’t have to be a finance guru to start a passive income stream.
Several passive income strategies are discussed in this article, in addition to creative ideas for passive income for nurses, which can also apply to other healthcare professionals.
What is Passive Income?
Passive income is extra money earned with little effort. Unlike a typical job that requires your daily attention, passive income only requires initial upfront effort, after which it becomes self-sustaining. Passive income is a great wealth-generating tool that doesn’t really require active participation.
Take affiliate marketing, for example. You earn commissions after entering into a sale agreement with a company whose products you’ll promote through an affiliate link in your blog or YouTube channel.
Passive Income Ideas for Nurses
Anyone from nursing students to nurse practitioners and home health nurses can explore these avenues to earn extra income. To generate extra income as a healthcare provider, you can explore passive income ideas, such as affiliate marketing, health coaching, medical terminology writing, and more.
1. Start and Monetize a YouTube Channel
YouTube is a popular video streaming platform and search engine. In 2025, according to Shopify, “The average YouTube cost per mille (CPM) is $15.34, though this depends on a variety of factors, including your niche, ad placement, country, and content format.”1 Sponsorships, affiliate marketing, and advertising are essential to make a decent passive stream of income on this platform, and YouTube’s ad revenue model for CPMs is quite extensive. It’s important to do your research on CPM rates and how to make money with a YouTube channel.2
You’ll need to create content that many people find interesting and informative. Of course, you can include videos that are relevant to the nursing profession; however, it takes time to build a large, loyal following. Consider this a long-term project that has the potential to bring you extra income in the future.
2. Write Ebooks
If you have a knack for writing, you should consider writing an ebook as a healthcare professional side hustle. You can earn royalties from the sale of ebooks. Healthcare writers must first figure out what they want to write about, as there are various topics regarding this field. Then, they plan their content, write authentically, and sell their ebook on popular platforms.
3. Record Audiobooks
This can be an excellent side hustle for nurses. What can be more fun than reading and getting paid for it? To be successful in this passive income idea, you’ll need to do some research on narration techniques and decide the niche you want to focus on. You can have a look at some websites like ACX to get more information about this passive income stream.3
3. Create Online Courses
Do you have a nursing degree from an accredited nursing school? If so, you should consider creating educational online courses. You can include information about the nursing field, what it takes to be a nursing student, or the best educational courses for nurses. If you have skills that people could learn and benefit from, consider creating online courses on platforms such as Udemy, Skillshare, Teachable, and Podia.
4. Rent Out Your Property
You can rent out your property to interested people, such as travel nurses. Travel nurses find nursing jobs from independent staffing agencies and are assigned short-term roles at hospitals or clinics. Consider marketing your furnished rental to such professionals on sites such as Airbnb.
5. Sell Affiliate Products
Affiliate marketing involves referring people to products and services from different brands or businesses. You can focus on healthcare products, such as medical devices, as you may be familiar with them through your clinical expertise. You earn commission every time a purchase is made through your affiliate link. This strategy is great for professionals who already have a strong online presence.
6. Start a Blog
A blog is an online space that allows you to share your thoughts, ideas, and opinions on the internet. There are different types of blogs on topics like professional development, teaching and learning, research, and personal experiences. Starting a blog can be fairly easy, and you can run it in your spare time.4
Being a freelance health writer, you can write about what you feel passionate about. That could be your experience working in medical billing, nursing education pathways, past nursing jobs, healthcare companies you think are good to work for, public health topics, and more. It’s important to note that monetizing a blog can take some time, similar to YouTube marketing, as advertisers and affiliate marketing programs work best with blogs that attract a large following of readers.
7. Become a Part-Time Caregiver
Although this is not necessarily a passive income stream, offering quality care as a part-time caregiver is an excellent way to earn extra money throughout your nursing career. According to Care.com, part-time caregivers in September 2025 can earn an average of $3,816.80 per month.5 If you’re in a position to take on a second job providing medical care to patients in their homes, consider becoming a part-time caregiver.
Other Ways to Make Extra Money as a Nurses
- Work as a first aid instructor. With your clinical experience and nursing background, you can become a first aid instructor. Indeed estimates that first aid instructors in September 2025 earn an average hourly rate of $36.73, which translates to an average annual salary of $55,040.6
- Find a virtual assistant job. Similar to freelance writing, becoming a virtual assistant is an excellent idea if you want to work from home with a flexible schedule. You’ll need strong communication skills, detailed organizational skills, and computational skills to get started.
- Become a dog walker. Providing dog walking services on your days off could be an opportunity for you to focus on work-life balance while earning some extra cash. Getting outside is good for mental health, according to Mental Health America—and what better way to get some fresh air than with a furry companion and an extra paycheck?7
How to Make Passive Income for Nurses
Although passive income has been used to refer to money earned with little to no effort, there is no way to make money without doing absolutely anything. Some passive income ideas take a while to see returns, but can ultimately be great strategies to employ in your quest for financial freedom. However, if you are considering doing something else, there are many alternative careers for nurses that you can look into.
Passive Income for Nurses FAQ
Nurses can make passive income using a few passive income strategies, such as freelance writing, investing in the stock market, working as an adjunct nursing instructor, or starting a YouTube channel.
Telehealth nursing, selling an online course, becoming a first aid instructor, writing a blog, and becoming an affiliate marketer are some side hustles for nurses to consider. As a healthcare professional, consider ways to work online, such as becoming a freelance health writer, health coach, or focusing on an affiliate advertising program.
Passive income is money earned that is not related to your main income. Passive income requires effort when starting out, but it becomes nearly or completely self-sustaining once the streams are up and running. Different streams of passive income take different amounts of time to become fruitful. Some might take as little as a few days, while others might take years.
Sources:
1 https://www.shopify.com/blog/198134793-how-to-make-money-on-youtube
2 https://www.shopify.com/blog/youtube-cpm
4 https://www.theblogstarter.com/
5 https://www.care.com/c/average-in-home-caregiver-salary-by-state/
6 https://www.indeed.com/career/first-aid-instructor/salaries
7 https://mhanational.org/resources/the-outdoors-and-nature/#:~:text=Sunlight%20triggers%20the%20release%20of,Connection
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