Discover the best work from home RN jobs, part-time RN jobs near me, and RN remote jobs to enhance your nursing career with flexibility and convenience in 2025
How is it that nurses are working 36 to 48 hours a week and still living paycheck to paycheck? Nurses went to school and got degrees, followed everything they were taught, but most of them were never taught how to make money outside of the hospital.
What if there are side hustles real nurses are doing right now from their couch, their car or between shifts that are generating $500 to over $5,000 a month? Some of these can be started in a weekend. Some can even grow into full-time businesses. Most, but not all of these put your RN license to work in ways you were never shown in nursing school.
This isn’t going to be a get rich quick guide, but we are going to show you something you’ve never been taught in school. We are going to show you the five nurse side hustles that can change everything.
Nurse Instructor
Nurses who already hold a BLS, ACLS or PAL certification can become certified instructors and start charging $60 to $150 per person to teach people, groups or entire departments. You don’t need to be a teacher or have an advanced degree.
You just need to be certified and willing to teach. This can easily turn into a $1,000 a month business even if you only run one class per week.
Why Teach?
So why does this work for nurses? First of all, you’re already certified in BLS and ACLS anyway, so why not teach it? People prefer learning from fellow nurses. You can train individuals, groups, caregivers or even daycares and local businesses.
It’s also high margin, low cost and high demand. And you can build it slowly by starting with one-on-one sessions or going mobile and visiting the students at a location of their choice.
When you tie this into a tax strategy, nurses running CPR or ACLS training businesses are considered small business owners. That comes with its own tax advantages because CPR dummies, AEDs or automated external defibrillators and mannequins are tax deductible business equipment.
You can also write off gas, mileage and travel to and from your client homes or facilities. Your instructor certification cost is also deductible. And any booking software like Calendly, CPR cards and student manuals are also tax deductible.
If you manage any scheduling from home, a portion of your rent or your mortgage, your internet and your electricity turns into a write-off. And the IRS doesn’t see you as just a nurse. They see you as a training provider. This is going to take you from just a few deductions that you can take as an employee to a completely new level as a business owner.
So here’s what you need to do to get started:
- You need to get certified as a CPR or ACLS instructor through the American Heart Association or AHA or the Red Cross.
- You need to purchase a starter mannequin, an AED trainer and a course book bundle. All of this is going to cost you around $500 to $700 in total.
- You also need to offer in-home private sessions or pop-up training events for your coworkers or your local businesses.
- You can use a booking tool like Calendly or Wix for scheduling.
- Then you need to make sure you track every single expense from day one. You would want to use a separate checking account for all of these transactions that are related to the business. It’s going to make your life so much easier or your accountant when it comes to tax season.
And here’s one tip. Start with just one product:
- Maybe an NCLEX pharmacology cheat sheet
- Or a new grad nurse shift report,
- Or a simple weekly budget for nurses who hate math.
Then test it on Etsy or Gumroad. But it is recommended that you create an Instagram or TikTok account and make videos talking about your product. And if people buy it, keep going. Add more, improve, and repeat.
You’re already teaching people every time you precept. You’re already organizing your thoughts and work every time you show up for a shift. So package your brain into a digital product and get paid for it while you sleep instead.
Remote Chart Review
This next side hustle is one that seems to fly under the radar and not many nurses know about it. But it’s actually a perfect fit for nurses in any specialty. It’s called remote chart review or insurance audits.
Here’s how it works. Insurance companies and third-party review companies need licensed nurses to look over medical records and determine if treatments were appropriate or not.
Also, if documentations meet guidelines or if a case qualifies for reimbursements. You don’t need to be in a specific specialty. You just need to know how to read a chart and understand basic clinical reasoning.
These companies usually offer training and you can do it completely from your home on your own time. Some nurses do this on their days off. Others have turned it into a full-time remote career.
But why does this work specifically for nurses? It works in any specialty. It’s flexible and remote. It requires no extra certification and you already have the skill set that’s needed for this field.
This can be a business if you structure it right. If you have a home office, work from home will be tax deductible. Any office supplies, office chairs, any computers, laptops, or external monitors you buy will be tax deductible.
If you use Zoom or pay for any other communication tools, those will be tax deductible. This is the kind of hustle that won’t burn you out and still puts your license to work from the comfort of your own home.
Mobile Lab Testing
You can start a mobile lab testing business that can evolved into a full-blown healthcare operation. You can start by reaching out to local clinics and telling them that you could do lab draws for their patients, cheaper than what they were already paying to big-name companies.
You can hire someone on Fiverr to draft up contracts with these clinics and get a few yes responses, and then snowballed into something bigger.
But why does this one work for nurses? As a nurse, you don’t even need a separate phlebotomy license. Your license already covers it. You can also start small, like a small independent clinic that only has a few patients.
There’s also huge demand right now for in-home lab services because some of our disabled or elderly patients find it challenging having to travel to a lab that’s far away from their house. And this is a seriously scalable business model. This side hustle can become a full-blown business.
When that happens, the tax savings you’ll have can be exponential. Any contracts, legal help, and supplies that you have to pay for are tax deductible. Your car mileage to house calls is deductible. Even a portion of your home, if you’re running administrative duties or coordinating appointments directly from your home, are tax deductible.
The best part is that if you scale, you can hire other nurses, techs, phlebotomists, or partner up with a physician when you take it to an even higher level. Eventually, you’ll be creating jobs, not just side income.
So in order to start your mobile lab business, what you’re going to have to do is:
- Reach out to local clinics and pitch your service. You can either email them or walk directly into these clinics.
- Use a service like Fiverr or Upwork or even hire a legal attorney to get contracts drafted at an affordable price. You can only pay about $10 to $20 per contract on Fiverr.
- Find a physician who’s willing to collaborate with you to plan and expand into the clinical care side of things.
- Make sure that you read up on your state’s scope of practice rules and follow them to a T if you don’t want to get shut down.
You know, your RN license is a lot more powerful than you think. This is one of those hustles where if you’re organized, good with people, and willing to talk to people you’ve never met, then you can build a business that out-earns your current job.
Content Creation
But why is content creation a great business or side hustle for nurses? For one, you’re already a source of information. You’re providing a lot of teaching to your patients.
You’re working in your specialty long enough to know the ins and outs of it. People are always interested in things like nurse stories, financial advice, NCLEX tips, and tips on finding a nursing job. And it doesn’t matter how or where you film it. You can film in your car, after your shift, in your scrubs. It’s more authentic that way anyway. And just look at people like Nurse John or Nurse Scrub Hacks Lindsay. The content never expires. It works while you sleep.
When it comes to taxes, content creation becomes a goldmine for tax strategy and it’s one of the best ones
Your camera, your studio equipment, your lighting, the laptop that you purchased, anything you use to make videos is tax deductible. Editing software, thumbnails, virtual assistant help is tax deductible.
You don’t need 1 million followers. You just need 1000 fans and an offer or something of value that you will give them in every single video.
Here’s a couple of tips we have for you:
- You can use a tool like TubeBuddy or vidIQ to find topics that everyone is searching for.
- Also, try to film three to four videos at once so you won’t get burned out trying to film one video every single week.
- And if you make short form videos, post those same shorts on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok and YouTube so you don’t have to film different content for each platform.
- And make sure that you create evergreen content. These videos are videos that make money long after you post. An example of this is going to be what all nurses should know about in the ICU, as opposed to Happy Nurses Week 2025. The first video can be watched by nurses for years and years to come. But the second video will only be interesting for a few weeks.
Conclusion
Many nurses struggle financially because traditional nursing education focuses on clinical skills, not financial literacy or alternative income streams. However, nurses can leverage their RN licenses and expertise through side hustles like becoming a nurse instructor, conducting remote chart reviews, starting a mobile lab testing business, or creating content online.
These opportunities, which can generate $500 to over $5,000 monthly, offer flexibility, scalability, and significant tax advantages, such as deductions for equipment, mileage, and home office expenses.
