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Side Gigs Doctors Can Do From Home

We often get questions from members of our online physician community asking which side gigs they can do from home. The good news is that there are several that not only offer the ability to work from home, but can also offer flexibility and potentially high compensation as well. Whether you’re interested in more work directly with patients, leveraging your expertise to help advance healthcare, or are interested in options outside of medicine, we cover some options below.


Disclosure/Disclaimer: Our content is for generalized educational purposes. We are not formal financial, legal, or tax professionals and do not provide individualized advice specific to your situation. You should consult these as appropriate and/or do your own due diligence before making decisions based on this page. To learn more, visit our disclaimers and disclosures.


Side gigs doctors can do from home, including clinically related options, content opportunities, and others such as hobbies & investing


Side gigs doctors can do from home


Below, we cover several side gig options based on interests. We have free side gig matching databases for many of these options, which we link below. If you’d like to be alerted about relevant opportunities, you can sign up using the links provided, but please note you must be a verified physician member of our free Physician Side Gigs group to access these.


If you aren’t a member of our communities - and even if you are - another great way to learn about current and upcoming side gig opportunities (including those that we don’t have individual matching databases for) across all interests is by signing up for our PSG weekly newsletter, where we advertise current and upcoming side gigs across all interests, including those we don’t have an individual matching databases for.



Clinical & nonclinical medical side gigs doctors can do from home


Work from home side gigs related to clinical work for doctors

  • Telemedicine: Telemedicine is the obvious answer here. This side gig can be highly flexible, and can be set up with a few staple pieces of equipment (microphone, camera, etc.; you can view the ones our team uses on our telemedicine page). You can work with a third-party platform, or create your own micropractice. If you’re interested in alerts about opportunities with existing telemedicine platforms, sign up for our telemedicine side gig matching database. If you’re interested in working by yourself, explore our primer on starting a telemedicine practice.


  • Chart review: Many companies, such as law firms and insurance companies, hire doctors to review patients’ medical records for accuracy, compliance, or for malpractice claims. These chart reviews can be done from home and offer a high level of flexibility. Explore chart review opportunities for doctors, and sign up for our chart review side gig database for alerts on available side gigs.


  • Consulting: Doctors have valuable experience and insights that pharmaceutical companies, medical device manufacturers, startups, healthcare organizations, and other companies all need. While some consulting opportunities require an in-person component, many can be done remotely by phone or video calls, making it a flexible and popular choice. Learn more about the different medical consulting opportunities, and sign up for our consulting side gig matching database.


  • Startup advising: The line between being a consultant and a startup advising isn’t always clear, but it’s worth separating out here as startup advising generally requires a larger, ongoing role and commitment, and can also provide the opportunity for massive returns (if the company does well) in the form of equity.  As a startup advisor, you can help a healthcare company refine their products, go-to-market strategies, and more, primarily (if not completely) from the comfort of your home. Learn more about startup advising as a side gig.


  • Training AI models: This side gig allows physicians to help ensure medical accuracy for future tools to aid physicians in their clinical work. Most of these projects can be done from a home computer and likely don’t require any additional skills than your medical knowledge, apart from strong written proficiency and typing. Sign up for our AI project side gig database for alerts about opportunities.


  • Medical surveys: Paid medical surveys are one of the most flexible side gig options that can be done from home. These surveys are typically short and are done online, even from your phone. Signing up with several medical survey companies can increase the number of surveys you find. Learn more about paid medical surveys.


  • Expert witness work: Physicians can serve as expert witnesses in legal cases by reviewing records, writing reports, and offering their professional opinions. While an in-person component may be required to provide a deposition or testimony, this is the exception, not the rule. The case review and report can all be done from home. Learn more about expert witness work, and sign up for our expert witness side gig matching database.


  • Creating an app: Tech savvy physicians can create mobile apps, ranging from health tech to mobile gaming, depending on their interest and expertise. Physicians who see a niche in the market but don’t have the programming skills to DIY can also partner with a developer to help bring their digital idea to life. Explore how to create an app.


  • Coaching: For those that want to leverage their expertise as a physician to help others without practicing clinical medicine, coaching offers an interesting alternative. There are a ton of topic areas physicians coach in, including things within the health realm such as fitness and weight loss. There are also many physicians who leverage their experience as a physician to help coach other physicians on exam preparation, career options, physician burnout, time management, charting, investing, and more. Learn more about coaching as a side gig.



Content related side gigs you can build at home


If you have a creative side and/or an interest in educating clinicians or the general public, content creation can be a great side gig that can open up potential passive revenue in the future. Popular options doctors explore include:


  • Writing: Doctors can be highly sought out for contributions of credible, accurate medical information. Medical writing can include materials for CME and board review, patient education, textbook contributions, and articles for healthcare websites. These opportunities can all be done from home, and you can even create your own blog with educational content related to your specialty. Writing isn’t just limited to medicine either. Several of our members have gone on to publish fiction books as well. Learn more about medical writing opportunities and how to publish a book, and explore books authored by our physician members. If you’re interested in writing opportunities, sign up for our writing side gig matching database.


  • Creating online courses: Your medical knowledge can be packaged into digital products such as online courses, webinars, or even subscription-based content. There are several different models (and topics) doctors have found success with. These courses can be related to your specialty, such as lifestyle medicine and chronic disease management, study courses to help students prepare for board exams, or even career development courses for other physicians. Learn more about creating and marketing an online course, and check out some of the courses our members have made.


  • Becoming an influencer: It’s hard not to think of influencers when it comes to content. Doctors who enjoy interacting on social media can create content across multiple platforms (TikTok, YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, etc.) to build a wide audience. You can focus on educating based on your niche expertise or producing content that’s focused on entertaining (or both!). As you grow your audience, your potential to monetize your platform grows from ad revenue, sponsorships, brand partnerships, and more. Learn more about starting an influencer side gig, and sign up for our brand ambassadors side gig matching database. 


  • Podcasting: Starting a podcast is a great way to share your expertise and to help influence the future landscape of healthcare (or to talk about a non-medical topic you’re passionate about). Podcasts can easily be recorded from home, and can even produce passive income on previous episodes recorded through sponsorships, advertising, and premium, subscription based content. Explore podcasting as a side gig.


You don’t need a dedicated recording studio space to provide professional content for your side gig. These side gigs can often be set up with minimal equipment that doesn’t require a large upfront investment.



Popular hobby based side gigs physicians do at home


Speaking of creativity, content isn’t the only option! Many members in our community have created side gigs with their hobbies that have nothing to do with their role as a physician, including:

  • Photography & artwork

  • Designing custom cakes or starting a small bakery from their kitchen

  • Creating music

  • Selling crafts & other handmade goods (jewelry, scarves, etc.)


If you have a talent and a passion for something, you may have a way to monetize it at home.




Investing related side gigs doctors can do from home


One of the biggest advantages physicians have in the side gig space is the ability to use their money to make more money, as most physicians are able to save a significant percentage of their paychecks. Investing is one of our favorite ways to build alternative income streams and wealth, allowing doctors to reach financial independence and to practice medicine on their terms. Investing options include:


  • Investing in the stock market: This can be as simple as investing in a target date index fund to as complex as picking single stocks and doing options trading to investing in cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin. The latter have the potential to become quite lucrative, but are also much riskier. For retirement savings, a more diversified approach, such as the popular three fund portfolio, has more reliable returns historically. A financial advisor from our database can help walk you through how much you want to set aside for side gig investing and the best strategy for the rest of your savings.


  • Investing in real estate: This can be highly passive, such as investing in REITs and syndications or more active by owning individual properties. Hiring a trusted property manager can help turn even active investing more passive and allow you to run operations from home without having to make house calls to show properties or address tenants' concerns. Our real estate investing page includes passive real estate investment opportunities as well as courses and recommended reads.


  • Investing in (or starting) a business or franchise: This could be your own business or a business run by somebody else, but could offer opportunities for cashflow and tax benefits. These have the potential to scale to large revenue streams. It’s important to know what you’re getting into though, because these could easily feel like a main gig depending on your level of involvement. Learn more about running a franchise as a physician. You could also invest in startups via angel investing or venture capital. 



Conclusion


There are vast opportunities for doctors looking to add additional income streams while working from home. Telemedicine can allow you to expand your clinical practice, while side gigs like consulting and expert witness provide ways to use your medical expertise in new, nonclinical ways. Creative options such as podcasting, writing, and monetizing hobbies can also turn into profitable side hustles. Regardless of your interests, you’re likely to find an option that can help you achieve greater financial freedom and grow your career and skillsets.



Additional side gigs resources for physicians


Above, we link additional information about each side gig mentioned so you can learn more about the ones that interest you. If you’re considering starting a side gig for the first time, we have additional resources that can help.


Explore related PSG content:


And don’t forget to sign up for our PSG weekly newsletter, where we publish not only alerts for side gig opportunities but additional free resources such as educational webinars for entrepreneurs, new side gig and business articles, and more.

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