By Rose O. Sherman, EdD, RN, NEA-BC, FAAN
A study released by St. Thomas University last month confirms what nurse managers have been telling me for the past few years. More and more nurses today are running businesses or doing side gigs in fields often unrelated to nursing. The research findings from the study include the following:
- Four in five nurses (80% of nurses surveyed) have a side hustle outside of nursing, and nearly half (46%) started theirs within the past one to three years.
- The top side hustles nurses are pursuing are selling products (37%), per diem or travel nursing shifts (20%), rideshare or delivery (17%), and content creation (16%).
- On average, nurses with side hustles earn 17% of their total income from these additional streams.
- Nearly one in three nurses with side hustles (30%) are interested in finding a business mentor.
- One in five nurses with side hustles said they are likely to go back to school (e.g., MBA) to support their business career.
- TikTok is the leading platform fueling nurses’ side hustles (45%), followed by Facebook (34%) and Instagram (31%).
The majority of nurses surveyed have one side hustle, but 34% have two or more. The single category of side hustle (37%) is selling products. Only 20% have side hustles that involve per diem or travel nursing roles outside their current employment. 49% of nurses with side hustles said theirs began as a mix of financial necessity and creative outlet, while 38% started primarily out of economic need, and 13% began purely as a hobby. On average, nurses with side hustles earn 17% of their total income from them. Fewer than one in 10 nurses with side hustles (8%) said it sometimes causes them to cut back on nursing hours, while the majority (71%) said it never does.
One in five nurses with side hustles said no amount of a raise from their employer could convince them to give up their side hustle. 21% of nurses with side hustles said they regularly feel the need to hide it from their manager or supervisor. 43% of nurses are neutral on whether nursing culture supports entrepreneurial ambition, while 28% think it punishes ambition and 30% believe it supports it. 45% indicate that social media played a significant role in starting their side hustle and interestingly LinkedIn was lowest ranked platform cited as a key to their success. Participants’ average age in this small but statistically representative study was 36; 78% were female, 20% were male and 2% were non-binary. Generationally, 22% were Gen X, 48% were millennials and 30% were Gen Z.
What Does All of This Mean for Nursing
A key finding in this study is that for the majority of nurse entrepreneurs surveyed – their side hustle was unrelated to nursing. While none of the leaders I have spoken with want to quell the entrepreneurial spirit of their staff, many told me that they worry that the side gig will become the main gig of a certain percentage of nurses. Nurse leaders also tell me that while nurses may not reduce their hours as they build their businesses, they definitely are less inclined to do any extra shifts or overtime even though it is often far more lucrative. This study also exposes some potential risks if 12-hour tours were eliminated. It is the flexibility and time off in a nurses schedule that allows the pursuit of these outside interests.
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