How Smart Physicians Monetize Their Clinical Training And Expertise On The Side - And How You Can Start Doing The Same Today.

Physicians often think the only way to monetize their expertise is by serving patients clinically.

For most, the obvious choice is “moonlighting” at a cash practice. This is troublesome for those who are Medicare providers, since you can either opt-out of Medicare completely, or be all-in with it. *Yes, I know there’s technically a way to create a “hybrid” model but that’s not the point of this essay.

The known alternative is to jump to a non-clinical side-gig, but many physicians enjoy working with patients and want to use their clinical skills.

For those looking to leverage their clinical skills, the solution is a “clinically-adjacent” side-gig.

In a clinically-adjacent side-gig you’re directly leveraging your clinical skills to serve patients, outside of your office.

The difference with traditional non-clinical roles (pharma, insurance, etc.) is in clinically-adjacent, you are serving your patient community directly. Clinically adjacent roles can –and often do– generate more patients for your clinical practice. And the patients you see in your office can also benefit from your side-gig.

If you are a practicing physician, you’d be smart to begin building a clinically-adjacent side-gig TODAY.

A clinically-adjacent side-gig is basically 100% upside

By now, you want to know all about the different gigs available, the pros, the cons, and how to get started.

Unfortunately, it’s not where your trip down the rabbit hole starts. As I’ve explored in other essays, first you need to define who you wish to serve, what single problem you’ll help them with, and only then should you start looking at the way in which you’ll do it.

Here are the most common options I’ve seen my clients choose for their first clinically-adjacent side-gig:

Group Coaching. In this scenario you guide a small group of patients via zoom calls. An example is a pediatrician who guides first-time parents through the challenges of parenthood. These can be cohort-based or ongoing.

Online Course. Curriculum-based course guiding patients achieve one specific outcome as it relates to your field or specialty. Keeping up with the example of a pediatrician, this could be an online course on Sleep Training your Baby.

Becoming an Online Thought Leader in your field. This has the lowest barrier of entry (if you’re reading this essay, you can start doing it), but takes the longest since you need to build, and grow, and nurture an audience before you can monetize it. You can achieve this through Social Media, podcasts, writing, creating videos, being interviewed, etc.

As mentioned previously, these are the ones I most commonly see, but far from the only ones.

My recommendation though, start just with one. And start today.