If you’re on any social media, you’ve probably been hearing the buzz about passive income. While investing has always been a way for the rich to get richer, it’s becoming more popular for regular people to diversify their earnings. My hunch is that this new hustle culture stems from the mismatch between cost of living and income. Regardless, it’s never been easier to set yourself up to earn money from the couch. In this article, I’ll list the top 5 passive income streams for holistic practitioners.
You already know about the most popular way to make passive income through financial investments, so I won’t cover that in this piece. Instead, we’ll talk about strategies where you can put in some work on the front end (or pay someone else to) and reap big rewards on the back end. Each of these requires minimal skill, and is a viable way to increase your income without increasing your working hours. So let’s dive in!
1. Create a course for your patients or your peers
The internet has opened up the world of online learning. E-learning has been on a steady rise for the last 20 years, and has grown 900% since 2000. During the COVID-19 pandemic, primary and university students turned to virtual learning when in-person classes were no longer safe. Over the last two years, we’ve all seen the potential to learn from educators across the globe, on our own time.
Private online courses typically cost less than university classes. They usually teach skills rather than academic subjects. And they’re typically very tailored to an audience. Say, a course tailored to health coaches who are looking to grow their business. There are even courses out there on how to create your own course! Course-ception anyone?
Creating your own course might sound overwhelming, but you’ve already done most of the work. You’ve put in the clinical hours, passed the certification exams, and you know the human body. Now you just have to decide who you want to teach.
Choosing a specific audience is your first step in course creation, because it not only guides the information you include but who you market your course to once it’s created. Think about your audience now, and who you want to help most. Is it your patients? Other practitioners? People wanting to become practitioners?
Next you can choose a tool to create your own course, like this one or this one. You can spend hours writing your course yourself, or you can hire someone to do it for you, like me!
Creating your own course is not only a great way to earn passive income down the line, but it also can position you to be an expert in the field you teach. Many course creators end up with branching streams of income from coaching, consulting, speaking engagements, and more. Think of where you’d like to be in 5 years, both financially and professionally. Creating your own course could be a big brick in the foundation of your future.
2. Membership-based services
Membership-based health services aren’t limited to Direct Primary Care. Any practitioner can create a subscription service that grows their audience, strengthens their authority, and earns them passive income. There’s a big untapped market for subscription-based health services outside of primary care, especially for holistic practitioners.
Much like DPC practices, your holistic practice can profit off of subscriptions as well. This may not be a solution for all holistic practitioners, but it’s great if you work outside of insurance and are currently growing your practice. Patients with subscription plans benefit from the peace-of-mind of knowing they can always see their provider if a need arises, and practitioners benefit from the stable income associated with subscription plans.
Of course, many practitioners wonder what to include in a subscription plan. A tier-based system works for some, where you can still see patients who don’t subscribe. Monthly subscribers enjoy perks of increased accessibility, exclusive content, and products. An example of a tier-based subscription plan could be:
| No membership | Basic Membership | Premium Membership | Executive membership | |
| Cost | $0 | $50/month | $250 | $400 |
| Visits | $500 each | $80 each | $20 | $0 |
| Frequency | Scheduled as a work-in | Guaranteed appointments within two weeks of request, in-office | Guaranteed appointments within a week of request, in-office | Guaranteed appointments within two days of request, at-home visits an option |
| Exclusive content/prod-ucts/services | Can subscribe to email list with monthly newsletter | Subscribed to weekly newsletter with valuable holistic health updates and content | Subscribed to weekly newsletter and exclusive facebook group. Includes bi-monthly call check-ins with provider. | Subscribed to weekly newsletter and exclusive facebook group. Includes monthly check-ins with provider, as well as one free promotional product per month. |
Structuring your practice this way not only provides a more steady income stream for the holistic provider, but it also can lead to income growth in the future. By capitalizing on the networks of your Premium and Executive membership clients, you can gain more high-ticket clients down the line. You position yourself to gain access to more clients who are serious about improving their health and have the means to do it.
Of course, not every provider is interested in being available in the style of a concierge practice. And for good reason; practitioners need vacations just like the rest of us. For that reason, your first move might be to. . .
3. Grow your practice by hiring PA’s, NP’s, or assistants
Okay, I’m ready for some skepticism on this one. Many doctors have hired PA’s and NP’s only to find that they end up with more paperwork than they want. And depending on your credentials as a practitioner, it might not be feasible to hire someone else to see your patients.
This is a great option if you’re feeling maxed out on patient hours and have the credentials to supervise PAs and NPs. Especially if you’re wanting to move towards a concierge model, these practitioners can help spread the load of on-call care while letting you take on more subscription patients. They can also help you optimize your time by performing screening exams, physicals, etc. while you see your sicker clients who need your specific expertise.
Choosing the right advanced practice providers is an important part here; by rushing the hiring process you may end up with a team that doesn’t represent you or your practice. But by taking your time to thoroughly interview applicants, you can grow your practice while saving yourself valuable time.
As the demand for holistic and primary care increases, more and more physicians and practitioners are experiencing the burnout of being spread too thin for too long. Allowing an NP or PA to absorb some of your patient burden is a great strategy to mitigate burnout and grow your practice for the long haul.
4. Become a brand affiliate partner
This is a great option if you are already active on social media or have an established practice. Many brands are excited to be represented by a holistic practitioner, because you add value and credibility to their product. Of course, it’s important that you actually believe in the product you’re representing, but more on that later.
Affiliate partnerships are different from traditional advertising, because people go through you to buy a product. Each time someone makes a purchase, they use your personal code, which bounces some of that purchase money back to you in commissions.
For this reason I recommend looking first at the products you use every day, the ones that you have seen the greatest results with. Ones that your patients are already buying, but they could be purchasing through you. For example, specific vitamins, cleaning products, medicated lotions, and other holistic products could be great options for affiliate marketing.
Affiliate partnerships are great for the entrepreneurial holistic practitioner who doesn’t mind working with marketing teams and brands. Some practitioners are understandably averse to the idea of marketing products to their patients, and that’s why I recommend choosing products you already know and trust. By doing so, you can take in passive income from great brands while knowing your patients are getting real results.
5. Invest in content creation to grow your wellness brand
Finally, my personal favorite. This option really can be the beginning of so many other streams of income, because it means growing your own brand and expanding your reach as a holistic practitioner. It allows you to educate your potential and current clients by putting out helpful and accurate health information. It elevates you in your field, and can make you a sought-after expert. Of course, it’s also what I do for my clients, so I’m a little biased.
Of course, creating content isn’t a passive process. In fact, I can tell you my work is anything but passive. But for my clients, the copy I write for them is a passive investment in the future of their practices and their own names.
Here’s why I believe content creation is the cornerstone of passive income:
- Search-Engine Optimized content allows you to climb in Google’s list of results, generating website traffic and new client leads.
- Use your highly-trafficked website as an advertising platform for your favorite brands and products, as well as your own courses and subscription services.
- Grow your audience for future products and services, like courses, ebooks, exclusive products, subscriptions, and more.
- Establishing a list of subscribers allows you to market your new course, subscription, and more to warm leads who are excited to hear about your services.
- Become an industry leader and field expert by giving your audience up-to-the-minute health content that educates and gains you trust.
- Strong content can open you up to future speaking engagements, partnerships, entrepreneurial opportunities, and more.
As a clinician myself, I know how hard practitioners are working to meet the needs of a sick population. We care for patients out of compassion and knowledge, but that doesn’t fill our wallets. Sometimes it seems like the most passionate, knowledgeable, and caring practitioners get left in the dust in terms of income. That’s why I think it’s so important for holistic practitioners to know their options in terms of generating passive income and growing wealth.
Do you have any thoughts or comments about this article? Email me at marie@mariehasty.com.
One thought on “Top 5 Passive Income Streams for Holistic Practitioners”