Passive Income Ideas For PTs

A few months ago, In my #smartPT series I wrote an article about How To Manage Finances As A PT New Grad. At that time we looked at why creating multiple streams of income is important. In this article today, we are going to look at passive income ideas for PTs. Before we dive in I would like to state that I am not a financial expert and this is not financial advice. This is my opinion based on my experiences and knowledge. Let’s go ahead and explore passive income ideas for physiotherapists. 

What is passive income? 

Passive income is a cash stream that requires little or no daily effort to maintain. It is a source of income where you are not always trading your time for money. 

Writing a book is a good example of passive income. After your initial efforts of writing a book, you earn money in royalties every time the book is sold. PT home visits are NOT a source of passive income. Because every time you make money with a home visit, you are spending your time. 

I would like to make it clear that passive income does not mean making money without any effort. You always have to put in the effort to generate income. Please remember that there is no such thing as ‘get rich quick.’ If there is, it is likely a scam. All the passive income streams take years to build. And the only way to make money is by offering value.

So, in this article today let’s look at the 5 ways in which you can offer value. When looking at each income stream, I will try and answer the following three questions to the best of my knowledge. 

• How difficult is it to get started
• How difficult is it to make money from it
• How difficult is it to maintain

I will try and rate this on a scale of 5, where 5/5 is very difficult and 1/5 is very easy. 

Stocks, bonds, mutual funds

Basically, I am talking about all the investments related to the stock market. If you want to grow your savings, it is essential that the interest you earn is more than the rate of inflation. Investing in the stock market is one such way to do that. You need to keep in mind though that investing in the stock market comes with its own risk. So when it comes to investing in stocks or mutual funds, taking the help of a good financial advisor will be beneficial. 

• How hard is it to get started: It kind of depends on how hard is it for you to set the money aside to invest. I would give this one 3/5.
• How hard is it to make money from it: It takes years for your investments to grow and get the effect of compounding. And hence it would say this is moderate. Hence I am giving a 3/5 rating. 
• How hard is it to maintain: Once you set the money aside, you don’t really have to manage it actively for it to grow. Which means it is super easy to maintain. So the rating is 1/5.

Starting a blog/ youtube channel

Coming from a medical background, the technical side of starting a blog/ youtube channel can feel overwhelming. But from my own experience with starting a blog as a physiotherapist, I can say that it is not that hard. I assume the same applies to the youtube channel. Starting your side hustle this way definitely builds your online presence as a PT. It takes a while though to grow your blog/ youtube channel. For example, it took at least a few years for Physio. Meghana Dave to create a business from her online presence. In the case of the blog, I am just starting to monetize my own blog after 17 months of consistent work. 

• How hard is it to get started: As we discussed it is fairly easy, hence I am giving this a 2/5 rating. 
• How hard is it to make money from it: It takes a while and a lot of consistent work from your side. You also need to continue doing this for a long time and hence I am giving this one a 4/5 rating.
• How hard is it to maintain: If you are going solo, maintaining a blog or a youtube channel can be hard. You may need to start hiring some people to make this easier. So overall my rating would be 2/5 if you hire a team to support you. 

Affiliate marketing

Affiliate marketing means referring a product or service to your audience on your blog, social media platform, podcast, or website. The affiliate earns a commission each time someone makes a purchase through the unique affiliate link associated with their recommendation. For example, I recommend the products that I either used personally or have been recommended to me by reliable sources assuring high quality. Check out these PT Career Paths exclusive discounts to know more.

• How hard is it to get started: As we discussed it is fairly easy, to be an amazon affiliate, all you need to open an amazon associates account. So the rating is 2/5.
• How hard is it to make money from it: It takes time to build an audience and authority in a particular subject. So it is fairly hard to start making money from affiliate income. Hence I am going to give this one a 4/5 rating.
• How hard is it to maintain: Once you have included affiliate links in your content, it is fairly easy to maintain. So my rating will be 1/5.

Selling a digital product: e-book, app, online course

These are the products you create once and sell over and over online. Most of these products require initial efforts of creating and then you can sell and make money from them. Take the HealthQ app for example. It is an online physiotherapy app, created by Meghana Dave. She and her team offer digital physiotherapy services to patients through her app.

• How hard is it to get started: It is fairly hard to get started. Since we are physiotherapists and don’t have a technical background, there is a steep learning curve. I would give this one a 4/5 rating. 
• How hard is it to make money from it: It takes time to build an audience and authority in a particular subject. Hence I am going to give this one a 4/5 rating.
• How hard is it to maintain: Once you have set up your digital product it doesn’t take a lot to maintain it. That is why I am going to give this one a 2/5 rating. 

Building a membership community 

A membership community is a gated community that includes ‘members only’ content. Typically members pay a monthly fee to access the exclusive content. The way to do this is by providing a compelling value proposition that gets people to sign up for your membership community. This is generally not a good idea unless you have an audience online. (For most of the passive income streams, we keep coming back to building an audience online, providing valuable content on a consistent basis, and from there offering paid content). Many creators use Patreon to build a membership community. 

An excellent example of a PT membership community is Mike Reinold’s inner circle. In this program, Mike goes over current concepts, the latest research, Q and A, and a lot more about musculoskeletal and sports physiotherapy. The point is it is not impossible to start a membership community but it does take a lot of work. 

• How hard is it to get started: It is easy to create an account and start a membership community on websites such as Patreon. Hence I am going to give this one a 2/5 rating. 
• How hard is it to make money from it: It takes time to build a membership community and it takes a lot of work from building an audience to creating valuable content. Hence I am going to give this one a 5/5 rating.
• How hard is it to maintain: Once you have set up your community, you need to put in efforts to provide valuable content on a monthly basis and retain the existing members. That is why I am going to give this one a 4/5 rating. 

So there you have it, my top 5 passive income ideas for PTs. To make many with any of these, the first step is to start thinking proactively about what you want your life to like 5 years down the lane!