Post: #1

I’m looking for advice on a potential side project/ business. I’m a specialist physician while I’ve invested a lot to get to this point, I have had doubts as to whether I want to stay in it long term. I have thought about trying to generate additional revenue streams that leverage some of my skills/ knowledge.

I’m thinking of starting a review/ tips website for individuals in the specialty and would like to earn some revenue through affiliate programs/ advertisements. (The fields involves somewhat pricey hardware/ software that I’ve directly used and provide what I think would be valuable feedback on). As a younger physician in a specialty with a lot of older ones, I believe I can provide also valuable insight into increasing efficiency, which I’ve directly seen as suboptimal in some of my older colleagues. Since some of the affiliate programs are not well established, this will involve some work. I understand this may not be very lucrative, but was hoping to earn a few thousand in the first year. As a possible extension of this side project, I have also thought of offering “reputation management services” to clinics in this field, having directly seen some clinics suffer because of poor reviews that could be addressed.

Any feedback or advice would be appreciated! Thanks!

Post: #2

As a physician, you may not have the time, but you will definitely have the money to pursue as many project as you would like. It seems like you have done some research into this so it wouldnt hurt to try.

However, it feels a little beneath your level to be screwing around with affiliate type shit. No harm in trying it out but all the doctors my family knows, drive their cash into high value things like real estate and investing in businesses.

Post: #3

Have you optimized your core business though? Is it running at the lowest possible overhead with the maximum possible profit? Are you 100% tax efficient with your earnings?

No point starting a side business if your core business isn't optimal yet. It will never be perfect but sometimes the low hanging fruit is missed. With doctors I've noticed that we are sometimes so busy with patients that we forgot to spend a day or so just looking at our business processes and personal finances and there ends up being a lot of monetary waste. Also, stupid things like how the clinic is organized and the system/process that takes patients from the front door to exit sometimes has wasteful or inefficient steps - it might be possible to improve your business work flow to a point that you'll have more free time and enjoy your work enough to not need side hustles.

As a specialist physician in Canada it might be easier just to reduce your unnecessary spending to a point where you can retire early, rather than dissipate your energy in side hustles.

As for ideas for side hustles, look at the needs of practices and consider building up a business that serves that need better. For example, in my country, medical waste management to a large extent is not run very well and I've been thinking of starting my own waste management company just to show the competition that a doctor can do it better than they can. Look at everything in your practice - the furniture, the IT infrastructure, the human resources, the supplies, the music, the note taking system or EMR, the booking system, etc. and see if there is something that could really be improved and would also be a good business idea.

Anyway, that was just my 2c.