When I first started blogging, I had no idea it would one day pay me. Growing up, I genuinely believed there was “no money” in writing. Turns out, with the internet, you can absolutely make money from your hobbies and skills. I turned my nurse side hustle blog into something that makes me money while I sleep.
I started blogging in the late 2000s as a creative outlet. I wrote about nursing school, my financial journey, and the messy in-between of figuring out adulthood on a nurse’s paycheck. Over time, that little blog stopped being just a journal.
It became a digital asset. One that now earns me money while I sleep, take care of patients, or scroll Instagram on my day off.
In this post, I’m breaking down exactly how I built a nurse side hustle blog, the four ways I monetize it, and how much I’ve actually earned from ads alone (spoiler: it’s not life-changing money — yet — but it’s truly passive, and that matters).
Why Nurses Make Great Bloggers
Nursing is meaningful work, but let’s be honest — it’s emotionally and physically draining. A blog gives you something nursing alone can’t:
- A creative outlet that lives outside the hospital
- A personal brand beyond the bedside
- A platform to teach, inspire, or process your experience
- A path to passive income that doesn’t require picking up another shift
Nurses are also one of the most trusted professions in the world. That trust translates online. Whether you’re writing about night shift survival, NP school, travel nursing, or money — readers listen because you’ve lived it.
If you’ve ever thought, “I want to do something creative, but I still want it to make money,” a blog is one of the lowest-risk side hustles you can start.
How I Started My Blog
I launched my blog to document my journey toward financial freedom as a nurse. I wrote about things like:
- Investing basics for nurses
- Budgeting as a new grad
- My transition from bedside to nurse practitioner
- Real money mistakes I made (and what they taught me)
I didn’t know SEO. I wasn’t posting on a schedule. I just started writing about what I wished someone had told me earlier.
And slowly, people started reading. My blog has been around for over 5 years, and the impressions had increased overtime.
The 4 Ways I Make Money From My Blog
There’s no single “right” way to monetize a blog. Here are the four income streams I use, ranked from most passive to most active.
1. Display Ads (the truly passive one)
This is the simplest way to earn from a blog. Once you have steady traffic, you can apply to ad networks like Google AdSense, Ezoic, Mediavine, or Raptive (formerly AdThrive). They place ads on your site automatically, and you earn based on impressions and clicks. Right now, my blog is monetized through Journey by Mediavine. I only started placing ads in my blog in April 1, 2026. [so it has only been less than 2 months]
How much I’ve earned from ads since turning them on: 👉 $39.99
Let me be real with you — that’s not “quit your job” money. But here’s why it still matters: I didn’t do anything to earn it. I wrote the posts months (sometimes years) ago. Google sends readers to them, the ads run, and the income shows up. That’s the definition of passive income.
The lever that grows this number? Traffic. And traffic comes from writing helpful, searchable content — posts like “Best Shoes for 12-Hour Nursing Shifts” or “How to Start Investing as a New Grad Nurse.”
2. Affiliate Marketing
You recommend a product you genuinely use like scrubs, a planner, a book, a course, a brokerage — and if a reader buys through your link, you earn a commission. No product creation required.
A few networks to explore as a nurse:
- Amazon Associates (easy entry point)
- ShareASale and Impact (broader brand catalog) – I personally use Impact.
- Direct affiliate programs with scrub brands, nurse gear, or financial tools you already love
The rule I live by: only recommend things you’d tell a friend about for free. I am very picky with what products or services I recommend to my subscribers and friends. Some of my favorites are listed here. These are genuinely the tools that I use on a daily basis to run my business and get better with money.
3. Digital Products
Once I built trust with my readers, I started creating my own resources — checklists, guides, and eventually full courses like Employ Your Money. I have since then retired Employ Your Money and included it inside the Wealthy Nurse Academy.
If you’ve figured something out that other nurses are still struggling with like passing NP boards, breaking into travel nursing, managing money on shift work — you can package that knowledge into a product. This is the highest-margin income stream because you own it end to end. I have made over $100k just in digital products alone.
Digital products = scalable income.
4. Brand Partnerships and Sponsored Posts
As your blog grows, brands will want to work with you. That might look like a sponsored blog post, a product review, or featuring a service inside a guide you’re already writing.
And here’s the thing — nurses are niche influencers. You don’t need a million page views to land partnerships. You need a clear audience and content that proves you know how to talk to them.
Here is one of my latest sponsored post from a brand I actually like: BlueApron: a meal prep delivery service that saves you time and money as a busy nurse.
What My Blog Income Actually Looks Like
I want to be transparent because the internet is full of “I made six figures blogging!!” screenshots that aren’t the norm.
Since I turned on ads, I’ve earned $39.99 from Google AdSense alone.
It’s not replacing my NP income. But it pays for some coffee, covers a few subscriptions, and — most importantly — it shows up whether I open my laptop or not. That’s the entire point of a side hustle blog: building something that compounds while you keep living your life.
Ads are just one of the four streams. Stacked together, they add up to something meaningful.
You Don’t Need to Be a Writer — You Just Need to Start
Some of the best-performing blogs in the world aren’t beautifully written. They’re relatable, real, and useful. That’s the bar.
If you want to start your own nurse side hustle blog, here’s what you actually need:
- A niche you care about — nursing life, side hustles, wellness, NP school, parenting on shift work, money, whatever lights you up
- A platform — WordPress (most flexible for SEO and monetization), Ghost, or Substack. You also need a blog host like BlueHost or Hostinger.
- 3 to 5 starter posts — each one answering a real question your ideal reader is Googling
- Patience — Google takes 3 to 6 months minimum to start sending you traffic, but once it does, it keeps coming
That’s it. No fancy camera, no perfect aesthetic, no big launch.
Final Thoughts
A blog won’t make you rich overnight. But it can open doors like creative, professional, and financial ones — that a single nursing job never will.
If you’re already sharing on Instagram, journaling your experience, or dropping advice in nurse Facebook groups, you already have the voice. You’re just renting space on someone else’s platform.
A blog is the platform you own.
Your stories matter. Your insight matters. And with consistency, a blog can become more than a website then it becomes an income stream, a brand, and a way to help other nurses while you do it.
If you want to learn about other passive income for nurses, download this passive income guide below.
Are you a nurse thinking about starting a blog? I’m putting together a step-by-step blogging guide for nurses — drop a comment or reply to this post and let me know what questions you want me to answer in it.
And if this post helped you, share it with a nurse friend who needs a creative outlet (and a little extra income on the side).with a nurse friend who could use a creative outlet (and a little extra income).
