What are the best occupational therapy side hustles? Occupational therapists excel in helping their patients live more rewarding lives. They fill sessions with functionality and creativity. Due to the rising costs of education, home prices, and inflation, it may be necessary to work an extra job to increase financial stability and independence. Many Rehab Rebels started their journey to leave clinical practice through side hustles.
If you’re an occupational therapist looking for extra money, read on to see some examples of how you can use your knowledge and skills to pursue extra work and income.
Top Occupational Therapy Side Hustles
- Picking up Per Diem Shifts
- Selling Digital Products
- Being a Content Creator
- Providing Therapy Over Telehealth
Interested in reading about more side hustles? Check out more ideas for PT and Speech.
Pick up Per Diem Shifts
Picking up extra shifts as a per diem occupational therapist is one of the fastest and most reliable side hustles for occupational therapists. Hourly rates tend to be higher than full-time hourly rates because they do not include benefits. If you’re open to working weekend days, the weekends tend to be some of the more relaxed days to work in the medical setting. Working one extra weekend day shift per month could be a few hundred dollars extra in your bank account.
Per diem work can also broaden your network of therapist connections and possibly open you up to a better, higher paying position somewhere else in your town.
Selling Digital Products
Creating digital products to sell online can help therapists, caregivers/parents, and your patients. By creating a digital product, you can create it and upload it once, and then it can continue to sell via downloads online.
Occupational Therapy digital products can include:
- Worksheets for other therapists to use in their sessions
- Home exercise programs for therapists to give their patients
- Educational handouts for families/patients
- Courses to educate therapists, caregivers, and patients about a niche aspect of occupational therapy
Popular places to sell digital products include
- TPT (Teachers Pay Teachers)
- Etsy
- Your own website that you can host online
Be a Content Creator
Content creator is a catch all term in our digital world that describes a variety of different things.
A content creator is responsible for producing, developing, and curating various types of content across different media platforms. This includes social media, websites, email newsletters, and more. Content creators play a crucial role in what you see published online.
Some examples of content creators that fit well for OTs include:
Copywriter
Copywriters are used to write any content that is used for providing education and selling products. You can get paid to write blogs, newsletters, emails, ads, scripts for YouTube videos, product descriptions for online catalogs, and/or any social media post caption.
By specializing in writing occupational therapy content, you can set yourself apart to market to businesses who specialize in OT and need a writer who has first-hand understanding of the industry. The Non-Clinical PT is a great place to start learning about copywriting and how to get started in writing.
User-Generated Content
Ever go to a page of a product or brand that you like and see that they have posts created by their users? This is referred to as user-generated content (UGC) and is commonly purchased by businesses to post on their accounts.
Creating UGC can be as simple as videotaping your own review of a product on your smartphone. Or, it could be capturing the product as you use it in real life. You don’t need a big social media following to create UGC, you need talent to showcase a product and the ability to pitch your work to businesses online.
YouTuber/TikToker/Influencer
If sharing knowledge and showing up on camera is something you excel in, you can start your own channel and monetize it. YouTube and TikTok have programs to pay creators based on the number of views.
Creators can also monetize their platforms through brand sponsorships, affiliate marketing partners, selling their own digital products, speaking at events/conferences, and more.
Unlike copywriting and user generated content, becoming an influencer depends on a variety of factors including the amount of views and followers you amass, versus solely creating content.
Provide Therapy Visits Over Telehealth
Working from home seems to be a luxury, whether it’s a full-time job or side hustle. Not having to commute to work, or even wearing work clothes/scrubs is a bonus. Teletherapy is the delivery of occupational therapy over the use of technology. Occupational therapists use teletherapy to address evaluations, treatments, and consultations with clients. Specifically, fine and gross motor skills can be addressed with ease in telepractice.
Picking up telehealth clients before or after your full-time job can be a good source of extra income. You can broaden your client base by getting licensed in other states. ork from home as a telehealth OT and see patients in other states, so long as you follow their licensure rules.
Here are some companies that employ occupational therapists. You may even turn this side hustle into a full-time job if you enjoy it.
Telehealth Companies that hire Occupational Therapists
- eLuma
- VocoVision
- Presence
To conclude, occupational therapy side hustles open up a new world for income and diversifying your career. By working a side hustle, you not only can improve your financial health, but push yourself to learn new skills, work in new settings, or use your unique skills in another way.