Do you want to start a side business and earn extra income as a nurse entrepreneur? If YES, don't miss our work from ideas to start earning. Here are 20 nursing small business ideas & opportunities for nurses to start from home in 2017. 

With a sound background as a practicing and professional nurse, you can become an entrepreneur in your field. The most significant benefits of having a business as a nurse include being your own boss, choosing your patients and coworkers, and determining your work goals, such as fulfilling certain needs with your nursing expertise or making money the way you decide. You can perform the work you love on your own flexible schedule.

You develop the policies and procedures and how to do your work best, and you get to operate your business from the comfort of your own home or from any chosen location. Nurse Entrepreneurs use their nursing education and business background to start ventures within the healthcare industry establishing, promoting and running their own companies. Some develop medical devices, computerized systems, or home health products.

If you intend to diversify and become a nurse entrepreneur, consider any of the 50 business ideas below. They are indeed worth starting.

50 Home Nursing Business ideas & Opportunities for Nurses in 2017

NURSE HEALTH COACH 

At this time, any Registered Nurse may call themselves a “nurse coach” while staying within their scope of practice when coaching patients without additional certification. This enables nurses to legally start their own business and coach others in their area of expertise. Also, many insurance companies hire nurses as health coaches to keep their customers as healthy as possible to reduce their spending.

Also read: How to Start Your Own Business Without Money 

SENIOR CITIZEN ASSISTANCE

Many elderly people need help with a wide variety of simple household tasks such as cleaning, laundry, and so forth. Many adult children of seniors are quite willing to hire someone to help out their parents. Something is rewarding about taking care of someone else, especially in the later years of their life.

With 77 million baby boomers entering into their senior years, the top business sector is a growing industry. In many cases, as they are getting older, seniors are looking for a way to stay social and get out and about. If you have a passion for helping the elderly, a home companion business may be the perfect idea for you. You can also create a business in this sector by becoming a senior care consultant or an elder caregiver.

CHILD CARE CENTER

You care for children during the day, while their parents are at work or otherwise occupied. You can start a day care center right in your own home. You will need to purchase small chairs, a table, toys, games, outdoor play items. Maybe you already have a lot of this stuff because you have small children of your own. There are about 75,000-day care centers in the United States that are licensed. The price charged for each child ranges from $45 to $200 a week. You’ll only need half dozen kids to make this a high-profit venture.

Most states require a license to run a day care center. There are several steps involved in getting a permit. Call your local State Department of Health and Human Resources to determine the correct office that regulates child care in your state. Call that office and ask for a copy of regulations governing child care centers. Arrange a meeting with a licensing specialist to review the procedures to obtain your license.

Also read: How to Start a Food Business With Little to No Capital 

MEDICAL SALES REPRESENTATIVE

Patient care isn’t the only way registered nurses can put their people skills to good use! Medical sales reps have the opportunity to build relationships with other healthcare professionals while selling medical equipment to be used in hospitals or other healthcare settings. A job in sales comes with its perks: a more flexible schedule and higher earning potential than many traditional nursing jobs.

BIRTH DOULA

Ideally, you need to be a calm and patient person to be a birth doula or a postpartum doula (assisting new moms). You can start by working with an experienced doula to gain confidence and experience and determine if this is suitable for you (and get a good reference as well). A birth doula provides emotional and physical support for couples during labor and delivery. A postpartum doula provides help for new moms while recovering from childbirth such as support for breastfeeding, bathing or handling siblings.

CONCIERGE NURSE

If you are business minded, a nurse that makes house calls may be the business opportunity for you. In fact, this is historically how most nurses practiced until the 1940s. It is an area with enormous growth potential. When you start any nurse business, be sure and consult your state board of nursing, obtain the proper business and nurse liability insurance, and ask the required experts such as attorneys and tax/accounting professionals.

Build a network for up-to-the-minute patient care. With concierge medicine, medical personnel affiliate themselves with a service that charges a group of patients an annual membership for house calls and quickly scheduled often same-day appointments.

NURSE EDUCATOR

Outside of the hospital setting, many opportunities exist for nurse educators. Common settings for nurse educators include; medical device companies, community/government, pharmaceutical companies, research, medical clinics, education companies, and colleges. The opportunities are rapidly expanding due to the growth of online jobs, and the possibilities for self-employment.

As a nurse, you can make more money by teaching student nurses at any nursing school or certification program around you. Start by searching the web for training programs for nurses and apply for the position of a tutor. While this business option won’t make you rich, it will fetch you enough cash to pay some bills.

NURSE NAVIGATOR

Owning your own business as a nurse navigator would be ideal for nurses who understand insurance policies and who can help patients obtain the care they need. This opportunity is ideal for nurses who enjoy paperwork and research in addition to helping their patients.

PUBLIC SPEAKING

If you love sharing health knowledge and teaching people about diseases or healthy living, teaching/public speaking may be a great side hustle for you. You can offer your services to community health organizations, hospitals or colleges/university continuing education programs. Pick your topic and contact the education department to see how to get started.

Those are just two of the many side businesses that nurses can start to boost their earning potential. Your side business doesn’t have to be related to your career as a nurse. If you enjoy making jewelry, you could sell your creations. If you enjoy cooking, you could offer personal chef services on your off days. The possibilities are truly endless.

PRIVATE NURSING SERVICE

You can establish your private nursing facility, where you take care of patients that are undergoing treatment for diseases and injuries. Rather than visit the hospital too often, patients would prefer paying you to study their recovery, dress their wounds, and so on. One mistake you must avoid in this business is assuming the responsibilities of a doctor, especially when you are a nurse or you lack experience in the case at hand. You will maintain your integrity by referring patients to qualified physicians whenever the need arises.

DIETITIAN

Are you a certified nurse? That’s the first qualification for starting this business. Options for operating this sort of health business or health consulting service are almost unlimited. As a certified dietitian, you could just subcontract your services out to numerous businesses such as hospitals, nursing homes, weight loss clinics and fitness centers.

The innovative entrepreneur could start up an online dietitian service. The profit potential for diet consulting services is outstanding, and achieving an annual income of $50,000 or more is certainly not out of line. To increase business revenue, aim to develop your own exclusive diet programs, books, videos, and software, as all of these products can be sold through the company website, as well as to national retailers on a wholesale basis.

IN-HOUSE NURSING CARE

You can establish your private nursing facility, where you take care of patients that are undergoing treatment for diseases and injuries. Rather than visit the hospital too often, patients would prefer paying you to study their recovery, dress their wounds, and so on. One mistake you must avoid in this business is assuming the responsibilities of a doctor, especially when you are a nurse or you lack experience in the case at hand. You will maintain your integrity by referring patients to qualified physicians whenever the need arises.

RETAIL PHARMACY BUSINESS

Retail pharmacy business is one of the thriving and profitable firms in the healthcare industry. Any entrepreneur (investor) who has a plan of starting his or her own retail pharmacy business must comply with the Regulations of Retail Pharmacy Businesses that was passed into law in 2008.

Anyone who wants to establish a retail pharmacy business must follow the rules that guide the sourcing, storage, sale, supply and keeping of records, in respect of medicinal products. Other requirements that they are expected to comply with your requirements that relate to staff, premises, equipment, and procedures are also stipulated.

HEALTH BLOGGING

It is interesting to note that there are loads of people out there who are making millions annually through blogging. If you have a medical professional or someone who has sound knowledge in the healthcare sector, one of the businesses that you can consider starting is to start blogging on healthcare related subjects.

The truth is that if your blog has useful and helpful contents, you will attract loads of traffic and if you have loads of traffic on your blog, you can quickly secure good advertising deals from stakeholders and other businesses in your blog. Just ensure that you update your blog regularly, and you will continue to attract traffic.

RUN A NATURAL CHILDBIRTH CLASS

Natural childbirth is and will always be a hot topic. This business has limitless possibilities and avenues including natural childbirth classes, seminars, products and services. This business opportunity will have to be of particular interest to you and will require training and a great amount of research.

However, professionals who specialize in the field are generally well paid and always in demand. This business may be of particular interest to nurses, childcare givers and early childhood education teachers. Be sure to do your homework so that your new business will comply with all the rules and regulations of your particular community.

HOME NURSING BUSINESS

Another thriving and profitable business venture that an entrepreneur who is interested in making money from the healthcare industry can engage in is a home health care business. A home health care business is a business that provides skilled nursing services, home health aides, and other home care services such as medical social services and therapies.

The fact that there are loads of elderly people and sick people who cannot move around but spend most of their time at home makes this type of business a profitable business to engage in. It is important to state that this kind of business is regulated in the United States of America and in most parts of the world to guide against quacks taking advantage of people.

OPEN A MATERNITY CLINIC

In rural community most especially, there are loads of pregnant women who cannot afford standard hospital for the delivery of their children- which is why they opt for maternity centers or enroll under a midwife / Duala. So, if you are midwife and you are interested in starting a business in the healthcare industry, then one of your options is to open a maternity center; a rural area might be the most thriving location for this type of business.

It is important that you would need a license from the required medical regulatory authority before you can legally operate a private maternity center in the United States and in most countries of the world.

CHILD BIRTH BUSINESS

If you have a background in nursing, childcare, or early child education and you are drawn to the birthing process, then there are several avenues you can take. You could offer natural childbirth classes, seminars, products and/or services. You could also become a certified midwife or labor coach. Just make sure to do your homework so that your new business will comply with all the rules and regulations of your particular region.

CONSULTANCY

Yet another way to capitalize on your nursing acumen and expertise is by becoming a consultant. A consulting business in the nursing field can take a variety of forms, which is why it’s such an attractive and rewarding side business opportunity. One potential option is advising small and medium-sized medical practices on the best way to employ their nursing firepower. You could also advise nurses on beneficial career paths and moves.

WRITE ABOUT YOUR WORK

You can use your nursing know-how and experience to make money simply by writing about it. Blogging is one popular route to take. Post how-to guides, advice and general musings to start. Once you’ve gained a following, you can pepper your prose with affiliate sales links and banner ads. Alternatively, you can publish e-books and sell them for a moderate price.

Online writing for healthcare marketers and healthcare websites. You can venture into web site copy for the healthcare industry or a nursing business, EBooks on your nursing specialty or expertise, also paperbacks/novels or textbooks, nursing journals/Nursing websites like nursetogether.com. Ghostwriter for medical profession or other nurses. You can be a freelance writer, writing for any publication out there that is looking for healthcare writers.

NURSING RECRUITMENT AGENCY

You can start a nursing recruitment agency and earn a living. There are many countries in the world with a huge gap to fill regarding nurses, you can capitalize on this void and cash in on the gap. With the connection and experience with immigration and visas, you can become a recruitment agent and earn a healthy living.