Latest / The Side Hustle Career Podcast with Fexingo: Second Income, Freelancing While Employed / How a Pharmacist Built a 15K Monthly Side Hustle in Medication Therapy Management
Transcript
- Lucas: So Luna, we've talked to teachers, landscapers, even a bank teller on this show. But today we're talking to someone whose side hustle started with a very specific, very regulated skill set: reviewing other people's medications. Luna: A pharmacist, right? I love this because it's such a clear example of how expertise that seems boring or administrative can actually be incredibly valuable. Lucas: Exactly. Dr. Amelia Reyes worked full-time in a hospital pharmacy for eight years. And her side hustle, medication therapy management consulting, now brings in fifteen thousand dollars a month. Luna: Fifteen grand a month. And she started it, from what I read, by just helping out a friend's small clinic with a tricky patient case. Lucas: Right. A friend who runs a small family practice called her about a patient on seventeen different medications, and she spent an evening untangling the interactions and side effects. Her friend was blown away and mentioned her to a few other clinic owners. Luna: And that's when the light bulb went off. She realized there were clinics out there that couldn't afford a full-time clinical pharmacist, but they had patients with complex regimens. Lucas: And that's the core of her business today. She reviews medication lists for potential interactions, duplications, or things that are just no longer appropriate. She sends back a detailed report, and she charges per review. She started at a hundred and fifty dollars per review, now she's up to four hundred. Luna: Four hundred per review. And how many does she do a month to get to fifteen thousand? That's like, thirty-eight reviews? Lucas: Yeah, about forty. But she's not just doing individual reviews. She's also on retainer with two long-term care facilities, where she does a monthly chart review for each resident. That's a steady twelve hundred a month from each of them. Luna: So it's a mix of one-off reviews and ongoing contracts. That's smart. But I have to ask, what about the legal side? You're giving medical advice, even if it's indirect. That seems risky. Lucas: Great question, and she was really upfront about this. First, she only provides recommendations to the prescriber, not directly to the patient. So she's not diagnosing or prescribing. She's just saying, hey, this drug might interact with that one, or maybe you should consider a lower dose. Luna: That makes sense. It's like consulting for the doctor, not for the patient. Lucas: Exactly. And second, she carries professional liability insurance. She pays about two hundred dollars a month for a policy that covers her consulting work. It's a business expense, but it gives her peace of mind. Luna: And HIPAA? She's handling patient data, even if it's de-identified sometimes. How does she stay compliant? Lucas: She uses a secure portal that the clinics send the records through, and she never emails patient information. She also had to sign business associate agreements with each client, which is standard. Luna: So there's a bit of upfront legal work, but it's manageable. And the market for this seems huge. With an aging population and so many people on multiple medications, I bet clinics and nursing homes are desperate for this kind of expertise. Lucas: Absolutely. She started by reaching out to local clinics, but now she has clients in six different states, all done remotely. She's never met most of them in person. Luna: That's the beauty of consulting, right? Your knowledge is the product, and geography doesn't matter. But let's talk about the actual work. What does a typical review look like? How long does it take? Lucas: A typical review takes her about an hour and a half. She goes through the medication list, cross-references with the patient's diagnoses and lab results, and then writes up a concise report. She said the first few took longer, maybe three hours each, because she was overly thorough. Luna: So she's charging four hundred dollars for an hour and a half of work? That's a solid hourly rate. But she has to factor in marketing, admin, and any unpaid time she spends on business development. Lucas: Right. She probably spends another five to ten hours a week on emails, invoicing, and reaching out to new clinics. But even so, her effective hourly rate is well over a hundred dollars. Luna: And that's all while working her full-time hospital job? I'm exhausted just thinking about it. Lucas: She works about fifteen to eighteen hours a week on the side hustle, mostly in the evenings and on weekends. She says the key is that she doesn't try to do it every single day. She blocks out two weeknights and a few hours on Saturday morning. Luna: That discipline is crucial. You know, this episode and the whole show, it makes me think about how we're helping our listeners think through their own side hustle possibilities. And if we've helped you even a little bit, we'd love it if you'd consider supporting the show. We keep it ad-free, and listener support is what keeps the lights on, so to speak. Lucas: Yeah, it's a low-key way to say thanks if this podcast has been useful to you. You can do that at buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. Every bit helps us keep doing these deep dives. Luna: Alright, back to Amelia. She also shared with us her biggest mistake when she started, which I think a lot of listeners will relate to. Lucas: What was that? Luna: She underpriced herself in the beginning. Her first few clients were paying a hundred and fifty dollars per review, and she was spending three hours on them. So she was effectively making fifty bucks an hour, which is not great for that level of expertise. Lucas: And that's a classic side hustle trap. You're so eager to land clients that you undervalue your own time. Her advice is to track every hour you spend, and then price based on the value you're providing, not just the hours. Luna: She also said that raising her price actually made clients take her more seriously. When she moved from a hundred and fifty to three hundred, she didn't lose any clients, and a few even told her she should have charged more. Lucas: That's a valuable lesson. It also helps that she's a pharmacist, so her credibility is built in. But she had to learn to market that credibility, to talk about her clinical experience in a way that clinics understood. Luna: How did she market herself? I mean, she can't just put a billboard out there. Lucas: She started with her professional network, reaching out to former colleagues and classmates who were now in clinic management. She also gave a couple of free lunch and learn talks at local clinics, which she says were awkward but effective. And she created a simple one-page PDF explaining her services and pricing. Luna: The lunch and learn thing reminds me of how consultants often use speaking gigs to get clients. But I'm curious about the future. Does she plan to leave her hospital job? Lucas: She said she loves her hospital job, and it actually keeps her skills sharp. She sees herself doing both for the foreseeable future. But she did mention that the side hustle gives her a sense of security and control. If she ever wants to reduce her hours or make a change, she has that option. Luna: That's the beauty of a side hustle, right? It's not always about quitting your day job. Sometimes it's about creating options. Lucas: Exactly. And she's proof that you can build something substantial without leaving your career. She started with a simple favor for a friend, and now she's a trusted consultant for clinics across the country. Luna: So for anyone listening who's in a clinical role, or even not, what's the one takeaway from Amelia's story? Lucas: I'd say it's to look for the pain points that your professional skills can solve, even if they seem obvious to you. Amelia's expertise was second nature, but it was a godsend for those clinic owners. And once you find that gap, don't be afraid to charge what you're worth. Luna: And that's the kind of advice that makes this show so valuable. Thanks for listening, and we'll talk to you next time.