Notes from Chris

Episode 1401

Aaron Emmel’s day job in clinical pharmacy paid well. It was simply too big a risk for him to abandon this career to pursue a business idea, even though his father had been a small business owner and inspired him. The concept of side hustles intrigued him, however, and Aaron spent a great amount of time searching for a suitable idea.

Reflecting on his skills and interests, his first thought was to offer an online music course—I should mention that he was also a talented trombonist. But after conducting some research, he decided that there just wasn’t enough of a market to make designing the course worthwhile.

His next thought went to his professional expertise of pharmacy. Although this was an area that was highly regulated, Aaron thought there could be some real opportunity in it. He knew that the pharm tech certification board was going to require some specific education leading up to the 2020 test that all new pharm techs would need to pass. If he could somehow get the board to recognize a course taught by him, there was bound to be some demand since there are many people who try to get certified every year.

Working with this goal in mind, he took the formal outline for the certification exam and worked backward to provide the takeaways that students were expected to grasp. With each piece of information backed by primary literature including drug information databases and federal regulations, Aaron made sure that the course was extremely thorough. This would not only help with getting the course recognized by the board, but also strengthen his brand and stave off future competition.

Nevertheless, by the end of December Aaron completed his course, and received board approval. With over a decade of experience as a clinical pharmacist and having been accredited, the board was content to let him run the course after viewing what he had put together. By the summer of 2020, he had launched!(PharmacyTechScholar.com)

In the few months since the course has been launched, he’s generated an average of $2,000/month. With total startup costs under $500 that went towards the website and a few subscriptions, it’s been a great return on investment. What’s more, now that the course is done, he has the opportunity to earn much more money over time, without doing much more work.

There's no universal prescription for building a side hustle, but teaching what you know is often a good start.

 

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  MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

• Learn more about Aaron and his online course at his website, PharmacyTechScholar.com.

SEE ALSO:

• Pharmacist Cues Connections with Conversational Cards: When a pharmacist longs for the deep connections she had with her college friends, she turns over a card to reveal a conversational side hustle.
• Rocket Scientist Creates Herbal Side Income: Herbal medicine isn’t rocket science, but this rocket scientist discovers a side hustle when she turns to herbal medicine in order to treat her immune diseases.
• Jailhouse Medic Turns House Calls Into Healthy Profits: A nurse practitioner in Idaho launches his own mobile urgent care unit, resulting in happy patients and a six-figure side hustle.

Inspiration is good; inspiration combined with action is better. Now get back to work! Yours in the revolution,

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