How I Made $7,000 A Month as a Nurse
DISCLAIMER: If you’re reading this article and you’re a new graduate, unfortunately… this article is not for you.. JUST YET! You will need at least 2 years of experience to get this done.
It is known by the public that nurses are well-paid and I truly believe that the demands of the nursing profession would justify the reasoning behind that. It is safe to say that those who became nurses are truly passionate in taking care of others. It is a form of service that embodies the idea of caring for someone. I know plenty of nurses that would say how emotionally rewarding it is to have had made a difference in someone’s life at the end of a shift.
But nursing can be financially rewarding too!
We cannot deny the fact that nurses do get paid well! Nursing is so physically and emotionally demanding that seeing that paycheck every two weeks makes the profession much more bearable and rewarding. And… getting paid to doing what you love to do is always the goal.
So how’d I do it?
Well hard work and determination is key.
I definitely would not recommend implementing what I did to make this amount of money if you get easily burned out from the physical and emotional demands of nursing. Take my recommendations lightly and listen to your body. Only you can determine what you’re able to do.
Let’s Begin!
Please note that the figures below are estimated. I no longer have access to show my income reports and the math varied according to my 401k, taxes, etc.
Have a full-time position as a Bedside Nurse at a Hospital
Let me elaborate more. Starting at a hospital was my main goal. If you read my other articles, you’ll know that nursing homes or acute rehabs was not the place for me… no offense. As a nurse at a hospital, I definitely had my eyes set of climbing the ladder into leadership. I paid my dues and learned as much as I could as a bedside nurse. Then when the opportunity opened, I applied to be one of the unit’s Supervisors. With incorporating evening and weekend differentials, extra shifts, bonuses, I ended up making $37-40/hr.
Estimated at about $1,864 per pay period (highest: est. $2,200)/Monthly: $3,728
2. Applied for a PRN job
Once you reach 2 years of med-surg nursing, you can literally apply to any job you like. You’ll be a hot commodity! I applied to a different hospital to work as PRN on a ortho/surg unit. The pros to this job was that I was able to work the days that I wanted to pick up and they had 8 hour shifts. With incorporating differentials for the evening and weekends, I ended up making $47-52/hr. My days would vary so I would pick up four 8-12 hour shifts on my days off from my full-time job.
Note: If I had applied for a float pool PRN, my rate range would have been between $55-59/hr.
Estimated at about $1,536-$1,955 per pay period (highest: $1,955)/Monthly: $3,910
3. Nurse Blog
My blog was at its peak during this time, but I am no where NEAR compared to the bloggers out there in the world. Don’t make fun of me! Just want to be as honest as possible when showing a lifetime’s worth of income report. I have a lot of plans for the blog, but I sure hope that the figures will get better and much more bearable.
Blogging is surely a passion for me. Blogging about nursing is a plus. I love being able to coach and provide resources for nursing students and new grads who are currently moving into the world of nursing.
Recently, these numbers have dropped significantly because I haven’t been able to blog as much. I plan to make changes so that I can start blogging on a regular basis.
TOTAL: $7,638
Did not include the blog’s income in this figure.
Hope this gave you all some insight of what your nursing income could potentially look like. I hope that this also encourages you to look into different avenues to get a good source on nursing income. This is the pure beauty of nursing… there are endless opportunities to grow and prosper!
Happy Nursing!
-dlmjourney
