6 Steps To Become a Nurse Content Creator and Make Money Online

What’s up Nurse.org fam! I’m Joscel! I am a nurse, speaker, content creator, and human being 🙂 I believe nurses can do ANYTHING! This includes being a profitable content creator, so keep reading! I’ve been a nurse for about 10 years, and have been making content for about 5 years.

It all started when I was burned out at my last staff job and I wanted to make some extra cash. I knew people were making money online, and I thought “I want a slice of the pie!” Fast forward 5 years, hundreds of videos, and millions of views later, I’m here to share how to start from scratch and how to make money as a content creator.

This article is for anyone who is curious about making money online as a content creator. I am writing this as I am active on primarily Instagram, but also on YouTube and Facebook primarily through video. 

I’m on my own journey toward financial independence and fulfillment, I have a LONG way to go, but I’ve learned a lot along the way. I’m not writing this article from a place of “I already made it.” No, not at all. I’m on this journey with you!

Keep in mind, that the information in this article is based on my experience, but if you have any questions, don’t hesitate to DM me @josceljames. 

6 Steps To Become a Nurse Content Creator and Monetize

Let’s get started! How to be a content Creator.

Step 1: Pick Your Niche. 

Let’s not get into the pronunciation of this word (I pronounce it Nitch), but into what it actually means. Basically, your niche is a subgroup of people with common interests. 

Nurse.org’s niche is nurses (surprise surprise), but it can be further niched down depending on people’s interests. My personal niche is healthcare workers, but I can get more specific and say it’s burned-out healthcare workers who like laughing.

If you don’t know what your niche is, don’t worry, I got YOU. 

The 3 most profitable, and always will be profitable, niches are those in Health (how to be healthier), Wealth (how to get richer or stay rich), and relationships (how to find/keep love).

Chances are you are already part of one of these niches (take a look at who you follow on social media)

Let’s go a little deeper in our niche! 

Step 2: Research Your Audience

Who are you making content for? Your friends? Your coworkers? People who share the same hobby as you? How old are they? What are their frustrations? What are their hopes/dreams?

The more specific, the better. It may seem silly at first, but the more you know who you are making content for, the easier it’ll be down the line. 

This research phase is pretty important. Try not to skip it.

You can’t please or make content for everyone, especially if you’re just starting out. For example, if I were a suburban mom of 3 kids, what video do you think I would click on: “Fitness tips” OR “Fitness tips for busy suburban moms.”

The answer is the 2nd one, people like consuming content that is tailor-made for them, just like I am writing this article for you, the nurse who wants to learn how to be a content creator.

Now you know who you are making content for, now for the next part: planning.

Step 3: Plan Your Content

What kind of content are you making? You’re going to want to make content that adds VALUE to your niche and audience. Basically, your content just has to make their day better in some way.  This includes content that is educational/entertaining/motivational/inspirational.

You probably see people post their desserts, but how does that add value to people’s lives? Maybe later when you have more followers, you can start posting random things with no value, but starting out, and starting from zero, try to keep your content geared toward adding and providing value to your audience.

If you are an entertainer (like I mostly am), you can still add value to people’s lives by “freeing your audience from concern” (I quote Jim Carrey).  In a rough world, people want to forget about their problems, even for a second. If freeing others from concern isn’t valuable, I don’t know what is.

Now pick the TYPE of content you are about to make. I’ll list 14 content types:

• AMA (ask me anything)
• Documentary
• Unboxing
• Presentation
• Case Study
• Day in the Life
• Story Time
• Reaction
• Walkthrough
• Report
• Skits
• Voiceover
• Compilation
• Guide
• Tutorial

DM me if you want more content types, there are way too many to type out here.

EQUIPMENT: When starting out, you don’t NEED any fancy equipment, just that thing in your hand that has a really good camera.

If you really want to invest in something, invest in a good quality mic, or use that wired one that comes in your phone. People will put up with bad video quality. Rarely will people put up with bad audio.

I want you to succeed so I repeat: People will put up with bad video quality, but rarely will they put up with bad audio!!

Now we’ve planned our content, type to make it!

STEP 4: Create Valuable Content

Make content that makes your audience’s life better. Period.

Start from adding value to your audience and make that content!

Just hit record!

Editing: there are so many editing tools nowadays. You can use Capcut or even the built-in editors on Instagram and TikTok.  I use Premiere Pro. When you’re just starting out, focus on getting that first video out. Your editing skills will come as you make more content.

Editing is an art and can potentially take hours. Again, don’t worry too much about editing in the beginning, and focus on improving your audience’s life

If you’re rich (I’m not), or have the funds (I don’t) you can hire a video editor (I don’t have one either).

Step 6: Monetize

Now we come to the part that everyone wants to know about Monetization.

The more you make content for your niche, the more attention your content is going to get. The more attention your content gets, the more your audience pays attention to you. 

Attention is what sells. Attention is what makes money (think Super Bowl Ads). Where the attention goes, money flows.

Now that you have attention on your content and your brand, you can monetize in the following ways. Each one of these monetization strategies deserves its own article, so I’ll just list them here. If you want to know more: DM me.

1. Affiliate marketing: In exchange for traffic, brands will pay a portion of sales they get (think Amazon affiliate program)
2. Ads/Creator Programs: Every platform is different, but most have a program that pays you the more views you get. A few months ago, I got paid $300 for a 20-second video. Not bad for 10 minutes of work. (I don’t say this to brag, but just to tell you what’s possible
3. Crowdfunding: In exchange for content, you can have a recurring monthly membership fee (Example: Patreon or Instagram/YouTube Creator Subscriptions)
4. Merchandise: It’s SO EASY to make merch nowadays. Take a photo or phrase and put them on stickers and shirts. A lot of creators and meme pages do this (Example websites: Shopify, Etsy, Printful, Spring)
5. Services: You can charge for your expertise, whether it’s video editing your consulting. (If you don’t think you’re an expert at something to be able to charge, make 100 pieces of content on one thing. Who’s to say you’re not an expert after you make that much content?
6. Digital Products: Make an eBook and sell it for $25. Sell 10 of those in a month and that’s an extra $250 a month or $3000/ year. Make a digital course and sell it for $200. Sell 10 in a month and that’s $2000/month!!!
7.  Brand Deals: The holy grail of content creation monetization. This is where the big money is at. If brands see you can attract enough attention, they’ll pay you to make content for them or have their product featured on your site.

Combine any and all of these and congratulations, you are a content creator that monetizes on 7 different streams of income.

WHEW!! That was a lot! Take a deep breath! Do you remember what I said in the beginning? I said I believe nurses can do ANYTHING!! This includes you reading this 🙂 If any of this stresses out, take a deep breath, and relax. You can do it!

We are just carbon blobs floating on a giant blue rock in space. It’s not that big of a deal. Nothing is 🙂

Good luck, reach out to me anytime! Keep creating, I’m rooting for you. 

With gratitude,

Joscel James RN CPR LOL HYFR

@josceljames