Personal Finance

3 Lessons From 41 Year Old Part-Time Nurse With A $121k Side Hustle

Austin Smith

Published: November 4, 2024 1:21 pm

Last Updated: November 4, 2024 3:27 pm

Meet The Part Time Nurse Bringing In $121k From Etsy

Megan Walsh is a part-time endoscopy nurse and crafter from Manahawkin, New Jersey. She recently discussed her work, passion for crafts, and a growing side hustle that’s bringing in over $121k a year in revenue. Let’s look at her situation, and see what lessons we can learn.

First, Megan is a part-time nurse. Pay for this position can range from $35-$58 per hour, with a mid point of $46.5. So she’s already doing great. If Megan wanted to pursue this work full time, we could assume (at the mid point) she’d be making $96,720 a year. But since she is part time between 24-32 hours a week, we’ll take the midpoint and assume $67,704 from her work at the hospital. That’s pretty impressive. She’s already exceeding the average salary of  $63,795 in the United States with part time work.

But rather than stick with this as her sole source of Income, Megan has taken the entrepreneurial leap.

She has an impressive Etsy shop with (at the time of this writing) 12,181 sales, and a nearly perfect five star review rating. She is considered a star seller, with a range of wildflower wall hangings made by her, and an eclectic assortment of vintage finds ranging from mid century brass deer candle holders, to a 1930’s table top pinball machine.

According to CNBC she brought in $121,400 in revenue last year, and will do over six figures again this year. While we don’t know the exact profitability of her business, we know she’s netted roughly $60,000 per year from the venture and is expecting to do so again this year. Vintage products are often sold at a 100-200% mark up. We can’t know exactly the margin profile on her crafted goods. But the shop overall looks like it’s doing a little better than 50% margins for her. Let’s go with 55%

All said and done, it looks like Megan is making $127,704 per year across both initiatives and is killing it. That is almost exactly 2x the average US income.

But, based on her average hours of 12-24 per week on her shop and 24-32 for the hospital she’s putting in 46 hours a week and working harder than the average American. What can we learn?

Entrepreneurship Can Pay Off Big

Entrepreneurship can be more work than a traditional job. There is uncertainty, long hours, and often an initial upfront investment to make. It seems like Megan is working more than the 40 hours a week she otherwise would be at a traditional job, but she is making significantly more money too.

Even if Megan was working 100% of these 46 hours at the hourly wage outlined earlier, that would be $111,228 per year, well short of her growing hybrid income as an entrepreneur.

Hedging Can Be A Great Way To Start

Megan has done the smart thing, by not giving up a lucrative gig as a part-time nurse and starting her hustle on the side. There is never any guarantee of success, and if Megan had gone ‘all in’ on her venture it could have taken years to reach the scale she is at today. She’d also likely have given up substantial income, and job security in the meantime.

Starting out with solid part time work while you explore your entrepreneurial adventures is a great way to hedge your bets and give yourself a built in safety net

With Extra Hustle Comes Extra Opportunities

Megan is now in the enviable position of controller her own destiny. She has plenty of options that would not be open to her if she never explored her Etsy shop to begin with. First, she could stop doing her part-time nursing work, or at a minimum pull back on her hours and put that extra time towards her other business without a real loss of income.

Or, she could use that extra time to travel, explore, and be adventurous.

Additionally, she could go all in on her business, which appears to be growing nicely. There is no saying how much more she could make from her shop with more time, but $150k a year in earnings seems totally within reason. And if she really wanted, she could relocate and run her shop from elsewhere (assuming she can continue sourcing vintage goods and flowers from that location.

We applaud Megan’s effort to roll up her sleeves and explore her creative business side. It takes guts! She appears well on the path to financial independence, and potentially an early retirement.

One Piece Of Advice

If we had one piece of advice to give Megan, it would be to meet with a financial advisor. With two different income streams she invites some complexity, and opportunity when it comes to retirement. An advisor can help her invest with the future in mind, and work with a CPA guide her on different ways to utilize her business to reduce her taxes.

You can do the same. Click here to start your retirement journey early, it’s free.