It was about a year ago when my financial adviser, Andrew Mohrmann, and I were on a video conference discussing my early retirement scenario. He had drawn up an elaborate simulation using the Monte Carlo method to help us both determine whether I could pull the plug on my job. He asked me if I thought I’d be earning any money during my retirement… there was a silence… and I think we both realized that I have far too many interests to not earn an income.
So Many Ways To Earn An Income
Today, on my morning walk, I was thinking how cool it would be to buy an electric bicycle with extra seats and pick people and drop them off, Uber style. I’d let people ride with me and leave it up to them to pay or not to pay. Free exercise for me, free conversations, and I’d sell some advertising on my sexy bicycle.
There are endless opportunities as long as one has a genuine interest. Artistic folk can design or build things and earn money on it. A cafe which I frequent displays art from different artists every month. This month it was someone who was displaying really simple pencil drawings of local flowers, 4″x 4″ framed, for $50 each. I actually wanted to buy one – there were at least 25 on one wall alone – all were sold out. $1,250 worth, sold.
What I Earned June 2017
From 4 main sources I earned a total of $9,437. I owe a little tax on the Marijuana Clinic income and the JA income, the rest is W2 income. My take-home will still be over $7k for the month.
I would prefer to receive my income as an independent contractor as opposed to an employee. I have more opportunities to write off my expenses completely against my income being a contractor as opposed to being an employee. However, the way things are unfolding, I might have my vegan cake and get to eat it too.
American Well Income – $0
Though I love these guys and would like to work for them, I really don’t have the need for the income and so I don’t have much motivation. I am keeping myself in the loop to see if fun opportunities present themselves with AmWell. I have a feeling AW and I will be doing some fun things together in the future.
Kaiser Permanente – $3,583 (22 hours @ $163/hour)
I am a per diem with KP but earn a little every month to hold the title of the “Department Meetings Coordinator”. The rest of the money comes from seeing patients at KP. I need to keep up my skills – this is still the best way to do it.
I was paid for 37 hours of work @ $100/hour. I also received cash from some providers who needed their shifts covered (hope I don’t forget to mention that to the IRS, would be such a shame). My paycheck included some premium pay for working shifts in a far-away location. My buddy drove but I paid for our drinks after. We’ll call it even.
Of the 37 hours of paid time, I only did actual work for 22 hours. That’s a net wage of $163/hour.
Just Answer – $658 (5 hours @ $90/hour)
This is income from May and again, I’m never good about keeping track of how many hours I work on JA every month. I would say 5 hours the whole month – so $132/hour of gross income. Not that sexy. After taxes it will probably be $90/hour.
JA has a fun algorithm, it seems that the longer you are online the more patients they funnel your way. And if you are going to spend one full day on there you could even email your moderator to give you dibs on patients. So many tricks!! Don’t be biting my style 🙂
Actually, these days when I do any shifts on JA I pick the EASIEST patients. Someone asking what LH means on their lab – yes, I’m on it. $8! Not much, but it adds up significantly.
The best strategy for JA is to do a few hours at a time when you’re killing time somewhere. Answering the more complicated questions sometimes pays well. Customers can also tip you.
Weed Clinic – $1,750 (10 hours @ $123/hour)
A few people already have asked what this “Marijuana Clinic” thing is that I do – simple, I recommend against/for medical marijuana for patients. I don’t prescribe it because that’s just not how Oregon works.
The Oregon board has specific criteria that their patients need to meet in order for them to consider the patient for a card. However, a physician can make recommendations for other similar conditions.
My workflow is beautiful. I have the charts uploaded to a secure server where I can review them. I refuse appointments to the ones which aren’t appropriate and schedule the patients which would be a good fit (seizures, severe pain, glaucoma, cancer, PTSD, nausea from chemo). I then see these patients in clinic and do a physical exam to see if they should indeed qualify for the card.
The $1,750 represents 4 clinic days, each about 2-3 hours long. The clinic is supposed to be 4 hours long but I am usually done with my patients in 1-2 hours. I get paid $50/patient – simple. I am paid as an independent contractor. So this is a gross of 175/hour or an after-tax income of $123/hour.
Remedy – $3,446 (40 hours @ $86/hour)
Man, I love these guys. Such hustlers! It is an absolute pleasure working with these guys. I keep telling them that I would help them out for free – but they are so fucking professional, it’s great.
There have been all sorts of permutations of my job with them. From consultant to clinician, from clinician to consultant, back to clinician. Finally, I have decided that I have too many other projects going on to accept their $200k full-time consulting offer – and it is an incredible opportunity and such a great resume booster. However, they have plenty of other great clinicians in their pool that they can use. In the long-run, I will find a way to help them out that will work out well both for both of us. For now, I want my freedom and I want to pursue all these other wonderful opportunities which I have already committed to.
The first 2 weeks of June I had maybe 1 hour a day of work. The past 2 weeks I have been doing patient care pretty 2-5 hours a day on the weekdays. I would say a total of 40 hours in one month for $3,446, which is after-tax money. My wages were $86/hour.
My Impression Of June
June seemed way too busy for my taste. I’m glad that I have these opportunities but I feel that I am focusing too much on the work and less on my mission.
Though it was a busy month, I got 3 amazing future business opportunities this month. As they develop I will post about them. One local opportunity, a partnership opportunity in another State and another consulting gig.
In June I also piloted a project with KP which earned me an obscene hourly wage – we’ll talk about it next month.
My Average Hourly Wage
My overall hourly wage was $113/hour. Total after-tax earning of $8,709 and working 77 hours the whole month. It was a heck of a busy week, to say the least. However, I still spent less resource on earning this income than the hourly wage can reflect.
In previous posts I have discussed that my hourly wage has gone up quite a bit ever since I resigned from my full-time job. And though my hours sometimes might seem like I’m still working full-time, I am in fact doing everything that I want to be doing.
In order to have access to certain opportunities one has to take a few financial hits. And though I wouldn’t consider $8,700 a financial hit @ $113/hour, it is lower than what my skill set is worth.
What Is Your Work Worth To You?
I love medicine but I don’t want to do it full-time. There are parts of it which inspire me and make me feel alive – those are the things I want to do more of – whether I’m paid for them or not. However, you best believe that if there is a chance for me to get paid for them then I’m going to pursue it.
I know what I’m worth and by making sure I am paid that, I will prevent burning out, I will prevent feeling resentful and I will be able to make better decisions as to whether to take on a particular gig.
What is your work worth? It’s good to sit down and figure it out how much your time is worth independent of what you do with it. Sure, it might take time for you to develop the skills needed to hit that hourly reimbursement mark, but if others can then why not you?