My March 2019 income came out to $8,094. I haven’t received all of the money yet because I bill my consulting clients and there is often a delay. I’ll break down the income sources and tax implications, as I do every month.
You can view my previous incomes dating back to 2015: Income Category. I need to keep track of this because I now have multiple income sources. I want to make sure I pay the lowest taxes possible as a sole proprietor physician.
March 2019 Income
I had 5 income sources in March for a total of $8,094. All of this was pre-tax income which helps me tax strategize.
JustAnswer Income – $1,477
I didn’t spend too much on JA this month but it’s still a nice bit of income. It’s not a telemedicine platform. They are an expert opinion website where customers ask questions of various experts, from law to mechanics to medicine.
Your customers will range from reporters to writers to clients who want to learn about medicine and healthcare. Sometimes they have health related questions which you address in a general sense. There is no patient-doctor relationship on JustAnswer. You don’t prescribe medications, you don’t make a diagnosis, you’re simply offering health related expert opinions.
The great thing is that I can do this from my phone or laptop and it’s an asynchronous text based website. I don’t have to call anyone. I don’t have to suffer through a video chat. I can do it from anywhere in the world. It’s easy to earn up to $7,000 a month answering such questions.
If you’re interested in becoming an expert on there you can purchase my JA tutorial. In it I highlight how to optimize your workflow to maximize income and minimize headaches.
Oscar Telemedicine – $2,940
I earned $2,940 in March working for Oscar. I love their telemedicine platform and they have a unique way of doing in business in healthcare. It’s by far the best telemedicine company I’ve seen patients for.
You signs up for shifts in 2-hour increments. The income is quite competitive and the volumes are very low. They don’t pay you per patient you see. Without giving away any of their secrets, the income is similar to seeing 4 traditional telemedicine patients per hour.
Sadly, I did my last shift with Oscar the other day. Because I am no longer board certified with ABMS they won’t be able to have me see any more telemedicine patients.
Farewell Oscar.
You’ve been good.
You’ve been lucrative.
You’ve taught me new shit.
Healthcare Consulting – $3,000
I have a $3,000 monthly retainer with this particular consulting client. I worked maybe a little over the 40 hours which is included in this retainer the entire month – about 10 hours a week. I could bill this client for the extra hours but I’m too lazy to track my hours.
I also hope to do more with these guys in the future and so I’m not going to nickel and dime them. I’ve made a lot of great connections through these guys and I’m sure my future opportunities will be abound.
Be the first person to take my Healthcare Consulting Course. You’ll learn how to find your first client. How much to bill. How to find your niche topic of expertise. There is a lot of healthcare consulting opportunity out there.
Digital Products – $510
Ever since I raised the prices on my tutorials which I sell on this website, my income has increased. In the past I would sell maybe $90 every month. This month it’s already at $510.
I have created 2 more tutorials which I’ll publish soon; each only 10 minutes long. I have created a course, however, that’s 3 hours long and I’ll have that out soon as well. Cha-ching.
Career Consulting – $167
I’ve been exchanging a ton of email with doctors who are going through the medical board investigation process. Other doctors hit me up about telemedicine and healthcare consulting. This isn’t the best use of my time. I now handle any information requests through Clarity.fm.
Clarity isn’t the most ideal platform but it allows me to charge people $10/minute and have them pick my brain. I did only 1 consulting call this month and it came out to $167 after fees.
Taxes
Every deposit I get into my checking account, I take 20% and set it aside for taxes. I use my YNAB budget to assign 20% of the money to taxes. I then assign however much is left to my various budget categories.
All this income is pre-tax. I get to deduct my business expenses against it. From cell phone to utilities to home office to website hosting. It has been far more lucrative to earn income as a sole proprietor than as a physician employee.
I posted my 2018 income taxes as a sole proprietor with $100k in gross income and only $18k in income taxes.
Net Worth Update
My net worth includes my condo, my tax-advantaged retirement accounts, and the money in my private brokerage. I’ve been keeping track of these values since 2009. I was in the negative net worth range until end of 2014.
Where the blue line and red line first intersect is when my net worth hit $0 – financial victory! After hat I had a great run in 2014 because my investments were doing well. More importantly, I was saving and investing the majority of my investments in the my Charles Schwab 401k and Keogh retirement accounts.
The exact value of the net worth isn’t as important. It happens to be somewhere around $890,000 right now. It’s more of a rough guide as to what this investment portfolio could do for me someday.
If fully invested, the passive income would be somewhere around $35,000 per year. Or $2,900 per month. Though it might not seem like a lot, I don’t intend on retiring on this net worth tomorrow. I’m 40 years old and if the value of these assets appreciates by 5% a year, on average, the final value will be nearly $4,000,000 by the time I’m 70.