Interested in a speech therapy side hustle? Working as a speech-language pathologist is a rewarding career, but the finances can be a challenge. The increasing price of attending graduate school plus rising inflation costs are pushing more and more therapists to pursue side hustles.
The Rehab Rebels I’ve had the privilege to interview share a passion for exploring side hustles that can build networking opportunities and even turn into new career paths. Here are some popular speech therapy side hustles:
Top SLP Side Hustles
- Telepractice Visits
- TPT Seller
- Per Diem or Private Pay Patients
- SLP Writer
- Reseller
Interested in reading about more side hustles? Check out more ideas for PT and OT.
- Physical therapy side hustles
- Occupational therapy side hustles
Telepractice Visits
Picking up extra speech therapy patients is one of the quickest ways to make extra money as a speech pathologist. While you can work per diem at another facility, you can also pick up extra clients without ever having to leave your house. How convenient!
Telepractice is the service delivery model that allows you to use internet technology to remotely connect to clients for services. You can use tele for evaluations, treatments, and consultations. As long as you follow state licensure laws, you can even see clients over telepractice in different states. The ability to shift time zones and see clients in different states could fit right into your schedule around your other full-time job.
Popular SLP telepractice companies include:
- Presence Teletherapy
- DotCom Therapy
- VocoVision
TPT Creator and Seller
TPT, short for Teachers Pay Teachers, is an online marketplace for original educator-created content. Here speech-language pathologists can sell their original therapy materials to other therapists.
TPT takes away the stress of setting up your own website to sell products. They have everything built into their site for you to use and different membership options designed for you to maximize your profits. When your materials sell, you get paid monthly from their payment processor.
The benefits of TPT are that you can create materials from home, and once they are uploaded in your store, they can make you income. However, it can be hard to break into the market, which is somewhat filled with SLP sellers and materials already.
Per Diem or Private Pay Visits
Seeing patients individually outside of your job can be a great way to maximize money. Per diem visits pay upwards of $50+ an hour. If you have the interest and skills to work in healthcare, many facilities need weekend coverage. If you commit to working just 1 weekend a month, that could be an extra $400+ a month in your bank.
Seeing patients privately can be even more lucrative. Accepting cash pay clients or clients through your county services center can be upwards of $100 per visit. A few visits a week after work can make a big difference in your income.
Speech Therapy Writer
There’s a need for talented writers both in the speech pathology niche and in general. Writers are used to craft email newsletters, social media posts, and even blog posts like this one. Since speech pathology is such a specialized field, many businesses within speech hire writers that have technical experience as an SLP or SLPA.
The CopyClinicians is an example of an SLP who turned writing as a side hustle to a full-time business.
SLPs tend to be creative, communicate well, and are organized individuals. These skills all lend themselves well to social media management.
What is social media management?
Social media management is a broad term and can mean a lot of different things. Social media management includes:
- Scheduling posts in scheduling software to go out across social media platforms
- Developing a content strategy to plan what goes out on social media on different days of the week
- Community management (e.g. administering Facebook groups)
- Answering questions over social media, writing comments, and responding to comments on posts
- Working with influencers and key collaborators to build partnerships across multiple brands
- Creating video and photo content for social media
- Creating graphic designs for social media
- Writing captions that are used in social media
- A combination of any of the above
Reseller
Sourcing goods at lower prices, and then reselling for higher amounts, has become a popular side hustle in and outside of the therapy world.
You can source goods from estate sales, garage sales, thrift stores, or Craigslist. While some products may take some mending or fixing, many can be resold in the same condition on sites like eBay, Poshmark, Facebook Marketplace, and Mercari. You could even create an elevated booth at a local flea market or fair.
Adding a side hustle as a speech-language pathologist not only provides financial benefits, but can provide avenues for career and interpersonal development, whether you chose to work in different settings as an SLP, or take on something new altogether.
