A NICU Nurse Started a Cooking Blog for About $700 — It Brought In $117,000 in a Year
3 min read · RealCase summary
Helena Faustin, a 35-year-old NICU nurse in Freeport, New York, earns $105,000 a year at the hospital. In 2018 she started posting recipes on Instagram under the name That Nurse Can Cook, spending about $700 to get going on groceries, ring lights and other production gear, and about $600 a month on groceries for content after that.
She plans, films, edits and promotes everything herself, and early on she worked on it 'every single day that I was not working at the hospital,' according to CNBC Make It. Within four years the blog and its channels brought in $117,000 in a single year: $71,333 from e-cookbook downloads, $39,030 from brand collaborations and $7,523 from ad revenue. Her best month, June 2021, topped $25,000.
The side income let her cut back at the hospital from as many as 13 twelve-hour shifts a month to eight. 'If you have a talent, harness that talent, learn as much as you can from it and monetize that thing,' she said.
Key takeaways
- ›Started with about $700 in groceries, ring lights and equipment
- ›$117,000 in a year: $71,333 e-books, $39,030 brand deals, $7,523 ads
- ›Best single month (June 2021): more than $25,000
- ›Cut hospital shifts from 13 a month to eight; nursing pays $105,000 a year
Original source
Read the original (CNBC Make It via NBC New York)
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