In this Q&A blog post interview, you will learn about Dr. Pranay Parikh’s thoughts on side hustles to make money, how to diversify your income as a physician, and some tips/strategies based from his experiences. If you are planning to get involved with a side hustle, this blog post might be helpful for you!
Pranay Parikh, MD is a physician, educator, real estate/venture capital investor, consultant, co-creator of Passive Real Estate Academy and founder of PranayParikh.com.
On Background
1. Please tell us a bit about your personal story, growing up, and medical training.
- I grew up in the Bay Area and went to school at UCSD. I was always interested in medicine and did training in biochemistry in undergrad. I lost my way a bit during undergrad and thought I would go into pharmaceuticals for a while. I got a job at Dow Chemicals that paid well and was happy for a while. I realized that bench research wasn’t for me and decided to go back and take my MCAT. At that point, it would have taken a master’s program for me to get into a US medical school so I decided to just go to Ross University in the Caribbean.
- Training in a third world country helped me learn resilience and grit. Nothing like studying for a major exam with a candle due to power being out for days. I was fortunate to be able to do rotations all over the US. That helped me experience the culture of many cities and hospitals. I did my intern year in Tennessee and the rest of my training at USC in Southern California. I graduated from USC and have been working as a nocturnist at a hospital in Downtown Los Angeles.
2. What made you develop an interest in doing side hustles to make money? What motivated you?
- I think people should be well diversified. We often only talk about diversification when it comes to investing, and I think we should diversify our identities as well. First and foremost, I am a doctor. My whole life has been dedicated to the practice of medicine. As great as medicine is, I didn’t want to be the person who was only seen as that one thing. What if something happened and I couldn’t practice medicine anymore? What if I didn’t want to? I diversified my life and it made me a better doctor because I was able to draw from my skills elsewhere into medicine. Similarly, I wanted to diversify my income streams as well. As we are seeing now, medicine isn’t as financially secure as we thought. I thought as a patient who would I want to be treated by? The doctor that is financially secure and is practicing medicine on his terms or one that is burdened by a ton of debt and working extra hours/days due to necessity?
About Your Platform that Values Productivity, Entrepreneurship, and Time Management
3. What is your platform’s (https://pranayparikh.com/) unique value proposition? Tell us the story behind its creation.
- My blog (https://pranayparikh.com/) follows me on my journey in entrepreneurship. What I’ve done well, where I’ve stumbled, and everything I’ve learned along the way. There aren’t that many resources for us doctors after we graduate residency. How do you learn something new? How do you manage your time? How do you work on something that doesn’t have a deadline?
- I’m in a unique position where I am just starting my own personal brand (https://pranayparikh.com/), but am a partner for a much more established brand Passive Income MD (https://passiveincomemd.com) so am able to give insights into the spectrum of the entrepreneurship journey. I’ve been fortunate to do multiple 6-figure course launches, a sold-out in-person conference about Real estate, an online summit with over 12,000 registered guests, and now a membership site helping doctors become entrepreneurs in addition to my personal blog (https://pranayparikh.com/).
4. Why did you want to specifically focus on sharing your knowledge about side hustles to make money?
- When I graduated from residency, I felt that I couldn’t do anything outside of medicine. I didn’t even know how to set up a 401k or how to buy health insurance. I feel like we underestimate ourselves. There were some all-star doctors that were out there, but they felt so far away from me that I never thought I’d be able to get there. I thought I owed it to other doctors to show them my journey and the possibilities that are available to them.
What are Your Side Hustles to Make Money?
Side Hustles to Make Money
5. When still starting out, how did you invest in side hustles to make money?
- One big lesson I learned the hard way was to start your side hustle as cheaply as you can. I had the bright idea that since I have a little money maybe I can skip some steps and get my side hustle off the ground quicker. Instead, it just became a waste of money. We had hired a professional videographer for our first online course. We ended up using none of the footage and we lost thousands of dollars. Instead, we just filmed ourselves at home and edited it ourselves as well. The footage was way better and cost us nothing. I’d recommend getting the book called “Lean Startup” that’ll help you get into the right mindset.
6. What are your current side hustles to make money aside from your medical profession?
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I am currently a partner at Passive Income MD. I have my personal blog at (https://pranayparikh.com/). I just started a Virtual assistant company called The Concierge VA. I also do both active real estate (own properties) and invest in passive real estate through apartment buildings. I am also dabbling in venture capital.
7. Tell us some of the special milestones in your journey in your side hustles.
- Probably my biggest milestone was getting started. I had so much inertia from my day job that it was hard to take time away from that and do anything outside of medicine. When I first started my side hustle, I was working about 300 hours a month. I’ve been able to slowly decrease that to now about 200 hours. It’s been hard to give up a guaranteed salary for a potential salary. My second milestone was making my first dollar. Fortunately, that happened within 6 months or so of me starting my side hustle.
8. Tell us the major challenges you faced in your side hustles to make money aside from your 9-5 job.
- Actually, I think my job was conducive to my side hustle. I work nights and nights ebb and flow. That gave me plenty of downtime to work on other stuff. I tried switching to days briefly and got almost nothing done because it was so busy and I would get distracted every few minutes.
Favorites | Side Hustles to Make Money
9. Favorite book that helped you think of side hustles to make money
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This is going to be a little out of the left-field, but this book Awareness: Conversations with the Masters helped me get into the right mindset for doing a side hustle. We are so used to avoiding failure and considering it a personal defeat when something doesn’t go our way that we aren’t able to handle it. When trying something new, you are going to fail multiple times. It helps you get the understanding and ability to move on and learn from your failures. Something that is difficult for us doctors.
10. Favorite physician coaches / bloggers that are advocates of side hustles to make money – may it be in real estate, stock market, etc.
- Of course my business partner Peter Kim from Passive Income MD (https://passiveincomemd.com). I really resonated with his message about creating your ideal life through getting additional sources of income.
11. Favorite quote
- Ah, there’s so many quotes, it’s hard to pick a favorite one. Here’s one that I’ve been thinking about recently: The opposite of fragile is something that actually gains from disorder.– Nassim Taleb
Lessons from Your Side Hustles to Make Money
Tips for Physician Entrepreneurs
12. You are a physician entrepreneur. In your journey towards becoming a successful physician entrepreneur, what are some of the major challenges you faced?
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Doubt. I think along the whole journey it’s been facing my own doubts. “I don’t know how to do anything outside of medicine. I have no time. Why would anyone want to listen to me?” Being able to overcome that has been my greatest accomplishment. It’s an ongoing battle. Even with my few successes, it’s still there. That voice in the back of my head is still saying the same things, but now I’m better able to quiet it.
13. Please share any key advice you have for budding physician entrepreneurs.
- Don’t be scared to reach out to people who are where you want to be. Most people are thrilled to help out people who are just starting. Be respectful of their time and open to the advice that they give you. There are now many online communities of us physician entrepreneurs and it’s easier than ever to get started.
Conclusion | Side Hustles to Make Money
14. This is an open-ended question. Please feel free to share your closing thoughts.
- Harsha, I am very thankful for this opportunity. We as physicians have been taught to compete against each other through the gauntlet of pre-med, medical school, and residency. We have a winner take all mentality and that is just not conducive to how the real world works after our training. However, websites like the Physician Estate (https://physicianestate.com/) help elevate us and show that we can work together to collaborate and lift each other up.
15. For physicians who are eager to learn more about potential side hustles to make money – What is the best way for them to get in touch with you?
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They can reach me on the contact page of my website (https://pranayparikh.com/contact-me/) And I am also active on Linkedin (https://www.linkedin.com/in/pranay-parikh-m-d-8240468b/)
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