By Jay Wiley 

Owning a business is nurses' top pick for their ideal future. More surveyed nurses chose "owning a business I fully control" (26%) than any other answer, including staying happily in their current role.

Money, not motivation, is the biggest barrier. Half of surveyed nurses (51%) named startup capital as a top challenge, and funding help topped the list of support they want.

Nurses aren't just talking about business ownership. They're already doing it. More than half of surveyed nurses (55%) earn income outside their main job, more than 1 in 5 (22%) runs a nursing-related business, and when we asked nurses to pick the future that matters most to them, owning a business beat every other answer, including staying put in a role they like.

The appetite is real, and so are the obstacles. Nurses told us exactly what stands between them and their ideas: startup money, business know-how, unclear rules, and, for 1 in 4, the fear that their employer could claim an idea outright.

Nurse entrepreneurship draws plenty of attention but very little data, which is why we ran this survey. It was fielded July 24 to August 31, 2026, asking our nurse audience about side income, business ownership, motivations, and barriers. After removing invalid responses, 840 remained, including 808 nurses, nursing students, and CNAs. Every finding below comes from that group of 808. Full methodology is at the bottom of this page.

More Than Half of Nurses Have Income Outside Their Main Job

We asked whether nurses currently have any independent income-generating activities outside their primary job and any extra shifts. A majority said yes.

Add it up and 55% of surveyed nurses have at least one income stream beyond their job, whether that's freelance work, a non-nursing side gig, or a business of their own. Another 15% have had one in the past. About 3 in 10 have never earned outside income.

More Than 1 in 5 Nurses Runs a Nursing-Related Business, and Most Are Making Money

Combining nurses who own a nursing-related business with those running both a business and side work, 22% of surveyed nurses currently operate a nursing-related business. These aren't brand-new experiments for the 207 respondents who answered our business-owner questions, including 26 who identified as owners later in the survey:

- 51% have been operating for 3 or more years (38% for 3-5 years, 13% for more than 5)

- 39% say their business is consistently profitable

- Another 32% are profitable sometimes or seasonally, and 24% aren't profitable yet but say they're growing

- Only 2% say their business is not profitable

Owning a Business Is the Most Popular Vision for Nurses' Futures

Before we asked anything about entrepreneurship specifically, we asked nurses which outcome matters most in their ideal future in nursing. Business ownership came out on top.

Only 4% chose leaving clinical nursing entirely as the outcome that matters most, which suggests that for most surveyed nurses, ownership is a way to practice nursing on their own terms rather than a way out.

4 in 10 Nurses Who Don't Own a Business Are Actively Exploring One

Among surveyed nurses who don't currently run a business, 42% are actively exploring ownership, researching options or making plans. A slightly larger share, 44%, are curious but haven't seriously considered it. Just 14% say they have no interest. (The interest question also let respondents say they already own a business; the shares here exclude those 26 respondents.)

Of nurses asked about the next 12 months, 58% say they're likely to launch or expand a nursing-related business: 24% very likely and 34% somewhat likely.

The ambition runs hottest early in nurses' careers: 74% of surveyed nurses with less than 2 years of experience (a group of 57 respondents) say they're likely to launch or expand within a year, compared with 49% of nurses with more than 20 years.

Why Nurses Want to Start Businesses

Asked for their top two motivations, surveyed nurses said (percentages total more than 100):

One RN with more than 20 years of experience, a business owner, pushed back on the framing entirely: "It was not an escape from clinical nursing but instead my need to expand my own wings and take on my own risks and challenges, when I started my own business! Please stop describing owning our own businesses as an escape."

Not every nurse is sold. Another RN with more than 20 years of experience wrote: "I think nurses are moving too quickly into this arena, before taking the time to just become a wise, prudent, compassionate and experienced nurse. It seems more Money driven these days than patient/client focused."

What's Stopping Nurses From Starting Businesses

"I think it would be great for part-time income to create some content to sell but I feel too busy at my current job to focus on it," one RN with 6-10 years of experience told us.

Two of these barriers stand out:

- Fear of employer claims is quietly shelving business ideas. 25% of surveyed nurses have held back a business idea because they worried their employer might have a claim to it, and another 23% didn't know employers could claim ideas at all.

- Regulatory confusion is a solvable problem. Only 20% of surveyed nurses are very confident they understand the rules for nurse-owned businesses in their state, and 74% say clear regulatory answers would make them more likely to move forward (38% much more likely, 36% somewhat).

The Support Nurses Say They Need Most

Funding tops the wish list, followed by step-by-step guidance:

- Access to startup funding or grants: 39%

- Step-by-step compliance and regulatory guidance: 28%

- Mentorship from other nurse entrepreneurs: 24%

- Business education (marketing, finance, operations): 22%

- Legal structure and liability insurance guidance: 22%

- Community or peer network of nurse business owners: 19%

- And when asked how they'd prefer to get started, 42% of surveyed nurses want a guided path, following a structured program or course, while 22% would rather build on their own with free resources.

The Businesses Nurses Want to Start

Education and consulting top the list, ahead of the categories that get the most attention:

1. Education and consulting (CE, coaching, legal consulting, compliance): 44%

2. Convenience and mobile care (IV therapy, mobile vaccination, concierge): 37%

3. Home and community care (home care agency, post-acute, chronic care): 36%

4. Aesthetics and wellness (med spa, injectables, weight loss, hormone): 32%

5. Digital and tech-enabled services (telehealth, remote monitoring, content): 29%

What the Survey Means for Nurses

Surveyed nurses aren't waiting for permission to build. A majority already earn outside income, more than 1 in 5 run businesses, and most of those businesses make money. The barriers they report most are concrete: startup capital, business know-how, and clear answers about the rules. The rest of this series looks at each one.

About This Survey

Findings are based on the 808 nurses, nursing students, and CNAs who completed the survey, out of 840 valid respondents; base sizes vary by question due to survey routing and are noted throughout. Respondents who provided a home zip code came from 49 states and Washington, DC. Respondents were self-selected from our nurse audience, and findings describe surveyed nurses rather than all US nurses. Percentages are rounded.