Ethics Of Making Money From My Health Advocacy

Sometimes as an online health advocate I question if it is ethical for me to make money off my online health advocacy. When I first tried treating my eczema as a new warrior, I remember spending so much money on doctor appointments, treatments, and products. But many of my efforts and purchases went to waste because I did not know how to treat the source of my skin issues at the time.

I remember wishing back then that there could have just been some kind of education or guide or mentor who could help me through my healing journey to help me find the things that were actually worth my time, energy, and money.

Giving too much of myself

When I started health advocacy and creating content online in 2012 around my eczema journey and sharing the things that helped me heal, I was so happy to offer this information, my experience, and stories freely. Unfortunately, I found myself as an introvert easily overwhelmed and exhausted by the amount of messages and questions I received from sharing my content online. But, because of my huge level of empathy and wanting to help other eczema warriors, I ended up giving a lot more of my time and energy than what was sustainable for me.

It did not help that I did not have any system, procedure, or clear boundaries with my time and energy when it came to giving back and responding to questions. I easily found myself attempting to take on the role of almost a doctor without having the proper medical education or training in counseling or therapy needed to truly support other eczema warriors in a way that didn’t drain me. I have a lot of respect for professionals in these lines of work.

Back in the early 2000s-2010s, there wasn't that much of an infrastructure around being an online content creator or awareness of potential legal repercussions of offering information that could be perceived as medical advice without having a medical degree or disclaimers.

Feeling like a fraud

Then, I went through a period of time of feeling like a fraud because of my lack of a proper medical degree or training to deal with other patients dealing with chronic health issues. I questioned the value of the very content I created and shared online and if it was all for naught because technically all of my content is based on my own, individual experience with eczema.

And then gaining confidence

But after writing so many articles for www.AtopicDermatitis.net and completing the Patient Health Leader Certification Program with the Social Health Network, I realized that there is true value to the content that I share. This is especially because it is so specific to a real patient’s experience living with a chronic condition like eczema.

And while I don't have a medical degree or training in therapy or counseling, what I do offer is experiences and specific, idiosyncratic information that could potentially help inform another eczema warrior with their decision–potentially someone who may see themselves in me in some way.

More information is good!

I figure that the content I create is paying it forward and helping my community feel less alone. Together, we have more information from each other’s perspectives that could potentially complete the prism of experiences that we all share as a diverse group coming together through a shared experience like eczema. This shared connection and experience helps make our collective view of eczema that much more complete, balanced, and well-rounded.

I prefer to feel inspired

What I’ve realized about my ethical dilemma with making money off of my online health advocacy is that I can be business savvy with my online eczema content if I want to be. But for my personality and perspective, I feel I cannot continue to make my content expecting to solely make a living off of it. My intention and priority is purely just to help even one other warrior through what I share.

If I happen to make some kind of financial compensation from it, it is a great bonus and greatly appreciated. But for me to keep my content and intentions pure, I never expect to make a living off of this on its own. But it can certainly become something financially supplemental to help make creating content online that much easier if I feel inspired to sell something that I and my community or social media following thinks is worthwhile.

So if I happen to create content or products in the future, I figure that the right people who see value in my work and my content will be the ones who will be willing and able to at the time to offer some sort of compensation for it: whether it is monetary, support from a distance, or sharing my work and content with others who they believe will benefit from it, too.