Real work from home nursing careers or scams?

[JAChicago, BSN, RN]

I am looking for honest feedback about nursing specialties I am considering as a career shift. I am currently in my 11th year as an RN (9th as an ED RN) and I'm looking for something I can do from home to fit better with the ever changing demands of life with 4 kids. 

I am strongly considering changing to either legal nurse consultant or nurse writer, but I am concerned about the ability to make a decent, consistent paycheck with either of those. I'm not into sales, so the idea of having to market myself for business is stressing me out.

Plus, no matter how many good reviews I see, I can't help but feel like all those "Legal Nurse Training/Certification courses" are just a waste of money. Like I said I have 4 kids, I'm in no position to drop thousands of dollars on a "training/certification" just to switch areas of nursing.

All the websites I see want you to pay money to get their "best tips to break into the business" material and it just all seems like a scam to me. Maybe that's the cynic in me after close to 10 years in the ER. 

Does anyone actually have these jobs, without the "encouraged" certifications, and actually making a living off these specialties? Thanks! 

[nfahren05]

You will not be able to make a full time paycheck at first, it takes time to build a business of any type so be realistic about the time involved and the barriers to entry. Do some market research in your area before you invest your money and time. I went the legal nurse consultant route, did the training, and all of the "leg work" to set up a business shell only to find out two things: (1) there were already too many RN JD's in my area who didn't really need nursing consulting services because they were already qualified, and (2) since I had worked at several area hospitals, I was limited in which cases I could take on without running into "conflict of interest" situations. Eventually, I dissolved the company because it was just not going to be a profitable venture, but I did learn a lot about the law that helped me in my full time case management role. 

[NRSKarenRN, BSN, RN]

Allnurses Legal Nursing forum offers great advice re LNC profession and courses.