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I Make the Rules and I've Tripled My Incomeby Colleen Galligan, RN, BSN, CDDN, CLNC What's amazing about the CLNC® Certification Program is that Vickie teaches you absolutely everything you need to know and gives you all the tools to succeed. The most important thing she told me was to use the CLNC® Mentors. I can walk into an attorney's office knowing nothing about the case and come out with the assignment. Then I contact Vickie Milazzo Institute, and a CLNC® Mentor is always able to help me sort it out. I ask all my questions, even if I think they're stupid, get the answers and the attorney thinks I'm brilliant. The other thing Vickie told us was to stick together. If everybody succeeds, then we all do better. This is the only job I've ever had where people in the business really want to help each other. You won't find that anyplace else. I relocated from New York to Florida. Unemployment can be a great motivator, so I decided to go for it all the way as a Certified Legal Nurse ConsultantCM. I figured out what I had to earn to replace my nursing salary, $58,000 a year, with my 20 years of experience in developmental disabilities. To equal that as a CLNC® consultant, I only needed to work six to eight hours a week. I did the math three times to believe it, and I knew it was attainable. I Creatively Turned "No" into "Yes" I sent out introductory letters and got creative in responding to "no": "It's been nice meeting you. Maybe I'll see you across the table. Do you know anyone else I should talk to?" Eventually, "no" started turning into "yes." The first time that happened was one of the most fun days I can remember. As I walked into the courtroom to sit in on a plaintiff case, I recognized the attorney across the table. Not long before, he had told me I overcharged and he would never be interested. When he spotted me, the expression on his face was priceless. The next day he called. It's fun to hear "no" turn to "yes, please"! I'm proud to say that my first three clients are still my best clients. I landed them by sending out letters, knocking on doors, showing up and being nice to paralegals. I know my clients need and appreciate my CLNC® services. Once my CLNC® practice took off, I got into networking, and my business multiplied even faster. I'm the only CLNC® consultant in my networking group, and each week I meet at least 50 people. Now instead of knocking on an attorney's front door, I go in through the back door – by referral from a golf partner, bridge partner or next-door neighbor. Once I get in with one attorney, they send me to others. After Only a Year I'm Free to Take Off Whenever I Want A year after moving to Florida, I work only 25 to 30 hours a week, and I earn three times what I'd be making as a full-time, 60-hour-a-week nurse. I provide my own benefits, but the perks are huge. I make the rules. I can do high-quality work in my pajamas. It's my choice, and that's unbelievable freedom. After spending a lot of years attached to a beeper and cell phone, I love the fact that I don't carry a beeper. Anyone who wants me can leave a message and I'll get back to them. If I want to work 16 hours a day, I can. If I want to take off in the middle of the day and go see a movie, I can do that, too. When I lived in Manhattan, I never had time to see a Broadway show. Now, if my husband comes home and says, "It's a beautiful day. Let's go to the beach," I can go. I have three cruises and two additional vacations planned for the coming year. Through Referrals I'm Making Money Faster Than I Ever Expected I thought I'd be doing medical malpractice cases, but two personal injury attorneys opened their doors to me and gave me my first cases. I figured out what they needed and gave it to them. The basis of my business is a report I developed for one of my first personal injury clients. As we discussed his case, I could tell he didn't quite understand what I was saying about my CLNC® services. I told him, "It sounds like you want the good, the bad and the ugly," just as Vickie teaches. He replied, "That's exactly what I want." He called the next week to say, "I love that report. It's great." I later learned that he shared my report with other attorneys. One morning while I was still in my pajamas, I got a call from an attorney I'd never met. He said, "I need one of those GBUs." I didn't know what he was talking about, so I asked how he got my name. That's when I figured it out – he wanted the good, the bad and the ugly. Now I have lots of attorneys asking for my "GBU" reports. They're three to five pages long and take five to ten hours to complete. I do five or ten GBUs a week, and they're really fun. My CLNC® practice didn't develop exactly as I had planned. I do personal injury, not medical malpractice. I'm making more money faster than I ever expected, and I love it. I love the work, I love the freedom, I love my clients and I love Vickie Milazzo Institute for showing me how to make it happen. Colleen Galligan, RN, BSN, CDDN, CLNC is the owner of Tampa Bay Medical-Legal Consultants in Florida. Her experience includes MR/DD, PICU, CV surgery and certification as a perfusionist. Her company specializes in PI, wrongful death and criminal cases.  Tell a Friend About This Site  
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