| Sometimes we really need business advice, but even when that advice is readily available we don’t take it. For this blog I asked the CLNC® Pros to share the “best advice they never took” but wish they had. WARNING: Failure to follow this “best advice” is hazardous to the health of your legal nurse consulting business. |
|
| ▶ | One of the first things I learned when I took the CLNC® Certification Program is the importance of writing a business plan. I thought I knew a better way and that I could accomplish my goals and grow my CLNC® business without a formal plan. Eight months into my business, I felt I was floundering, running into brick walls and just stagnating. I went back to the Core Curriculum for Legal Nurse Consulting® textbook and re-read the sections about starting my CLNC® business. I finally sat down and wrote a formal business plan as Vickie recommends. I put it on my bulletin board in front of my desk so I could see it every day. Within a month, I was really wondering why I had not followed Vickie’s advice sooner. My business began to blossom. Within four months of writing that business plan, I stopped all other nursing and focused only on my CLNC® business. I was amazed by my success and now know that I should have followed Vickie’s advice from day one. |
| ▶ | Probably the best advice I didn’t take so many years ago was given to me by a very wise and successful lady. She told me and about 100 of my RN colleagues to go out there, get started and have a plan. Yes, you guessed it, her name is Vickie Milazzo. Years ago when I took the CLNC® 6-Day Certification Seminar, we were encouraged to complete a marketing plan and get started on our business when we returned home to become successful CLNC® consultants. Well I went home and found every reason in the book why I couldn’t work on starting my success. I had kids, work, a husband, volunteer work, cleaning, cooking, laundry, a case here and there and just being a mom, wife and nurse. Notice I didn’t mention myself. I didn’t have time for myself. |
| After attending one of the annual NACLNC® Conferences, I came home and asked myself, “Why haven’t you started aggressively marketing your business? Why haven’t you started on the road to your CLNC® success?” Well, I sat down, wrote my marketing plan and got started becoming a successful CLNC® consultant. | |
| Had I taken the advice of that wise lady I spoke about, I would have become a successful CLNC® consultant many years earlier. | |
| My advice to you now is, go out and do it. Become successful. Do it for yourself. Don’t wait. As Vickie says “We Are Nurses and We Can Do Anything!®” | |
|
Nikki J. Chuml, RNC, CCE, FMC, CLNC |
|
| ▶ | The best advice I never took (for a year and a half anyway), was Vickie’s advice that, as a nurse I really can do anything! After completing the CLNC® 6-Day Certification Program back in 2000, I procrastinated for nearly one and a half years out of fright that if I got a case to work on, I would most assuredly screw it up somehow or miss an important case fact or worse yet would not have a clue as to where to begin. After getting and completing my first case however, I realized just how well Vickie Milazzo had prepared me. Astonishingly, I also came to realize that writing a case report was actually enjoyable and not the dreaded nightmare I had imagined it would be. Looking back, I realize that I lost one and a half years of my CLNC® career due to my own stinking thinking! Don’t fall into the same mind trap that I did. As nurses, we really can do anything! |
|
Lawrence H. Frace, RN, CLNC |
|
| ▶ | I attended the CLNC® 6-Day Certification Seminar in Orlando 2001 and left there ready to roll. I followed what I learned in the program and took my one action step a day. I continued to work at my nursing job 24 hours a week while I was growing my CLNC® business. I made phone calls and mailed out my marketing packet on my days off and in between driving my children to their various activities. I received work from attorneys. I was so excited as I completed each assignment. Each case was so different – I was never bored. I just loved my new adventure! |
| When I had to work at my nursing job on the night shift, I would dread it all day and for a few days before. I was holding on to that job because of security and I knew it. I thought that I had a solution. I decided to cut back on my hours and work per diem. My hospital had a policy that in order to work per diem, we were required to work four shifts a month. I worked only my four shifts a month and continued to grow my CLNC® business. I could now put in as many hours as I wanted in my business because I had the work and I was making more money from my CLNC® business than I made at the hospital. My hospital job was actually affecting the growth of my business. I knew that I needed to cut the ties completely. After months of this nonsense, I finally took Vickie’s advice and let go of my “security blanket” – I quit my nursing job. I told my director of nursing that I was resigning my position after 10 years and gave her a month’s notice. Saying goodbye wasn’t easy for me, but I knew that I was making the right choice. | |
| I don’t have any regrets about leaving my hospital job. I only wish that I had taken Vickie’s advice sooner and left the hospital much earlier. | |
|
Dorene Goldstein, RNC, CLNC |
|
| ▶ | The best advice I never took (actually I did end up taking it, but I was in business for several years before I did), was when I first started my business 16 years ago – I failed to market to attorneys in larger cities. I was living in the Midwest and I concentrated on marketing to local attorneys. At the time, I didn’t think I was experienced enough to market myself to attorneys from larger cities. I did manage to talk a couple of local attorneys into using my CLNC® services, but it took quite a while before I started marketing outside of my area. Once I started marketing my CLNC® services outside my area, things really started to happen. I guess I should have had more confidence in my abilities earlier in my career because I ended up providing exactly the same CLNC® services to the new big-city clients as I did for my original clients in the boonies. |
| ▶ | When I took the CLNC® Certification Program in 2004, Vickie advised us not to underprice ourselves. I was so eager to land my first case that I allowed myself to be talked into charging a lower fee. I fell for the attorney’s argument that I had not done this before. |
| By the third case I was wise to the deal, quoted my original full fee and was fully prepared to walk away from anything less. The attorney agreed to my fee. I no longer underprice myself. | |
|
Camy Joyner, RN, CCM, CLNC |
|
| Thanks to all the CLNC® Pros for sharing their “best advice they never took.” | |
| Success Is Inside! | |
| P.S. |
Comment and share the best advice you never took or to thank these CLNC® Pros for their candid advice. |
| P.P.S. |
To receive your best advice, sign up now for the 2010 NACLNC® Conference where you’ll Take the Stage for Legendary CLNC® Success in Nashville, Tennessee. |
You are currently browsing the daily archive for August 10, 2009.
Order My New York Times Bestseller!
CLNC 6-Day Certification Seminar, Las Vegas Fall 2011 Photo Gallery
|
2011 NACLNC Conference Photo Gallery
 |
| Check Out More Photos 2011 NACLNC® Conference: March 13-20, 2011 |
NACLNC Conference Videos
   |
Vickie’s Books
Recent Comments