December 2009

Over the holidays, four generations of my family gathered together to celebrate and, of course, to have a great dinner and some terrific wines. My 85-year-old father represented the first generation present. Next came my generation, including my twin brother Vince, my sister Karen and me. Karen’s sons Joshua and Matt were next and, our newest generation, Joshua’s daughter – my 9-month-old great-niece Reese. After dinner, we discussed the differences in the generations and, as with all of my Italian family discussions, it got quite enthusiastic with lots of hand-waving, a raised voice or two and everybody talking at once.

Just the amount of experience and knowledge that exists in this gathering of my family’s generations made me think about how Certified Legal Nurse Consultants can learn something from each generation – grandparents, parents, siblings, our siblings’ children and even their children’s children – for your CLNC^® business. Certainly each different generation can bring something different to the table and by examining the best traits of each, it can help us not just in understanding them, but also in managing our legal nurse consulting businesses through a wider lens.

Those Certified Legal Nurse Consultants who have been blessed to know their grandparents and even great-grandparents who lived during the Great Depression probably remember how they paid cash for everything. My grandparents didn’t even have a credit card and only bought new things when the old ones were worn out beyond repair. My grandmom seemed to wear the same pair of sensible shoes as long as I can remember. They taught us to live beneath our means and invest our money not only in our businesses, but also to build savings and not to spend our money on TVs and extra clothes we didn’t need. Thanks to my grandparents, my habit of investing and reinvesting in my legal nurse consulting business has helped me grow the Institute into the largest and leading education company for legal nurse consultants. Take the elder generation’s advice and reinvest in your CLNC^® business so that you are never in fear of losing what you have created.

My parents were part of the so-called “Greatest Generation” and I’m sure my dad, Sal, never one for modesty, would agree about that name. His generation gave service when called and worked hard but they always made time to have fun with their friends. My dad was off to work in New Orleans’ French Quarter every morning by 3:00am. He’d come home in the afternoon, take a nap and then go out dancing with my mom or play cards with his buddies. They hung out in large groups and always seemed ready to have a good time but were never late for work the next day. From this generation, legal nurse consultants can learn to work hard, but to play hard too. I have to work hard, my employees don’t manage themselves and my business doesn’t manage itself, but thanks to my parents, I have learned how to take the time to play hard too. I schedule and take my vacations, go out with friends and visit family. You need to learn that all work and no play will quickly burn out even the most ambitious Certified Legal Nurse Consultant.

My generation are the “Boomers.” We learned to question authority, challenge the experts, to be competitive and confident. We’re also the richest generation since the early 1900s. We learned never to be defeated, sent women to new heights in the workforce, took stands on difficult issues and decided that it’s what you do, not what you say, that’s important. We worked hard to create a better world for ourselves and our families, to create a legacy for the generations to follow.

I’ve been likened to both Florence Nightingale and Oprah but what I really enjoy is being viewed as the most renegade nurse of my generation. My generation’s lessons for CLNC^® consultants of all ages is to make a plan for your business and don’t listen when others tell you it can’t be done. Our motto is “If you say it can’t be done, you better get out of the way of the person doing it!” All Certified Legal Nurse Consultants can take charge of your lives and your CLNC^® businesses and know that if you put your minds to it, you’ll accomplish whatever you want.

Generation X teaches us to be independent and entrepreneurial. Theirs is one of the most inventive generations (think of Google, iPhones and all those videogames just to name a few). They sought to be freed from the types of careers that, in their minds, imprisoned the Boomers (their parents) and even their grandparents. So, Gen X became the generation of dot coms, tech start-ups and entrepreneurs running lots of new small businesses. This generation won’t be hanging around the same hospital for 30 years counting down the days until their retirement parties. They’ll find their own way to fund their retirement. You’ve probably already run into a few of the Gen X nurses and learned that they’re seeking alternative nursing careers, such as legal nurse consulting, earlier than any other generation. Wait until you see the terrific Certified Legal Nurse Consultants they become. From them we can learn that the time to act is now, not to put off our happiness until a future date. Thanks to Generation X, I have to keep growing every day to assure that the Institute is as relevant today as it was 28 years ago.

Generation Y or the so-called “Millenials” is our most technologically savvy generation. They’ve been steeped in electronics and connectivity from day one. From their good traits we can learn to be collaborative and socially conscious. This is also a generation that likes to job hop and feels no loyalty to the company machine. At the same time, they’ve returned to embrace some of the beliefs of the Greatest Generation. They hang out with groups of their friends and believe in finding a strong balance between work and play. They’re also pretty thick-skinned, when you close a door on one of them, they don’t take it personally. Legal nurse consultants can learn about balance from this generation and be reminded that we got into the legal nurse consulting business to have a life. Gen Ys always remind me that having my own business has allowed me to be in charge of my own life and I love that!

I love every generation (some more than others on certain days) and what each one teaches me about my business.

Success Is Inside!

My tech tip this week is a spin-off from Vickie’s blog about What Certified Legal Nurse Consultants Can Learn At the Mall. If you’ve been in a movie theater, mall or computer store lately, I’m sure you’ve seen that HP is pushing its Photosmart Premium TouchSmart Web All-in-One printer. Like any other printer, it can be plugged directly into a home network. It also has a built-in wireless connection that can tap into your home wireless network (“Look Honey, no more cables.”), allowing you to place the printer wherever you want. What’s truly novel about this new printer is that it’s “Internet-enabled.” Yes, that’s right, you can use your printer to search the Internet and print what you find – a map, photo, Web page, whatever. If you can stand the small screen, then you don’t even need a computer or monitor to use this printer. Is that the genius or the defect?

Obviously this printer isn’t designed to replace a computer. Certified Legal Nurse Consultants still need to create documents for their legal nurse consulting businesses, send emails to attorney-clients and do lots of other things on a computer. So what exactly is the purpose of a device that prints without need of a source other than the Internet? Well, it has slots for camera memory cards, but does anyone want to edit photos on the printer versus a computer? Yes, you can print Fandango movie tickets, maps from Google, parts of USA Today and coupons. But, do you really want to surf the web on a 4″ screen and more important, what kind of virus protection will it have? I played with this printer at my local movie theater and if this is the future, you can include me out.

Don’t get me wrong, HP makes great printers and their new printer is getting good reviews. But as a fax and scanner, it’s missing something absolutely necessary in my opinion – an automatic document feeder. So what’s its purpose other than to sell more ink cartridges by getting you to print more color documents?

That, my CLNC^® amigos, is the question. The lesson to be gleaned from this printer is pretty clear. If you have to go to great lengths to explain to an attorney-client or attorney-prospect why they need a particular service (or an Internet-enabled printer, refrigerator or beer cooler), they might not really need it. Certified Legal Nurse Consultants all know that there are 32 legal nurse consulting services you can offer your attorney-clients and attorney-prospects that they really, genuinely need. But not all of them need all 32 CLNC^® services. Plus, if you’ve come up with the killer 33rd or 38th service and nobody (and I mean nobody) gets it – maybe that’s because THEY DON’T NEED IT. You could be ahead of your time or your legal nurse consulting career may have jumped the shark.

Remember what Vickie’s taught you – do your research and market to the needs of your attorney-clients and attorney-prospects. If there’s a CLNC^® service they’re not using yet, make sure it’s one that fits them before you pitch it to them. Market smarter, not harder.

In the meantime, if anyone has any other candidates for useless or even useful “Internet-enabled” devices or appliances (besides really big screen TVs) comment and let me know.

Keep on techin’ and I’ll see you next year!

Tom

To be happy in a million ways

No man must stand alone with out-stretched hand before him

Let your heart be light

Children laughing, people passing, meeting smile after smile

Snowing and blowing up bushels of fun

A swell time to go gliding in a one-horse open sleigh

Jingle bells all the way

A bag filled with toys

All is merry and bright

Laughing all the way

Gone away is the blue bird, here to stay is a new bird

Time to rock the night away

Snow and mistletoe and presents on the tree

Homemade pumpkin pie

Star of wonder, star of night, star with royal beauty bright

Let it snow

To be a child again

Making spirits bright

Angels bending near the earth to touch their harps of gold

Peace on earth, good will to men

Joy to the world

Love and peace this day

Although it’s been said many times many ways:

Merry Christmas to You!

Success Is Inside!

This week’s tech tip is in response to all the telephone calls, emails and anxious faxes I’ve received requesting tech support – not from Certified Legal Nurse Consultants, but from my parents. Prices on computers keep falling and some legal nurse consultants out there may have succumbed to the temptation of purchasing your parents a computer for the holidays or at the sales that follow. If you haven’t yet done the deed, you may want to think twice or even three times about it.

Here’s the Tech Tip for this week: DON’T BUY YOUR PARENTS A COMPUTER UNLESS YOU ARE WILLING TO BE THEIR HELP DESK FOR LIFE! If you have the time to leave your legal nurse consulting business at a moment’s notice, live close enough to drop in 3-4 times a day and explain how to stop pop-ups, patch programs, where to type a URL, download an Adobe^® Flash update or find a lost LOLcat, then go for it. Otherwise, a reasonable alternative is to consider purchasing them a third-party tech support service agreement from a local (to them) computer company or a national service such as GeekSquad. You’ll need to check out the rate sheets but this may be more economical. This will help avoid any additional causes or symptoms of FDD (family dysfunctional disorder). You might even consider a similar plan for your own legal nurse consulting business.

I thought buying a computer for my parents would be a nice gesture and it was well received. My parents can get online, stay in touch with their friends, spend hours each day learning rumors, watching YouTube and LOLing at LOLcats. In return, I get to spend a good part of any visit to my parents’ home patching up, cleaning out and generally servicing their computer. I also get photos of my niece and nephew printed on regular paper with the dregs of their last color cartridge instead of photo prints (my niece apparently has a bad case of jaundice to judge from her color in the photos). Plus there’s the added bonus of talking to my parents more often, getting lots of questions about how to format a Word^® document, how to get on and off the Internet and how to pay for their antivirus program as well as their Internet service provider.

With great deals on computers, any Certified Legal Nurse Consultant considering a computer purchase for their parents should first take into consideration their age and then their computing ability. I have friends whose young-ish parents could tech-support circles around me and others whose parents have trouble using a cell phone. You have to decide which category your parents are in.

You also have to remember that computers are now shipping with Windows 7 and if you’ve never used it, you may have trouble supporting it. You could have it dropped back down to XP^® which may make things easier for you (that’s what my parents are running). One last tip is to sign them up for a computer course at a local community center or community college, although that may generate more questions than answers.

Remember, a computer is a gift that keeps on giving (and taking and taking).

Until next Tuesday, keep on techin’,

Tom

At the Vickie Milazzo Institute annual Christmas party we have three very inexpensive holiday traditions that bring us together.

Our first tradition is that each person brings four colored strips of paper. On two strips of one color, we each write two personal accomplishments that we’re proud of this year. It can be anything from something simple such as “I learned a new web-editing software” to something as complex as “I learned the administrative system for the Customer Management System software and created the new instruction manual.” It’s a great chance for everyone to “flaunt their stuff.” We all do things every day that no one but ourselves know about. Some are simple, some are complex and some are just unbelievable. This way everyone gets recognition for at least two personal accomplishments and we’re all allowed to go over that limit (as much as modesty allows). I think the record for someone who I won’t name was seven!

On the two other different-colored strips, we each write a company accomplishment, such as creating our online CLNC^® education program, virtualizing our server environment (guess who wrote that one) or making the Inc. 5000 list of fastest growing companies again.

We go around the table at our holiday party and alternate with each person reading a personal accomplishment and the next reading a company accomplishment. Each strip of paper is passed to my assistant who creates a chain of alternating colors. No repeats are allowed for company accomplishments and we go until they’re all done.

The best part about this tradition is that we’re reminded of things that we’ve forgotten and people are recognized for their contributions. Every holiday season we decorate our conference room with these chains that just keep growing longer each year.

Our second tradition is that we each receive a business card Word^® template which has the first name of each Institute staff member on a card. On those we anonymously type a “nice thought” about that staff member. It can be anything you want to compliment that person on, such as “You’re always willing to lend a hand when I’m overwhelmed,” “You’ve had great input in our brainstorms this year” or “You’re the best in handling student requests.”

Two of my favorites about Tom from this year are: “You are an asset to this company not only for your contributions but you are a great example of dedicated work with a balance of fun. You have an amazing attitude and accessibility to us all even though your day may be a hectic enduring deadline. Thank you for your graciousness to remember our likes and taking measures to show us your acknowledgment of those.”

“Not just Vickie’s right arm; everybody’s right arm! I know our nurses love Tom and so do we. His talents are amazing and he is a complete pleasure to work with…when you can catch him!”

This tradition is easy and fun to do and it makes you think about each person’s contribution (like Tom’s) to your organization. These nice-thoughts cards are separated and secretly put into small containers by my assistant and placed at each person’s seat before the party. I must say, if later in the year I’m feeling low or having a moment of doubt, I’ve been known to pull out my stack of nice-thoughts cards and review them. They never fail to brighten up my day and put a smile back on my face.

Our third tradition is our “Guess Who This Christmas Ornament Represents” game where we draw names and buy or create a Christmas tree ornament that represents the person whose name we’ve drawn. This can, and often does, get a little spicy. It’s always fun with terrific laughs guaranteed. Sometimes it can be really hard to guess! And I often learn something new about many members of our team.

What I really like about the accomplishments and nice-thoughts traditions are how easily they can be applied to any Certified Legal Nurse Consultant’s business traditions. Your own chain of business and personal accomplishments can fuel your future successes. Your collective accomplishments are much more than you remember at a given time and this is a great way to save them for posterity. This is something you can also do with your staff, attorney-clients, CLNC^® subcontractors or vendors and it’s especially fun to do with your family.

We all contribute and we all create memorable accomplishments. Don’t just sit on your laurels, use them as stairs to the next level. If you ever need a quick boost or some high-octane encouragement, revisiting past successes and using them to fuel future accomplishments is a terrific way to drive you to higher and higher levels of success.

Success Is Inside!

My success, like that of many entrepreneurs, is built on challenging the experts – not relying on them. Our Founding Fathers weren’t expert politicians. Our captains of industry weren’t experts in their fields. Our best inventors weren’t experts. America and almost all of our achievements were built by a nation of amateurs, tinkerers and inventors constantly poking, prodding, testing and discarding what didn’t work until they eventually hit the magic formula for success.

In 1982, when I pioneered the field of legal nurse consulting, I challenged the experts. The whole concept of legal nurse consulting was contrary to what attorneys accepted as an industry standard. Typically, they relied on doctors to try to make sense of medical records. How crazy is that? As RNs, we know doctors don’t even read the medical records when they’re at work. So how could attorneys possibly be getting what they really needed? Not to mention the fact that physicians were charging way too much for their time and weren’t always giving the attorneys objective opinions (because doctors are way too protective of each other).

I had to go against the “experts” and educate attorneys that the registered nurse (RN) is the only healthcare provider who knows everything that is going on with the patient. We’re the ones with hands-on information, with face-to-face 24/7 contact with patients, and most important, the only healthcare provider who ever reads the entire medical record. As RNs, we not only have the expertise to uncover vital facts and key pieces of information that can make or break an attorney’s case, but we’re cost-effective too. As an added bonus, we bring our (highly developed) skills of critiquing other healthcare providers to the table. This ensures that we deliver an objective opinion.

Shortly after I started consulting with attorneys on the medical issues in their cases, I recognized exactly how widespread the need for nurses in the legal arena really was. My next step was to begin training other nurses on how to consult with attorneys too. Now I had two growing businesses in a field the experts said would never succeed. Today, over 6,000 CLNC^® consultants are still proving those same experts wrong!

Contrary to what most people believe, it doesn’t take an Einstein to spawn brilliant ideas, and even Einstein wasn’t born an expert (just a genius). Experts and extraordinary people can and do wake up with dumb ideas while ordinary people can and do wake up with extraordinary ideas.

The reality is that there are very few Einsteins out there and a lot more ordinary people like you and me (some with Einstein hair though). Like I said, ordinary people wake up with ideas every day; some are brilliant ideas, some are ordinary ideas and some are just plain dumb. But even a small, ordinary idea can pay off huge when you have the courage to own it and take action on it.

In my company, I encourage everyone, expert or not, to speak up when they have a new concept and to verbalize their objections when they think something isn’t working. Sometimes the person who knows the least about the subject asks a question that helps us make the biggest breakthroughs. In fact, I always know we’re onto a truly innovative idea at Vickie Milazzo Institute when one of the experts says, “You can’t do that.”

You’ll advance your legal nurse consulting business faster by listening to non-experts as well as experts. The experts aren’t always right except in their own mind. If it weren’t for people who didn’t listen to the experts, there are a lot of the things that we take for granted today that wouldn’t exist because the experts said that they weren’t needed or nobody would buy them.

What “expert” have you challenged lately? What “non-expert” have you listened to? Don’t let anyone stop you on your way to CLNC^® success.

Success Is Inside!

One thing I know about nurses is that you didn’t get into nursing for the big bucks, the big raises or the big perks (like the cafeteria food, going four hours without a restroom break or the five-minute lunch hour). To do everything that nurses do every day, you have to be wired by passion, by a fire that drives you to make a difference in the lives you hold in your hands. Nurses have the strength of fire and passion. But are you as fired up about nursing today as when you first started? If not, what are you fired up about?

I remember my own fear of fire, or at least my fear of losing my own fire and passion. In 1982, after six years in nursing, unsatisfied with the career choice I made, I woke up to the fear of becoming like so many other nurses at the hospital – burned out, exhausted, the spark gone. A voice in my head said “Vickie, forget Code Blue. It’s time to Code You.” I faced a decision: Step out into the unknown or spend the rest of my life working as a hospital nurse.

My dream was to start a legal nurse consulting business advising attorneys on medical-related cases. Afraid to step out, I settled for reading business books instead. Then, one day I thought about how easy it was for me to resuscitate a dying patient – I could practically do it in my sleep. You know what I’m talking about and may even have resuscitated a few patients that way yourself. So I asked myself, what could be so hard about resuscitating my own career and life by just stepping out and going for it?

With only $100 in my savings account, I stepped out and called my first attorney-prospect to offer my services as a legal nurse consultant. To my horror he answered the phone. About to hang up, I told myself: “If he was wearing a hospital gown with his backside showing, I would have no problem introducing myself and inserting a Foley catheter so Vickie, just talk to him.” I sputtered out something that I’m sure was unintelligible, and despite that clumsy start, he became my first client. Stepping out for what I wanted gave me the freedom to live and work my passions.

For me, success is not about the achievement. It’s not the pay raise, promotion or the prize at the end. The real achievement comes from just stepping out. Every time we step out into the unknown, win or lose, we succeed. I might break a leg or invest in a losing business idea. But I won’t end up at my 90th birthday party with nothing more than stale white cake and regrets about the paths not taken. I understand that bad things can happen when we step out, but I believe worse things happen to our souls when we don’t.

If you’re at a crossroads in your nursing career, stuck in your nursing job and feel you’re not living passionately, try stepping out and exploring new options. Find or create something you can be on fire about. If fear is holding you back, start with baby steps. I started my legal nurse consulting business part-time while still working extra shifts at the hospital to pay my mortgage. I really had nothing to lose and everything to gain. There’s a certain freedom to being a nurse and knowing that if you do step out and fail, you’ve got your hospital nursing experience as a terrific safety net to fall back on. That thought alone should give you the courage to step out.

Remember, life is too short to live it with regrets. Step out and try something new, something daring or just something different. It doesn’t have to be legal nurse consulting. I just want you to live a life of your choosing, not one of your surrender. Take a few minutes today and consider those dreams you’ve put aside. This might be the perfect time to act on them.

Success Is Inside!

This isn’t an official Tech Tip; it’s more of a ramble so I apologize in advance. Those of you who want a Tech Tip can learn about TwitterPeek, probably the most useless handheld device ever. Read this story about TwitterPeek, a device that is designed for Twitter and only Twitter (and maybe email). If you can figure out a reason to carry another device for your legal nurse consulting business let me know. The rest of you please keep reading.

I recently had a minor procedure (it was nothing serious so rest assured the Tuesday Tech Tips will, like an old Timex^® watch, keep on tipping) with a MAC for sedation. For those legal nurse consultants who haven’t been in an OR since they stopped sharpening scalpels on a leather strop, MAC stands for Monitored Anesthesia Care.

With a MAC you’re put, not entirely under, but into a deep and somewhat restless sleep. MACs are used to keep a patient (me) immobile and also used as a supplement to the local anesthesia. I felt no real physical sensations but I did have a modicum of consciousness. Throughout the procedure, I remember drifting in and out of sleep. I also remember, from a distance, various portions of the conversations between the surgeon and the nurses. It was like having a narrated dream. In all honesty, it was probably the most boring conversation I’ve ever eavesdropped on. It was all business (at least the parts I remember).

And that, my CLNC^® amigos, is my point. I don’t know how many of you have been in the OR when they’re cutting people open, strewing blood, organs, limbs and other body parts about, but for those of you who have, you need to remember that sedated patients often do remember things. All sorts of things. My surgical team was as professional as could be. But what about you and yours? Do you make jokes, cut up (not literally), act out or make possible “statements against interest” while in the OR? What about you part-time CLNC^® consultants who are still providing some in-hospital care? Are you careful about what you say in front of a patient or family member? Do you argue with the doctors about the patient’s care within earshot of an “interested party?” Nurse supervisors: have you ever reprimanded someone in front of the patient’s family or just outside the door of a patient’s room?

A defensive strategy for any legal nurse consultant or other nurse who is still spending time inside a hospital (other than as a patient) is to watch what you say no matter where you are. This means in front of the patient (sedated or not), their family, in elevators, hallways and the cafeteria, but also be careful what you say to other staff members. I’m not talking about the HIPAA hippo, I’m talking about playing tic tac toe with Betadine on the patient or making jokes about their appearance, body parts or their procedure and about things that have gone wrong, are going wrong or have been done wrong. Statements against interest can come back to bite not only you but also your facility when someone remembers hearing you say “I thought ‘no pen’ meant to use a pencil on his chart. I never guessed it had to do with his meds.”

I was in good hands, but if something had gone wrong, there’s a good chance I would have remembered it. One “oops” from the doc or one bad joke at my expense and my somewhat cloudy attention would have been clearly focused. Be careful what you say and where you say it. When in doubt don’t say nuthin’ to nobody.

As a Certified Legal Nurse Consultant preparing a case report, you know to always ask, not only the patient what they remember during the surgery, but also what the family members and visitors heard the nurses and docs discussing around the time of the incident. There’s always a lot to be learned from the idle conversations that take place on a unit.

Until next Tuesday, keep on techin’,

Tom

This past Sunday Tom and I visited the Houston Museum of Fine Arts and their special exhibition on Arts of Ancient Vietnam. We’d already seen many of these rare treasures in the National Museum of Vietnamese History in Hanoi and the Museum of Cham Culture in Da Nang. The museum was filled with holiday spirit.

I love the holiday season and call me strange, but it’s not just the decorations and everybody’s good moods, I even like holiday traveling. I think what I like is the organized chaos of holiday travel. You find disparate groups of people all moving in their own holiday migrations across a state, across the country and sometimes, just across the airport. The lines at the airline check-in counters are fairly well organized, but once you pass the TSA security lines, the real chaos ensues. Some travelers are organized and move with intention, some are not and move like it’s their first time in an airport. I like to think of Tom and myself as travel pros, creating our own choreography as we move through the crowds of travelers.

Seeing the Vietnamese exhibit brought me back to an experience I had while stuck on a curb in Saigon (I know it’s Ho Chi Minh City but nobody calls it that). My objective, a restaurant where my husband and my lunch awaited me, stood on the opposite side of the street. I could see the food, smell it and, if you know me, you know I had built up quite an appetite.

Stranded in the Chaos

The only barrier between me and my lunch was crossing the street. Now, this sounds like a simple task, but at noon in Saigon, my objective might as well have been the far side of the moon. The road was crammed with motor scooters (called “motos”), bicycles, motorcycles, cyclos (pedaled rickshaws), cars, trucks and buses. The fewer wheels a contraption had, the more passengers it seemed to carry. I saw a family of 5 riding a Honda scooter – sans helmets, of course.

Even the center lines contributed to the confusion. In Saigon, rather than dividing the traffic into two lanes, each moving in opposite directions, the yellow markers apparently serve only to indicate that you are on a paved road. I watched as people passed, stopped, turned around and crisscrossed the center lines with utter abandon.

Traffic flowed both ways in the same lane, more traffic merged from the side streets, and people pushed their motos off the curbs into the flow at odd angles. At any given moment traffic bore down on me from as many as 6-8 directions, front, back, sides and all angles – everywhere, it seemed, except from above. To me it was a scene of incredible chaos.

The traffic lights compounded my problem. In Saigon they serve only an advisory purpose. Even when the light turned red, traffic continued to flow, as drivers blatantly ignored the red light! The lanes of traffic impatiently waiting at the green light would edge forward into the traffic that was ignoring the red light. At some point traffic trying to move with the green light would build up enough momentum (and vehicles) to stop the traffic running the red light. Traffic would then flow correctly until the light changed, and the whole process started again.

Dancing Through the Chaos

Under this onslaught, the flashing green “walk” sign over the crosswalk taunted me from the far side of the street. I was ready to look for something to eat on my side of the street when an older Vietnamese gentleman took my arm.

In English he kindly said, “Crossing the street is not a problem, but a dance.” With that, we stepped off the curb and entered the maelstrom together.

My heart pounded as we walked slowly across the street. Instead of greeting us with blaring horns, irate shouts and screeching brakes, the drivers saw us and adjusted to us. As long as we made no sudden movements (like diving for the curb or running screaming from the street), we were fine. I felt like we were swimming through a school of fish. The tempest flowed smoothly around us and before I knew it we had reached the other side.

I thanked my benefactor and went on to lunch. Later that day I taught the same technique to my husband and friends – at one point crossing a busy boulevard with an entourage of eight people strung out like a Broadway chorus line.

Later I thought about how the traffic in Saigon is a metaphor for your legal nurse consulting business. There is a sort of graceful chaos, everyone going in their own direction, some traveling with traffic, some across it and some against it. Buses and trucks barrel through the streets, stopping for no one. Certainly collisions and accidents happen, but for the most part the system works. People reach their destinations and life goes on. And the best way to survive is not to struggle against the flow, but to approach it like a dance.

Invitation to the Dance

Do you dance through your life, your CLNC^® business and the surrounding chaos? Or do you struggle against it, exhausting yourself, causing collisions with others and keeping yourself from reaching your chosen destination?

On any given day, each of us must adapt to life and pass through it gracefully. Occasionally things are going well, then out of the blue a big truck bears down on us, forcing us to stop or change directions. How we deal with such routine chaos as Certified Legal Nurse Consultants determines whether we prosper or fail.

In your CLNC^® business, you have attorney-clients, subcontractors, vendors, obstacles and challenges that appear in the road in front of you. You have many choices. Tell me – do you collide with them head on, turn down a side street, take a detour, avoid them altogether or simply flow with them? How well you adjust your dance to this chaos controls your future success as a Certified Legal Nurse Consultant.

You can adjust to the chaos and dance through it gracefully, or you can allow it to stop you or force you into costly detours. The choice is yours.

In Saigon, I chose to cross the street with my new-found guide and enjoyed the reward of a wonderful lunch. Then I plunged back into the chaos, feeling a lot more comfortable with it all. Every day in my business I face the traffic, dance with it to the best of my ability and hope to enjoy continued success. You can do the same for your CLNC^® business if you cultivate the grace to flow with chaos.

Success Is Inside!

I want to share this video of a brand new Certified Legal Nurse Consultant who attended the Las Vegas CLNC^® 6-Day Certification Seminar. As a VIP, David Kuntz had already studied the CLNC^® Certification Program via DVDs at home, so he came to Las Vegas already certified and excited to share his immediate success. Watch this video as David shares the single strategy that made it easy to launch his CLNC^® business.

Congratulations to David.

Success Is Inside!