Goal Setting

Did you know that the word “niggle” is an intransitive verb which according to Merriam-Webster, dates from about 1616 and means to trifle or to spend too much effort on minor details? Do you find yourself niggling away your time or do you use it meaningfully for your legal nurse consulting business? Most people claim to cherish their “quiet” time, but be honest. Do you spend the first part of your day on your email? Or, do you use that peak productivity time to knock out those hard projects for attorneys and big things for your CLNC^® business.

The first part of my day is my quiet, productive time. These are the hours before my office is officially open and all the employees have shown up. By 8:30am there’s a line of penitents forming outside my door; employees asking for my input on a project, directors telling me why they won’t meet a deadline and the janitor asking me to diagnose a toenail fungus. If I’m lucky enough to be working from the sanctuary of my home office when my phone starts ringing off my desk, I know the office is open. Knowing this madness is coming, on my best days, I use my quiet time to hunker down and work on those projects that need the most concentration.

Less successful people gravitate towards what’s easy instead of what’s productive; I call this the “feel-good addiction.” Feel-good addicts start their days differently. Since they like to feel-good they focus on minor, easy to complete tasks – email, desktop organizing, sorting mail, more email and other nonproductive (but necessary) activities. The feel-good addiction is insidious for people who like to check things off, because you feel good after completing each small task (and you get to check it off your “to-do” list). This addiction bites you on the butt because that cheap check-mark high guarantees to frustrate, overwhelm and stress you out in the long term. You feel busier than ever but are accomplishing less of real value. When we get caught up in feeling good, we never get to our big commitments.

Even worse, about the time you’ve completed your feel-good tasks and are ready to start in on your real work, the other folks in the office have completed their feel-good tasks and they’re ready to start interrupting you from the big things you are ready to do or an attorney-client calls with the latest crisis (that’s when the line forms and the phone starts ringing).

When you break the “feel-good” addiction, you actually open the doors to achievement and to your passionate vision for your CLNC^® business. Start by asking yourself; is this feel-good start to my day the best use of my time? Or, are these feel-good tasks best reserved for mental breaks throughout the day? That’s the way I use them. I, too am a happy checker-offer and I like knocking out tasks. Working for two hours on a report or project that I won’t finish doesn’t release the same amount of endorphins as cleaning out my email box (and forwarding those tasks on to others). After two hours I need to “get something checked off.” That’s when I indulge my own feel-good addiction and attack the stack of bills, plow into the financials or grab my mouse to viciously click through my email.

What you engage and focus on in your legal nurse consulting business is where you will yield results. Trivia saps the creative energy you need for accomplishing your audacious goals and will douse the fire that you need to fully engage your passionate vision. You may feel good for a while but at the end of the day, which will be here before you know it, all you’ve accomplished is of little value.

Break your addiction and work on those important projects, like that report for your attorney-client. We already have precious little free time, and it’s been mathematically proven that work expands to fill the time available, so we need to make the most of the time we have and not niggle it away. I’m not trying to say that some email isn’t important or that there might be something pressing in your in-box. If you can’t bring yourself to close your email box, at least turn off the sound alert so you won’t have the annoying little “ping” sound off every time a potential time-waster drops out of cyberspace and into your consciousness.

Remember you’re a nurse. Use your triage skills; just don’t start the surgery unless the patient is critical. Email doesn’t bleed out, doesn’t need defibrillation and, unlike an ICU patient, won’t expire if not tended to immediately.

I’ll look for you in line.

Success Is Inside!

P.S. Comment and share your best tip for breaking your feel-good addiction.

In this information age where we are constantly overloaded with garbage in garbage out, I am surprised to be still thinking about an article I read five months ago in Fortune magazine, “Why Talent Is Overrated.”

The team who works for me at Vickie Milazzo Institute knows that to get the same performance evaluation rating the next year, they have to be stronger and swifter. That’s right; the same behaviors year after year won’t cut it. They have to improve their existing skills – static behavior is not acceptable.

The reason I’ve survived 27 years of competitors poorly copying and imitating my every move (even including my typos!) is because the improved performance I expect of my staff is exactly the performance I expect of myself. A song lyric I really like is “The only thing constant is change.” When I think of change, I want change for the positive – through education, effort and a heavy dose of honest self-analysis.

Are you applying this principle to your legal nurse consulting business with your attorney-clients? To increase consulting fees 5-10% every year you have to show up new and better year after year.

According to Geoffrey Colvin in his book Talent Is Overrated: What Really Separates World-Class Performers From Everybody Else, high achievers are not just talented (i.e. have an inborn ability); they might not be talented at all. Is there any real talent involved in being Donald Trump? So what separates highly successful business owners from the rest of the pack? Repetitive, focused and deliberate practice designed to specifically improve performance. You can only improve performance if you know what needs improving (that’s why the honest self-analysis is important). Then you must practice that particular skill.

Another distinction of high achievers – they are able to assess how they’re doing. They don’t need someone to watch over them or push them. The CLNC^® consultant can recognize she’s not answering the attorney’s question quite right and pull it together swiftly. Practice the answers to the interview questions over and over and you appear as an eloquent pro (or at least a practiced pro) to any attorney who meets you for the first time. But that only works if you’re practicing the correct responses. Deliberate practice is worthless without accurate self-evaluation. Do you assess each attorney communication afterwards? I don’t mean obsess over what you should have said. I mean really ask yourself, “Was I succinct?” “Was my communication effective?” “Were my points clear?”

Consciously make practice and assessment a part of your CLNC^® business practice and require the same of your vendors, subcontractors and even attorney-clients. There is no stronger compliment than a vendor, subcontractor or attorney telling you they are better at what they do because of you. You can only do that if you’re working to be the best you.

I recently invested eight months mentoring a staffer through repetitive, deliberate practice. This investment has paid off tens of thousands of dollars. It was time consuming for both of us. We constantly evaluated each step afterwards. Sure, we made a few missteps but we made many, many more improvements and now we have not only a better process but a staffer who cannot only operate independently but can also be an example to others.

Read the article. Better yet, read the book and put practice into practice. You’ll never be the same Certified Legal Nurse Consultant again.

Success Is Inside!

My heartfelt gratitude and appreciation to all the Certified Legal Nurse Consultants who attended our successful 2009 NACLNC^® Conference in San Antonio. Our sell-out gathering was a spectacular event, and I hope you had as much fun as I did. It was great to see and talk with all of you again.

I’m sure you’ve already started to “Move Like a Maverick” for more breakaway success in your CLNC^® practice. Here are just a few tips to get you started as you execute the new unconventional strategies that only CLNC^® mavericks know.

1. Decide on one new CLNC^® service you will provide to every attorney-client. Offer to provide that new service the first time for a discounted rate to get them hooked.
2. Reconnect with your attorney-clients by sending a note to let them know you’ve attended this conference for additional education and to renew your CLNC^® Certification. Remind them that this is your way to better serve them and their clients.
3. Send a news release to your community newspaper announcing your completion of this advanced Certified Legal Nurse Consultant training and renewal of your CLNC^® Certification.
4. Commit now to review your 2009 NACLNC^® Conference textbook and all the meaningful notes you took. Listen to the audio recordings of the conference once a week, once a month and once a year after the conference. Repetition helps you integrate and implement the principles and strategies successfully. With each review, you will hear the information in a new way because you’ll be more experienced. Each time you listen, you’ll generate even better ideas. After each review create three new action steps to propel your CLNC^® business to the next level.
5. Continue your success: mark your calendar and sign up now for the 2010 NACLNC^® Conference where you’ll Take the Stage for Legendary CLNC^® Success in Nashville, Tennessee.

We’ll be posting the 2009 Conference photo gallery on “Vickie’s Blog” soon so be sure to check back.

Success Is Inside!

P.S. Please post your comments and share your favorite personal experience at the NACLNC^® Conference.

How would you rate your passion about your career? What kind of flowers would you send to your legal nurse consulting business? Or send to your nursing job at the hospital, if you’re not yet a Certified Legal Nurse Consultant? Would you send roses, lilies or a tumbleweed?

Do you love what you do? If you went to an amusement arcade and dropped a quarter into one of those machines where you squeeze a pair of grips or a mechanical hand, would your passion rating be “stone cold” or “hot tamale?” Did I hear you say “hot tamale?” Great! But what if you said “stone cold?”

The passionate path isn’t quick and easy. After I became an independent legal nurse consultant, I went to law school at night. I was also consulting with a group of attorneys who, after I graduated, offered me a position as an associate attorney. I graciously and easily declined, thinking, “Why would I want to do that? I’m doing what I love, having more freedom and making more money than any new associate attorney.” A year later a partner at the law firm approached me and said, “Okay, if you won’t come on as an associate, we’re inviting you to be a partner.”

This attractive offer raised the stakes considerably. Suddenly saying yes to my passion wasn’t so easy. I loved consulting with these attorneys, and a partnership would guarantee a bigger and brighter future every year, financially and in other respects.

But after my ego stopped dancing around the room pumping its arm and shouting “Yes!,” I declined the offer. Practicing law was not my passion, even with such ideal conditions. I remember saying to Tom, “There are lawyers who would die for this offer. Am I crazy to turn this down?” Choosing passion paid off big. My passion was so strong that my business soon soared despite my lack of business training or education. I surpassed the law firm’s offer in terms of money, vacation time and flexibility. To this day, I am able to maintain my freedom, continue creating my own financial security and, most of all, enjoy the legal nurse consulting industry I created.

That kind of decision isn’t easy. What’s easy is to compromise, say yes to a lukewarm interest because we, or someone else, think it’s a smarter decision. Live and work your passions and the reward will come.

When you get married, you go into it with the plan of being in the marriage for a long time. Business is a lot like a marriage. It’s a lot of work with ups and downs, fast times and slow times. If you haven’t yet started a business, know that once you do, you’ll spend more time in that career and business than you will in your marriage. We’re often at work more than we are at home with our family.

If you’ve chosen to do something you love, and can be passionate about, you won’t be working for a living, you’ll be living for working, and because you’ll be doing it with joy, you’ll be able to do it a lot longer.

Design your nursing career or legal nurse consulting business to be your passion – the one you love. Choose what you love.

Back in 1990, I was forced to make a choice between money and passion. I chose passion. I’ll be sending my business 12 dozen red roses tomorrow. What will you send your business or career this Valentine’s Day?

Success Is Inside!

Read Part 1.

Obstacles have to be overcome in every economy. What obstacles are you facing now?

Dale: Vickie, my biggest obstacle is time. Particularly trying to squeeze in time to continue marketing every month. I’ve been a CLNC^® consultant for 9½ years, so I don’t have to market at the same level I did in the beginning, but I know that being busy is no justification for not marketing. You taught me to always keep marketing to assure the phone is ringing.

Another challenge during a tough economy is maintaining attorney-client relationships with attorneys who may be dealing with the stress of their clients. Do you have any suggestions?

Dale: One word: communication. In any situation, that’s the factor that enables me to enjoy an excellent relationship with my attorney-clients and to keep them coming back. I’m always a phone call away, and I never let much time pass without being in touch. But more important, anytime I decide to go a different route on a case from what we’ve discussed, or when I have some new ideas, I don’t go forward until I call and talk to my attorney-client. Usually, they’re fine with whatever I’m suggesting as the Certified Legal Nurse Consultant, but they appreciate being kept in the loop. Then, if they get a bigger bill at the end of the month, they’re not startled. Nobody likes surprises of that nature.

Also, if I see something in the record that’s not good for the attorney’s case, I pick up the phone quickly and lay it on the line. It may not be what the attorney wants to hear, but he always appreciates the heads up.

Forging ahead when the world is taking a “wait and see” position shows a very independent and entrepreneurial disposition. How has your independent streak contributed to your CLNC^® success?

Dale: Tremendously. Every day I do what I can to make certain my business is secure, my work is secure, that I have all my ducks in a row and that I have new business coming in. When the world seems to be falling apart around you, everything you do in your legal nurse consulting business takes on a different level of importance. For me, it’s about maintaining what I have and gaining a little too.

What is your best piece of advice to CLNC^® consultants getting started right now?

Dale: My biggest piece of advice is to be prepared for rejection and frustration and to keep plowing ahead. It will pay off. CLNC^® consultants who say, “I’ve spoken to ten attorneys and nobody’s interested,” are going to lose out. Business is a numbers game, and ten attorneys are nothing. Even CLNC^® consultants in rural areas, where attorneys are not as numerous as in cities, can succeed handsomely in their CLNC^® business. You don’t have to market only in your own backyard. You can market anywhere.

In any economy, you need to make a marketing plan and stick to it. Whatever marketing methods you use – whether contacting attorneys in person, on the phone or via mail – be consistent and follow your plan. And always follow up.

Vickie, you always say, “Do what works, not what’s easy.” I’ve known legal nurse consultants who created their marketing packet, mailed them, then sat back and waited for the phone to ring. They were surprised when no one responded. The same thing happened to me. Even when I sent out ten letters and followed up with a phone call, at least half the attorneys said they never received my packet and had no idea who I was. Attorneys, like the rest of us, toss mail they don’t readily recognize.

So I call my attorney-prospects before I mail anything. It takes more time but new CLNC^® consultants should try it.

If you can’t always get through to the attorney, that’s okay; ask for their voice mail. The attorney gets to hear your voice, who you are and why you’re calling. A brief voice mail presentation lets him know that you’re a professional who understands his legal practice. He knows you’ll be sending a packet and that you’ll be following up. I get a much higher success rate when I call first.

Check back on January 16, 2009, for Part 3 – “how income levels change in this economy.”

Success Is Inside!

Let’s face it. Connectivity is king. The more we complain about getting away from things, the more we need to be connected whenever we get away. BlackBerries^® and iPhones^® have made being on the road a little more bearable. But we do need more than just email when we’re out of the office. Sure, those lucky legal nurse consultants who are iPhone users can surf the web, watch YouTube and listen to music, but for the legal nurse consulting “crackberry” users out there – we need the Internet and we need it fast!

What’s a business owner to do? Until recently, laptop owners were forced to limit ourselves to email and if we needed to communicate via a document, we had to boot up and head to Starbucks^®, camp out in the hotel lobby or line up for signal leakage outside the walls of the airline lounges. We’d go anywhere to find a free (or unsecured) wireless network, to get and stay connected. Even worse, in hotels we’re forced to pay high prices for unstable wired or wireless connections. So, what choice do we have? Not much more than to get up and shout, “I’m mad as can be and I’m not gonna take it anymore!”

Well now you don’t have to feel like roadkill on the information superhighway. Today can be your independence day as a CLNC consultant! Head on down to the nearest Verizon wireless store and buy a PC5750 wireless PC card or, to your AT&T store and buy a Sierra Wireless AirCard 881. These slick little Type II cards slide into a PCMCIA slot on your computer (USB models are available and work with MAC and PC) and, once activated, connect you to the Internet at a genuine broadband access rate of speed.

I’ve had a Verizon card for over a year now and it’s worked just about everywhere. I’ve checked email while on the van transfer from the airport, while on the runway (before they shut the cabin door) and even in traffic in the Big Apple (I wasn’t driving). It will free you from the vagaries of hotel wireless. And, best of all, in just about any area where you can get a cell signal, you can get on the Internet.

I recently test-drove the AT&T card and found its connectivity was less than perfect, but they’ve apparently upgraded their 3G network.

One caveat though, is that you have to watch your data transfer. Like many of the broadband providers will soon be doing, both AT&T and Verizon mobile networks have placed a cap on how much data you can transfer (stuff you can download) before you run into an overage charge. Verizon alone offers a low-end service of 50MB of transfer for $40/month and both AT&T and Verizon offer a mega-user service of 5GB of transfer (1,200 songs or 10 hours of video) for $60/month. Both services used to be unlimited but, no longer. Apparently they didn’t realize that people thought unlimited really meant unlimited. My guess is they’ll have to let you access an online meter so you can track how much data transfer you have left before going into overage charges.

Find out which provider has the better coverage in the areas you’ll be likely to use and then set yourself free! The cards can be pricey (there’s a rebate) and service isn’t cheap for a new Certified Legal Nurse Consultant, but if you’re a seasoned road warrior, one of these PC cards may be for you. Try playing one off against the other – remember what I say in my contracts lecture – “Everything is negotiable except your fee.”

There’s a bonus. If it works well at home, and you’re a one-computer CLNC^® business, you may even consider ditching your home broadband service.

Keep on techin’,

Tom

You’ve heard the news: bailouts for this industry, bailouts for that industry, bailouts for everyone except for the honest business woman or man. It seems like you have to be a pretty big crook or a terrible money manager to get a bailout from the government.

This morning, over some healthy green tea, my staff and I discussed what a government bailout might look like for the average entrepreneur:

• A pair of rose-colored glasses to help you to see the financial news in a better light.
• A lottery ticket to give you something for your retirement fund that has better odds than the stock market.
• A used TSA quart-size baggie containing leftover government office supplies (that you and I paid for anyway) such as bent paperclips, broken black binder clamps, stump-ends of staples and an empty bottle of white glue to help keep your business together.
• A roll of duct tape in case the above fails (BTW - here in Texas my friends call it “hunnert-mile-an-hour tape” and you can too - when your business gets rolling again).
• An open, and partially consumed, bottle of Jack Daniels (probably from the Treasury Secretary’s liquor cabinet) to help take your mind off your financial problems.
• A bottle of extra-strength Tylenol^® to help cure the effects of your late-nite discourse with “Gentleman Jack.”
• A bag of generic coffee to give you something to wash down the Tylenol^® that morning and give you the energy to go to work and focus on your business (and not the economy).
• And finally, a Travel Doodle Pro to help you stay in communication with your office after your Blackberry^® account is cancelled.

All of this would arrive postage due, in a damaged box, courtesy of the folks who brought you the sub-prime mortgage crisis and the Big Three bailout.

I’m hoping that it doesn’t come to this, but in a world that’s seeing its first big nursing layoffs, I’m glad I work in what my friend, Dale Barnes, (Check back for an upcoming interview with Dale) calls a recession-proof profession, legal nurse consulting. One thing’s for sure - the stock market may run short of money, but America will never run short of attorneys!

If the government is going to let the auto industry suffer and die, it won’t help entrepreneurs either. Don’t wait for the government to bail you out. Only you can bail yourself out.

Success Is Inside!

Dreams, like angels, can lift us up high above the world, taking us away from the daily grind. And that’s exactly what New Year’s resolutions are designed to help us do – lift us off the ground and guide us to a dream or goal.

But how often do you hear people say, “I gave up on resolutions years ago,” or “The last time I made a New Year’s resolution was when I was in 8th grade,” or “2 weeks into the New Year, those resolutions are blurrier than my thinking after that New Year’s hangover.” I’ve said all three. How about you?

Even without resolutions, we still have dreams. And oh how those dreams lift us up – for a while, until we let them get rusty with no intention and no action behind them. Those same dreams that once lifted us up now show up as failures, and make us so miserable that we’d welcome a strong New Year’s Day hangover as a relief.

Now, I confess I’m not much into resolutions. I’m not much into hangovers either. What I am into is making promises to my dreams – the promise to go for them all the way without any guarantee of success. So instead of making New Year’s resolutions, I make promises that are important enough and smart enough to keep (or break) all year long.

Make just one promise a year and you’re a different person that year and the next and the next. All you have to do is start with just one.

Take a moment to answer these five questions:

• If I earn 25% more income as a Certified Legal Nurse Consultant how would that change my life?
• If I gained 5 hours a week for myself, how would that change my life?
• How do I want to show up in 2009?
• Where do I see my CLNC^® business next year?
• What do my attorney-clients look like in 3 years?

Or, you can ask your own questions that will fulfill your dreams, personal or professional. Writing them down is important.

Next, choose the question that you are most intuitively drawn to. Don’t analyze why you’re drawn to it. Just trust that you are and write an answer to your question. Now create one promise related to the question and the answer you chose. This question and its promise is calling you for a reason – give it a chance.

Finally, create a checklist of measurable, attainable actions you will take to live your promise for 2009 and start with the first one. Check in once a week with both your dreams (which can change) and your promise checklist to assess how you are doing. Keeping your promises will bring you close enough to your dreams to keep them lifted up. Give your dreams wings to fly and they’ll carry you to new heights – personally and professionally.

Honor yourself in 2009 by making and keeping the promises that are worthy of you and your dreams.

Here’s to keeping your dreams lifted up high in 2009.

Success Is Inside!