Goal Setting

Everyone knows that a chain is only as strong as its weakest link. Every Certified Legal Nurse Consultant knows at least one CLNC^® consultant, if not more. If you’ve attended one of our CLNC^® 6-Day Certification Seminars, you’ve made lifelong CLNC^® friends. When you attend the NACLNC^® Annual Conference, you reconnect with CLNC^® consultants from all over the country. But all too often you only do it for those short periods of time. Not everyone capitalizes on their connections to make a strong chain or develop a mini-network.

In this information/communication-driven world of Facebook^®, Twitter^®, Skype^® and the Internet, the only thing holding you back is the lack of a plan. Given the myriad ways we can communicate these days there is nothing, and I mean nothing, stopping any Certified Legal Nurse Consultant from setting up their own CLNC^® Connection Chain (or “CCC” for short).

Set up your CCC in 5 easy steps:

1. Use Darwinian Selection. From your certified, but not certifiable, colleagues pick 5-8 other CLNC^® consultants you respect, who have different specialties than your own and who are in different parts of the country. This is Link 1 in your CCC.
2. Facebook’em Danno. Next, set up your own private group on Facebook and send an invite to each of the Certified Legal Nurse Consultants you’ve identified and ask them to join your group. You now have the second link in your CCC, a place where you and the CLNC^® members of your group can communicate freely and network with each other that doesn’t require any special skill. Remember to set your privacy settings to keep others from seeing your group’s discussions. CCC Link 2 is complete.
3. Get Yourself a Glam-Cam. Your next step is to go out and spend less than $60 and buy a USB web cam with embedded microphone for your computer (unless you’re lucky enough to have an Apple^® laptop or iMac with one built in). Install the camera. (Tom installed mine and claims it’s so simple even a caveman can do it.) Then sign up for the free version of Skype. This will allow you to have weekly video conferences in pairs or in groups with your CCC members. It’s much more fun than telephone conferences and much more rewarding in terms of retying the connections with the other CCCers. You can also use this to check in with your hi-tech attorney-clients. Link 3 checked off.
4. Tweet Like a Tweety-Bird. Join Twitter but be sure to protect your “tweets.” Protecting your tweets allows only those Twitter members you specifically approve to see your tweets. You can still follow Ashton Kutcher, but your tweets will only be seen by those you approve to view them. Use the initiation function of Twitter to send email invitations to your list of CLNC^® colleagues. If you have a texting plan for your smart phone, turn on the mobile tweets function of Twitter and select only those people in your group to update you via cell phone. You can read the rest of the twitterers using Tweetdeck or on Twitter. This way you’ll get texts of important updates from your CCC. Use Twitter to schedule your Skype calls, update your CCC on new attorney-clients or just to tell them what you’re doing. Link 4 in place.
5. Meet Up to Keep Up. When you attend the NACLNC^® Annual Conference, plan on flying in at least two days early to brainstorm with your CCC members. You’ll want to meet before the conference to get your face-to-face time in with your CCC members. Focus on learning from your group and grab new ideas for your legal nurse consulting business so you can rock back and enjoy the conference. Link 5 done and your CLNC^® Connection Chain is ready to pay off big!

Now put your CLNC^® Connection Chain to use. Set accountable and measurable objectives, and share them with your CLNC^® chain members. When you complete an objective, send out a tweet. Schedule at least two Skype calls a month so that everyone can update each other on the steps they’ve taken towards their accountable objectives. Research shows that being accountable to others for the action steps in your strategic plan help you implement them. Celebrate each others’ successes and brainstorm over what went well and what didn’t. This is your private brain trust, exclusive board of directors and personal planning committee – make use of them!

A CLNC^® Connection Chain is a great way to make sure your legal nurse consulting business succeeds. Here’s my challenge to Certified Legal Nurse Consultants – set up your own CCC and put it to the test for 60 days. I’ll be waiting to hear from you when you share with all of us how your CCC has helped your legal nurse consulting business.

Success Is Inside!

A marketing plan without accountability is not much of a plan and is unlikely to get you the attorney-clients you want for your legal nurse consulting business. Accountability is the muscle in your marketing plan. Making a plan without accountable goals is like grabbing for a fistful of rain.

For example, if you set a goal of marketing to five attorney-prospects each week, you could meet that goal without accomplishing any results for your CLNC^® business. While this goal sounds like a good objective, the objective of simply meeting the goal is in no way accountable to you and your CLNC^® business. Instead, you must develop an objective that is accountable to your legal nurse consulting business. That means developing an objective that reaps a result.

Here’s one example of an accountable objective, “I will market to attorneys to obtain one new attorney-client each month.” This results-oriented objective not only propels you to act, but requires you to act until you achieve the desired result. While you’re setting up your accountable objectives, attach a target completion date to each objective and hold yourself accountable for hitting it.

I teach that during the first 30 days of your CLNC^® business the most important thing to do is take action every day to create the habit of acting on your business, but beyond 30 days it’s a mistake to think that just taking action is making progress. The savvy Certified Legal Nurse Consultant knows that when your actions meet accountable objectives you’re truly making progress. Make sure you’re one of the CLNC^® consultants taking action, making progress and not just making plans.

Success Is Inside!

Certified Legal Nurse Consultant David Kuntz

During my career as an ICU nurse, I was always looking for ways to better myself. I took and passed the CCRN exam, but to my dismay I received no recognition from the hospital administrators for this accomplishment. I tried management and found that I was working more hours and getting paid less than the nurses on my unit. Then something happened that changed my career. I tore a ligament in my hand while restraining a patient. I could no longer lift anything over 25 pounds. I was devastated. My ICU nursing career was over. I spent one and half years on light duty and was told that I had to find a different job or the hospital would settle with me. After months of searching, I landed a job in IT as a clinical analyst.

At home after my surgery I had time on my hands, or in my case – hand, so I started to search for different ways to use my nursing knowledge. I came across legal nurse consulting on one of my searches. I spent hours researching legal nurse consulting. The spark was lit and grew with every bad day I had.

It took me five years until I finally decided to just go for it. I enrolled in the CLNC^® Certification Program in July 2009 and immediately started the home-study course. I finished it in a week and was certified the following weekend. I then worked on the NACLNC^® Apprenticeship Program. It took me a little over a week to finish and at that point, I started getting my promotional materials, sample work products and letters refined and ready to send to attorneys.

I started sending out material toward the end of August using all of the techniques I learned from Vickie. One goal that was foremost in my mind was to have a case before I attended the CLNC^® 6-Day Certification Program in October.

I was nervous before I made my first phone call to an attorney, but I kept remembering that they are people just like everyone else and that really calmed me down. In that first call, I introduced myself and gave a brief synopsis of the material I had already sent. I asked for an appointment and the attorney said, “Sure, come in at 4:00pm.”

Now I was really nervous. I looked over the sample interview questions in the online NACLNC^® Community and realized that I knew this information. I met with the attorney and the interview went so well, he is sending me a medical-malpractice case.

Two weeks later, I called another attorney to follow-up on my promotional material. He told me he didn’t receive it, so I presented a short version of how I could assist him. He asked me to set up a meeting with his secretary. The next day I went to his office and he walked into the conference room with a case in his hands and a check for $1,500.00. Inside I was doing cartwheels yet I remained composed until I got in my car and was heading home. The following day I talked with a different attorney and he wants to use me on two cases.

From the end of August to the first week in October, I was able to obtain three attorney-clients.

My first goal was met. I followed what Vickie taught and used her techniques. If everyone follows what they learn in the CLNC^® Certification Program, they will be successful in this business. Vickie and Vickie Milazzo Institute have already done the hard work; all a student has to do is apply what they learn from the CNLC^® Certification Program.

Guest Blogger Profile

David Kuntz, RN, BSN, CLNC has 17 years of nursing experience. He is the owner of David Kuntz and Associates in western New Mexico and specializes in medical malpractice.

I’ve got a confession to make. I’m not hooked on Lost. I don’t know what “frack” means and I’ve never watched American Idol. I used to keep my television in my closet (it was a 12″ black and white) and it wasn’t out of shame – I just didn’t watch TV. Even though we now have one of those state-of-the-art flat screen, surround-sound systems (ask Tom for details), I still don’t watch TV. I will also confess there are a couple of exceptions. I set aside an evening for each of the Grammys^®, Golden Globes^®, Super Bowl^® (for Tom) and the Academy Awards^® as sacrosanct (don’t call me, I won’t answer). But the other 361 days of the year, my TV is off. My Google^® homepage tells me the news headlines and Tom keeps me in the loop. If the world was going to come to an end, my executive team would notify me and ask me to release the Institute employees early so they can go home and prepare (being on the Gulf Coast, I’ve even gotten tsunami warnings). In other words, TV doesn’t play a role in my life – it’s not an early warning system and it’s not a distraction.

Now, on the other extreme, I know legal nurse consultants who live and die by their TVs. Between reruns of Seinfeld, Friends and shows like The Bachelor and Dancing with the Stars, they eat, sleep, relax and work. That’s okay for them and possibly for you. I understand the need to let your mind coast and let your body relax. One of my best friends gets home from work each day in time to watch Oprah – that’s how he (correct, this is not a typo) relaxes. I relax through books, movies, Jacuzzi^®, meditation and a glass of a great red wine.

Let me ask you a question – if you turned your television off for just one night a week and put that time into your legal nurse consulting business, what dividends would it return?

TV is passive. As Zen master Takuan says, “This day will not come again.” Every hour you sit in front of a television you’re accomplishing nothing. Each of those hours is irretrievably lost to you. Sure, the next morning you and your friends can discuss Glee or which of the fifteen hundred versions of CSI had the most fun autopsy scene, but where will that get your legal nurse consulting career?

I challenge all Certified Legal Nurse Consultants to take one day a week and turn off your TV. Put that evening into your legal nurse consulting business. Concentrate on a different aspect of your business each week, marketing, report writing or a new CLNC^® service. See what you’ll reap from that time. You’ll never be able to say “I’m too busy to…” again because you’ll have recovered 2-3 hours of time lost from Lost. If this whole topic is making you nervous, you can always TiVo^® your shows to watch them at a later date (after you’ve accomplished all you want).

If you dare to fully realize the power of this, try taking a week off from the TV. Put that time into your CLNC^® business and your family. You’ll make exponential leaps in both. I warn you though, this powerful practice is not for everyone – it’s only for those who choose to take back their time and make something powerful from it.

Success Is Inside!

Congratulations to Tracy McClelland who shared with me that her income as a Certified Legal Nurse Consultant exceeded her hospital salary in her first year. Now she has exceeded $250,000! I’m confident she’ll reach the high goal she set for herself in the video. Here’s wishing her even further CLNC^® success in advance – you go Tracy!

Success Is Inside!

I have been a nurse almost 26 years, with 24 of those years working in critical care. For most of that time I loved what I did. However, the last six years have been fraught with increasing dissatisfaction with the nursing profession. I grew (in my old age!) intolerant of the toxic, disrespectful atmosphere of hospital nursing. I had increasingly grown tired of physicians, nursing administrators and hospital administrators minimizing my knowledge, experience and contributions. What else was there to do? This was it, right? But, Vickie’s ads for the Institute’s CLNC^® Certification Program caught my attention every month FOR YEARS. I thought, “That must be nice!”

In October 2007, I decided I had to make a move. I hated my job. However, due to circumstances resulting from my husband suffering a work accident, I was financially responsible for my family. I enrolled in Vickie Milazzo Institute’s 40-hour CLNC^® Certification Home-Study Program. My goal was to complete the program, and sit for my CLNC^® Certification Exam by December 2007. Viewing the DVDs, and following along with the textbook was like sitting in the auditorium of a live conference. While I didn’t achieve my goal of CLNC^® Certification in December, I did pass the CLNC^® Certification Exam on March 4, 2008. And two weeks later, I attended my first annual National Alliance of Certified Legal Nurse Consultants Conference.

I returned home from the conference energized and motivated and ready to build my CLNC^® business. But was I really? It was so comfortable to go back to what I knew – going nowhere in hospital nursing. Sure, I developed and mailed marketing folders, but contrary to what Vickie taught, I did not follow-up. In December 2008, I finally placed a follow-up call to an attorney to whom I had sent one of my marketing folders. We met for lunch the next week, and I left with a case. The attorney was a plaintiff attorney from an aggressive, successful firm. His specialty is construction accidents and products liability. I was a wreck. What the heck did I just agree to do? That same afternoon, I emailed questions to the Institute’s CLNC^® Mentors, re-read sections of my Core Curriculum for Legal Nurse Consulting^® textbook, and referred to the many real case reports included with the VIP CLNC^® Business System.

After emailing the attorney my completed report, he responded, “This is way more than I expected. We need to talk.” Again we met for lunch. He asked if I would “take control” of working to create a visual to use in court as demonstrative evidence of the client’s damages. “Absolutely!” I responded. On my ride home, my thoughts were, “Where do I start?” Then I remembered I had a business card from a medical illustrator vendor that exhibited at the NACLNC^® Conference. With a budget of essentially nothing, and a timeframe of just two weeks, I worked with a phenomenal team in Florida to create a 2D presentation of our client’s injuries. The presentation was used during the expert testimony portion early in the trial. On the evening of the fourth day, the defense offered a settlement of $4.5 million.

For the next four months, I continued to work for this attorney. His paralegal would email me that there was a case that needed to be picked up. I would develop the case, and, with great anticipation and excitement, wait for the next email. All the while, I was spending most of my time in a hospital position which exhausted me, both physically and mentally.

Vickie’s words resonated in my head: “Go all in.” Summer was approaching, and it was as good a time as any. I emailed my attorney-client, expressing my desire to consult on more medical-legal cases. He responded by asking me to come down for a meeting as he had “an idea that will work for both of us.” I met with the attorney-client, his paralegal and his secretary. He asked me to be his medical-legal coordinator. “Did you just make up this job title?” I asked. “Yep,” he chuckled.

I maintain a consultant status, but completely manage the medical issues of all the attorney’s cases. My most common CLNC^® services include reviewing medical records and developing chronologies, researching and defining alleged injuries, researching past medical history, calculating pain medication requirements post-injury, working with medical illustrators to create demonstrative evidence, writing comprehensive reports and assisting with discovery. I present possible defenses, and suggest the best expert witnesses. I speak with my attorney-clients at least monthly to just “check-in.” My attorney-clients love this! I also attend trials and depositions.

I took a leave of absence from my job at the hospital for the summer and have not gone back! I worked from the beach all summer! My time was totally my own – I could work at the crack of dawn or after midnight. My goal, by the end of 2009, was to bill $8,000.00 for one month. For December 2009, I billed for $10,000.00! And this was just part time!

I love what I do. I feel appreciated and part of a team again. My nursing knowledge is valued. Thank you, Vickie, for giving me the tools, support and encouragement to be a successful Certified Legal Nurse Consultant. As Vickie says, “We are nurses, and we can do anything!^®”

Guest Blogger Profile

Annmarie Johnson, RN, ASN, CLNC owns and operates Bucks Medical-Legal Consulting. She has been a nurse for 26 years, 24 specializing in critical care. Annmarie’s CLNC^® business specializes in construction accidents and products liability.

My heartfelt gratitude and appreciation to all the Certified Legal Nurse Consultants who attended our successful 2010 NACLNC^® Conference in Nashville. Our sell-out gathering was a spectacular event, and I hope you all 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 “Take the Stage” for more legendary success in your CLNC^® business. Here are just a few tips to get you started as you execute the new unconventional strategies that only CLNC^® legends know.

1. Based on what you learned at the 2010 NACLNC^® Conference, decide on one new CLNC^® service you will provide to every attorney-client. Offer to provide that new CLNC^® 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 the NACLNC^® 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 2010 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 2011 NACLNC^® Conference where you’ll Pirate Your Way to CLNC^® Success as a CLNC^® Consultant of the Caribbean.

Success Is Inside!

In my 2/17 blog “Ditch Unnecessary Complexities in your CLNC^® Business,” I shared the 2010 theme we adopted here at Vickie Milazzo Institute – “Ditch Unnecessary Complexities.”

One strategy to help you with this goal is to ditch perfectionism. As nurses, perfectionism is not only rewarded, it’s expected. You make a mistake and someone can die. I’m sure those kind of mistakes don’t go over well with your boss either (not to mention the patient). But do your internal documents for your legal nurse consulting business have to be so perfect? Misguided perfectionism can keep you from stepping out and going for the big things for your CLNC^® business or it can rob you of enjoying your business and your life.

I am surrounded by perfectionists (lots of Virgos) at Vickie Milazzo Institute and I often suffer from the perfectionism obsession myself. Ten drafts of a document is not uncommon. Over the years, we’ve had to acknowledge that perfectionism is important for the big things that count (like a report for your attorney-client) but can actually detract us from the big important things when we apply it to the small insignificant tasks that we all have to do. The advent of computers has made this problem worse than ever. In the old days of typewriters, it was difficult to revise and reprint a document and people were very careful about making revisions. Today, we can move a comma or a line of type and reprint it to our heart’s content without even questioning the gain.

Growing up in New Orleans, Louis Armstrong was an icon. I often think if he had been a perfectionist, we would never have heard him sing “What a Wonderful World.” The great Satchmo came close to perfection as a trumpet player, but his voice, his unique, gravelly voice was certainly untraditional – sometimes not hitting any recognizable notes, sometimes incomprehensible, but ALL THE TIME – his own unique expression of his interpretation of the music.  And it wouldn’t BE such a wonderful world without THAT song.

If you think about it, when you’re demanding perfection on the wrong stuff as a legal nurse consultant, you too miss notes, high and low. Then, instead of moving on, you’re sidelined by rejection or imperfection. Now, instead of looking at your attorney-prospect list, you’re looking in the refrigerator. And guess what? Unless you work in the morgue, there are no attorneys in the refrigerator!

Think back to the first attorney who said no to you. Is that so important today? Can you even remember that attorney’s name?

Ditch perfectionism! Lighten up when you pick up the phone for that next attorney call or write that next report. If you don’t get that perfect case, or your perfect attorney-client doesn’t give you those perfect glowing reviews, don’t give up… That’s nothing more than a perfect experience to learn from.

Only you can properly assess where it’s okay to ditch perfectionism in your CLNC^® business, but do make it a goal. When you ditch perfectionism, you free yourself to spend time on the important and BIG things that will propel your legal nurse consulting business to the next level and keep those attorney-clients coming your way.

Success Is Inside!

Every year we adopt a new business theme at Vickie Milazzo Institute. Some previous examples are “Let It Go” and “Move Like a Maverick.” All year long we have a lot of fun with the theme, but more important, we use the theme to challenge how we think and how we do business. The staff especially enjoys reminding me of the theme to persuade me of their position on issues. I think “Let it Go” was my staff’s all-time favorite and quickly became the catch-phrase any time something was a little bit off or I found a mistake or error. I was definitely ready to let that theme go!

This year’s theme is “Ditch Unnecessary Complexities.” Complexity in and of itself is not negative. In fact, because what we do at the Institute is complex, copycats cannot replicate the quality of what we offer to Certified Legal Nurse Consultants and CLNC^® students.

As a Certified Legal Nurse Consultant when you write a report and analysis for a medical-malpractice case, you expect your report to have a level of complexity that cannot be replicated by a nurse who has not been trained as a CLNC^® consultant.

But in both your business and mine, this is a good year to eliminate unnecessary complexities that creep into our CLNC^® businesses and are accepted without question or thought.

At a recent Vickie Milazzo Institute staff brainstorm, I asked the staff to help identify unnecessary complexities with the focus on being more efficient, cutting costs and eliminating a process or procedure that is no longer needed. Together they identified 48 of them for 2010. Of course we triaged the most important ones to tackle first, but many required very little effort.

You can do this for your CLNC^® business by raising your consciousness and asking yourself the following questions:

1. “Am I doing something that I no longer need to be doing?”
2. “Why exactly are we doing it this way? Is it simply because that’s the way we’ve always done it?”
3. “Am I doing something that gives me little or no payoff?”
4. “Can I simplify this process?”
5. “Does technology exist to automate or simplify this process?”
6. “Is there not just an easier way, but a better and faster way to accomplish this goal?”

In 2010, let’s commit to focus on the core purpose of our CLNC^® businesses – i.e. servicing our clients and producing the best quality product by freeing ourselves from unnecessary complexities. The time we save can be used to improve other processes or, just to improve our lives outside of our legal nurse consulting businesses. Once you’ve completed this process for your CLNC^® business, consider trying it in your home – just don’t let your family in on “let it go!”

Success Is Inside!

There’s a movie called Pirate Radio about the “offshore” radio stations that broadcast rock and roll and pop music into England. This movie has one of the best soundtracks I’ve heard in years and I asked Tom to put a copy in my Christmas stocking (I’m listening to it now). The movie is about the antics of one of the merry bands of radio pirates who floated on ships just outside of England’s territorial waters and blasted rock and roll music to the British public.

Believe it or not, in the ‘60s the BBC restricted the types of music the British could hear over the radio. In response, these rollicking and swinging bands of pirate entrepreneurs took it upon themselves to fill a gap in the radio market. The featured ship experienced smooth sailing until it hit a business “iceberg” and the ship sunk.

While the Pirate Radio ship did not sink from an iceberg, it did sink. This movie got Tom and me talking about the traveling Titanic artifact exhibition we have seen and the timeless and valuable business lessons Certified Legal Nurse Consultants can learn from the tragic events of the Titanic 90 years ago (besides the value of being onboard with Leonardo DiCaprio).

Your Business Is a Treasure

You enter the Titanic exhibit through a dimly lit room and walk past a large model of the ship as it sits today, broken and rusting on the bottom of the North Atlantic surrounded by treasures that have come to rest on the bed of the ocean. Here, on the museum floor, sit two rows of dishes half buried in sand – the wooden crate they were stored in long ago eaten away by the ocean. Over there is a crushed light fixture from the ceiling of a stateroom and here sits a ceramic sink, all recovered from the debris field surrounding the great ship. A hidden speaker system plays submarine sounds, adding to the chilling undersea effect and setting the mood for the exhibit to come.

Business Lesson #1 – One day you will retire. How will you remember your CLNC^® business – as a failure or as a success story? Will your mistakes become Titanic-size failures or will you learn from them and make corrections? Will something good come from the business treasures revealed by lessons learned? Amazing lessons lead to a new and higher levels of success for your legal nurse consulting business.

You Bear the Captain’s Burden of Trust

In the next exhibit room you see photographs of the passengers and crew. The black and white photos show stern looking men and women, sweet, well-dressed children, proud sailors and crew members. None had any idea of the tragedy ahead of them. They believed the ship was unsinkable and trusted in the White Star Line and their captain. In fact, the captain’s reputation was so strong that several of the passengers refused to sail with anyone else, booking passage only on ships under his command.

Business Lesson #2 – Your job is to steer your CLNC^® business ship wisely and to lead wisely. Outstanding leadership and knowledge will give you a ship full of loyal, trusting attorney-clients not to mention CLNC^® subcontractors and employees. Never betray their trust. One betrayal of trust can sink the business relationship. It may not be the Titanic, but when you consider that a single attorney-client can be worth hundreds of thousands of dollars to you, that’s a lot of gold left at the bottom of the ocean. Your subcontractors are needed to help keep your ship on course and making “all possible speed.”

Technology Doesn’t Guarantee Success

Next you see a large photo of the room where the Titanic was designed, along with shots of the ship under construction. It took 3½ years to build this engineering marvel, the largest ship of its day. Revolutionary advances in ship and engine design were developed to make the Titanic unsinkable.

Business Lesson #3 – You can create a modern, state-of-the-art business enterprise using every technology available, but as much as I love technology, it is only an aid. Attorneys need strong analysis to keep their cases from sinking. All the computers, software, smartphones, etc. are tools to be used, not substitutes for critical thinking and communication.

Glitz and Glamour Are Only Skin Deep

The exhibit recreates the level of comfort first-class passengers enjoyed:

1. Full-size staterooms, the largest, most comfortable rooms ever built on a ship, complete with running water and electric lights, a rarity in 1912.
2. A Parisian café, along with gourmet menus and manifests showing the diverse array of fresh and exotic foodstuffs stocked on board.
3. The grand wooden staircase with ballroom music playing in the background and a rescued cherub bearing witness to the ship’s former glory.

In today’s dollars, a first-class ticket would have cost as much as $78,000. The passengers truly sailed in luxury never before seen on a ship, yet, the Titanic was rushed into service and not all its systems and services had been tested. The opulence belied hidden problems.

Business Lesson #4 – The first impression is so powerful that you want every aspect of your legal nurse consulting business to look good. To an outsider your business may look solid and even glamorous. But as the captain of your ship, only you know where your weaknesses lie. For example, are your medical-related case reports filled with substance or just appear glitzy? As long as you can identify weaknesses and remedy them, you can still maintain the glitz and glamour. Ask for feedback from your clients and do some self-analysis of your work – nothing is perfect (just ask your spouse) and everything can be improved upon.

Stay on the Lookout for Icebergs

In the next starkly lit room, you step out onto the deck and feel the chill of the night air. A 30-foot-long mountain of ice dominates your view. You can press your hand into the side to feel the chill of the ice and start thinking about the coldness of the waters. The recovered ship’s bell hanging nearby rings suddenly, loud and clear, and you hear a lookout shout, “Iceberg!” You learn that in the rush to prepare the ship for sailing, neither lookout could find his binoculars, a fatal error.

Business Lesson #5 – No matter how many times you cruise the seas – even while tending to your attorney-clients’ every need – you must always be on the lookout. Don’t get lost in the details of running your CLNC^® business or creating the glitz and glitter. You can easily lose sight of what’s ahead and forget to watch where you are going or what icebergs may await you. To stay on alert you need to keep one eye on the future, one eye on the past and one on the present.

You Don’t Have to Hit the Iceberg Head-On

The Titanic’s collision with the iceberg wasn’t head-on. Instead the berg glanced along the side, tearing a gash no wider than three inches in six watertight compartments. The ship was designed to float with as many as four of these compartments flooded. But six flooded almost simultaneously, dooming the ship. With a harder collision, even a head-on blow, or a crash tearing one large hole across two compartments, the ship would have survived.

Business Lesson #6 – Don’t underestimate the small problems. Even a small amount of damage can have catastrophic effects. You may plan for a major catastrophe, but the cumulative effect of smaller injuries can sink your business as surely as a giant iceberg.

There Are Icebergs Everywhere

The Titanic sailed for only two days before striking the iceberg. After 3½ years in design and construction, it took less than 3½ hours for the ship to go down.

Business Lesson #7 – No matter how long you spend building your business, it is important to be alert at all times. Icebergs are plentiful.

Have Your Lifeboat Ready at All Times

Leaving the iceberg, you move to the next room and you are quickly sobered by the personalization of this tragedy with the lists of names, photographs and artifacts from the passengers. In the haste, some lifeboats were launched nearly empty. Some were over-full. There were far too few lifeboat seats for the number of passengers and crew. People who fell into the ocean lived less than 10 minutes due to the extreme cold. At least one lifeboat tipped over, saving only those lucky enough and strong enough to climb out of the freezing water and cling to the capsized boat.

Business Lesson #8 – You must always have enough lifeboats and be prepared with an alternative if you run out. Today’s lifeboats are self-righting – but you still need to be strong enough to climb out of the water. In business terms, this means you need not only a viable emergency or contingency plan that you can easily activate, but also the ability to survive for the duration of the emergency.

Rescue Your Best Attorney-Clients First

In most cases men chivalrously stood aside as women and children were put into the boats. The highest percentage of survivors were from the first-class section. Proportionately fewer second- and third-class passengers survived. Passenger class was determined by the cost of the ticket, and hence by the passenger’s wealth. (Incidentally, two rich passengers traveled in third class to hide their wealth, and both were lost.)

Business Lesson #9 – Take care of your best attorney-clients first, but don’t forget your occasional attorney-client. Your best clients are the ones you’ll need most and a show of loyalty here can take you far. But all attorneys, big and small add value to your company so make sure that your level and quality of service is constant across all your attorney-clients.

Icebergs Lead to Improvements

The sinking of the Titanic triggered a congressional inquiry (even back in 1912). A lot of fingers were pointed, and the rules of shipbuilding were changed forever. None of this helped those who went down with the ship although future passengers enjoyed a higher level of safety.

Business Lesson #10 – Rules can and will be changed after mistakes are made from hitting icebergs. If you’re not out there making mistakes, you’re not making any progress. Each mistake is a learning opportunity that will make your business better – if you take the time to learn from your mistakes and not just shrug them off as “experience.”

It’s Okay to Hit Icebergs

The last business lesson is the most dramatic of all. The Titanic wouldn’t have sunk if it hadn’t sailed. If you never leave the dock, you’ll never hit an iceberg – but you’ll also miss the thrills of the voyage.

Business Lesson #11 – You have to sail before you can fail. If you hit an iceberg while you’re working, at least you’ll have the chance to keep your business afloat. If you never leave the dock, you’ll never have a legal nurse consulting business to keep afloat.

Some businesses sink on the drafting board because they never get built. The owners spend more time getting ready than they spend on marketing. One CLNC^® consultant kept her business in the planning stages for four months because she wasn’t happy with the company name she had selected – and she finally went with the original name she had chosen. She might have missed a lot of icebergs in four months, but she also didn’t win any attorney-clients. As hockey legend Wayne Gretzky once said, “You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.”

No business is unsinkable – but there are steps you can take to watch out for icebergs. Personally, I’d much rather try and fail than never try at all. I’ve made my share of mistakes and I’ve hit my own large iceberg. My business didn’t sink and I stayed afloat, thankfully I had the necessary lifeboats and contingency plans in place and acted quickly on them. The iceberg knocked me off course and led me on a journey that would change my business and the nursing profession forever. In fact, if I had missed the iceberg, I probably would have kept going in my original direction. Then you wouldn’t be reading this blog, and thousands of RNs who are now successful CLNC^® consultants would instead be battling healthcare facility icebergs daily.

Full steam ahead, lookouts to the crow’s nest!