CLNC business

I’ll be the first to admit it feels good to be right. There’s a comfort, if not outright confidence, in that moral certitude that comes from knowing you are correct in a situation. Recently a vendor and I disagreed over a matter that was objectively verifiable and I knew I was right. It took some effort on my part, but he finally agreed with me.

But when you’re in a relationship, whether it’s business or personal, being right rarely ends with being right. That’s because no one likes to feel that they’re wrong. When you’re right, there’s a right way and a wrong way to be right and a right way to respond when another person has to admit you’re the one who’s right. For example, while it may feel satisfying, annihilating the person or crushing him with the correctness of your position (as I admit I wanted to do in the above situation) is just not an option. And while it can be tough, a certain grace goes a long way if you want to get along with that person in the future.

The next time you’re right in your legal nurse consulting business, take a moment to consider the impact of how you communicate that fact to your attorney-client, subcontractor or MD expert. I’m not suggesting you back down, just that you tone it down and maintain a composed, confident demeanor. Your relationships are much more important than feeling good about being right – though you can still be right at the same time.

Success Is Inside!

Everybody, including me, loves a bargain. While I don’t like to actually bargain, I do like to feel that I’ve received value for my money. If I get that value during a sale or find something I want at a heavily discounted price, I’m happy. But one thing I won’t do is buy cheap at the expense of quality. While cheap may feel like a bargain at the time, it often ends up costing more in replacement costs, repairs or in a state of dissatisfaction.

Ellen Ruppel Shell’s book, Cheap: The High Cost of Discount Culture, explores how much a discount culture really costs society. Extrapolating from her writing, you could determine that discounts and cheap goods are actually lowering our standard of living. Instead of buying higher quality, longer lasting goods such as clothing, home furnishing or even food, people are generally turning to lower-cost and much lower-quality replacements. You can find cheap just about anywhere you look, whether it’s cheap toys that break, cheap big-screen TVs that fail all too quickly or cheap farmed tilapia that has no taste and minimal Omega 3s.

What about your legal nurse consulting business? Are you letting cheap get in the way of your CLNC^® success? There are many ways it can. The first is being intimidated by legal nurse consultants who charge less than you do. Certified Legal Nurse Consultants frequently tell me that their attorney-clients have tried someone who charges less only to find that the low-end work product of the cheaper and inadequately trained legal nurse consultant was useless.

I can’t tell you how often a CLNC^® student will approach me and reluctantly confess that before coming to my program, they’d spent their money on a cheaper program only to find out that as a result they were ill-prepared to enter the field of legal nurse consulting. Depending upon their sense of humor about their loss, I sometimes respond that we’re the Harvard of legal nurse consulting and they picked Jonestown Community College the first time, but no worries – they are now on the path to CLNC^® success.

Other legal nurse consultants will tell me that exhibiting at legal conferences is too expensive. I’ll agree that exhibiting seems expensive, but what’s even more expensive is sitting at home waiting for the phone to ring without actively marketing your legal nurse consulting business. When you consider that a single attorney-client can represent hundreds of thousands of dollars in your lifetime, I believe it’s expensive not to incorporate exhibiting into your marketing strategy.

We frequently review marketing materials for new Certified Legal Nurse Consultants, and I and all of the CLNC^® Mentors instantly detect when someone has designed and printed their own materials in an attempt to cut costs. How many attorney-prospects passed up a consultant because the first impression was cheap?

Websites are another example of cheap that can ultimately be expensive to your legal nurse consulting practice. Tom likes to say that anyone with $3.99/month can create and have a website. I agree and when they do, the website often looks like it cost $3.99. If your website is your billboard on the information superhighway, you want it to be attractive and represent your brand in a professional way. If it doesn’t, you may not even know how many attorneys rejected you outright because you opted for cheap.

Finally, two tips on technology. First when you’re buying equipment for your CLNC^® business, don’t skimp. For example, it’s costly and time-consuming to set up a computer. If it crashes and takes all your legal nurse consulting work-product with it, you’ll quickly learn why people buy from Dell, Apple or other recognized brands. Second, saving money by not subscribing to an online back-up service will save you $60/year – but how much is your legal nurse consulting data stored on your computer worth to you?

Cheap is not always a bargain. Be smart about when and how you choose to be cheap.

Success Is Inside!

Many of you know I share my birthday with my twin brother Vince. (No, we’re not identical, he’s my brother.) When we were teenagers, our parents took us to the local roller-skating rink for our birthday party. All of our friends came and we were soon skating clockwise around the rink, all at different speeds and at different levels of skill.

As you can imagine, Vince and his friends were flying around the rink like the teenage boys they were, trailing testosterone and intentionally zooming in and out among my teenage girlfriends, trying to frighten us, impress us or both.

That is, all the boys but one. Changing the names to protect the relatively innocent, the star athlete, Danny, couldn’t skate. He’d apparently never been on skates before, but to his credit, was gamely shuffling around the outside of the rink with one hand hovering near the safety of the handrail. The girls were all laughing as we zoomed past him!

Then about a half hour into the party, Danny took a fall and to his horror, split his pants from front to back. Now, you’d think that a macho football player would call it quits right there and then. Instead, he stood up, took off his sweater, tied it around his waist to cover the split and got right back to shuffling around the rink. He stayed for the rest of the party and you’d never have guessed from the fun he was having that anything had happened.

To this day I recall with fond memories how much heart Danny showed, not just by taking on something he wasn’t very good at, roller-skating, in front of all his friends who celebrated his athletic prowess, but especially the heart he showed in staying in the game after splitting his pants.

What about you? How much heart do you put into your CLNC^® business even when you split your pants right in front of your attorney-clients? Do you get back up on your CLNC^® skates and get back on the rink or do you sit on the sidelines?

Like a roller rink, legal nurse consulting isn’t always smooth skating. Some days you’ll fly around the rink with your attorney-client’s praise, others you’ll be shuffling along with that difficult case you’re working on and you may even take a fall. But if it starts to get rough, think of Danny shuffling around that rink with his split pants; show some heart and get back on the legal nurse consulting rink. Before you know it you’ll be at the party with your CLNC^® peers.

Here’s the funniest part of this story – Danny went on to become a professional football player with our hometown Saints. But as far as I know he never went skating again.

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!

I just mentored a Certified Legal Nurse Consultant who had completed a project for an attorney. She had not entered into a contract or letter agreement and did not get a retainer before starting the project. After completing the project she had difficulty getting paid for the work she’d done. When she contacted the Institute for mentoring, I asked her to describe her plan for solving this challenge. Her response was, “I guess I’ll just chalk this one up to experience.” That was exactly the WRONG THING TO SAY to me. I was all over that like a goose on a bug.

“No, you don’t chalk it up to experience. No, you don’t write off your time or claim you’re gaining experience just because you ignored the model for success you learned in the CLNC^® Certification Program. That time you want to write off, you will never get back. The time you want to write off would have been better spent solidifying your relationship with your attorney-clients, marketing to grow your CLNC^® business and working on cases for $125 per hour. Lost time is lost money. Sometimes you have to chalk a mistake up to experience, but this is not one of those times. Why? Because you didn’t make a mistake. You consciously chose to do something you knew you should not do. With that conscious decision comes a conscious price you pay.”

I am all for making mistakes (I make at least one every day, sometimes before I even get out of bed). After all people who never make a mistake never make anything. But I am not into making just any mistake – especially not mistakes that are obvious and avoidable. Instead I aim for making intelligent ones. Making a bad choice and expecting a different outcome isn’t a learning experience, it’s insanity.

In the CLNC^® Certification Program I teach that when you do X, you will get Y result. For 27 years I have taken the Xs very seriously and that is why CLNC^® graduates get the enviable results they do. But if you choose to do Z, do not expect to get Y, and you shouldn’t be surprised by the pain either. (Think about a recipe – even growing up in Louisiana we didn’t add crab boil to our lemonade – bad choice – bad result.)

My motto is “Do what is right, not what feels easier at the moment.” And if you are uncertain, go back and review the pertinent portions of the Core Curriculum for Legal Nurse Consulting^® textbook or request mentoring. It’s always better to take the time to prepare in advance than to lose the time, money and possibly an attorney-client because you didn’t.

Make it your goal to only chalk up to experience that which is enriching. This is how you grow yourself and ultimately your CLNC^® business.

To life’s enrichments.

Success Is Inside!

When my father was a kid, he didn’t even know a nickel. He and his friends were penny boys. They couldn’t afford comic books or candy, but they found creative ways to have fun on what they called “the greatest corner in the world.”

Nothing got in the way of their fun. If a skate broke, they’d tear it apart and make a scooter. They’d make their own toys.

My father taught me that fun was what you made it. It wasn’t about spending money, or possessing the latest Barbie. Although, I would have really enjoyed a CEO Barbie. (Wouldn’t that be great, the one that comes complete with her own briefcase, power suit and assistant. “Ken. Get me a cup of coffee. NOW!”)

Even having kids didn’t stop my parents or their friends from enjoying life. When they were married with children, none of them could afford babysitters. No problem. They went out anyway, kids and all, each couple taking turns babysitting in the car while the rest were inside dancing the swing, celebrating life.

When I feel overwhelmed by my responsibilities, I think about how my parents always found time to dance! Happy Father’s Day and thanks Dad, for teaching me how to dance and to appreciate the simple joys of entrepreneurship and my legal nurse consulting education company.

Success Is Inside!

Vickie,

My father is very active politically in our county and surrounding counties. He is well respected and loved. He is going to set up a meeting for me with two prominent judges so I can introduce them to my CLNC^® services. These judges know every attorney in my county. Is it okay to use the judges’ names when speaking with the attorney contacts they provide me?

Debbie, RN, CLNC

Hi Debbie,

Congratulations on being well connected. I always say if you want to build your legal nurse consulting business fast, “ride the horse” of the people you know. Two judges sound like the beginning of a stable of terrific horses. Yes, you will want to use the judges’ names when you are speaking to the attorneys they refer you to. This will give you instant credibility for you and your CLNC^® business and easily get you through the “barn door.”

Be sure to get permission from the judges to use their names when contacting the attorneys. Later, remember to add each attorney you work with to your stable of names – every attorney knows other attorneys, so ride those horses too. Send written thank-you letters to both judges for their time. And take your dad to lunch!

Success Is Inside!

Vickie

About an hour after the photos below were taken, just a block from my home, the street was filled with runners from the Houston Marathon. Over 23,000 participants showed up to run. Some finished in just over two hours while others were still running (or had dropped out) when the six-hour time limit expired.

Before the marathon

Here’s a picture of the front runners at the half way point including the winner, Deriba Merga who collected $45,000 for finishing the marathon in a record time of 2:07:52 beating the previous men’s record of 2:10:04.

You may remember him from the 2008 Olympics marathon. Deriba entered the tunnel of the Bird’s Nest stadium in third place, 50 meters ahead of his Ethiopian teammate, Tsegaye Kebede.

Tom and I were at a friend’s house watching the race. As Deriba came into the stadium I said, “He’s not going to get the medal.” Tom asked “How do you know?” and I pointed out how Deriba was struggling. Sure enough in the last 400 meters, Tsegaye passed him and Deriba finished fourth. It was tragic to watch a world-class runner fade before your eyes and everyone else’s in the Bird’s Nest that day, and be overtaken with the finish line in view.

What does running a marathon have to do with being a Certified Legal Nurse Consultant? In marathons, like business, you have to pace yourself. If you shoot off the starting line too fast, you’ll lose steam and won’t have the energy to finish the race.

The big difference between marathons and legal nurse consulting (all that running for 26+ miles aside) is that in business, there is no finish line. You must keep your pace as long as you want to keep your business. This means that sometimes you run slowly, sometimes you sprint and sometimes you stop and catch your breath. The trick for each of us is to find our pace and keep it. Knowing my pace and sticking to it are two of the reasons I’ve stayed in the legal nurse consulting business since 1982 and the biggest reason I still love my business after 27 years.

I’ve seen legal nurse consultants who start their business full of fire. They market themselves at a sprinter’s pace and then suddenly get tired and quit. Others plug successfully away, day after day after day. Business can be like a Venti^® Peppermint Mocha Twist Frappucinno^® from Starbucks^®. Those 660 calories and 116 grams of carbs (not to mention the 55 mg of caffeine) fire you up and set you off at a sprint. Soon though, you’re in a carb-sag and need a nap. It’s hard to keep the fire burning on artificial stimulants.

For the first week of January our gym, where I’ve been a member for 20 years, is full of newcomers throwing weights around like Arnold and nearly flying off the treadmills and elliptical trainers. By the second week in January, the gym’s back to normal because those newcomers went at it a little too hard at first, got stiff and sore and lost their steam for the long term. I see this in yoga (stretched a little too vigorously the first day back) and in dieting (after a week of steamed broccoli and turkey, a hamburger sounds really good).

Your personal life and your business life are like marathons. The key is to manage the pace at which you run them. You need to pace yourself to maintain your energy level for the long run. For my business, sometimes I go fast, sometimes I go faster and sometimes I stop and smell the sneakers. I do take 12 weeks off each year for renewal time. But even on vacation I keep a certain pace – exercise, diet and sleep. That’s what gives me the energy to keep me in business. Are you running at a pace that will keep you successful in your CLNC^® business or will your pace put you out of business before the finish line?

See you at the CLNC^® finish line!

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