endurance

People tell me that what is even more impressive than the fact that I went from a hospital nurse to owner of a successful business is that I’ve sustained and grown that business for 29 years. Especially since we’ve gone through not just boom times, but also the ugliest recession since the Great Depression.

Managing my business and 23 employees is challenging and potentially exhausting. There’s one of me and 23 of them. When they have problems, they naturally think they’re worse than anyone else’s, but as the boss, their problems are magnified 23 times – plus I’ve got my own problems. I’ll readily admit there are days I might prefer to zap them with an Epi-Kit, defibrillate them back to life, or just holler “Off with their heads!” from the throne in my office.

“Off with their heads” is not a viable option, so I need to have my act together to show up the right way day after day after day. This is no easy task. How do I do it when I do? What’s the secret to my success? It’s actually very simple and every one of you can start doing it for yourselves too.

First, I wake up very early in the morning. No computer, radio or TV. I always love waking up because I do so just for me. Once I’m up, I make the first part of my day all about my development, emotional and physical. Emotional and physical renewal gives me the endurance and the stamina to do the running-a-business-thing day after day after day. I start the first part of my day with two cups of healthy green tea. Over the first cup of tea, I make time for my spiritual development. Over the second cup, I take time to read a book or just sit and connect with me and my passions.

Once the tea is gone and the mind is ready, it’s time to take care of the body so I’m off to the gym or out into our “hood” for a brisk walk. I exercise first thing in the morning because at the end of the day too many things (including me and my lack of motivation) get in the way. Early in my business, I pre-paid for a lot of evening Pilates^® classes that I never made. It took me a year to look reality squarely in the eye and admit I was more likely to exercise if I did it before my office opened.

I’m not saying that every Certified Legal Nurse Consultant has to get up early in the morning. You know yourself and what works best for you – maybe the end of the day is a better time.

The bottom line is that to be our best selves, we need time for ourselves. The key to making your CLNC^® success long-standing is to make sure you make time for your time. This is one of the keys to avoid being a one-hit wonder.

Success Is Inside!

I was referred to an attorney by a medical testifying expert I know. Because of that referral, I got right through to the attorney and thought “this is going to be easy.” I couldn’t have been more wrong. After briefly discussing my CLNC^® services, he responded “I have been doing this for 35 years myself.” I acknowledged his expertise as the attorney and then proceeded to explain how I could save him time and money by screening his cases first before he sent them to expensive MD experts. He didn’t bite.

Not one to give up, I next offered to send him a sample of my work product. He agreed. A week later, I called him to follow up. He was very complimentary of my work product but still didn’t hire me for a case.

I decided to focus on something specific to get his attention, so I mentioned that I frequently attend independent medical exams (IME) for attorneys. I shared that attorneys appreciate my ability to point out inadequacies in the exam. Finally, I got his attention.

Three days later, the attorney contacted me and requested that I attend an IME. I did so, and he was impressed by my evaluation and the things I pointed out that the MD did not do during the IME. He had considered settling the case, but after hearing what I had to say he decided the case was stronger than he originally thought. That single IME led to a case and then another.

I consult on many cases for him and attend all of the IMEs. It took awhile, but he finally saw me for the professional I am and how he benefits from my CLNC^® services. I felt like I had run a marathon, but it was worth it in the end.

Nikki J. Chuml, RNC, FMC, PRN, CLNC is an independent Certified Legal Nurse Consultant in California with more than 25 years of nursing experience. She works as a consulting expert in a variety of specialties and as an OB testifying expert nationwide. Nikki is a CLNC^® Mentor and a guest faculty member for Vickie Milazzo Institute.

When I’m at home, I love being home. There’s nothing better than sleeping in my own bed and enjoying a cup of healthy green tea with my bamboo clicking away outside.

I’m on the road for 9-10 weeks a year for business, and I try to find something to enjoy in each city I visit. Sometimes it’s going back to a favored restaurant or discovering a new “favorite,” visiting with a friend or just taking a walk in a botanical garden after working inside all day at one of our CLNC^® 6-Day Certification Seminars.

When I’m on the East Coast, my business day ends later because my office is an hour behind. Instead of focusing on the late night I’m going to have, I focus on enjoying the extra hour of quiet I’ll get in the morning before my office comes alive, my iPhone starts ringing off the table and the email starts flooding in.

When I’m on the West Coast, my business day starts earlier. Instead of focusing on the fact that my office will start looking for me at 6:00am, I focus on the quiet time I will get at the end of my business day when the office has been long closed. With everyone gone for the day and offline, I have uninterrupted time to go out with speakers and friends, to enjoy dinner, laughter and a healthy glass of red wine together.

I have a love/hate relationship with air travel, an industry that just keeps getting worse. Don’t get me started on airline service, airport food or the TSA pat-downs – I don’t have space in this blog. But when I’m finally in the air where no one can disturb me, I put on my Bose^® headset, play some music on my iPod^®, pop open my laptop and get deep into the rare and cherished uninterrupted work time.

Certified Legal Nurse Consultants who look for the good in every situation, look past any perceived difficulties and look for the silver lining are not only the happiest, they’re also the most successful. Sure, you can focus on the five outstanding, urgent voicemails waiting for you while deadlines loom large, or you can take an optimistic view and see where that takes you. Building tolerance for less than optimal situations builds upon your strength of endurance.

Attorneys come in all shapes and sizes, so it’s only natural that you’ll have favorites and not-so-favorites. When I mentor a CLNC^® consultant who is complaining about an attorney, I’ll counsel that CLNC^® consultant to enjoy the challenge or to find something positive about the attorney and to focus on that trait instead. Sometimes it may be more difficult to find that positive trait than other times, but in the end it will be worth it for your mental health and your Certified Legal Nurse Consulting business. I’m sure you know the saying “Wherever you go, there you are.” You may as well be happy both along the way and when you get to your final destination.

Success Is Inside!

Nurses have the strength of endurance. How else would you get through those 12-hour shifts? You work on your feet, you eat on your feet, you think on your feet. Sure – you get to sit down at least once a shift – when you go to the bathroom. Wait a minute – nurses don’t sit, right? We squat – we ain’t touching nothing. But how do you fuel your endurance when the doctor wants it yesterday, your kids want it today and…your spouse wants it tonight?

Endurance is about having the stamina to do what it takes to succeed. When you are launching and growing your business as a Certified Legal Nurse Consultant, you need endurance. I love working and I don’t mind working long, hard hours full of the challenges inevitable in my legal nurse consulting business. Those hours are easier to endure because I love what I do and also because I reward myself by taking off 12 weeks throughout the year to pursue my passion for hiking and traveling. That’s my payoff and the further I get away from the business to places like Bhutan, the Galapagos, Patagonia and the Arctic Circle, the bigger the payoff.

When I’m off, I’m off. I stay disconnected. My office knows they can reach me if the office is on fire, but they also know I’m not calling in unless I need a ride from the airport. When I return home, the fire for my CLNC^® business blazes just like it did 28 years ago. Fuel your endurance with incremental payoffs as you focus on your big dreams for your legal nurse consulting business. Don’t wait for the big win. Celebrate the small steps and reward yourself all along the way.

It’s not just the final payoff but also the amazing small payoffs you receive along the way that will help you endure the journey to success. Reward yourself, and your family, for the small accomplishments; don’t wait for the big win.

At my company we celebrate more than birthdays and work anniversaries. We’ll stop and celebrate a milestone on a project – such as the completion of a website design or the promotional materials for a new product. We don’t wait until the product hits the market or until we see whether it’s successful. We celebrated the proposal for my book, Inside Every Woman: Using the 10 Strengths You Didn’t Know You Had to Get the Career and Life You Want Now when we submitted it to the publisher. We didn’t know if it would be accepted, but we knew we had put a lot of hard work into that proposal and we were proud of our final work product and a job well done. Sometimes the success is in the middle. I like to celebrate stepping out and going for it. When we define success as going for what we want (regardless of the outcome), we can succeed and celebrate every day. Celebrate the hard work that you’ve done and then celebrate again whether or not things work out the way you wanted.

If your endurance is tested and you’re tempted to give up, remember this: whether you’re building a legal nurse consulting business or working toward a promotion, the ultimate reward goes to those who endure even when the big reward is far in the distance.

Success Is Inside!