Entrepreneurship

It’s a New Year, the time and opportunity to start new, think new and be new. Time to create new realities for ourselves.

Many of you have contemplated becoming a Certified Legal Nurse Consultant, and may be wondering if, as a nurse, you’re cut out to be an entrepreneur and own your own business. After all, none of us were born entrepreneurs. It’s not like when we were born our moms asked, “Is it a boy or a girl? And the doctor said, “No… it’s a little entrepreneur.”

We often look to outside experts and when I started my legal nurse consulting business in 1982, I wished that nursing school had trained me better for managing a business. Nursing school didn’t offer classes such as marketing, accounting or business management. I wasn’t confident that my nursing education and nursing experience had in any way prepared me to own my own business. However, I soon recognized that nursing gave me most of the answers for successfully starting my own business. I also quickly discovered that I was better trained as an RN than most MBAs are for the world of entrepreneurship. Here are 10 things nursing taught me well about owning a business.

Success Lesson 1 – You Have the Power to Take Control of Your Nursing Career

We all know that patients heal faster when they take control of their health and practice healthy habits. Even the smallest positive action can give a patient a sense of control and empower the healing process. Placebos are proof that if a patient believes he can be healed, his body does the necessary work for him.

You too have the power to practice the healthy habits essential for taking control of your career destiny. Educate yourself about the necessary steps to achieve career health, including new career options like legal nurse consulting. Then take control of your career destiny by taking action on those steps.

Success Lesson 2 – Don’t Give in to Fear

As a nurse, you often treat different patients who have the same progressive disease, yet they experience dramatically different outcomes. We all have known patients who lived years after their predicted demise and other patients who should have lived but didn’t because they gave up. The fact that so many elderly patients die within months of losing a spouse is a sound example of the mind-body connection. In almost every case, the patients who died too soon had given in to their fear.

As Frank Herbert said in Dune “Fear is the mind-killer.” Fear can paralyze you and keep you from making decisions. There’s also a mind-business connection that will influence the health of your business. When I give in to fear, I become the biggest obstacle to my success. Practice mind control and exercise your mind daily for positive thinking. Shake off any lack of confidence and negative thinking. Don’t let fear be the reason you don’t live your career dreams. Always remember the mindset of the patients who live and the patients who die. The good news is that in business as opposed to nursing, bad results usually aren’t fatal.

Success Lesson 3 – Nurses Can Do Anything

If you can make life and death decisions in the middle of the night, heal sick patients and handle life-threatening emergencies as easily as you make your bed in the morning, you really can do anything – especially something as straightforward as starting a legal nurse consulting business. Whenever I face a business crisis, I remind myself, “I’m a nurse and nurses can do anything.” I’ve repeated this same message to myself for every obstacle I’ve had to overcome in my business.

Success Lesson 4 – The Nursing Process Is Your Friend

When I left hospital nursing to pursue my legal nurse consulting business full-time, I thought I could set aside the “nursing process” forever. I couldn’t have been more wrong. Business requires that same process of assessment, diagnosis, planning, implementation and evaluation. Every case you get involved in requires you to assess the possibilities and needs, diagnose the problems, plan how to achieve the goals, implement the plan and evaluate the results.

Your nursing jobs have prepared you well. You can apply the nursing process to any business situation and challenge. You will thank your nursing instructors for this one. Every time you review a medical-related case, interview with an attorney or face a challenge, you will rely on the process they taught you. Today, thanks to the analysis powers I gained from the nursing process, I handle things easily and successfully that would have seemed impossible 28 years ago. Aside from drawing blood, almost none of your nursing experience will be wasted in business.

Success Lesson 5 – Act Quickly and Decisively

As an RN you know that seconds make a difference in patient outcomes. You rarely have lots of time to ponder or brood over a clinical decision. Act as quickly and decisively in your CLNC^® business as you do as a hospital nurse and you will seize the opportunities that slower peers miss out on.

Will you always be correct? No. Will you make mistakes? Yes. But one thing for sure, you’ll never be paralyzed into inaction. Don’t miss your chance to succeed. Act quickly and decisively to grow your CLNC^® business.

Success Lesson 6 – What You Focus on Is Where You Yield Results

Nurses are often overwhelmed by short staffing, heavy caseloads and lack of support from hospital administration. Even the general public knows that working conditions for RNs are worse than ever. We quickly learn to triage and focus on what we need to do to heal patients in this less-than-ideal environment. Nursing taught me that where I focus my time is where I yield results.

That skill comes in handy for legal nurse consultants. It’s as important to triage and prioritize your actions in your CLNC^® business as it is when working with patients. Every day I’m confronted with dozens of challenges, five things that must be done at once, and 20 new creative ideas for my business, but I rarely panic. The organizational and multitasking skills I learned as a nurse have served me well. When you start your CLNC^® business, you will not receive any extra hours in the day. In fact, the days will feel shorter because you’ll be enjoying your newfound freedom. Your ability to focus on what’s really important is the perfect training for your successful CLNC^® business.

Success Lesson 7 – This Is Just Business, It’s Not Cancer

Ministering to patients and family members helps nurses put life, with all its problems and challenges, into perspective. Today when I overreact to a problem or feel I’m in crisis, I think of sick and dying patients. I think, “Now fighting for your life is a REAL problem.”

In business I’ve had lots of ups and downs. When the down moments come, I remind myself, “This is business – not cancer.” This helps me focus positively on solving the problem rather than embarking on a pity party. I’ve thrown plenty of those “parties,” and not only did they not make me feel any better, they never helped me solve a single business problem. As you grow your CLNC^® business, it helps to ask, “So what if that one attorney says no?” or “So what if my favorite attorney-client retires?” and to remember it’s just business, not cancer.

Success Lesson 8 – Illness Can Wake You Up

All nurses have treated some patients who only began to live after they almost died. We’ve all had patients who said they are glad they got sick, because while they were well, they weren’t living the life they wanted. The health crisis forced them to wake up, reassess their lives, decide what was truly important to them and go for it.

If your career is facing a health crisis, this is your opportunity to wake up and change things for the better. Today at work, ask yourself whether your nursing career is healthy and whether your nursing career is affecting your health and well-being. Wake up and remember that there’s always time to make a change for the better – but it’s better to do it now while you can still enjoy the change!

Success Lesson 9 – Business Is Personal

Even though technical skills are vital for nurses, the relationships with patients and their families are usually what matters most. Those relationships pay off. When I was a young nurse, I made a mistake on one of my patients and he knew it. To my surprise the patient requested that I continue to be his nurse despite my error. I attributed his continuing trust to the relationship we had established together.

Just like nursing, business is personal. I have all the technical skills to lead my seminars and run my business. In fact, at this stage I could hand off some of those responsibilities to others. But I still teach every CLNC^® 6-Day Live Certification Program we offer and speak to students daily because those relationships are what I thrive on. No one else could replicate my relationship with each and every nurse. As a result, most of our business comes from referrals by practicing CLNC^® consultants and graduates of Vickie Milazzo Institute.

Legal nurse consulting is a service business where you will apply the same relationship principles you learned in nursing to your attorney-clients and prospects. Provide quality service and excellent work product that no other legal nurse consultant can replicate, and soon you’ll feel like you’re in a short-staffing situation all over again.

Success Lesson 10 – Take a Deep Breath When Managing Your Employees

One more thing I learned, it’s easier to manage an ICU full of patients than a room full of employees! At least you can sedate your patients.

Every lesson I learned from nursing, I apply to my business today. You’ve already learned similar lessons yourself. Take a moment on this New Day of this New Year to revel in everything nursing has taught you. These lessons will help you manifest any dream you desire for 2010 including becoming a CLNC^® consultant.

Success Is Inside!

Karen, Vickie, Reese & Jill at Disney	Vickie and a Fan

My sister and I took my first nephew, Joshua, to Disney 25 years ago. At that time my legal nurse consulting business was only 2 years old. I had a blast seeing Mickey and Minnie through a child’s eyes, but I also noticed that just looking around this innovative enterprise, I was experiencing a crash course in entrepreneurship.

Everywhere I looked I discovered lessons and ideas for my own legal nurse consulting business. And this was a lot more fun than boring business class with a boring instructor who probably had never owned a real business. Thanks to my nephews, I’ve been to Disney more times than I can count.

I just returned from a trip with Josh’s daughter, my great niece Reese, her mom Jill and my sister Karen.

25 years ago I started with the kiddie rides, advanced to the wild ones as the nephews got older and here I am again starting all over with “It’s a Small World.” I can’t wait for Reese to be tall enough for Space Mountain.

The Disney entrepreneurship lessons live on 25 years later and are as valid today for your CLNC^® business as they were for mine when I pioneered the legal nurse consulting profession in 1982.

The Disney Experience

We pay big bucks to Disney to stand in line, long lines, for long periods of time that would challenge even a nurse’s bladder. And we smile while we are doing it. Some are really smiling even after paying extra to jump the line.

The Certified Legal Nurse Consultant Experience

Give your attorney-clients a reason to stand in line and pay big bucks for you and your CLNC^® services. Sure they could get a mediocre report “yesterday” from an untrained or mediocre consultant, but the smart attorneys aren’t searching for the legal nurse consultant who has a lot of free time on her hands. They seek successful Certified Legal Nurse Consultants who are in demand.

At Disney the more successful a ride, the more successful that ride becomes. Success breeds more success and attorneys (like people) only stand in line and pay big bucks to legal nurse consultants who they perceive to be already successful.

If you are successful and deliver superb work product and 5-star customer service, your attorney-clients will be willing to pay bigger bucks to be at the front of your CLNC^® business line.

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!

Jane Hurst, RN, CLNC has become the first international legal nurse consultant, consulting with a Swedish medical device company. Her consulting business has taken her to Sweden and this summer she’ll be presenting on legal nurse consulting and medical device cases at a European conference.

Jane has been a CLNC^® consultant for 17 years. On behalf of more than 6,000 Certified Legal Nurse Consultants and the NACLNC^® Community I’d like to celebrate Jane’s international success.

Wherever there are attorneys, there are opportunities. I challenge all legal nurse consultants to think globally about your legal nurse business and market internationally to take your entrepreneurship to the next level.

Success Is Inside!

Dear President Obama,

Congratulations on becoming the 44th president of the United States. Americans have hired you to manage our country and to fix the economic crisis you have inherited. To accomplish this, you need to act like an entrepreneur – not a politician. Entrepreneurs thrive on crisis, knowing that from the center of it huge opportunities arise for growth and profit.

Break the Succession of Bad Ideas

Entrepreneurs witness their executive managers clinging to their ideas – even bad ones. Once ideas are entrenched it is painful to shake free of them, no matter how harmful they may be to the business. I have had to compel executives to abandon projects in which we invested thousands of dollars and uncountable hours. It is a dirty deed, but it is my job to lead the company in the right direction. Your job, like mine, is to recognize and break the succession of bad ideas.

To right the economy, I recommend you start with the worst idea of all – the bloated, loophole-ridden Tax Code that is unintelligible to even the most expert tax preparers, the IRS itself and especially the small business owner. Just keeping up with my equipment depreciation schedule gives me a migraine. On top of that, thinking about the amount of tax I owe on inventory I haven’t sold, and on accrued income from installment payments I haven’t yet collected, plus the reporting and compliance requirements makes me wonder why I got into business in the first place. Entrepreneurship, like the presidency, is not for the faint of heart. Fortunately for the twenty-five people I employ and the Certified Legal Nurse Consultants I service, my entrepreneurial spirit forges on.

Business cannot thrive on outdated systems, nor can successful entrepreneurs afford to make business more complex than it needs to be. To repair the economy, apply the entrepreneurial art of simplicity by eradicating the Tax Code. Replace it with a simple national sales tax, and eliminate all other taxes, including corporate and individual income, payroll, capital gains and estate taxes. This would wipe out layers of bureaucracy and save taxpayers billions of dollars. Give refunds back to lower income families to keep them whole.

Don’t Stifle Ambition

Americans are greedy and that’s not all bad. Entrepreneurs are too. The desire for more and better drives us to innovate, making us the strongest country in the world. Give entrepreneurs their credit back so that they can focus on what they do best – create jobs, generate income and stimulate the economy.

Aspiring and active business owners who have great credit histories are being denied the credit they need to launch and grow businesses. This unavailability of credit is crippling innovation and productivity. America cannot afford to drive entrepreneurs out of business. Small businesses and the people they employ cannot wait six to twelve months for a trickle of credit.

Give some of that bailout money to the entities that are making loans and make sure that it is used towards affordable loans for entrepreneurs with strong business plans and good credit. Small business creates more jobs than any other sector of the economy. Americans will feel safe to go shopping, buy a new car or invest in a home when the companies they work for are flourishing again.

Stop the Stealing

Americans expect to pay taxes, but we are no longer willing to bankroll the government’s mismanagement and self-interest. It is time to stop the stealing – the excessive, irresponsible spending and ever-increasing federal budgets. Do not make a commodity of the American people who struggle to buy groceries and pump gas. Take the pork away from the pigs.

Entrepreneurs all over America are slashing their budgets by as much as 30% to stay profitable. At my company, if a project cannot justify its budget, it is gone. We budget for results – not for a bigger budget the next year. It is time to skip the buzzwords and feel-good phrases. Americans have heard the rhetoric, now we want results. Prove that you can run our government as lean and clean as a successful entrepreneurial business.

Today when you take office, implement a plan to assure the bailout is handled responsibly and with accountability. The kind of behavior that occurred in the lending industry would never have been tolerated or even possible in a small business. Make sure that individuals benefit from the bailout – not just the companies that created the problems. Use the money for what it was intended for and don’t dilute it with unintended uses and handouts to companies on the fringes of the issue.

Every Act Counts

You have brought hope and inspiration back to the people of the United States. You have four years until your first real performance evaluation. That is a luxury few entrepreneurs enjoy. Even so, you have a responsibility to act quickly and decisively. Make every act count. Then we’ll decide whether or not you get to keep your job as head of the most important business in the world.

Vickie L. Milazzo, RN, MSN, JD