NACLNC

Take the Stage for Legendary CLNC^® Success. That’s right – take it. Don’t just wait for legendary success to happen to you.

You’re probably wondering: “Okay Vickie, how does someone just take what they want? Especially legendary success?” Easy. To have legendary success, you just have to be legendary. Likewise, to be legendary, you have to act legendary. So how do you act legendary?

First, ask yourself what would a CLNC^® legend look like?

How would they walk?
How would they talk to attorneys?
What would their marketing consist of?
What would their work product be?

And most importantly – what would you look like if you were a CLNC^® legend?
Even if to start, you’re only a legend in your own mind. Johnny Cash knew he was a legend long before anyone else knew.

Once you convince yourself that you’re a legend, and really believe it, you’ll find it easy to convince your attorney-prospects that you are indeed legendary. When you go to the attorney’s office, you’ll carry yourself with legendary confidence. You’ll stand apart from the crowd. Soon you’ll be walking out with more cases than you ever imagined.

People associate legendary with successful and so once attorneys perceive you as legendary, they assume you are successful and want you on their team. The more success you have, the more success you will have. That sounds unfair, but it’s true. Attorneys want to win so they want to hang with winners.

Once you’ve landed the attorney as a client, how do you prove that you are authentic – that you are indeed legendary? By being better today than you were yesterday. By being stronger and swifter each day. The same static behaviors day after day and year after year won’t cut it. Remember the definition of insanity? Doing the same behavior over and over again and expecting different results? To get different results, you need to change your behavior. In fact, just to get the same results year after year, you have to change your behavior.

That’s why I love what Geoff Colvin says in his book Talent Is Overrated.
His position is that high achievers are not just talented (i.e. have an inborn ability) – they might not be talented at all.

So what trumps talent? What separates highly successful entrepreneurs from the rest of the pack? Repetitive, focused and deliberate practice designed to specifically improve performance.

Now, if that sounds like hard work – it is. If you’ve ever watched American Idol or Dancing with the Stars you know it’s not always the most talented who advance. It’s the one who puts on the best show who wins. And to put on the best show requires repetitive, focused and deliberate practice.

Another distinction of people who are legendary – they are able to assess for themselves how they’re doing. They don’t need someone to watch over them or push them. You can only improve performance if you know what needs improving. That’s why honest and competent self-analysis is so important. You must act as though you’re on the outside looking in. You’re an active observer of your own actions.

We all know it’s easier to analyze someone else (like our spouse) than to analyze ourself. To analyze yourself objectively is truly a legendary quality. For example: if you’re about to interview with an attorney, you don’t just show up, you apply repetitive, focused and deliberate practice to make that interview the best one yet. Once in the interview, you need to be able to recognize if you’re off target and pull your act together swiftly. You must be able to self-analyze at the very moment something is going wrong, so you can rescue the situation. If you can’t competently self-analyze the situation, not only will you fail in that interview with that attorney, you’ll keep making the same mistakes over and over again in future interviews with other attorneys.

It’s no surprise that people who fail, fail often. And people who succeed, succeed often.

Practicing the answers to interview questions over and over is an important step to mastering your self-analysis skills. But, that only works if you’re practicing the correct responses. Repetitive, focused and deliberate practice is worthless if it’s the wrong practice. Practicing the same bad tennis swing over and over just produces more of a bad tennis swing. At first you need a tennis coach to straighten out your swing. And then you’ll be able to tell for yourself when your swing is off.

As Vince Lombardi said – “Practice doesn’t make perfect. Perfect practice makes perfect.” That’s why you must choose your mentors and advisors carefully. An inept coach doesn’t just fail to help you, they actually help you to fail.

I recently invested 8 months mentoring a woman at the Institute through repetitive, focused and deliberate practice on a job function I wanted her to master. I required her to do the job herself first. Then I gave her feedback so each time she was doing it more and more correctly. Sometimes we don’t know what we don’t know. That’s why the correct mentors are so important to the process of learning how to analyze yourself competently. And I didn’t just give her feedback. At first, I would ask her to tell me what she needed to do differently the next time. I wanted her to analyze herself, before I mentored her. My goal was – she would become me. In other words, it would be like Vickie was standing over her shoulder guiding her every step of the way. I wanted her to be able to assess herself in the same way I would assess her if I were standing there.

It was time consuming, and sometimes painful for both of us, but this investment has paid off in tens of thousands of dollars each year. She still occasionally looks over her shoulder to see if I’m there. And sometimes I am! But not to correct her, just to ask her how her day is going.

I challenge you to apply repetitive, focused and deliberate practice to key parts of your CLNC^® business (such as marketing, report writing or anything significant of your choosing). When you do, you’ll never be the same Certified Legal Nurse Consultant again. Hey! You might even become legendary. Any of you can, because after all, talent IS overrated.

Remember – We Are Nurses and We Can Do Anything^®!
Especially something easy like becoming legendary.

Success Is Inside!

Thanks to all the CLNC® consultants who attended the 2010 National Alliance of Certified Legal Nurse Consultants Conference in Nashville. I so loved hearing how much you learned from our speakers and keynote speaker, Genevieve Bos, editor of Pink magazine and seeing all you gained networking with your CLNC® peers. It was a blast partying with you and Captain “Tom” Sparrow on the river dinner cruise. But my favorite part was getting to talk with so many of you. I love hearing your CLNC® Success Stories and am so energized by them.

Vickie and Genevieve Bos

Enjoy the NACLNC^® Conference photo gallery and the memories it will bring as you Take the Stage for Legendary CLNC^® Success.

Thanks for helping to make the NACLNC^® Conference the amazing event that it was. I’ll see you next year at the 2011 NACLNC^® Conference. Can’t wait to cruise the Eastern Caribbean with you.

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!

On February 4th I gave an assignment for all Certified Legal Nurse Consultants attending the 2009 NACLNC^® Conference to go see the movie Slumdog Millionaire and to identify Jamal’s maverick entrepreneurial moves. For those of you who couldn’t join us in San Antonio, read the brief overview of my conference opening below.

I will start by confessing that the only reason I saw the movie was because of the acclaim it was receiving. Frankly, I didn’t have the high hopes for Slumdog Millionaire that the critics had. It was directed by Danny Boyle and the last movie of his – Trainspotting – I walked out of.

Set in Mumbai, India, Slumdog Millionaire unravels the main character Jamal, who lives in a slum and against all odds, escapes by evolving into a true entrepreneurial maverick. The movie opened with a torture scene and just when I was packing up my popcorn to leave, suddenly the scene switches to Jamal, as a little kid, diving into a filthy toilet, and before I knew it, I’m sitting back down, laughing so hard I’m falling out of my seat.

What made it funny is – it isn’t even a toilet. It’s a squat hole with a 4-foot drop into a pit – filled with you know what.

Locked in the outhouse for this squat hole, Jamal’s first maverick move is when he plunges himself through the squat hole and literally, into the sh*t. Covered head-to-toe with excrement he uses that to his advantage to push his way through a crowd and ask a famous Indian movie star for his autograph.

And some of you are afraid to walk up to an attorney in your best suit and ask for a case.

Then, after losing his mother at age 5, he and his brother survive by scavenging dumps for scrap materials to sell.

You already know that some of the best marketing strategies are free. But when’s the last time you made a maverick move and scavenged your old attorney-clients for new cases?

Soon the brothers are abducted by a gangster who steals children off the street with the plan of maiming them and sending them back out to beg. Jamal doesn’t mind begging – but he’s not about to settle for being maimed, so he and his brother find a maverick way to escape.

Let me ask you, are you settling and accepting something in your CLNC^® business that you shouldn’t?

We next see Jamal stealing shoes at the Taj Mahal to resell in the market.

Overhearing the guides taking tourists around the Taj, Jamal, in another maverick move, promotes himself to self-professed and self-educated tour guide, filling the tourists with facts he makes up as he goes along.

When’s the last time you tackled something that you’re not an expert on? That’s maverick.

As an uneducated young adult, he works as a “tea wallah” delivering refreshments to employees in a call center. A job he uses in true maverick manner to locate his missing brother and, against all odds, to catapult himself onto the Indian version of “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire.”

On the show, the host secretly tells him the answer to a question but he doesn’t trust it. He goes with his gut and this uneducated slumdog chooses a different answer instead – and wins. That’s a true maverick.

When is the last time you ignored someone’s “expert” advice and came out the winner?

Now I’m not advocating you start running scams on your attorney-clients or make uneducated guesses about your cases. We will leave that to your competitors.

What struck me about the movie was the spirit, the life force and the maverick qualities embodied by Jamal. His entire life he faces terrible adversity and yet you don’t see that stopping him.

One door closes in his face and he forces another one open, each time using his life experiences to succeed.

Let me ask you: What would your CLNC^® business be like if you never gave up?

Now I know this is just a movie. But what if you allowed yourself to have Jamal’s maverick entrepreneurial spirit?

Like life, Slumdog Millionaire is not all feel-good. Parts of it are painfully harsh. But in the end, it’s the story of a little boy who teaches you the greatest tools of the entrepreneur – maverick persistence, hope and optimism.

Jamal never gave up hope, never gave up trying and never gave up on himself.

Two of the child-actors in the movie were actually from the slum and ended up, against impossible odds, walking the Red Carpet, spending a day at Disneyland and receiving a hero’s welcome when they returned to Mumbai. If opportunities are there for the slumdog Jamals of the world, why not for you?

This story reminds me that life is meant to be good.

Who wants to be a millionaire?

What’s stopping you?

Go out.

Get started today.

My motto is: We are nurses and we can do anything!

Success Is Inside!

P.S. Thanks again to all for a great Conference. Comment to share your best maverick entrepreneurial techniques you learned from Slumdog Millionaire.

Even though I grew up in New Orleans, I love Texas, where I’ve lived since my college days. I agree with native Texans who say you never have to leave the state to experience what all the other states can offer put together. So, for the students and Certified Legal Nurse Consultants coming to the 2009 NACLNC^® Conference on the San Antonio Riverwalk, March 12-13, 2009, here are just 15 fun ways for you to enjoy your Texas-sized weekend.

1. Stroll the Riverwalk. Almost 2½ miles of footpaths, shade, restaurants, secret gardens and shopping. It’s magical in the evening when the trees are lit up, and your mouth waters from the delicious aromas coming from the fantastic array of restaurants.
2. Have tacos for breakfast. It’s the Texas way to start your day. Spice it up with some chorizo (Mexican sausage). Margaritas are optional.
3. Remember the Alamo! Yes you can’t go to San Antonio without a visit. Make sure you see Davy Crockett’s buckskin vest (bring your own coonskin cap).
4. Visit the Menger Hotel. Have a drink in the bar where Teddy Roosevelt recruited cowboys, cattle rustlers and Texas Rangers to form the Rough Riders he later led to fame in the famous charge up San Juan Hill. Take a wander around the hotel while you’re there – you may see a ghost (even before that drink).
5. Do your souvenir shopping at Market Square. You’ll find all the marimbas, maracas, piñatas, sombreros and coonskin caps you can carry as you walk these fun, pedestrian-only streets.
6. Take a meal at Mi Tierra Cafe y Panaderia. A San Antonio landmark, at least for tourists. It’s a great place to eat your first baby goat (cabrito – a Mexican delicacy). If someone’s already gotten your goat, then go to the panaderia (bakery) for some terrific Mexican-style pastries – a great choice any time of day!
7. Visit the world-famous Buckhorn Saloon and Museum. Proudly serving beer since 1881, it’s also home to the Hall of Texas History Wax Museum. Speaking of horny, it has over 1,200 trophy mounts from more than 500 species and “Old Tex,” the world’s largest mounted longhorn with horns that span eight feet, nine inches.
8. If you have a car, take a potty break at the Toilet-Seat Museum. It’s just ten minutes north of the city and I don’t think I need to say any more.
9. Military nurses might want to visit the Army Medical Department Museum at Fort Sam Houston (just one of four military bases in the San Antone area).
10. Eat a moveable feast by arranging for dinner on any of the barges that float up and down the San Antonio River – it’ll be a night to remember.
11. Think your spouse has big feet? Then go see the world’s largest pair of cowboy boots at the North Star Mall near the airport. At almost 40-feet tall and 20-feet long they’re even bigger than my husband’s feet.
12. Beat the heat with a root beer at Schilo’s Deli that is served in a frosted mug with a frothy head. Schilo’s has been a local destination since 1917. My favorite reason to go there – your second mug is free!
13. Ride to the top of the Tower of the Americas and look out over the beautiful Texas Hill Country – you can even wave to your ground-hugging CLNC^® friends far below.
14. Take a walking tour of San Antonio’s first neighborhood. La Villita is now a thriving art community that stands as a monument to San Antonio’s past.
15. Send your family to Six Flags Fiesta Texas for the day. They can feel like Superman on the Krypton Coaster, beat the heat in the water park or just hang out in the kiddie park. Whatever the age of your children – 5-55, they’ll love it!

Before you set out on your maverick tour of San Antonio, remember to come prepared to keep the pace at the 2009 NACLNC^® Conference.

• Come relaxed and ready to discover new ideas. The NACLNC^® Conference is much more fun when you’re rested, and you’ll learn so much more if you leave your stress behind.

• Pack energy bars, raw nuts and other healthy snacks to maintain your energy. The “Betcha Can’t” margaritas wear off quickly.

• Bring plenty of business cards to swap out with the 1,000 new CLNC^® friends you’ll meet.

• Go online and print the NACLNC^® Conference textbook sessions you plan on attending.

Have a great trip and check back on March 11, 2009 to read my tips on how to Master New Unconventional Strategies During the 2009 NACLNC^® Conference.

Success Is Inside!

P.S. Comment on your favorite fun things to do in San Antonio.

I’ve got an assignment for anyone who plans to attend the 2009 NACLNC^® Conference in San Antonio, March 12-13, 2009.

Between now and March 12th, you must go and see the movie Slumdog Millionaire. That movie won 5 Critics Choice awards, 4 Golden Globes^® and garnered 10 Oscar^® nominations.

Why am I assigning you a movie? This film is full of lessons for beginning, and seasoned, entrepreneurs. It’s a fictional story of the life of an orphan, Jamal Malik, growing up in Mumbai, India, who miraculously appears on the Indian version of “Who Wants to be a Millionaire.”

Here’s the deal. I was reluctant to see the film. The last Danny Boyle film I remember seeing was Trainspotting and I walked out. So, Tom and I went into this one dragging our heels and figuring we’d at least enjoy a big bag of popcorn, if not the movie.

The film didn’t start off too promising, but as soon as the first flashback of young Jamal playing cricket started I was hooked! I don’t rave about movies. Ever. But in this case, I’m raving and I’m challenging every Certified Legal Nurse Consultant planning on attending our NACLNC^® Conference in March to see this movie before you come to San Antonio.

I challenge you to identify all the maverick entrepreneurial techniques Jamal and his brother employ during the film. I will warn you, this movie is a rollercoaster of sights and thoughts that may upset you. If you haven’t been to the third world, this is as close as you need to get. If you have been, you’ll laugh through your tears. In the end though, you’ll be rewarded.

Go see it – take your significant other(s). Hold hands, eat popcorn and enjoy the ride.

Success Is Inside!

P.S. If you identify any entrepreneurial techniques you can apply to your legal nurse consulting business, post them here and we can all discuss them.

P.P.S. Stay for the closing credits – it’s classic Bollywood!

We posted the 2009 NACLNC^® Conference opening video on YouTube…and it’s a RIOT!

My designers turned me into an animated cartoon character getting ready for, and going to the NACLNC^® Conference.

Now, I have traveled all over the world, trained thousands of Certified Legal Nurse Consultants, wrote a bestselling book and even met some celebrities along the way…but I never thought I’d see a little “Cartoon Vickie” being streamed across the world on the Internet.

Just thought I’d share with you since everyone at our office got such a kick out of it.

Let me know what you think!

P.S. That cartoon put me in such a good mood, I’ll take $200.00 off the $800.00 2009 NACLNC^® Conference tuition.
Just give my office a call at 800-880-0944 and tell us you saw the “Cartoon Vickie” to get the $200.00 discount. I’ll keep this offer active until January 12, 2009.

Success Is Inside!