Tracey: Thank you, it’s my pleasure.

Vickie: Tracey, what got you motivated to become a Certified Legal Nurse Consultant?

Tracey: It’s always been in the back of my head because right after nursing school I started receiving emails from LegalNurse.com. Then I ended up having a lot of political issues in the hospital, and I decided just to go out on my own. Legal nurse consulting was the perfect place to go.

Vickie:  A great way to stay within nursing, not give up all that knowledge and expertise that you have, but get to do something different.

Tracey: Absolutely.

Vickie: I think you chose right. Did you have any fears in getting started and, if yes, how did you overcome those fears?

Tracey:  A little bit, because you are taking away from making a salary to going completely out on your own. Luckily, I had great support with my family and they were ready to for me to do it. I just went in feet first. While I don’t have a ton of fears, that money thing is always a fear.

Vickie: But feet first! That’s one of my favorite promises: Go for it or reject it outright. Go for what you want . Do you have any favorite ways of obtaining attorney-clients?

Tracey: My favorite is actually just listening to other people, because when you’re paying attention you actually hear people talk about a family member who is an attorney or paralegal. I’m able have a conversation, and then turn that into business.

Vickie: Has that happened recently?

Tracey: Recently, I was at a salon getting a mani-pedi and I was talking to a woman and she mentioned that her husband was an attorney. It turned out she is a paralegal who works with six attorneys and her husband and mother are also medical malpractice attorneys.

Vickie: That’s a great strategy. Networking with anybody and everybody that comes within three feet of you.

Tracey: Absolutely.

Vickie: You had mentioned offline that you are now the first non-attorney CLNC® member of the New Mexico Women’s Bar Association. Congratulations!

Tracey: Thank you. It’s exciting because my first attorney is now the president of the New Mexico Women’s Bar Association. They had never had someone outside of an attorney join them. She mentioned, “We’re all women, we’re all professionals and we all work in the legal sense.” And I thought, “I’m a woman, I’m a professional and I work in the legal sense too, so I’m not a salesperson. I’m actually there to help you guys.” So that actually turned into me becoming the first CLNC member.

Vickie: Congratulations. And for everyone listening, there are a number of Certified Legal Nurse Consultants in other states that do join the bar associations and many of the bar associations at the state level do allow non-members to join. It’s a great way to get to network with these attorneys and to meet them in a in a different kind of way; as you’re suggesting a non-salesy-type of manner. I know that you’re working full time. What kinds of cases do you consult on?

Tracey: I specialize in medical malpractice, personal injury and products liability. But, I also do (every once in a while) workers’ compensation

Vickie: With personal injury, workers’ comp and products liability, what do you do differently than you might do for attorneys with the medical malpractice cases?

Tracey: I’m focusing on the cost more than anything else. Does it link to whatever we’re doing? For instance, I recently had a workers’ comp case and I was on the defendant side. The links to his injuries versus how it supposedly happened didn’t match up, so it was easy to win that case.

Vickie: A big role for Certified Legal Nurse Consultants in non-medical malpractice cases is helping the attorney understand the injuries that are being alleged as a result of the incident and were those injuries caused by the incident that’s being alleged. What does a typical day look like for you?

Tracey: First I come in and check all the emails. I’m usually working on one or two cases at a time. Once I get past a certain point, I’m also going out networking. I see at least one or two attorneys every single day to build those cases. New Mexico is a very large, small city, so everybody knows each other. Even marketing to one attorney multiple times and touching them multiple times didn’t get me that, but then as soon as somebody else says my name, it’s funny how quickly they call and they go, “Oh yeah, we have her information. We’ve met her.”

Vickie: By getting out there, even if that attorney doesn’t hire you today, your name is out there. They might hire you a month from today or a year from today. I know you’re working full time as a consultant. What would you attribute your success to? What types of traits or characteristics?

Tracey: My ability to talk to anyone and not be afraid to talk to anyone. And I don’t take no for an answer. They can tell me no, and I’m still going to come back in and drop off cookies, pastries or my business cards.

Vickie: You’re a people person so that’s very helpful. Any advice for an RN listening who’s not as extroverted as you are?

Tracey: Take a breath, walk into the place and tell them who you are. It’s those little things, those little touches that make all the difference.

Vickie: Just being okay with somebody saying no to you is important. I was really excited to learn that you are about to hire your first CLNC employee and I’m curious what are your goals for your employee? And in relationship to your business, what are your business goals in hiring this person?

Tracey: I was not actually going to hire anyone and thought I could do everything on my own. However, she came to me and I’m like, “Okay let’s see what we can do.” She’s actually in Ohio and I’m helping her build her business. She wants to work part time, but eventually make it so that she doesn’t have to work in case management, which I find a very good field to come into this. She is probably within six months of going out on her own. Plus I’m doing some other marketing that will help her if I get too many cases or go on vacation. It’s kind of nice that I can call her.

Vickie: Is she actually your employee?

Tracey: Yes, she is my employee.

Vickie: Perfect, congratulations. Tracey, what do you love most about your CLNC business?

Tracey: I like finding the one or two little things that are going to make a difference in the case. As soon as you latch on to those one or two things, when you’re going down the right path, it’s easy to get off, as you’ve said in class. But when you’re focusing on it, you find these one or two little things that really nail that case. On one med-mal case that I’m working on right now, finding that they did not put the pathology of a bone biopsy in the case and then they redacted a bunch, so the attorney was like, “I thought it was in there.” and I go, “Trust me. I went through this case about eight times, looking for that specific document.” They were able to get that. They’re about ready to settle on this case because of that one document and linking everything else back.

Vickie: Congratulations! You like that detective work?

Tracey: Absolutely!

Vickie: How has your CLNC business changed your personal life?

Tracey: What’s nice is that I am able to have a little bit more freedom. If I need to run and do something or just do something for myself I’m able to do it without too much of a of a hassle, like taking time off or anything like that. I just went on vacation and I was able to still work. So I was in Mexico and actually able to do business.

Vickie: Fantastic. I hope you took time to relax.

Tracey: I did.

Vickie: I hear this from a lot of Certified Nurse Consultants, that they just love the flexibility. Because a lot of times, when you’re working for somebody else, even if you love your job, you’re not necessarily going to have that flexibility, as you’re suggesting, to take time off in the middle of the week if you feel like it, or to work a 4-hour day, instead of a 12-hour shift or to take a vacation when you feel like it. You work independently. You’ve also worked inside of healthcare. What’s different about the two?

Tracey: The difference is that you have a little bit more freedom, because as long as you get your work done, you’re good. I miss having my best friend sitting here and being able to talk to people, however I now have an employee and a retired sister that’s a nurse to be able to bounce different things off of. And then I can always get a CLNC Mentor to help me. But the biggest part is the politics that go on in the hospital or any office. It’s that back and forth and it has nothing to do with work. Now I only argue with me, myself and I, and I usually agree with that.

Vickie: So you don’t miss the politics. I’m with you.

Tracey: No, not at all.

Vickie: Tracey what is your definition of success?

Tracey: Having my bills paid. My goal within the next six months is to be debt free, except for the house. I’m close. And then to have money in the bank and be able to travel and have a comfortable life.

Vickie: So financial independence, that’s a great goal. Congratulations and I wish you even more success. Thank you so much.

Tracey: Thank you very much Vickie.

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