I told my business partner that this year we’d break the $1-million mark and we topped that million-dollar goal by $3,000. It was exciting.
My CLNC® Certification Helped Push My Legal Nurse Consulting Business Past the $1-Million Mark
by Joy Barry, RN, MEd, CLNC
When I was a young girl, my family owned a nursing home, so I had a lot of experience with elder care and end-of-life care. I’ve been in long term care, elder care, end-of-life care and holistic nursing for 25 years, and during that time became director of nursing for a nursing home. When I made the transition into hospice care, I was able to draw on all my previous nursing experience. I went on to earn my master’s degree and became CEO of a large, successful hospice program in the Southwest.
Owning my own company was a natural evolution. Today, I’m a full partner in a hospice consulting company that provides both products and services to hospices nationally. When I joined the company in 2000, it was just me and my business partner in a home-based office. We now have a staff of six.
We help hospices with claim denials and fraud investigations by reviewing medical records to evaluate eligibility. Our most exciting assignments have been Medicare antitrust suits, and fraud and abuse suits. We also participated in creating one of the first national corporate integrity agreements for hospice providers.
LegalNurse.com Equipped Me with the Skills and Confidence to Exceed My $1-Million Goal
Last year, I became a Certified Legal Nurse Consultant. The CLNC® Certification Program gave me the skill and confidence to speak with attorneys, and to market myself and my expertise, as well as my company.
The Institute taught me the importance of putting my message out there. The training also equipped me to discern how I can provide what the attorney needs. They helped me sharpen my skills at determining the merits of a case for either plaintiff or defense. I now know I can provide the best possible CLNC services to my attorney-clients, regardless of which side of the aisle they’re on.
I have also benefited from the CLNC Mentors. When I came up against questions and wasn’t certain about the answers, I contacted the Institute. I have been very impressed with the responsiveness of the staff at LegalNurse.com and with the CLNC Mentors.
2006 was our first $1-million year. At the beginning of that year I told my business partner that this was the year we’d break the $1-million mark. She didn’t believe me, but all year, I kept saying it. On the last business day of 2006, she came into my office and said, “We didn’t do it.” The mail had come for the day, we had no more deposits to make, and we were just shy of $1 million. Then at 4:00pm, we got a FedEx delivery. A client paid a $40,000 invoice, and we topped that million-dollar goal by $3,000. It was a very exciting day.
When I Took a Step Toward My Dreams, My Dreams Moved Closer to Me
When I started in nursing school 25 years ago, I realized that the nursing process we were taught could apply to anything we do. You do a thorough assessment and make a plan, then you intervene by implementing your plan and evaluate by checking back to see if there’s anything else you can learn or improve. That’s how you achieve any goal. I’ve taken that part of my nursing training with me in all avenues of my life. It’s with this background that achieving a million-dollar legal nurse consulting business was within my grasp — and I believe is in the grasp of any RN.
I also believe in the Institute’s philosophy of “leap and the net will appear.” Being fear-based for much of my life, I saw how I held myself back from reaching goals. The Institute taught me not to live a fear-based life, but to discover what I want to achieve and to go for it.
Seven years ago when I first started with my business partner, I couldn’t have told you that today I’d be working with six staff members, but here I am. I can’t convey how exciting that is. I have an amazing job and I have many, many blessings in my life as a result of becoming a CLNC consultant, stepping into my authentic self and not hiding from my dreams. When I make those dreams concrete, when I put them on paper, claim them and take that one small step each day, as the Institute taught, I move closer to my dreams, but my dreams also move closer to me. You pledge to take those steps, and before you know it, you’re there.
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