If you walked into my office you’d think I didn’t have much work to do. But trust me, I haven’t always been that organized. Years ago I had to hire an outside consultant to come in and help me figure out what was important and what was ready for the landfill. It turned out to be a more monumental task than I expected and taught me a lesson that lasted a lifetime.
After I became a Certified Legal Nurse Consultant I built my attorney-client base from one to four attorney-clients while still working at the hospital. Many weeks I worked 10-15 hours of overtime at my RN job in the ambulatory surgery department. And while this added to my checking account, I felt physically drained, mentally bored and definitely not in control of my nursing career. My CLNC business suffered because my hospital job took priority.
One decision can change the course of your legal nurse consulting business. Kathy Sindoni, RN, BSN, CLNC, shares how simply making the decision to take her CLNC business full time started opening doors to new attorney-clients. This decision catapulted Kathy from a part-time CLNC business to a full-time business.
Congratulations Kathy!
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Successful Certified Legal Nurse Consultants know the power of being focused completely on one thing – and one thing only. But it’s easy to forget what that even feels like with our kids, spouses, attorney-clients, legal nurse consulting cases, email and Facebook friends coming at us 24 hours a day.
Gorilla trekking in Volcanoes National Park in Rwanda reminded me how the power of an empty mind heightens focus. Mountain gorillas are called that for a reason – they live in the mountains, not a zoo. So to see them you have to go where they go. And that meant trekking through a dense rainforest. No trails. Steep ups and downs over slick, muddy ground. It rains there almost every day and the ground reflects it.
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We were blessed with a perfect day – but still the ground was slick from previous rains and it made for treacherous footing. I was totally focused on each and every step. My only concerns – the root I was about to trip over or the muddy patch that I might slip on and slide off the 40-ft drop off.
When we were little we were taught that good students sit in their chairs and don’t move. Those of us who were the most still, got the most gold stars. And those of us who weren’t still – well let’s just say we didn’t get the best marks in conduct.
In 2014 we know, that contrary to those experts, we learn best when we’re on the move. Learning experts have proven that we remember best what we learn at the beginning and at the end of a study session. Therefore it pays to have shorter, more frequent study sessions.
The strategy of being on the move can work for your legal nurse consulting productivity too. How often do you find yourself staring at your computer screen waiting for the insights and words to come? Knowing the attorney’s deadline is looming, you’re hoping the report will write itself if you sit staring at the computer screen long enough.
When you hit the roadblock head-on, that might just be the right time to get up and take a 5-minute walk, stretch or have a cup of healthy green tea. You’ll most likely find the words you’re seeking in those moments of movement.
I’ve always been opinionated and I caught on fast that an RN job inside a hospital was no place for this mouthy, opinionated, New Orleans gal. Opinions helped me birth my legal nurse consulting business, grow the business and thrive in a business that I still love and enjoy 32 years later.
I recently mentored a Certified Legal Nurse Consultant who needed to crank up the level of quality she was delivering to her attorney-clients. She admitted she had gotten a bit too relaxed and wasn’t putting her all into her CLNC work product. She was still delivering decent work, but just not what she was capable of. Her less than stellar work ethic hadn’t yet destroyed her CLNC business, but she was at risk of losing a good thing and she knew it. By the time she contacted LegalNurse.com for mentoring, it was too late for anything less than Vickie-style buck-up advice: “Sounds to me like you’re getting a bit lazy and that you’re not as grateful for your attorney-clients as when you first started consulting. My recommendation is to buckle down, get to work and put yourself into each and every case as though it’s your first.”
Christmas is just five days away and I’m so excited because I get to share it with my 4 ½-year-old niece. Reese is a bundle of energy and joy and her enchanting energy is heightened by the holidays. Remember the excitement you felt as a child on Christmas Eve? Everything was bigger at Christmas – the trees were bigger, the ornaments were bigger and the presents were bigger.
Every Certified Legal Nurse Consultant makes decisions – daily, weekly and hourly. When we worked in the hospital setting many decisions involved matters of life and death. You may not think of the decisions you make for your legal nurse consulting business as a matter of life or death, but that’s where you could be wrong.
All Certified Legal Nurse Consultants and techie-types like the idea of Internet everywhere, but unfortunately it’s really not – yet. Moving around the city of Houston, the country and the world I’m often reminded, sometimes brutally, that when you need the Internet the most, you’re the least likely to find it.
*The opinions and statements made by Vickie Milazzo, the founder of Medical-Legal Consulting Institute, Inc. are based on her experiences and expertise, should not be applied beyond the specific context provided, and do not guaranty or project actual results. Vickie Milazzo is no longer involved in the operations or management of the business, but is involved as an independent education consultant.
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