I recently mentored a Certified Legal Nurse Consultant who has no problem getting attorney-clients. Her problem is keeping up with her successful marketing and the loads of cases that go with it. Failure to provide consistently excellent work product has caused one of her attorney-clients to go elsewhere.
When I mentor Certified Legal Nurse Consultants, most recognize and appreciate the 32 years of legal nurse consulting and business experience I bring to their issue. Most listen carefully and act on my advice.
I’m grateful that I left my hospital job in 1983 to pursue my legal nurse consulting business full time. After reading the heart wrenching stories and experiences of stressed out RNs from LegalNurse.com’s National Nurses’ Stress Survey and the deplorable, dare I say Dickensian, conditions they suffer in healthcare facilities, I shudder at the thought of who I would have become if I had chosen to stay put in the hospital, so many years ago.
I have the best job on the planet. I help make registered nurses (the heroes of healthcare) happy. While 84% of RNs say they do not consistently get respect and appreciation at their RN hospital jobs, Certified Legal Nurse Consultants are unanimous that respect is just one of the many benefits they enjoy consulting with attorneys.
We all want more out of life. More fun, more love, more legal nurse consulting success – more of anything that we don’t have. Mine is too frequently wanting “more hours in the day.” We can blame circumstances – not enough time, not enough money, not enough of… well, just not enough. But we find enough time to watch Game of Thrones, enough money to take a daily trip to Starbucks® and enough energy to vent about someone who has no impact on our life.
My twin brother Vincent can regale you with stories of what a fraidy cat I was when I was a child. I was afraid of everything – escalators, heights, flying New Orleans cockroaches the size of dinner plates. Fear comes in more guises than just fear of giant bugs – fear of failure, fear of looking ridiculous and even more chilling, fear of success.
Have you ever noticed that the more self-absorbed a person is, the unhappier they seem to be? I am blessed to have a great role model in Blanche, an 82-year-old friend, who is like my second mom. I call her the “Neighborhood Samaritan.” Since I was 15 years old I’ve witnessed how she loses herself in the service of others. Whether it’s her church, her friends or the neighborhood kids who visit every day, she always gives her full attention and passion to others in a selfless way. She tires me out just hearing about all of the good deeds she does for everyone on a daily basis. LOL!
Successful Certified Legal Nurse Consultants know it’s as much, if not more, their responsibility to set deadlines with attorney-clients as it is the attorney’s. They also know never to agree to a deadline they can’t meet. But what about the deadlines you set for yourself to ensure you never drop the ball on a medical-related case? As Walt Disney said, “Everyone needs deadlines.” And not one of us is an exception.
Caring is a beautiful quality, but as T.S. Eliot said it is equally important to know when not to care. One thing Certified Legal Nurse Consultants can’t afford to care about is the attorney who says “no” to you. Caring about the attorney who says “no” creates a fear mindset. Nothing good can come from fear when marketing your CLNC business. Care instead about sharing your expertise with attorneys and fear will lose its power over you.
One of LegalNurse.com’s directors says Escher’s quote defines our company. I fully agree. Attempting the absurd in your legal nurse consulting business doesn’t just help you achieve big – it also satisfies your cravings for creative expression. Creative expression is the endurance strategy for joyfully waking up to your CLNC® business day-after-day, year-after-year.
*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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