Rachell Dumas, RN, BSN, MSN(c). Founder of Light After Nine and Onward Healthcare Solutions.

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~15 minute read

*This article serves as a greatfollow-up to an article I previously wrote titled, Actionable Steps for Nurse Dreamers.

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From Good to Great

Hat's off to Rachell Dumas, RN, BSN, MSN(c), for creating a Nurse-led Team within her business and the pace at which she's been able to increase her digital presence and grow her business in just the last 4 weeks. I recently had the pleasure of meeting Rachell and learning about her personal and professional journey in two upcoming episodes on The Melanin Initiative Podcast. During those conversations, I shared my advice for fellow healthcare professional entrepreneurs to create internships. Below, I’ve elaborated on the benefits. If you start one, all I ask is that you share your experience so we can create an effective framework that helps us to develop business acumen and those soft skills not taught in nursing or medical school.

I would love to see a DNP Project devoted to creating the competencies for nurse internships not related to direct patient care – these exist and are known as externships. The problem with externships, nursing exams, and nursing performance evaluations is they focus on what we do with our hands and with patients. This leads to limited thinking and our colleagues leaving the healthcare industry because they haven’t been exposed to all the ways they can leverage their expertise. The pace at which nurses are starting businesses has increased exponentially, yet our curriculum and licensure requirements have not added education requirements for business, leadership, social media, or technology (Artificial Intelligence specifically).

Thankfully, the American Association of Colleges of Nursing’s report, the State of Doctoral Nursing Practice Education in 2022, called for these changes. While we wait for these changes to be seen, we have each other. Here lies a great business opportunity for someone interested in developing a platform for healthcare entrepreneurs that can assist with applications, communication, organization, performance reviews, protection of intellectual property, shared files, automation, marketing strategies, and additional tasks identified throughout the process.

While we’re on the topic, my advice for starting a business? Focus on businesses that help other healthcare professional entrepreneurs start, manage, and scale their businesses while still practicing or living the life we all worked so hard for. This is an example of a B to B business. Just because you have patient care experience, it doesn't mean you have to start a medical practice.

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Advantages of Healthcare Professional Business Owners Creating Internships

Commentary shared during the Nursing Dose with Farah Podcast featuring Rachell Dumas on the episode, Leveraging LinkedIn for Nurses in Business.

1. Time and capital are limited. You need help; people need experience.

2. Elevates your authority and helps to further market your value and presence.

3. Allows you to help someone else be more efficient and successful at a faster rate than you were able to do at their stage. We all enjoy mentoring and seeing people progress in their journey.

4. You can sleep

5. You can spend time with your loved ones

6. You can tend to your health

7. You get your time back to dream and experience the joys of entrepreneurship

8. You have more time to work on your business instead of in it (the ultimate goal).

9. Shows our peers that our value extends beyond those hard skills and what we do with our hands.

10. You're able to teach what is desperately needed to grow a business that we don't learn in nursing or medical school.

11. Opportunity to create additional streams of revenue for your business and identify potential partners.

***Pro-tips***

-Share resources whether you can afford to pay your interns or not. We all understand the importance of investing in people to support our business. Early in business, people will talk about the business itself, later in the journey people focus on the importance of investing in people first, business second. Learn from them.

-One thing you can count on, people will move on. Will they move on and start a business that you can partner with? Not all changes are bad, perhaps there's an opportunity you can capitalize on.

-Conduct quarterly performance evaluations. This will allow you to see if they should still be on the team (everyone is replaceable and people agree to things they don’t fully understand), clarify the mission (it's your vision, always take time time to get buy-in), and identify support tools to help them be successful (business 101). It's easier to remember the last 4 months, than the last 12. It shows a track record, this can be good or bad - either way you're adding more value to their time with you and helping the next employer see how they may contribute to their team.

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Women in Business

I love that my roomie continues to promote the Nurses in Business! I would like to point out, especially for women, that business deals can happen ANYWHERE and at any time. When you say just start, I think due to analysis paralysis, it's important to give actionable steps.

1. Write down your idea.

2. Outline goals for the next 4 quarters. Read The 12 Week Year (audiobook recommended).

3. Google, how to develop a business plan and use ChatGPT.

4. Join a group who's ahead of where you want to be - aim not to be the smartest person in the room.

5. Start telling your story in real life, in a blog, on a podcast, in a newsletter, on social media - show up for yourself in this way every day. If you start talking about what you do, more people will talk about what you do.

6. Take advantage of all the free resources: Google, LinkedIn, YouTube University, podcasts, Small Business Administration, Chamber of Commerce, and professional organizations (be an active member).

7. Work on your business every day, even if just for a little bit.

8. Don't be shy, ask for help.

9. Figure it out along the way, not the other way around.

10. Stay persistent and consistent.

11. Recognize when people and situations no longer serve you.

12. Get comfortable with saying no.

13. Get it out of your head and into a calendar.

14. Take advantage of AI and automation.

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Partnerships

Not everyone is an ideal partner - friends and family included. If they haven't put any skin in the game in terms of time, money or reputation - it's not a good time to partner. If they need convincing of why this and why that - it's not a good time to partner - this will rob you of time, money, energy, a relationship, and possibly even hope.

Fear.

You will make mistakes. You will have to pivot, apologize, slow down, change direction, and get disappointed and discouraged. But this too shall pass. Transparency leads to greater support. People will relate to you more and become more invested in whatever you are offering. Your plan today may not be your plan next year or ten years from now. Same with your team. In healthcare, we are risk-averse - we have lives to protect - and this is to be expected. But in business, no risk, no reward. This is the second hardest mindset to break. I welcome challenges and problems because they help us become better problem solvers! With these rich lessons, we become even more valuable to our ecosystem who will encounter the same problems.

Comparison.

Don't compare your day 1 to someone else's day 100. That someone else is you.

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What I Wish I Knew?

-How much time it would take. When you spend all day building someone's business and then come home to build your own, you can easily lose sight of your other roles and responsibilities. I needed that gentle reminder from my loved ones who helped me realize the value in sitting down for dinner, RSVPing to that event, watching a movie, listening to music, and talking about something other than the business. Entrepreneurship is a marathon, not a sprint. Take the time to recalibrate, rest, reconnect, and refine.

-Life management. Before you even build a team for your business, you may need a team to manage your home: groceries, cleaning, f/u email, sending gifts, financial advisor, travel agent, etc. Shout out to Rachel Rodgers who generously listed how she gets help managing her home and the cost associated with it in her #1 best-selling book, We Should All Be Millionaires. You're either going to pay with your time or your wallet. Soon enough, you'll realize doing everything yourself leads to less money.

-Your mind will not stop. You will have to set boundaries for yourself as much as others. Write the ideas down. Schedule a time to explore them. Don't let all the excitement consume you - because it can (when you've figured this out, let me know lol).

-The beginning is the hardest for your friends and family, particularly those who need to see it to believe it. In the beginning, there may not be a lot to see. Connect with others in the ecosystem to give you the encouragement you need.

-If you really want a blueprint to follow, may I recommend Key Person of Influence by Daniel Priestly. My favorite book in the last ten years.

-Don't let lack of time stop you from learning. I always recommend audio versions of everything when possible. The second recommendation (hack) is to purchase the e-book on Amazon and then use the Amazon Alexa app to listen - now you have both the text and audio version, usually for a cheaper price.

-Other entrepreneurs, especially in nursing, will be so kind and generous in sharing their time, resources, and expertise.

-It's so important not to think of yourself as being in isolation - this is especially true for nurses who get accustomed to doing just that due to the environments we've all worked in. This is the hardest mindset to break. The most successful entrepreneurs and those who experience the most longevity understand the value of being in an ecosystem of other people who can benefit from your business being in existence and not just being in existence but will see the value in helping promote it. This awareness will help you identify partnerships and opportunities.

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Rachell gave a call-to-action to Dr. Laurent, DNP, Nurse Career Coach, Author, Public Speaker, Podcast Host, and Entrepreneur, to start an internship and post it within 24 hours. I’m pleased to say announced her internship today! If you’re not on LinkedIn, you’re missing out.

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The application for the Mahogany Telederm Nurse Internship closes Dec 15. If you're a student interested in applying and need a 1-week extension due to finals, notify me BEFORE the deadline for consideration. Apply here.

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Kimberly Madison, DNP, AGPCNP-BC

I am a nurse practitioner entrepreneur who specializes in dermatology nursing education and research with an emphasis on skin of color. I created this blog to share my journey as a source of motivation and as a blueprint, as you embark on your journey. Most importantly, I’m looking forward to increasing access to dermatology education and clinical training for aspiring and practicing nurse practitioners. I invite you to view the mission and vision statement on the homepage to see how we can best partner to make our dreams align.

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