6 Steps To Become A Nurse Entrepreneur

1. Gain Clinical Experience

The minimum licensing requirements for nurse entrepreneurs vary greatly based on the business. If you want to open your own private practice, you need to hold a master of science in nursing degree as a nurse practitioner (NP) in a full-practice authority state. Registered nurses with an associate degree in nursing or bachelor’s degree can become health bloggers, legal nurse consultants, or specialized care providers.

Before you think about opening your own business using your nursing skills, you need to gain clinical experiences that help you build those skills. During this step, strengthen your nursing skills, brainstorm innovation, gain lived experiences, and become the best nurse you can.

Later, those nursing skills lend credibility to your business and will set you apart from other entrepreneurs. Nurses also gain transferable soft skills used to succeed in business, including:

• • Planning

• • Strategizing

• • Delegation

• • Problem-solving

“Your nursing skills are definitely an asset. My knowledge as a nurse gives my clients the trust and confidence that I’m providing the right care solution,” Lori Sears, owner of Assisted Living Locators West Valley, says.

If you keep your nursing license in good standing, you can use your nursing skills in your business if the situation calls for it, too.

2. Find Inspiration in Your Clinical Nursing Experience

After you’ve gained clinical experience, your perspective as an experienced nurse will help you identify unmet needs of your patients or coworkers. Once identified, creating a business around this gap or a solution to this issue is a great next step.

“As a travel nurse, I know firsthand how disheartening it can feel to be burned by multiple agencies and get stuck with an assignment that doesn’t meet your needs,” Commisso says. “I spent a lot of time wrestling with the complexities of the industry and unclear contracts I was given and decided to fill those gaps.”

The inspiration for your business can also come from the needs of your patients that you see are not currently met well. When Patularu was pregnant with twins, for example, she noticed a lack of information for chestfeeding twins. At the time, she was working with chestfeeding families in public health for several years. This inspired her to pursue her current entrepreneurial plans.

“After the birth of my twins and overcoming many struggles and exclusively breastfeeding for two years, I decided to complete my requirements and write the International Board Certified Lactation Consultants (IBCLC) Exam,” Patularu says.

3. Consider Pursuing Relevant Certifications

Nurse entrepreneurs need to think about what nursing certifications they will need in their business. For some business ideas, you may only need to renew your basic certifications such as:

• • Your nursing license

• • Certification in your speciality area

• • Basic life support

• • Advanced basic life certification

• • First aid certification

Other certifications may benefit nurses based on the type of business they open or the demand for the nursing certification. NPs may benefit from a certification in their specialty.

4. Create a Business Plan That Allows You to Use Your Nursing Skills to Fill a Unique Need

Before you create your business plan, you need to “know your why,” as Tina Baxter, founder of The Nurse Shark Academy, put it. Figuring out your why can help guide the mission, values, and goals of your business.

To find your why, ask yourself these questions:

• • Why do you want to go into business?

• • What purpose does your business serve?

• • What problem does your business solve?

• • What market is there for your business?

The answers to these questions help not only shape the mission of your business, but they also help you push through the hard times, determine your main customers, and establish the need you’ll fill. You’ll need to know all of these things before you can create your business plan.

Your business plan should include:

• • An executive summary

• • A detailed description of your business

• • An analysis of your competitors

• • An analysis of your target audience and how you will reach them

• • Any additional information in the appendices

In your business plan, you will need to plan for the following:

• • How your business will run

• • How the leadership and human resources of your business will be structured

• • How you’ll market your business

• • How your business will make money and how much money you need to start

Nurses entrepreneurs have more to consider than other entrepreneurs. Unlike other entrepreneurs, as a nurse, you may have to:

All of these are examples you should include in the appendices of your business plan. Once you create a business plan with all the necessary information and details, you’ll be ready to start securing funding from a variety of sources for your business.

5. Secure Funding for Your Business

No matter what your business plan, you’ll need some kind of funding for it. How much money you’ll need and what you need the money for depends on your business plan.

All entrepreneurs have to make sure they save money to market their business and to support themselves until their business turns a profit. Other expenses depend on the business.

NPs who want to open their own practice need to pay for:

• • Legal fees

• • Certifications

• • Staff salary

• • Equipment

A health blogger may already have what they need to start blogging, so their only expense other than marketing and living expenses, may be the domain name that hosts their blog.

You can get this funding from several sources. Hamilton said her partner’s reliable income makes up for her less reliable income from private practice and helps cover living expenses. Other ways to get sources of income include:

• • Get a small business loan, if you have a registered corporation or LLC

• • Borrow from a 401(k) if you have one

• • Use your savings

• • Apply for a small-business credit card, even if you’re not a registered corporation

• • Ask friends or family to borrow money

6. Grow and Market Your Business

Marketing your business is key to growing your business, so it can sustain itself and even thrive. Yet, deciding how to market and choosing where to market your business can overwhelm business owners.

“It’s easy to become very overwhelmed with all the different ways to promote your business,” Hamilton says.

Some ways to promote your business include:

• • Social media

• • Paid advertising

• • Word of mouth

• • Blogging

• • High rankings on Google search