Intensive Care, Outpatient Surgery, Aesthetics, Education, and Nursing Leadership
Do you have an entrepreneurial spirit? Maybe you have a nursing brain that has been carrying around a really great idea for a business venture? The field of nursing has so many different facets and nuggets of opportunity to expand your knowledge beyond the bedside. Nursing entrepreneurship is growing, and more and more nurses are leaving the bedside to pursue their dream of starting a new business, while simultaneously using their nursing knowledge.
You can too!
When I was in nursing school, I never dreamed I would be using my writing talent mixed with my clinical skills and experience in nursing to educate, collaborate, and inspire other nurses on their nursing journey as a Nurse Educator and Writer, but here I am.
One healthcare startup company received the largest nursing investment of all time; highlighting the financial opportunities to take a nursing and healthcare background into an entrepreneurial direction.
Some of the biggest and best healthcare companies in the U.S. were founded by nurses (not business people), including the nonprofit giant, the American Red Cross. According to career and job placement company Monster, there are more than 500 nurse-led clinics and companies across the country, and that number continues to grow as more and more nurses branch off from traditional nursing roles.
In 2020, Forbes announced that one healthcare startup company received the largest nursing investment of all time; highlighting the financial opportunities to take a nursing and healthcare background into an entrepreneurial direction. The company named IntelyCare received a total of $45 million in investment funds, as founder and former nurse Chris Caulfield launched an app to “offer a solution to the current nursing crisis within healthcare by disrupting nursing scheduling and leveraging gig economics,“ explained Forbes.
Startup resources company Starter Story, explains that opportunities for nursing entrepreneurship are vast, ranging from becoming a nurse blogger, to starting an in-home, senior care services business that estimates a $3 million annual profit. Besides the big bucks potentially awaiting you, there are other day to day reasons you might want to explore nursing entrepreneurship.
Nurses are working harder than ever before, all while being understaffed and underpaid, and going above and beyond for their patients’ care and well-being. With more and more nurses leaving the bedside, they are taking their knowledge, skill sets, and experiences with them; using the valuable insight for something a little more lucrative- starting a business.
Different types of nurse-driven and run business include:
1. Create a Business Plan
A business plan is the written description of your company’s future and what it will look like. Outline what you are going to do and how you plan to get there within the first three to five years. It is the blueprint for your company, and ultimately the foundation for your financial success as you head into uncharted territory!
2. Secure Funding
There is no magic number ($$$) to determine how much it will take to get your business off the ground. The costs vary by industry. Some startups can cost only around $10,000, with no overhead and minimal equipment. Others may take millions. So, you must determine if you will manage this yourself or find investors. As I previously mentioned, investors are currently eager to spend money on healthcare companies, as the broad medical industry has proven to be a critically essential one over the last year.
3. Surround Yourself with the Right People
Maybe this new business starts out as something that you do part-time and manage yourself. But what if it takes off? You need to determine how many people you will need to help you run your company, especially as you see its success start to take off. It is also smart to consult with a lawyer, an accountant, and a financial advisor. They can really help you save money on your business in the long run. They can also help explain tax obligations and legal requirements on how you should structure your business.
4. Build a Website
We live in a digital world, which means every businesses, large or small, should have a clean and well-functioning website. Do this ahead of time. DO NOT wait until the day your business launches to get your site off the ground. These days, more and more businesses function entirely online, and this may be the foundation for your nursing entrepreneurship company as well.
If customers are searching online for service within your brand or industry, you want them to know that you exist. Make sure your website is fast and well designed. In the current day and age, your company will not survive without an online presence. So, make this a priority from the start!
After 16 months of non-stop work and effort, the company was so successful that he was able to quit his job at the bedside as a nurse practitioner, and pursue his dream of growing his online educational company full time.
Shane Slone, CEO and Founder of Nursing CE Central, has grown an idea and principle of the need for a more robust and interesting nursing CEU platform built for real-world nurses, into the fasting growing continuing education platform available to nurses in the United States in just under two years.
Shane was a Critical Care Nurse Practitioner, working full time and burnt out with his clinical job, as many nurses today are. He started Nursing CE Central out of his spare bedroom, as a side gig in 2019. After 16 months of non-stop work and effort, the company was so successful that he was able to quit his job at the bedside as a nurse practitioner, and pursue his dream of growing his online educational company full time.
After a lot of hard work, long hours, and dedication, the company continued to grow until it reached a point where Shane was able to move Nursing CE Central to a beautifully renovated office space in historical downtown Lexington, Kentucky. He was then able to hire an amazing team to go along the journey with him, in building the most successful and number one rated continuing education platform for nurses.
At first, Shane was only able to offer a minimal amount of CEU’s to nurses in only seven U.S. states, however, as of March 2021, Nursing CE Central’s expoential growth has allowed us to offer CEU’s to nurses in all states; with an author pool of over 80 nurses with extensive professional backgrounds, and a nearly 125 course library on the horizon. Nursing CE Central currently has over 60,000 members, with a 157% membership growth within the last year.
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If this story does not inspire you to chase your startup dreams or take a chance on your business idea, I don’t know what will. Although Shane’s story was not without hurdles and hardship, he has risen above the obstacles and continues to persevere in creating a wonderful product and platform.
You can succeed with hard work, research, and dedication. Take control of your career. Remember, you are highly educated, highly skilled, and highly talented. You can turn all of these attributes into an incredible nursing entrepreneurship opportunity, and a successful one at that!
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