Episode 9: Becoming a Nurse Entrepreneur

This transcript was generated automatically. Its accuracy may vary.

Cara Lunsford

Oh, hey, nurses. Welcome to the Nurse Dot podcast. Giving nurses validation, resources and hope. One episode at a time. So today on Nurse Dot podcast.

Catie Harris

Courage is being afraid and doing something anyway. And that's what I want to strive for. I need to understand why it's blocking me. Then look it in the eyes and say, okay, I'm scared, but I'm going to do it.

Cara Lunsford

Joining us today, Dr. Katie Harris. Katie is a nurse who has her Ph.D. and MBA and has spent the last seven years helping nurses to create six figure businesses. In this episode, Katie will be sharing what she has learned about the world of entrepreneurial ism and how she has helped nurses from all over the country to realize their dreams of starting their own businesses.

I'm your host, Kara Lunsford, registered nurse and VP of community at Nurse NASSCOM. Katie Harris, tell me a little bit about yourself professionally, personally. You know, just throw it at me.

Catie Harris

So I've been a nurse for 25 years. Somewhere around there, I don't know. It was like 20 or 20. But, yeah, I've worked in neurosurgery my whole career. And then around the age of 35, 36, I decided that I wanted to be a mom as well. So I did sperm donation and I became a single mom. And my son is ten years old this year, so I'm very excited for that.

Cara Lunsford

Oh.

That's so cool. I mean, we're going to get into all of the incredible things you've done because there are a lot and this is why you are the subject matter expert that I decided to bring on to this episode about becoming a nurse entrepreneur because, well, first of all, you own the website. Nurse per nurse dot com. You are the one that has coined this phrase for newer.

I think people throw it around all the time now, but they don't necessarily realize that that really started with you.

Catie Harris

Yeah. No, it's I started this in 2016 and it originally was a blog. So back in 2016 and maybe I was a little late to the game, but I didn't realize there were such things as online courses. And, you know, I thought online was for email and that's all I ever used it for. And then I found blogs and it blew my mind that somebody could make money off a blog like I just could not wrap my head around this.

And like, what? You write something and then just money comes as a check in the mail. Like, how does this work? So I went down that rabbit hole and at the time I was working for Walmart, I was working in corporate headquarters as a talent acquisition manager, which I had no idea what that job was. I was just like, Yeah, I'll do it.

But anyway, my job essentially was to recruit nurse practitioners into their Walmart care clinics that were down south. And I thought, Well, you know, how do I get a bunch of nurse practitioners to listen to what I have to say or recruit them and that kind of stuff? And I thought, Well, let's start a blog that took me down that rabbit hole of a blog.

And then I thought, Oh, I could start a blog and teach new nurses coming out how to transition into nurse practitioner practice, because I thought that was missing from when I started. So I called the blog The Life, which was supposed to be nurse practitioner life, and then I got a coach. And ultimately what I really wanted to do was help people with their businesses.

But in my warped mind I thought, Well, let me do this business first, where as a nurse practitioner, how to set up as a nurse practitioner in practice, get really successful at it, and then I'll do what I really want. And my coach is like, Well, that's just dumb.

Cara Lunsford

Like, you know, like, tell me how you really feel.

Catie Harris

She's like, Why don't you just do what you want to do? And I was like, Okay, you know, it's hard to argue with that. So that's what I did. But then I was so rigid, like, I don't know what my problem was. I had created this logo, actually, my brother had created it for me and I spent a whopping 50 bucks on it or something.

So I had this logo for NVP and I didn't want to give it up. I'm like, you know, I have have a logo. I can't change it. You know, there was like no business at this point. So I don't know why this was such a big deal. So I'm like, Well, what else can I call and pee? And the nurse printers came out of that, like as we were talking about entrepreneurs, and I'm like, Oh, well, we're nurse partners.

And I'm like, I like it if it's my logo too, So I can still input, you know? So that's how, you know, the name really kind of came to me. And then I started doing business. I did my DBA as nurse Preneur is because I knew everybody kept thinking was nurse practitioner. So I transitioned over and of course rebranded everything multiple times.

Cara Lunsford

So okay, for all the years that I have known you, I did not know that story. So oftentimes we will get attached to things, you know, short story. Holly Blue used to be my nurse's station and we would call it M.A., and I was like, This is so long. And then there's like an S in the middle and like at the end of nurses and then there's an S at the beginning of station and this is a pain in the butt.

And anyway, we ended up talking to a marketing genius and this person came to the house we were talking about, Is it bad to like completely rebrand something like right now? And I was like, the same as you. I had no customers. I had no revenue. I don't know what I was like thinking like, Oh my God, I can't do this now.

Like, I already have a name and a domain and all of this stuff. And, and you realize later, like, oh, it also doesn't matter. Once you actually have a huge clientele and you have a lot of revenue, okay, changing your name is probably a bigger deal, you know, then you might have to really, like weigh the pros and cons of that.

And then she asked me the question. She said, What would you want your logo to be like if you could pick anything, what would you want it to be? And I said, I'd like it to be a blue butterfly because I had a lot of stuff that was tied to that. And she goes, You know what? Then you should do that.

And we looked up the name of a blue butterfly, and there was a blue butterfly called a Holly Blue. And I was like, We could change the name to Holly Blue and then just make the logo a blue butterfly. And that's what we did. And it's just like crazy sometimes. What you think might be a mistake ends up not at all being a mistake.

And you're not life which led you to create Nurse Preneur, which is now a widely recognized brand. And people use that word all the time. Probably not even realizing that you coined it is just a really incredible testament to everything kind of happens for a reason and we have to kind of embrace those things. But what I want to kind of move into is the fact that you did create this site.

You started out, it's like, how can I help nurse practitioners? And and then really realizing that you were helping people start their own businesses.

Catie Harris

Yeah, I mean, it really grew from that. And another kind of offshoot to that that propelled the business was this idea of putting together a Facebook group. I was in a mastermind and one of the guys was like, You need a Facebook group. And I was like, What am I going to do with a Facebook group? It's okay.

You need to talk to the nurses and find out what it is that they want and what they're interested in. And I had these weird childhood fears because way back and I don't know, sixth or seventh grade, I had a party and nobody showed up and I thought I was a big loser and that kind of stuff. Right.

That still sticks with me to this day. Like I don't want to ever throw parties because I'm so afraid nobody else. So. So when Facebook group idea came up, this fear came back in full force. And I'm like, Well, what if I set up a Facebook group and nobody showed up? And then I was like, You need to grow up.

You know, it's a good move and you can come up with some content, try and entertain people. I mean, it was one of the first groups that was out there, so I literally had hundreds of people join in the first day. So, you know, that fear of what if I, you know, do it and nobody shows up, vanquished.

And then it became, Oh my God, I got to entertain all these people. But, you know, nurses love to talk to each other and they entertained themselves. But one of the biggest benefits from and group was hearing what they were talking about. It was so powerful. And everybody in marketing always tells you to go talk to your audience, go listen to what they have to say.

And I'm like, Yeah, yeah, I'm a nurse. I talk to nurses all my unit all the time. But this was completely different because this was nurses who were interested in a business and they were talking about ideas. And I saw things happen like the Mummers would come in and be like, Oh, I triple my income selling Rodan Fields, but they would literally get like a thousand people be like DM Media.

Me Tell me more, tell me more. And I was like, Oh my God, what is going on here?

You know?

And so I learned so much from that type of marketing, not that I do that type of marketing, but of giving the nurses what they want. It's not always what they need. We try to give them what they need in the course is in the coaching program, but sell them what they're asking for, knowing that those two things will come together.

So they were talking about doing hydration and med spa. So, you know, I started looking for nurses and actually my podcast helped quite a bit because I would talk to nurses who ran those types of businesses and I'd say, Hey, you want to start a course and you know, I'll sell it to my audience and you teach them how to do it.

And, you know, I'll bring the people to you. And it worked out like amazingly. So that's really where the business models sprung up from.

Cara Lunsford

You were a real trailblazer and you adopted certain forms of media that companies are only starting to adopt now in like 2022, 2023, my companies notify and the nurse dot com realize they're realizing we have to reach our people in a myriad of ways. Podcasting you Tube, Facebook groups and these are things that you adopted early on. The key is to be a trailblazer, to be trying the things that are out there that are new and available to you, like tick tock, if you're late to the game, then you end up getting stuck in that algorithm and growing an audience is next to impossible.

But when you really can see the opportunities that are out there and you push past your fear, you acknowledged and you were aware of the fact that you had a paralyzing fear, overcame it. I think a lot of what stops people from taking these big leaps and becoming entrepreneurs is they get paralyzed by certain fears that pop up for them.

So I really appreciate it. The fact that you shared that vulnerability with the listeners, because that's going to really help them as they're listening to this podcast going, okay, what kind of fears do I have? What are some things that I'm afraid of? Am I afraid of speaking to people? Am I afraid that someone's going to steal my idea?

Like if I say it to too many people, are they going to steal it? They might.

Catie Harris

Yeah. I mean, because most people, if they're going to steal your idea, they're not really going to do anything with it. But, you know, I'll be honest, when I was working as a nurse on the floor, as a nurse practitioner, I really didn't believe in like self-help or personal improvement. And I thought it was a bunch of crap.

And I'm like, I'm not going to get involved in that. And then as soon as I started my business, it all like, came up like that stupid Facebook thing. Courage is being afraid and doing something anyway, and that's what I want to strive for. I need to understand why it's blocking me. Then look it in the eyes and say, okay, I'm scared, but I'm going to do it.

Cara Lunsford

It wouldn't be a nurse dot podcast if I didn't quote Brené Brown, because as the listeners know, I love her. And her thing is like the Reckoning, the Rumble and the Revolution and the reckoning is the recognizing. It's recognizing when you're triggered, when you're in something and saying, Oh my gosh, what is that? Why do I feel this way?

What's that feeling in the pit of my stomach? Why am I sweating? Why did my face just turn red, just really recognizing these things that happen to us? And these are symptoms and they tell us that there's something going on and then the rumble is what you just said. You got to wrestle around with it, meditate on it, whatever you do.

Talk about it with a friend and the revolution is you're like setting yourself free because then that's when the realization comes in. That's when it all settles and you go, Oh, you know what? I have a thing about disappointment. I have a thing about rejection, I have a thing about, you know, whatever it is, failure. And it could be tied back to a myriad of things that have happened in your life.

Maybe not just one, but you're like, I get triggered by people seeing me. I'm afraid of being seen oftentimes. And I know you can attest to this, that we are our own worst enemies. We block ourselves all the time.

Catie Harris

Yeah, I mean, that's one of the things I say a lot is 99% of business problems are personal problems. And you have to really dig into them if you are to be successful and keep moving forward because you will get blocked. And once you're blocked, you're stopped. And it's like the universe's way of saying you're going to deal with this or, you know, Yeah, and you have to if you want to get to the other side of it.

And yeah, video is another one of those things I kept. I'm like, I'm not doing video videos, it's too scary, blah, blah, blah. Just all these things, reasons why I couldn't. But yeah, I mean, it's been one of our best areas of getting new clients and new nurses into our business model has been the videos that we ended up doing.

Cara Lunsford

I'm going I'm going to Barbara Walters you right now you're making I think now I really like you know when you like ask the hard questions. You're like, okay, Katie, tell me why doing video was so difficult for you. Like, what did it trigger in you the idea of being on screen, right?

Catie Harris

Yeah. I mean, I spent a good portion of my adult life like flying under the radar or being invisible, being the martyr, you know, just kind of. Yeah, that was how I worked as a nurse practitioner, too. I would work like 60, 70 hours a week with the residents. I don't even know why I didn't get paid for it.

You know, there was I had to prove to them that I was up to the the ability to do it and wanted to prove something and take no credit for it, which was also weird. But, you know, I had this mantra in my mind that if I could do what I wanted, if nobody saw me or if I flew under the radar, then nobody could tell me no.

But it really hurts you in so many ways. And that came back to haunt me because, you know, here I was 20 years in my unit, never tapped for any leadership positions, never tapped for any opportunities, never tapped for anything because nobody knew existed. Right. So that really hurt me in that aspect. And, you know, when I went into business, the contact ideas flying under the radar, I'm going to be behind the scenes.

I'll I'll pop up other people. I won't be seen and it'll be okay. But there is some level of us as nurses where we need to take credit for what we've done because we've done an amazing job and we've done a lot of work. And I don't know, it was just a personal thing or if it's a more collective way of nurses flying under the radar, being martyrs.

But that certainly maybe contributed to it. But, you know, it was something I perpetuated in my own mind that I needed to do that.

Cara Lunsford

Yeah, it is a protection mechanism to not fully put yourself out there because, you know, then you are there for people to criticize. What I wanted to ask you is, as you overcome things, as you get past these obstacles, do you find that you're just braver and braver, like willing to just do other things and other thing? Like all that really benefits you as an entrepreneur?

Catie Harris

Yeah, definitely. But part of that's my personality too, and it was one of the problems that I had in nursing going through it was I would I know I started in neurosurgery as a nurse and there was a steep learning curve. But, you know, I started getting tired of what I was doing. So I went to NYU school and did that for years and started getting tired of it.

So then I went for my Ph.D., But it got really old, really fast. But, you know, I kept hitting the ceiling of I can't really move past this and I want it more and more and more. I love being in that phase where I don't really understand I'm kind of in a head fog or something. And that's what the business was for me for many years.

Here is all this marketing and there's this business stuff and I don't understand how it all comes together. And then now we're at a point where we have a large team. I've got operations, things that I never thought. I'm like, I want to be corporate now. I have like this corporate structure with my business. The business itself isn't losing interest, but the operating the business has lost its interest because I understand it.

So I'm like, what's next? You know, what area can I pioneer? What area can I put myself in an uncomfortable situation? I don't know that most people go around looking for uncomfortable situations to put themselves in, but, you know, it's to me that's like you're stretched. So, like, you don't improve by just doing things that are comfortable. You improve and you get better and and you pioneer things when you're in situations that don't feel so comfortable.

That was another thing my coach had told me early on, and I really ran with that.

Cara Lunsford

100%. I was a keynote speaker at an event in Austin, Texas last month. I had this image that I used in my PowerPoint slides where it was like this circle, and it said, Your comfort zone in this circle. And then outside of the circle was another circle. And it said, where the magic happens and people who are listening to this are like, Yeah, yeah, I've heard this before.

You know, the whole I got to get out of my comfort zone thing and but it's true. I mean, it is really, really true that if we're not pushing outside that comfort zone, if we're not looking for things to challenge us, I'm not sure that growth happens at all. Really. And what I think is interesting is that the first time you really go outside that comfort zone, every single time after that gets easier.

Would you agree that like it gets easier?

Catie Harris

Definitely. You know, because it's not as scary as the first time because the first time you go out and you get burnt a little bit and then you run back into your little bubble. But, you know, it's kind of like, well, there is a lot more stuff out there. There's so much that I don't know and could explore.

And, you know, I feel like I could bring it back to the nursing profession and we'd all be better for it. And if we all did that, I mean, can you imagine, like, how rich, you know, the profession would be? Because we do bring a whole lot of skill set that we're very and this is kind of taking us off topic, but they're like, we're a nurse at nursing and you know, your home life is your home life and your hobbies are your hobbies.

And, you know, we're discouraged from kind of bringing that into the workplace for better or worse. But, you know, we're so much more than our job. We all have very extensive backgrounds and interests and hobbies, and that kind of stuff to bring to the table.

Cara Lunsford

Coming up after the break.

Catie Harris

My brother was the one that was like when I first started Nurse Preneur. He's like, I wonder how long does the last before you give up? Oh.

Cara Lunsford

Welcome to a segment we call that dot spot, where you will hear more of your voice and a little less of mine. You can visit nurse dot com forward slash podcast to share stories, feedback and requests. As a valued listener, you will also receive discounts on com courses and C use by using code nurse dot at the checkout.

Oh. For today's start spot, I invited future guest Bonnie Clipper to weigh in with her perspective as a successful nurse preneur for nurses.

Bonnie Clipper

Reach out to me all the time and they have all these brilliant ideas and I'll say to them, Great idea. You really need to take a look at the market. You need to think about what you want to do with this in the long term. And right now is the time that you need to think about Are you going to build this company to sell it or are you seeing do you foresee yourself as being a CEO in this space forever?

And the majority of the time they're like, Oh, I'm going to be the CEO and run it forever? Mike It's not really how this works. So think about building it to sell it, right? It's about building value, and then you hand it off to people that have a much larger checkbook that can truly put your vision into place.

Cara Lunsford

What is your favorite nurse entrepreneur idea that someone has brought to the table that you were like, Wow, that is so innovative. That is amazing.

Catie Harris

Right? So I'll say, I mean, the superlatives are a little intimidating, but I will say there's been a couple businesses that I was just like, you know, well, I am one of the first ones that I had come across was this woman who did placenta encapsulation. So she went with mothers and, you know, contracted with them. And then when they gave the baby, she would go in and get the placenta and turn them into pills for the mother to take.

And then she'd make like little necklaces and turn bracelets out of the placenta. And I was like, oh, and ironically, like I was in Arizona doing a TV show. And the host asked me like, it caught me off guard and she asked me that question. And that was the first thing that came to my mind. And I was like, Oh, it's a pleasant encapsulation, you know, where people either placenta and it was like, what's your cover?

They looked at you like we were on live TV. It's I couldn't take it back. And I was just like, Oh my God, you know, I could feel my face coming red. And I'm like, I can't believe I just said that. I mean, this is a nursing podcast, so it's okay. But that was like general TV, you know.

Cara Lunsford

Hey, you know what? I ate my own placenta. I had that done with my present. Yes, I did. Yes, I did, because I'm crazy. And so I did. I had a homebirth and I my midwife did you know that was her? Thing is she did placenta encapsulation after my birth and she even took the umbilical cord and like divided into our heart.

Catie Harris

Baby, that was an option. Like, nobody tells you this stuff. This was like five years after my son was born. So it was just kind of like, I'm like, Where were you like, five years ago? What I had cause I didn't even know it was an option that would have been interesting to do. I don't know if I would have done it at the time because I wasn't as enlightened as I am today.

But it would have been nice to know. And then another one business that I really loved was this nurse who was really big into outdoors. He loved outdoors, so he was doing Wilderness First Aid How to use what you find in the wilderness to treat common injuries and does like workshops for that kind of stuff.

Cara Lunsford

I just think that it is fascinating the ideas that people come up and I was actually like a CEO mentor for a little while where I worked with Anthony from Loma Fi. So Anthony was part of a group of people who had gone to a nurse hackathon, and I won't get into like the details of hackathons and how they work or how they don't work, but do you actually have any insight into that, into hackathons?

Like what do you think about hackathons?

Catie Harris

I think they're interesting, but you had mentioned the idea of having your idea stolen, and I think there's a lot of potential for that when you're at the infancy stage or just kind of brainstorming. You do have to be a little careful there, especially if it's a product idea. And we have seen that over the years of people, you know, nurses coming up with great ideas and then, you know, somebody stealing it and going off and making millions and billions of dollars or whatever.

So especially in the product industry, it's a little you know, that can be a little risky.

Cara Lunsford

I agree with you, because I think that you just have to be very smart about how you do those things right. So the way I think that they should do hackathons is someone comes with an idea and it's owned by them, and then people who are coming to be part of that hackathon or want to help collaborate, they don't really have ownership over the idea, but they want to be involved in kicking it around and problem solving with the person who is the actual owner of that IP intellectual property, and that there should be some protections in place because I think if you just put like a group of people at a table and say,

Hey, come up with an idea, well, of course everyone at that table feels like they own the idea. It's not like, Oh, so-and-so at the table was the one who actually raised his hand and said, Oh, you know what? It could be this. Everyone feels like they contributed to the person at the table having that idea. So that can be very complicated.

And you also don't need ten nurses to start a business together.

Catie Harris

Like I'll just tell you, like from Ivy Hydration, I had one nurse call me and she's like, me and five of my friends are going to start ivy hydration. I'm like, You need to rethink this. I'm like, If you've ever done a group project in school, like just take that and magnify it and put money on it. And, you know, it's a colossal nightmare.

Cara Lunsford

That's probably a very nice segway into lessons learned. If you had to like, give the top three the top three things that if you're talking to a nurse and they're thinking about starting a business, you know, maybe just those top three things that you're like, okay, let's drill down on this fit.

Catie Harris

And I'm going to say that honestly, there is no secret sauce. We are there to support nurses. And, you know, basically what we do is show them how to start businesses. We have already started and that has always been my thing. You know, when people say, you know, should I go with you or somebody else, I might go with the person that you feel most comfortable with.

Go with the person who's done what it is that you want to do. You can't go wrong with that. So if you're comfortable with that person, you trust them, you believe in them, and you've seen that they've done it. Now, if they if that person just teaches and has never done what you want to do, then you might want to be a little cautious.

They still might be the perfect person, but so the secret sauce there would be to really understand the problem that you're solving. And we have this issue, especially in Ivy hydration amidst all that, because they're like, Oh, I'm just doing IVs. I'm like, No, you're not. You're not doing are these you're solving a problem and you have to know what this problem is in order for all of your marketing to work, in order for the business to work.

When you look at Ivy Hydration, you could say, I'm going to do athletic performance or I'm going to work with bodybuilders. And then you can focus your marketing on bodybuilders. You can set up shop next to a bodybuilding gym, right? So like I'll make people go all across town, be convenient and be a resource. And then you are competing with stuff like bodybuilders is a bad example because I don't know what they do, but.

Cara Lunsford

GNC would be like. I mean, they're probably not doing IVs, but you could probably like work a deal with a GNC and be like, Hey, you know, I'd like to pay for this chair.

Catie Harris

I was going to say steroids, but I don't think that's allowed and build it right? I think that's.

Okay.

So you're not competing with steroids, but now you know what you're competing with. You know what you're up against. Maybe you're up against a bottle of Gatorade. I don't know. Like but once you understand what it is that people want and what they need and the audience that you're working with, it just makes everything infinitely easier to do.

And the same goes with whether you're coaching. You know, I have a lot of nurses that want to make people happier and I'm like, Well, you know, that's nice, but that's not a real problem. You have to find the real problem. What is the one thing that people are not only complaining about, but are actively looking to solve this problem?

So that's the problem that you need to find and you wrap that around an audience that has that problem and make sure it's a cohesive audience, right? So we have nurses that come and they want to help all women and I'm like, That's not an audience. You know, we need to narrow this down and we don't want to narrow down to like women who have blue eyes that have three kids and their name Steve and Tom, and.

You know, like.

That's too.

Cara Lunsford

Narrow. That's a little narrow.

No investor is going to want that market.

Catie Harris

Right. But you could have corporate moms, you know, or corporate women that don't have kids or, you know, like something along those lines. People will trust you. They'll believe that you have the solution if you can articulate that problem. So spending a lot of time with the problem of the audience and what they've been through is really the secret sauce.

Cara Lunsford

I couldn't have said it better. You have to at the very least understand what your value proposition is before you can even test out what the messaging is of that value proposition. So having a mission statement is like your North Star, and that can evolve over time. Like the nurse dot com mission statement, it's to measurably improve the lives of the most vulnerable in society and those who care for them.

It's the sink. It's clear, you know, it leaves the person knowing exactly what nurse dot coms about what they want to do, what rely is wants to do and it syncs up with the products and the services that we provide. Give the products and services that we provide are not on mission. I think that's a problem.

Catie Harris

Yeah. It helps you to decide what you're going to do and what you're not going to do. And I think that's almost more important to understand what you don't do.

Cara Lunsford

What you just explained to the listeners and to anyone who's interested in doing this is like truly, truly getting down to the brass tacks of like that problem you're solving and not having it be too vague and having it not apply to billions of people. But you know, I mean, unless it's like a billions of people problem, I mean.

Like it's like.

Maybe it is.

Catie Harris

I mean, there's so many nurses out there that have seen problems. They understand that the health care system, the way it is right now isn't so far away from perfect for sure. And a lot of nurses get this feeling that they need to do something about it. It's almost like a calling. It's a spire that they have inside of them.

And it really takes an unshakable self belief in yourself, some persistence and of course, time and money, you know, all of those things will come together. It might not happen overnight. You might not see the solution to the problem. But if you explore that problem, explore with the audience, understand what they've been through, your persistence will pay off, whether it takes you two weeks or two years to do it, it's worth doing, it's worth pursuing, and you just have to have the courage to pursue it.

Cara Lunsford

It's really scary. It's like legit scary at times. But I promise you this and I think you probably can totally relate that you'll never regret seeing it through to the end. Yeah.

Catie Harris

Yeah. You regret when you stopped short? Absolutely. And that was my previous businesses. I always stopped short of hit an obstacle. And I'm like, you know, it's like I got burned outside of the bubble and I'm like, I'd run back into the bubble. And my brother was the one that was like when I first started. Nurse Preneur is like, I wonder how long this will last before you give up.

You know, I really took that to heart and I was just like, you know, I'm going to show him. I'm not going to give up. And here I am, six years later, still, you know, trying to prove him wrong. So I think I've already proven them wrong. But it's still now I'm in it because, like, you know, I love the challenge of it and.

Cara Lunsford

Yeah, and it's okay to fail. Like failing is okay as long as you fail forward and you fail fast, you can totally fail within your business and keep moving forward. And pivoting. Pivoting is so important when you see that something needs to change and try not to dig your heels in and be like, No, I'm going to do it the way I've always done it.

Catie Harris

Yep, absolutely. You have to otherwise, because if you stay committed to something that's not working, it's just going to that is going to fail and just recognizing when the tide is changing. Because even in the six years that I've been doing this, like what people have been asking us for has changed dramatically. And if we don't follow with what people want, I'm going to rest on, Oh, we only do this and that's not what people want anymore.

Well, this constantly changes our new competitors. We have new competitors come into the space all the time. And so now we're thinking, well, what can we do that they don't do? And how can we really, you know, help in additional ways, Right? Because you're going to lose market share. I mean, we have one nurse that has an Ivy hydration clinic and she's paranoid about competitors.

And I'm like, you need to let go of that. I'm like, there's going to be competitors. People are going to come up. So how can you always be different, pivot, change, do something better, stay ahead.

Cara Lunsford

And competitors are great. Competitors are great because it's a it's validation of your business that, you know, I mean, look at Lyft and Uber. They do the exact same thing. You have to stay current. You have to stay innovative when you have competition. So see it as healthy competition.

Catie Harris

Yeah, absolutely. And I think that's what differentiates, you know, entrepreneurs from investors, right? Like you can invest in a company and let somebody else do all the innovating or, you know, that becomes your job. If you invest in yourself and your own business, you know, you are the one that needs to do those things. And so it has to be part of your willingness to do that.

If you're not willing to do that, then you're probably better off investing in, you know, somebody else is running a business, but then you have no control over what they do.

Cara Lunsford

So well. I feel like, Oh my God, I want to keep talking to you. There's just so much, so much valuable information. And I know that as nurses are burned out right now and there's tired of the bedside and obviously we need bedside nurses so not everybody can leave. But there's a lot of people out there that are looking for something new.

I hope that the ones that are listening to this podcast reach out to you because we need more access to health care.

Catie Harris

Yeah, absolutely. And we look forward to working with them.

Cara Lunsford

So, Katie, thank you again and this has been amazing. I hope you join me for another podcast soon.

Catie Harris

Absolutely. Thank you so much, Kara.

Cara Lunsford

I'll see you later.

Catie Harris

Bye bye.

Cara Lunsford

So if you are a nurse who enjoyed this episode and you have an idea for future episodes.