How to Become a Nurse Entrepreneur
Nurses enjoy more career options than ever as growth in the healthcare industry continues at a record pace. One emerging nursing career trend involves combining clinical expertise with business skills to create a healthcare business as a nurse entrepreneur.
It鈥檚 a choice that gives nurses more control over their career by leveraging the highly valued skills they learn in an聽聽to develop and lead needed healthcare services. Potential businesses exist in every corner of the healthcare industry. Opportunities include nurse staffing agencies, home healthcare services, professional consulting, and medical device sales.
Reaping the financial and professional rewards of running a healthcare business requires nurse entrepreneurs to develop strong business skills. With these skills, successful nurse entrepreneurs also combine creativity and willingness to work hard. But the benefits, and the chance to act as their own boss, make it worthwhile for ambitious nurses.
Steps to Becoming a Nurse Entrepreneur
罢丑别听聽encourages nurses to think about their own 鈥渄ream job鈥� as the first step in starting a healthcare business.
鈥淎s a nurse, your self-employment and business options are unlimited. You have an advantage over the general public because you are a nurse, highly-skilled, college-educated, and talented,鈥� the NNBA writes. 鈥淵our new job may not bear any resemblance to your old nursing job, but it most likely will build on your nursing knowledge and skills.鈥�
Getting there requires taking specific steps in your nursing career.
Education Requirements
For every nursing profession, the first step is earning a degree in nursing. You can still enter the profession with an associate degree. However, an increasing number of employers want nurses to hold a Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN). Nurses then must pass the NCLEX-RN exam before getting a license to work as a nurse.
Some nurses also complete a Master of Science in Nursing (MSN), allowing them to become a nurse practitioner and specializing in areas such a聽听补苍诲听.
Gaining Experience
Time spent in the profession gives nurses real-world experience, allowing them to learn the details of the healthcare system as well as the areas where they excel. This is a critical step in determining the type of healthcare business they want to create.
Nurses also need a passion for improving how healthcare is delivered to succeed with their own business, notes the聽, a resource organization for nurse entrepreneurs. The NNPEN writes on its website that those who become nurse practitioners should have the passion 鈥渢o be change agents鈥� who improve how healthcare services are delivered to patients.
Business Skills
Before becoming a nurse entrepreneur, nurses need to learn various aspects of how successful businesses are run. This includes the basics of business finance, as well as marketing, advertising, and sales.
Before starting a business, it鈥檚 important to have a business plan. The plan should include a budget and projections of potential revenues 鈥� all-important for attracting investors. Writing for聽, Karen O鈥橠onnell said starting her nurse staffing agency took about a year. Her process included business planning, building a website, learning payroll processing, and creating marketing material.
She wrote: 鈥淣urses should feel empowered to conquer their fears and begin down the path to becoming independent business owners.鈥�
The McNair Center for Entrepreneurship and Free Enterprise
Successful entrepreneurship requires a singular vision and drive to succeed. That doesn鈥檛 mean, however, that you must go it alone as you build your healthcare business. 罢丑别听聽provides resources, support, and mentorship in business creation and growth.
In addition, HCU now offers an online聽聽degree program. Earning an MSME degree from Houston Baptist provides graduates with advanced skills, knowledge, and preparation for success in business.聽聽
Examples of Nurse Entrepreneur Businesses
The type of business a nurse entrepreneur runs depends on her area of expertise. Some common examples, taken from the NNBA and NNPEN include the following.
Running a practice: Nurse practitioners often follow this path because they have the expertise to perform duties once handled by general practitioner doctors. Nurse practitioner offices are especially in demand in rural and urban center areas where doctors are often scarce.
Home health services: As the population ages, home health services continue to grow. Older people who wish to 鈥渁ge in place鈥� in their homes require medical services that skilled nurses can provide.
Medical devices: Some nurses specialize in selling medical devices, many of them for home healthcare patients. Innovative technology has led to the expanded use of these devices, including those that collect patient data and transmit it to clinicians for monitoring.
Consulting: Experienced nurses also create consultant or independent nurse contractor businesses. In this area, nurses typically work temporarily with a hospital, clinic, or doctor鈥檚 offices to establish or improve healthcare services in an area where the nurse has expertise.
Whatever course they choose, nurses can take more control over the career by becoming nurse entrepreneurs. There are risks to running a small business. But with that risk comes the potential for success and freedom. This potential for independent success will attract more nurses to this unique area of the profession in the years to come.