For a lot of people, the dream job is one in which they are self-employed. You get to manage your schedule, and you can pick hours that work for you. For a nurse this could mean not having to work in a hospital or clinical anymore, not worrying about shifts, and getting to enjoy weekends and holidays with family and friends. However, not many nurses take the necessary steps to make this dream a reality. It takes a bold person to become and nursepreneur.
A lot of times the biggest impediment is fear. Fear of the unknown. If you quit your job, how will you make ends meet? What if the business venture does not work? All of these fears are valid.
Your Skills are Valuable
The first thing you need to understand is that as a nurse you are an invaluable resource to the community. Due to this, there are numerous opportunities in healthcare for the self-employed. While your new path may not look anything like your old one, it will require the same nursing skills that made you valuable during your previous job.
The second thing you need to know is that you do not have to do it all at once. You can break the transition into phases that are easy and bearable for you. This could be done by reducing the number of shifts you take while shopping around for entrepreneurial opportunities.
What Opportunities are there for Self-employment as a nurse?
- Educate patients and their families. You could also hold classes for other healthcare professionals based on your nursing background.
- Assess a healthcare facility faced with a certain problem, and provide adequate solutions to their problems, based on your clinical experience.
- Create care plans uniquely suited for each patient, even when they are home.
- Private nursing, attending to ill patients in their homes until they get well.
- As a nurse, due to your familiarity with medical equipment, you could get into the business of supplying equipment, supplies and medical clothing to institutions that need them.
- You could be asked to assist legal professionals in medico-legal cases.
- You can bring healthcare products to the demographic in need of them. With your nursing background, you would be skilled at understanding the medical complexities and simplifying them for potential customers.
The advantages of Self-employment are:
- You are your own boss
- You define the goals that you are working towards. Whether it is purely financial, or a blend of finance and nursing.
- You choose your clients
- You do work that fulfills you
- You design a schedule that suits you
- You work from whatever location suits you
- You determine how much you get paid, and for the most part you retain all the profits.
To start on this journey do your research, and identify what aspect of self-employment appeals to you. Then determine what the costs will be, and what the skill set required is. The journey to financial independence is entrepreneurship, so find your niche in the healthcare market and fill it now.
Also, check out this video by Improvement Pill on Youtube!
