Beyond Nursing: Embracing Business and Leadership - Episode 57
In today's episode, we're talking to Ann Konkly, a super talented nurse who not only takes care of patients but also runs her own businesses. We discuss how nurses like Ann can use their skills to start their own companies and help even more people. Ann shares her journey from being a nurse to becoming a successful business owner. She gives great tips on how to make a private practice successful and how to be a great leader in business. This episode is not just for nurses, but for anyone interested in starting their own business and making a difference in the world.
About our guest:
Ann Konkly is a Certified Nurse-Midwife and Certified Life & Business Coach, as well as the CEO and Founder of Kultivate Women’s Health LLC and Authentic Koaching LLC, which have collectively generated nearly half a million in revenue. Through Kultivate Women’s Health LLC, she offers hormone replacement therapy and weight loss medication to women in perimenopause and menopause in Ohio and New York, aiming to help them reinvent their bodies and navigate midlife with greater ease and confidence through both in-person and Telehealth services. Meanwhile, at Authentic Koaching LLC, Konkly focuses on empowering Nurse CEOs to leverage their businesses for personal and societal benefit, offering high-touch, customized business coaching with the goal of helping 1000 Nurse CEOs generate $10 Million in entrepreneurship across the country.
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TRANSCRIPT:
Naseema: [00:00:00] What's up my financially intentional people? I am so honored to be joined by Ann Konkley. We are going to be talking about just emotional intelligence, how to be a great MP, getting those private practices up.
And a lot of what we're talking about. Can be tailored towards nurses, nurse practitioners, but really and being like a mindful CEO, I think it can be applied across whatever business you're doing. So don't tune out if you're not necessarily a nurse. I think these things are transferable. Hey, and how are you?
Ann Konkly: I'm good. How are you? Thanks for having me.
Naseema: Oh, of course. I'm doing okay. We were talking, it's been one of those weeks transitioning, transitioning as mothers. It's one of those hard things. So going back to work as a mommy of three is, we'll see how that goes.
Ann Konkly: Yeah, I wish you all the best this week and I hope you show yourself some grace and compassion because it [00:01:00] is not easy and is challenging. So I see you and. I wish you just some compassion and grace for yourself this week as you get back into your routines and change it
Naseema: I will take all of it. I need it all. And give me a little bit about your background as a nurse and what you do with your coaching clients. Silence.
Ann Konkly: So, my training is as a certified nurse midwife and and now I run two businesses and I run a coaching business. specifically for, I work with a lot of nurse practitioners and help them. And we cover the range from budding entrepreneur to, and starting a side hustle to opening up a private practice to taking that private practice from, 50 grand in revenue to 200 grand in revenue.
And I really love that work. It's great. I think the business side of healthcare is fascinating and there's so much opportunity for those of us who are willing to go in and to look at it differently and to take, what we love to do and to do it in a way that makes sense, [00:02:00] not only for the patients, but also makes sense for us as a business owner.
I think that's an incredible opportunity. I run that business. I love it. I've done that for about the past four years. And and then I recently opened. A private practice over the summer. And I work with women in perimenopause and I do hormone replacement therapy and medical weight loss for women.
And I really enjoy that. I see patients here in the state of Ohio where I live. And then also I'm licensed in New York for telehealth and I love it. It's really It's it's funny. I avoided going into private practice for a long time. I worked with a large medical center as a midwife.
And I just got to a point where I thought, you know what, there's a lot of opportunity and there's a lot that I understand about hormone replacement. And I actually started using HRT myself and I was like, Oh shit, I got to get out there and help all the women because, my, like it, it, There's so much good evidence.
There's so much good data out there to support the safety and and how useful and and good hormone therapy can be for a lot of women and helpful. [00:03:00] So I do those two things. I have a family. I have two growing boys who are 10 and 13 and and I have a wonderful loving husband who I adore and and a cute little puppy dog who's about to, who is a lover of socks and and big hard chew toys because she is like a, a complete crazy chewer.
She gets through all the things. So we've now have only reverted to the Benne bones, like the big heavy ones that she drops all over the house. They make a ton of noise. Everybody jumps a little bit. But I love it. I love I love it. And and then we met, I had you on the nurses living the good life podcast, which is my podcast.
And, I'm doing all sorts of things that I just love to do and, helping people. It's my jam and so I'm happy to be here.
Naseema: love that, but what initially led you to be a nurse midwife?
Ann Konkly: I knew I wanted to be a midwife. I saw like way back in the day I was watching a I think it was like CBS 60 minutes or something. There was a water birth on TV and I was just like. Oh, my God.[00:04:00] I never forget. I know where I was sitting. I was watching. I was like and I just remember being really fascinated by the birth.
And I thought this is the craziest thing. I don't even know how this happens. And then from there, I just went through school and figured this is what I want to do. I, I considered doing medical school, but it wasn't the right fit for me. And so midwifery felt like it was a really good fit for me.
And so I I went to nursing school to become a CNM and and then I got into. Labor and delivery. I worked there for a couple of years, went back and did my master's and came out as a women's health nurse practitioner in a CNM and started in a practice. And I've been working as a CNM for, since I think 2008.
And I stepped out in 2019, right before the pandemic hit, I was done with. clinical practice and ready for just something different. And that's when I learned how to coach and and started up my coaching practice and grew it. And then only, recently went back into clinical practice.
But I always was fascinated with, I [00:05:00] think, initially it was with birth and then from there it was more working with women and just, the. Nuances of working with women. And I love, I still love that to this day, which is why I'm back in private practice. And which is why a lot of the work I do is really focused on women, whether it's coaching or in, the medical aspect of it.
But it was that first 60 minutes. I will never forget it. And just being, just thinking this is the craziest thing, but I don't know why I like it. Everybody else thinks it's weird and gross, but I was just like, there's, I don't, this crazy. It's so cool. This
Naseema: that that you have such a vivid memory of Woodrow Busey going to midwifery. That is crazy. And a water birth on 60 Minutes seems a little risqué, and I know it had to be a while ago, so I couldn't even imagine.
like
that is cray.
Ann Konkly: this is probably late eighties and I don't even, I doubt they even showed anything that was revealing in any way. But I, I'll just never forget thinking, watching this gal [00:06:00] in a blow up pool in her living room giving birth. And I was just like. And then I went for, I had a senior project to do when I was in high school and I chose to do it with a local OBGYN here and and a midwife.
And it was, he helped, he was catching twins and he was like, come on, suit. I'm like 17 or 18 at that point. And he's come on, get your gloves on and help me. And so I did. I stood next to him and this was like before the days of you had to get a badge and you had to do compliance training.
And
Naseema: right.
Ann Konkly: Stand next to me and help. And I was just, I, it's it's one of those other like experiences that was just Matt, like an imprint in my brain of this is the craziest shit I've ever. It's it's so unbelievable how one minute there's a baby in a belly and the next minute there's a baby crying.
That's it's just like mind blowing. And so I'll never forget it. So he was great. And he introduced me to the midwives who were in this large group. And and I got to see, patients in the office and I just, after that, I was like, I'll be doing [00:07:00] some element of this, not sure what, but and that was it.
Naseema: That is so cool. I'm curious before I talk about your transition from midwifery into your coaching practice. I want to know, like, you've always been in Ohio, correct?
Ann Konkly: For the most part,
I went to school in
Naseema: yes, but you've been licensed as a midwife in in Ohio. Because I know midwives operate differently in every state, like what they can do.
What is the licensing like and what is your practice like in Ohio? what
can you do? What capacity do you guys have?
Ann Konkly: Yeah, it's interesting. We do not yet have full practice authority here for certified nurse midwives. And so it makes it a little bit more challenging and that we have to have a collaborating doc yeah, and a collaborative agreement in place for our board of nursing, but we do have a robust.
group of midwives in the state, which is great. And then, it's unfortunate that we don't have good legislation for CPMs [00:08:00] and for CMs. And so the only ones currently recognized as per the medical board and the board of nursing are CNMs. And I hope that that changes in the coming years.
I hope that we see that we have more midwives because there's a lot of ways to become a midwife and and a lot of good avenues to do that. And but in the current reality here, we have a good amount of certified nurse midwives, most of whom are doing hospital work and probably a small amount who are doing, some sort of private practice or even a smaller amount doing a home birth practice.
Naseema: And so would you have your clinic patients and then you come in the hospital and do low risk deliveries?
Is this that?
Ann Konkly: Yeah, so we ran a a pretty busy service and had, my typical week was I'd see patients in the office usually Monday, Tuesday, and then I had administrative time Wednesday. Cause I was the medical director of one of our clinics. And then on, I do Thursday night call and that was my, 7P to 7A.
And so that was my schedule for most most weeks out of my career. And it was probably a little bit more variable at the beginning, but we saw [00:09:00] patients at, I think, eight or nine different outpatient hospital locations. and then had a central, main campus where everybody came to birth.
And it was a busy service. A lot of I think about 3, 000 births a year. And they're probably actually up a bit since that. They've since opened a second birthing center.
Naseema: busy. Wow. Wow. Wow. Wow. Wow.
Ann Konkly: Yeah, it's, yeah, so good. And a lot of a lot of preeclampsia, a lot of obesity, a lot of I would say probably not a traditional midwifery practice in terms of a truly low risk patient population, but But a great practice and, certainly I think a good model of care for, a lot of women.
So
Naseema: Yeah, and it sounds like you got a lot of experience, but what kind of pushed you to go towards coaching?
Ann Konkly: I had always been, I think the go to for a lot of people, people would be like, and what do you think about this? And they'd like, they'd be like, can I talk to you? They'd pull me to the side. And so I always enjoyed that role. And I enjoyed being the behind the scenes kind of person on it.
I was like the keeper of the keys. Like I knew a lot of the things that were going down before they [00:10:00] would go down. And so Because I think people came to me with Hey, what do you think? Or what's your perspective? Or, and I just realized that that was something I really enjoyed. I really enjoyed the relational aspect of the work that I did with patient care.
Being able to sit down and have a conversation and get to the root of are you a person who desires to have children in your lifetime, right? Why or why not, and what would you like to do in terms of what's the best way for you to go about achieving that goal?
Those kinds of conversations rather than a very I think a more traditional medical approach, which is much more of a prescriptive, do this, do that. And here's your antibiotic and go on your way. Or here's your OCP, whatever, and see me back in a year. And so I really enjoyed that.
And then I was at a point where in my clinical career, I just was, I felt like I had done it. I just, I became, like a seasoned midwife. I knew it took me a while to get there. It took me a good, we were just talking about this with one of my other clients. I was like, I don't know about you, but it took me about a good three to five years to feel really confident as.
As a midwife, like I, and I [00:11:00]
Naseema: as a midwife, because first you had to get that confidence as a labor and delivery nurse, which is crazy. But then the transition into midwifery, which is a whole other thing, plus administrative stuff on top of that Yeah.
Ann Konkly: And so I got there and I was like, this is good. This is good. And then for the next probably five years I did, some sort of administrative portion or some sort of a leadership position, that kind of a thing. And I enjoyed that. I went back down to MBA cause I was like shit, maybe I should go, she'll go to the administrative route.
And because I didn't know, I was terribly burnt out and I was like, I don't know what I want, but. I don't necessarily want to be on call for the rest of my life. And so I started thinking, maybe I should go the administrative route. And that was like, that was comical because administration is not.
Naseema: And I know how comical it is because I did the reverse, right? I went to,
I went the administrative route, then I became a nurse. And so I'm just like, girl,
not so much. If you're talking
about
[00:12:00] burnout.
Ann Konkly: I was like, it's all daisies and rainbows over there. Must be much better now. Yeah, management's its own. It takes, I think a certain really skilled individual and I love coaching and some management, I don't love, the management piece as much, although I'm good at it.
And so I just got to a point where I thought, there's gotta be. I know I'm built like made for more essentially, but I just don't know what it is. And so coaching felt like this great Avenue. And I was sitting in my MBA class, it's called living the good life. And my professor, he would bring in once a week, he'd bring in a different entrepreneur to talk about, the business that they built, how they built this.
It was like a live version of how I built this on NPR is great. And one of them was a. It was so good. It was and one of them was a life coach. She had had a corporate career at, I think Panera or something, and then ended up becoming a life coach. Went on, to build a seven figure business.
And she was like, I love this. This is, it's so fun. And I was sitting there in the class and I was like. Wait a [00:13:00] minute, wait a damn minute, because you could be a life coach and make a seven figure business. That seems mind blowing to me at this point. And I'm looking around and I'm like, I already am a good coach.
Like I understand patient care, I understand how to have conversations. I know a lot. And I was like, and I knew. I would be able to get out from under the thumb of the board of nursing. And I was like, Oh, that's incredible. So I went and got a executive coaching certificate while I was doing my MBA.
And then I was just
Naseema: From your same school or you did it in a
different route.
Ann Konkly: I was in my MBA program at Case Western Reserve University here in Cleveland, and they have a really good executive education department. I would tell it like anybody here, if you're in any sort of a corporate environment, you're in medicine, healthcare, wherever you are, there is probably an executive education program that is out there in your city or that does.
And they have usually, if you can get a corporate sponsor, your employer to fund you going, they have some really good classes. And so I ended up negotiating with my, went to [00:14:00] my chair and was like, Hey. Send me to this coaching executive coaching program and I'll figure out, I'll learn how to coach and I'll bring it back because our department was having some growing pains and, some issues.
And I was like, I'll go figure it out now, then, come on, bring it back. And so I went to the course and I was like. Oh, I could totally build a business with this. And so then I was there maybe another six months and I was out and I was building my own business. And,
Naseema: No
Ann Konkly: Using your employer to help create your next steps is a fantastic utilization of resources.
Naseema: I want to highlight two really important things that you said. Number one, and I forget about this because I haven't done this in over 20 years. Is look at the certificate programs at your universities, because I think like now, like when you're in the coaching world, you're inundated by a whole bunch of.
for coaches that kind of sell these programs, but these schools have these programs that your job will pay for. And [00:15:00] so looking at those activity programs is something that I totally forgot about, but also, like you said, have your corporate sponsor. Have your job pay for you to get a new skill, and I've seen people go into debt to pay for coaching programs, private coaching programs, to learn something that made they may or may not use.
Why not? Just go to the university. Have your job, pay for it. And if you don't use it, it's not so much of a loss, so I think that's a great tip, but I like how you took those ideas. You was like, yeah, I can make an argument that this is going to help me in their business. But in the meantime, I'm I'm building my business on the side and you took that and ran with it.
How was it to like transition now out of, the administrative side and build your own coaching business? Like, how did you find your clients? And like, how did you start making money?
Ann Konkly: It was funny cause I was like, I had this like grand plan. I was like, I'm gonna put an offer out there and people are just gonna love it. They're gonna, they're gonna sign up like
crazy. And I'm, [00:16:00] I'm so good at this. It was so funny. And I put out my first, a call for a group program and it was.
I think five grand and it was a, like general life coaching for women. It was so nonspecific. I can look back at all the reasons now from a sales, from a much better sales perspective and note that it was a tear wall, but anyway, but it got me, I got no DMs, no calls, no emails.
Nothing like crickets. And I was like this isn't gonna work. Like I gotta figure this out because apparently you can't just put up a couple of posts on social media and people pay you money. So I so all of a sudden I was like, I knew that it was, that was probably over early fall.
And then I was like, it feels hard for me to figure out this whole thing. The other skill that I had in my back pocket was that I knew how to do resumes and CVs, and I'd had to do the process for myself at work and like getting an academic CV up to snuff.
and I was like, I'm good at this. I'm great at [00:17:00] editing. And I could probably just do the, do this for somebody else. So sure enough, I had a gal who was here local in Cleveland. She was just, I think, graduating with her DNP. And I saw her on LinkedIn and she was like, does anybody know resume?
And I was like, I'd be happy to help you. And I think for like a whopping 200 or something, I was like, I'll send you I'd be happy to help you with it. I have a template. And I will, send it over to me. Let me take a peek at it and just see what we're working with. And then, I'll like, send you some recommendations and I'll help you with it.
She was like, okay, that's great. So sure enough, I was, then I was like I don't know. How do I accept payment? So then I, go on Venmo. I send her a Venmo. She sends me the money. I email her the template. And then I worked with her and helped her, do it. And and from there I thought, oh, people don't know how to do this.
And so then I started to offer. Okay. I just said, I put up a post on social and I think in a bunch of the Facebook groups and said, Hey if anybody wants a free resume review, if you're an advanced practice nurse or an NP student, an RN, send me your resume and I will [00:18:00] take a look and I'll send you a loom video back.
So I'd send them a loom bit of a video back for, it would probably be between 15 and 20 minutes. I would go through it. Line by line. And I'd be like, this is where I think you need to improve. This is the issue. This is why it's not getting across. These are the things that I recommend if you want to make more money and stand out from the crowd, you've got to do X, Y, and Z, and then on the back end, I'd say, Hey, I have a course that I've built and I would be happy if you need some help, let me know.
And, we can talk about what it looks like for me to do all this for yours. Take what I've given you and run, go do it yourself. And I built, I think my first 55 grand was in my business was from. Resumes and resumes and, CVS and template sales. And, and then all of a sudden I was like then they were asking a lot of questions and they were like, but how do I negotiate more?
And I was like now we need a comp plan, a compensation plan, cheat sheet. Okay. So let me put that together. And so it was just a
Naseema: Yes.
Ann Konkly: Step by step, meeting the needs. And so that was a great, and then I'd have people who would say, Hey, [00:19:00] can you help me do some interview prep? And like, how do I answer these questions?
I'm nervous about this and what do I say? And so then I started to add on a little bit of coaching and then as I was going, it just evolved from there. And. In addition to that CV and resume business I had on the side, I was doing one to ones, private coaching with clients and building that element of the business.
And so it, but that's how it, it built from there. It just was a, it's to help one and then go on and help another and help another and see where that leads and what problems do they have now and what can you help them do. That's how the business is essentially evolved over time. And so we have now, that CV and resume course, I still sell it.
I still sell my I still sell of a private practice course, how to build a private practice in 30 days with how to build your first side hustle, make your first two K in a side hustle as a nurse practitioner. We still, we have a lot of courses that we sell and then individual, one on one coaching and then some coaching group programs and but it's just evolved, over time and we just.
I keep trying to meet the need and, I see a need in the market and. Go out and [00:20:00] try to create a solution for it.
Naseema: love that building a business off of what your consumers are telling you that they need and just expanding on that. But right now I know you split your time. Your time between your private practice and your consulting. And your coaching business, but what in your coaching business makes up the biggest chunk of your revenue?
Mm
Ann Konkly: So it's a combination of the one to ones and the group program. So we have a program where we, I teach NPs how to coach. And so we have that program. Then we have another one called the business accelerator for private practice owners. And those are each five grand, roughly about five grand a piece.
And so those are big, what I would call a lot, like a higher ticket item. And to build a business where you sell. 10 people at five grand into that and you're 50 grand there. And then, you have a coach training, which is five grand. These are both roughly six month programs.
And then to sell, 10 people at five grand into there, it's a hundred grand, a hundred thousand dollar business on two group programs. And those tend to do very well. They're great [00:21:00] for the camaraderie and support and, getting out there and remind, just. Being in a group of people who are doing the same thing that you are and who are, experiencing the same growing pains that you are.
Those are great programs, but for me, I probably over the course of the business over probably 400 grand made the most in one to one coaching, but I would say a close second to that as doing the group programs. I always tell my clients though, cause I help them, Once they go through coach training, we talk about how to build up the first, layer of your business, right?
And getting out there and getting your first five clients. And the thing I think is just important to note is that our, the one-to-ones tend to be a little bit easier to sell the groups. You usually have to have some sort of a pipeline or a funnel for those, where
Naseema: Mm hmm, mm hmm.
Ann Konkly: And so we, so one-on-ones remain. For me, a good way to do the work because I like the element of the conversation and small groups. Those are my two. I don't, I think I'll ever be the person who has these massive,
Naseema: group coaching programs.
Ann Konkly: no, I love the, I like the, [00:22:00] individual component of it.
I like the more intimate setting and the intimate, the, being able to have the relationship and know what's going on with her business and her business. And that's just how I like to work as a human. So we keep it, a lot of the programs really tailored to that approach.
Naseema: But one to ones can be pretty time consuming and you still have your own private practice. So how do you balance your time?
Ann Konkly: I set up just boundaries on, my coaching days are Tuesday, Wednesday. My private practice day is on Thursday and that's it. That's the schedule we've worked a lot over the past couple of years, we used to start out with 60 minute coaching sessions and we went down to 45 minutes that now we're down to 30 minute sessions, number one, because I've gotten better as a coach, and so I've got, I can get.
You used to take me a good, it's like doing a history on, it's, I think back to just my career as a midwife. It's you would just get better as you go and you get more efficient. You get better asking, knowing what questions that you need to ask to get the data that you need. And so I've just gotten better on that.
So now we do for the most part, in my group program, they do 30 minute visits[00:23:00] 30 minute. Coaching sessions. And then for my one to one clients, they do one hour sessions. And but I just, it's a very clear, I'm like, I, I see clients from 9am Eastern to about 3pm Eastern, Tuesday, Wednesday, and my private practice on Thursday, and that's.
That's about it. Mondays and Fridays are administrative time. It's beautiful. It's a beautiful business. And I don't do
a ton outside of that.
Naseema: wonderful. So you got, yeah, I love that. So Tuesday, Wednesday, you said Monday, Friday, Friday, Thursday, I love that structure because it pads your weekends pretty nicely,
Ann Konkly: A hundred percent. Yeah. And if
you, travel,
Naseema: Yeah. It gives you a lot of pride to recover for your coaching client. What do you see are like some of their biggest barriers to meet their goal, whatever their specific goals they have
Ann Konkly: so for a lot of the women I work with, we talk a lot about perfectionism as one of the [00:24:00] things that holds a lot of us up. We talk about people pleasing. We talk about conflict avoidance and not wanting to say the hard thing or avoiding the discomfort because somebody is going to feel some type of way about it.
And so we talk a lot about, the breaking out of some of the old molds that, many women who, especially, I coach women who are born and raised in the United States. And many of us have been subject to a lot of conditioning and socialization on how we should look, how we should act, what's good way to be in the world. What's not a good way to be in the world. And so we work a lot on becoming stepping in a very powerful version of yourself so that you can sit comfortably at the negotiating table and, ask for a salary that is commensurate with the value you create. Or we talk about, being a powerful CEO who hires quickly and fires even faster, right?
When it's not a right fit and who has. The conversations about, this is how we do it here. And we'd love to have you if you're on board. And if you're not, we wish you all the best, in a, in a collegial [00:25:00] and respectful way with integrity. So I think most of our barriers come from, some of the things that we've been learned.
And then I love entrepreneurship because I think many of us who, and I'm sure you can relate to this at some point, which is that, you get into some of these systems and they are inherently flawed with all sorts of power structures and oppressive rules and regulations.
They're not built for women and they're not built for people with children. They're not built for those who are disabled or who are neurodivergent. And if you get into a setting like that and you find that you have a challenge existing comfortably then. You either have a choice, you either stay in the system and you manage your brain and you fight and you take on the role of activist or you you go out and create what's not currently there or what doesn't exist in order to provide yourself with.
An opportunity to do the work you like, but to do it in a way that really serves you and serves the people that you want to take care of. So I like entrepreneurship for that reason, because I [00:26:00] think for most of us, we usually get, into some sort of scenarios and typical medical like the medical industrial complex, right?
And you just get into whether it's a gender pay gap, or you get into an issue of not being able to be promoted as quickly or, or as high because you don't have the right, the right quote unquote training as a physician or background or credentials, or because of the color of your skin, or because of the fact that you are of the LGBTQ, like there's a million reasons for discrimination, right?
If you are not Gendered white male. And so
Naseema: Even in nursing
which is crazy.
Ann Konkly: Yeah. And so it, and so in our profession in particular, I think we, as nurses often struggle with, we have been trained on a power dynamic and on a conflict avoidance. And so we do a lot of infighting. And so instead of trying to fight, from a systems approach to say.
Like we're a huge force in healthcare and, [00:27:00] sometimes we end up, eating our own. And and so I think a lot of the work that we do is undoing that. And so there's that piece and then there's this whole other piece too, of For a lot of my clients who come in, we, they've been trained clinically to be fast decision makers, to be very astute and to be very, I don't mean cold in a bad way, but to be clinical, right?
To have to exert judgment, discretion, and. And to thus resist how they feel to push hard when they're tired, when they are on an irregular schedule, they're working nights, they have families at home. And so a lot of the work too, that I do is on feelings and feeling your feelings and and also not resisting how you feel and not pushing through, because. We've always done it. And so I, that's a lot of, so it's a lot. So we do a [00:28:00] lot, we do, it's sometimes it's the more tactical approach of like, how do you actually grow a business and do digital marketing? And we cover that, but then we also cover these things of what prevents you from being the person who, Facebook ad or is.
Courageous enough to leave her job and, or leave a job and leave their job and try something new. And so I work with, my clients, we do a lot of the we do the tactical stuff, but we also do a lot of the, personal development stuff too.
Naseema: So during the pandemic, especially, I saw this mass exodus of nurses, nurse practitioners that jumped into entrepreneurship because of the burnout aspect, right? But then what I saw was that, they blamed a lot of the stuff on the healthcare organization, but then they were experiencing the same kind of things, being their own boss in the entrepreneurial space.
And number one, I don't think everybody is built to be an entrepreneur. I know I definitely it's not my favorite thing. [00:29:00] But I do have that entrepreneurial spirit. But I just want to know for those people that think that entrepreneurship is like the answer, what do you say to them?
Ann Konkly: Before we even answer that, like you're the definition of entrepreneur, which is people got a problem and you got a solution and you're like, let me show you how I did it and let me show how you could do it too. And that is an entrepreneur. And I think the only reason we look at it is because we haven't typically been taught that we.
The way we look or the way we act or the way that we were born is the way that, typically entrepreneurs exist out there in the world. And that's just not true. We as entrepreneurs are solution finders. We are problem solvers and that's what we do is nursing all day long.
Naseema: Just for people who like, especially nurses especially like bedside nurses, they were like, I'm burnt out. I'm going to just start in my own business because, the healthcare organizations are burning me out. Like what do you tell people like that? Just think that entrepreneurship is the solution.
Ann Konkly: Yeah.[00:30:00] I think for some it probably is but for most, I see this too, which is that people come to me and they're like, I was so burnt out and I left and I started my own practice and now I'm burnt. I'm right back where I started. And typically what I think we see is that Many people will jump and I see this and it's not only with entrepreneurship, but I see it too.
And people will come to me and they'll be like I was two years here and I, I got really burnt out. And so I went into a new position or tried a new, I went to cardiology or went to an internal medicine and I was terrible. And then I tried Ahmed for two. And so the common denominator, all those things is the individual.
And so very often what happens is that when you jump from one frying pan to another. If you use the same mentality, same mindset and one and same mind management tools, and one, you will probably revert to those in the next one that you do, which is why we typically tend to go through burnout, right?
Burnout isn't necessarily a result of the institution, although I would say for sure, it's harder to exist in [00:31:00] some institutions than it is in others. That's for sure. But
Naseema: Yes.
Ann Konkly: right? But here's what also happens. I go and build my own business. And then I have no boundaries. I don't have the heart conversations with patients.
So now I'm working with people who I don't love to work with. Or I've got people who my accounts receivable is crazy because I got people not paying and I'm still seeing them. Or I've got, I've got to hire, but I hired this person, but this person is not the right fit, but I don't want to have a conversation because I feel bad because they're going to feel something.
And then I'm just, I don't even know what. No, like this is the same stuff that got you into the place where you were feeling burnt out and institution one is the same stuff that's going to, leave you feeling burnt out again. So my advice to them is, yes, for sure. There's more freedom and opportunity and more.
More elements of control that you can exert when it's your own ship that you're building and running. And that's an amazing thing. And you have to just be mindful and intentional about setting up the system in a [00:32:00] way that, again, you exert control where you can and you let go where you have none. and that, the people pleasing, the perfectionism, the conflict avoidance, the needing to have everybody happy.
The, I don't wanna hurt everybody's feelings. Like we have to address that because if we don't you'll close your business and you'll be miserable. You'll be making money, but miserable or worse. You'll get into the private practice. You will make a good amount of revenue. You won't make a profit.
And then you'll be working and you'll say. But wait a minute. I'm working so hard. I'm working 75 hours a week and I'm not making any money. Why aren't you making money? I, my costs are really high. Why are the costs high? I thought they needed all the things, or there's all sorts of reasons, right?
I don't want to raise my prices because my client, my patients will get upset. So Entrepreneurship provides some format of opportunity and freedom for sure. But at the end of the day, the common denominator is that you have to be able to train your mind and you have to be able to train it in a way that supports you and serves [00:33:00] you so that whatever circumstance you go into, private practice, institutional medicine, traditional healthcare model, FQHC, that you are able to manage your emotions.
They're able to feel them and process them. And that you develop ways that help you to maintain your emotional regulation and health at the end of the day. You do that and you can do, you can build any sort of business. But
Naseema: Right. It's like what got you there is not going to get you here. You cannot come into something with that same mindset.
you have to switch it up in order to
get different results.
Ann Konkly: exactly, you can, you're just going to get the same results that you got. Which is fine.
We're not here to judge it. I always tell them, I'm like, we're not here to judge it, but you, if you wanted to create different results, you got to put some different ingredients into the recipe and that the biggest ingredient is you,
Naseema: yeah, I love that. For your your coaching clients that you help with private practice, is there any kind of specific specialties that you lean towards more?
Ann Konkly: Yeah, so [00:34:00] I love the I love these little niche practices and I think if you're going into private practice, the question I ask my clients all the time is I say, what is your patient not getting from a traditional healthcare model? Like here in Cleveland, there's, a handful, there's probably a couple of North American menopause or menopause certified practitioners.
And they know they're deemed to be experts with their training and certification. They're deemed to be experts in the field of menopause treatment, but it takes about a good four to six months to get an appointment with them. I know how to do. I'm an expert too in hormone replacement therapy.
And so if I can be a resource to them and provide it in a way where it's not a 15 minute visit, it's a luxurious 60 minute visit in a very comfortable setting with a beautiful aesthetic and decor and with
the opportunity to do telehealth or in person. Whichever is best for you. To come in and to have natural lighting and to be greeted by a beautiful [00:35:00] human, wonderful human at the front desk.
If I can do it better, which I can, and I can do it faster. which I can, then, that's the practice that really has a lot of opportunity. So I tend to go for these smaller niche. So like when you have a product that is not again, available on the market, you have a focus on integrative health, or you want to take functional medicine and apply that to the care of women in period menopause.
You want to take weight loss is a big one right now because we have a lot of, the growth of a zombie quick OB and all the GLP ones has been tremendous over the past, six months to a year. And but that's a great practice. But even for those of us who go into weight loss, you still have to differentiate yourself from your
competitors, right?
You still, it's,
Naseema: Who's your avatar? Yes!
Ann Konkly: Exactly. You have to be able to say, this is why people come to me rather than going to X, Y, and Z. And if you can't answer that question, you will have a hard time. I think standing out from the crowd. And that's ultimately what we want to do in order to be able to have, people who find us and people who come [00:36:00] to us.
So I love these little niche practices. I think they're fantastic. I, and I always encourage my clients to just to, if they have something that again, isn't available readily. That's a perfect solution and they can do it in a way that is, that creates a lovely amount of time and that, provides opportunities for that one on one patient care.
That's what people don't get. Here's the other thing. So we have two large medical three large medical centers here in Cleveland. You cannot get a phone call back. With it to save your life, I swear or, even on the, my term messages, it's you get somebody who's like a blink of response.
Hey, we got your message. We'll be back to in 72 hours so that they can fulfill their heat is requirements and make sure from a
CMS standpoint,
they're answering their messages very quickly. But they're not answering them with content. So like I answer all of my, I answer every single one of the messages that comes through.
I call all of my patients. I respond to them by email, by text. I [00:37:00] respond to them within a day. Like I, I, you can't get that kind of service elsewhere in the city for the most part you can't. And so I love that. I love the personal element of it. I like. If people want, if something's going wrong, they come right to the source and I'm like, all right, let's fix it.
Here's what we're going to do. And so I think you just have to, the generalized women's health practice, not going to probably do great. The specialty, this is how I'm different. This is what makes me, I'm not saying better than, but this is what makes me different than, every other place out there where you can go and get a pap test.
Like, that's the key to helping you, to stand out from the crowd. And so I tell my clients, you got to find that source that really makes you what makes you unique and really build upon it. And I think that's a great way to build a business.
Naseema: I love that. And I would want to know for your client is it just like an entrepreneurship? You think if you reach down too much, you won't have an audience where[00:38:00] sometimes you're speaking to too many people and nobody is listening. And, But once you tune in to those people who you really want to serve, then you'll have an amazing audience and they'll be your ideal audience.
Do you see people struggle with that mindset shift of trying to niche down like that? No, that that's going to be too small. I don't. Yeah.
Ann Konkly: I see it both ways. Like people will come and say, but I need a niche and I'm like actually you just need to get out there and do some work, make some money, and then we'll figure out the
niche, like on the back end of who you like to work with, who you don't like to work with, what topics you like, what topics you cannot stand.
We need to get some data and then we can make a determination, but, so I see it on that end and then it's always, it's so much easier to market, right? The point of having a niche is that it makes marketing. In particular, so much easier because then you can, you have, dedicated resources like we have a freebie or current freebie in our practices.
It's a private practice checklist and and then a free training video. It's an hour long training video on how to use the [00:39:00] checklist. And then some of the things common mistakes I see for NPS and private practice. And so that is a, if I sold that to all nurses, it is. I, I get some interest, but if I sold it to, we used to sell it to advanced practice nurses too broad.
Now we switched over to NPS and P's. This is private practice in 30 days for nurse practitioners, very specific entrepreneurs, nurse practitioner, like it's selling so much better. And it's From a marketing standpoint, a niche makes it so much easy, but I think too, when you're getting going, you just gotta, you gotta find out like, who's my audience.
And then and also notice I, we always talk about too, like who are the king mackerel, right? Like for me, it's nurse practitioners, right? It, those are my, the bulk of the people that I help. But then on the coaching side, but then you start to look and say but who are the guppies and like the little fish, like we don't make a ton of programs for them, but they come along.
I got nurses. I got occupational therapists. I've got registered dietitians. I've got, speech therapists. Like I work with a lot of people. I got [00:40:00] docs, and so we don't necessarily advertise to them. We advertise our King mackerel, like our big, our big fish, but we still cater to and work with the guppies and the minnows and the, the cod and, all the bottom feeders, like we, we don't discriminate against fish.
We just, but it gives, it becomes a lot easier to talk to the King mackerel because the King mackerel has got problems that the guppies don't have. And so the
more that you can really get in tune with, like, how do you speak to the King Mackerel in a way that, you're addressing their issues and, a couple of guppies is going to come along and we're going to help them too.
So it just makes marketing so much easier.
Naseema: so with the solution that you created private practice in 30 days it's like a box solution or is it you build out like systems compliance, like, how to do your medical records, billing, all that stuff is all that incorporated in it. Okay.
Ann Konkly: it because the, on one [00:41:00] hand, the way that we've, that I've made it is that I, and the way that I like to do these courses is I like to. Create essentially document what I've done and say, Hey, this is what I did. And I'm gonna help you do it quicker and faster. And with, like without losing as much money, pretty much.
Naseema: Efficiency. We're building the
efficiency. Yes.
Ann Konkly: like we want to decrease the pain associated with getting it off the ground. So for a private practice in 30 days, that's really targeted at this is what you got to do to get it off and off the ground to dye your eyes, cross your teeth. There's going to be a second wave of that.
We're just, I was just actually talking with another client about this. She was like, but how do you teach all the stuff that you do in your, cause I, now I incorporate a lot of the coaching techniques I use into my private practice. And so we talk a lot about like for my weight loss clients, we talk, it's not only about medication, we talk about.
over eating behavioral change and not using food as to avoid your feelings and over drinking. And we talk about all the emotional eating, everything. We talk about all of it. And [00:42:00] she's like, how do I learn that? And I was like that's coming in the second segment. So we'll probably set, we'll probably create a second course.
And then for, it's for the compliance piece of that. What I tend to do is have the model that I use is that. In my Nurse Practitioner Business Accelerator, what I do is I get people like Ernice Williams. Do you know Ernice? She's fantastic. You're a nurse lawyer.
Naseema: course, I know. That's
like my bestie.
Ann Konkly: Who doesn't, know
Naseema: Okay. what is that?
I thought
knew that
Ann Konkly: of course, of course. See, I, and so Ernice is a person that, Like she's the expert in my opinion on, if you have from a legal standpoint, you want to start up a practice and you don't want to have, compliance be an issue for you.
Ernest is your person to go to. So then, so in my business accelerator, I loop people just like Ernest and have them come into the program. And I say, Hey, give us the load on marketing, give us a load on compliance and the legal issues that NPS need to know in private practice. [00:43:00] I have our the.
Had the CEO of finance of the the CEO of kickstart accounting, which is the accounting firm that I work with. I have her come in and talk about accounting, principles, one on one and basic bookkeeping for the new business owner. And then I have I have a financial planner and she comes in and talks about, and we'll probably use you next time if you're willing, come in, talk about, but like we have somebody who comes in and talks about these are the ways to think about.
having your money, make money. And so I get, I want them to get up and off the ground and that's really what private practice in 30 days is. And then, as we go along and continue to build and grow, there'll be iterations of this, which is, learning how to incorporate coaching into your medical weight loss practice.
And then it will be another course will probably be something like, from the compliance piece of it, which I, it is not what I want to spend my time on, but just knowing it's an important piece of, what we need to do as business owners. So there'll probably be a segment on that too.
So they're coming. That's the [00:44:00] long answer. I just gave you the short answer is it's coming.
Naseema: Gotcha, gotcha. So you do collaborate with a lot of people because I just feel like you have so many moving parts in there. You can't possibly be an expert on all those things. And I don't expect you to be. I know you're fantastic. But to be able to have resources and go to people in all of those areas is super important to meet your clients needs.
And I love that that you were able to build out like that infrastructure around your business to make sure that all those components were. Addressed and yeah, I like that. That's it. That's an excellent structure for a coaching program. So kudos to you. For nurse nurses, nurse practitioners that are looking to transition and be like the magical successful CEO, how do they like, start working with you?
Ann Konkly: So we, I have a Facebook group that's called side hustles for APNs and it is [00:45:00] a group we've probably got about 12, 000 advanced practice nurses in there. It's a great group, but that is a, if you're dipping a toe in entrepreneurship, even if you don't know it, cause you're just like, I just want to side hustle and make some more money.
Those are our budding CEOs and and so that group is dedicated to really getting ideas and what can I do with my knowledge and experience and how can I take it and repackage it and repurpose it to make a buck, and create some impact for somebody else. And so in that group, we do a lot of that's a free group open to all advanced practice nurses.
And then for them to, we have a NP side hustle school, which is again, it's like for those who are like, I want to make some money and I don't know how to do that. Some of them, some people are like, I want to start a private practice. And so for them, we have private practice in 30 days before the ones who are like, I just want to make a little money and like figure out if there's something else
Naseema: How about, yeah, how do, I use this license, this certification to, to drive some extra income? I
love
that. Mm-Hmm.
Ann Konkly: [00:46:00] And so for them, we've got NP side hustle school and that's a 99 course that. Documents, again, how I built the resume and CV business, the side hustles that I think are super easy for any NP to start the top three pitfalls for, that I see people going into, with a side hustle and things that I recommend avoiding and why I recommend avoiding them and all that stuff.
But that's probably the best way, if you're again, dipping the toe and, how do I make some extra money trying to, either pay off your credit card bill from Christmas or holiday spending, or, or just trying to,
Naseema: Which you shouldn't have because that should have been budgeted.
Ann Konkly: Yes, of course, a hundred percent, or you're trying to fund your five 29 accounts or, you're trying to there's all sorts of reasons you're trying to build your dream kitchen, and create a budget.
So you have some, cash for that. Whatever it is. I think it's a great, it's that first step is just like, how can I. How can I make it like take what I have and what I know, and then turn it into something that can make me some money, in a different way.
Naseema: [00:47:00] All right, and where do I know there's a Facebook group, but does everything live do you have a website that people should visit? Yay,
Ann Konkly: a new website actually this week, so it's exciting. It's called it's called nurses living the good life. Thank you. So it's all, it's nurses, living the good life. com. So you can find all of our information there, all of our courses, our programs information about me and Joey who works with me.
And so everything's on there. Our freebie courses there and press kits and all that fun stuff.
Naseema: You have been dropping a lot of gems and it is just a pleasure talking to you because I just always learned so much, but this is like so good and even me not using my MP degree ever, I'm just like, I'm sure there's something I can use it for. First. I need to actually certify
Ann Konkly: You still out, you still got your degree and nobody can take that away. And so
Naseema: Oh, no. mm-Hmm.
Ann Konkly:
Even if you don't recertify, it's lots of, [00:48:00] there's so many, there's so many options out there for what we can
Naseema: right. Right.
Right.
Actually, I was going to ask you that, like, how much does the certification matter in private practice?
Ann Konkly: In order to be, you can't usually get licensure for a private practice unless you are certified. And so you
Naseema: that's an entry to practice.
Ann Konkly: yes. Entry to practice would be you pass your certification boards at that point, and then you are able to obtain licensure in your state or whatever state. And so that's your entry into practice and then fulfilling the other requirements of your, Okay.
Board of nursing or board of medicine or whatever for collaborating docs and all that stuff. The other pieces, like the other question is do I want to do any healthcare component? And doesn't, it doesn't matter. Like I, in my coaching business, I just talk about, I have an MSN and an MBA and.
That's it. That's my background. I talk about my clinical work, but there's a lot you can do with what you already have before you go and try to take that, test again. I have to sit again for boards and do all that nonsense. Lord. [00:49:00] That's a whole thing.
Naseema: You know what? It's crazy. The boards were hella easy. But because I don't practice, the amount of CEs that I just had to gather to submit to recertify was so exhausting. I was like, I'll just take the boards again.
Ann Konkly: I don't blame you. I know. I don't blame you one bit. I comply. I agree. agree.
Naseema: Oh my God, this is crazy. Like I, this is my last little rant, but I just feel like in this information age, like for them not there, not to be like a CE bank, like when you take a class, it should just live there. The board should be able to access it. Like why do you have to do all this copy and paste BS in 2024 doesn't make any sense anyway.
That's my rant for the board. We know the boards and nurses are so antiquated. But just like the health care system, but that's another story for
another day, but I don't want to tarnish how incredible this interview has been with you and Hope [00:50:00] you guys check out nurses living the good life dot com
Ann Konkly: hmm. Yeah. Thank you so much for having me. It was a pleasure. It was a pleasure to talk with you. And you have such an amazing personality and I think the work that you're doing is incredibly helpful and it's so important. And and I just think, there's a lot of us who just probably looked from a financial standpoint and said I don't know, that seems hard or I don't know, something Yeah.
Yeah. It's not for me. And man, you start getting in there and start figuring out these little things and how you can make a little bit of money here and there and, and pad some of these accounts and, I, there's so much opportunity there. So I love it. I
Naseema: It's all about the aggregation of marginal gains. It's those little things that you do every day that that add up. And yes, 100%, but thank you again. And it's been a pleasure.
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