This Nurse Helps Travel Nurses Leverage Their Income to Get Out of Debt- Ep. 43
Mynoucka LaFalaise is the creator and founder of The Vintage Traveling Nurse, a space created with everyone in mind. Her content covers an array of topics that includes her nursing journey; how she uses her nursing income to work towards alleviating her debt; self-care as it relates specifically to the nurse/healthcare provider.
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Vintage Traveling Nurse Website
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TRANSCRIPT:
Naseema McElroy (00:01): Hey nurses on fire. I have the honor of being joined by Mynoucka LaFalaise of Vintage Traveling Nurse. Hey girl, how are you?
Mynoucka LaFalaise (00:11): I'm doing great. Thank you for having me.
Naseema McElroy (00:15): Thank you for coming on and I wanted to have you on because I wanted to talk to you about your platform Vintage Traveling Nurse about your experience as a nurse and how you help other nurses to elevate their life and finances through traveling. So welcome.
Mynoucka LaFalaise (00:36): Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
Naseema McElroy (00:38): So let's jump into like just your nursing origin story. What inspired you to be a nurse?
Mynoucka LaFalaise (00:44): So funny story. My mother recommended nursing to me ever since I was a senior in high school, which I graduated high school in 2005 so that's 15 years ago. And in true teenage fashion, I didn't think she knew what she was talking about and I did not go that route 15 years ago, but life came around full circle. Back in 2013 I decided to go to nursing school. I had been working as a nutritionist at the health department and wanted to go into a field that was more hands on that I felt like I can make more of an impact as far as like the being able to work directly with patients and then I ended up going to nursing school. Like she said, that's kind of where that started. My mother's a CNA. All of my aunts are CNAS. My brother is also in healthcare, so I've been around healthcare my entire life.
Naseema McElroy (01:37): That's so interesting. I think we all have that story of like somebody telling us early on to get into nursing and we're just like, Oh, why would we do that? Only to be like, why didn't I do it back then? I have a similar story about like the first week in college when I was touring the campus highly recommended me look into the nursing program because I was premed and was like, why? Why don't you just look into nursing? And then I thought that, you know, they were trying to insult me, but man, I wish I would have listened to her. So within nursing, what are your specialty areas?
Mynoucka LaFalaise (02:16): So I primarily specialize in cardiac. So I started out my nursing career working on a cardiac progressive care unit floor, which is your unit right in between ICU and med surg. And um, I knew kind of like in nursing school that I wanted to work on a progressive care unit for and I'm so glad that I did. And I ended up just liking the cardiac area in nursing. I initially thought I was going to be an OB GYN nurse and then when I was looking for a job and when I was researching you always hear like don't specialize too much in the beginning. Which, I don't know the verdict is still out on there because I think you could still do really few specialized. But at that time I thought I needed something more broad and thankfully I did end up liking cardiac and then I did that for three years and then afterwards, once I got into travel nursing, I did do primarily like telemetry floors. But as a travel nurse you float anywhere that they need you to. So I've done everything between the med surg and progressive care specialties. I've done pretty much everything up until this point.
Naseema McElroy (03:29): So what got you into traveling? Why did you start wanting to travel as a nurse?
Mynoucka LaFalaise (03:34): So I like traveling. Back in 2018 I started feeling like I needed some type of a change in my environment, but I couldn't tell if I was done with nursing or if I just needed a change in my environment. I was kind of like going back and forth and, and I know that happens to a lot of nurses, especially if you're working very hard. Nursing is hard in general and you know, regardless of what specialty you're working in, I think it can be stressful for most people. But I was working night shift and I just started to feel that something needs to change. And so when I really like thought about it and really did some soul searching, I was like, you know what? I think if I changed my environment and I still feel this way, then maybe my nursing is at the end of its ropses already. But then immediately once I decided to travel, like that fire kind of reignited inside of me again and I was like, Oh, okay. I just needed to change my environment. So that's literally what kind of bird this whole experience was that I just, I knew I needed to go somewhere and I liked the idea of like not quitting nursing but not fully being committed to any one city. You know? I feel like you could pretty much do anything for three months.
Naseema McElroy (04:48): Yeah. And that's another interesting story is that that's actually what attracted me to nursing because I went into nursing after I had already had a master's degree already was in healthcare administration, but then started to work with nurses and like, Oh my God, like that's the lick. Like I want to do what they're doing. And just the freedom and autonomy that nurses had. And a lot of times I worked with people who were traveling, even though they were staff at my hospital, they would be travelers at other hospitals and like they were making all this money and they could like work when they wanted to and didn't have to work. Then there was the lure of like international traveling, like, Oh, so you mean like they'll pay me to live in all these different places that I want to explore in the world and I don't have to do with deal with this BS bureaucracy, you know, health care administration. And I was like, wow, that's the dream job. And it's crazy because that's exactly why I became a nurse is because I wanted to travel internationally and I had never traveled a day in my life.
Naseema McElroy (05:48): But, but I definitely see the lure there. I just feel like it's a win win for you being able to work and you being able to explore different areas domestically and internationally. But also there's a lot of opportunity for you to have more control over how much you're getting paid because, because different areas, you know, pay differently. Like California for example. So how has traveling impacted you financially?
Mynoucka LaFalaise (06:20): So what I really like about travel nursing and you know, there's pros and cons to everything, so, but the pro has always outweighed the con is that number one you have a lot of autonomy over your schedule. So I really like the idea that I can negotiate my contracts, um, as far as like requesting time off and I can work, you know, as much as I want to earn as little as I want to. So that has affected my, my finances for sure. My biggest thing was always like, try to increase, pay as much as possible, but maintain your lower cost of living. So, you know, I've made sure that even though my income has increased by becoming a travel nurse, just keeping those costs of living expenses low has really been able to help me to achieve some of my financial goals. So that has really helped. Just being able to go to an area where they paid 20 or $30,000 more within a year for their nursing, but then still maintaining that low cost of living as if I was living in Florida. So that's really, really been a big shift in my, in my income
Naseema McElroy (07:30): and that, that is so great. And you brought up some really good points around negotiating, which a lot of nurses aren't used to doing. A lot of nurses are used to being like, Oh okay, like this is your pay range and that's what it is and you kinda just go up and then, you know, get raises as cost of living increases. But a lot of nurses didn't know that they can negotiate. Then I experienced this too recently that, you know, I got offered this position. I was like, Oh, nobody's ever really said anything, but I can see what I can do. And of course like the pay range was much higher, but if you come in just with their offering, it's like you're starting behind always. Like you're always trying to catch up, like ask for more no matter what. As for more, they're not going to take the job back.
Naseema McElroy (08:16): And I think a lot of us are scared that they're gonna Oh she's asking us for money. So no, they went through a lot to hire you and get to the point where they're going to offer you something. Make sure that you ask for more. Cause that's always going to determine your baseline pay. And the higher you can start, the more you can reach your financial goals. The other thing that is super impactful is you keeping your cost of living low. And that's the thing. Like a lot of people see these salaries in California and they're just like, yep, I want to go there. Yep. But then they don't realize that in order to find a place is going to be substantially higher. But you've been able to hack that. What are some ways that you've been able to control your cost?
Mynoucka LaFalaise (09:01): So what I do is I do have a budget and I have like a spreadsheet that helps me to track my expenses. So I always, every six months to a year, I always make sure that I call. Like all my companies, I don't care if the price is okay, I'll still ask them like, okay, my bill has gone up $20 over the last year. What can we do to bring this back down? So that's helped me. The second thing that I did is like, you know, company housing versus stipend. When you're a travel nurse, if you can find a way to find her own housing, a lot of times you can kind of manipulate it to where you can save some of that money. So if you are okay with getting a roommate, I know some people, like I left that behind in college, I don't want a roommate. But if you can suck it up and get a roommate and pay a fraction of the cost, like if your housing stipend is $2,000 and you're only paying five six seven, $800 for rent, you get to save that extra thousand dollars for savings, traveling, you know, or paying down debt. So I think those two big things, making sure that, I'm always like looking at my budget to see where I can cut costs. And then getting a roommate has significantly helped me and pocketing some of that money.
Naseema McElroy (10:17): Yeah, those are all great tips. And listen, typically when you're working and you're out on an assignment, you're just working and sleeping. So I have a rental space in my house and I love having nurses because number one, if when they're here, they're sleeping, they're not making any noise or not having people over there working and grinded it out because most of them are out here on a mission. And I like that. You said it helped you achieve, you know, some of your financial goals. What are some things that you've been able to do financially because of you being able to keep your cost low but increasing your income?
Mynoucka LaFalaise (10:58): So what's unique I guess to me is I still help out my family and I unapologetically do it. I know some people are like, you know, I'm going to take care of me. But that's not how like our family dynamic is. So I've been able to be more of a help to my family and that has felt so good just to be able to not enable people. Not that, but more so like, you know, I'm going to partner with you and we're going to work on this together. So just being able to be more of a giver, that's been very rewarding. And also just cutting down some of that consumer debt. That's been a big thing. So for me, like this debt free journey, I've been on this journey on and off for several years, but, and I've saved the same thousand dollars and I paid off the same debt like 10 times over.
Mynoucka LaFalaise (11:48): Just being able to like cross off some of those items, like you know, actually do it. I, I just, I don't know, for whatever reason, I've always had like a disconnect with money. Like I approve this debt. Like even with student loans in college, it's kind of like, I knew I was taking out student loans, but it didn't really affect me. Like for whatever reason I wasn't like, Oh my gosh, I'm going to owe this money after college. I was like, this is what I need, I'm just going to take it and you know, keep it moving. So it's really just opening up my eyes to being able to like have more of a positive relationship with money. So the biggest two things I've been able to do with my income since travel nursing is being more of a giver and getting rid of some of that consumer debt. So next month I'm actually gonna pay off my car and you know, I've never had a paid off car before and I'm 32 years old. So like I'm really excited to be able to do that for the very first time where I can see like I own my car and I bought it and paid for it, cash myself.
Naseema McElroy (12:49): I love it. Congratulations on all the car debt free. That's the major.
Mynoucka LaFalaise (12:56): Okay.
Naseema McElroy (12:56): You so much for bringing up the disconnect about money. And I think you put it beautifully because most people are have that disconnect and that's why most people are broke is because they don't really understand the value to, no, not really focused on it. And there's a quote from this book quit like a millionaire that I like. It's like when you understand money, life is really easy, but when you don't understand it or like you said, have that disconnect, life is really hard and money is really just a tool to get you the things that you want in life. And oftentimes the things that people want are associated around freedoms, right? And so once you understand that this money and the ability to make money and the ability to keep money is the difference between what I have to do versus what I get to do just changes the game.
Naseema McElroy (13:51): And so I like that you've made that connection because obviously the disconnect was there because that's what, how, how we get in this cycle. Like everybody knows how to pay down. Debt is not a secret. It's just like everybody knows how to lose weight, eat less, right? You just spend less and then you know, you pay down the debt, right? But it's really that mindset shift where you go from being like, Oh, this is a tool and this is how it's going to help me. And just staying on that path and knowing that now you can use it towards whatever you want to do. And I love that you're helping your family. And I think that that's something that culturally is something that's probably a norm. Yeah. It's a cultural norm, right? Yeah. So do you want to share with everybody, like your cultural backgrounds? And I think it's interesting that a lot of your family is in healthcare and I don't think that that's a mistake, right?
Mynoucka LaFalaise (14:50): No, that is not. So my mother and father, they were both in on a beautiful Island of Haiti and I was born in Florida. So my entire family, aunts, brother, cousins, majority of them are from Haiti. So I am of Haitian descent proudly like many people who migrate over to America education, it's very important. This could be a pro and con, but they put a lot of emphasis on like if you're gonna go to school, you have to be a some type of a nurse, doctor, pharmacist, lawyer, maybe missing one or two. But that's it. Like that's all that exists.
Mynoucka LaFalaise (15:30): That's it. They want you to be in a secure field or they want you to have a secure job and education has always been huge in my household. You know, I think that's why my mom suggested nursing from the very beginning because she's like, even if you decide to do something else, become a nurse at 21,22 years old and you'll be making so much money and you'll get so much experience and you'll be able to finance whatever else that, whatever other goals that you have. But I just couldn't think like her. I couldn't think that way. I wanted the American dream of living my life being happy. And not to say that you can't be happy as a nurse, but like I just had a very different way of approaching school. So my background of being Haitian and being like, um, having parents that are not from this country has definitely influenced the way that we handle money and the way that we help each other out as a family.
Naseema McElroy (16:29): I think that's not unique to a lot of like first generation American cultures. It's like, you know, those kind of jobs represents stability and that's why your parents came here because that's what they wanted for you. And so there's, it's like drilled in like yep doctor, yep we know they make money engineer like Oh lawyer yet we know that these people make money. And so it's all for your good. But it is kind of like a limited, you know, thinking cause there's so many different ways you can make money, but that security is really why you're here. And so thanks for sharing that because I bet you there's a lot of people of different cultures that are out there and be like, Oh my parents told me the same thing. So now you started a platform called Vintage Traveling nurse. Right. So tell me how that started and what you seek to do on that platform.
Mynoucka LaFalaise (17:25): Sure. So I started my blog back in April of 2019 and the reason why I started is because as I started the traveling nursing part of my career, I have a cousin who's also a nurse and she suggested that maybe you should start documenting some of these things because although travel nursing is something that people have done for years, I still find that information about it is a little scarce on the internet. Like when I go on YouTube, when I Google, like there are some articles that you find online, but a lot of it like to me from my experience lack some sort of transparency. I'm like how much do you travel nurses really get paid, okay, what is a contract really look like? And it was really hard for me to find that information. So I really wanted to create something where my a selling point would be transparency.
Mynoucka LaFalaise (18:20): So even though like I'm not necessarily like selling anything, but what I really wanted to emphasize was like, Hey, this is really what's going on out here. This is really what a contract looks like and this is really how much you get paid. And because, you know, I always thought people always made it seem like travel nurses were like rich. And so I was like really? Like how much money are they really making? But no one really would say. Um, and so my thing was I wanted to document my journey as a travel nurse and as a nurse in general and just kind of show people that, okay, this is what it is. Kind of solo traveling, navigating these different hospitals and working in an unfamiliar territory, you know, and how to adapt to those environments without like losing your mind, you know? So it's a baby project. It's not very, hasn't been here for that long, but it started off as a blog and kind of like morphed into a podcast. And then, you know, it's kind of like taking shape as time is going along. But my goal is just to kind of document my journey as a nurse.
Naseema McElroy (19:30): Yeah. But it's so needed because I've been offered like travel positions and I always get so confused because I'm in California, right? They'll try to offer me the same positions at hospitals where I already work and I'm like either per diem or benefited and I'm like, wait a minute, that's less than what I make right now. Why would I? But they're just like, but then you get this housing stipend and then that's tax free. And then I was like, yeah, that's just too confusing to me.
Naseema McElroy (19:59): I can see how a site like this and your transparency, you sharing your story can help so many people in is helping so many people. Where do you hope to take this platform and how do you think it will help people both financially and just in their nursing career in general?
Mynoucka LaFalaise (20:17): So the three areas I really focus on is nursing, my debt free journey and self care. And I know self care is like this buzzword that everyone loves to use, but it's so important, especially like for our caregivers and our nurses and healthcare professionals. I don't think you can talk about it enough because I guess we'll stop talking about it once we make it a priority. So, um, what I hope to do is to just continue sharing content. I said it's very new. So when I created the blog, I created the website, I create the content so the content is not coming out as fast as I want it to. And that's because like I'm the web developer, I'm the content creator and stuff. So with travel nursing and the extra income that I made with travel nursing, I'm going to redesign the website so that I can focus more on the content.
Mynoucka LaFalaise (21:10): So I hope to continue pushing it out so that when nurses decide that they want to go the route of travel nursing or they need some information about nursing in general, they'll be able to get a different perspective from someone who's not afraid of putting an example, like, look, this is what a contract looks like people and this is what taxable versus nontaxable income means. Like. So I really hope to put more of that content out for people. And also for nurses. Again, it's a secure job, but you know, finances I think is so important to touch up on. So I'm just hoping by sharing my debt free journey as I'm working as a registered nurse that people will be inspired to kind of embark on their own journey as well.
Naseema McElroy (21:58): Yes. It's also also awesome. And can you just let everybody know where they can find you on the internet?
Mynoucka LaFalaise (22:06): Sure. So I am on Instagram as vintage traveling nurse and my website is vintage traveling nurse.com on Facebook. I'm vintage traveling nurse and I'm also on Twitter as well. It's a little different because the name was too long, but it's vintage underscore RN. So I am everywhere that you can find me on the web. So my blog is hosted on the website and my podcast is the vintage traveling nurse podcast, which is basically just the audio version of what I discuss on my blog.
Naseema McElroy (22:38): Yes, I love it. So you guys, even if you're not traveling or not interested in traveling, I think understanding the benefits of traveling, but then also looking at your debt free journey is just like amazing and inspiring for nurses to, you know, want to undertake for themselves because we are living in, you know, some questionable times right now. And if there was no sense of urgency in getting your finances together and debt freedom is a major component in that that I don't know when there's a better time. So you know, I know that people will find your resources useful but your story is just amazing in itself. And so I want to thank you so much for sharing with my audience and I know a lot of people gain some insight and new perspective into, you know, just what's possible out there. And I just love that there's so much diversity in nursing and everybody comes from different backgrounds and has different experiences yet we share this amazing career. And so I am so honored again to have and I thank you so much for sharing with us.
Mynoucka LaFalaise (23:48): Thank you. Thank you so much for having me. And I love your platform and I like how you've been able to morph the idea of nursing with the fire movement. And so I think that is so important because like you said, you know, with the times that we're living in now, if you don't get your finances together, or at least you're in the process, it can become a lot more stressful than it needs to be. So thank you for having me. And I hope everyone finds value in everything that we talked about today.
Naseema McElroy (24:18): I know they will. And like I said earlier, I'll just repeat this quote. When you understand money, life is incredibly easy, but if you don't, it's hard. So thanks again. And if you guys don't take away anything from I guess ever, so take that away. And you know, I just hope everybody's staying safe out there and wishing everybody the best. Alright, thank you.
Hey there I’m Naseema
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