5 reasons nurses make excellent entrepreneurs

Alicia-joy, who runs Transitions in Nursing and is a guest blogger at The Nerdy Nurse, recently wrote about the skill sets nurses possess that make them awesome entrepreneurs. Believe it or not, she was originally inspired after learning how many self-employed nurses there are in the U.S. today. Not only are the opportunities greater, but nurses are having to look for other means of employment and ways to make ends meet in a less than ideal economy.

In her post for The Nerdy Nurse, Alicia-joy outlined her top five reasons why nurses in particular are well-equipped to handle running their own businesses. Check out three of them below:

1. Taking risks

Going into business takes risk. Willingness to take calculated risks is inherent in building a business.

Nurses put ourselves on the line each and every day. I have worked a shift or two taking care of a patient who was not on any precautions (beyond standard), to return the next day and the same patient is now in “isolation.” Every patient we care for puts us in harm’s way (in terms of microbes, but also in terms of possible abuse). That’s just a risk we take. Of course we use precautions (similar to how entrepreneurs make smart decisions), but the risk is still there.

2. Prioritizing

Entrepreneurs must develop the ability to prioritize short term and long term tasks.

If you were not adept at prioritizing before nursing, you developed that skill when working on the floor. You either get super good at prioritizing what needs to be done, or you drown. Shift after shift. It can make the difference between feeling competent and confident, and feeling overwhelmed and incapable.

3. Staying calm and carrying on

Every entrepreneur must have leadership skills. Leadership includes exemplifying a calm disposition even amongst chaos and uncertainty.

Keeping our cool despite alarms, announcements, calls, lights, guests, family members, and demands left and right is essential to getting our work done. If we immediately reacted to every stimulus around us, nothing would be accomplished. Staying calm is also one of the skills that carries us through those harrowing moments (codes/system crashes/violent encounters, etc.)

To check out the other two reasons, head on over to The Nerdy Nurse. Have more reasons nurses make such great entrepreneurs? Spill them in the comments!