Making Smarter Business Decisions as a Clinician

Happy New Year and welcome to Season 3 of EmpowerHer Entrepreneur! As nurses, we already have a powerful decision-making framework—the nursing process. In this episode, we’ll learn how to apply that same clinical mindset to business strategy. From assessing your numbers to evaluating your marketing efforts, we’ll explore how to use data, emotional intelligence, and practical systems to make confident, smart decisions that drive your business forward. 

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:35

Welcome back to Empower Her Entrepreneur, the podcast that helps foot care nurses across the nation build thriving independent businesses rooted in purpose and professionalism. I'm your host, Janice Boudreau, and today we're diving into a topic that blends your clinical expertise with your entrepreneurial goals. Here it is making smarter business decisions as a clinician. As nurses, we're trained to assess and plan care, but if we use those same clinical skills to guide our business decisions, hmm, well, let's unpack how your nursing brain is already wired for success. You just need to start applying it to your business. So applying clinical thinking to business. One of the most valuable skills we have as nurses is structured thinking. When we are caring for our clients, we don't guess. We use a process, the nursing process. Does everyone remember? Good grief, that brings me back so many memories. Back to gosh, was it 1994? Anyway, the nursing process to make clear, evidence-based decisions. Assess, diagnose, plan, implement, evaluate. Now, what if we used that same method to make decisions about our business? Let's translate that step by step. Assess. In nursing, assessment means gathering all data, right? Remember, vital signs, symptoms, patient history. In business, assessment is about knowing your numbers in your market. Ask yourself, how many clients are you seeing per month? What's your average revenue per visit? Which services are most in demand? Where are your referrals coming from? This is your business vitals check. We'll call it that. Without this data, you're operating very blindly, and that's no place to be, guys. Like treating a client without taking their blood pressure. So you might discover that your home visits are profitable, but your clinic days are underbooked, or that most of your referrals come from one diabetic educator, which means that relationship deserves more of your attention. Assessment is going to give you clarity. Two diagnose. And we all know this is nursing diagnosis. Once you've gathered your data, the next step is diagnosis, identifying the problem. You know what? In a clinical setting, you might, you know, diagnose uh related to impaired skin integrity or risk for infection. In business, your diagnoses might look like low client retention, weak referral pipeline, inconsistent branding. How about pricing that doesn't match your value? So diagnosing helps you prioritize. You can't fix everything at once. So start with the biggest problem that's blocking your growth. For example, if your new client inquiries are really high, but your bookings are low, your issue might be conversion, not marketing reach. Three, you're gonna plan. Just like we plan a care pathway for our book care clients, uh, we can plan an intervention for our business. Ask, what action can I take to improve that diagnosis? What's my goal and what is the timeline like? What can I do to make it realistic? Let's say your diagnosis is low community awareness. So your plan actually might include partnering with like a local seniors group, posting two educational videos per week, sending a monthly email newsletter. Remember, your business doesn't need to be complicated, it just needs to be clear. Four, implement. This is where action is going to happen. And in nursing, this means carrying out the care plan. In business, it means testing your ideas, everybody. And maybe you start a Foot Health Friday post series on social media, or you offer a new diabetic foot check promotion. Implementation is about experimentation and trying new things to see what works for your audience. Try it. I know sometimes that means getting out of our comfort zone, but when we are using this nursing skill and putting it into business, we've we've got to, you know, get thicker skin, we've got to try and you know what? Have some faith in ourselves. Okay, five, evaluate. You know what? Evaluation is a totally critical step. Most entrepreneurs skip. And in clinical work, in our clinical work, we always re-evaluate the effectiveness of our treatment plans. In a business, we gotta do the same. Ask yourself, did this marketing effort increase appointments? Did that pricing change improve profits? Did clients respond well to my email newsletter? If something didn't work, no judgment, it's just feedback. I know that's hard. But adjust and move forward. You know, when you use the nursing process in your business, decision making becomes less emotional and more evidence-based, which is who we are. You stop guessing and you're gonna start growing with confidence. So next time you're faced with a business question, try asking yourself, how would I handle this if it were a clinical case? That question alone will sharpen your business instincts. You know what? Data-driven decisions. Now that we've covered the process, let's talk about what kind of data to look at. I know numbers can feel intimidating, but they have to be in a certain way, and then they don't have to be in others. Think of them kind of like your business vitals. Here are the key metrics every nurse entrepreneur should track and why they're gonna matter to you. Average revenue per client. This is gonna tell you how much each client contributes to your business financially. It helps you understand whether your pricing and the service structure make sense. If your average revenue per client is too low, maybe it's time to bundle services or raise your prices slightly. Don't be afraid to do that. Look at your client retention rate. That metric shows how many clients return for repeat care. If your retention is low, you might need to improve your follow-up systems, education, or even a loyalty program. Happy clients are your best marketing strategy. They bring referrals and they're gonna bring stability. Another one, referral sources. Ask every new client, how did you hear about us? Track these responses. You'll quickly see which marketing channels are worth your energy. Maybe 60% of your clients are coming from word of mouth, and only 5% from Facebook or Google Ads. And that tells you where to invest your time. Oh, here's my favorite expense tracking. Keep an eye on recurring costs like supplies, fuel, software, and continuing education. Even small leaks like over-ordering consumables can add up huge over the year. Use simple tools to help, like a spreadsheet would really help. If you prefer manually, or you know what? Square gene app and wave accounting for tracking input income and expenses. We use QuickBooks Online. We absolutely love it. At any moment, I can pull up a profit, uh Profit. Oh my god. Anyway, a profit and expense report. And these tools give you visibility, and visibility gives you power. I have found that we are using a software we use Clinico. I know, I think Jane's app, I think quite a few of them do it. All those things I just mentioned to you, I can pull up a report from my phone in a second about retention, clients, how the referral happened, um, all that information I just said is absolutely already there. Anyway, when you're you start tracking data, you might feel a bit uncomfortable, especially if the numbers don't look how you hope. But remember, data doesn't judge, it's just informing you. So you can't change, though, what you're not measuring. Did you hear me say that? If you're not measuring it, how the hell are you gonna change it? And here's the good news once you have data, it's just small adjustments that can lead to the big results. Let's say you increase your average client retention by just 10%. That might mean an extra two to three appointments per week. Multiply that over a year, and that's thousands of dollars in additional income without working any harder. Data gives you leverage. You know what? Let's talk about a skill that's also just as important as data: emotional intelligence. As nurse entrepreneurs, our compassion is our superpower, but we're not careful. The same empathy can make us avoid hard business decisions, and we've got to find balance with that. We have to empathy versus assertiveness. You can care deeply for your clients and still set boundaries. It's okay to say no to things that don't serve your business, like last-minute appointments, unpaid collaborations, or overbooked schedules. And every time you say yes to something unaligned, you're saying no to something that matters, your rest, your planning time, or your best clients. And saying no to unprofitable partnerships, maybe a local organization wants you to do free clinics if you could see my quotation marks for exposure before agreeing. Ask yourself, does this align with my goals? If it's truly about community outreach, great. But if it's draining your time and resources without return, it's okay to decline politely. Just say, hey, I appreciate the opportunity, but I'm focusing my energy on projects that align with my current business goals. Let's revisit this in the future. That's assertive, respectful, and it was professional. And also, you know what? The emotional side is managing overload. As a nurse, you're used to giving it your all. But in business, sustainability matters more than constant hustle. It's okay to build in downtime, it's okay to outsource, and it's okay to say, not right now. Start business decisions come from calm, clear thinking, not exhaustion. Here's the takeaway: you already have the mindset training and your intuition to make excellent business decisions because you've been doing it for years as a clinician. When you combine structured thinking, data awareness, and emotional intelligence, your business becomes not just successful but sustainable. Remember, every smart decision compounds over time. It doesn't have to be perfect, it just has to be intentional. Thank you for joining me for this episode of Empower Her Entrepreneur. If this conversation inspired you, share it with another nurse entrepreneur who's building her practice with purpose. Cheers, everybody, and we hope you have an amazing couple weeks ahead before we see you again on the podcast.