Bedpan Banter

Bedpans to Business: The Story Behind SimpleNursing

• SimpleNursing • Season 1 • Episode 1

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Nurse Mike shares the origin story of SimpleNursing, from his beginnings as an EMT and paramedic to becoming a nursing educator with a massive online following. He details his unexpected journey into healthcare, nursing school struggles, and how a school dismissal led to creating educational content that would change his life.


Speaker 1:

Woo, we got a code brown. Welcome to Bedpan Banter with me, nurse Mike, the dad of nursing, can I get a bedpan over here? Welcome to Bedpan Banter. The official podcast of Simple Nursing. We're diving into all things nursing and healthcare related. I'm your host, nurse Mike, and today we're diving into the origin story behind my baby Simple Nursing. So this podcast exists because I have an area where I can teach you guys. We've done over 5,000 educational videos but I don't necessarily have an avenue to talk to you guys and really relating to my experience as a nurse and really all the behind the scenes of my personal life and what got me into nursing and healthcare in general. So it's kind of like nursing school. It sounded like a good idea at the time, but then when you're in it it's like what? No, I'm just kidding. So the real big point is I don't want you guys to simply think of me as your teacher. I really want you to get to know me on a personal level. So who is Nurse Mike? So yeah, I'm a six-time failure at different business ideas. Four of those were actually YouTube channels in the fitness industry.

Speaker 1:

So when I first started, I was a personal trainer right out of high school and I went to EMT school to work on an ambulance at 18. I was really supposed to be a firefighter. I didn't even want to do anything medical. It was my brother when I was a senior in high school. He's like, dude, take this course because you can get certified as an EMT, which is like 600 bucks. And at the time, you know, being a broke high school student, I'm like $600. Like, oh my gosh, and the school's gonna pay for it. Perfect, I'll do it in my last semester, you know, as a senior. And so by the time I graduated high school, I already had my EMT certificate to work on the ambulance. So I was doing both EMT and medical. And then, you know, personal training on the side. And then my brother and I worked at the same ambulance company and I think that's really funny because they would never let us work together. My dad would always say, like it's kind of like working at the circus, like those two little monkeys in the ambulance, like those little miniature ambulances. We did work one time together and it was hilarious. We were just ripping on each other and making jokes. So, yeah, this ambulance company where we started at you really don't save anyone or do any critical care. It's literally dialysis, transports or from, like nursing home to doctor's appointment, so there was no like code criticals or 911 emergencies.

Speaker 1:

Later on I became a paramedic, started teaching EKG this is right when I was supposed to go into the fire academy, and then I started working critical care and there was gunshot wounds and stabbings and it was in Los Angeles. It was wild times, a lot of like heart attacks and strokes and stuff like that. So, making the transition of going from fire to nursing school, it was kind of weird because I actually never wanted to be a nurse. I talked a lot of my friends who were going into, you know, from fire into something else, because back then it's like it was 10 years just to get hired as a firefighter which is wild to me and never wanted to be a nurse. I was actually going to go to PA school. I applied to physician assistant school three times but I didn't have a bachelor's degree, so there was only like four or five colleges I could apply to with 2000 hours of medical work and I got denied three years in a row. Then I started working in the emergency room seeing what nurses did and I was like whoa, I didn't really know what nurses did and how they made 80% of the backbone of the hospital and I was like, whoa, you can do a travel nurse, you can work on all these multiple units, you can work outside, you can work in a helicopter. This is wild. And so that changed my perception of nursing, because at the time I was so naive, in like early twenties, thinking I knew everything, which actually got me kicked out of nursing school, which is a sad story.

Speaker 1:

But so when I went to nursing school first got accepted I think 2011, I had to apply to seven different schools in Southern California, where I'm from. A lot of the community colleges were just totally impacted. I never wanted to go to a four year university because the price and also the the private universities were like 50,000, all the way up to over $100,000 at certain universities in SoCal, and I'm like gosh. So I applied to over a hundred thousand dollars at certain universities in SoCal, and I'm like gosh. So I applied to seven community colleges which will give me my you know RN degree or my RN license in like two years. So I didn't make it the first semester and I was actually pulling the lottery for the second time. I applied to seven schools again and it was really funny. It was really stressful at the time because, um, they called me three weeks before the nursing program was going to start and I'm working as a tech in the er making like 12 13 dollars an hour.

Speaker 1:

I remember being so unprepared. I'm like, oh my gosh, it's like almost like you have news like you're you know you're pregnant or you're having a baby. Like, oh snap, I don't think I'm ready for this. But I was on the lottery, right, so right. So it wasn't like I'm guaranteed a spot.

Speaker 1:

So I had to pass my TEAS exam but there was two students in front of me. The only way I was getting in nursing school is if one of these two students failed. And they look way smarter than me and it was just a TEAS exam, right it's. You know math, sciences and all this other stuff. So I go into the T-Center. They gave us like three hours to take the T's. One of the students that had to fail like left in the first 45 minutes. I'm like dang, that person's smart. And I'm like I'm a dummy. I'm like, okay, who cares, I'm just going to try my best.

Speaker 1:

Turns out, one of those students failed and that's why I got in the program and I'm like, oh my gosh, so starting in nursing school from all that medical experience of being a paramedic educator for EKG and I think at the time I had like maybe seven years of medical experience from the ambulance to the emergency room to kind of teaching, and and first semester for me was a total joke and I'm like in my early 20s, so I'm still like naive and cocky and like very egocentric. I'm not mature as I am today. Fine wine. So I get into my first semester and they're talking vital signs, right, they're talking bedpans or ambulating someone to the restroom and I'm like looking around, I'm like what the heck? Like I'm used to teaching EKG stuff. So I start slacking off at that time and I start like bending the rules a little bit, being a little mischievous. You know what I mean and that's what gets me into trouble.

Speaker 1:

I still hold the record for the most write-ups in your first semester of nursing school. I think I still hold that record. I had four write-ups. Usually people go throughout the entire nursing program without even having a write-up, and write-ups can be anything from being late on a paper, being late to class, even parking in the wrong spot. I think I parked in the faculty one time, so it was dumb stuff, but it was like. It was just kind of like you know um, the vibe I was in at the time, which you know makes sense because nursing school does get harder, which I wasn't expecting.

Speaker 1:

My first semester. I'm like, oh, this is a piece of cake, I got this, I can do anything I want, blah, blah. Then, when it came to second semester, I had all this like bad rap sheet. Then it started getting hard Pharmacology, intro to pathophysiology and I think, a few other ones. That really kicked my butt and really like was a huge wake-up call. I'm like, oh my gosh, I thought we were on the bunny slopes and all of a sudden takes off. So that, mixed in with my slacking, I really had to dial it in.

Speaker 1:

And then third semester comes around. I think I barely passed second semester because I had to make up so much ground. I slacked off in the first half and then had to really do well. Then third semester comes around and I think around two or three clinicals in the whole class wasn't prepared. We didn't have enough time. But instead of like you know us coming forward and saying like, hey, we don't have enough time, we're not prepared. I was the first one on the chopping block with all this bad rap and our clinical instructor already knew and kind of like looked down upon me for having this bad rap sheet and I was like you're not prepared. I'm like, well, we didn't have enough time. Like no one's really prepared. She's like this is your third write-up or whatever write-up it was, and I got kicked out of the program and so I'm like, well, this is dumb. Like I didn't get kicked out for grades or anything, it was more for just not being prepared.

Speaker 1:

But my dean was really cool. My dean sat me down with the instructor that was kicking me out and she's like, mike, I know you can, you know, even teach these courses. You can pass these courses. Show me that you're serious, show me a project, that you're motivated and dedicated, just to do everything we're asking you to do and then get out of our hair. So she was really nice and I was like, okay, I'll do a project.

Speaker 1:

So I was used to doing fitness stuff, right, like 14-day boot camps and things like that. So I'm like what if we just did like a 14-day boot camp or like a two-week boot camp for new nursing students or struggling nursing students and talk about like study strategies or memory tricks for the hardest topics because I was used to making those for paramedics and I'm like, okay, let's do that. And we did this like little workshop of a few students and at the time they're like, hey, put this on YouTube. And before I got into nursing school a little side note here I started four other YouTube channels for fitness. This is like a few summers like between like going to PA school and applying that route. You can still find these videos on YouTube, but I think YouTube like sunsetted it or deleted it because this, oh my gosh, this is like over 13 years ago, 14 years ago now but it was called Smart Fit Bootcamp and that's a whole side note in and of itself. But I just thought YouTube didn't work for me because I already tried four times and I'm like this is the dumbest idea in the world. But I still remember being in the shower one day and I'm thinking early on the reason that I got bit by this entrepreneurial bug, or like had this entrepreneurial seizure, as they call it.

Speaker 1:

In the book E-Myth they always say, like you know, you got to learn before you earn, grow your brain, grow your bank. So one of the seven books that I read early on my early twenties was four hour work week, and I think it was in that book, maybe another book. It said you have to fail nine times before you succeed the 10th time. And this is for businesses, right, um, because nine of every 10 businesses will fail or ideas. It's kind of like dates nine of every 10 dates you're going to go on are not going to end up in a relationship or something further. So I'm like it's just keep on going at the point.

Speaker 1:

At that point I was at six failures, um, with various ideas. So I'm like you know, screw it, I'm going to just do it again. They're all throw up five videos on YouTube. It's going to go nowhere, but it'll be like my seventh failure. And from all the other failures I was like eight grand in debt. So I'm like I have an iPhone and I have a whiteboard that was 30 bucks from Walmart and I didn't even have an eraser. I had a sock to erase the board and I was using my dad's chair, uh, which was like a whopping 70 dollars at the time, and he's like these chairs are super expensive. I don't want your whiteboard to be on here, and so that was really funny.

Speaker 1:

And my dad seeing me failed at a nursing school, uh trying to get back in and now starting a seventh business idea and he was the one that was like trying like, oh my gosh, he's like miho is like trying to protect me's. Like stop doing all this. Like get rich quick stuff. Like focus on getting back into nursing school, get your career, get your pension. Because he was a LAPD detective with Los Angeles the police department for like 30 years and was like super into, like you know, security. So it was really funny because, like some of the earliest videos you can still probably look up, uh, from like 2012, you'll see those videos of just really old and like rustic. It was just like I couldn't afford anything. It was like a little tiny webcam that was like super choppy. Good thing the audio was clear.

Speaker 1:

But those videos is what made simple nursing back in 2012 and it was really about just like timing and talent, because youtube was in a transition period of like four years in that era of like early 2010s and I started in 2012 where they were putting a lot of money into education, because before that YouTube was just about cat videos, fall down videos, those kinds of things, and they wanted to be a place of education. So they were putting a lot of money into Khan Academy and Crash Course and really any education. So I made first five videos on, like that really crappy quality, and I was so shocked I'm like I got a few thousand views. Like this is no way, this is a fluke, it's a fad Never going to last. So then I made five more and I'm like whoa, now people start requesting videos. I'm like dude, what, what the heck? And there were a few other people doing YouTube at the time um, for nursing, but no one was doing it in that style that I had, where it was kind of like fitnessy, where it's like in the first five seconds it's like hey guys, it's nurse Mike here. Today we're gonna be diving into the top five tips for EKG, let's just say. And no one had that spice of like boom, boom, boom, let's get it done Eight minute video. You know this will replace a whole chapter of content. So five videos turns into 50 videos.

Speaker 1:

And then I came to a point in my last semester of nursing school when I finally got back in, the dean was like super impressed, like wow, not only did you do this, but now you're helping students around the world on YouTube. Okay, you're back in the program. I'm like, woohoo. So I had six months left in nursing program and I'm like, okay, this is really interesting. A lot of people are watching this, but no one's going to pay for it.

Speaker 1:

So from my experience of all the other failures, I knew how to set up a website on udemycom. From my experience of all the other failures, I knew how to set up a website on udemycom. So I put $19 for 50 videos that weren't on YouTube and a few downloads like study guides and stuff. This was back in 2013. And my test was I will quit my job making a whopping $13 an hour and do this full time in my last semester if I can make a sale a day for 45 days. So it turns out I made 90 sales, basically doubled the amount, and I'm like, well, I felt like I hit the big time. I'm like, oh my gosh, never made any dollars online before. I never really helped anyone online before. No one really watched my stuff for fitness, and it was like, oh my gosh, this is crazy. So by the time I graduated, I was doing about a hundred videos a month in that really crappy quality, but I think a lot of students liked that because it was real, it was like authentic, it kind of felt like a live webinar and that's really was the birthplace of simple nursing.

Speaker 1:

So summer of 2013 is when it really took flight, right when I was graduating, and I delayed my NCLEX for about, I think, a year because there was actually one class in child development that I missed, a prerequisite to get my degree and then ultimately get my ATT to sit for the NCLEX. So between 2013 and 14, there was a blogger nurse that I can't mention his name, but he was just running me through the mud on blogs. A lot of people don't even know this. So this is behind-the-scenes footage and he's saying, like, nurse Mike is not even a nurse, he's a total scam artist because he doesn't have a license, and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And I'm like, well, I mean, it sounds like that quote from the Hangover. It's like, well, I mean, it sounds like that quote from the Hangover, it's like I'm a nurse, I'm just not licensed, right. So same way.

Speaker 1:

So by the time I sat for the NCLEX, I already made over a thousand videos and I was just waiting for that last class to process and it was really funny because I'm helping people pass their NCLEX and then I hadn't even taken my NCLEX yet. It was like in 2014,. I took my NCLEX. So I still remember my brother, like you know. I wish he would have hyped me up, but he kind of like got in my head in a negative way. He's like dude, what if you do like all these videos for nursing and you can't even pass the NCLEX yourself? I'm like, oh crap, you're right. So thank you, joe, I appreciate it. How's the fire stuff working out? So, anyways, I studied my butt off. There was no, you know, advanced question banks like we have now. There was literally just those like ATI, old books from Amazon and like some really crappy question banks in like 2014.

Speaker 1:

So I remember studying my butt off and then passing and here's another little behind the scenes sneak peek I was the student that took the entire time to take the NCLEX and then before it was 75 questions, minimum questions, and then you can get out right. But I was there and I took the full. At the time I think it was like 265 questions. It was incredibly long and I still remember like I don't know if I'm gonna ever pass this, and my brother's like voices in my head Like what if you can ever pass those NCLEX. But I ended up passing the NCLEX, got my license and at that moment I knew I was at my best.

Speaker 1:

So I attempted to start my master's because I only have my associates right the beauty of just going to an associate's degree program. Because I got a lot of shame from it from, like, bachelor's degree people or master's degree people. But I'm like guys like it was four grand in two years and all these other people are like shaming me. They're like, you know, in 30, 40, 50 grand debt. I'm like, okay. So I was really glad. I don't think there's any shame in being an associate degree nurse. So I was like, okay, I got to get my master's because I am teaching online and I'm helping a lot of students. But I've met a lot of master's degree trained nurses that don't know how to teach, which is really weird. Because I'm like how do you have your master's in education but don't know how to deliver education? Like it's a bleep. That's weird.

Speaker 1:

So I attempted to start in 2015 at Walden University, but there's so much going on. I was still making a crap ton of videos and building out the team and my brother's wife was working the phones for Simple Nursing, like customer service, and one of my best friends from nursing school we used to carpool together he was ended up becoming a nurse. He was doing our sales at Simple Nursing. He was the phone number you call and I was like, okay, so we're building that whole ecosystem out still at the time, 2015. And then Walden University was the cheapest and fastest. At the time they had a program where you can skip your bachelor's and get your master's in 18 months for 30 grand. So I started the first semester but there was just so much paperwork like you know, apa format, all this like mumbo jumbo. I'm like, oh, I don't really want to do this because I really didn't need my master's, right, I just needed to be a licensed nurse, I guess, to teach online or to be a student nurse mentor, we call it back in the day.

Speaker 1:

So I dropped out in 2015 from Walden University and I'm glad I did, because about 2019 I revisited the master's degree route to skip my bachelor's and go master's and man, the space got super competitive. So I researched seven schools and it turns out that the cheapest and fastest at 2019 it wasn't 30 grand anymore, it was actually 12 000, around 12 000, I think. Um, in about 12 months. And I was like what, you can skip your bachelor's in 12 months and get your master's in education. So that was capella university and they I even hit them up and I'm like, hey, do you guys want to sponsor me to go through your program? And like, yeah, just do a bunch of videos for us for youtube and social. I'm like, okay, cool, and that was 2019, um, and super easy program called the flex ed program. This is not a sponsor, by the way, but capella, if you're watching this, shout me or give me, I don't know, give me something, give me a free rock for nurses week, and now I'm flirting with the idea of going for my phd or dnp, which you can do 100% online, yeah, so a lot of people ask me, especially seasoned nurses that I've helped through nursing school and going back to school is really tough because once you're a nurse, you just you know you want to make a bunch of money to pay off your student loans and just live your life because you've been in school from your prerequisites all the way through nursing. So to even think about going back for your bachelor's or your master's or something higher is really difficult. So for me, what really helped me balance my work-life balance from going to my master's and also all the YouTube stuff, and then I was actually working per diem in the ER in Los Angeles.

Speaker 1:

So what really helped me is I made a term called laundry day, right. So laundry day for me was like you choose one day out of the week to like do a deep dive in anything that advances you. So at the time it was just going for a master's and I call it laundry day because every single time you have a dirty sock or dirty undies or whatever it is, you don't wash it right then. And there right, no one really washes their clothes as they become dirty. So you kind of save it for a laundry day, and so that's what I usually do for productivity. So if you're ever like wanting to advance your life but you don't know where to fit stuff in, choose one day out of the week. For me it was like Fridays and I would just put eight hours into like, boom, I'm going to do it all on laundry day, yeah. So if you're in nursing school, you kind of don't have really have a laundry day too much. You should be picking away at studying.

Speaker 1:

But I'd say something that I live by in nursing school for time management the best thing that ever helped me. I think it's called the, the Ponomoro or the platypus platyypus, something type of like time management technique. I forget I have to look this up, but it's 15 to 20 minutes of really deep, intense work. That's all you're focused on, like only what you're focused on, like the book or whatever you're studying. And then, after you are out of that box, then you can check your text messages, facebook, whatever, go to the bathroom, because I see a lot of students and me included.

Speaker 1:

At the time I was like studying for three hours straight. You don't really study for three hours straight. Your mind goes in 15 to 20 minute boxes. Then you'll naturally get distracted. So if I'm at Starbucks, I'm like, okay, I'm going to get five boxes here at Starbucks. It'll probably take a few hours and then I'll just get five boxes at home and change the scenery. So that really helped me. If you're finding difficulty with your study habits, try this box method where that's all you do for each box to get 10 of them a day for four days a week, and I always recommend watch the videos before you study because that'll cut your study time down dramatically, like by 60%, because one eight minute video is about a chat an hour in your textbook reading a chapter of content. Oh, and I'm getting a call right now. So remember, don't be scared, be prepared and don't let the bed pans bite.