How To Choose Between Becoming An Entrepreneur vs. Intrapreneur (and my entrepreneur story)!

Speaker A: Welcome to the Nurse Leader Network podcast with your host, Chris Racinos. Wherever you're going on your nurse Leader journey, we're here to help you get there. Welcome, everybody, to the Nurse Leader Network podcast. I am your host, Chris Yasinos. Today I'm going to answer a question that I have gotten several times, and that is, Chris, how or why did you decide to start your own business and become an entrepreneur? And so today we're going to talk about my entrepreneurial journey, as well as what intrapreneurialism is and why you might want to decide that. So after today's episode, you'll have a little idea of how I went from being nurse executive to starting the podcast and running my own business, as well as what intrapreneurialism looks like for those of us that aren't quite ready or don't want to ever become entrepreneurs. So this episode's for nurse leaders in organizations and for nurses that would like to start their own businesses. So I'm going to start off with just defining the two because intrapreneurialism is. Or intrapreneurs is a term that's not widely used. Um, I have had a guest on the show that we kind of talked about a little bit before. But as a reminder, when we're looking at entrepreneurialism, we are running our own companies. Entrepreneurs run their own companies. We tend to have complete freedom, which can be really, really good, right? Like, I get to create my own schedule, I get to, you know, decide on what direction I'm going to take the company, what offerings I'm going to have. But it can also be really, really bad, right? Because we also have to be super structured, self motivated, right? There's nobody who's going to be like, you have to do whatever you need to do. So can have its pros and its cons, but it's somebody who we get to, uh, develop new ideas. We get to figure out how to operationalize those ideas, which, again, that could be good or bad if you're a creator. Sometimes creators like myself have difficulty getting the operational piece down, so we have to hire folks that can help us with that. Now, intrapreneurialism, or being an intrapreneur, is somebody who is an employee of an organization, but they help innovate and they help create within a, uh, company. So within a company, these folks are going to help with new products, new ideas, but they have to work within the confines of the company, right? So it has to live up to the company's mission. For example, it has to be confined within the company's budget. It has to get approvals, layers, that kind of thing. So they get to do very similar things in terms of ideation creation, um, new plans, new programs, new products, things like that. However, you maybe don't need to be as self motivated in an organization because you're going to have accountability structures in place. Whereas again, as an, as an entrepreneur, that's not necessarily the case. We need both. So we need to have entrepreneurs and we need to have intrapreneurs. There is no ands, ifs or buts about it. We need to have both. And so I'm going to share with you just kind of my journey of entrepreneurship, how it happened. I traditionally have just always kind of been a job hopper. I was one of those employees that tended to be at an organization between two to four years and then, you know, was interested and found a new interest and would move on. Right. So initially that was because I was getting new degrees, so I got a bachelor's, worked in the emergency room. And then I was like, okay, I need to have a schedule that's a little bit more reliable so I can go back to school. I went into employee health for a little while and during that time became an fnp. Once I became an FNP as soon as I graduated. So this is a couple years after I got my bsn. I think it was actually like three years after I got my BSN or four years. I then left to become an FNP and worked as an FMP for a small amount of time and then was promoted into administrative job, which I had no idea why they even promoted me and I had no interest in it, but I'm so glad that it happened. But even after that job, I was there a couple of years and I was like, okay, I want to do something different, I want something more. And then moved into an executive position. And then after a few years in that executive position, I was like, okay, I love this, but I want something more. And so I was just the typical person that likes to have a variety of experiences because I got bored pretty early, if that sounds like you, if you're the person that like tends to get bored pretty often, Always looking for a new challenge, always looking for a new experience. You may be an entrepreneur in the making, or perhaps you need to be an intrapreneur in the organization that you're in so that you can constantly kind of have that new source of stimulation and ability to innovate. So here we go. I'm, um, you know, in all these Jobs. I loved the jobs. I've never had a job. I've really never had a job that I did not like. I had amazing teams, amazing organizations, amazing experiences. I loved it. And there was something missing. There was something in my heart that was just completely missing and in my soul. And I felt like I was not fulfilling my passion or. And I felt like I was not fulfilling my purpose, even though I was doing all kinds of really great and amazing things. And so I just kind of was, you know, wondering. And I. And I happened upon one day, I remember, had just gotten home from work, and I was reading this article. I can't remember if it was on Facebook or what it was, but it was an article that had the story of these two school teachers. And, um, Shane and Jocelyn Sams were the names of the school teachers. And they had talked about how they had just been really burned out on teaching. And they began doing a side hustle while they were teaching. And they eventually made, I think it was something like $20,000 a month based on their online business. And they did that so that they'd have some freedom, right? They wanted freedom to spend time with their kids. They wanted that burnout to go away. They wanted to be able to travel and do keynotes and things like that. And so I was like, hey, if these two school teachers can build an online business based on the m information that they know. Um, one of the teachers was a librarian. Actually, I think she was a librarian, not a teacher. Her business was centered around history lessons. So she taught other school teachers how to create history lessons, and she had them, like, fully prepared. Right? The teachers could literally go on there, have a history lesson done, and paid a subscription. A model for this, um, ability to access that. And it just made these other teachers lives so much easier. Right? Uh, imagine all that time that you don't need to spend in creating a lesson plan, getting the materials, having the PowerPoints, all that. If it's all created for you, imagine how much time that saves. And so I was kind of just thinking, like, that sounds really cool, like they're able to really contribute to other people's lives to make it easier so that they're not experiencing levels of burnout. And in turn, the reward is that they get to work for themselves and set their own schedules and be with their kids more. Now at this time in my life, I was working a lot. I was working like 60 hours a week, and my commute was crazy hours long. And I just was not getting the time I needed to have with my Family. And so m. I was just kind of like, aha, ah, like something opened up inside me and I was like, okay, there's a potential for something more. Like. And I realized that I had been looking for that aha moment forever. I, you know, remember as a little girl walking the streets of Los Angeles, and, you know, I'd see the houses that I lived in. And, um, as a reminder for the listeners, I grew up in foster care, so their houses looked like foster care houses might, you might have seen what they would look like. And, um, and then I would go into these really great neighborhoods and look at the houses, and I always wondered, like, what do those people do for a living? What do they do? Like, how do they get to live in a house like that? And in that aha, ah moment that I had while listening or while reading that article, I realized they work for themselves. Especially, you know, in big parts of Los Angeles. They work for themselves, they own their own businesses. And so I was determined at that moment. I was like, okay, I am going to try to help other people not be in the same shoes that I'm in. Which was, you know, I was beginning to have a little bit of burnout, um, because of the hours that I was working and because I was not fulfilling my cup that I needed to fill in my role as a mother and in my role as a human being. So I sat down and the two teachers, um, were following somebody named Pat Flynn from the Smart Passive Income. And I started following him. I started binge listening to his podcast on my way to work and really learned kind of a lot of trial and error based on what he taught. And I eventually decided, okay, my contribution to the world and is going to be I'm going to start a, uh, podcast for nurses. And I want to start this podcast because as a new nurse leader, I remember not having access to the tools that I needed. Right? I went to school to become an fmp. I did not go to school to be an administrator. And I was missing tools. And then I learned as I developed programs for colleges and as I taught in administrative nursing programs, that even those that graduate from a leadership program in nursing still weren't adequately equipped to face the day to day that we face as nurse leaders. And so I wanted to provide a source for nurses to tune in and really just get everything that they needed to know. Like, I just felt like that was, you know, just something that I could give back with all the experiences I had. I could develop templates and things like that and just help other Nurses out. And as I had the Nurse Leader podcast on the air, I started getting nurses come to me who were interested in entrepreneurship. They were like, wait, how did you, you know, you started this business where you are have, you have a podcast, but you're also doing, like, blogging and, you know, is there any money in it? Are you making any revenue? Like, they were interested in starting their own businesses because they felt the same, right? They felt like they wanted to do more, right? That they had some larger purpose or that they had some dream or passion that they wanted to follow. And so I ended up having kind of two sets of listeners where I have nursing leaders, um, in a variety of different organizations. And then I have nursing entrepreneurs who tune in and listen and learn how to run businesses. And so that's kind of just how it evolved. And, you know, now we fast forward. I started the podcast in 2020, and now I, I have this business where I'm helping other people do their job, making it more convenient for them. I am taking that learning curve and shortening it so that people have the confidence to do the things that they need to do in their organizations and with their businesses. And it's been great. I've been approached and been able to become an advisor to a variety of different companies. I've gotten to do a ton of paid keynotes. I'm in the middle of writing a book, which should be done really soon. And I'm going to be launching a membership, uh, called Nurse Leader Insiders, that is going to give access to nurses to be able to come in and learn anything that they need to learn regarding leadership or entrepreneurship. Starting your own business, everything. Um, and so doors are opening up left and right. I have companies approaching me, asking me to help, consult and help their audiences and their members. And so it's nothing that I dreamed I could have ever dreamed of. I really just initially started this with the hopes of, like, giving back from my experiences and some failures, um, to others so that they didn't have to, you know, take as long of a journey as I took to become a great leader. Now, that being said, that's kind of why I decided, right? So I decided because it's just in my personality, right? I need to have that constant kind of growth. I decided that because I felt like there was a larger purpose for my life and I really wanted to give back. And, you know, I looked back at all of the leaders that I helped coach and mentor along the way, and I felt like instead of doing one to ones, I could do one do you know, hundreds and thousands with the audience that I have. And because I wanted to take control of my life, I wanted to really make sure that I didn't miss any doctor's appointments that I didn't miss for my kids, or that I was able to coach soccer, and I was able to do these things and really take control of my life. That, being said, has not been without a struggle. Right. Like I said earlier, I'm a creator, and so sometimes I fall off my creation hat and I have to get back into the operations mode and make sure that I can operationalize the things that I'm creating. So that's kind of the pathway I took and how I decided that it was right for me. We are going to have some episodes in the future of Nurse Leader Network podcast where I'm going to talk to you about exactly how you can come up with idea. Brainstorm an idea. Um, we're going to talk a little bit about how you can test that model out and actually make sales prior to even creating whatever it is that you're creating. And we're going to talk about business models, how to create a business model to know that this is something that's going to be financially viable. So we are going to have some episodes dedicated to nursing entrepreneurs around how to get started, what next steps are, how to actually run a business. We'll have that. But you might be listening and you're like, wait, that's not me. Like, I actually really like where I work. I've been here for many, many years. I don't plan on leaving, but I'm a nurse leader and I want to grow. That being said, there's something there for you too, right? So you can choose on that path to become an intrapreneur, or you can choose to grow intrapreneurs. We know that when we have intrapreneurs in organizations, they are going to produce those new ideas. They are going to help us come up with creative and innovative ways to solve problems. We know that intrapreneurs tend to have higher levels of passion for the work because they are all in it. They are invested in that idea that was theirs. And we know that organizations that have intrapreneurs are going to. Those employees are going to be at a higher value to the organization in terms of change agents. So we have to have intrapreneurs in healthcare, regardless of where you work, whether it's hospital, ambulatory, academics, um, tech company, regardless of where you're tuning in from, you have to have intrapreneurs working for you if you want to stay relevant in the game. So for those that are listening, that are, um, nursing leaders in the organizations, and they either want themselves to become an intrapreneur for that organization or they want to develop entrepreneurs, there's a couple things that need to take place. And there need to be some conditions that you can set as a nursing leader or that you can help nursing leaders set, um, to so that you could have successful entrepreneurs. The first condition is that you are somebody who has an entrepreneur spirit or that there are people within your team that have that entrepreneurial spirit. These folks need to be dynamic and not just kind of go with the flow around the status quo, right? So these are the folks that when you present a, uh, problem, they're like, wait, why don't we try this? Or why don't we try that? It's not the person that's like, well, we've always done it that way. So you've got to either yourself or have somebody on the team that has that dynamic ability to see a bigger picture and really look for solutions that we typically are, uh, traditionally not have thought about in that space. The second condition that needs to be met is there has to be a commitment to innovation. So a lot of times in organizations, you'll see that innovation, it's a sexy word that we like to throw around. But the reality is we don't put our money where our mouth is. Is there a budget for innovation at your organization? Is it on the strategic plan? Is it part of the bigger picture and the mission? If it's not, that's going to be a deal breaker. We have to have buy in that there is a commitment to innovation and that there's a value to having innovation in the workspace. When we put our money where our mouth is, that is demonstrating that innovation is important to us and that we realize the impact and the value that innovation has to the organization. So that's the second condition. There has to be a commitment to innovation. Money needs to be focused and dedicated to innovation because that ROI tends to always be super high. Um, so it's an area we don't want to say, oh, we're committed to safety and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Yet we're not committed to innovation. If we're not committed to innovation, safety is not going to fix itself, budget's not going to fix itself. Patient experience is not going to fix itself. All of the number of things that you're trying to solve with your tech companies are not going to fix themselves. We have to have that commitment to innovation. The third condition that needs to be there for entrepreneurs to flourish in an organization is that we're not afraid of risk. And we know that there are big rewards that come with risk. So we can't have innovation if there's not risk. Right. Not all innovations are going to work. Some will fail. And that is okay because it is a learning lesson, not a failure. Uh, we've learned what doesn't work. So now that can put us closer to the path of the things that do work. So we want to make sure that we don't see risk as a bad thing. If something ends up not working out the way we anticipated it, that doesn't necessarily mean it's a bad thing, it's a failure, but it's a risk that we want to take to make sure that it steers us into that North Star. Okay, so we got the conditions. You're like, chris, I got the conditions. That's great. Now what do we do? I want to be an entrepreneur or I want to develop entrepreneurs in my organization. The first thing that we want to do is assess the skills of our employees. Um, and we don't want to have a job description with a bunch of skills on it. And then we're going to look for who fits that. We want to look at the skills that our employees have and look at how they can contribute to the bigger picture, the bigger mission. You would be surprised at the level of skills that your staff have and that even staff outside of nursing have in different organizations that we just don't tap into. And so we want to initially just get a list of skills, a list of passions that our employees are interested in so that we can start connecting the dots around. Okay, this is one of the priorities that I have for the organization. How can I tap and utilize the resources that I have with the skills that this person has? How can we make that match? How can we get them in a position where they are going to be. Where it's going to be, highlighting and taking advantage of the skills that they have. The second thing you want to do is look at personality traits and personality tests. Uh, one thing that I did when I was working at the Veterans Administration is I had all my nursing leaders do, um, the strengths finder test. And it really helped highlight each individual's strength on my team. And it was extremely varied. I don't think we had two of the same on that team. And it helped me identify when we had certain projects, who to tap on. Right. So I could see who My creators were. And when I needed to bring them in to the conversation and help us develop new solutions, I saw who my operations folks were. And those were the ones that once we had ideas, I was like, okay, I need you to run with this. Let me know the best way that we can get to this goal. I saw people who were those impacts and just a variety of different skills and strengths that the team had. And so I could build teams that would directly lead to the outcomes that I wanted to lead to based on that. And so that's going to help you form this intrapreneurial space. In terms of we want the entrepreneurs to help us with the ideation, with the creation, and then we want to make sure that we have teams in place that can help us see that to the very end. And so that's a crucial component. Otherwise, we're stuck in having all these great ideas and never being able to actually get them out there into the world working. So you want to make sure you look at the personalities on your team and how they fit into the larger picture of some of the things that you're trying to accomplish. Um, and you want to make sure that you don't have, like, a full team of people that perhaps have intrapreneurial alignment. We want to make these teams a little bit diversified, right? So the conversation can really go and propel into the next level. You want to make sure also that you don't have a team without an entrepreneur on it. Right? So we want to be able to have those people sit on each of the teams for the different lines of work that we're doing, for the different, um, strategies that we're trying to do, for the different goals that we're trying to work on. The last thing is that you need to make sure that we are rewarding creativity. So sometimes creativity is not going to impact our bottom line immediately. Right? So we have some great idea, and perhaps it just didn't hit the mark and we actually had a loss there, or maybe it didn't bring us back the ROI that we intended in the beginning. We still want to reward creativity when we dampen it or say, okay, well, that was great idea, but didn't do anything for a bottom line, or that was a great idea but didn't move. When we dampen it in that way, people are going to be less likely to step up and want to do the work, want to make the change, those kind of things. So to recap, if you are that nurse that wants to become an intrapreneur, uh, or develop entrepreneurs. The first thing you want to do is either assess your own skills and where you fit into the bigger picture if you want to be that entrepreneur, or assess the skills of the employees. The second is looking at personality testing and how those personalities play into the role. You want to make sure you identify your own strengths if you want to be that intrapreneur. So you go take that strengthsfinder test or Meyer Briggs or one of the personality tests and identify what your strengths are and have that conversation with your manager, your leader, your director, to say, hey, I have these skills. Tell me about what's going on in the organization where I can best apply them. I'm really interested in innovation. I'm really interested in creating and solutioning. And then the third piece is making sure that there's some type of reward system in place that might be, if you're the one that's interested in, uh, the entrepreneurship, having that conversation again with your manager about how can we reward this type of behavior because we want this behavior. And if you're the leader that's trying to design this intrapreneur type of program, again, you want to make sure that you're rewarding it, Right? So it could be as simple as acknowledging, right? It could be as simple as having on your newsletter, hey, these are our intrapreneurs, and this is some of the things that they're working on and they'd love to hear from you. Something that simple, um, goes a long way in terms of rewards. So just, you know, the accolades, even sometimes is a great way to start with rewarding. I've shared also in a couple other episodes. Um, an episode that I want to refer you back to is episode three. Um, it's called Thinking Inside the Box with Drew Boyd. And so Drew Boyd, who is just a master in the innovation space, he has worked for many different companies, done a ton of different innovation, and he teaches people how to innovate. Um, I would go back and listen to that episode. He gives some great tips around how you can get started with innovation. That's going to be relevant whether you want to be an intrapreneur or an entrepreneur. Again, for those entrepreneurs that have tuned in, if you're running a business, just because you're the entrepreneur doesn't mean you don't need intrapreneurs in your business as you build it. Um, so you're going to get to a point where you don't want to be the only one that have the ideas in your organization. And this is going to be important for you as well to create those intrapreneurs within your organization. I hope this has helped you kind of understand the difference between entrepreneur and intrapreneur. Um, I hope it's also helped you understand where your role is and where you feel you should be at. So as a nurse leader, are you thinking that you want to be more on the entrepreneur side and you're thinking about side businesses or potentially replacing your income with your own business? Or are you thinking about really highlighting and taking your organization to the next level, whether that be with you as the intrapreneur or by developing a team of intrapreneurs inside of your organization? I'd love to hear where you're at and I'd love to hear from the audience. So if you have ideas, recommendations, questions that you'd love to have answered on the Nurse Leader Network podcast, feel free to email me@info nurseleadernetwork.com Again, that's info nurseleadernetwork.com can't wait to hear from you and we'll talk to you next week.