Greetings my nurse practitioner sisters and brothers,
This is the 8th installment of our “Interviews with Elite NPs” series where I will interview various nurse practitioners who have utilized Elite Nurse Practitioner content to help build a life where they live on THEIR terms. The goal of the articles in this series is to enlighten many of you that might be on the fence about diving into nurse practitioner entrepreneurship on how possible it really is.
Here are interviews #1, #2, #3, #4, #5, #6, and #7 if you have not read them yet.
The nurse practitioners interviewed in this series are REAL and have started their practice in just the last 1-2 years. It has been my honor to have assisted these fine nurse practitioners who took the appropriate steps to start their own business and most importantly, had the courage to take ACTION instead of suffering from analysis paralysis.
The 8th nurse practitioner in this series is Makenzie Schirmer who started a wellness practice where she specializes in HRT, IV infusion services, and weight loss. She opened just 4 months ago and has been doing great! She went from zero dollars in revenue to over $10,000 in a short period of time! The crazy part? She is working full time still while operating a part-time practice, thus following The Elite NP Model! She took courses, made a plan, executed it, and is rapidly building up a patient census! Her clinic is named RevIVing Welness and she is located in the restricted state of Missouri. She is on track to leave her full time job at some point in the next 10-12 months Now, to the interview:
1. Tell us a little bit about yourself: How long have you been an NP? What has been your background as an NP? Where do you practice? Where are you at in life in terms of your age, financial goals, or anything else you would like to share with The Elite NP readership to help them understand more about yourself.
My name is MaKenzie, I have been a NP for almost 4 years. I have been in cardiothoracic and vascular surgery my entire career with a part time job within the VA system rounding on the elderly/dementia patients. I practice in Southeast Missouri. I am 31, work full time doing 12 hour night shifts, I am married and have a 4 year old. Thank the Lord my husband is a Mr. Mom or I would be SOL! Bless his soul. My goal is to break free from the rat race and work for myself on my own time, like Justin has showed us.
2. What made you shift your mindset from “employee” to “entrepreneur”? Basically, why did you want to start your own practice?
I always wanted to be my own boss even before starting NP school, I just didn’t know how that would look especially in a significantly restricted state like MO. I knew I was meant for more and have no problem leading the charge. I wanted to live life on my terms and create my own raises/opportunity as no one else is going to make that happen for me, especially as a nurse practitioner.
3. What type of practice did you start and why did you pick the niche service line you chose?
I chose IV hydration, hormone replacement, and weight loss. I have done “sick care” medicine my whole nursing career from the cath lab to the ER to now cardiac surgery. I wanted to move toward preventative medicine so I could keep people out of the hospital. Also, my parents are both aging which led me down the anti-aging path and they both have hormone deficiency symptoms. COVID happened and I had heard about the IV drips and high dose vitamin C which led me down another rabbit hole. Those 2 services are my primary focus while weight loss is an add-on because it aligns so well with hormones and is a complimentary service to a wellness practice.
4. How long have you been open?
I opened July 29, 2021
5. How successful has your practice been so far? If you don’t mind, please share with us some average revenue and expense numbers.
My monthly expenses are $3500 which includes: rent (cheap, $500 a month!), collaborator fee, $1000-1500/month in marketing (as Justin recommends), EMR (Optimantra), supplies, phone, internet, etc.
In regards to marketing, I am pretty much sticking to Facebook ads. I am doing 1 ad per service per month. I make a new set of ads every month and I try to post on Instagram/Facebook multiple times a week. I also have an ad in a monthly city magazine that goes to the wealthier neighborhoods.
My first day I had 4 appointments and I made like $1500 on weight loss packages. I was so pumped!
My revenue so far after supply costs:
August, I grossed just shy of $5000!
September was about $4000 after supply cost–not going to lie I was a bit bummed this month not being more…
October was $6500
November to date (11/19) was $9800, projecting at least another $1-2000 in revenue over the next 2 weeks!!! My first $10,000 month!
I am simply blown away. I can’t believe it is this easy. The model Justin presents works!
6. What speedbumps did you come across as you started your practice?
The biggest part for me was ALL that was needed to get done and the analysis paralysis/stress overload that set in. Heck, I’m still trying to figure out what I’m missing 4 months later. Building my own website was a CHORE in itself… Collaborative practice and the DEA application process was a little overwhelming on top of trying to work full time nights and juggle all the many tasks and appointments in my two only business days off a week.
7. What was the biggest personal fear you had to overcome to get started?
The fear of failure and what other people would think. I still worry about failing from time to time (not sure why at the rate you’re growing says my husband–he keeps me balanced lol). I have always been a worst-case scenario thinker and it gets the best of me. What if my collaborator backs out? What if a doctor in the area turns me in to the board causing unnecessary site visits? What if I get sued? What if I’m missing something? What if patients stop coming?
Heck, I was preparing for having no patients for the first 3 months. I was even budgeting what I would do and what money I would move around to stay open for 6 months. I was literally planning to clean out my entire life savings if I had to… I have to laugh at myself from time to time and just take a deep breath. Looking back now though, all I can say is WOW and God is so so good!
Just the other day I sat in my office and cried in amazement and disbelief at how far I’ve come in just 4 months. It’s simply amazing what can be done in a short amount of time when you believe in yourself and just put your head down, follow a plan, and get to work.
8. Tell us what surprised you the most about diving into the world of nurse practitioner entrepreneurism?
How fast I would grow! I knew the potential was there, but I didn’t know just how much! It literally blows me away as I type this. I also knew it was going to be a lot of work, and man is it A LOT of work. Juggling the two jobs, being a mom without missing my child’s life (cue the mom guilt), trying to maintain a family, house, social life (non-existent) all while working full time night shift. Once again, bless my husband lol. I do enjoy being my own boss, showing up and leaving when I want, doing what I want when I want… it is so freeing! The time it takes to stay on top of everything, especially for my OCD self, is astounding, but worth it.
9. Did you use any of The Elite Nurse Practitioner content or courses? If so, how did it benefit you?
I took the IV drip class and the Women’s hormone class. I also took a few other courses with CME money. I have followed the Elite NP since the beginning of the pandemic and started to become really inspired with Justin Allan. I started with the Elite NP Model book and while reading it, I was just in awe relating to the words and thinking “I can do this too…” and “How am I going to do this?” I then began stalking other success stories on the FB page and drilling others with questions. Sorry everyone 🙂 The FB group and the Elite NP has been such a HUGE help and inspiration to me and so many others!!
10. What are your future plans for your practice? What steps are you taking to accomplish those goals?
At this point, I am a one-man band and I’m feeling it! My goal is to be at or around $15,000/month by Jan-Feb. Writing that blows my mind. I plan to hire a nurse to run the IV drip portion of my clinic so I can focus on building my hormone practice even further.
Ultimately, I want to be able to hire a second NP to be able to take a few follow up patients a week so I can focus on new patients. I would like to expand my clinic to 2-3 more providers and 2-3 RNs within the next few years. A second location would be cool, but collaborative practice could be a barrier in MO. I plan to continue to grind day in and day out and just look up each month with a slow steady climb.
Ideally I would like to quit my full time job in the next year or 2 and take this full time working 2-3 full days per week making my present salary at minimum. Ultimately, I want to finish paying off debt and start to invest in real estate to start my passive streams of income! I love where my life and career are headed. I truly feel like I’m on the right track!
Awesome Makenzie! Thank you for taking time for the interview. Listen everyone, the fear she is still experiencing is COMPLETELY normal as you venture down the entrepreneurial journey. I still have fears and doubts. The day you stop having doubts, is the day you stop PROGRESSING. Doubt is fuel to the fire and every successful entrepreneur out there doubts on a daily basis. So, do not let those emotions stop you from success!
Makenzie is on path to really scale and grow her business. She is following the appropriate steps to truly become a millionaire NP within the next 5-7 years if she begins to delegate work and build passive income streams. She is keeping expenses low, starting as a part-time business while continuing to work (RISK MITIGATION FOLKS!), and sticking to niche cash services. This is the path to freedom as an NP. Well done Makenzie! I am very very proud to have been a part of your journey and to see where you have gone in such a short period of time! If she can do, if I can do it, and the hundreds of other Elite NPs can do it, then so can you!
If you or someone you know has started their own business and would like to be a part of this series, please email me at theelitenp@elitenp.com! Thank you for reading! I hope this article helped spark the fire of motivation in some of you to get started
