There are two types of businesses that a nurse practitioner entrepreneur, or any entrepreneur for that matter, can create:

1. A business that you work for.

OR

2. A business that works for you.

A business that you work for is a typical medical practice where the nurse practitioner sees patients. I have spoken about active income sources in multiple articles and in the financial independence course, so this is not news for many of you. A business that a nurse practitioner creates and subsequently works in is the type that takes your time. This is time for dollars. This is applicable to most service-oriented professions: medical providers, lawyers, accountants, etc…

Working FOR your business is essentially a job. Yes, you just created a job for yourself, but you own the business and enrichen yourself vs. a shark that employs you. So, there is that HUGE benefit compared to just being employed.

Our job title entails seeing patients, which is work, and it can become physically and emotionally draining over the years. Burn out is a real issue… The other issue is that you do not make any money in your business unless you are working FOR it. So, you must give up your time and see patients to make money.

When you create a practice that has set hours and patients are scheduled within those hours, you MUST show up and see those patients to generate revenue. The business itself is putting constraints on your time. If you do not show up to see patients, then you bring in very little revenue as you are not working for it to generate that revenue. If you want to make money, you have to show up. Essentially, you become a slave of sorts to your own business. This is working FOR your business.

A prime example of this is my medical cannabis clinic. This is a business that I must work FOR to generate revenue. I love my medical cannabis clinic, but ultimately it is work. If I don’t go, I don’t get paid. If I don’t get paid, I can’t pay the clinics rent. I am working FOR IT.

Any type of service focused business where the business owner must see their customers to generate revenue is a business that they end up WORKING FOR. This is the definition of active income and for the business owner, it can actually DECREASE their freedom vs. standard employment. Why? Because you are tied down to the business and must work for it in EVERY aspect (finances, employee issues, seeing patients, etc.) to keep it running. It is your responsibility and your responsibility alone to keep it afloat. One of many struggles an entrepreneur faces and one you need to accept if you are going on this journey.

On the other side of the coin is the business that works for YOU. This is the business that generates income when you are not present. This is the business that is increasing your personal and financial freedom. This is passive income at its core but even better because it dramatically improves your life. When you work FOR your business, you are improving and strengthening that business, but when your business works FOR YOU, it is improving and strengthening YOU. You become a stronger, happier, and more well rounded person.

An example of this is the nurse practitioner who starts an IV infusion clinic and hires a couple registered nurses to see the patients and start/manage the IVs. All the nurse practitioner must do is sign off on the order through an asynchronous telemedicine platform –> The patient orders the IV from your website, the nurse practitioner receives this through their email and signs off on it, the order goes through the EMR, the patient shows up for the time they scheduled on your website, and the RN starts/manages the IV and then discharges the patient. Piece of cake! This took you a whole 5 minutes… if that!

This is a business that is WORKING FOR YOU! The income generated is padding your bank account and increasing your freedom exponentially. Dollars = Time. The more dollars you have, the more time you have, which improves your life because it allows you to focus on your family, friends, community, hobbies, etc. This is STRENGTHENING you.

Basically, any business where you have others working for you, as either employees or contractors, is a business that works FOR YOU. You are the brains behind the operation and are responsible for growing it, but others are doing the work for you. This can be anything from a medical practice to a house cleaning business! YES, I know an NP who owns a house cleaning business. It takes her 2 hours a week to manage it and she makes an extra $2,000 a week! It works for her; she doesn’t work for it!

Every Elite Nurse Practitioner out there reading this needs to develop a business that works for them. You need a passive income source if you want to be financially redundant and to increase your freedom.

It is a great feeling to have a business that works for you, yet it can be draining to have a business you work for. I have declined partnerships and real estate deals in the past because I could see the writing on the wall: the endeavor would have created another JOB for myself. I want to increase my freedom, not decrease it with another job…

My men’s heath clinic is a combination of both types of business. 80% of the time my men’s health clinic works for me, but 20% of the time I must work for it because I need to see patients. I have even began offloading that work though! I have a part-time NP that sees patients and another one on the side lines waiting for patient volume to increase. My goal is to have these two NPs see the new patients and build a patient census of their own while I maintain my current census of about 200 patients and grow the practice from the back end via marketing and streamlining processes. This is ultimately a job as I still have to work for it to an extent, but one I enjoy and that really is the key here:

You must enjoy what you do if you develop a business that you work for. If not, you will be miserable.

I urge everyone reading this to really consider what you want to do with your new or current business. It is critical that you understand how your own business works. You will either work for it, or it will work for you. If you work for it, you need to be damn sure it will be something you enjoy. If your business works for you, then it does not really matter what it is! It will be fattening your pockets and improving your quality of life exponentially!