The “doing” part of starting a practice is straightforward and relatively easy, regardless of what others say. All you need to do is follow the steps of starting a business, pick a niche service idea, get your website up, begin marketing, and start seeing patients. This is literally it for the cash practice. If you want to accept insurance, then adding credentialing and all that headache into the mix will be needed as well. This is the “doing” part of starting a practice. This is the “taking action” part that I often talk about it. THIS IS THE EASY PART.

What you DIDN’T do is what is hard. What do I mean by that?

It is what you SACRIFICED to become successful is what is hard.

You have to stay PERSISTENT during the process of starting a business, and this will require you to NOT do the things that everyone else refuses to stop doing.

Do you sit there and scroll through social media all day like everyone else? You are not going to have time to do that when you are a SUCCESSFUL nurse practitioner entrepreneur!

Do you binge watch Netflix in the evenings or on your days off? Successful nurse practitioner business owners don’t have that kind of time to waste rotting their minds.

This is applicable not only in business either, but in life. Do you think I have been able to maintain an athletic physique over the past 5 years (while building businesses) by eating the pizza and cake in the break room? NO! I didn’t do what everyone else was doing. I have sacrificed and continue to do so to achieve the life I want.

IT IS WHAT YOU DIDN’T DO THAT ULTIMATELY DETERMINES YOUR SUCCESS.

When you hear success stories about people who have “made it”, you never hear about what those people DIDN’T DO. You only hear about what they DID to get to where they are at. It sounds glamorous. It sounds simple. It sounds like something that ANYONE can replicate. These stories though should talk about what those people DIDN’T DO.

Since I am a nurse practitioner entrepreneur, and I am writing this for nurse practitioners, I am going to give you my personal examples of what I didn’t do to succeed. Talking about what Jeff Bezos with Amazon or what Oprah Winfrey didn’t do isn’t applicable to most of you, but regardless, you better believe they sacrificed.

What Justin didn’t do to succeed:

I didn’t go out with friends to float the river because I had to finish the final edits of a course that was going live in 24 hours.

I didn’t go to my best friend’s child’s 1^st birthday party because I was stuck seeing some men’s health patients that Saturday afternoon when we first got started because I needed every patient I could get.

I didn’t go to my grandmothers birthday party because it happened to coincide with the opening of my 2nd men’s health practice.

I didn’t get to spend the entire final day with my dying dog because I had a fire that needed extinguished at my men’s health practice…….

I didn’t sleep more than 6 hours a night for over 2 years when I first started my opioid addiction clinic, my medical cannabis clinic, and my men’s health practice.

I didn’t get to enjoy staying home during Christmas like everyone else one year because I was scheduled to work an urgent care shift that day because I needed the income to stay out of business debt during the start up phase of my practices.

I didn’t pay myself a single dime from my medical cannabis clinic for over 2 years so I could reinvest every dollar of profit into my men’s health practice and The Elite Nurse Practitioner.

I didn’t take the easy route and take out a massive loan to start my practice.

I didn’t watch a single television show for over 6 months when I first started The Elite Nurse Practitioner, instead, I spent my free time every night and morning writing the articles and my book that have helped thousands of nurse practitioners break free.

I didn’t pay myself a dollar from my men’s health practice for over a year because the income needed to be available so I could pay my medical assistant, the expenses, and to reinvest back into the business so I could grow. My 2^nd men’s health practice is FINALLY doing well, but I still haven’t paid myself from it yet…

I didn’t have a single day off for almost 4 weeks in January-February of 2019 when I was going through a divorce, my men’s health practice had a slow month, my medical cannabis clinic needed extra time from me, it was peak influenza season at the urgent care where I was seeing 70+ patients a day, and the methadone clinic I was working PRN at needed some extra hours. That was a dark month… I seriously thought about giving up MULTIPLE times that month.

I didn’t go on vacation for over a year, even though I was making a healthy six figure income, because my businesses demanded my time to flourish.

I didn’t finish watching a movie with my fiancé to respond to the nurse practitioner who emailed me at 10:30pm because they needed a quick pep talk about an interview they had that very next morning.

I didn’t listen to my favorite podcast or my favorite playlist while driving to a medical cannabis dispensary to do evaluations so I could chat with a nurse practitioner on the phone about a problem they were having in their business.

I didn’t do A LOT of things friends… I sacrificed. And I still do so today… but not as much! You live like others refuse to live now so you can live like no one else later!

Let me repeat that: You live like others refuse to live now so you can live like no one else later!

That is the great thing about sacrificing everything at first my nurse practitioner sisters and brothers, the light at the end of the dark tunnel eventually comes, and when it does, it is life changing. Financial independence is attainable for nurse practitioner! But don’t be fooled, you will ALWAYS be sacrificing as a nurse practitioner entrepreneur. The day you stop, is the day your business fails. Success is only borrowed, never owned.

Focus on what you need to do to start or scale your business. Take a course, read the Elite NP articles, change your marketing strategies up, and most importantly, just get started. That is the simple part. Be prepared to sacrifice though, be prepared NOT TO DO what everyone else is doing. You either want to be average and follow the herd or be ELITE and become leader. It is your choice.