6. How Heather Wilson Built a Private Pay Foot Care Business

In this episode of The Bossy Nurse Podcast, Marsha Battee speaks with Heather Wilson, RN. In this conversation, Heather describes how she  identified a gap hiding in plain sight and turned it into a thriving private pay business and national training institute.  

Find the all the resources mentioned in the show and full details at The Bossy Nurse website.

Don't forget to subscribe to The Bossy Nurse Podcast on your favorite app, and please leave a quick rating and review. It helps more nurses find the show!

Want early episode drops, behind-the-scenes action, special invites to virtual and in-person events, and chances to be featured on the podcast or The Bossy Nurse blog?

Signup for our newsletter at TheBossyNurse.com/join.

Chapters

• 0:03 The Foot Care Gap Exposed
• 0:20 Show Intro And Heather’s Mission
• 0:48 Why Routine Foot Care Disappeared
• 1:19 Bedside Delays And Rising Risks
• 1:40 Heather’s Early Dreams And Pivot
• 6:45 Choosing Nursing And Finding Agency
• 7:50 Nursing School Struggles And Resilience
• 13:05 First Jobs, Interviews, And Standing Out
• 18:24 Rapid Path To Charge Nurse
• 22:45 EMRs, Disconnection, And System Shifts
• 25:02 The Podiatry Reimbursement Wall
• 27:35 The Salon Risk And Infection Stories
• 29:07 Discovering Foot Care Nursing Models
• 31:05 Launching A Private-Pay Service
• 34:31 Building Kits, Marketing, And Brand
• 39:52 Pandemic-Proof, Recurring Care
• 43:22 Fear, Mistakes, And The Board Letter
• 48:39 Policy, Scope, And Institutional Barriers
• 53:21 How To Find Patients And Partners
• 59:24 Passion Over Paychecks
• 1:02:32 From Clinic To Franchise To Course
• 1:08:11 Inside The Foot And Nail Institute
• 1:13:12 Mindset, Community, And Momentum

Transcript

Heather: 0:03

And so one night I was working and being the assertive charge nurse that I am, I said, Why does it take six consults for you to come over here to provide that service? And the podiatrist said to me, Because I make no money on this. I was like, I'm sorry, what? I make no money on this.

Marsha: 0:20

Welcome to the Blossomurse Podcast, a show about nurse creators, innovators, risk takers, and the ideas that shape their success. I'm Marcia Batti, and on the show today, how Heather Wilson turned a massive gap in patient foot care into a private paid nursing business and a national training institute that helps nurses reclaim autonomy and impact. As health care became more specialized, routine foot care quietly slipped out of focus. As podiatry shifted towards advanced procedures and surgery, basic nail and foot maintenance lost its place, despite being essential for mobility, fall prevention, and infection control. The need never disappeared, but access did, forcing families to fill the gaps as preventable complications rose. Heather Wilson encountered the problem on the floor. As a cardiovascular charge nurse, she watched patients wait days for something as basic as foot care or be told it wasn't coming at all, realizing that what the system no longer made room for was creating real risks for the people she cared for most. But before Heather Wilson ever went to nursing school and encountered those challenges on the floor, she imagined a very different future.

Heather: 1:50

I actually wanted to be a fashion buyer in New York City. Like, yeah, it's that's what I wanted. I love fashion. I got all the like back in the day, you'd get the magazines in the mail, I'd get the vogues and the L and all those magazines. Um, and my cousin was a nurse and was successful. And my mother was working in the hospital and she's like, you should go for nursing. And it ended up kind of just happening over time. Uh my grandfather had a stroke, and I saw nursing from that perspective of working with him. So it kind of was like the seed was planted at a young age, but then you go through those, you know, high school years where you're like, I want to do this, and you know, and then you kind of get real with what is gonna work out and such. It's interesting. Um, over the years, I took I've taken care of many patients, and I did take care of a patient at the hospital who was a fashion buyer and lived in New York City. And it was really interesting because she was in her 30s, and so was I at the time, and she was looking for a job and she was telling me how they age you out of that industry. And so it was interesting because it's something I never even yeah, and so I was like, I made the right choice with nursing, sort of like devil wears data kind of thing. Yes, it really was. Oh my god, because I told her I was like, I wanted to go, and she was like, Yeah, she goes around 30, they start to age you out and you have to find a different path. And so I it was really interesting to learn that.

Marsha: 3:16

So, where did the fashion buyer come in?

Heather: 3:19

Because it's interesting because back in those days, we had one of the first reality shows that was out was on MTV and it was called The Real World. And so you got to see all these people living together and they were living in New York City, and there was someone that was on there that was in fashion and they were part of that. And so I was like, okay, and then at the same time, Stubenville is close to Pittsburgh. So we had the art institute that was also talking about all these different avenues that you could go into, and fashion buying was one of them. And so that's kind of how I kind of came up with that idea. But I go to New York often, but I definitely am definitely grateful that the path that you know I took and God knew he knew what I needed to do. Yeah, I just am like he knew better than me. As I can say, he's known better than me over the years of business development and everything. I'm like, yeah, you know, and it's been interesting. But yeah, I definitely love nursing and I'm glad I uh took this career path.

Marsha: 4:16

Yeah, and and we're gonna talk about all of the nursing uh that you've been doing over the over the years, including business. So I'm excited to talk about that. Um, I do want to ask you one more question because I'm so curious about this about the fashion. Um and I know you had a lot of medical professionals in your family that sort of gave you that insight of what being in the medical field would be. Was there at one point where you just made that shift and said, you know what, I'm going to do something that's more aligned with family values, hard work, things like that, instead of the glamour of New York City?

Heather: 4:51

I think what it was was it was just a combination of things. I actually was dating a guy whose mother was a nurse and she was a charge nurse and at our local hospital, and I rounded with her. And it was interesting because she said, Come on with me, we're gonna go round. Now, this is way back in the day when you could do stuff like this. Yeah. And we rounded with the doctor. And I watched how she would go into these rooms with these doctors and talk about patients and basically was negotiating. I didn't know it at the time, but she was negotiating the care for these patients and what was best for the patient, and would sometimes be challenged by the physician. And I was just like, oh, that's uh that's definitely a level of like nursing I didn't know was even possible. And so it was really an eye-opening experience to see how she really could guide and, you know, shift the perspective of what these patients needed, oftentimes much more than what the doctor themselves need knew, um, because you know, they were young, or you know, back then we were just in the beginning of starting to have the in the interns, the residents, and all that kind of stuff. And so it was interesting to see how she um took that in that unit and really drove that and cared for these patients collectively. And I was, I that was kind of the moment that I was like, I think I could do this. And it was really interesting. And so um, she she's she was a wonderful nurse and it she definitely kind of guided the the light of what I ended up doing. And even though I didn't end up marrying her husband her son or anything like that, we broke up, but it's not who I ended up marrying. But um, you know, it was it was definitely interesting um to see how she guided through that process and such. And I wanted to be a part of that, and I thought I could do this, and so it was really good.

Marsha: 6:40

Okay, great. So when you first went into college, did you already know nursing at that time was that experience right before college or going into college or in college? Okay, so you already knew going into college, nursing was your thing. How was nursing school for you?

Heather: 6:56

Hard, it was so hard. Oh, if you're listening to this and you're a nursing school and you were like, you know, you're looking at everybody else who's getting A's and B's, and you're like, geez, just please give me a C and pass me. It's okay. I am here to tell you it's fine. The other thing that I will stand on and tell is my truth. And my truth is nursing school itself did not come easy to me. I just didn't have a desire for that. That was not never my thing ever. In high school, high school was social to me. College, you know, was I really did, you know, study and focus, and it was still hard for me. And, you know, I think that we see so many people who are finished with a finished result. We see all these people that finished with their nursing degree, and we think to ourselves, oh, it must be so easy for them. It's not. And there are a lot of nurses who fail out, you go back. So if you're listening to this and you have failed out and this is what you want to do, you wait the whatever the time frame is, go back. If you failed your N CLEX, you go back. Do not let the failures crater you. Um, that is one of the things that I think that, you know, I speak about. I failed out of nursing school. I don't care. I'll tell you, I failed out. And it was actually a um, what rotation was it? It was maternity. It was the maternity rotation I couldn't understand. And I just had no desire in it. I was like, I'm yeah, I'm not, this wasn't what I'm gonna do. I knew it and it was just whatever. And then I went back like whatever, six months later, and I got an A in it. So it made no sense, but whatever. So it doesn't, I don't understand. But there's probably things going on in life that, you know, when you're going through college and such that shift your priorities probably got distracted. And so a lot of that stuff can happen. But I went back and I basically, you know, graduated and such. But I think that we really see end results out here, especially on social media. And we see all these people who are nurses who did it, and we think, but why is it so hard for me? It's so hard for you because it is it's just the value of what it's gonna bring to you is so much. And you're gonna remember that moment when you pass. And I tell people I see on social media, they're like, I passed, and they're excited. I'm like, hold on to that moment because that moment is gonna carry you through the days when they're dog days. There's gonna be dog days in this profession. And those that moment is what I want people to remember. Um, you know, that moment of passing and just having that freedom and being like, I did it. Um, but don't give up on this, especially. Or if somebody's telling you that you can't do it, uh, you know, a teacher, a dean. I mean, I remember when I found out a dean was like, maybe this isn't for you. Tell me I can't do something because that's gonna get that's gonna drive you more, right? And and that happens, it happens so much, so much. And what the full circle moment to that is that dean ended up starting a business in Columbus and it did not do very well. But I remember thinking, interesting, and I was in business at the same time, and I thought, you're the dean that told me to quit. And so it's it's funny how full circle things become, and I'm just like, interesting, but yeah, don't let anybody's you know, what people's beliefs around you are, don't let that determine who you are. Their beliefs are not your distractions.

Marsha: 10:09

Oh, I love that. And I think it's so important for us to continue to share those stories of what we will label as failures, but stepping stones to where we need to be. And sometimes taking a break is necessary. Curious about the break that you took when you had to go back. How much of a time period was that for you when you said, okay, I gotta regroup myself and then go back into nursing school?

Heather: 10:33

It was one year. And that's time I was living with a boyfriend and we broke up. That was part of the failure. Um, yeah. I we ended up, we broke up and and I went back and everything was fine after that. But even so, then I took my inquec. I failed it the first time because I had mono, and I'm not blaming that by because I just I'm not a good tester anyway. I hated school. I don't like tests, I didn't like any of that stuff. But I had mono and I paid, and obviously you just can't cancel. So I was like, I'm just gonna go and see what it's like. And I didn't. I told him, I was like, I got mono. I was like, just so you know, they put me in a little room by myself with a camera over top of me, and I was like, I'll just do it. And yeah, that that and then you can go back and take that, you know, whatever, a few weeks later and such. And then I pass after that. But I I bring that up because so many people are on these platforms crying because they failed the NCLEX. And one of the things that, you know, there's been studies that have shown that people who are not the studious types, who are not, you know, into school or tests or learning, people who really had to work hard for that and had the struggles at the academia sector of things, most likely excel in entrepreneurship. If you watch any of the content with like um Gary Vanderchuk, he talks openly about this. And he's like, I graduated with whatever, you know, a one point something, his GPA is really low. And I'm like, Yeah, probably was looking at him now. Yeah. Yeah. He's like, yeah. And he's like, it's the entrepreneurs who are willing to look outside of the box of what you're being, you know, told and sold. And those are the people that typically don't have the interest in school. And I had no interest in school. So that's kind of that's how I ended up here because I was like, I need don't I they wanted me to go back for my bachelor's, and I was like, no, I'm not going back for my bachelor's. I don't want the bachelor's. It's gonna earn me 25 cents more an hour. I can make more money into yeah, I can make more money independently, and it's gonna put me in a debt because I have to pay for the college. And or they tell you, I'll pay for it, but you have to stay so many years here. You're I that was a deal that I would didn't want to make. And so it's like, no, I don't want to do that. And that's kind of how I ended up leaving the hospital system and starting a business. But yeah, there's just so many choices that you have out here, but you have to keep going. You have to have the inner discipline and you know, keep pushing yourself, um, even when you don't want to.

Marsha: 12:52

Yes. Even when you don't want to, or you're tired, or you're sick. Not to say that we shouldn't, of course, partake in self-care, of course, and make sure. But yeah, if you had an ENCLEX scheduled, you might as well take it if you wanted to take it. Yeah. So I I do want to talk about nursing. So when you, when you, you know, went back in, you got your nursing degree, you passed your the NCLEX, did you know what specialty you wanted to go in first? Or did you start off in med surge and then move into cardiovascular? I know you ended up in cardiovascular. How did that all came up come about?

Heather: 13:27

So I knew that I was most likely back then you had to go into medsurge. That was just the known thing. And I was applying to work at a large hospital system that one of our teachers had said um she had worked there and she worked in cardiac. And I remember her saying, you know, it's really hard to get into this hospital system. Everybody wants to work there. And when I applied, what I did was I had professional services done that created my resume for me. And my resume was delivered in a beautiful folder. Um, this is marketing. That's all this was. Yeah. And, you know, somebody told me to do this, and I was like, okay, go buy a fancy folder. And it was like, you know, it was nice, fancy little folder. It had little cutout appliques on the front of it. And it's Did you get the pretty paper, the linen paper? I bought the expensive stuff. And so I had somebody who built my resume professionally for me, and I ended up getting an interview at that hospital. And um, I was the only one from my nursing class that got the interview. And it was interesting because yeah, and my my car broke down on the way to the interview. I had three interviews that day at the hospital. My car broke down. This is like it's wild how important how things happen. Everything happens. Everything happens for reasons. Car broke down, and I had to get a tow truck, and they towed me to a dealership and they gave me a little geo metro to drive to. And this is we're in Columbus, Ohio.

Marsha: 14:50

I didn't do they even make geos anymore, geo metros anymore. I don't think so, right?

Heather: 14:55

It was like sort of old.

Marsha: 14:56

That dates us a little bit.

Heather: 14:57

We're both the same age, so it was so tiny, it was so small, and it was pouring down rain. Yeah, I had a white shirt on, white button down, and I was all dressed up and everything. And I remember I had to take this geometro. They were like, that's all we have that you. I was like, I have to get to this interview. You don't have to have three interviews. I will not get this job if I don't get there. And so they gave me this little geometro to drive in, you know, Columbus, Ohio, the city of Columbus. Here I am driving this geometro in these interstates, and I'm I'm wet and whatever. I get to the interview, and the first interview I have is with a manager. Um, and she was amazing. She was absolutely amazing. I'm wet and I'm trying to blow off like myself and I'm looking like crazy. And she's she walked in and she's like, What happened to you? And I was like, Like, I'm acting like nothing happened. I'm fine. I'm fine, everything's fine. And I said, I had a flat tire, I said, and I had to get a tow, and then did and sometimes this whole story, and she's like, Where did you drive from? And I told her where I drove from, and I said, I I had to drive from, you know, Mansivot, Ohio. And she's like, I live in Mansivot, Ohio. Oh, I said, really? And I said, Well, had you seen me on the side of the road, you could have picked me up. And we just started laughing and and we connected and and I just we fell in love with just the process of like our our personality and just the process of nursing. We're talking about things, and it was fantastic. And so she was my first interview that I had at that hospital, and I knew right in that moment, I was like, this is where I belong. And that was the uh that was the cardiovascular thoracic surgical unit. And she said, I normally don't hire new grads on this unit. She's like, but you're gonna be my little test. And she said, You're so green, you're open to learning, you're eager to learn. I think you can do it. And within six months, I was the charge nurse of that unit. So wow. Oh wow. Yeah.

Marsha: 16:52

One thing, one little point I want to go back and say the connection that you made with her in that one little moment, which resulted in laughter and a job, of course. I do want to point out to nurses who are listening or applying for different jobs or new nurses going into the field. There's a tip that you can do when it comes to applying for jobs and trying to make an impression. One thing I used to do on my resume is I would put at the very bottom cultural experiences. And so at the very bottom, that was its own header. And I would put all the countries that I had traveled to. And so it never failed. When I went into an interview, the first thing they wanted to ask me was about travel. And it just gave me a rapport with them. And we would talk 15, 20 minutes on my travel experiences and where they wanted to go and where they've been. And oh, you got to go here. And so it just sort of like eases that tension. So if there's a way that you can put something on your resume that sort of catches their eye, or even like a funny quip that you just did, just in the moment, um, just to make that connection, it actually will not only ease your attention, the tension that you feel going into an interview, but it will instantly give them a connection to you, even if it's something as personal as travel or, you know, personal as, you know, your favorite, I don't know, restaurants or something like that, something at the very bottom, or if you can find a way to work it into your executive summary at the top. It never fails when I do that. It's it's always a good way to sort of break the ice and I get all my jobs. I get all of the jobs. So um just a quick tip. Yeah.

Heather: 18:28

That is fantastic. Yeah. Because it gives them insight into the person that you are, yeah. Beyond, you know, role of nursing, you know. So I love that. That's a great idea. Yeah.

Marsha: 18:38

Yeah. So you're on the cardiovascular unit, and how did you become a charge nurse within six months? Well, I know some of us we get put into those jobs sometimes because the unit is short. And oh, you've been here six months. Well, the new nurses have only been here two months, so now you're the charge nurse. But just curious about your experience and how that happened.

Heather: 19:02

I think that it happened because by default, somebody called off that day. Um, there were other nurses there that were there longer. And I think that my manager, you know, I think that was probably the plan. And, you know, the call-off happened and she made she just was like, she's in charge. And um, my unit clerk at the time, you know, uh was wonderful and she guided me through the process because I was like, I gotta do one. And she's like, yep, put numbers in bed management, do this, do that. And so she guided me through it all and stuff. Um, and it was a fantastic process and you know, everything. But it was interesting because I had I was good at communicating with doctors and I wasn't afraid to ask the hard questions. I wasn't afraid to speak up about things that I felt passionate about for patient care. I was that girl. And I was never one that was really shy about saying, you know, I think we should do. X, Y, and Z. And so I was already doing that. I had become, I had wonderful preceptors. Um, and I think that that was one of the things that really helped me was the preceptors that I had leading up to that six months. That, you know, I think it was like three months of precepting. Wonderful preceptors. I was a sponge at that point. I soaked everything up. I could learn on the job. It's school, no, but on the job, yes, I can get it, I can do it. And I wasn't afraid to challenge things that I saw. I wasn't afraid to ask for what needed to be done for patients. Um, as well as I was just somebody that spoke up because oftentimes patients, you know, would be like, I'm fine, everything's fine. I'm like, no, it's not fine. You said earlier, you know, and I could do that, but I could, you know, do that appropriately based on which physician I was working with. I knew that there was different communication tactics that needed to be done. You couldn't be the same nurse with all of them. You had to kind of um, you know, get on the level of where they were and utilize that. So I understood how to do that really well. I think that's what it was. And so I wasn't afraid to challenge that type of stuff. But it was just something that grew. And I was, that's what I did for the bulk of my career was I was the charge nurse on that unit and learned a lot about nursing and healthcare and everything. And so it was a wonderful experience.

Marsha: 21:19

I have to say, too, assertiveness is a skill. Assertiveness is a skill, being able to go into a room, command a room, and actually challenge providers, challenge the care that's being provided. I still struggle with it on the floor in the unit when I was working on a unit. I struggled with assertiveness and just wanted to make everybody happy. That was a people pleaser in me. But assertiveness is a skill. So I don't discount that at all. I think it's wonderful that you were able to within six months take, take a charge role and continue through that career on that unit. And it's something, it's a muscle that you have to, it's a muscle you have to flex, it's a muscle you have to learn. It's not something that comes naturally for everybody. And I know that there are nurses who have been nurses for years and still don't have that assertiveness. So with assertiveness being a skill, I imagine, because we're going to get into your business, I imagine that there were areas where you saw that there were gaps in care. And this goes to why you came about starting your business. And we're going to get to the Foot and Nail Institute and talk about that in a little bit as well. But you started a business, Everyday Divinity. And I just kind of want to go back to what was the impetus that drove you to say something needs to be done here, and I see a gap in care. What was that sparked for you?

Heather: 22:45

Well, what happened was I guess around 2008, things started to change in the healthcare system. One of those things was that we rolled out EMRs on the rolling computers. I can't call them what they were because people it was.

Marsha: 22:59

Yeah, now they're wilds. Now they're wilds.

Heather: 23:01

Yeah. The OGs of nursing remember what they were called, but yeah. So they had these rolling computers that you would roll into the room. And it felt like a wall went up between the nurse and the patient with that computer. And I felt that. I felt that disconnect because now there's a wall. And I think nursing, a lot of what we love about nursing is that connectivity that we have with our patients. And so when that happened, I was like, oh, I don't have that now because now I have a screen between myself and the patient. And the patients noted it. They they realized it because a lot of the patients on my unit were frequent flyers that came in a lot. And they could see, like, oh, we don't have those talks anymore. Well, no, because now I have to do all this computer work and I have to put check all these boxes and I'm being overworked and I don't have time to talk to you. I just have time to appease the computer system. That's what I have to do. And so that started to happen. Um, and so as well as the other changes that started happening was, you know, we had the corporate bias that took place in the hospitals. We had, you know, it was a big, it was a big business, is what it became. And, you know, this was a hospital that was very family oriented within the units, within the the patient population. And that had shifted and I felt that shift. And I at that point started looking around and thinking, can I do this until I retire? And I was in my 30s at that point, questioning everything. I worked so hard for this nursing license. And I don't want to give it up, but what can I do with it? And so one of the things that kept coming up was that patients on our unit would ask, can somebody trim my toenails while I'm here? And at that time, we would consult podiatry. They come over, perform the service. That was the end of it. What had happened was podiatrists were no longer inside of the building. They were actually outside of the system, outside of our hospital system in offices of their own. So they had to drive over, park, come to up to the unit. And this was mostly taken place after hours. So it sometimes would take several consults before they would show up. And so one night I was working and being the assertive charge nurse that I am, I said, Why does it take six consults for you to come over here to provide that service? And the podiatrist said to me, Because I make no money on this. I was like, I'm sorry, what? I make no money on this. He goes, I honestly, Heather, he goes, unless they are, you know, they have to have all these diagnoses, they have to be, you know, neuropathy, they have to have peripheral vascular disease, or they have to be diabetic. And sometimes they have to have several. They have to have two or three of those diagnoses in the coding for me to get a reimbursement on this. He goes, because right now, he goes, the way it is, I'm not getting reimbursed for this. I may make $10 on this service, and I have to fight for that $10. You're kidding. Yes. And it's still the same way today. I mean, this was back in you figure 2000. This is at probably 2009, 2010, this conversation took place. And he said, um, and I said, Who do you owe me to call? I said, Who are we supposed to call? If it's not you guys, he said, Is there another group I can call? He goes, No, it's the same across the board. We all feel this way. We make money on surgeries, we don't make money cutting toenails. And we didn't go to school to cut toenails. And I said, Well, okay. Solution that I I love solutions. So I started asking, Well, who do I send them to? And he said, Send them to a Saban. That's what we tell them when they call the office. Well, I'm on a vascular unit. So I've already seen the influx of the lower extremity infections that are taking place that are coming in from these outlying hospital systems. And I was like, You want to go talk to the lady in room eight? Because she is here from going on a cruise ship, had a pedicure with her daughter and her granddaughter, and she's gonna lose her foot because she's got osteomelitis. You want to go tell her to go to a salon? Wow. Heather, I don't know what the answer is, but he goes, it's it's out of control. So I come home and I'm looking, I'm researching what where can I send these patients to? Still not clicking in my head that I'm the solution. Nursing, that's the solution. Yeah. I'm struggling to find the solution. I can't find it. But what I found was that there was this whole industry called foot care nursing in Canada. And I thought, wait, what? Foot care nursing? Where is that at? So I start looking into how their system was working. And they were basically doing it under the socialized umbrella of their healthcare system. So the nurses would provide the care and then the government would reimburse them for the care. I thought, why not just cut that out? Yeah. Yes. And like, why not cut that out? Let's cut out the middle man of the pay. Yeah. Let's make it private pay. Um, because I already knew that here podiatry wasn't being reimbursed. And I knew that, you know, even if we did have the umbrella of the socialized medicine type thing, that probably would not work. And now, interesting enough, we are seeing the shift in Canada, where they now are also fighting for repayment up there with that type of healthcare system. So now they are now doing cash in private pay systems with their businesses as well as foot care nurses. So it's really been interesting and fascinating to see how this process has taken place over the last 15 years. But what I decided to do was I was like, I'll create a business providing the service as a private pay business model. And of course, everybody told me it would not work because back then we didn't have primary care. I mean, it was really unheard of if you were doing something and not using insurance. They were like, you can't do that. You're a medical, you have to use the insurance. And at that point, I was like, who says? It's up to the patient. Right. So I started doing my own market research at the bedside and I would talk to patients about it and say, who cuts your toness? Who does this? Who does? I start asking questions. And all of the patients, oh, it's so hard. It's such a struggle. I can't find anybody. There used to be a podiatrist, he retired. I have nobody now. Now I rely on my mom or I rely on my daughter, or now I rely on, you know, my husband. They were relying on family members to provide the service for themselves. And what was happening is as you age out, you can't reach your feet. It's as simple as that. We don't realize that this is a problem until it happens to us. And you get older, your vision changes, you can't see what you're doing, you have a loss of a dexterity thanks to arthritis and your hands, your hips, your knees, your back, all of these things prohibit you the ability to reach your feet, to cut your toenails. It was that simple. And so I did the market research at the bedside. I was asking patients, you know, what do you think about this? All of them. Oh, please do it. Please do it. We need somebody out here helping us. And so I launched Everyday Divinity in 2011, despite everyone telling me why it would not work. And it just, I prayed on it and I thought, you know what, this is, I'm gonna try this. And it really took off quickly. And it was one of those things that was just the best decision in my nursing career. I do not regret at all what I've decided to do to do with this. And so um, yeah, that's how I came to be the foot care nurse.

Marsha: 29:55

Yeah. So before you actually launched the business and you were doing your market research, tell us how you started. Was it like a basic kit that you would get from the typical what we get from medical supplies or something like that? How did you actually start with your first, I guess, patient?

Heather: 30:11

You, I spent probably a good year, almost two years, like I say a year to launch, but a good two years, two to three years of really figuring out what worked and what didn't work. It's a lot of trial and error in the beginning. And so this was one of those things that it was like I didn't know what to do. I had to piece things together for myself of what would work and what wouldn't work. And so I, you know, reached out to a foot care nurse that I knew of. Um, and she was, you know, in California and we had a lovely discussion about it. And she said, you know, this is what I did for my business. And she was, you know, doing in-home treatments and such. And so we talked a little bit and such, and we still talk to this day um about things because she's like, I can't believe you've done this. And I'm like, I cannot either. But it was just it's funny because she's like all from that conversation. She goes, and she was starting telling, and I just started building on that type of stuff that I learned. And so I had to learn how to market, I had to learn how to create my own charting forms, I had to learn how to build the kits, you know. I built how I built my foot care kit to go into a facility versus how I build a kit, you know, to go into an in-home session. I created that type of stuff through trial and error. And so that's how you learn. And it's just that, you know, and I think as nurses, we're so scared to do these types of things in the beginning because we feel like everybody's looking at us. We're not, no one's looking at no one cares. I just heard a quote recently that was like, no billionaire is judging you for wanting to launch a business. Right. So no one doing better than you is judging you. So just understand that. And so it's one of those things that you know, you really just that's part of the fear that you got to get over when you start launching into the creation of a business, any type of business. You have to get over those fears. And that's what holds us back. And as nurses, we have been taught we go to nursing school, we go work for, you know, a medical system, and we continue to go back and get degree after degree after degree. And I knew that wasn't the path that I wanted to take. Now, if there's anything wrong with that, the people who are much smarter than me, they can do that, have at it. That was not going to be my path. And I knew that. So I knew that I was gonna have to find a path that fed my soul while, you know, aligning with I need an income. I need to have, you know, this type of lifestyle. By that point, we had had my son and my husband traveled a lot for work. I wanted to be home. Um, I wanted holidays off. You know, I have not worked two weeks in December. I take off every year. I don't work those last two weeks of December. I get Christmas and New Year's off because I've created this lifestyle that I'm not gonna work those holidays. I don't need to pick and choose if I'm gonna be off on Friday, Black Friday, or Thanksgiving. I have to pick one or the other. I don't work any of that. And that's the flex that you get in nurse entrepreneurship. It's a different lifestyle. And I think people are really hung up a lot on, well, how much money can I make doing X, Y, Z? Yeah. As I've gotten older, I realized that, you know, foot care nursing was wonderful because it is continual revenue, because it's not something that is, I provide a service, you know, let's say it's a post-op service and now you're done and you no longer need me. Foot care was something that it was like, okay, they needed this continual. And it was proven during the pandemic shutdown because these patients were continuing to call me. I need you, I can't walk. So that was pandemic proof because I was like, okay, I'm gonna continue to do the work. And so I did, and my business grew exponentially during that time because they needed it. It really um, when you can't walk because you're in pain, because your toenails are too long, or because you have corns and calluses, that's a problem. And so that then goes into other problems that we have in health, you know, with our own health itself, the mobility, the fall risk, all of these things, you know, were perpetuating these patients into needing the service. This was a business that was going to deliver ongoing revenue for me. Um, and typically, you know, our patients don't leave. Uh, we have a 92% reoccurrence in this business because they typically either move away to be close to family or they pass away. And that is how they end up. Yeah, yeah, that is how it ends up, you know. Yeah. And so it was something that was like, I didn't have to do a lot of market for it because it sold itself.

Marsha: 34:38

Right. And it's a it's a service that's continual, like you said. Stepping back a little bit when you, and I love the idea that you were talking about fear and I believe fear and do it anyway. If you're not ready, you do it anyway and and just go with it because no one cares about the mistakes that you're making, even if you're making them in public. No one who's more successful, like you said, than you is really judging you on what you're doing. Um, but I'm kind of curious on your start and when you were making those mistakes, do you have, um, just so we can sort of get an idea of what a mistake feels like or or the challenges feel like, do you have some anecdotal stories of where you were challenged and when you were starting up, things didn't work out and things fell apart, and then you had to start again and do it again. Any stories like that that could help probably the next person?

Heather: 35:30

There's tons of them. Um, you know, I I could write a book on all the mistakes, but I think one of the things that when we start to look at building a business, we start telling everybody about the business that we want to build. And then what that does is that opens us up for other people's opinions and judgments. And I tell people, be quiet in the beginning process. Don't tell everybody your story of what you want to do. We want the we want everybody to buy in, is what we want. And we don't need anybody's buy-in. Um, you just need to understand that their buy-in a lot of times is going not going to look like your buy-in because when you start to question exiting or, you know, I want to build a business, it causes people to look inward at their own situation and they're like, well, who does she think she is? And that starts to eat away at our brains as nurses because it is a community setting. We're on these units, we're working with these nurses. They become closer to us than family because we spend so much time with them. And so we want their support. We want them to, you know, agree with this idea. And a lot of times they're not going to because they themselves have a limited belief system around what we can and can't do as nurses. One of the things that many people would tell me when those early days is they would say, Well, the board of nursing won't allow this. The board of nursing, they will not, they're gonna shut you down. Um, you know, and that was one of the things that it was interesting because the board of nursing, they don't give you permission to start or stop a business. They they basically, you have to work within your scope of practice and understand what your licensure is. And so I thought, you know what? I reached out to the board of nursing. I didn't get any feedback from them. And, you know, at that point I thought I'm just gonna go with the premise of they're I they're not gonna give me permission. So if they do come for me later, I'll seek forgiveness and see what they have to say. And they eventually did come into, you know, questioning, you know, we just want to know what you're doing, all of this stuff. And it was because a podiatrist reported me, which at the time felt like, oh my gosh. And as nurses, yeah, the board sending you a letter is like gutting. And it's just like, oh my gosh. And of course, you get the letter, it's Friday at 4 p.m. They're closed now. So you have to deal with this all the way till all the weekend.

Marsha: 37:45

Oh my goodness.

Heather: 37:46

And so I know, and so I called on Monday and I talked to the investigator. There's an investigator and such, and I was very open about it. And I said, you know what? I said, I know what this is about because I knew this bad I just was mad about me. So I was open about it. I said, I know what it is. I said, he's upset that I've come to his little rule town and now everybody's coming to me and not him. Um, and so it was interesting because that experience, as heart-wrenching and gut-wrenching as it was at the time, was one of the best things that could happen to me. So even when you think it's a miss like a mistake, whether on your end or anybody else's end, there are so many lessons because what happened with that was that they came in, they looked at everything I was doing. I still didn't have the confidence back then to think that I would launch a national program to teach nurses. I could do it in my little state of Ohio and be confident that I'm doing okay because I hadn't been sued. I'm okay. I think I'm gonna be okay with this. I had that confidence, but to put it on a national level and say, okay, I'm confident enough in this that I can teach others to do it. I was still kind of like, yeah, maybe, maybe not. This was the one single piece that I needed because when they came in and saw everything I was doing, they actually congratulated me. They said, congratulations, you filled a gap in the healthcare system. Oh, wow. This is wonderful. Yes. And so it was amazing. So I want nurses, I tell that story because I want nurses to understand we fear the board because that is what it's been put into us in school. Be afraid of the board, they're gonna come for you, they're gonna come for you. The board is just normal people like everybody else. They they just want to know that you're okay. Their job is to protect the community. That's it. As long as you're doing everything appropriately, they're gonna be okay. But if you run and you're like, I am not gonna talk to them, I'm gonna avoid, I'm gonna run, or you're practicing beyond your scope as a license, then you're probably gonna have to, you know, you have to have those conversations. Don't run from them. Um, understand what it is they wanna know about and talk about and such. But those types of things are the things that happen. Mistakes that I made over the years with basically things that cost me time and money figuring it out, marketing. Oh, yeah. Um, things like that. Those are the types of mistakes that I was like, I yeah, I probably shouldn't have done that. Those are the things, and that's why I try to save nurses from those mistakes. Thinking that you know enough to, you know, go out and do all these things. And I've had people reach out to me that, you know, over the years that are like, I I launched this business and then I wanted to teach others how to do this, and now they're mad at me because of this, that, and the other. And it's there's so many layers to teaching other people how to do what it is that you do. It's one thing to do it yourself because it's just you. But I think that the mistakes that we make, they're lessons, and that is necessary for you to learn these lessons so that you can go out and help others when they do encounter those same mistakes. Um, you know, I did this instead of, you know, this. And that's the type of stuff that we have to understand and learn.

Marsha: 40:46

I remember being a nurse on the floor first year or second year, being told, we don't do nails. We can't do nails. It's in our policy or something like that. And and patients would ask us these things, ask us to have this service. So do you ever come across nurses who may are who may be interested in doing this type of care and they're coming from a perspective of, okay, we're told we're not supposed to do this, or I've never done this on a unit, I've never done this in my work. How am I going to learn this now?

Heather: 41:21

Yes, most of that is institutional policy. A lot of the boards of nursing don't have any regulations written up about foot care. They're starting to here and there, and they're trying to put, you know, piecemeal it together and such and call it different levels, um, level one, level two, level three, and all that. And one of the things that I found was when I started to do my research into it, I found that it was institutional policy that nurses don't do foot care. And that was something that was created per the hospitals. The reason I think that was, honestly, was because back then podiatrists did do it. And so we weren't going to infringe on that business of the podiatrist doing it. However, what has since happened over the years is we had, you know, ortho, orthopedic physicians and surgeons were out there, and ortho was just ortho back in the day. We started creating all these different orthos. And what we had was foot and ankle surgeons came out. So when that happened, we had them in the hospital system and we started to phase the podiatry industry out of the hospitals because the orthopedic foot and foot and ankle surgeons were there. So over the years, we've had kind of had this squeeze on the podiatry industry. And so in the hospital system, these patients were falling through the cracks. I was seeing the result of this because of that. When I started to look into my board of nursing, there was nothing written up about foot care and nursing. It was considered an ADL. So we as nurses understand ADLs, activities of daily living.

Marsha: 42:49

Yeah.

Heather: 42:49

Yeah. Right. And so it was like, why aren't we doing that? And my hope and dream for the future is that we can have the conversation and help establish regulations around foot care. But until it becomes a large enough problem, um, because a lot of things in medical and in governmental is going to be, it's going to be reactive. We're not proactive. Um, and so one of the things that we see is when something bad happens or something becomes bad enough of a problem, then we want to institute policies around things. And so I hope that, you know, we live to the point where I get to see that there is some movement and we do help create, you know, regulations around foot care nursing. I see that that is happening now in the doula space. Um, that's starting to take place. And so I see that happening. So there is hope for foot care nursing, but it usually is an institutional policy and a lot of boards of nursing do not have written up um regulations around this. And even if they do, and and I'm not going to say anything about which state, but even if they do, you know, it's interesting because there was a case that took place in a state and they challenged the regulations that were written because they were saying, well, you need to have, you know, this type of national certification to do it. But they were also allowing LPNs to do it. And in order to sit for a certification for that national certification through the WOCN, you had to have a bachelor's degree to sit for that test. So in one sentence, you're saying LPNs can do this, but then in the next sentence, you're saying, but you have to have a certification. But then when you do the deep dive into this, you realize, oh, LPNs can't sit for that certification because they don't have a bachelor's. This was the kind of stuff that drove me crazy when I was doing my business and they just, you know, changed that kind of stuff and such. That's the conversation that needs to happen. But people aren't doing the collective, you know, discussions around it. They're just like, oh, just throw that there and throw that, and we'll be okay, and that'll be good enough. And so that's where the disconnect is happening on these levels with different things that people think that they need to have and they don't understand how to interpret this. Interpretation gets mucky, and it's just, it's, it's a lot. And I've been doing it for 15 years. I've seen the changes that have taken place and such. And I try to be as transparent as I can so people can have as much information about this so that they can make the right decision about it. But yeah, it usually is, it usually is institutional policy. Um, usually as an RN, you can provide the service. And what that looks like is, you know, up to you and your business and how you develop it out.

Marsha: 45:20

So when you are finding a way to collaborate with either patients or their providers or health systems, how is it that you do that? Are you going directly to the patients? And I say this from the perspective of a nurse who's on a unit right now, who may hear this podcast episode and they're curious about how they can actually get started doing something like this. And of course, we'll tell them about the course that you have and the materials that would help them do that. But curious about the process. Like, okay, I'm a nurse, I'm working on the unit, I want to try something in entrepreneurship. This sounds very interesting to me. How am I getting patients? Am I working with the patients through my hospital or am I collaborating with the physician or well, probably not a podiatrist, but am I collaborating with the physician to get patients? How does that process work?

Heather: 46:13

It's interesting. I, whether you want to do foot care or whatever, begin with finding a gap or a problem in the healthcare system. Be a solution. Be a solution to something that you are witnessing right now on your unit. If you're seeing something, you're like, you know what, why don't we have this in place for these patients? Start researching if that exists. And that literally means researching online. Look and see what you can find. If there is something out there that already exists similar to what you're thinking of. See if somebody has done that. Um, it's you don't reinvent the wheel if you don't have to. If somebody's done it and you can do the course and stuff, obviously that's obviously an easier path. But if not, if you're like, there's nothing out there and I have this idea and this is what I want to do, start looking into how to develop that business model. One of the things that I did was I just did research and I got to a point where I was like, okay. And then I would challenge every decision I had to make. I had to challenge what was the pro and the con of this. Okay, do I want to provide foot care in my hospital under the hospital umbrella? Most likely not, because what I wanted to do personally for myself was I wanted to get out of the hospital. I didn't want them having control over my schedule, my income, all of that. So I wanted to get away from that. And we've had foot care nurses who have done foot care in the hospital systems. And in some people have found success with that and others have not. It just depends on the hospital system that you're working under. But one of the things that I wanted to do was I wanted to define my own path. And the only way I was going to be able to do that was to get out of that umbrella of the healthcare system. And so when I started to build out, then I was like, well, how will I find patients? You know, in this day and age with social media, it's pretty easy. We are so blessed with social media. And I don't think that we are, you know, putting what we really should be into this because I did organic marketing for the bulk of my career when I started foot care nursing. And what I mean by that is I created, you know, just simple things, Facebook posts, or I would go to networking events. I would go to health fairs. I did things out out there in the community. People knew I was the foot care nurse. Um, I had a look. I was wearing a cap. You know, I it was branding, is what I was doing. I didn't know it at the time, but it was branding. Personal branding is as important as professional branding. And that is something that, you know, you learn to incorporate into your business and such. Um, but I would go out and I would talk to, you know, directors of facilities. And I, you know, and of course you have things that they're, oh, we have a podiatrist that does this and such. There's ways around that to get around that conversation because that is their quick answer to you. But I teach in the course, there's ask this question and follow up with this. And, you know, there's different ways to get the ball rolling on the conversation. Once they feel comfortable with you, then they're they become more vulnerable. And they're like, well, actually, you know what? And they start to realize the holes and the flaws in that system. And they're like, but you're gonna show up. And I'm like, I'm showing up. I'm coming in, I'm gonna do it. Um, and or I would say, you know, give the give your residents the choice who provides the care, you know, because a lot of times nurses, you know, have that. What they loved about my business model was I had that capacity to have the conversation. It was about connection. And with our seniors, we are not meeting the connection um fulfillment in these places because they're in these facilities. Oftentimes their family lives far away. So we are now the connection, we're the bridge between that. And so that was something that I was like, I could be that piece, that missing piece in healthcare. And that was wonderful. And it felt, you know, it filled my soul as well as it did the patient's soul. Um, but one of those things that I did was I just basically went through all the questions that I would have and keep a notebook with you. Keep a notebook in your bag, keep it in your car, write down questions as you're driving and thinking things, just brain dump into that book. Whatever, how ridiculous it sounds, just brain dump into it what it is that you want to do and what questions you have around it. Start researching into that and start really starting to pull those answers for yourself. What works best? How would I market? What would that look like? Marketing, we're petrified as nurses. We are petrified of marketing. And I tell people, we are marketing ourselves every day. You don't realize it, but you're doing it. You're just doing it in the comfort of your unit, whether it's comfortable or not. You know, it's like you're already doing it. You're already talking to physicians, you're talking to all these ancillary groups, you're talking to patients, families. You're already doing it. You just feel that you're afraid of it because it's a new path for you in a business arena that you're like, but I never took a business course. That's okay. I did not take one single business course at all. And, you know, you can learn this stuff because if we can learn nursing, we can learn business. We can learn, yeah, so much more difficult learning nursing. So just, you know, start to write those things down, start to come up with answers. Look at who is successful online. You know, how did they do it? There's so much free content online, especially on, you know, I'm on TikTok a lot, but there's so many nurses that are on there talking about their businesses. They're talking about their failures, they're talking about what works, they're talking about what doesn't work, you know, they're talking about, you know, those types of things and decide what works best for you and build the business around it. Don't get hung up on, you know, how much money I'm gonna make. I've had nurses reach out to me, they're like, I have to make, you know, six figures, six figures. Don't build a business around a number because as soon as you start to You're not gonna love the work. You're not gonna love it. Yeah. You're it's you're yeah. And that's the thing. It's like, you have to find what you're passionate about because when you're building a business, there's nobody to tell you to go in and you know work on your business. There's nobody to say, go sit down at the computer and spend eight hours today build it building your business. There's nobody to say that to you. You have to come from a place of what it is that you love, and that place is your passion and your why, because that is what's gonna drive you through business development on the days that you don't want to do it. And there's a lot of your time invested in the beginning of building that business that you're not gonna get paid for it. No one's paying you. Yeah, it's it's free. You're working for free in the beginning, but if you can put the time and effort into that, the rewards on the other side are so like wonderful. It's more than the bond, it's more than the money, it's a lifestyle. It is, you know, honoring who you are supposed to be here on this earth. And it's not just, you know, somebody who is tired out and burned out and crispy. I was there, I remember it, I know it. But there is other things that we can do if, you know, the the possibilities align for you. Um, and it's not right for everyone. And so there's a lot that is discovered in this process, not only in professional development, but as well as personal development. And so I created actually a business called Heather Wilson RN that I talked to that because I was doing coaching with people that were like, I struggle with this. And I'm like, that's a lot of what I struggled with, you know. And that was the type of stuff that I was like, oh, this is because it's challenging who we are and you know, our ego and our failures. And it's going to challenge us, but we have to push through that. And if you can push through that, that is where the resilience lives.

Marsha: 53:29

I'm so glad you mentioned having a passion for whatever that problem is, because if you're so focused on the money versus what the problem that you're solving is, you may not enjoy it. It may not be something that's going to be long-term for you. And I say that as an example for myself. I remember there was a point a couple of years ago, not even too long ago, where I was like, okay, I don't want to do anything else with nursing. I just don't want to do anything else with nursing at all. I'm burned out. I don't want to do it. And so I started event planning. And I had done event planning in the past. And I said, I'm going to go back into that because I love the feeling of going to events. And I still love planning events on my own, planning events for myself. But soon into it, I started to realize this isn't fun when I'm planning for other people as much as it is for planning for myself. I'm not, you know, passionate about the problem for other people. I was passionate about my own events and my own problems with starting events, virtual events, in-person events. And so we were just talking before we started recording too about how this year I said, what do I really like? I've already rested from the burnout with nursing a little bit. And I'm not at the bedside anymore. I'm doing consulting work. And so I said, you know, what is it that I really loved? And it goes back to the blog that I started years ago. It was a passion. I wanted to write about nursing, lifestyle design, all of that. And then a couple of months ago, I said, I want to do that again because that was something that lit me up. It was really fun talking about nursing issues, what nurses are doing, nurses in business. And so I said, why not just go back into it? And because it was a passion, it's something that I feel like it's something that will last for a very long time. So I think it's very important what you said. You have to really solve a problem and you have to be passionate about that problem. It can't be just about the be about the money because for the longest period of time, you're not probably going to make any money unless you get lucky. We have a lucky story on here. I can't wait to share that as well. But unless you get really lucky, it may be a few years before you even start to see the fruits of the labor that you're putting into it. So make sure it's just something that you really enjoy, that's something that's passionate for you. And you would do it despite not having the money. So I do want to talk about the Foot and Nail Institute. And I know you teach nurses how to actually start, how is that program set up for nurses to succeed? And how long is the program? How does that work?

Heather: 56:02

So the way the Foot and Nail Institute happened was it was kind of a byproduct of my business, Everyday Divinity. It's interesting because when I launched Everyday Divinity, my goal was to basically, I remember thinking, okay, I am making, you know, I was making, I think, $33 an hour at the time at the bedside. And I thought, okay, so how can I make that outside of the hospital system? And that's why I built the business around, you know, what I did. And I ended up tripling that income. Um, you can double or triple whatever, you know, based on your market and such and how much money you're making as a private pay business and such. And the money was the byproduct of the service that I love to provide. And so that for me was the success. And that for me was the win. And so one of the things that started to happen was I started to, I was covering, I believe, 24 counties out of 88 counties in Ohio. And I was getting so many calls from all these other facilities, you know, and patients across Ohio. Can you come here? Can you come there? And I was driving up to an hour and a half, two hours away. I was like, this is crazy. I can't keep doing this.

Marsha: 57:13

But that's the work, right? That's the work that's keeping you going. You have to enjoy, you have to know that there's a purpose or a passion behind it. That's what you're doing. Yeah.

Heather: 57:21

There it is. Yes. And so one of the things that we actually did, this was a big failure moment, was we actually built this out everyday divinity. We were going to franchise it. So we thought, let's franchise this business model and we'll take it into different states. And so we did it. My husband and I worked on it for two years. We built this out, and it's sitting on a shelf in my office still. But we built it because a franchise company had written had contacted me on LinkedIn. They're like, let's talk about your business. We're gonna have this, you know, we franchise it, did this, that, and the other. And what ended up happening was the pandemic happened. And so we had just boxed everything up, sent it to legal for approval. And I went on a cruise with my girlfriend. I'd never been on a cruise. She's like, You're coming with me on this cruise. She gets free cruises. She's a big cruiser. Um, and so I went on a cruise with her and the world shut down. I was on a boat on uh I got off that boat on March 8th, and the world shut down on March 13th. Wow. Yeah, yeah. Yes. And so while I was on the boat, I met a guy um who was in business development. And every morning we would go walk, and we would, he was an older gentleman, and he said, You need to, you need to do that online. You gotta do this this online. This is gotta go online. And I was like, Way. I was like, Kristen, don't learn online. What are you talking about? And I wish I could find that man again and just be like, you are not gonna believe this. So I get home, the world shuts down, and I'm just watching and I'm just observing. I'm not reacting, I'm not doing anything, I'm just watching the world and how things are going. And I'm brushing my teeth one day, and my husband's at his sink, and now I'm at my sink, and I look over at him and I said, Do not kill me in my sleep. But that franchise that we just built, you got to get it back. We got to dismantle it and create an online training program. And he was like, Okay, now my husband is wonderful. He he knows my antics, he will go with me. He'll until it's like to the point where he's like, no. But I mean, this moment he was like, Okay, what's that gonna look like? I said, I don't know, but I'm going to figure it out. And so this was a pivotal shift for me because now I can look back and see this would not have worked as a franchise because every time you go into a state and you franchise, you then have to pay into each state's um legal infrastructure to develop a franchise model. So I was like, oh my gosh. At the same time, I'm getting calls from nurses and I was spending two hours a night on the phone with these nurses. How'd you build it? How'd you do this? I was trying to do the phone calls with them, and it just got to a point where it's like, it's too much. And my husband stopped spending two hours on the phones with these nurses. You can't do this.

Marsha: 59:52

Were you getting paid for that? I hope, Heather. No? Were you getting paid at the time? You were doing it all for free.

Heather: 59:59

But There's so much to building a business. Yeah. Like, yeah. Now I can look back and be like, I don't know how many of those really built their business or not, because there was a lot of there was a lot. And you know, it's and I've learned over the years, it's like it does take a lot to build. Even if you purchase a course, you really there's so many unknowns that you don't know until you get to those crossroads. You're like, what do I do now? And that's the kind of stuff that you have to go through the experience, and that's where a lot of mistakes are made and failures are made, and that's where you've learned the lessons. But one of the things that we did was we launched the Foot and Nail Institute in 2021. And so we basically built out a business portion of it that taught the business of how to build the foundations of your business because as nurses, we don't have those foundations. We don't know how to build a business. So we basically streamlined that from a nurse's perspective. Um, I then also created the, you know, practice of foot care and what that looks like. And then I created a membership community because as a nurse, um, you know, a lot of times we, as nurses, we are either people pleasers or perfectionists. Seems to be the lane that we fall into. I'm a perfectionist. I'm the type A girl. My that was never gonna be done. I was continually like adding things to it. I gotta add this now. I gotta do this. And I, what about this? And I was waking up at three in the morning coming up with ideas of things that I needed to continually add to the course. And my husband's like, it's never gonna be done. You're always gonna be adding to it. It's okay, this is how we're gonna do it. And so it was wonderful how we built it out because I can't add to things as things come up. You know, questions that nurses will have. I was just asked to be a guest on a podcast. What do I do? I teach that inside of the course. Um, I was asked to give a presentation. How do I do that? I have the presentation built out for you to use. I provide you all of that stuff. I provide you the templates for the charting, the education materials for the patients. I provide all of that stuff, the marking stuff. You can just use it or you can create your own, whatever you want to do. But those were the types of questions that they were getting hung up on. Um, how do I combat fear when I, you know, go into a facility and this is what they say to me? How do I navigate through that? You know, the nose is part of the business development process. And so I wanted to make that easier. And the way to do that was to create the membership program where we have a community of nurses who are now all helping one another, you know, and it's our own private community. It's not on Facebook or anything like that. I didn't want to have my business in Facebook because if anything happened with it, I was like, I'm not losing it all to that. So I really was, you know, I back to the pros and cons. What is the pros and cons of having a community in Facebook and off of Facebook? Those are the types of things that I had to look at. And so when I realized that, I realized that, you know, what I was building was a culture of nurses that were going to support one another. And so we celebrate the wins. Often we have a lot of nurses here are celebrating that they just went part-time, you know, or they've left the bedside completely. Their business is successful and that this is the, you know, the path that they're walking on now. And so that was part of the community process and walking them down that. And so that's how the Footnote Institute came about, was basically to meet the needs of the nurses that wanted to develop a business, but it was also a need for the patients because I was receiving calls from patients across the nation that had heard about foot care nursing. And so they were like, I heard about the foot care nurse in Ohio and I'm in Ohio. So all my snowbird patients were flying to Arizona and to Florida, and they were marketing my services for me. And then I was getting calls from all these people that were from, you know, Boston and, you know, different states. I'm looking for somebody. Can you find somebody here in my area? And so that's kind of how I was like, there's a need beyond Ohio, and I can meet this need with an online training program. And that's how we developed the Foot and O Institute. And it's been wonderful. And we've helped launch nurses nationwide now, ever since then. I think we're in 48, 49 states now. So it's been fantastic. Wow.

Marsha: 1:03:49

Awesome. And to just go back briefly to what you said about the franchise idea that you were getting ready to start. It's okay to start over because you you said you worked on it for what two years and decided to pivot to something completely different, an online course. So sometimes it happens that way. Sometimes you have to just toss it and start over.

Heather: 1:04:13

You do, you do. There was a learning process with that. And what actually has happened is I've actually consulted with people who wanted to do franchises. And so it's kind of like I kind of know what to do. Um, and so it was kind of interesting because there's so many lessons. And that was the lessons that I was like, I don't know what this was about. Maybe it was just, you know, to challenge my husband and I's marriage because it was a process to build a franchise. Building a business was easy, but building a franchise model was like, oh my gosh, because I'm a nurse, he's more business-minded, and so we would butt heads on things. And so you want to get to know your partner and strengthen your relationship, real build a business with them because it's something that really will contest your views of things versus their views. And, you know, no, you can't do like these are nurses, I know nurses, you know, and that's how it was funny. We would have these discussions and such, but it was a wonderful process um that we went through. And it actually did strengthen us together because we really have built on that and such. So there's no, there was no loss to that. I don't look it back at those two years and think, you know, we shouldn't have done that because it was something that is, you know, is helped others um in the process over the years. So it was definitely a lesson to learn. And I've utilized that lesson to leverage that to help others in that process as well. So just understanding something.

Marsha: 1:05:27

Yeah, new skills that you learn probably during that whole process. And I know that with helping nurses with Foot and Nail Institute, and then probably all the skills and tools and resources you learned about during that franchise process, you decided to go ahead and do heatherwilsonrn.com, which is another business that you've started. And tell us a little bit about that. From what I understand, it's where you actually help businesses who may not necessarily want to do foot and nail care, right?

Heather: 1:05:56

One of the things that I learned from the Foot and Nail Institute and helping nurses was we really had to get personal. Um, when you're building a business, you have to look inward. And so one of the things that I would see with nurses that would come into the program was that these nurses would, you know, I would have nurses that would come in and they were like, I'm gonna do this. I'm this is the goal. And they would do it six months a year. They were out of the bedside, they loved it. Then I had the other side of nurses who were struggling and they were like, I just don't know what it is. And they had the struggles were all the same. It was around mindset, it was around their own fears of being seen. It was all of the messy stuff that we go through when we build a business. And when those messy things come up and they challenge us, those are the times where we typically quit and we're like, this isn't for me. And I had my own belief systems that I had to challenge and I had to do the inner work of understanding who I was, how I was going to get over those mountains. Because as soon as you reach one mountain, you're just basically looking at another mountain behind it, and you have to keep going and crawling up these mountains. And this is the thought, the thought process that I was having was how can we help help nurses understand and you know, understand that this is a limited belief that we've carried from childhood. It can be from our culture, it can be from, you know, the the work environment that we're around. Um, a lot of the beliefs that we're carrying, we don't even know they're not ours. They're other people's. Challenge that. Understand who you are and what that's gonna bring and deliver to you. Because one of the things that I've seen out here is a lot of nurses go and they get, you know, the bachelor's or the NP or the master's, and then they find there's still something's missing. I want people to get to that point. I want you to understand what is missing. And you're like, oh no, I just I am gonna continue to go in this path. Get to that point, get to who you are supposed to be and who you are. And one of the things that I really love is helping nurses get over that um idea of what they thought they wanted and challenging that. It's okay to change your mind. So Heather Wilsonrn.com came about organically, and I thought, how do I teach to get over these blocks? Even success, you can have success in business. And then what ends up happening is you can create your own success because you sabotage yourself because you're not ready to receive the success. And that's part of getting to know you and understanding who you are as a person. And that is one of the things that I love teaching to. And when you're out here in a business and you, because now businesses, we've we now have become the face of businesses because of, you know, social media. You have to have a face with the business. And that's really a hard pill for people to sell swallow because they're just like, I don't want to be seen. I don't want to be seen. That's what's going to convert with people is that connection. I had a patient who would come and utilize my services um regularly. And I remember it was probably maybe the third or fourth month I was there. And he stood up and he said, I want to thank you for your services. And um he goes, It's wonderful. He goes, I just really want to thank you. And he got like kind of emotional. And I'm like, I'm an empath. So if you're gonna cry, I'm crying with you, buddy. So, like, well, we don't be doing this today. I'll do it. What is what's the hurt? Where is it at? Let's work through it. Um, and so it was interesting because he said, you know, we've had people come here before and offer services, doctors and such. And he goes, and they would leave here because they they forgot about us. You didn't forget about us. And it really resonated with me because I thought, I said, no, I'm coming back every month. I'll be here. And you know, what and he was like, I am just really impressed by that because it's not fancy here. We're not fancy, because I was coming from Columbus, going to this really small town. And he goes, and so sometimes when you you come from those those towns, you guys, you you want that, you want that money, you want that, and you know, and it really resonated with me because I was like, this is much bigger than foot care. And so that was this the moment that I was like, that was the connection that I had with these patients, and I just love that. And I said, no, I said, you know, I will forever, you know, hold this story near and dear to my heart because I don't want to be, I don't want to forget the the patient. Let's not forget why we went into this, and it was to care for patients. And caring for patients is what fills my soul as a nurse. So, regardless of whatever it is that you want to go into, find something that resonates with you and be a provider to these patients and you know, fill your soul and love this profession again because that it's there, you can find it. Um, but yeah, I just that was my story. And I always remembered that because it's like on the outside looking in, you know, you drive through the town, you'd be like, no one's gonna probably pay me for these services. That was my first thought when I went through that town. I thought they probably won't pay me for this, but it was one of my most successful clinics, actually. And it was because of that connection and resonating with these patients. So that was my story.

Marsha: 1:11:04

That was Heather Wilson, founder of Everyday Divinity and the Foot and Nail Institute. And here's something that I learned about Heather.

Heather: 1:11:13

We have something in common. I am a huge, actually, I'm a huge Bon Jovi fan. I love John Bon Jovi. I, since the age of 12, I have loved Bon Jovi. My office used to be Bon Jovi. And so I actually did a tour of New Jersey a few years ago. I went to outside of his house and it's all gated, and I stood there at the black John Bon Jovi's house. And I remember I plucked a um I plucked a uh hydrangea fire off of the bush. I reached through and my husband's like, get in the car. It's a two-lane road. Get in the car, get in the car, they're gonna get, they're gonna kick us, they're gonna call the police, they're gonna just I cut this. I paid for this, I paid for this bush. All these concerts I've been to, all these just I still have it to this day. But I am obsessed. I went to his soul kitchen, I've traveled to see his concerts. I love him. That was um, and his music, believe it or not, if he ever hears this episode or ever hears this, his music actually is what gave me that grit from being from a small town and steel. That gave me the grit because I had a chip on my shoulder, just like, you know, Jersey. And I was like, I'll do it. Tell me I'm not gonna be able to do it. I'm gonna show you and I will do it, and I'm gonna prove you wrong. And that was the grit in that music that, you know, helped me develop my businesses. I could write a book about Bon Jerry and songs that actually led to decision making inside of my businesses because that was the grit that I needed.

Marsha: 1:12:42

Okay, thanks so much for listening to the show this week. Please make sure to rate and review this episode in your favorite podcast app. Then don't forget to click the follow button so you won't miss an episode. This episode was produced and edited by yours truly with administrative and research support from Liz Alexandry and Renan Silva. I'm Marcia Batti, and you've been listening to the Bossy Nurse Podcast.