Laura Minard

RN BSN NC-BC

I remember driving home from work one day knowing I was done and going to quit my job.

No amount of money was worth it. I had became a nurse to help people, and in my current role as an advice nurse I couldn’t actually give health advice. I was not going to participate or depend on the sick care system for the rest of my life.

I wanted to actually help people heal. For me, quitting was a spiritual awakening, I knew I was destined to make an impact in people's lives. Nurse coaching was the perfect way to do this!

My first 6 months in private practice was harder than my first year in the ICU as a new grad. My only business experience was two failed MLM’s in my twenties that left me feeling icky and like a failure. I was scared. What if this didn’t work? What if I had to go back to the hospital? What if my husband got tired of working overtime while I was flailing?

Why was it so hard? I HATED selling. I didn’t want to charge too much and be seen as selfish. I had held lives in my hands, graduated with honors from nursing school, I was smart...yet those skills didn’t apply here.

I was trying to “put myself out there”, and made flyers and business cards. I had the website and the office. I had everything but money in my business checking account. I had so many ideas but NO IDEA where to actually start.

Shelby Kurz

RN BSN NC-BC

I was a 27-year-old ER travel nurse and totally burned out.

These were supposed to be the best years of my life...I was newly married, traveling the US with my husband, planning to start our family but in reality, I was absolutely miserable.

My job was draining the life out of me. It had been draining the life out of me for years. I didn’t know how I was going to keep going to work...I didn’t have anything left in my tank. I was running in fumes.

I remember feeling a physical magnetic push in my body away from the hospital every time I pulled into the parking lot. Everything in me wanted to just keep driving past the hospital and never look back. I was so desperate for a way out.

Then something happened that I will never forget.

During one of my night shifts, I clocked in and saw that one of my patients was an active shingles patient.

I was also 5 weeks pregnant and have never had chickenpox. As nurses, we know this is a BIG no-no.

I went to my charge nurse, told her I was pregnant and my concerns about caring for this patient and she looked at me like I had 2 heads when I asked if I could switch this patient with someone else. She told me to “figure it out” and turned her back.