Heather Wilson, RN - Filling the Gap by Starting a Senior Foot Care Business

Thank you for joining me for another episode of the Nursing Strategies for Success podcast with today's guest, Heather Wilson. Heather is a former bedside nurse turned nurse entrepreneur. In 2000, she began her nursing career working on a vascular thoracic surgical unit. It was there that she saw lack of proper routine foot care services available for our aging population. Bearing witness to this gap within healthcare system, she set out to create a nursing company that filled this void. For the past 10 years, she has been providing seniors the foot care services they deserve through her company, Everyday Divinity. So let's welcome Heather to the show. Welcome to the Nursing Strategies for Success podcast, brought to you by The Nurse Speak, a show where we rally some of our nation's greatest nurse leaders educators, experts, and advocates to tackle some of our greatest challenges that the nursing profession faces. My name is Damion Jenkins, and I'm your host for this show. So sit back, relax, and get ready to learn that nurses can do anything. OK, thank you so much, Heather, for being on the show with us today. Just take a moment and introduce yourself to the listeners. Let them know a little bit about yourself, where you started in nursing, and where you are today.

Oh, thank you so much for having me, Damion Jenkins. I started out in nursing, my nursing profession, back in 2001. I started at Riverside Methodist Hospital, actually, in Columbus, Ohio. I worked in vascular thoracic open heart surgical services., and I became a charge nurse pretty early on in my career. I think I was 6 months in, um, and I stayed there for many, many years. And then I started to kind of see, um, healthcare take some changes and started kind of looking at my options and stuff and kind of wasn't sure what I was going to do. And I went into doing, um, PICC lines and vascular access for, um, some time. And then after that, I went into the congestive heart failure management clinic and worked care as my kind of my exit, um, career, my bedside exit career, I would say, at that point. But because I had launched my next business and, um, basically left at that point to go into creating my nursing business.

Awesome. So you've had lots of experience along the way, uh, put yourself in a few different positions to kind of get an understanding of what it is that you were really passionate about and how you could leverage your skills and your knowledge to do something that you wanted to do. And so you mentioned you started a business. And I, I know in the introduction of this, uh, podcast I mentioned what your business was, but go ahead and explain a little bit about what led you to wanting to start this business. What did you see was the need, and what did you do to fill that need?

I think that, um, as a nurse, we don't typically set out to start businesses. I think that we kind of follow a path, um, going down the road, um, as a nurse that, you know, works bedside. And I saw healthcare changing and I didn't know if I wanted to continue the next 30 years of my profession working bedside. So I saw a need at the bedside actually when I worked vascular thoracic and it was for foot care for seniors. And we were getting an influx of patients that were coming in with lower extremity wound infections because of poor foot care health, or also that they had gone and received inadequate foot care, whether it was from a family member or, you know, a salon. We were doing a lot of transmetatarsal amputations on these patients. And at the same time, we would typically in the hospital, we would consult podiatry to come over and provide the service for the patients. And I was realizing that it was getting harder and harder for them to come over and provide the service. And that was because of an insurance restriction that had been placed on them. Ah, so I thought, you know what, there was no in between. It was kind of like a podiatrist and a nail tech, and there was nobody really in between to fill that gap in healthcare. So I really started researching what we could to do. And I launched Everyday Divinity, um, back in 2011, and I left the bedside about 2 years later. And what I do is I provide foot care clinics in senior centers, doctor's offices, pharmacies, assisted livings, um, pretty much any third-party facility I can provide this clinic out of. What has happened since I've launched that business is that I've launched a second business, which is kind of a sister business to that, and that is the Foot and Nail Institute, which provides training for nurses to learn how to become foot care business owners themselves. Because the need was so great that I was just overwhelmed with patients calling and requesting the service, or facilities were requesting the service. And I thought, how am I going to supplement the market? And so, you know, eventually you get to a point where you're like, I can't do it all myself. So at that time, we had— burnout was becoming a huge thing with nurses then. And I thought, you know what, this is the perfect, you know, support type business to help not only seniors, but to also help the nursing profession itself. Itself to gain access to learning not only the business but also learning how to provide the service. So I wanted nurses to be able to have the capacity and those tools to go out and start their own business themselves.

Wow, and such a need, and I know it's still a major need. There is plenty of opportunity out there for individuals to fill this gap. Um, I myself, not a senior, struggles with foot care because we don't always know what to do. We don't know what kind of, you know, lotions or creams to put on. We don't even know if going to a salon is even healthy for us because many times we can get fungal infections from the salons. They could damage our nail beds and create all kinds of other problems for us. So having this need really for this, uh, foot care specifically for seniors is where you're targeting, right? But I can see how this would really be beneficial across all spans of care, middle-aged to senior adults. We all need increased foot care as we age. Our circulation decreases. Some of us have diabetes, so on and so forth. So, okay, so let's talk about how you began the process then, because really what the goal of this podcast is, is to provide strategies for individuals to be able to leverage what we already know. Utilize the skill set that nurses have, which we can do practically anything. Um, so let's talk about how did you get started. So you did some research, you're figuring out how you can maybe fill this gap by creating your own service. So where did you start when it came to putting what you know to work?

Really, it was just a lot of researching, um, online searching, and, you know, just reaching out to anybody who would talk to me about it. And I think when I started out as a foot care nurse, there were only 2 other nurses in America that were doing it. So it was really hard to find anybody. And thankfully, grace of God, they did talk to me and they explained to me what they were doing. And, you know, they were like, here's the kind of what I did. And so I just kind of pieced together and pulled things from different people that I had met through online resources and stuff. I went down to Emory University and got the certification to become a foot care nurse, and And that was a great experience, but it really didn't teach you the business of foot care and what to do with marketing and, you know, how to market to different market territories and segments and stuff. So that part of it was really where I got lost, which was what was really important to me when I built my Foot and Nail Institute online course. I didn't want to build just a course that was like, here's the course, here's what you learn, good luck. I really wanted to walk the nurses down their path of entrepreneurship and handhold them if need be, um, as much as they needed, because I felt like, you know, you don't know what you don't know until you're met with it. And so a lot of these nurses were reaching out to me that had taken other courses and they were kind of hung up at certain parts of their building of the business phase.

Right.

And I thought, how do we build something that can really supplement and help them grow and be successful? And with that, we were, um, lucky enough to find a web developer that built into this course a membership platform.

Platform.

And so basically, as a member of the Foot Ankle Institute, you have access to the webinars that we post all the time. Um, that is basically there for them to learn at their, their, wherever they are in their journey. You know, if they want to go fast, they can go fast. If they want to like pace it out, that's completely fine too. And then we do online webinars, meetings with the nurses, uh, monthly. We get online and basically discuss where everyone is in their journey. And if they're, you know, hung up anywhere, you have access to me and my brain. It's basically an hour-long of just picking my brain. And they have access to me anyway because they can email me always and text me and stuff. But it's been really a great thing to give back to not only just the seniors but also to the nursing profession and stuff.

Yeah, awesome. So it sounds like, you know, really where you started with the strategy— again, you've, you identified the problem, senior foot care is not really being great in the healthcare setting. And we— and I know as a nurse as well, in the acute care setting, they get the bare minimum, right?

Yes.

If, if anything at all, we might slap a lotion on there. Yeah, we might wash their feet. And in long-term care or assisted living, it's similar. They may get, you know, foot baths, they may get lotions put on, they may have someone come out and clip their toenails, but that's about it as far as those kind of standardized services. And podiatrists will treat fungal infections or any kind of medical issues that they see, but just routine maintenance doesn't seem to have, you know, a really good need being met. I've always struggled with foot care for my patients as well. I'm like, why can't we just figure out a way to make their feet better without spending an hour or two on the patient? Which sometimes I would do because I saw it needed to be done.

Yeah.

But so it sounds like because you saw a lot of need for yourself to figure out where you're gonna go with meeting this need for the patient population that you've identified, you started with the first strategy of networking. And so, you know, I just want to kind of put this in simple terms for those listening. Networking is so important, and it's one of the biggest strategies that we can use as professionals to learn about things that we may not be that familiar with, or to get into different markets, like you said, learn how to do the strategies. And so you reached out to other individuals who were doing this already, and, you know, they were gracious enough to share their knowledge expertise with you. I'm sure you consulted with some of them on a professional level, purchased their services, so on and so forth, just as you're providing that same service for others. So that's pretty amazing. So, um, how long did it take you from when you started your research until you were getting your first client?

I would say it probably took me— I mean, I launched in 2011, and I started doing in-home patients first, and that's kind of where I started out. And then it just snowballed into senior centers, assisted livings, and it kind of grew from there. Um, honestly, I— pretty early on. I mean, it did. There wasn't a lot of time. In fact, one of the nurses that's in our program now just launched her business, and she was getting requests before she even launched her business for foot care services. And so she's like, I'm not even up and running. I don't know how they found me. I don't even have a website yet, but they heard that I'm going to start doing this, and these facilities are calling me asking when am I starting. So the need is just that, and it's just so much so that, you know, anymore you just launch and go. And I think that it took me probably maybe a few months, if that, to really have it where I was like, okay, I could supplement my income. And then I got to a point where I was like, okay, I've replaced my income. And, you know, that's the beautiful part of it. And owning a business is you can replace your bedside income with a business income, working a lot less hours. Um, and so I think that's the thing that a lot of nurses don't realize. We can work smarter out here, and we can, you know, dictate our own schedule and dictate our own pay, which is a beautiful thing.

And so that's the second strategy that you— yes, listed— is to work smarter, not harder. And again, I say often with my clients and anyone I'm collaborating with, um, really to leverage what you know to be true, leverage your um, focus on the things that you're good at and don't spend so much time worrying about what you don't know. You have to face that when the time comes. There will be times where you have to learn or stretch beyond your comfort zone so that you can increase your skill set so you can get to the next level. But focus on what you're good at, because you're right, nurses can do so much with what we already know coming out of school, and we don't have to rely on the current structure of payment that exists in our healthcare system where we are at the mercy of big institutions or organizations to pay our salary, and we can work for ourselves. So that's pretty awesome. So I know a lot of people have this question when it comes to doing private medical services or nursing care services for individuals, and the big, you know, ticket item that I hear a lot is insurance. Right. So I'm sure insurance is a part of this because how else can people pay? Not everyone can pay out of pocket, right?

Everyone pays out of pocket.

So for your business, everyone pays out of pocket, which is excellent to know that there's that many people who are willing to pay for that service out of pocket.

Because a lot of times, even though insurance may cover the service, what they did was they limited it to diabetic population or those with any neuropathy or vascular issues. And even those three diagnoses, those, you know, when they get coded, it just depends. It's not all insurances that cover that. And what I found was when I started, everybody was like, you know what, it's not going to work because you don't take insurance. And I thought, I bet it's going to work because I don't take insurance. And that is exactly what has happened. So I have a lot of diabetics that come to me because I'm cheaper than what their deductible is. And I have a lot of diabetics that come to me because even though they have insurance, it may not cover the service. And so they are paying anywhere up to $120 for somebody to trim their toenails in a podiatry office, which is insanity to me. So yeah, to trim their toenails. And so I have, um, you know, I have a lot of patients that come to me from, you know, that even have insurance that cover it that are like, no, I'd rather have the 30-minute service with you. It's one-on-one. We discuss anything they want to talk about. A lot of times we don't talk about anything medical, um, which during the pandemic, this was perfect because a lot of times I was the only person that they were seeing for 3 months. Right. And so we basically were meeting the need of that socialism, um, you know, or, you know, socializing with these people because they had no family or friends that they were seeing or anything. So it really met the need for the senior community when they were alone, you know, during all of this. So, but no, I do nothing with insurance at all. I'm all private pay. And it has— yeah, it's worked really well.

That's awesome. That's really great to hear. So you hear that, everyone. I know I get so many questions about, well, how can I possibly charge for my services? When people are used to paying through insurance. We all know that insurance is very expensive. We all know that insurance denies things left and right. Um, even individuals such as myself— I'm a registered nurse, I'm educated, I take care of myself to the best of my ability— and I get denied services. My insurance picks and chooses what they're going to cover, when I can get my medication, so what type of medications I can get, and the premiums keep going up. So it's really good to know that you've built an empire through private pay. Um, so that's really awesome. So let's talk a little bit about your program. So now, now you're not only providing service for individuals, but now you're helping other people go into doing that on their own. So if I wanted to start my own foot care service this, how would I go about starting? How do I get in touch with you?

You would visit our website at footandnailinstitute.com, and on there, there is a link that you can request more information, and it will send out a little FAQ form that basically is the top 10 questions that nurses have about foot care, and that will get sent out to you. And then we do have monthly webinars that are informational webinars for nurses that are interested in that, and there is also a sign up for that at the website that you can sign up and participate in our next information webinar to learn about becoming a foot care nurse.

Awesome. And do you have a capacity for how many people you put through your program at once?

No, absolutely not. It's ongoing.

Nice.

We can do whatever.

Cohorts that start, and if it's full, then they wait to the next one?

No, I don't do any cohorts. Nope, I don't do it. It's ongoing. I know I'm probably gonna drive myself crazy trying to meet the needs of all of it at once, but I'm doing it. And so far it's okay because everyone I found, you know, is in a different process, in a different place. And so some people sign up and they run through the course quickly. Other people sign up and they want to, you know, kind of take their time on the course. So I really didn't want to have to have, you know, we have to meet every Thursday for 2 hours. I didn't want to put that stipulation on any nurse, especially when they're, you know, they have families and, you know, other engagements to deal with. So I really was like, you know what, I'm just gonna meet them where they are, you know, in their journey, is kind of how I set it up for us.

Awesome. So do you help individuals across the country, or is it just certain states?

I have nurses from all over the country, and I have a couple that are interested from other countries that I'm now looking at. Wow. So I don't know, we'll see. But that's— I'm not there yet. I'm like, hold on. But I have, uh, yeah, we've got them from all different states, and they can come in and train here in Ohio with me. So they just fly in and train at my clinic if they want to do hands-on training with me. Me.

That's lovely. And so with the course, in addition, so you, you mentioned that it's heavily on the business side of things, so obviously there's a lot to be had there, um, from getting yourself set up with a tax ID and going through any kind of copywriting or trademarking if they want to do that, marketing, advertising, how do you reach out to individuals, email listing, all of these good things, all that you do, all build in there. Yep, that's amazing. So this sounds like a really great opportunity for any of you out there who are interested in really doing something independent, away from your traditionally structured hospital or long-term care setting nursing. It's still patient care services, so you still get to provide that amazing care that we know you can, but you get to run your own business. And look at you, you, you launched your business in what year 2011. So from 2011 to 2021, you have now expanded to helping other nurses start their own foot care business, which is exactly where we all want to be one day. We want to create an awesome product or service and then be able to train others to do the same thing, and so that we can continue to meet our mission. Yes, which is to fill that need. Yeah, so So let everyone know, what is your mission statement? How do you view yourself moving forward?

Oh, I don't know if I have an official mission statement. I'm not that good.

It doesn't have to be official.

I think that I get filled up by my patients. And they really, honestly— I always say that this was a soul-to-soul type of business. Because when I came out of working from the hospital, I was tired, crispy, almost bitter. Working with this demographic was just so rewarding for me that, you know, I mean, I get to work with grandma and grandpas all day long. I mean, how sweet is that? And they're just so appreciative of the care. And that's really why I focused on the senior community versus others, because I felt like they were kind of left behind with this, right? Um, so I just love that I can help them. So I felt like, you know what, as I started growing this, the Soul to Soul just kind of grew. And I was like, what if we expand this and get some nurses to also be able to have this kind of feeling, um, and love their question again, because I feel like, you know, there's just so much happening in the nursing industry right now, and I really kind of want to just, you know, shine a light on— there are other opportunities out here. And so I think that, you know, for nurses right now, it's heart-wrenching to see what's happening across the board and all avenues. So I just am happy that I can help get them launched in their own business and get them, you know, feeling good about their self and their, you know, business is basically what it is. So it just fills my soul. And, you know, I just let it go at that.

Awesome. Yeah. You know, everyone has a purpose, right? And sometimes it takes us a while to find that purpose. So I'm so glad that you found yours. I think it's incredible service to initiate initially, to see that gap and then work diligently because it's not easy to start your own business. So So kudos to you. This is really exciting. And now again, you're helping so many other nurses, uh, be able to step into this arena and really take their own financial independence, you know, their creativity, you know, their autonomy being a nurse and, and really being able to use what they know to help so many other people and avoid that typical situation that we all go through. We're facing burnout, feeling like we're just a number in the big machine we call healthcare, feeling like we're not really appreciated by our institutions because there's always a bottom line.

There is. And I think that, you know, with this, I tell nurses, even if they're not interested in foot care, you know, I think that there's organizations out there, you know, like the National Nurse Business Association, you know, that really can supplement and help nurses kind of gauge what it is that they're interested in. So I tell nurses that reach out to me all the time, you know, Even if foot care isn't something that you think you wanna do, you know, look towards other avenues because there's so much opportunity out here for nurses to, you know, really expand what their skillset is. And I think that a lot of times nurses are just not realizing how equipped they are and how much they have already ready to go. You know, I'm like, you're a nurse, you have so much entrepreneurial properties within you that you don't even realize until you get out here. And then you're like, I can do that. And you're like, Yeah, that's right. You've been doing it all this time, you know, at the bedside. You just didn't really know that.

Exactly. We run entire wards of hospitals. We run entire hospitals. Exactly. Nurses are the ones who manage beds, admissions, discharges, patient coordination. They're the ones who manage the physician meetings and the conferences. We do it all already, so there's no reason why we shouldn't be able to do something independently outside of a healthcare organization. So that we can have our own creativity, creativity laid down and be independent and be happy and find that satisfaction that we're looking for. And thanks for mentioning the National Nurses in Business Association, because I keep telling people over and over again, if you want to really get a foot in entrepreneurship, figure out how to connect with some of the world's leading entrepreneurs, this is a place to I know that I've seen you at the conferences before, and this is how we connected. So this is pretty amazing opportunity. So thank you so much. Um, so where can people find you when they're looking for you?

Um, they can either— I'm on LinkedIn, I'm on Instagram, Facebook, okay, TikTok now. Um, and then also, um, they can go to the website and go through there and basically email me through support@footandnailinstitute.com. FootandNailInstitute.com.

Yeah, that is awesome. So thank you so much for being on the show today and sharing your story and some really helpful strategies for nurses so that they can develop career and professional success. Um, I hope to see you in the very near future, and I'm gonna be checking out some of the things that you have going on because I'm always interested in learning how I can pivot when the time comes. So thank you so much for being here today.

Thank you.

My pleasure. Take care. And that concludes today's episode with guest Heather Wilson. We hope that all of the strategies shared in today's episode will help you take the next step towards nursing success. You can find all of Heather's contact information in the show notes of this episode. And if you have any questions, feel free to visit thenursespeak.com/contact. I would love to have a conversation with you. So until next episode, take care, be well, and remember that nurses can do anything.