LNC - Houston

Editorial Team / Admin · Feb 13, 2008

hello sirs and all,
i've been an acnp (acute care np) for seven years with a background in internal medicine, cardiology, cardiothoracic surgery, and orthopedics. i have a wonderful full-time career making excellent money working only 2 days per week and thus am considering the vm course with the intention of pursuing a second career as an lnc.
two questions:
1.) is there a way to find out if the market is saturated in the houston area?
2.) is there a ballpark figure you should expect to spend marketing yourself? i realize that you can spend as much as you want to market as much as you want, but i wasn't clear if there is a certain threshold that you should be looking to spend just to get noticed.
thanks!
jay

hello jay and welcome to the legal nursing forum

nice to read of your interest in the lnc career.

i cannot answer your first question. i'm sure there are many many who are in houston and surrounding areas, but actively practicing is another story. i would not even let that factor into the equation with you. you can always market outside your immediate area.

as for your second question. you should at least have the following:

business cards and letterhead: something that the lnc will want to be 5-star/topnotch in quality and appearance. bulk of the initial expense will be here. go all out. this makes a profound statement to the attorney-client.
other marketing tools (folders, brochures - although not necessary, they do add a professional touch)
become a member of organizations such as aalnc, naclnc, aba (associate member only for the lnc). these are excellent source(s) of information. aalnc and naclnc are good networking entities. (isn't necessary, but very very helpful in your career)
business suit
consider, before securing the first client, purchasing a top-notch litigation software program to create reports/timelines, etc. shop around.

the above will get you started. expect initial expenses to be around $2500 - $3000.00 (varies with quality of items purchased and/or if you do the work yourself or hire someone - expenses could be higher if you hire the work done).

(note: items necessary to actually do a case are not included in the above, except for the litigation software.)

good luck and if/when you have other questions, please post in this forum.

CardiacNP01 · Feb 14, 2008

Thanks so much Siri. I'll be back with more questions I'm sure. I appreciate the input....very helpful.

Jay

Editorial Team / Admin · Feb 14, 2008

You are very welcome. Good luck.

Diahni · Feb 14, 2008

Hello Sirs and All,
I've been an ACNP (Acute Care NP) for seven years with a background in internal medicine, cardiology, cardiothoracic surgery, and orthopedics. I have a wonderful full-time career making excellent money working only 2 days per week and thus am considering the VM course with the intention of pursuing a second career as an LNC.
Two questions:
1.) Is there a way to find out if the market is saturated in the Houston area?
2.) Is there a ballpark figure you should expect to spend marketing yourself? I realize that you can spend as much as you want to market as much as you want, but I wasn't clear if there is a certain threshold that you should be looking to spend just to get noticed.
Thanks!
Jay

Jay,

Please explain - what is a VM and LNC? I'm acronym deprived. Are you working two days a week as a nurse practitioner?

Please enlighten me!

Diahni

Diahni · Feb 14, 2008

P.S. Gotcha - a legal nurse.consultant. I have looked into this, and it seems like a wonderful new direction. Alas, I am a new grad - second career nurse, and need to have quite a few more notches in stethescope before I can consider it. But is LNC a real certification?

Diahni

Editorial Team / Admin · Feb 14, 2008

LNC (Legal Nurse Consultant) is not a certification, but a title. It does not imply education or certification.

VM=Vickie Milazzo; her program, once one completes it and passes the certification, will be able to use CLNC (Certified Legal Nurse Consultant).

Please see the sticky threads (found at the top of this forum) about the LNC career and educative entites.

CardiacNP01 · Feb 16, 2008

Diahni,

To answer your other question...Yes, I work two days per week. I work a 12hr shift and then a 24hr shift, but are paid for 40hrs. On the 24hr shifts we are provided a comfortable sleep room. We often have 8 to 10 days between the next shift (without taking paid time off) and thus I thought pursuing the LNC avenue would be an attractive option as well. Good luck!

Diahni · Feb 16, 2008

Diahni,
To answer your other question...Yes, I work two days per week. I work a 12hr shift and then a 24hr shift, but are paid for 40hrs. On the 24hr shifts we are provided a comfortable sleep room. We often have 8 to 10 days between the next shift (without taking paid time off) and thus I thought pursuing the LNC avenue would be an attractive option as well. Good luck!

Oh my! What a concept - getting paid, and you can sleep if nothing is going on? I'm assuming you must do rounds at certain points. I do like the quiet of night shifts, but don't know if I could pull it off. Please tell me, are you good at dealing with missing sleep? You must be. Seems like people have a great range of tolerance for this - i.e. my husband is both a musician and has a 9-5 job - he can get in at 4 and go to work the same morning in pretty good shape. If you are comfortable with this schedule, the LNC does indeed sound like a great thing. I would think that after the training, getting established would take a lot of "networking" and so on. As soon as lawyers know about you, you'd probably have more work than you could handle. I don't know if LNCs are put on the stand - that would probably be the most difficult part if they do this. Of course, the interrogation lawyer would put you through the wringer about your credentials, but it does sound exciting, not even talking about the lucrative part. Sounds good, Jay!

Diahni

Diahni · Feb 16, 2008

Oh my! What a concept - getting paid, and you can sleep if nothing is going on? I'm assuming you must do rounds at certain points. I do like the quiet of night shifts, but don't know if I could pull it off. Please tell me, are you good at dealing with missing sleep? You must be. Seems like people have a great range of tolerance for this - i.e. my husband is both a musician and has a 9-5 job - he can get in at 4 and go to work the same morning in pretty good shape. If you are comfortable with this schedule, the LNC does indeed sound like a great thing. I would think that after the training, getting established would take a lot of "networking" and so on. As soon as lawyers know about you, you'd probably have more work than you could handle. I don't know if LNCs are put on the stand - that would probably be the most difficult part if they do this. Of course, the interrogation lawyer would put you through the wringer about your credentials, but it does sound exciting, not even talking about the lucrative part. Sounds good, Jay!
Diahni

A P.S. to this - With our networked society, maybe you don't even have to think about Houston, or not - For instance, I know a guy in Fla. whose law practice has offfices around the country because his specialty is unique to one aspect of litigation, and not too many people do it.

Editorial Team / Admin · Feb 16, 2008

I don't know if LNCs are put on the stand - that would probably be the most difficult part if they do this.

LNCs who serve as experts will "take the stand" to offer expert testimony. But, if the LNC serves as consultant only, their work is generally not discoverable, therefore, will not be called upon to testify.

Diahni · Feb 16, 2008

LNCs who serve as experts will "take the stand" to offer expert testimony. But, if the LNC serves as consultant only, their work is generally not discoverable, therefore, will not be called upon to testify.

very interesting....btw please tell me the language of the quote at the bottom of your post.....

Diahni