I can’t believe it’s been a little over a month since we got our first patient at Kora!
Wooooo.. blows mind how quick that time flew by!!
I’ve been meaning to update my blog and thought this would be a great come back post.
I recently posted something similar on my LinkedIn titled “4 things I learned my first week running a behavioral health company” and I want to keep it as an ongoing series because it was SO fun to put together! Plus I’m trying to document my journey as much as possible this time around! 😁
LFGOOOOOOO
5 (surprising) things I learned my first month running a behavioral health startup:
Be confident AF! Confidence isn’t automatic for me – I remind myself every single day that I do belong here. That unshakeable self-belief allowed me to tap into my abilities, show up, stay motivated, keep at it regardless of what’s going on externally and has directly impacted my company. We’re only a month in and Kora already has happy patients and staff – hell yeah 🙌🏾
Action > overthinking + researching. I spent waaaaay too many hours planning, perfecting, overanalyzing. All I really need is an MVP (minimum viable plan) and to take that first step. And honestly, even if that MVP took me in the ‘wrong’ direction, I quickly adjusted and still learned something, still came away with a new idea/insight which was still incredibly valuable.
Don’t stop marketing/networking even if the day to day gets crazy busy. I’ve made it a rule to schedule at least 6 hours of networking every week whether it’s a local meetup, conference, in-person visits to facilities/referral partners, posting on socials, outreach, lots and lots of outreach.
Stop trying to reinvent the wheel – forms, templates, policies/procedures… Use what’s already there and tweak it with an LLM.
What worked in my last 2 companies didn’t always work for this one… and what didn’t work at my last 2 startups might actually work now 😅 This one threw me for a loop because I’m still in the healthcare sector and I was sure (almost) everything would map 1:1 but it didn’t. I learned that instead of trying to force my previous experience/beliefs/frameworks into this company, I need to focus on building for my current company – what’s actually happening now and for it’s future.
What an awesome month filled with learnings and growth!!
I honestly can’t wait to check in again in a few weeks!
I’m Ayan – a mom, registered nurse, entrepreneur, innovator, artist, philanthropist and my dedication and passion for nursing, healthcare, startups and innovation began while working at Mayo Clinic as a bedside registered nurse in 2017. It was in 2019 where my nurse colleague invited me to cofounded Navi Nurses, an on-demand private duty nursing service that provides compassionate care to patients for in home care.
As a nurse, I witnessed firsthand the challenges and limitations of traditional healthcare systems. Nurses face so many obstacles when trying to provide the best care possible and patients become overwhelmed at the thought of going home – there must be a better way. With Navi Nurses, we set out to solve just that problem by creating a more holistic, individualized, patient centered approach that allowed patients and their loved ones to hire a nurse on demand, for any healthcare needs like post surgery or in-home care for seniors.
Resources that Helped Me in my Entrepreneurial Journey:
Before my nursing career, I’ve maintained an entrepreneurial spirit and immersed myself in the business world. I’ve read countless books on mindset, personal development, business, technology, attended startup conferences and meetups like Phoenix Startup Week, and participated in hackathons like ones led by SONSIEL – Society of Nurse Scientists Innovators Entrepreneurs and Leaders. Events like these have empowered me and allowed me to combine my passion for healthcare, innovation, and entrepreneurship.
Giving Back is in my DNA:
While working at Navi as Chief Operating Officer, my team and I created and funded a $25,000 nursing scholarship at Arizona State University’s College of Nursing and Health Innovation, a grant that supports nursing students who aspire to become nurses. This is a cause that is very close to my heart, and it’s an honor to be able to support the next generation of nurses and healthcare leaders.
I’m incredibly proud of the work we’ve accomplished at Navi Nurses, and I’m grateful that our efforts have been recognized by the American Nurses Foundation, who honored me as a Nurse Innovator for my work with Navi. Another highlight of my career is being interviewed by journalists from Johnson & Johnson, where I discussed entrepreneurship, nurse innovation, the power of community, and more.
Getting my Street MBA:
During my time at Navi, I participated in two major accelerators in Arizona: the Arizona Technology Council’s Venture Ready program and the Flinn Foundation Bioscience Entrepreneurship Program. These programs provided our team with grant funding and mentorship instrumental in my and my company’s growth.
My Mission:
My work is driven by my dedication to using my skills and expertise to create positive change in the healthcare industry through fostering relationships, innovation, entrepreneurship, building community, and more. With my unique background in nursing, passionate advocate for meaningful the healthcare industry, and entrepreneurial spirit, I hope to make a deep impact on healthcare and my community.
I invite you to join me on this journey. Whether you’re a fellow nurse entrepreneur, a founder, parent, or simply someone who cares about the future of healthcare, I believe that we can work together to create a better, more equitable, and more accessible healthcare system for all. Let’s empower nurses, innovate in healthcare, and build powerful and thriving communities.
I recently watched Alex Hormozi on Chris Williamson’s Modern Wisdom and I loved the episode so much I listened to it twice. I’m working on developing my critical thinking, note taking, and actually implementing things that I learn so they don’t go to waste.
You can check out the notes below, hope you find them helpful!
1. Choosing Regrets and Self-Improvement
Regret
“In life, we must choose our regrets.” – Douglas Williams
Choose between the regret of pursuing or not pursuing; use it as a decision-making framework to overcome fear.
Working Hard
Evaluate your efforts: Can you confidently say you did your best?
Define metrics for success, like being able to say, “There’s nothing else I could’ve done in that situation.”
2. Pursuit of Excellence and Dedication
Pursuit of Excellence Like an Athlete
Approach goals and skills like an athlete.
Emulate athletes’ dedication, including performance review, nutrition, sleep, and seeking guidance.
Becoming a Pro – The Art of War
Referencing “The Art of War,” distinguish between amateurs and professionals.
Professionals commit full-time, master techniques, and persist despite fear.
3. Preparation and Self-Esteem
“The difference between being nervous and being excited about something is the level of preparation.”
Your self-esteem is determined by your own judgment, not others’ opinions.
4. Selective Excellence
Choosing Areas of Excellence
Life is short; prioritize areas where you want to excel.
Measure progress in hundreds of hours to set the standard for mastery.
Emphasize the importance of consistency, e.g., producing 300 pieces of content weekly.
Saying No
Time is valuable; learn to say no more often to stay focused.
5. Pain and Transformation
“Heroes and villains have the same backstory – pain. The difference is what they choose to do about it.”
Heroes use pain to prevent harm, while villains are consumed by it.
Painful instances can lead to disproportionate personal growth.
Challenge yourself, endure struggles, and push beyond your limits to build resilience.
6. Decisions and Stress
“The heaviest things in life aren’t iron or gold; they’re decisions.”
Stress often arises from procrastinating important decisions.
7. Life/Mindfulness/Self Love
True happiness comes from being fully present.
Aim to have a certain number of moments of mindful presence each day.
Self-love means holding oneself to a higher standard.
Take control of self-esteem, self-love, and personal success.
Reflect on what makes a day meaningful, such as working hard, spending time with loved ones, and staying active.
8. Freedom and Assertiveness
“What’s the point of having ‘fuck you’ freedom if you never say ‘fuck you’?” – George
Enjoy the rewards of your efforts; assert yourself when necessary.
9. On Haters and Empathy
“The cynics get to be right; the optimists get to be rich.”
Haters may signify you’re doing something right.
“It’s hard to hate from up close.” & “To understand is to forgive.”
Try to understand others’ perspectives; it’s challenging to hate when you empathize.
Advice to Registered Nurses and others looking to launch their entrepreneurial journeys:
Starting a business can be daunting, but it doesn’t have to be. As a nurse and entrepreneur, I’ve found that utilizing local resources has been critical to my success. There are many local resources available, both free and paid, such as local entrepreneur meetups, incubators, accelerators, networking events, and business classes held at libraries, among others. These resources are great because they offer mentorship, various opportunities, and a supportive community to help you understand the landscape, launch, and grow your business.
Utilize Local Resources:
When I first started out as an entrepreneur, I believed I needed to get a coaching certification or purchase an expensive course from a well-known nurse guru in the community, but this wasn’t the case. Instead, I focused on the following:
Attended meetups like 1 Million Cups and Startup Week, which provided opportunities for me to immerse myself in the startup scene, connect with other entrepreneurs, investors, and mentors in my local community.
Participated in a low-cost business boot camp, SeedSpot, which provided me invaluable resources and mentorship to help me understand foundational business concepts, marketing, and gave me an opportunity to pitch in front of a live audience.
Attended business library classes that were put together by local business development centers like S.C.O.R.E to get resources and support for starting and growing a business. Some of these classes were workshops and had ample opportunities for me to obtain mentoring from a local, seasoned business mentor.
Attended networking events and surrounded myself with like-minded individuals.
Joined an online business mastermind community that met weekly to connect and support other entrepreneurs.
Started an official mentorship relationship with mentors from a local startup. This helped tremendously with accountability and gave us an opportunity to brainstorm and get feedback as our business grew.
Conclusion:
By utilizing these local resources and building relationships within your community, you can position yourself for success in the business world. So, if you’re an aspiring entrepreneur, don’t be afraid to get immersed in the startup world and ask for help!
Screenshot of an incredibly rudimentary checklist I put together for myself to stay organized while I work to get the rest of my site/personal brand set up
Got a few things accomplished this week – yay!
Although I’m trying to be cost effective in getting everything set up for my personal brand, one of the things I believe is important is to have a professional email with my domain main instead of @gmail.com. It’s such a simple and minuscule thing but it makes such a big difference in terms of being viewed as professional. I wouldn’t skimp on this. I chose Google instead of other platforms like Microsoft because we used Outlook/Microsoft at Navi and it wasn’t user friendly. I also use Google in my personal life so keeping everything on one platform makes sense. Don’t make things harder for yourself.
Email
I was able to get my email set up through Google Workspace using a discount code my hosting platform Siteground provided. The amount came out to be $9.60 per month for the standard business version. There is a less expensive starter package but I heavily utilize Google apps in a business setting and tend to run out of space quickly.
Odds + Ends
A few other things I was able to complete was purchasing theayansaid.com, uploading a website theme (free), and tying up a few loose ends such as ensuring analytics was running correctly on the admin side as well as on my website.
Design
What’s taking longest for me is editing my website and getting content up on the landing page & a few other pages. Inspo is Notion. I love the clean aesthetic combined with the goofiness of emojis, so dope. That’s pretty much me in a nutshell – profesh in the streets + goof in the suites.
BRB changing my LinkedIn tagline.
But for real, I’m trying my best to keep things concise because one of my weaknesses is overthinking. My goal this year is to try to improve my processing and output time – wheeeeeew that’ll be a will be a lifelong journey for sure but LFGO 🚀
I remember the first time I starting selling for Navi.
My business partner and I hit up plastic surgeon’s offices in our scrubs in the middle of summer, arms full of boxes containing scrumptious frosted cupcakes on the verge of melting & our dazzling Navi Nurses brochures. Eyes bright, faces glistening with beads of sweat. Was it the heat or was it nervousness?
It was both.
Selling is scary af yo.
It definitely got easier after a while. Once our script became second nature and our business started to gain traction, we were able to share client stories and testimonials that supported our incredible services. And most importantly, word of mouth was spreading. Knowing that we had GOAT level private duty nursing services in the area boosted our confidence and shushed our imposter syndrome. I always joke (but not really joking) that the nursing skills are the best entrepreneurs. Listen.. we’re great and connecting with people at every level, we have backup plans for backup plans, we’re creative, flexible and resourceful, we negotiate successfully and we sell everyday!
“Check this out Bill.. let’s do a few laps around the nurses station and you’ll be pregaming in your room with the finest chocolate pudding you’ve ever had!”
-Me to my patient
For real though. Selling is so crucial not just in business. It’s an important skill to develop to be successful in all areas of life. So when I came across my SeedSpot newsletter and saw that a virtual session on sales tactics was being held, I jumped on board. One of my rules is that I always take the opportunity to learn.
The sales session was led by Seed Spot Alumni and mentor, Norman Rodriguez, founder of Elevate. Norman gave actionable advice on how to improve sales from tactics and best practices on outreach by phone or email & how tonality and delivery play a key role, how to utilize free digital platforms on finding leads easily on websites like LinkedIn, important sales metrics to track and what an outreach progression with a potential client should look like during the various touch points of the sales journey. He also went over basics you should have in your sales toolbox like a CRM, lead generator and to level up that toolbox, eventually implementing a sales enablement platform to perform data analysis on tools, techniques and more to make your sales strategy more effective.
Overall, it was a super lively session with lots of participation from students and startup founders/team members looking to strengthen their sales muscle to get gainz in their respective businesses. I’m so glad I went! I even connected with a few peeps on LinkedIn which is always a plus.
The best advice I have for anyone looking to start their own business is to take advantage of free resources in your community. For example, SeedSpot is such a great resource for entrepreneurs who are just starting out in their journey, or those that have been around the block a few times and just need to fill some business knowledge gaps with a session like this. A few years ago I completed SeedSpot’s 2-day launch camp where you took a business idea you had, completed a lean business canvas, made a slide deck and pitched in front of an audience within 2 days. It was kind of like a startup bootcamp with SeedSpot mentors guiding you throughout the process. The camp then was $98 but don’t ever let a price tag hold you back. There are so many free resources that are incredible, you just have to look for them. For example, definitely sign up for their newsletter which is totally free – that’s where I found this session.
Lastly, really get plugged into your community if you’re starting out. Go to networking events, sign up for conferences, join newsletters, and talk about what you’re working on or what you have ideas about. I’ve found that in the startup community, people are so helpful in further connecting you to others that might be helpful, and other resources you should look into.
Golden Circle is comprised of the following: Why, How, What
WHATS: what products, what services, the job function, external factor.
HOW: how the WHATS are delivered. How something is different or better.
WHY: purpose, cause, or belief AKA internal factors. The why of a company is not to make money, making money . Companies that know their why differentiate themselves from companies that don’t know their why.
Companies with a strong WHY include Apple, Southwest Airlines, Disney. Those who have a strong why but diverge against it create an imbalance, and people notice. Example used is when Volkswagen created an incredibly high end car with all the bells and whistles, but this car didn’t align with their WHY – Volkswagen literally means “people’s car,” and is associated with the everyday person, the hipster, and should embody inclusion. Even though the high end car they put out had the best specs and was rated high, it was a failure and an volition of the Celery Test.
The limbic system is a portion of our brain that is responsible for feelings such as trust and loyalty. “Gut feeling” is actually derived from the limbic system, though it isn’t related to our logical, analytical or rational side, which is why sometimes it’s hard to put into words why we make the decisions we make.
Putting your WHY into words allows you to give a rational basis when you make decisions. As a leader, putting your WHY into words leads to accessibility and scalability even as your business expands. Those who follow you will be able to read and explain WHY which is important because the leader won’t always be there.
Visceral limbic feelings leads to loyalty. WHATs such as product, services, features are not WHYs and don’t lead to loyalty. WHATs are a proof of WHY.
Hire people who believe what you believe. The Celery Test is the power to filter decisions through your why. You can go to conferences, read books, get guidance and advice, but if it doesn’t align with your why, you’re wasting energy, time, and money.
TIVO failed because they were about WHATS – what their product did, what services they provided, etc. They used WHAT marketing rather than WHY marketing in order to rationalize the appeal of their product, leading to low sales. Sirius is another company that used the same tactics.
Partnerships are composed of WHY and HOW people. This type of relationship works because they WHY people have the vision, and the HOW people create a track to execute that vision.
Example of a WHY and HOW partnership that was incredibly successful is the Disney brothers relationships. Roy is the older, more practical brother who understood economics, business and finances, whereas Walt is the visionary who was always imaginative, optimistic and had his head in the clouds.
It’s important to have a WHY because WHATs never stay stagnant, especially in this technological era. Services, product features, price, etc. are constantly updated, but the vision, meaning and philosophy are inherent and don’t budge.
Anyone can be loud and have energy, but not everyone can be clear. Being loud to me is analogous to social media use in our current generation. On the exterior you can have fancy cars, perfect unblemished skin, a thicc booty and a 6 pack but clarity and why comes from the inside – it’s deep, never changing, and not fleeting.
Sinek describes the following leaders as being clear and having charisma, not just being loud: Dr. King, Bill Gates, Steve Jobs. Being loud rallies people, but clarity and charisma inspires.
This book is important. It’s made me realize why I have’t attained ‘success’ yet. Essentially, I haven’t developed and expressed a clear Why. Am I a how person or a why person? I think I’m a why person who has been trying to be a how person. I’m trying to learn too many different skills in order to execute a blurry vision. I have to stop, focus, and develop a solid vision. In Tom’s interview with Tai Lopez seen here: https://impacttheory.com/episode/tai-lopez/ he talks about having a tombstone goal. Create a tombstone goal and reverse engineering that – if I want the end of my life at age 90 to look like this, this and this, then I have to do these following things by age 80, and so on and so forth. Not only did this book highlight the importance of having a clear vision, it also helped me understand the difference between being loud versus being clear. Charisma and confidence is exuded by people that are steadfast in what they believe in. They derive power and strength by having a crystal clear vision, not by being the loudest around. Loud people eventually run out of steam, whereas people with charisma and clarity are more consistent because the message they deliver and their philosophy does not alter.
