Beginning an Entrepreneurial Path: How an RN-to-BSN Offers Time to Clarify Goals and Earn More Skills

BY JULIA QUINN-SZCESUIL

Nurses are often advised to pursue advanced degrees, beginning with a BSN. The additional education offers deeper critical thinking, business, and nursing knowledge and skills. But many nurses find that earning their RN first and then beginning a BSN program later–an RN-to-BSN path–gives them hands–on experience and time to further define and clarify their goals. For some, the process gives them the training and inspiration to begin an entrepreneurial path.

Entrepreneurship isn’t a quick path to success or money, say nurses running their businesses. Their work hours routinely rival those of back-to-back shifts, which are the final point for the business’s success or failure. But nurses who choose to combine a business and nursing path say they do so because of their deep devotion to nursing and patient care.

Their desire to make a bigger impact doesn’t always fit into a traditional nursing role. “You’re not a traitor if you leave the bedside,” says Veronica Southerland, RN, BSN, FNP-BC , founder and CEO of Vee the NP, and author of A Nurse’s Journey To Entrepreneurship. “It’s not that you don’t care.”

“You’re not a traitor if you leave the bedside.”

As nurses progress through a career, some decide that the traditional path isn’t for them.

“When I worked in a hospital system, I had ideas and wanted to do something with them, but I felt that I wasn’t seen, heard, or appreciated,” says Catie Harris, Ph.D., MBA, RN, and founder of NursePreneurs

“I had the urge to do something bigger for myself.”

Southerland agrees, noting that an entrepreneurial path offers a professional choice many nurses aren’t aware of. “You don’t have to be the boss,” she says, “but if you want to, you can be.”

Using All the Skills

For Harris and Southerland, entrepreneurship gives them the freedom to pursue ideas and the authority to make them happen. As someone who helps nurses on this path, Harris says it’s exciting to see nurses start a business and then also assume the leadership role of running the business–and succeeding.

are most problematic in the industry.

successful offices, she quit her direct nursing role to become a full-time entrepreneur. But when the 2008 stock market crash effectively wiped out most of her business, Southerland returned to school for her MSN/FNP.

Harris, who initially earned her RN before pursuing her advanced degrees, says the work experience and additional education offer different growth opportunities. However, connecting with nurses with business experience is especially helpful. Harris, who now connects nurses interested in entrepreneurship, says talking with nurses who are entrepreneurs helps you avoid some common pitfalls and learn from their experiences.

“If I wanted to do anything, I needed to get the BSN.”

By chance, Southerland found personal benefits in IV hydration and changed her business focus to that area. Her expertise, she says, is something she is driven to share with others. “It’s a successful model,” she says of the medical and business approach. “If I can do it, you can do it, too. I enjoy helping other nursing entrepreneurs look at why they should do this. But, ultimately, they want the freedom to run their own business.”

Find a Network

Shawn Nixon, MSN, APRNCNP, owner of Affinity IV Hydration & Med Spa, is one of Southerland’s mentees. Before opening his IV med spa business in 2022, Nixon took a winding path to entrepreneurship, but the experience gave him the time to fine-tune his goals.

“Nurses have the skill set they need to get started in business,” she says. “They have critical thinking and listening skills and know how to operate on a shoestring budget.” As frontline workers, nurses also have first-hand knowledge of the issues and processes that

Southerland went into nursing after a career in human services and spent five years as an RN before pursuing her BSN. Her first taste of entrepreneurship came when she started a home care-focused company while still an RN. “After opening my business, I knew I needed to go back to school to get my BSN,” she says. “If I wanted to do anything, I needed to get the BSN.”

When Southerland’s business grew to encompass six

Nixon began with EMT basic certification before earning his RN and then a BSN and MSN/ FNP. As an NP, Nixon was on a fast-moving path with hospital supervisors encouraging him to pursue administration, but it didn’t feel quite right. “That’s what they saw for me,” Nixon says, “but I didn’t see that for myself. I wanted to create my own space and my legacy.”

Seeking some information about entrepreneurship, Nixon and Southerland had a discovery call that ended with some tough feedback from Southerland. “She asked me questions like who are you, what do you want, and how do you want to serve people,” he says. “And I couldn’t answer her.”

Although Nixon has been grappling with those questions, his hesitation was a needed revelation. “She gave me a starting point,” he says, noting that his bedside nursing experience is essential to his business practice.

Make a Plan and Protect Yourself

Southerland encourages nurses interested in an entrepreneurial path to follow their passions. But she also cautions that taking the time to develop a solid plan will help protect you.

For example, when Southerland’s initial business fell apart, she still could work as a nurse because she kept her credentials current. “Protect your nursing licensing at all costs so you can always go back.”

And also know that failure is part of the entrepreneurship process.

“You discover something about yourself each time you fail,” says Nixon, “and you’ll fail many times before you do well. It’s about resilience. You have to be comfortable with being uncomfortable.” Harris agrees. “What you do from the present on is the potential of what could happen,” she says. “The universe will send you all kinds of obstacles. So stay persistent in your belief.”