The need for diabetes educators is rising as the number of patients who have diabetes increases every year. Career choices for diabetes educators are evolving as well, making these exciting and challenging times. You can help shape the future of diabetes education by pursuing innovative and creative ways of providing diabetes care products and services to consumers, industry, media and/or businesses. You may choose to work for someone else or pursue entrepreneurial endeavors. If you choose the latter, some options include:
- Providing professional diabetes consultations in private practice,
- Writing books, newsletters, magazine articles and blogs,
- Implementing diabetes programs for employee wellness programs
-Designing diabetes software, apps or diabetes education tools,
-Speaking professionally on wellness and diabetes topics,
-Working with media or become involved in commercial web sites to improve the quality and accuracy of information communicated.
As an entrepreneur, achieving your professional and financial goals are both a priority. To do so you may need to acquire certain tools to build and maintain a successful diabetes-related business.
So how do you begin to develop a business? Here are six steps to get you started.
1. Identify your skills and what you love to do: Ask yourself, “What is my passion?” Counseling, writing, lecturing?
· Identifying your passion is an important aspect of developing a successful entrepreneurial career. I enjoyed developing and providing educational programs so I developed a business that enabled me to do this.
2. Conduct an Assessment: Find an unmet need in diabetes care and develop a business to meet that need using your passion.
· One of the programs I developed was the Diabetes Core Curriculum Workshop (DCCW). When I started the DCCW 20 years ago, I never dreamed it would become a marketable, profitable product. I developed it to meet a basic need – diabetes educators needed a course to help them study for the Certified Diabetes Educator (CDE) examination. The course met this need and through the years the need for the course grew as more people desired to become CDEs.
3. Acquire business skills: In a course I took in a Master’s Program, I learned the four P’s of marketing: Product, Price, Place and Promotion and I used them to develop and grow my business. Consider enrolling in a marketing course to learn various aspects of creating, promoting and refining a business.
4. Develop a business plan: Some of the tasks associated with a business plan include:
· Developing a business name and registering it with your state,
· Getting a tax ID number so you don’t have to use your social security number,
· Getting a Dun & Bradstreet number, www.DandB.com,
· Deciding on the legal type of business you want, i.e. a limited liability corporation, single proprietorship, partnership, etc.,
· Setting up your business space/location,
· Developing short- and long-range goals.
One agency that can help you get started with your business plan is the Service Core of Retired Executives (SCORE). They can be found online at: http://www.score.org. SCORE is an agency that offers many tools and forms to get you started with your plan. They have local counselors who will help you with other aspects of starting your business such as helping you establish an accounting system, choosing a marketing plan, etc. One of the best aspects of SCORE is that their resources and counseling are free.
5. Enlist the help of others: Most entrepreneurs think they have to do it all themselves. But you don’t. If you enlist the help of other professionals, it will give you more time to do the creative, fun work that first led you to want to be an entrepreneur. Other team members with whom to connect are: a lawyer, an accountant, a marketing professional, and other entrepreneurs.
6. Consider your risk tolerance: Start part time if that is more comfortable for you.
· I worked full time for healthcare agencies as I developed my entrepreneurial business. Doing both was a lot of work but since I enjoyed it and felt that I was making a difference, the extra hours were worth the effort. Eventually my business generated an income that enabled me to leave paid employment.
I have provided six steps to help you start and pursue your entrepreneurial dream. Developing your own business takes work, but if you have the passion and dedication, you can achieve your dreams.
It will be helpful for the AADE Pennsylvania Coordinating Body (PACB) and/or all AADE members, who are or wish to be entrepreneurs, to share their entrepreneurial expertise. Feel free to contact me to network.
Bio:
Carol Molfetta, RD, CDE has a degree in nutrition from Kent State University and graduate coursework in the field of business administration. She created Pro Health Consulting in 1980 to provide continuing education and mentoring to professionals as well as education to consumers. Carol developed and coordinated the Diabetes Core Curriculum Workshop (DCCW), a nationally-renowned, multi-disciplinary, continuing education course for healthcare professionals. In early 2013 she sold the DCCW to Winthrop University Hospital, LI, N.Y. In 2012, Carol received the Metropolitan New York Association of Diabetes Educators award of CDE Entrepreneur of the Year.
Resources:
· U.S. Small Business Administration, www.sba.gov
· SCORE, www. score.org
References:
Nutrition Entrepreneurs a Dietetic Practice Group of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics: https://www.nedpg.org/
American Association of Diabetes Educators (AADE) website: Member Center - Entrepreneurial Diabetes Educator: https://www.diabeteseducator.org/Members/Entrepreneurial_Diabetes_Educator.html