APP Aesthetics Summit Speaker Ann Konkoly and Living the Good Life

Cassie Lane:

All right. Hi Ann. Thank you so much for sitting down with me today. I’m really excited to like, turn the tables on you and ask you the, the hard hitting questions that you usually ask everybody else. But I’d love if you start, a lot of people already know who you are in the NP community, but just for those that don’t I’d love to kind of hear a little bit about how you started, what you’re doing now and, and how you found yourself in your new role. Help, not new, but your current role, helping other nurses and other nurse practitioners.

Ann Konkoly:

Yeah. happy. Thank you for having me. I’m happy to be here. So my name’s Ann Konkily. I’m a certified nurse midwife and a certified life and business coach. And I help nurses live the good life. And I, you know, my goal is really to do help in particular women advanced practice nurses do good work in the world and create good impact, but also do well for themselves at the same time. So I started off in clinical practice. I, you know, was caught a lot of babies and did lots of IUDs and LARCs and you know, hormone therapy. And I left my clinical practice in 2019 because I was at a point where I knew it was time to go and to do something different. And it had been kind of creeping up, so to speak for many years.

Prior to that, I’d gone through a couple rounds of burnout and I worked as a medical director, and we’ve been built a large clinic. I actually think, looking back, that was probably one of those moments where I thought, Wow, there’s a lot that you can do in healthcare and around healthcare that creates impact and that also allows you to feel like you’re, you know maybe fulfilling a bigger purpose of yours, which is, you know, this goal to, to really do something that’s, that has maybe a legacy or that really could change healthcare. So but I left prior to the pandemic and and started building my business. And I had done a coach Certifi certificate program here at a local at Case Western Reserve University, which is where I got my MBA in local here in the, in the Cleveland community.

And I, coaching felt like a really, like a natural fit for me. It was a lot of the work that I had done as a midwife, a lot of asking questions, a lot of share, you know, holding space for people a lot of shared decision making and really supporting decision making. And coaching is very similar to that. So I fell into it naturally. I think midwifery probably for me was just a stepping stone to get into this place. And so now I, you know, I started off as a doing general life coaching for a lot of healers, you know, physicians and registered dieticians and nurses, and and then have really transitioned over into doing more business coaching for women, advanced practice nurses, so that we can start to take what we do, which is inherently, you know, so good for our communities. It’s good for our institutions, it’s good for, you know, our families and, and take it and do something big with it. So but I, I love what I do and this is, you know, it’s, it’s exciting to be here at this point.

Cassie Lane:

Yeah, I had, I have multiple questions out of there that came to my mind. Look, so what kind of practice setting were you in? Were you, like in a collaborative practice setting with physicians? Was it all nurse midwives? What was that kind of set up like if you were the medical director? It sounds like there, like you were, it was the buck stops with you.

Ann Konkoly:

Yes. So I worked in an academic medical practice. We had a large group of midwives, and I think at the time we had maybe 12 midwives and then a large group of ob gyn generalists and then you know large division of gyno and MFMs and and gy. And so it was a great practicing to be in. And I had come from, I was at Kaiser for a couple of years and liked it. And, you know, I realized very quickly that as a more of a community practice and a, and a fantastic model. But I realized for me, it just didn’t suffice it, it didn’t satisfy the, my desire to be kind of in the mix and know what was new and, and latest breaking, you know, evidence-based medicine and stuff. So so, but we were in a large practice and, you know, I worked a couple days in the office and shared call. I did Thursday night call for many, many years, and and then worked as a medical director in a small fte, you know, portion of my fte went to that.

Cassie Lane:

I guess it doesn’t sound like you moved on because you were so unhappy in what you were doing, but more you were like called to something else. But I wonder, was it, what were the things that caused the most burnout for you? Was it the like, clinical stress of like, you know, such so stressful when a baby’s being born, You never know it’s gonna happen. Like really high stress, high stakes situations, which I definitely get that coming from an anesthesia background it’s a big part of your identity is something that I always fall back on as well. I, I still identify so strongly with, with my anesthesia background. But or was it like you were in this big hospital group? Was it more like the politics of everything? Like what kind of was causing most of your burnout? Or maybe it was just the mixture of all those things?

Ann Konkoly:

I think you, I think that’s just about right. I think it’s a mixture, and I think for a lot of people it’s a mixture. It’s very often, I, we talk a lot about, in my coaching program, we talk a lot about internal and external factors for burnout. And, you know, there’s everything that I can do when I walk into a system, right? Like I can, you know, play my pump up tunes and I can make sure I’m, you know, slathered and lavender oil and I’ve, you know, done my fucking mindset work and like all that, right? Like I have, you know, I can really own what I can do and exert control where I have it and, and invest in myself so that when I show up for shift or clinic that I’m ready to do that work. And and so there’s that element, and then there’s always, you know, and, and look, we, I think many of us go through moments in time where, you know, based on family circumstances or political moments, it feels harder to, to be present in that way, right?

To really own that and to show up very powerfully based on other things that are going on in our lives. And then there’s always external circumstances of a position or a job. And I think for many people, when you start wa, when you walk into a system that really is built in a way that’s toxic, and that is, it’s built on the patriarchy. I mean, medicine’s built on the backs of the patriarchy. And if you don’t understand, you know, why it’s why imposter syndrome drives so many advanced practice nurses not to sit at the negotiating table, you know, and then you blame it on the nurse. You miss an entire portion of what most women and most advanced practice nurses face when they walk into that system of toxicity. A system of discrimination, a system that, you know, does not have gender pay transparency across the genders.

A system that promotes, you know, typically white cisgendered men, you know, more often than not, and perpetuates that a system that also has outcomes that support the, the, some shit outcomes, right? Like in terms of the healthcare results, you start to look at maternal morbidity, maternal mortality, infant mortality, you know, and the, the discrepancies that play out in terms of the groups who suffer the most. And so the system has its own issues, so to speak. And I think for me, it was a combination of both. And I don’t, you know, I don’t I don’t, I don’t sit to place blame on, you know, the system like that. That’s not, And I realized it, there was a moment for me where I thought, Look, you either sit in the system and I have this conversation with midwives all the time, cuz they’ll say to me, But how do I know?

Like when it’s time to go? And I’m like, well, first of all, if you’re asking yourself if it’s time to go, it’s probably time to go for you, number one. But number two, the other part of this is that you get to choose when you walk in, are you gonna be an activist in the system? Because that’s what happens to you when you are in a place of being oppressed or being marginalized or being discriminated against. You have to, you know, in some areas show up as an activist or do you say, I decline, I opt out and I’m going to build my own business. I’m going to build my own table. And really create something that isn’t toxic, that doesn’t support, you know, that isn’t built on this model that just drives people to do more and more and more without recognizing them as humans, without providing them with safety and, and a culture that’s supportive to them.

 And so I think for me, I, I think I got to a point where, you know, I could do all that I could in terms of managing my mind and keeping a positive, you know, outlook and and then, and then making a choice of this system isn’t for me. It doesn’t give me the freedom and flexibility to do things the way I like to do them, even in a position of power, right? Cause medical director, yes, the buck stops with me and I still have to answer to, you know, a lot of other people who may not share the same views that I do. And, and so I, you know, that that’s the be beauty of building a business, right? Like, buck stops with me. I get to choose exactly how this business runs, whether we operate from a place of integrity, whether we operate from a place of safety whether I create a community and culture of safety within a just culture. I mean, you know, that that’s my, I get to do that. And that wasn’t in my opinion as easy to do in, in a big corporate setting. And I think a lot of, you know, a lot of people go through that and find that over the years, like, Oh yeah, I’m probably not gonna get into a place of power where I really have the, the amount of control I desire.

Cassie Lane:

Yeah, when you were talking too, it really made me think about this concept of the second victim. When, when something bad happens and you’re a medical provider and you feel responsible, how that is so traumatic and hard on you as a provider as well. And I think that happens in being in that kind of system there, there’s a lot of that and there’s usually not an outlet for it. So I’m sure with working with all the providers you do, you probably hear a lot about that because when there is a poor outcome and you’re involved in it, it’s like a lot of, a lot of thoughts and emotions, a lot to work through. And there’s usually no outlet. You know, it’s like you’re allowed to make mistakes in every other field, but you’re not allowed to make little mistakes. Little mistakes can cause big outcomes. And it’s a whole although, and there’s,

Ann Konkoly:

There’s like not the time to process. You know, like if you are, if you’re in a busy practice and you’re, you know, witnessing, you know, trauma that occurs to patients and thus that you’re subject to on a day-to-day basis, or I, you know, when do you go home and process that? And what, what’s the employer’s responsibility to support you in that journey? And creating the culture where, you know, there’s adequate resources for you to feel, you know, human like that. It’s, you know, we get to this point, I think where some, some of the employers look at, you know, advanced practice nurses, physicians, I think are in the same boat. Rns, respiratory therapists. I don’t think this is just, you know, the, the nursing profession, but where, you know, we’re not looked at as human first. We’re looked at as, you know, employees or, or workers.

And I think that gets to be a slippery slope cuz you, once you deny people the opportunity to be fully human, to have all their emotions, to have the need to process and like, don’t I, you know, people, I always, I like get this comment sometimes well, like there’s the eap I’m like, the EEP doesn’t do shit. Okay. Like, I mean, look like I, it’s a great, it’s a, it’s a good start. It’s not, it’s not the entire picture. Like we gotta do. We have to treat, you have to treat people like humans first and workers second cuz they’re humans first and worker second.

Cassie Lane:

Yeah. One, this is kind of like making a left term, but just with your background, I heard you mention that you have your MBA as well and I feel like I hear a lot of people saying like, Oh, I wanna go get my mba. I’m wondering, do you feel like that really gave you good practical skills or who do you think is a good candidate that should go get an mba? Or what do you feel like were your biggest takeaways from your mba? Cause it’s a time and financial investment.

Ann Konkoly:

Well, I agree. <Laugh>, it’s funny in that I for many years looked at my MBA and, and kinda if we’re being honest, judge myself, like, Look at you. You had to go get another degree and you know, and go figure out your life, you know? Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. And it’s funny. And I, I, and I, I really, it, it’s interesting cuz an mba, I think there’s good components to it. And I think a lot of that information we don’t get when we’re in, we certainly don’t get in a nursing school. Many of us don’t get it in undergrad or in our master’s programs. And so from the standpoint of understanding healthcare as a business, I think it can be useful. And understanding the basics of finance and, you know, profits and loss and, you know, being in the black and the red and ROIs and all that shit.

I think there’s, there’s a lot of value in that. For me, the best part of my MBA though was my course called Living the Good Life, which was about entrepreneurship. And, you know, I wouldn’t have taken that course if it was entrepreneurship 1 0 1, it was called though Living The Good Life. And I wanted that. I didn’t know what it was, but I just knew I wanted it. And so for, from that standpoint, my MBA was a, you know, if we’re looking at it kind of over the steps that I’d taken, it was a great step for me because it introduced me to something I thought that really wasn’t available to me. And it made it very approachable and and and really planted the seed that it could happen. And it could be, if it was possible for other people, it could be possible for me.

So I think, you know, so now looking back, I say, Well, you know, my employer paid for, oh, maybe 20 out of 50 or 20 out of 45 grand, something like that, you know, So I, I got some tuition assistance, which was great. And and so for, but for me, I look at it and say, All right, three years part-time work, you know, you’re away from your family one or two nights a week and 25 grand, you know, out of my pocket. And, and an additional year of service. I had to stay there for, I think a year after I took the receive the last payment for tuition reimbursement. Was it worth it? And I would say absolutely. I mean, I wouldn’t, I don’t know if I’d be here today if I hadn’t taken that class. I’m not, I’m not quite sure.

I might might still be a miserable cow <laugh>, like, you know, going to work every, I don’t, I don’t know. And so for me, I think it was a good investment. I think for the, I think with anything, and I do a lot, It’s funny, I used to do a lot of coaching in the beginning on this for some of my clients, which is that, you know, think about it this way. If you want to become right, like if you’re in a place where you’re stuck, take the next best step, right? And for some of you that may include an mba and you may be willing to invest in the time and the money and the energy to do it. And good for you. Take the next step and keep going and figure it out. For some people though, and this is, and I think I was so stuck that I, that that method worked for me.

Now I do a lot more conversations about where do you wanna be in three to five years? Cause I, I don’t know that I thought about it that way. Like, where do I wanna be in five years? What do I wanna be doing? How many hours do I wanna work? What kind of money do I wanna make? What kind of schedule do I want? And, you know, and so I think now what I say to people very often is it’s like a gap analysis. Where am I today? Where do I desire to be? And it’s painful. Like, for a lot of people, visioning work and really thinking about where do I wanna be in three to five years? Putting goal on paper is takes everything out of them that you’re like, I, I dunno, I’m not sure. I just feel so hard. Like, no, this is, is a vital step.

Create on paper or in your mind, however, or verbally your idea of where you wanna be. And then we go back and say, Is an mba Help me get there. Does a PhD help me get there? Does a, you know, coach certificate program? Help me get there. Then we say yes or no. That it, it just, in, in, I think it improves the decision making strategy. It makes it so much easier. And also recognize too, again, kind of depends where you are. I, I was so far in a funk, like with my head up, my ass and, and the throws of burnout that I, I could not, I just knew I needed something different, but I just, I kept saying, I don’t know what I want, but I know this isn’t it. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. And, and so for me, I I, my, my step was just to say, All right, maybe I’ll try an mba.

And I really went to MBA school cause I was like, maybe management’s for me cause I don’t wanna be in clinical practice, but maybe management’s for me. And then I got in there and I was like, No, this is terrible. Oh my God. It’s like, I am not a manager of people. This is not the rule, this is the work. And I also knew I don’t like to manage people. I like to coach them. I don’t want to be responsible for, you know, holding policy people to policies and procedures so that they can, you know, fulfill KPIs and, and make sure heat scores are up. And for us to get reimbursement, I was like, I wanna coach them so they can create whatever, do whatever they need in their brains in order to show up in a way that’s really powerful that’s gonna benefit an entire department or unit or organization.

That’s, it’s a a so that’s a roundabout kind of long winded answer, but I don’t, I don’t think there’s a right or wrong way to do it. I think it’s, it’s, it just depends on where you are, right? Is it going to support you? If you can sit down and create that vision, then we can work backwards and say, Does it help me get there? Yes. No. And then if not, I think the other question is, does it help me get further down the path of understanding what I like, you know, what I wanna do what’s best for me? Then I would say it sounds like it could be a good investment for

Cassie Lane:

You. I feel like that’s pretty much great entrepreneur 1 0 1 guidance, which is a begin with the end in mind. Which sounds so simple, it sounds like, Well, duh. But I can tell you, like, I didn’t start my entrepreneurship journey with the end in mind. I felt like I grew to grow and, and succeeded to succeed. Not with, you know, it’s really easy to say I’m doing this for more time with my family or flexibility or whatever. But if you, it’s really easy to not receive that out of entrepreneurship. So designing the life you want. And that’s why I do love that you, that you’re saying living the good life because it’s really, that’s what it’s about. I mean, do you feel like, are you there? Did you, do you feel like you’re like, Okay, that’s it. I’ve achieved it. I’m living the good life.

Ann Konkoly:

Oh yeah. I, I love, I mean, I, you know, I’m home for my kids. My I’m home for my family. I’m, I do work that I love, I travel, I, I love, I love this life. You know, I, I, there’s so many elements and it’s not terribly, It’s, it’s a lot. It’s different than what I was doing. It’s not a ton different. Right? Cuz what’s always interesting, we change, you know, you and I both know about circumstances we start to change, you know, if you in, in mindset working right? And you know, changing, you know, circumstances, right? And I always talk about like, you know, you can, you know, you, like, we first bought our house, it was this like ugly beige. It was this ugly light brown color, in fact. And I, I couldn’t stand, I, it just didn’t like this house when we, when we bought it.

And, but this house made sense for a lot of reasons. And it had good bones. And we thought, all right, fine. And so, you know, what do I do? You get manage your mind around driving into the brown house, you know, seven days a week there’s a brown house. Okay. And then, Right. And what happens eventually you’re like, All right, well I’ll either manage my mind around the brown house, or I paint it and Right. And, but what’s interesting is that if you’re like, Oh yeah, but I really love how a white house with black trim looks, and I’m gonna update the, you know, like the, the light fixtures on the outside, like their little earrings on the side of the doors. And I’m gonna create this gorgeous, you know, front door entry with, you know, a beautiful curb appeal and put a beautiful little Halloween mat on with little ghosts on it.

It says boo on it. And you’re, and then you’re like, Oh, I love it. And you’re like, Same. It’s the same damn house. Yeah. What happened? Right? Well, we did change circumstances, we changed the color of the house, right? It’s just objective data. We also changed our thinking. We got in alignment more with what we like, and it’s a lot easier to do that. So I think oh shit, I got into the brown house and the White House, and I just lost all track of where I was going and why the story even came up. Please remind me, <laugh>,

Cassie Lane:

I’m just still, I’m like really impressed with the visualization. Visualization is not a weakness of yours because you were down, you were down to the mat, but it was kinda like, are you, are you at the good life?

Ann Konkoly:

Yeah. Yeah. And yes, you’re right. So changing

Cassie Lane:

Circumstances, but the thought process is still

Ann Konkoly:

Yeah. And most

Cassie Lane:

Important.

Ann Konkoly:

And I think that, so it’s kind of the thank you for, for bringing me back on track, I think. Yes. So it, I think it’s a mix. It’s kind of a, a mix of both <laugh>. It’s, it’s a little bit about you know, like there were elements of my life that were amazing then catching babies. There was a time when that was really my version of living the Good Life mm-hmm. <Affirmative>. And then there was a time when it wasn’t, and why, Well, you know, circumstances kind of changed. Some of the policies changed, some of the data changes, right? Some of the thinking changes some of the trauma, right? New trauma, new, you know, I, I haven’t met a, you know, a nurse or a healthcare practitioner, provider, clinician, whoever, that hasn’t been through some element of trauma, exposed to trauma on the job.

So I think, you know, I think some of that stuff kind of changes. But I think for me, the key is, you know, I’ve had many times in my life of, you know, living the good life, what I would call. And so my kind of goal is always to know when am I not in that space and when am I in that space? Because that’s the space I like to be in. And life is a lot easier when I’m in that space. You know, the thinking is just a lot, you know, clearer. So, so, but no, right now, this is work. I love this is work that I think is gonna change healthcare. This is work that’s so, has such tremendous impact for, you know, nurses and for our community and for our profession. And so that feels like, that feels so amazing to be able to do that level of work that supports, you know, the people in our community and our profession. I just, there’s no that, that feels so satisfying to me. So

Cassie Lane:

That’s awesome. I do wanna hit on that. We are having you come talk at the a p Aesthetics conference in Orlando this upcoming April. And we’re like just so thrilled about it. And the thing is, you can’t help but listen to you and, and pick up so many practical tips of things to do. Literally, every time I talk to you, you give me some amazing tip that I implement, and I’m like, Oh my gosh, that’s genius. Why didn’t I think, think of that? Sorry, that’s my dog. But so I’m, I’m just so thrilled for you to get to share your, your knowledge and like your vision and connect with the people that are going to be there and speak to the good life. And I think that everybody is will, will just get, just get so many takeaways from that. So thank you for doing that. And you know, I hope you’re excited to come connect and, and speak there too.

Ann Konkoly:

Oh yeah. And I think, you know, what’s better than getting a bunch of, you know, nurses who wanna run the world, who literally wanna run the world together in a small space, in a space, you know, I, I just think that’s so fun. And I, I can’t wait to be a part of it. I love to I, I like to inspire, you know, people, I like to inspire change, I like to motivate. And I love, I love the idea, right, that we could sit in that room, that conference area with those people who come to this event. And I love the fact, Cassie, that, that there may be something that you say, or that I say and that spurs someone else on to go and live in a way that really works for them and to then go out and to create tremendous impact.

And I mean, like, I, to me, that feels like I’m winning and I like to win a lot. And that feels, that feels like in, in my body. It feels like winning, you know? And so I’m, so, I’m, I’m pumped. I’m excited to come. I think, you know, I think this is a great opportunity. There’s so many you know, people who I think look at aesthetics and see an opportunity to create, you know, a a practice or a business that really works for them and that they’re interested in. And I mean, there’s no there’s no shortage of data to support that this

Cassie Lane:

Well, yeah. It, it is really skyrocketing. The, the to exploded. Yeah. Like the state of the market report stuff is just projecting med spas to be multiplying over the next decade. Like this is getting way more mainstream. Which is amazing. One thing when you were talking, I was thinking is that I think one thing that we share is this mentality of wanting to share success and, and have success not only for ourselves, but to bring as many people as possible along with us to, and that it shouldn’t be as rare as it is in this world. And I think that is the community that we’re really trying to foster with this with this conference, is that mentality of abundance and that this field is exploding. And like, come on in like what, where there’s a shortage of is people who understand business and there’s a shortage of people who are truly skilled injectors because the education that’s out there is pretty piss poor.

 And there’s no there’s no regulation on these programs. There’s nothing that, you know, makes you be accredited or certificate program. So they’re, I see a lot of poor injectors out there and they don’t know. And so it’s like, invest in yourself, get the skills, get the network, because having a network in this, when you’re running your own business is, is the most valuable thing because the highs are high and the lows are low. I think sometimes I get more stressed about a poor aesthetic outcome than I would about a poor, an aesthetic outcome, like much more objectively severe. But it is different when it’s, it’s truly your baby. So yeah, I think having this community, when I have a tough case or a tough day or a good day, sharing it and the connection that you have with other entrepreneur women is so, so genuine, you know what I mean?

Yeah. It’s like this is your true passion. It’s like when you have a baby and all you wanna talk about is how much it slept last night and how many ounces it ate. Like nobody wants to hear that. Or there’s a point that people don’t wanna hear that anymore. But when you’re in this community, it’s all they wanna talk about too. And it’s, it’s your true passion. It’s a cool thing to share deeper, I think, than what I shared with my other CNA compadres. Even so, you know, anybody who wants to come in and join that we’re, we’re here for it.

Ann Konkoly:

Yeah. And I, I think it’s nice too to have, you know, the, the setting where you can have, excuse me, those conversations and you can have, you know, the support of people who get it. And I, I very often run into you know, in terms of my, whether it’s my friend group or you know, my partner or you know, my family who, or the people who just don’t get it and they don’t get that sense of, you know, desire of creating something and growing and working on something, right? Like I think one of the hallmarks of what we do is just not being afraid to iterate and continuous process improvement and using scientific method, what worked, what didn’t, What am I gonna do? Definitely next

Cassie Lane:

Time? But that sounds like code word for, for some failures in there,

Ann Konkoly:

<Laugh>. Yeah, of course. But that’s, that’s,

Cassie Lane:

And that’s ok. Yeah. Oh,

Ann Konkoly:

Yes. And that, and I think to be, you know, it’s like, I I, it’s funny even I, we were just, I was just talking about this with one of my clients and she said, she said, I think I’m gonna stop telling my, sharing with my partner about how my, you know, my revenue, kind of the ups and downs. Cuz she was like, My partner can just not handle it. And I was like, I, I, that sounds like it’s probably wise, like ch pick and choose, right? Like what kind of relationship you wanna have with your partner and if you want it to be romantic, like talking about the finances of your business. So it’s probably exciting to you or not bothersome to you because you have a tolerance for failure and you have, you know, worked your mindset to be

Cassie Lane:

Risk tolerance. It’s a part of entrepreneurship. You have to have some level of it,

Ann Konkoly:

Right? Yeah. But like, if that’s not the relationship that you, you know, you want your spouse or your partner to have with you or you find that for you it’s tolerable and for them it’s not probably is time to make a choice about whether or not you wanna continue, you know, to be intentional about how you wanna use that relationship. And so I find too, it’s nice to be around people who aren’t, they’re not afraid to invest, they’re not afraid to think big, They’re not afraid to try new things. I mean that’s, you know, cuz I think that’s when, you know, we talk about mindset and creating these belief systems and stuff. And when you start to surround yourself, I, I have interviewed so many people on the podcast who, who talk about this as well about you put yourself in the room of people who think like you do because it is so much easier to operate in this world of entrepreneurship, again, being very risk tolerant.

Not risk avoidant, but very risk tolerant. And, you know, put yourself in that kind of mindset. Otherwise, you know, just, it, it, I mean, hell, you know, it is not surprising why, you know, you look at like the number of restaurants that fail year one, it’s like 80% of restaurants fail brick and mortars fail year one. Why? Well, I would imagine because you get down a path where it feels like you can’t fix it and what happens, You don’t reach out for help and then what happens? Your costs are skyrocketing and you’re not, you know, you’re not able to look at it. And how do we change the model and how do we pivot? And, and so don’t be, you know, so it’s not surprising. I think that, that so many people get into it and then they quickly get out of it because it’s just not, they don’t have the community support, they don’t have the mindset.

They don’t have just that, you know, built up tolerance for doing the scary shit, which I think we’re very good at. Cause we, many of us do it in our, you know, date have done in our nursing careers, right? It’s like, it’s a shoulder OCS for the midwife. It’s, you know it’s IUDs and VUL biopsies and MBS for the W H N P. It’s, you know, I don’t know, you know epidurals and whatever, shunts and whatever crazy like shit you guys do over the anesthesia world. Like if you, Right, it takes time to become the person who can very comfortably say, bring on the shoulder dystocia, I’m ready for it. Bring on any vulva biopsy, any em b any I u d, any next lawn removal, I’m ready for it.

Cassie Lane:

Yeah.

Ann Konkoly:

And just developing that. Yeah,

Cassie Lane:

It’s hard to, in buried in there too was this idea of like accepting sunk costs. Accepting, accepting mistakes and then learning and moving on. Because I’ve learned every lesson. It feels like the hard way. And that’s why I share those things with me. Cuz I’m like, guess what? You don’t have to make this exact same mistake. You will still make your whole list of mistakes and you’ll share them with me and then I won’t make that same mistake. And this way we can all get wiser in the business aspect by the other biggest thing is just that you said is think big. That’s, that’s the thing we’re the most guilty of, is not thinking the sky is a limit. Not thinking if what you want is to, you know, have a multi chain, multimillion dollar med spa, you can have that too.

That doesn’t have to be your version of success. Your version of success could be having a, a side hustle where you connect with other women and you pay for one vacation a year. All those things can be available to you. It’s just designing what that good life is for you. But, you know, I’d love hearing you say that you’re gonna change the healthcare system because you can and you know, who can’t is the person who doesn’t believe that it’s possible. And it’s hard to open open up your mind to that. So I just love that that’s where your head is at. Yeah.

Ann Konkoly:

And I, and Cassie, I think just building on that, it’s like if you were the person who’s blessed to have big ideas, I, it’s just, this is a like listen very carefully to what I’m going to say to you, which is that if you have big ideas, you have them for a reason and they’ve come to you for a reason. And if it weren’t possible, you would not have had the, the big idea, the big vision. So, so many people I think walk around with like, I have the next best idea, or I have this big idea of how we could change it, or this is the service or this is the product and they don’t do anything with it. And I think, you know, and so you, so on the flip side, so think big, if you are the person who tends to like take the next step one step at a time, allow yourself to think big. If you’re the person who’s blessed with having an ability to be creative and, and vision and be futuristic, then use it. Use it. It’s one of your strengths. So use it. Consider how you could use it to your advantage. And you know, so I think it goes, it kinda goes both ways.

Cassie Lane:

Yeah. You can love doing your work. You can love going to work. I never thought that, I thought that was like some BS that was sold to us that was more so meant to make us feel not happy with what we had, which was pretty good, right? But now that I have that, I’m like, oh, this is real. And you know, everybody can, you can have that. It takes a lot of work. I think just on ending kind of where can people find you? How can they connect with you? Just kind of any last thoughts you, you wanna make sure that you get out there for the, you know, handful of people who may watch this <laugh>?

Ann Konkoly:

Yeah, I think if you’re thinking about going down to the conference, I think stop thinking and just go get a goddamn ticket. Like go just buy a ticket and go. I don’t, I think it’s so reasonably priced. And I think, I think if you start to consider, if you wanna talk about being, you know, the med spa owner who’s got a, who starts a franchise model and all it starts with is becoming an injector and, you know, doing a training and, and coming into a conference like this, like what does that cost you? I don’t know, 2,500 we’re talking about, you know, $2,500 for an a possibility of a million. I mean, I don’t know if like we were walking down the street and somebody was like, Hey, if you give me 2,500 bucks, I’ll give you a million back in cash. And you would just like look in the face and be like, there’s no, it’s just not possible.

But that’s, that’s what happens, right? When you start to think bigger, you start to invest, you start to, you know, consider what you could do. And so I think if, if people are on the fence about going I think, you know, again, come back, is it the next right step for me? Or, you know, if you’re the bigger visioning person, is this feel like for me it’s the direction I wanna go. Cause if it’s been calling to you for the past two, three years and you’re like, I just really think you know injectables is super cool and I just love like transforming the face and I love the art portion, the cre creativity behind it. Like, like, okay, let’s go. Yeah, let’s go. There’s people who need you. They’re looking for you <laugh>, they need you right now. They

Cassie Lane:

They do. And

Ann Konkoly:

Yeah,

Cassie Lane:

You’re making people feel better, which there’s very few areas of medicine that we truly get to do that,

Ann Konkoly:

Right? And so go, so do it. I mean, I think that’s the, you know, stop thinking start doing. That’s the, that’s the bottom line. But people, can you reach me on my website? It’s www do in conley cnn.com. And then a lot of people find me on Facebook for the side hustles for APRN’s Facebook group and you know, we do tips in there and share side hustles. And I get in there and, and just give some advice and and then post any of the trainings and online courses that I’ve built that I think would be supportive to the community. So, so, but yeah,

Cassie Lane:

I’ve personally seen you really transform a number of careers for, for nurses. You know, one of my friends is a is an living, breathing example of it and which is amazing. Well, thank you so much for taking the time to meet with me and I look forward to seeing you in person here in a few months. Wait,

Ann Konkoly:

Well we could made, we could meet in person. I’m so excited. I <laugh> thank you for having you. It was nice to, it was so nice to chat with you and to see your business grow and I, I feel really lucky and just privileged to be a part of it. So thank you.

Cassie Lane:

Thank you. All right. Bye Ann.

Ann Konkoly:

Bye.