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Apply Business Principles to Dietetics Practice
PRACTICE APPLICATIONS President’s Page
Apply Business Principles to Dietetics Practice
I
T IS AN HONOR FOR ME TO SERVE as the 2016-2017 President of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics; the Academy has been my professional home for 30 years, and I am especially proud to be serving as we prepare for our centennial in 2017 and the beginning of our second century. As our founders did nearly 100 years ago, we are looking ahead and setting a bold vision for our organization and our profession.
BUSINESS APPROACH OFFERS VALUE In 1991 I moved from New York to Boca Raton, FL, where I started and built up a business that focuses on providing nutrition services through many venues, but with the single purpose of improving the nutritional health of the community. Not everyone wants to own their own business, or is in a position to do so. Still, I believe the business approach offers every registered dietitian nutritionist (RDN) and every nutrition and dietetics technician, registered (NDTR) ways to demonstrate our effectiveness, increase our value, and make an impact that is recognized and compensated. It’s important to ask: Who funds you? Where does your salary come from? If you are an outpatient dietitian, your compensation may be based on the number of patients you see and can bill for your services. If you are a Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) dietitian in a community health setting, you are likely funded by one or more governmental sources. If you can gain a good understanding of where your salary comes from, how budgets are created, and how you fit in the organization’s overall scheme, you can demonstrate your outcomes and prove your value.
USEFUL PRINCIPLES Owning a business is a learning experience, in which I have acquired principles that I live by—principles I believe will be useful to any RDN or NDTR in any area of practice: ª 2016 by the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.
1)
2)
3)
4)
Be flexible while maintaining your beliefs and vision. I have watched individuals lose exciting opportunities because they were unable to compromise. Don’t be afraid to change your mind when new information is presented. No matter how many times you fail, you must keep trying. I have reinvented myself and my business a number of times to stay competitive in a changing health care environment. Always say “yes”—figure out the logistics later. Some of the most successful projects I have embarked on occurred when I had no game plan when I started. Jump in and learn to swim! Take the time to develop relationships that make the work easier and more rewarding. In the words of my practice coordinator Jen Henderson, “Teamwork divides the task and multiplies the success.”
ACADEMY RESOURCES The Academy offers numerous resources for members looking to hone their business skills. These resources include professional development opportunities and publications at eat rightSTOREstore.org, membership in several dietetic practice groups, Journal career supplements and articles, and information specific to members in private practice at http://www. eatrightPRO.org/resources/practice/ getting-paid/smart-business-practiceand-management. The House of Delegates conducted a dialogue on the issue in October 2014, and appointed a Business and Management Skills Task Force in 2015. The task force “(determined) a plan to assist members and students with building, enhancing, and utilizing skills and knowledge related to business and management.” More information will be available soon on implementation of the task force’s recommendations, including enhancement of the business resources section of eatrightPRO.org.
Lucille Beseler
INSIGHTS FROM “THE SHARK” And just when you think it’s safe to go back in the water . my vision for our 2016 Food & Nutrition Conference & Expo (FNCE) is to feature a strong businesswoman as the Opening Session Keynote Speaker who can motivate and inspire our members. We have booked just such a speaker: real estate mogul Barbara Corcoran, one of the stars of the hit ABC-TV program “Shark Tank,” which gives contestants the chance to “potentially secure business deals that could make them millionaires.”1 The program’s “sharks” are “tough, selfmade, multi-millionaire and billionaire tycoons (who) search to invest in the best businesses and products that America has to offer.”1 Barbara Corcoran will be a perfect FNCE speaker—I hope you will join me in Boston, MA, in October to hear her insights.
ACHIEVE OUR VISIONS I am honored to be part of a group of RDNs who have been identified as trailblazers. I think of myself as more of an “accidental trailblazer”—I only set out to start a business to make a living. But I’m interested in doing all I can to help members look ahead and set (and realize) our own successful visions. Lucille Beseler, MS, RDN, LDN, CDE [email protected] http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jand.2016.04.018
Reference 1.
About Shark Tank. ABC website. http://abc. go.com/shows/shark-tank/about-the-show. Accessed April 26, 2016.
JOURNAL OF THE ACADEMY OF NUTRITION AND DIETETICS
1065
Apply Business Principles to Dietetics Practice
I
T IS AN HONOR FOR ME TO SERVE as the 2016-2017 President of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics; the Academy has been my professional home for 30 years, and I am especially proud to be serving as we prepare for our centennial in 2017 and the beginning of our second century. As our founders did nearly 100 years ago, we are looking ahead and setting a bold vision for our organization and our profession.
BUSINESS APPROACH OFFERS VALUE In 1991 I moved from New York to Boca Raton, FL, where I started and built up a business that focuses on providing nutrition services through many venues, but with the single purpose of improving the nutritional health of the community. Not everyone wants to own their own business, or is in a position to do so. Still, I believe the business approach offers every registered dietitian nutritionist (RDN) and every nutrition and dietetics technician, registered (NDTR) ways to demonstrate our effectiveness, increase our value, and make an impact that is recognized and compensated. It’s important to ask: Who funds you? Where does your salary come from? If you are an outpatient dietitian, your compensation may be based on the number of patients you see and can bill for your services. If you are a Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) dietitian in a community health setting, you are likely funded by one or more governmental sources. If you can gain a good understanding of where your salary comes from, how budgets are created, and how you fit in the organization’s overall scheme, you can demonstrate your outcomes and prove your value.
USEFUL PRINCIPLES Owning a business is a learning experience, in which I have acquired principles that I live by—principles I believe will be useful to any RDN or NDTR in any area of practice: ª 2016 by the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.
1)
2)
3)
4)
Be flexible while maintaining your beliefs and vision. I have watched individuals lose exciting opportunities because they were unable to compromise. Don’t be afraid to change your mind when new information is presented. No matter how many times you fail, you must keep trying. I have reinvented myself and my business a number of times to stay competitive in a changing health care environment. Always say “yes”—figure out the logistics later. Some of the most successful projects I have embarked on occurred when I had no game plan when I started. Jump in and learn to swim! Take the time to develop relationships that make the work easier and more rewarding. In the words of my practice coordinator Jen Henderson, “Teamwork divides the task and multiplies the success.”
ACADEMY RESOURCES The Academy offers numerous resources for members looking to hone their business skills. These resources include professional development opportunities and publications at eat rightSTOREstore.org, membership in several dietetic practice groups, Journal career supplements and articles, and information specific to members in private practice at http://www. eatrightPRO.org/resources/practice/ getting-paid/smart-business-practiceand-management. The House of Delegates conducted a dialogue on the issue in October 2014, and appointed a Business and Management Skills Task Force in 2015. The task force “(determined) a plan to assist members and students with building, enhancing, and utilizing skills and knowledge related to business and management.” More information will be available soon on implementation of the task force’s recommendations, including enhancement of the business resources section of eatrightPRO.org.
Lucille Beseler
INSIGHTS FROM “THE SHARK” And just when you think it’s safe to go back in the water . my vision for our 2016 Food & Nutrition Conference & Expo (FNCE) is to feature a strong businesswoman as the Opening Session Keynote Speaker who can motivate and inspire our members. We have booked just such a speaker: real estate mogul Barbara Corcoran, one of the stars of the hit ABC-TV program “Shark Tank,” which gives contestants the chance to “potentially secure business deals that could make them millionaires.”1 The program’s “sharks” are “tough, selfmade, multi-millionaire and billionaire tycoons (who) search to invest in the best businesses and products that America has to offer.”1 Barbara Corcoran will be a perfect FNCE speaker—I hope you will join me in Boston, MA, in October to hear her insights.
ACHIEVE OUR VISIONS I am honored to be part of a group of RDNs who have been identified as trailblazers. I think of myself as more of an “accidental trailblazer”—I only set out to start a business to make a living. But I’m interested in doing all I can to help members look ahead and set (and realize) our own successful visions. Lucille Beseler, MS, RDN, LDN, CDE [email protected] http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jand.2016.04.018
Reference 1.
About Shark Tank. ABC website. http://abc. go.com/shows/shark-tank/about-the-show. Accessed April 26, 2016.
JOURNAL OF THE ACADEMY OF NUTRITION AND DIETETICS
1065