Vickie Milazzo
Company: Vickie Milazzo Institute, a division of Medical-Legal Consulting Institute, Inc. -- Houston, TX
Company Description: Vickie Milazzo Institute, division of Medical-Legal Consulting Institute, Inc., (VMI), is the largest U.S. legal nurse consulting firm. Founded in 1982 by Vickie L. Milazzo, RN, MSN, JD., the company offers a certification that turns traditional nursing careers into small businesses as consultants to the legal profession. VMI wins many awards, employs 22 people and earned $9 million in 2003.
Nomination Category: Stevie Awards for Women Entrepreneur Categories
Nomination Sub Category: Mentor of the Year
Nomination Title: Vickie L. Milazzo, RN, MSN, JD -- Owner/CEO of The Vickie Milazzo Institute
Tell the story about what the nominated woman/women achieved during the eligibility period (up to 500 words). Focus on specific accomplishments, and relate these accomplishments to past performance or industry norms. Be sure to mention obstacles overcome, innovations or discoveries made, and outcomes:
In her company’s early days, the mentoring Vickie Milazzo offered students was an informal, yet effective way of supporting their new careers as Certified Legal Nurse ConsultantsCM (CLNCsÒ). The phone calls would come in:
“Vickie, I’ve got my first case. Please, give me pointers on how to make the best presentation I can.”
“Vickie, this is the first time I’ve taken on a case as complex as this one. Where should I begin my research?”
“Tomorrow, I’ve got an appointment to meet with one of the most important attorneys in town. I’ve got the jitters. I’m not always good with authority figures, Vickie. What’s the best way to present myself?”
“I saw how mentoring could turn good students into successful legal nurse consultants,” says Milazzo. “I knew if my business was going to grow and my students were going to be the best, I would have to develop a full-scale mentoring program.
“I couldn’t just leave nurses to figure everything out on their own when they ran into a snag.”
Today, Milazzo’s formal mentoring program is the very core of her education and training business. Twenty mentors advise students – fourteen are full-time practicing CLNCs. The Institute fields more than 300 mentoring calls a month, “and, by far, unlimited mentoring is the most popular benefit,” says Milazzo.
CLNCs pay nothing extra for the service, and from a business standpoint, the time-honored tradition of mentoring has reaped remarkable profits. Company earnings have tripled over the last five years. The 2003 growth rate was 24%, and gross revenues were $9 million.
Milazzo explains: “Our relationship with customers actually intensifies after the sale.”
Mentoring consultations range from reviewing business plans, marketing strategies and promotional packages, to guiding the CLNCs in managing their first cases as legal nurse consultants. Mentoring builds confidence and it helps CLNCs avoid mistakes. Mentoring helps because mentors are experienced in all the things a CLNC needs to know. They have been in their protégé’s shoes.
Mentoring takes place by telephone and email. Students phone or email their mentoring requests to an Institute call center where customer service representatives link them with an appropriate mentor who responds within 24 hours.
DIFFERENTIATION FROM THE COMPETITION – Mentoring sets the Institute apart from its competitors. No other legal nurse consulting program offers it. Vickie has published a book of success stories she has received from her students. Many have achieved six-figure success.
To read some of these mentoring success stories, please go to the Vickie Milazzo Institute website (LegalNurse.com) and look for “Free Success Story
Book.”
List hyperlinks to any online news stories, press releases, or other documents that support the claims made in the section above. IMPORTANT: List each link on a separate line, begin each link with http://, and enclose each link in square brackets; for example, [http://www.website.com]. NOTE: You may submit supporting materials for your nomination offline, but only judges who request them will see them:
To Award Panelists:
Following are hyperlinked areas of the Vickie Milazzo Institute website that show importance of mentoring in her company.You will find:
1.Hyperlink to Vickie Milazzo VIDEO accessible on the company's website home page -- PLEASE NOTE on the right-hand side of the home page, a reference to, "CLNC Success Video" -- "Preview Your New Life as a CLNC. This brief video
contains testimonials to Milazzo's effectiveness as a mentor.2. Hyperlink to the home page of the Vickie Milazzo Institute website. Please note
the list on the left-most part of the home page (in gold), and look for "Success Stories." Click here to read testimonials to Milazzo's effectiveness as a mentor.3.Hyperlink to a profile of Vickie Milazzo published three months ago in "Houston Woman Magazine." Within article, please note brief sidebar article entitled, "5 Success Promises I Made 21 Years Ago." This article contains mentoring advice from Vickie Milazzo.
Provide a brief (up to 100 words) biography of the nominated woman/women:
Vickie L. Milazzo, RN, MSN, JD, created a profession so RNs can use their training in a new and different way as Certified Legal Nurse ConsultantsCM (CLNC®s), who charge $100/$150 an hour. Most RNs make an average of $22 an hour.
Milazzo, 50, gave up hospital nursing at age 28 and started a legal nurse consulting business out of her one-bedroom Houston condo, attending law school at night. She had no outside financial help.
She believes nurses are overworked and underappreciated and deserve the opportunity to transform their traditional nursing careers into entrepreneurial businesses to advocate for patients in the legal arena.