Focus on bringing money in…any way you know how.
Cherie Kloss is the founder and CEO of SnapNurse. Kloss is an entrepreneur at heart with a career-long dedication to bringing joy to people. Her varied experience includes providing quality patient care as a nurse and anesthetist for over 18 years and nearly a decade creating dozens of popular cable TV series as a leading TV executive producer. Her unique background and skill set enables her to have a comprehensive understanding of the difficulties that the healthcare industry and nurses face, while simultaneously leveraging her relationships in the entertainment industry to deliver impactful brand awareness.
Kloss spearheads all growth, marketing and partnership initiatives for SnapNurse and works closely with her executive team to secure premier facility-partners and connects them to the top pre-credentialed nurses in the area.
Currently, Kloss is focused on connecting as many professionals as possible with healthcare organizations in need and hopes to help solve the critical nursing shortage worldwide by developing a global digital authorization passport and payment system for participating practitioners. She created NurseToken in 2018 to build a blockchain credentialing system that could ease the arduous process of vetting and approvals. SnapNurse will be the first system to utilize this revolutionary concept.
Where did the idea for SnapNurse come from?
The idea for SnapNurse came from trying to associate a popular and modern term to give it a tech feel and make it memorable.
What does your typical day look like and how do you make it productive?
I wake up at 6:30 and start team calls at 7 am. I am in the Bay Area and the SnapNurse team is in Atlanta, so the calls start at 7am PST/10am EST. Then I answer emails and do more phone meetings until lunch. I try to stand up and type and move around because my whole world revolves around my laptop. Lately, I have been traveling to promote the other component of SnapNurse, NurseToken and just returned from Shanghai. I work on the plane and in cars, anytime I have WiFi.
How do you bring ideas to life?
I usually brainstorm with someone from my team and we try to make some baby steps towards seeing if it will work. I spend as little money as possible to try a concept out. For example, I went to market with SnapNurse with a white labeled third party platform and learned which features mattered that it did or didn’t have, and also how I could improve on the system.
What’s one trend that excites you?
The gig economy is exciting to me. I am also fascinated with crypto and blockchain applications.
What is one habit of yours that makes you more productive as an entrepreneur?
One habit is that I am obsessed with finishing things (like not leaving a deck unfinished).
What advice would you give your younger self?
Internships are more important than you realize.
Tell us something that’s true that almost nobody agrees with you on.
You are born to be who you are. Nature vs. Nurture, and it’s always Nature that wins.
As an entrepreneur, what is the one thing you do over and over and recommend everyone else do?
I review things over and over to make sure it’s right.
What is one strategy that has helped you grow your business?
Focus on bringing money in…any way you know how. At SnapNurse, we put a lot of energy into marketing to grow our business. Some companies prioritize more tangible things like building out a bigger tech team or getting a bigger office. However, I think when you start cutting down on marketing expenses, that may not be the right decision. I am certain we wouldn’t be where we are today (around one hundred nurses registering per week) if we didn’t hone in on marketing efforts and making sure our nurses feel valued. One example of a promotional event we did that was tremendously successful, was to have Gregg and NeNe Leakes of the Real Housewives of Atlanta meet and greet the SnapNurse nurses in Atlanta. They’ve been a true delight to the nursing community here.
What is one failure you had as an entrepreneur, and how did you overcome it?
I initially had the idea to do an hourly booking hotel app but I didn’t know the industry well enough to realize how difficult it would be to actually implement. I decided to turn the hotel booking app into a nurse booking app (a field that I understood) and that became SnapNurse.
What is one business idea that you’re willing to give away to our readers?
Crypto Money Managers for the everyday person who has no idea how to do it.
What is the best $100 you recently spent? What and why?
I bought a nurse a nice purse to award her for giving us so many referrals.
What is one piece of software or a web service that helps you be productive? How do you use it?
Telegram and Slack are both great. Telegram for team discussions and Slack for project management.
What is the one book that you recommend our community should read and why?
“The Hard Thing about Hard Things” by Ben Horowitz. It’s good because it helps you realize that even the best of the best entrepreneurs (Ben Horowitz) can go through very difficult times and have survived to tell about it.
What is your favorite quote?
“Two roads diverged in a wood and I — I took the road less traveled by, and that has made all the difference.” – Robert Frost
Key Learnings:
- Experience in a field is more valuable than book knowledge.
- Not all money is good money.
- Don’t let things lie unfinished.
- Failure is just an excuse to pivot.
- Find a need in a new emerging market and start a business.
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Carlyn runs the day-to-day publishing operation here at ideamensch and interacts with our awesome customers and entrepreneurs. She is likely editing this with a cat on her lap.