It is my strong belief that if we spend more time focusing on supporting and uplifting our colleagues, nurses would find greater satisfaction in the work that they do. Therefore I decided to create a monthly blog series: the Nursing Entrepreneur Spotlight – that focuses on exploring other nurse entrepreneurs and the fantastic work they’re doing. Since I’ve launched my company The Nurse Speak, I’ve had the pleasure of meeting many wonderful business savvy nurses. I’ve learned that there are so many amazing nurse entrepreneurs out there doing some really groundbreaking work, and this month’s featured guest is no different! So please let’s welcome this March’s featured nurse entrepreneur – Daniel Diaz, RN, BSN!
About Daniel Diaz
Daniel Diaz RN, BSN, is an operating room nurse and Director of Operations at Clipboard Health, a venture-backed tech startup company on a mission to get every healthcare provider into a job they truly love. Daniel is a huge nerd when it comes to technology, personal finance, and self-optimization. He has a knack for solving problems in creative ways, both inside the hospital, where he led projects on employee retention, workplace injuries, and community outreach, as well as outside the hospital, where he built a website that changed the trajectory of his career.
He started NewGradNurseHelp.com as a side project to solve a problem that he had experienced as an unemployed new grad nurse in the middle of The Great Recession. Daniel describes the new grad job hunt as “the most absurd process he has ever seen”, noting that many hospitals don’t state when their application windows are open, how long they will be open for, or how often they will hire new grads. Daniel states that most hiring managers won’t consider new grads if they’ve been out of school for over a year, therefore the nursing profession puts our youngest nurses into a horrible pressure cooker right out of the gate. Daniel continues by saying “there’s no wonder why 30-60% of new grads leave their first job within their first year.”
About Clipboard Health
After several years working in the Operating Room while coaching new grads through the job hunting process, Daniel caught the attention of Wei Deng, the CEO of Clipboard Health. Clipboard Health is a startup company backed by Y-Combinator – the prestigious startup accelerator where companies like: Airbnb, Dropbox, Stripe, Reddit, Instacart, Twitch, and many more household names got their start. Wei told Daniel that she was going to build a billion dollar company by helping nurses and other healthcare providers, and he said…”where do I sign up?” Daniel recognized the value of Wei’s background, drive and passion and wanted to join forces with her right away. Daniel exclaims that when one recognizes such characteristics in a potential business partner, “you don’t ask too many questions…you just get on the bus and hope they don’t leave you behind.”Daniel strongly believes that with the help of Clipboard Health, nurses can experience a more streamlined method of finding the perfect position that meets their individuals needs and skills sets!
Daniel Diaz’s Message to Today’s Nurse
“Nursing is hard. There’s no denying that it’s a tough gig. But what other industry do you know of where you can make $80k/year out of undergrad, work three days a week, and be almost guaranteed that your job won’t be replaced by robots or artificial intelligence (AI) in our lifetime? Not to mention we get the soul quenching satisfaction of healing others without the 24/7 on-call stress that doctors have to go through. Nursing has a lot of upside, despite all of our faults. As the host of The Project Nurse Podcast, I get to talk to so many nurses out there who are just crushing it. They’re nurses who found health, wealth, and happiness, so I know how incredible the opportunities are in our industry. You just have to get yourself out there, be vulnerable, step outside of your comfort zone, and provide value to others and you’ll be fine. I believe that every nurse has a right to live a life with meaning, learn every day, and love what you do.” – Daniel Diaz, RN, BSN
Connecting with Daniel Diaz
I met Daniel Diaz online through a mutual colleague and fellow nurse entrepreneur – Elizabeth Scala. We also began interacting on a few of the Facebook Group pages that we are members of. After connecting online and learning more about Daniel, I was immediately engaged and interested in what he was doing with his nursing career! We began collaborating, and now we are showing support for one another as we advance our nursing careers in more creative and diverse ways! Daniel is energetic, passionate and has a LOT to offer the nursing community! I highly recommend that you tune into his podcast, connect with him on Facebook, and Twitter.
To learn more about what Daniel has been up to, check out one of his latest blog posts: 62 Nursing Interview Questions and Answers – The Complete Guide for RN Jobs
Best,
Damion
