Dr. Farah Laurent helps nurses make money moves

Dr. Farah Laurent is a nurse career coach, personal branding strategist, and the powerhouse behind Farah Laurent International Nurse Coach. She has helped hundreds of new nurses secure dream roles and launch successful businesses.

What first drew you into nursing, and how did that evolve into becoming a nurse career coach and branding strategist?

I started my career in Canada as a first-gen immigrant. I always loved healthcare, played with my dolls and pretended they were sick. I started watching Trauma: Life in the E.R. and I was hooked. I wanted to be an emergency nurse because I felt like you could really advocate for the community.

I got hired in the emergency department 20 years ago when it was unheard of. My clinical instructor laughed in my face and said I would never be an emergency nurse, I was too unorganized. I never subscribed to old, traditional thinking. I was always very bold and pursued my dreams. I promised myself I would later become an educator and inspire the next generation of nurses. That’s exactly what I did. I became an educator, a leader, and now I’m in entrepreneurship, helping new nurses and aspiring nurse entrepreneurs.

You’ve worked across emergency care, education, and leadership. How did this experience shape the way you support the nurses you coach today?

Being an emergency nurse impacted me the most. I left Canada after 5 years and moved to New York City. Adaptability is one of my superpowers. That’s what has allowed me to pivot so many times in nursing.

Despite many challenges, such as discrimination and not getting certain roles, even though I was the most qualified, we all know that structural racism is present in healthcare. I wrote an article in the American Journal of Nursing publication on how to address these barriers and help nurses advance.

The emergency department helped me become very adaptable, resilient, and relentless. That’s what I bring to coaching. I help new nurses and aspiring entrepreneurs realize they have so much power. I instill a lot of confidence in them. That’s the biggest transformation after working with me, being more confident to pursue their dream role.

You’ve become a top LinkedIn voice and appeared on the Jennifer Hudson show. How has visibility changed your platform and message?

Visibility has truly transformed my whole life, my career, and my business. I always say I’m a recovering introvert. I realized that visibility is important in the workplace to get promoted. I knew nothing about personal branding, and that hurt me from advancing more quickly in leadership. I got laid off 3 times in the last 5 years.

When I started my business, I was very intentional about building my personal brand. I became a content creator. On LinkedIn, I started out with no profile photo, then went to live streaming every single week for 4 years. It’s transformed my brand, my life, my business. People come up to me at speaking engagements, and some I never met, so you never know who’s watching you.

In the age of AI, you have to be live. People want that connection. Visibility really has transformed it for me.

When you work with new graduate nurses, what fears or misconceptions come up most often as they enter the workforce?

They lack confidence. They think they’re not enough. They think they can’t start where they want to start or that they have to start in the hospital, but they don’t necessarily have to.

I break those limiting beliefs. I’m proof of that. I started out in the emergency department, and I can help you do the same. I also help them reframe their thinking about money and negotiating their salaries, building a personal brand, showing up on LinkedIn.

I help nurses in California, one of the most competitive areas. I’m helping these nurses get jobs a lot more quickly than their colleagues, making anywhere from $160K to $175K as new nurses. My biggest message is you don’t have to settle for less. You can get what you want.

You’re also passionate about nurse entrepreneurship. What types of businesses are nurses building with your guidance?

There’s only about 1% of nurses who actually own businesses. A lot of nurse practitioners are building their own private practices. Some are doing telehealth. There are coaches and consultants building speaking businesses.

Some don’t realize they can monetize their expertise, even if they’re working full time, by starting a side hustle, writing a book, starting a podcast, or being a speaker. A lot are not leveraging their expertise and certifications. I talk to them about how to start monetizing those things and building their personal brand, because a lot just want to be behind the scenes.

In order for your business to thrive, you have to be networking and visible in person and online.

Your nurses making money moves movement is gaining traction. What transformations have you seen come out of it?

I started my career coaching business in 2021 while working full time as director of nursing. My daughter was just a couple months old, and I was in a doctoral program. I knew nothing about business. I’ve helped over 200 nurses land their dream role.

The nurses making money moves came about because I got laid off multiple times. The first layoff as Director of Education, they laid me off in a matter of a minute. They said, your position has been affected from restructuring, effective today, right now.

I put everything in my faith. Maybe this is God pushing me towards my purpose. I wrote a book called Nurses Making Money Moves! A Nurse’s Guide to Starting a Business. I started speaking and podcasting more because I wanted other nurses not to go through what I went through. These corporations really don’t care about you. I always tell nurses, you have to think about yourself as a business and as a brand.

I started my first conference after I got laid off. I planned it within 10 days with no sponsors during the holidays. People came from 20 different states. It’s really become a movement. The next one is in Tampa, called Nurses Making Business Moves.

Looking ahead, what changes do you hope to see in the nursing industry?

I want nurses to realize the opportunities are endless. Nursing transforms people’s lives. We’re the backbone of healthcare. I want nurses to know we don’t just have to work bedside. You can do multiple things. Look at yourself as a business, build your personal brand, be visible.

Another big agenda is advocacy, advocating for more nurses to get into the profession, to increase diversity in nursing. Research shows when we have a diverse workforce, patients have better outcomes.

I want nurses to pursue entrepreneurship or collaborate with other industries. That’s my vision with my conference. I have marketers, sales experts, other speakers from other industries, because nursing needs to learn from business and marketing to grow the profession and get financial freedom. There’s nothing wrong with nurses wanting to make money moves, because we have families to feed, and we risk our lives. I want to normalize for nurses to talk about money and talk about business.

For new nurses looking to reach out to you for mentorship, how can they reach you?

They can reach me on LinkedIn at Dr. Farah Laurent. My website is nursefarah.com, and for the conference, it’s nursesmakingbusinessmoves.com.