Featured RD: Self Employed vs. Entrepreneur

There seems to be a misconception of a “self-employed” individual vs. an “entrepreneur.”  These terms tend to be used interchangeably by dietitians, when in fact they are two different entities:

After selling my private nutrition consulting practice in 2001, I became hooked on Robert Kiyosaki’s books, Rich Dad, Poor Dad.  According to Kiyosaki, there are four quadrants of individuals:

• E-Employee—who works for someone else for an hourly rate or salary

• S-Self-employed-who is generally of a service profession where the business depends on this person. If the self-employed individual gets sick or dies, so does the business.

• B-Business owner (Entrepreneur)-who hires others to run the day-to-day operation of the business while the owner builds and oversees the business. The business does not depend on him or her to “be there”

• I-investor-who “has money working for him or her” by creating money through investing in stocks, bonds, real estate, limited partnerships, etc.

What I didn’t realize at the time that I opened my patient private practice was that I was moving from having a job to “owning a job.”  If I was sick or my young child was sick, my doors did not open that day.  As I became a little smarter, I realized that if I hired other dietitians to work for me, I could generate revenue or what is called, “passive income.”  Removing myself from my business gave it “sale-ability” making my business more of an asset.

There are other nutrition-related businesses besides patient-nutrition counseling that you can start, which seems to be the growing trend of today’s entrepreneurial dietitian vs. the route of the typical solo patient practice.  It is important to follow your passion while setting boundaries in order to take care of YOU.