Confidence in Practice: Owning Your Role and Using Gold Standard Care as a Footcare Nurse

In this episode of EmpowerHer Entrepreneur, host Janis Boudreau dives into the vital role of confidence in entrepreneurship and nursing practice. Confidence isn’t just about looking assured—it’s about feeling it and backing it up with gold standard practices in every client interaction.

Janis explores how Footcare Nurses can cultivate confidence by combining professional knowledge, evidence-based care, and consistent best practices. Listeners will learn how confidence influences client trust, business growth, and professional satisfaction—and how gold-standard care is not just a guideline, but the foundation for success in this field.

Transcript

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Welcome back to Empower Her Entrepreneur, the podcast dedicated to entrepreneurial footcare nurses who want to thrive in business and practice with excellence. I'm your host, Janice Boudreaux, and today's show is brought to you by Advanced Footcare Nurse and Wellness and the AFCN Learning Institute. Today's episode is one that goes right to the heart of what it means to be a professional footcare nurse. Confidence, not just projecting it, guys, but really feeling it and combining that with gold standard care in everything you do. So, what confidence really means? Confidence isn't about knowing everything, it's about trusting yourself in the moment. It's saying I might not have every answer, but I have the tools, the training, and the professional network to find the answer. As nurses, clients look to us not only for clinical care, but for reassurance. The way you walk into the room, the way you introduce yourself, the way you explain a procedure, and all of those moments communicate confidence. And here's the thing: the clients really feel it. A confident nurse calms their anxiety, builds trust, and creates loyalty. This is something that I learned earlier on. I knew that by bringing the confidence that I could and portraying that to my clients, how do you think I built the business that I did? I knew to be well prepared, to go in there. I didn't always have the answers, but I made sure that my clients were leaving with a thoughtful care plan. They were, when you're displaying the confidence, they leave in confidence. They leave knowing in some type of security that they've been taken care of. And that is absolutely so important. We have had many things probably happen to us in our lives that's led up to us being an entrepreneur and being a foot care nurse. And it's these things that I'll call them things, I'll call them emotions that can sometimes build up and steal away our confidence. So this is something we need to take a look. You know, I'm not gonna get deep here about your past, but when you're doing this and you're forefront with a client, you're wanting to bring your best. You need to um let a lot of those preconceived notions that you're going in with go. Go in with a smile, go in with your confidence. Know in your heart you're giving your all. And you know what? When you're doing that, you are truly being confident. So there's feeling versus faking confidence. So let's be real. Many of us have tried the fake it till you make it approach. And yes, sometimes it works in the short term, and I've done this, but my fake it till I make it, if I've ever done that, it's more um not in my knowledge or practice. It would be when I had 10 clients, I said I had a hundred. So you are seeing more of an expert level. I'd say that's the only little bit of fudging or faking that I did is um the fake it till you make it is more um, oh my gosh, there's a book out there actually, that the you know, the power of now. I think it's what it is. So you're seeing the future. I think I can do those type of fake it's, but no. Um real confidence, that's something deeper. It comes from preparation, knowing your skills, policies, and procedures. This is very important. This is something that you can do on your own to make yourself better through preparation. This could be um taking more courses, this could be aligning yourself with a mentor, policies and procedures. Have you sat down and wrote out the policy and procedures for many parts of your business? This is why us at the Institute, we do provide them for purpose. This could be uh your policies and procedures for booking a client, for a canceled client, for late clients. It could be how you schedule people, it could be your policies and procedure manual for every single treatment you provide. It could be your reprocessing manual. These are all things that if you've written them out step by step, meaning a person can come in from the outside and read these policies and procedures and be aware of what skills you have, then you're doing something right. You're going in with confidence. It comes also from experience. Every client you serve is building your knowledge. If you think about all the things from the day one you started to whether you'll be one month in now or myself 15 years later, every single client gains experience with you and increases your confidence. Alignment, living and practicing in a way that matches your values. When you are in alignment with what you're doing with everything in your life, you will exuberate and feel real confidence. You cannot have one portion, example, your professional career and your home life that are not in alignment with being the confident individual you have. So this is it. It comes from preparation, experience, and alignment across your life. For example, I remember my early days as a fuck your nurse, I had the training, but inside I sometimes I felt shaky. So what helped me shift wasn't pretending, it was reminding myself, I'm trained, I'm skilled, I'm here for a reason. And with every client I served, that confidence grew way more authentic. Gold standard practices in foot care nursing. So, what does it mean to use gold standard practices in our work? It's about consistency and excellence in the fundamentals, following infection or following, you know, our infection prevention and control standards without any shortcuts. Always using sterilized instruments and maintaining proper documentation. You're conducting very thorough, comprehensive assessments and not just quick fixes. You're staying committed to continuing education and evidence, evidence-based updates. These are all things that you know what? These practices aren't optional. They protect us legally, clinically, and professionally. And when you're using all your gold standard care consistently, your confidence is gonna grow because you know you're practicing at the highest level. I I listed off those things about the sterilized equipment, um, never shortcuts, um, conducting through assessments. These, if you're lost a little bit saying, that's great, I know those are standard practices, but how do I do them? This is where you're looking for education or a mentor to get there. If you're struggling with assessments, I know that uh one of our clinical partners is hosting through us an assessment webinar coming up. That would be a great opportunity. You can find resources out there. So some of those things with gold standard practice, where are you lacking? Where do you need instead of ignoring it and doing the I can't do that? What are you doing within yourself to better yourself and your practice? If you need help with IPAC standard, where are you going to find it? Are you taking a course? Are you going online? Perhaps you are visiting another foot care clinic. These are all things that are going to make you feel a lot more comfortable and a lot more confident. Um, when you're conducting those assessments with your clients, are you utilizing all of the tools? Through all of this also comes feeling just so much more at ease when you're knowledgeable to be able to do assessment from like A to Z with your client. Your client picks up on that. Absolutely. They know when you're doing a full assessment. So these are gold standard practices. So the power of client perception. Let's talk about that. Let's talk about how clients perceive confidence in our best practices. Clients notice the details, your tone of voice, your professionalism, your attention to infection control, and even how you set up your workspace. They're watching. I cannot tell you how many experiences I have had, that it was generally after the fact that clients were like, wow, I really noticed you opened every individual package. I noticed that, you know, towards the it was kind of my go-to, towards the end while I'm still talking to them, still getting information. And you know, you're telling that client nurse relationship with them. I would be actually wiping down and sanitizing all the things in the clinic room. Um, it was a great multitask, but you don't think that client didn't notice? Oh, whoa, look at her go. She's changed her gloves. Um, again, she's now sanitizing everything, then she's putting away all the one-time use ready to be cleaned and sterilized. These are all things very much watch. So think about it. If a client sees you carefully opening a sterilized package, wearing proper PPE, and explaining each step, what do they feel? They feel safe, secure, they feel respected, they feel cared for. So confidence plus gold standard practices is creates trust, and trust creates business growth. That's how you go from being a provider to being the nurse they recommend to others, which is growth, and exponentially for you, which is wonderful, is profit. So overcoming confidence roadblocks. Of course, confidence doesn't come without challenges, got a lot of challenges. Maybe you've experienced the imposter syndrome, that feeling of who am I to do this. I have had that many, not just doing care in front of clients, um, with every step in my journey. Um, but that's what makes you to greatness is when you can jump over that feeling of who am I to do this. The more confident you feel, you're actually leveling up. Fear of mistakes, wearing one error will ruin everything. Lord help me. If you guys knew the errors, the fudges, the goof ups, um, the little things, these are just lessons. What you do from the mistake is more important than the actual mistake itself. You have to evaluate what led to the mistake, what changes can be made, and focus forward. Comparisons, looking at any other nurses and thinking they have it all figured out. So these are the things if your confidence is down and you aren't able to bring that out in your foot care nurse practice, you need to look at, you know, if you're if you're questioning why you can do it, if you're fearing about mistakes. But comparisons, you shouldn't be looking at any other nurses and what they're doing. Honestly, um, I'm figuring things out on a weekly basis. I'm a highly organized person with calendars, lists, to-do lists. Um, and that's what gets me through too. Uh, I say focused on other things instead of trying to compare myself to others and what they're doing because the more time and energy I worry about what another foot nurse is doing, I'm stealing away from my desire to build and be amazing. So stop comparing. Don't worry about what others are doing. It is very different to be watching or monitoring our industry or other foot nurses for excellence because you can learn from them. But do not switch it to a comparison that you're now making yourself feel that you can't be there because you can be there. Stay focused. So if that's you though, hear this: every single nurse has been there, and confidence isn't a destination, it's a journey. And the antidote to those roadblocks is simply but powerful. Keep learning, keep practicing, and keep reminding yourself that the impact you make every day. Some practical strategies to strengthen your conference. So here's some simple but very effective ways to strengthen confidence in your daily work. One, start with small wins. Each client interaction is a chance to practice and grow. Celebrate progress, not perfection. This is something we actually do in our VIP Footmasters group on Facebook. Um, those of you that are past students or um have taken a course, bought a form, or uh, there's a$19 membership fee are a part of that group. We actually celebrate this every single week. And I am so excited in that group to see what people are often putting and as their wins. There are so many different wins in the book care nursing practice I didn't even realize. But maybe, you know, lad, can you add that to your calendar? Um, every Friday, start with the small wins of the week. Two, prepare for before each appointment, review your notes, gather your supplies, and go in knowing you're ready. These are things that you can do. Um, usually what I've seen other nurses do is if you want to put a 15-minute prep time, you need more, you need less, hey, you do you. But I will actually take a look. Um, you'll look at your client list for the day. Um, you'll remember, you know, especially with ongoing clients, I think you can all agree, a lot of them you remember right off the bat. So I will print off a client list and do notes beside them in case I'm forgetting, in case I want to make sure to look at things. And it is truthfully, we use um online like charting. I'm able to click the appointment, click into the charting, take a quick look about what's going on, um, if there's any concern. And sometimes I'll put just a G, like good to go general appointment. Or by reviewing that charting, I can bring myself up to speed when I seen them. Um, we generally see our clients every five weeks. We do it before the six-week mark, but I am ready to go. And when you're looking at your client list charting, yes, you're gonna remember, oh, that's right. I need these three tools for this person. You're setting them aside, you're aligning your day. Because when you're aligning your whole day and you're preparing for those appointments, you have to admit it's smooth. There's nothing worse than digging through. Oh, I'll be back in a minute while you're running around the room, running to another room, trying to grab equipment that's missing. Um, you know, and never there are clients suddenly walk in who you could have been seeing for the last three years and never had a corn, and maybe you didn't have something available. Don't sweat the small stuff. This is a new challenge that's come up. Go get the equipment needed. But preparation is key. Three, seek feedback. Ask clients or mentors what they appreciate about your care. Sometimes others see strengths we overlook. Pay attention to some of the reviews you're getting. Pay attention to the language from your clients or posts that you're putting out there. See where the energy is coming from, get that feedback and let it build your confidence. Four, invest in ongoing learning. Courses, workshops, mentorships, these are fuel for both competence and confidence. Education is key. That's all I'm gonna say. Before I even developed my own uh advanced footcare course, which we now have 22 clinical partners nationally, what if I told you I took the footcare program at no less than four other places because I wanted to um gain knowledge from them. I wanted to see, you know, what was great or even what was missing or what I could do better. So that's a really prime example of investing in my learning to be able to produce the best. That's a perfect example. If you are lacking an ingrown nail, take a course. If you're unsure about sharps, take a course, take a webinar, visit a clinic. There are so many clinics out there. I know a lot of our uh clinical partners offer mentorship that you could even visit for a day, pay the fee, visit for a day, visit for three days, pay that fee. It is well worth it if it's going to build your confidence. Five, practice self-reflection. After a day's worse work, ask what went well, what did I learn? Reflection turns experience into confidence. This is hard sometimes to remember to reflect. I do like doing this daily. I find, you know, there's so much that happens in a week. It's one thing to do your your um week of small wins, but when you're practicing self-reflection, I think it's important to do it at the end of your day. And then after you've reflected, you go wash your hands and it's done. Because if you're gonna harbor on things that didn't go well, that you know, that that doesn't build confidence. So go over what went well, what didn't, what you need to learn from it, and turn it. So here's your takeaway, everybody. Confidence grows through preparation, reflection, and alignment. Your gold practice standard care is your anchor. It's what ensures your confidence is rooted in real skill and professionalism. This week I challenge you to identify one area of your practice where you want to feel more confident and one standard you want to strengthen. Write them down, take action. So thank you for joining me on Empower Her Entrepreneur. I'm Janice Bujo, and I believe in you. And you have the skills, the heart, and the ability to shine with confidence and excellence. If you found this episode helpful, share it with a fellow footcare nurse and subscribe for more episodes that empower you to lead with strength and grace. Until next time, keep walking in confidence and keep practicing at your gold standard practices.