Good afternoon, Ms. Pierce. How are you, Jeremy? I'm good, I'm good. How do you like that sunshine? I'm trying to get us in the mood here. I've got the sun behind me and I've got the sun on the screen. You notice the theme here, right? I do, I do. I'm going to be the sunshine in the room today. Mr. Sunshine. Well, and maybe I need to get you a Red Bull because I think you need to wake up a little bit. Well, you know, most people, I don't know if everybody would think you're Mr. Sunshine with some of the news you've got to give people sometimes. Probably not, probably not, yeah. Well, Chan, today we're going to be talking about in this module, lifestyle flexibility for CRNAs and how 1099 can fit into that equation. You know, as CRNAs, obviously you guys are laid back type B personalities. That's it. You want to operate not on your own. I mean, you know, we know the truth, right? So learning how to maximize your lifestyle by doing 1099 work, and I think that's a key. You know, obviously 1099, Sharon, as you well know, because, well, I mean, talk about your story. I mean, you know, you've done this and it's given you some lifestyle flexibility. Tell us a little bit about that. Well, it certainly has. I was W2 my entire career and you kept after me. We've known each other for 20 plus years and you had been on me for that entire time. And it took me, gosh, it'll be three years in this coming up April, 2023. I went 1099 right during COVID, which was interesting, but it's given me a lot of flexibility. So I basically work nine months a year, give or take. If I want to take a week and go see my daughters up North, I do it. Pierce and I go on vacation anywhere from two weeks to a month, a year at one time, not spread out. And there's no way if you're working W2 could you really get that much time continuously off. My girlfriend, Tracy Castleman, we've tried to get her to go with us, but she's W2. She can't get off that long of a time. So that's the lifestyle flexibility that I have now. Whereas I used to have to beg to get a day off. Now I just make myself off work that day. There you go. But I think you hit the nail on the head is, you've got to be able to establish some sort of routine that allows you to also earn a living, make money, but really devote your energy and your time to things that add to your life, not add to your pocketbook. And as we've talked about before, this is going to be even more important as we get the newer generation of CRNAs into the mix because it is more important to that group. But again, as we've talked about, I'm seeing it for CRNAs for a little more seasoned as well. This is becoming even more and more of an issue. Well, there's the other thing, and we've talked about in previous modules, longevity. Now, of course, I certainly plan to be the exception to the rule, but no one in my family, the oldest person ever in my family was 83, ever. And that was my grandmother, and she had a heck of a life early on. So I think God just blessed her with a little bit of longevity. But I keep thinking, do I want to work as hard for the rest of the time? And that answer is no, even though I still love what I do. 31 years I've been given anesthesia, and I still love it as much as I did the first day that I stepped into an operating room. Yeah, but I mean, a lot of CRNAs do. I think what I'm hearing you say is I want to work on my terms. And who I want to work with by and large. Yeah, exactly. Versus getting a call at eight o'clock tonight that says I've got to be in Fayetteville to do a case tomorrow. I remember many a times you got those calls. Oh, yes, so no more. Yeah, yeah. Well, I think a lot of CRNAs kind of struggle to find that work-life balance. I think it's definitely something that we have to search for, and we have to make happen. I mean, a lot of times CRNAs are focused on making that dollar, making that money, working long hours. And what you guys do is tough. I mean, it's not always physically tough. Well, I don't know about that. When I do six endoscopies a day, I'm pretty tired. But the mental side of it is tough. I mean, you've got somebody's life in your hands. And I mean, it's kind of like what I do. I've got people's finances in my hands, and it's kind of second nature. But if I step back from it, it can be taxing. You're dealing with someone's life, and their future. And you guys are kind of the same way. And people struggle with finding flexibility in that, and work-life balance. And this is another reason we see a lot of CRNAs transitioning to the 1099 side. And that can be for a lot of different reasons. I think one of the big things is, what is important to you? And that is always the key is, Sharon, what is your why? And I've asked you that before. I've asked a lot of folks that. And I think you've got to be able to answer that question in order to figure out where you're going and what you want to do. And it will allow you to decide, is this right for me, or is this not right for me? And how does it all fit together? Sharon, what's your why? My why is to do what I want to do when I want to do it. Well, and choose where I want to work. I've had to work in places that I would not particularly choose myself. But now, every place I work, I tell them if I am here, it's because I want to be here. I like you, I like working here. It's a great work environment. And if you never see me again, that means it was not a great work environment. I've worked in lots of toxic, toxic work environments because I had to. And now I choose not to, which makes me a better human being. Absolutely, I like that. Emotion, I felt the emotion, and that's what why is about. It's your emotion. And for different people, it's different things. Autonomy, you said this before, in your scheduling, you work when you want to work. I mean, there are probably times that somebody asks you to work and there's an obligation there, and they really need you, and you kind of go in even though you really don't want to, right? Sure. Absolutely. You know, you control your schedule, you control when you're going to work, and that is a very good feeling, especially somebody who doesn't have to work all the time. Diverse practice settings, you do this as well. I have always done that. Yeah, I mean- The last 20 years. Because I know you hadn't been in a hospital for what, 20 years or something until this last 10, 19, 20 years. Couple of years. And I found the work environment that I really appreciated, like my most favorite place I ever worked. And it's been great. Yeah. So, you know, doing eyeballs. Some people love it, some people hate it. You know, GI, people love it and people hate it. You know, inpatient, OB. You know, there's all these different settings that you can be in that some people love and some people hate. But by doing 1099, you can somewhat control the environment that you're in. Not always, but you know, if you're in a GI clinic, you're not going to have to do PEDs. You're not going to do any cardiac. And you're not doing any eyeballs there. So, you know, again, controlling that practice setting and where you want to work is another thing. I mean, the third thing up here is spending time with family and that can be on both ends of the spectrum. It can be like my case with my wife, Sarah, who's a 1099 CRNA. She wants to spend more time with her kids. She wants to be a mother and be there for them and take care of them and be around when they're out of school and so forth. And, you know, that means something to us. And in your case, Sharon, you know, it means being around your daughters again. And one day when you have grandchildren and so forth, spending time with them and being around family. And so you can have that at both ends of the spectrum. Yes. I know other CRNAs who, well, I mean, gosh, Sharon, you can be my example for everything, but, you know, their parents are aging and they need more flexibility in their schedule because they're kind of in that sandwich generation. Her taking care of the mother-in-law. Taking care of your mother-in-law. Fridays are my days to take her to all her appointments and do all her things, so. Yeah, so another reason there to have that flexibility. Also, you know, there are people out there that want to be about them and that's okay. You know, they want their interest. You know, it might be. My interest is being able to work for CRNA interests. Be able to go to Raleigh, to our Capitol and the lobby or those types of things. So that's my interest. Yeah, yeah. I mean, for other people, it might be that, you know, they want to be a bodybuilder and work out. You know, it might be that they're surfers. You know, I got contacted by CRNA the other day and, you know, I guess during ski season, he actually takes off and he's a ski instructor for part of the year. Oh, how cool. That's his passion. He loves it. And then when ski season is done, he goes back and he gives anesthesia. You know, I've got another one that she loves to travel. Man, she's gone all over the world. I mean, doing yoga all over the world. That's one of her things. She loves yoga and travel and she kind of blended together and she does yoga in these places that are absolutely amazing around the world. So, you know, and then, you know, exploring things that you're wanting to do. You know, it might be that you want to sometimes give anesthesia, maybe other times you want to be participating in research. I mean, it gives you that flexibility to be able to do that. So people do 1099 for a lot of different reasons. A lot of nurse anesthetists are doing aesthetics now. Do 1099 and then do aesthetics. Yeah. And with aesthetics. I keep saying my face looks so good. I've never partake, but my face looks good too, Sharon. Of course, when I was 20, I looked like I was 10. Yes, you do. I've seen those pictures of you. But building that flexibility, this is a big reason that people go 1099. And again, you've got to define for you, one, why you're doing it. Why do you want to do it? And why do you continue to do it? And all these reasons I think are very, very good reasons.

Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetists

CRNAs

1099 work

work-life balance

autonomy