Priscilla Jankans is a nurse who started her first business at just $750. She developed the business and eventually became the founder of four separate companies that employ hundreds of people, and generate thousands of dollars yearly. Her story is an inspiring one, especially during the global COVID-19 Pandemic. We are experiencing levels of layoffs and unemployment that this country has not seen for a long time. When faced with the challenge of making money, people are being forced to get creative with how they pursue an income. Picking up contract opportunities or a new job are common remedies, but there is one solution that stands above all: Entrepreneurship.
Building your own brand gives you the freedom to make your own schedule, call your own shots and, above all, make your own money! Studies have shown that some businesses offer a higher return on your investment than others, but the fact that you want to start a business at all is what’s most important. The Nurse who became a CEO, Priscilla Jankans started her career at the age of 21 as a Registered Nurse in California. There, she worked for 10 years with some of the largest hospitals in the state, providing assistance in Open Heart Intensive Care Units. She was successful but still found herself struggling to budget for continued education and travel expenses.
This is where her entrepreneurial story began. Instead of settling for her annual salary and a nurse, Jankans founded a clothing store in Culver City, CA. The store opened in 2014, and within 2 years she was able to sell it to an investor. In 2016, she founded L.A. Nursing Services, a travel medical staffing agency. Today, the agency employs over 200 healthcare professionals including doctors, nurses, physical therapists, and other professionals nationwide.
Priscilla Jankans didn’t stop there. As a Black woman, she experienced firsthand how the nursing sector can be racially biased and she wanted to do something to curb the discrimination. Enter Nurses for George, a non-profit organization that she founded in 2019 with the purpose of dismantling systemic racism in the healthcare field. They provide meals for minors and patient navigators to underserved communities in L.A. County.
During that same year, Jankans also founded NurseproCEO, a business coaching and consulting company that instructs first-time entrepreneurs how to establish a successful business by following in her footsteps. Since its conception, she has helped aspiring CEOs launch both retail and online-based brands. So, how did she do it? Some might say through a series of calculated efforts. Others might say through years of persistence. In the case of how Priscilla Jankans became an entrepreneur, both parties would be correct. Though, there is one element that both sides can agree on: she made a choice.
Our lives are defined by the choices we make, and Jankans chose to level up! No matter what your mind tells you, there is nothing standing in your way of doing the same thing.
Courtesy of: Avery “Ms. Artistry”
