Hi!

I have posted in the past and always kinda asked questions and always seemed to allow fear to hold me back. I am so ready for a change and to move forward right now. I have come to the realization that I am the only one that can change the things in my life that I want to change. I am the only one, along with my husband, that can make improvements to better our lives and the lives of our children.

I have gone back and forth over ideas and this is what I keep coming back to. I have long been interested in the field of Human Resources. Although I do not have formal training I think a lot of my personality and job experience will be helpful in pursuit of this venture. I am willing to take necessary training and courses to be better prepared for this along the way. But this is what I was thinking and I would appreciate any feedback, so let er rip!

I am wanting to work in helping with the pre-employment screening and collection of applicants. I feel I am a great people person and can judge people fairly well. I have mgmt, HR, and training experience as well as experience dealing with pre-employment and D.O.T Urine drug screens. I think I would be able to offer services to manage Pre-employment screenings (urine and breath) I could even manage a Consortium of Random selections for businesses (probably more demand in Transportation industry). In fact I am even a trained specimen collector with certification. I think I could contribute to the interview process and any pretesting or prescreens needed. I could assist with ensuring all of the pre-employment paperwork is complete and the employee's files are 100% complete for new employees prior to starting their jobs. I could advise in the recruitment or advertising process and help weed through the application process for prospective employers. I think there is a lot I can do with this and I could expand on it in so many different directions. I can already see a market for the pre-screening in the Transportation industry and I can see a market in the Health Care field as far as verifications of employment, verifications of educations, verification of licensure and certifications and criminal background checks of those employees in positions (especially medical field) that could be of utmost importance. Any feedback please!

I believe, (but may be wrong) that urine screening services need to be performed by trained/qualified medical staff... nurses at least. I'd look into that.

Aside from that... I agree with Biz, you need a business plan if you haven't got one already.

Part of your marketing research should include contacts to existing HR and Personnel agencies to see how they deal with these things... And of course, it could help you focus a niche that you may or may not be aware exists.

Don't be afraid. They say that behind your greatest fear is your greatest treasure.

And you've got a bank of great minds here at IC to help you out anytime you have questions. So, don't be afraid to ask.

Tina Brooks, VP Marketing
Brooks Pepperfire Foods, Inc.
Makers of Peppermaster Hot Sauces
http://www.peppermaster.com

Eat more peppers!

Actually you do not need to be a nurse to collect urine drug screens. I work for a hospital and I am a trained and certified D.O.T Urine Drug Screen collector. Most non D.O.T Urine drug screen are collected with the same format and same guidelines, so that the guidelines are consistant accross the board. I actually even considered just doing the Consortium mgmt on my own, without doing the collecting, but if continued to do collection I could even become a certified trainer, able to train others in collections and that would be another niche to add on and I even considered getting CPR or First Aid trainer certification so that I could train employees on this things I think I could easily set up monthly or biweekly classes with a lot of the healthcare related fields, espeically with HHA's and CENA's needing that certification prior to working with clients. i guess I am drawing on my hospital experience and my home care experience to give me ideas here. i even considered focusing on that aspect of HR, marketing to healthcare related businesses because the need to verify licensure and complete accuracy of employee records is so very important, and periodically checking on the status of licenses upon expiration, to ensure the health care provider did in fact, renew their license. I think there are so many ways to go, and my biggest obstacle is deciding which way to go without limiting myself.

One way to go without limiting yourself is to figure out a baseline.

While putting together your business plan you'll do a cost/profit analysis for each of the aspects of business that you are able to do. The easiest way to start is by leaving those that you see as "value-added" activities but that aren't going to be the key financial drivers into the business plan, but as secondary activities to be implemented as cash flow and demand allows. Allowing yourself room to grow into those activities.

Centralize yourself, as you begin, around the activities that will drive your cash flow most effectively and add the others as time goes by. You'll be surprised, I think, to find that often the drivers will kick into gear by themselves and you'll find that demand drives your activities, as opposed to you choosing which activities to offer.

Take great care to ensure that all educations and licensing are in place prior to offering the niche and then you come to the table with the elevated "quality controls", if you will, that the field will demand.

I also had a thought that the insurance companies will like having these services available on an on-call basis.

T

Tina Brooks, VP Marketing
Brooks Pepperfire Foods, Inc.
Makers of Peppermaster Hot Sauces
http://www.peppermaster.com

Eat more peppers!

well I am still revisting this idea a year later. Nothing like procrastination. My current job is allowing me to stay in this field and do this, but with things going down hill in the economy I am unsure of the future of my drug screen program at work (due mostly to changes in physicians and not having a qualified Medical Review Officer on Staff at my organization any longer), so I am seriously thinking that if my company drops the drug screening services and the Consortium Random management that I may have the perfect opportunity to sweep in and pick up the pieces if they opt to nix the program. I figure in doing so I could also help them while creating an awesome opportunity for myself.

My idea is this..........to take over the Random Consortium program and to do on-site collections (by doing on-site my overhead would be low, but I could later have a physical site for collections as well). Plus I will be taking online courses to get my Bachelors degree in Human Resource management this fall. So all and all everything could tie in together quite nicely if all goes well. So just wanting some feedback. This is what I know and this is what I enjoy doing, so it is a win-win in my eyes, plus it ties into HR which I am studying.

The idea about targeting insurance companies as suggested by Tina was also a great idea that I had not thought of (especially Work Comp). So does anyone have any other input on this or should I just RUN with it?

I would just run with it and make adjustments later as needed.

You must be healthy to be successful.
Learn how essential oils can make you healthy.
http://healthandwealthwithoils.com

RUN WITH IT!

Tina Brooks, VP Marketing
Brooks Pepperfire Foods, Inc.
Makers of Peppermaster Hot Sauces
http://www.peppermaster.com

Eat more peppers!