Top 5 things to do in Jacksonville, FL

  1. Jacksonville Beach – This is a fun area. Although the beach water isn’t as nice and turquoise blue as the gulf coast of Florida, the water is clear and warm in summer months. There are often waves large enough for surfing. Besides the beach they have a popular fishing pier. And there are plenty of restaurants and bars in the area to enjoy as well. 

2. Huguenot Memorial Park –  This is the only beach you can drive on the sand with 4-wheel drive vehicles, which can be fun. They have an area for birdwatching too. 

3. Riverwalk – This is a boardwalk along St. Johns River. It’s a nice place to take a long stroll. You have a nice view of downtown Jacksonville and the blue bridge. On Saturdays, they have the Riverside Arts Market under the I-95 bridge. 

4. Fernandina Beach/Amelia Island – Fernandina Beach is located on Amelia Island. You can stroll on Center Street and visit the Artrageous Artwalk. A must see is the Historic District of Amelia Island. It’s a nationally preserved area with lots of shops and restaurants. Fort Clinch State Park is a small fort that was built during the American Civil War, but never finished.  It’s a nice hidden gem. This is probably my favorite place to visit in Jacksonville!

5. Day Trip to St Augustine, FL – St. Augustine is a 30-60min drive from Jacksonville depending on where you are staying. It is well known for its Fort: Castillo de San Marcos National Monument. It is well restored and maintained by the National Park Service. The view from the gun deck is spectacular. They have educational explanations of life and defense at the fort. The St. Augustine Lighthouse and Maritime Museum is also worth visiting. You can climb all the way to the top of the lighthouse. You can also walk along St. George street and they offer ghost walking tours. 

Time Off – Back to Spain

Some readers have asked how I am able to take time off during an assignment. I usually provide the dates I need off prior to starting so that it is in the agreement. If I am not sure of the exact dates yet, I will just tell them I need a week off in the month of February and will let them know the exact time as soon as possible. If I want to take some additional time off that I didn’t let them know in advance, I just give them a one month notice and have them block my schedule. It’s usually not that complicated. 

I took a week and a half off in the middle of my current assignment to meet up with my boyfriend in Spain. We had an amazing time together – the weather was perfect. A little cold but sunny so it didn’t feel that bad. We went to Madrid since it was his first time, and ended the trip in Barcelona – where we initially met last summer. I was thrilled to go back to all of my favorite places in Barcelona. 

When I was in Bradenton, there was a physician that worked with me that is at least 70 years old. He was so in awe of my European sabbatical last summer. He was forever talking about it and saying that he wished he could do that. He had retired twice before but ended up being bored and going back to work. He is originally from Greece and said he would love to spend a summer there. 

I told him that actually he could take a sabbatical as well. I told him the company he worked for has a sabbatical program for providers. He said he has never heard about it and I told him they don’t advertise it. The only reason I knew about it was because they have tried to convince me to go permanent with them before, using the sabbatical as an enticement. I encouraged him to take the sabbatical as soon as possible while he is in good health and can travel to Greece for an extended period of time. 

Fast forward to now, and he messaged me letting me know that his sabbatical for this summer was approved! He is taking 3 months off to spend the summer in Greece. I am so happy for him and glad I was able to influence him living life to its fullest. 

Now, I am trying to figure out if I will move on to another assignment or take some time off. I feel like I would love to have a break, but at the same time, it can be hard to say ‘no’ when you are constantly needed. Can anyone else relate?

FurnishedFinder.com

FurnishedFinder.com is a popular website used by travel nurses to find housing. As a travel nurse, you are typically provided a housing stipend so you want to find the most affordable housing, to pocket as much money as you can from the stipend. Some travel nurses prefer to just rent a room for a few hundred dollars a month instead of an entire apartment for over a thousand or more per month. 

As a traveling nurse practitioner, the agency will often provide housing. Sometimes the options provided are subpar or you may want to opt for a housing stipend instead. This is where furnishedfinder.com comes in. This site is similar to Airbnb but specifically for travel nurses listing midterm furnished rentals. Instead of short stays, the owners are looking to rent out these homes for at least a minimum of 1-3 months. As a result, they tend to me more affordable than Airbnb these days. 

I have used furnished finder several times by now. I have had mostly good experiences. The apartments provided have been furnished and cute, and fairly priced. For example, in Florida I have been able to find 2-bedroom furnished apartments (including utilities and cable) for less than $2500/month. This is in comparison to Airbnb where monthly listings are often over $3500/month.

To date – I only had one bad experience. This was actually for my housing in Jacksonville. The landlord was hard to reach leading up to moving in. And when it was move in day, she told me to wait a few hours to make sure the cleaning lady finished. By night time, she asked if I could find another place to stay for the night. This rubbed me the wrong way because I had booked the apartment 2 months in advance so it was no surprise when I was supposed to check in. And I figured if she was already hard to get a hold of, imagine how much worse it could be once I am living in her property and having an issue.

So, I told her to just cancel the stay and provide me a refund. Fortunately, my agency was able to quickly put me in a hotel for the week until I moved into another apartment I found on furnished finder. The only downside to this website is that there is no “money back guarantee”, the way there is with Airbnb. Furnished Finder is just a platform for owners to list properties and for travel nurses to find them. Payment and leasing agreements happen directly between owner and renter. As a result, no fees are charged. 

I have not heard of anyone being scammed through this website but be sure to proceed cautiously and do your due diligence before sending payment. Luckily, I didn’t feel “scammed’ by the landlord in Jacksonville since she was the one that insisted we facetime prior to the agreement. She just ended up being unprofessional and losing my business. 

Working in Jacksonville, FL

I am towards the end of my assignment in Jacksonville, FL and I have to say it has been amazing! Leadership at my clinic is really good. They radiate positivity, productivity, and follow through. In fact, the quarterly employee survey showed that leadership was admired at a whopping 96%. This is the highest I have ever seen within the company. From my last assignment, I have realized how important leadership is and the impact it has on the staff.

Everyone was so welcoming and excited when I started. Everything has been smooth sailing. The clinic is very organized. They are adequately staffed and everyone is willing to work and do their job. The patients are great too. They are very appreciative and friendly. They have that southern hospitality since we are pretty close to Georgia. 

I literally have nothing to complain about. In fact, when we have our PCP meetings, the medical director is surprised I have no concerns, as the other PCPs do. At this point, working with this company on and off over the past 6.5 years, I have seen it all. So, when it’s this good, I will take it!

As usual, there was a new nurse practitioner that started around the same time as me, and they put me sitting by him. He is one of the friendliest people I have ever met so I have had a good experience with him. He is appreciative of all of the tips and help I have given him about transitioning into his role. He was a previous locums nurse practitioner too which is cool. 

Socially, I have been able to catch up with my old college roommate, friends, and former coworker. I have always liked Jacksonville. It’s a less expensive, less diverse version of Miami. If only the beaches were nicer – haha. 

Anyways, I am so glad I made the decision to come here. What a great experience. 🙂

Next Stop – Jacksonville, FL

For winter months, January – March, I knew I wanted to stay in Florida. I considered going to my favorite place – San Diego, CA, but it would be too challenging with the time difference and a long distance relationship. I had been asked to help out in Jacksonville in the past but I never had the chance. So, I reached out to my contact there to see if they had a need. 

Turns out they did! One clinic only had one PCP and they needed to off load some of her patients so she could focus more on her Medical Director role, while waiting for the new PCPs to start. The regional medical director assured me that it’s a nice well-run office, and not as chaotic as what I am likely accustomed to. 

I then let my agency know about the potential assignment so they could get everything in writing. Some of you may be wondering why I continue to work through the agency, when I am being contacted by the clinics directly for work opportunities. There is a legal agreement where I would have to go through the agency to work with this client unless we don’t work together for at least two years. 

The following week, my recruiter contacted me because she said the Jacksonville market didn’t want to pay my increased hourly rate that Bradenton was paying me. She asked if that was ok. I said no. She asked if I was willing to walk away, I said yes. She seemed uncomfortable having to call me about this. Probably because I am the one that got them that work opportunity in the first place, so the agency should be the one taking the cut, not me. I am sure she was pressured from her supervisor to contact me. 

Also, I have been working with this agency for 6 years and I know how things work. They don’t go to the site and say “hey pay Sophia $100/hour (for example)”. They say “hey we are charging $150/hour” and the site says yes or no. The site has no idea how much the agency is paying me. She made it seem like the site said no we want to pay Sophia $95/hour instead of $100/hour. When in reality, the site said we are only going to pay $145/hour. I have been playing this game for a while and my bosses often accidentally tell me how much they are paying. So, like I said before, the agency should be the one taking the cut, since I am the one doing the actual work. 

The next day, my recruiter called me back to let me know the good news. She said she had to go to the director to ask for permission for them to take the pay cut. The director said, of course, Sophia is the one that brought us the job! (Duh!) 

I am taking a week off in the middle of the assignment and I asked the agency to pay for my roundtrip flight home during that week (on top of the regular travel before and after the assignment). My recruiter said that the site said no they didn’t want to pay for that. I told her I didn’t ask for the site to pay for it, I asked for the agency to pay for it. And she said “oh my bad, yes we can pay for it.” I like how they are trying to get out of “losing” any money when I am the one doing part of their work getting these clients!

Anyways, I am looking forward to working in Jacksonville. I have several friends from college that live there that I would love to catch up with. My sister went to pharmacy school there so I am pretty familiar with the area. It is a bit colder than south Florida but still tolerable for someone that is anti-cold like me. 

Top Finance Podcasts

I started listening to podcasts back in 2018 when I discovered one of the shows I watch for social reasons (to discuss with friends and family) – the Bachelor – had several of its contestants create a podcast for it. 

Fast forward to early 2020, when I discovered an entire world of finance podcasts. I love podcasts because you can listen to them while exercising, driving to work or long distances, on the plane, while cleaning, or just when relaxing in bed. I have absorbed a plethora of information from listening to podcasts alone. 

Below are my favorite financial podcasts that I listen to each week:

-Choose Fi

-BiggerPockets Money

-Afford Anything

-Earn and Invest

-I Will Teach You to be rich

-Trading Secrets

-MadFientist

-The White Coat Investor

-Journey to Launch

-Financial Samurai

-Rich and Regular

-Financial Freedom

Check them out and follow the ones that interest you. They vary from investing, side hustles, retiring early, finances for couples, overcoming scarcity mindset, real estate, etc. 

Negotiating a Raise as a Locums

It is well known that women make 83 cents for every dollar a man earns. Part of the reason is that women are less likely to ask for a raise. Working as a locum tenens nurse practitioner, it is easier than ever to ask for a raise. The reason is because you have your recruiter that will act as the middle man. You tell your recruiter that you need a raise. Then they will ask the site for you for the raise. So, you get to avoid awkward conversations and trying to come up with reasons why you deserve the raise. 

If the site says no, the agency themselves may agree to the raise on their end. Or you can threaten to walk away, and the site may (often) change their mind and agree to the raise. 

One of my good friends is working as a traveling nurse practitioner in California, living her best life. She is on a 3-month assignment but told me she wants to extend for another 6-months. I told her that’s great and she should ask for a raise!

Her response was: “Since I am the one wanting to extend and they aren’t the ones asking me, I’d feel silly asking for a raise.”

I told her that even though she WANTS to extend, the site is likely ecstatic to have coverage for an additional 6 months! I told her she should definitely ask for a raise and the only bad thing they can say is no – which they likely wouldn’t. 

Unfortunately, my friend didn’t want to “risk” the assignment because she had already agreed to the extension and felt like it was too late to go back and ask for a raise (it wasn’t). I was a bit disappointed by this. 

Even though my friend is working in California (a high paying state) and I am working in Florida (a low paying state), I am making $15/hour more than her. The reason is because I know my worth and I am not afraid to ask for a raise.

So, to my fellow traveling nurse practitioners: please always negotiate the rate offered; ask for a raise or bonus when extending; and don’t be afraid to ask for your worth!

Why I Did Not Extend in Bradenton

I was asked to extend in Bradenton right away, but I told them I would let them know during my last month. Three months later, I finally agreed to extend and was surprisingly told that they no longer needed the help. I was shocked because one of the PCPs had just left and they didn’t have any new PCPs lined up until 7 months later. I called my boss to discuss and he told me that the Tampa Region had hired an internal float nurse practitioner. She was already seeing patients in Tampa and they planned on sending her to help in Bradenton at the end of January. He assured me that the decision wasn’t his, that regional leadership made the call, and he kept on fighting for me and insisting that they did need me. He said in their eyes, they are mostly concerned about finances so they figured why pay me when they are already paying a salary for the float NP.

I was offended that regional leadership thought I was easily replaceable. Like not only did I already have my own patient panel, but I already knew the majority of the patients that belonged to the PCP that just left. They used to be mine, and they are a fragile panel as they have gone between 4 Physicians over the past 2 years. If I had been able to stay, I could have seen those patients while waiting for them to get established with their permanent PCP. And the patients would have been relieved to see a familiar face. 

But of course, regional leadership thinks they know best and haven’t even considered the need for patient retention. In all honesty, if they thought harder about the situation they could have ended the other locum NPs contract early since she is barely even seeing any patients. Now that’s what I call a waste of money. 

I was so disappointed by the regional leadership. But they have never worked at my clinic and seen patients directly (they are physicians) so they have no clue what type of patient population we serve. 

Job wise- I wasn’t desperate since I typically have a dozen clinics from this same company requesting my help at any given time. However, the next time the regional medical director came to the Bradenton clinic, I pulled him aside to chat. I told him how disappointed I was by their decision, and that I wasn’t planning on changing their mind since I have already committed to somewhere else. But I needed them to know what a mistake they made. 

He said the decision has nothing to do with me and he thinks I am amazing and they appreciate me so much. He said the issue is that this clinic keeps using me as a “band aid”, and he wants the leadership at the clinic (including my boss) to be accountable for retaining their PCPs. 

He said they plan on hiring 4 or 5 more permanent PCPs to help balance out the amount of complex patients, so that no one PCP feels overwhelmed. I told him that was easy to say but in the past 2 years that clinic has lost 10 providers. The main reason being the providers felt that the patients were too complex for them and felt overwhelmed, even if they were given a very slow ramp up schedule. 

During our clinic PCP meetings afterwards, the medical director kept saying how in January, there were going to be 800 patients without a PCP. So, the current PCPs had to work together to take care of these patients while waiting for the new PCPs to start. I feel like they made it seem like I just decided to leave and didn’t care that my peers were about to be overwhelmed. I am not a quitter, and I think they know that. Also, one of the new providers is a nurse practitioner, so I wonder who will train him?

Several of the physicians pulled me aside to discuss what happened, and I told them the truth. Afterwards, every time the Regional Medical Director came to our clinic, one of them would tell him how disappointed they were with his decision not to extend me. I spoke to the Center Director of the Bradenton clinic about this, and he said my boss was so upset when they decided they didn’t need me to extend anymore. I figured he was, because besides him, I am the only PCP in that clinic that has worked for the company for more than 2 years. He also told me the Center Director of the new clinic I was going to had asked him about me. And he told him: “Sophia is like having 3 providers in 1”. I thought that was so nice, and it was refreshing to be seen.

At the end of the day, I believe everything happens for a reason. As I explained in my last post, that I wasn’t having a good experience, so I was probably going to end up working there being miserable if I stayed any longer. I just didn’t want to give up on my patients and my colleagues. Even the medical director of my new job told me the clinic I am going to will be more organized and laid back than the chaos I am probably used to. So I am looking forward to working at a stress-free clinic.