How about that? You put yourself through college. Learn all the ins and outs of every domesticated animal species there is. Suffer through the sleepless study nights, the way too early classes, the absence of weekends and holidays preparing for exams. You finally make it. This is it. You’re a doctor. Not just any doctor — a veterinarian! “A REAL doctor treats more than one species” you tell your MD friends, jokingly. Hurray you and everyone who put up with you these past few years. You made the best friends in the world at College, the only people crazy enough to understand why you chose this path. People like you. “It’s all uphill from here”, you think. A couple of years working for someone else, learning the ropes, getting the hang of things, doing the clinic hours no one wants. But then, you take the leap. Get your own practice. Do your own thing. Answer to no one! Gosh, what a feeling! There’s nothing to it, you just have to be good at what you do, right? Inform the general public of the best pet care practices and they’ll listen and hang on your every word. Those other guys, the ones saying business is hard and public opinion of veterinarians is plummeting — they’re just not good enough. Tough luck. They have been out of college too long, they haven’t followed the latest research like you have, they haven’t been to the best conferences like you have. You’re state of the art. You’re best of the best. All it takes is being good at what you do, right? RIGHT?!?
A couple of months in and you’re thinking: “things are just starting, it’s meant to be hard”. A few months more and it’s just a question of being more organised, managing your resources a little bit better. Your first year in and you’re wondering if maybe the team you hired wasn’t that great or maybe customers are just stupid because they can’t tell the difference between your great services and everything else out there.
I’m sorry, dude. I hate to tell you this: but you studied, dreamed and fought to become a really good… no, a great practitioner! But no one taught you, showed you or even mentioned that in order for this to work you have to think like a good… no, a great businessperson! Some people get there on their own. Quicker or slower, they get there. Others succumb under the weight of their own failure. Afraid to use the word “failure” as if all their academic successes boiled down to this one project that they sought to do with no prior knowledge on how to do it. Here’s something you should know: you studied to practice medicine and you’re failing at running a business. Think of it this way: if someone with a degree in Business and Administration attempted to spay a cat — creepy, I know, but just indulge me — no one would find it odd if they ended up killing the cat!!! So if YOU, who studied to practice medicine, end up killing your business (or keeping it barely alive), suddenly you’ve failed professionally? No wonder burnout and depression is so high in the veterinary profession…
The way out? As with all major issues, there isn’t a single simple solution to solve all the injustice you feel. You need to change, that’s for sure. Option A: Want to strive to be the best practitioner? Sure — work for someone else or find someone business-savvy enough to run your business for you. Option B: Want to run things yourself? Sure, take time to run your business like the profit-seeking institution it’s supposed to be and for the love of everything, go and learn how to do so. “Oh No, don’t say profit — that’s for big corporate and not for people with a calling, like veterinarians!” — if this is what the little voice in your head sounds like, then you’re better off with option A.
What you can’t do is keep on living this Hannah Montana life, wanting the best of both worlds. It doesn’t last and doesn’t work. Change is upon us and you need to be honest about your business. With yourself for starters, if with nobody else.
