Taking Control of Your Dreams

I never in a million years thought I would be able to write this blog so soon. I came out of the womb knowing I wanted to be a veterinarian and that has never changed. However, the type of veterinarian I wanted to be and the role in the practice I wanted to play did evolve. I learned in veterinary school how much I enjoyed the challenge of exotic animals medicine and surgery. I learned after several years of practicing that I needed more knowledge in this field to do the very best job possible, so I went back to school and did my internship in exotics. Throughout this time I was always working as an associate and so I had no control over what the other associates did and that was really starting to bother me. I never envisioned myself being able to take that leap of faith and be a practice owner, especially not in these tough times. However, the more I thought about it, the more important it became to me to be able to practice how I believed you should practice. That meant I had to make that leap, so I did. I am now the proud (and scared out of my mind) owner of Elgin Veterinary Hospital (www.elginvethospital.com) right outside of Columbia, SC (my hometown). It has been so wonderful to be able to hand-pick the best staff in the world and have us all work as a team. This isn't my clinic - it is our clinic. I don't make decisions - we make decisions. We are not just co-workers, we are family and we have fun together every single day. We strive every day to foster that environment at the clinic. We want everyone that walks in the door to feel peaceful and loved. We want them to know that they are a part of our family and their pets are too. This means that we are going to treat every single person and pet as if they were our own. I also finally have control over the quality of medicine practiced - I am in a single doctor practice so it is me offering that quality care. I never have to worry about how an associate might treat a client, handle a scared patient, not offer the best treatment options, etc. I know that I put 110% into everything and that my goal is always to give the pet the best possible care. That also leads into prices, which before I had no control over, so I had to see animals go without care because they couldn't afford to do anything after paying the office exam, etc. I didn't get into this field to get rich, I did it to give a voice to the animals that have no voice, and make sure they are enjoying a good, healthy quality of life. My prices are most likely the lowest you will find around so it does make things tight when the cash flow isn't as high as you need it to be, but we will make adjustments as needed. However, our goal is to be sure that our prices are reasonable enough that everyone with an animal is able to provide it care. If veterinarians raised their prices to where they should be (in line with your physician, since we have to have the same equipment, same drugs, same staff, and just as much student loan debt) no one would be able to care for their pets because they don't have that 80/20 insurance. Veterinary medicine is a great value period, but when it comes down to it I know that by lowering my prices when able I am providing more animals the chance to have the care they deserve. You can have your dream become a reality, just watch how it evolves with time and when the time is right, take that leap of faith. I will never regret that leap and I could not be happier.