Is Practice Ownership Right for You?
Do you dream of having your own practice that delivers amazing care and service?
Are you tired of workplace policies that hinder your ability to grow and practice to your best abilities?
Do you wonder if practice ownership is right for you and if you have what it takes to succeed?
Becoming Your Own Boss
If you’ve thought about ownership and think you’re ready to be your own boss, I want to encourage you to pursue it.
You made it through veterinary school, one of the hardest curriculums out there, and know how to deliver great care.
With that experience, I guarantee that you’re very capable and you CAN be a practice owner.
You may not know it yet, but the barriers to entry are few with available financing and many retiring owners looking to sell their practices.
Necessary Attributes for Success
Let’s discuss what you need to bring to the table to succeed as an owner.
Based on a little research and my experiences with successful leaders and owners, these are the qualities you’ll need for success as an entrepreneur.
Risk Tolerance: Unless you have wealth or a benevolent friend able to fund your venture, it’s likely you’ll be taking on large amounts of business debt and betting on yourself. You’ll also make numerous decisions about your business, and ultimately the “buck stops with you.”
Grit: Starting a business requires commitment, determination, discipline, resilience, and follow-through. It took these same qualities to get through veterinary school, but this may not be your path if you prefer a three-day workweek.
Passion: The best businesses know their purpose in the world. Passion paired with a vision and clear goals will fuel your motivation and drive.
Time Management: One of the harder skills to acquire is prioritizing your work and managing time, as it takes practice and self-awareness to learn. As a leader, you’ll always have more work to do than time to do it.
Fast Learner: Hopefully, you’ve got this. You’ve been learning at a high level for years. Now, you’ll be quickly absorbing management and business skills as well as constantly adapting to changing demands.
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Problem Solving: Business ownership will bring a steady flow of small and large problems to solve, so you’ll need to put on your thinking cap often.
Communication Skills: You’re likely a strong communicator, but will have to further develop and hone this skill and become a very proactive communicator when you work with vendors, deal with clients, and lead a team.
Must Like People: Veterinary medicine is a relationship-based business. If you cringe when interacting with and dealing with people issues, owning a practice might be a hill you don’t want to climb.
Leadership: Unless you plan to be a practice of one, you’ll need a desire to direct and lead others to attain your vision of quality care and service, which is delivered through your entire team. Leadership is a journey about growing yourself, so don’t worry about being a beginner, there will be many opportunities to learn.
Support: Entrepreneurship and being the boss is a lonely business. Start with a strong foundation of support around you because you’ll need cheerleaders to encourage and celebrate when all is going well, and a safe place of refuge when it’s tough.
Ask Yourself: Am I Ready To Own?
That’s it! Well mostly. There’s always more, but these are a good look at the big ones.
It took a lot of these qualities to get through veterinary school and to become a successful veterinarian, so I don’t doubt that you already have a lot of this locked in.
The question is this: Do you believe you have what it takes?
Ownership is such a rewarding and lucrative journey compared to the risks and challenges, I encourage you to take the plunge, or at least the next step forward to learn what you must do to get started.
In my next blog, we’ll talk about the pros and cons of buying a practice versus starting from scratch.
I look forward to seeing you then!
