The Addictive Curse Of The Hamster Wheel

Author: Dave Nicol
Posted: Thursday 24th November, 2011. 12:34:00

Many of you will know that last month (12 September 2011) I once again became a veterinary clinic owner. I was an owner/director at Parkvets in London but sold up when I left the UK.

My trip to Australia was only planned to be a year out, but (and if you’ve been to Sydney you’ll relate to this I’m sure) one year was never going to be enough. So with the decision to stay for ‘a while’ longer made (that’s euphemism so my mum doesn’t get upset), there was only one sensible thing to do – locate and purchase a veterinary clinic of my own.

I am now the owner of North Ryde Veterinary Hospital, click the link to check out the location. (And if you want to see how to use Facebook properly then please ‘like’ my fan page, and check in over the coming weeks as it is transformed).

The hospital is not as close to Bondi Beach as I would like, but then the rent is a fraction of the cost and the name of the game is to make profit by fixing pets right?

During the past six weeks I’ve learned or applied some good lessons that have helped me take the clinic into profit in super-quick time. Here’s a tip for each week from what I’ve learned so far that I hope you can put to good use in your clinic.

1. Negotiate on everything you buy: lease, facilities, goodwill and stock. Just by taking the time to do this I estimate that I’ve managed to reduce my outgoings by approximately $30,000 this year.

2. Pay staff what they are worth, support them and create an environment where they want to come to work. Respect, fun, being part of the process of care beyond looking at anaesthetics and cleaning…

3. Weave your own values into your business and stick to them. This has been a revelation for me. I have too often felt that my values were compromised when making decisions with, or for, others. If one thing has freed me more than anything else, it’s this values based approach. I’ll be writing full blog post with some real examples in the next week or two so watch out for this one, it’ll open your eyes.

4. Don’t just switch off the lights when you leave, switch off your mind. The opening week went pretty well and I’ve worked in some high pressure situations before, but shouldering the weight of ownership responsibility again was a real strain and I quickly fell into the trap of doing way too much work to try and cope. However I got a hold of the situation by making sure that I worked smarter not harder and things have settled into a good routine now.

5. Buy the best equipment you can afford. Do your sums and then splash out. I just upgraded my dental equipment and the effect is brilliant, iM3’s new dental hand piece is particularly amazing. Scaling is faster, tissue trauma less and time to completion is less. A good result all round which will pay you dividends. There’s nothing I find more irritating than working with tools that are broken, blunt or otherwise unfit for purpose.

6. Clinical work is addictive for vets…The Hamster Wheel is our heroin! I have LOVED the past few weeks because the consult room, diagnostic suite and OR are my natural habitats. I’ve met and begun to build relationships with my new clients, performed my first C-section and enterotomies, used my spanking-new Esoate ultrasound (enough to cover the monthly payments) and I reckon that I’m right back at the top of my clinical game again.

It’s an awesome feeling. But long-term success (which for me means a yacht based life when I’m fifty:)) needs a strategic approach. The day-to-day work of being a vet, otherwise known as being on The Hamster Wheel, is without any doubt a long-term vision killer. So I plan to hire a new vet early next year to lessen my addiction and let me implement my plan effectively.

Until next time…happy scurrying!

Veterinary practice troubleshooter. Expertise in HR, marketing and all aspects of the vet practice management. Dave can be contacted at info@davenicol.com

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