If you work in a veterinary practice or in the pet industry or in a business that supplies goods or services to the industry and you have something to say - why not become a 'Guest Blogger'?
For more information click here to read our: Guidelines for Guest Bloggers
If you’ve been following along with my recent rants about the pros and cons of practice ownership vs being an employed vet, you might be thinking that neither path sounds particularly appealing: stressed and richer (maybe), or moderately less stressed, but financially mediocre.
(My personal vote, if you were wondering, would be ownership over employment, but that’s more about autonomy than money.)
Here’s why businesses make money: people have problems, businesses offer solutions. If the price of the solution is less than the pain caused by the problem, well, shut up and take my money.
I’m hungry – here’s some affordable food. I’m bored – would you care for a bit of Netflix / Candy Crush/ some concert tickets/ an exotic holiday? I’m stressed, or shy – you’ll feel a bit different for a few hours with our delicious alcoholic beverage! I’m not feeling very special – a new pair of shoes might cheer you up.
For us vets, it looks like this: people are lonely, but other people are complicated and hard work, so they get pets. Or they enjoy sitting on top of a large, slightly scary animal’s back and telling it what to do. (Some people seem to like that last one A LOT more than they like having money.)
Our future clients grow quite fond of these animals and would like to have them around for as long as possible. We have some tricks up our sleeve to extend the quantity and quality of those relationships. Our clients weigh up the cost of our services vs the pain of losing their pets, or seeing them unwell, and hopefully decide that it’s worth it.
So the question is: what problems can you solve with your particular skill set in your particular situation?
Most of us are quite unimaginative in this regard. “Well, I can fix animals…” Great skill to have. But we’ve already established that the pathways for applying that skill have some limitations as to how much people will pay you to do it.
We have to think outside the litter tray…
You are surrounded by things that aren’t working as well as they could, both in your veterinary work and in your general life. If you are an employed veterinarian, I can guarantee that you see problems each day that are not being addressed because your boss is either too busy to solve them or hasn’t identified them as issues. Pick one – one that will create value by making someone’s life better – and solve it.
Here’s a short, off-the-top-of-my-head list of common solvable vet practice problems that anyone could take on….
Our practice doesn’t have anyone who can do
Structure your solution in a way that benefits as many people as possible – your employer, the clients, your colleagues. Ask: what’s in it for them?
I’d go to my boss and say “Hey, we don’t offer ultrasound (as an example). How about I get skilled up and take on the risk by getting a loan for a machine? We could set up a partnership where I start doing in-house scans two mornings a week, and we split any additional income from that. You don’t pay me for the time I spend scanning, but I take a percentage of the revenue.”
Or consider non-invasive surgery: do a course, buy a tower and a scope, or go 50/50, and start offering endoscopic spays and gastropexies – not as a paid employee, but as a contractor. Your boss gets a cut of earnings, or you do it as a partnership, or however you want to structure it, just as long as there’s a linear relationship between the work you do, the value you add, and your earnings.
On Fridays, I see all the complicated skin cases. I’ll upskill and build better systems, and I’ll hire a nurse to assist me. Additionally, I’ll increase the caseload and attract more clients to the practice. (“You should go to that practice for your itchy dog – Dr X is amazing! Oh, it’s a nice clinic – maybe I’ll stay.”) Again, profit-sharing partnership – not an hourly wage.
Or – our productivity sucks. I’ll spend half a day a week building new systems, and we create a way to track increased income, or decreased staff hours, and you give me that money, or a % of that money.
Or just ask – what business-related tasks are not getting done because you are too busy or hate doing them? Give them to me – I’ll train up in them, and we’ll work out how much value that generates, and you’ll pay me that value.
Whatever you decide to do, have a rock-solid, lawyer-checked agreement on how things will pan out when you disagree or someone decides to exit the agreement. Once your idea starts making money, it’s MUCH harder to retrospectively agree on an amicable solution. A moderately uncomfortable conversation while you still like each other, and a few hundred dollars to a lawyer at the start, will save you a lot of anguish and potentially A LOT of money later.
Yes, your boss could do these things themselves, but if they had the time or desire to do so, they would have done it already. Someone just has to make it happen. You can be that someone.
This opinion piece was first published in The Vet Vault 3.2.1 email on Friday, 31 October 2025
Hubert Hiemstra is the friendly voice behind The Vet Vault and Vet Vault Clinical Podcasts. With over two decades of veterinary experience across three continents, he's on a mission to help fellow vets fall back in love with veterinary science. When he's not in the clinic or podcasting, he loves hanging out with his wife and energetic boys, catching some waves, going for a run, or just soaking up nature. Stay current with the Vet Vault’s practical, on-the-go clinical CPD episodes that are anything but boring. Explore the library here https://www.thevetvault.com/p/clinical-content/
Connect with Dr Hubert:
A dusty motorbike ride through rural Tanzania sparked an unexpected reflection on luck, life, and the surprising way the biggest turning points tend to arrive when we stop trying to control everything. Something a bit lighter today...or maybe just deeper - but sit...
