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
“I need something from you!!”
Imagine having six children tugging at your shirt every waking hour of every day screaming, “I need something from you!!!”
You focus on the one that is screaming the loudest to give them the attention they need, but you only get halfway through sorting them out because you’ve got five others tugging on your shirt screaming, “I need something from you.”
Because you don’t have the time to give any one your full attention, you feel like you are letting each child down, and you start to tell yourself your are failing…
On and on it goes day in day out…
You’re exhausted. You know it’s not sustainable, and it’s taking its toll on your mind, body and soul. You look around for someone else to help, but you tell yourself… “They are your responsibility”
“You are the only one who knows how to manage them”
As you surrender to the screaming six, part of you slowly dies as you choose to accept that’s just the way it is. If you’re a parent, with multiple kids, I’m sure you know what it feels like. Now replace the screaming six dependents with the six hats of a practice owner.
Caring, great technical knowledge and skills, good communicator. This hat is responsible for being the animal’s advocate.
Understands human psychology and uses it to find, align and grow an engaged team. It knows how to create a workplace that brings out the very best in those in it.
This hat is responsible for being the team’s advocate.
Is savvy in understanding the business side of the practice, including finances, KPI’s, tax strategy, and legal requirements.
This hat is responsible for being the practice’s sustainability and success advocate. (sometimes feels like the tax offices advocate!)
Then if you have a family, you have the …
This is a challenging hat. It must be understanding, caring, supportive, encouraging and equally share the responsibilities of two adults creating a life together.
This hat is responsible for the health of your intimate relationship.
This hat often feels like a thankless mess. It’s job is to nurture, protect, guide, coach, encourage, discipline and provide unconditional love to thankless little humans who think you are a bumbling idiot (my kids are 13 and 17!). It feels like it is guessing most of the time, fearful that it is screwing up the thankless little humans.
This hat is responsible for raising healthy happy offspring.
Finally, there is the..
This hat is often the least worn because we are so busy wearing the other hats that we forget it exists. It knows what you want, does what you want and says what you feel. It loves you unconditionally, is generally your greatest critic, and quietly tries to speak to you over all the noise of the other hats to create what you want.
It is responsible for being your soul’s advocate.
These hats all feel they are important, but you may feel like you’re constantly compromising outcomes due to time, pressure and expectations – both external and internal.
The hats aren’t the enemy…
Trying to wear multiple hats at the same time is the enemy. It’s also unsustainable for your sanity.
It makes sense that donning the YOU hat a bit more would make everything more manageable, but you ask yourself: “When do I have time for myself when I’m expected to wear 6 different hats a day. What’s a solution that’s achievable given my time and energy restraints”?
The answer is you build a machine that shares the load of these equally important hats with other people, processes and systems, to allow you to put the YOU hat on more often. We call it the APA WAY ™.
Here’s how it works…
We help practice owners who want help to build a more sustainable, more enjoyable practice but aren’t sure HOW to, and we use the APA WAY™ to do it.
We’ve got a small group starting on the 30th of June if you’re interested.
Here’s the link to see how it works: https://apa.acceleratepracticeacademy.com/the-accelerator—apply
Sam Bowden has spent 15 years as a practising vet. He has owned two practices during this time, each of them achieving phenomenal results in growth and profitability. He has devoted his last 12 years to helping practice owners increase their happiness, work-life balance and profitability. He is the founder of United Vets Group | The Ultimate Veterinary Practice | Complete Vet Systems | More Vet Clients Websites | Accelerate Mastermind Group | Vet Business Manager Program | The Dental Academy His skill set is combining long-lasting mindset changes together with proven practical strategies to allow practice owners and teams to reach their full potential. He is considered a leading educator on how to increase profitability, work-life balance and happiness in the veterinary industry.
Connect with Dr Sam:
Our brains evolved to keep us alive, not to make difficult conversations feel comfortable. Few moments in modern life feel as disproportionate as hearing your boss say, “Can we have a quick chat?” Suddenly, your chest tightens, your thoughts scatter, and your pulse...
