It’s January of 2021! A fresh and clean new year.
I know everybody’s pretty excited about getting 2020 behind us.
Here’s my hot take: We learned a lot. I think there’s going to be a lot of good shit that comes out of all the bad shit that we went through that year. So yeah, let’s take the good stuff out of that and push forward!
This year, I’ll be doing more short videos and blog posts to answer some of your questions I have rolling in.
We’re going to start with the 20,000-foot view today of what does it take to be a practice owner? To be a successful practice owner, to go to work every day, not hate your job, and make some money?
Because that’s what we’re here for. So here are five things I’m going to share, and you can look at yourself honestly and see if these are you:
# 1. A sense of adventure.
If you want to go to work every day and space out for a while when you get there, and maybe check some emails, then work on your TPS reports, then this is not the job for you.
There’s going to be different stuff flying at you all the time. I personally love it. I think it’s sort of a little adrenaline junky thing. Something happens, and even if it didn’t feel that great, you can look back on it and say, “I did that, and I handled it.” If you like the idea that anything could happen, this is definitely for you.
# 2. Willing to work with people.
I hate to disappoint all of you who got into veterinary medicine because you don’t like people. Well, guess what? They’re everywhere. They’re fucking everywhere. They come with the pets; they bring the pets, they work on your team, they deliver your oxygen. They’re on the other line when you’re calling to deal with your internet service.
You’ve got to figure it out.</ strong>
Full disclosure, I am not a huge “people person,” but I’ve learned as I’ve gotten to a certain age that dealing with people is actually super interesting psychologically. If you can deploy some empathy with people, you are going to get far, and it feels really good for you. It doesn’t mean you have to sit around and sing Kumbaya; it just means you recognize people’s needs and check in on them. There are just some little things that you can do that will improve your life, other peoples’ lives and will affect your business positively. So, learn how to deal with people.
# 3. Drive
Now, the idea is we’re going to get you into a business, and we’re going to set up some systems and processes so that you’re not there 24/7 ten years from now. But, in all honesty, for the first 6-18 months (at least), you’re going to be doing everything. You’re probably going to be taking the trash out. You might be answering the phones.
You’re going to be doing everything in that business, and you’ve got to love it. You need to see that bigger picture. You’ve got to want to do 60-80 hours a week, and it’s got to seem like it’s not work all the time. It’s got to feel like you’re really getting somewhere; otherwise, this is not going to work for you.
# 4. Accountability
There’s no management. There’s no policy that you can push anything off on. The buck stops with you. You make every damn decision in that place. You hire and fire, you set the rules, you set the policies; everything comes down to you.
So you’ve got to get really good and comfortable with holding yourself accountable, and explaining your reasons for things to people, and standing firm in that.
Also, if you are wrong, if you fuck something up: SAY YOU DID IT.
That’s all you got to do.
# 5 Love to fail
You’ve got to love to fail. You’re going to have lots of ideas. I have lots of ideas. I think they’re really good. They’re not. They’re really not.
The only thing that sets apart super successful people from the rest of us who don’t try is just having a huge discard pile. They’ve tried so many things, it didn’t work, and they got rid of them, and they finally found the thing that did work.
So you’ve got to be willing to work really hard, do all that stuff, and then reap the rewards.
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