Experienced Vet Ready For Independent Partnership, London.

Are you a generally positive vet who plays well with others, is enjoying their career, but is now considering what comes next?

Are you curious about leading and running a practice and have been thinking for a while that if you had your own practice you’d do things differently?

Would you like to take your first steps in leadership supported by a highly experienced (and available) mentor so you avoid problems and get it right?

Do you have at least five years of experience and have mastered the basics of surgery, medicine, dentistry and diagnostics?

Would you like to affordably own a share in an independent practice that is committed to being an example of how to do it better in vet med?

Are you a bit of a self-improvement junkie; open to learning new things and bettering yourself?

Have you experienced a few failures that have helped you become a better person?

If so, please read on, I’m looking for my next business partner to help continue the journey we began four years ago at Roundwood Vets.

About You

You’ll be a veterinarian with at least five years of experience in veterinary practice, the most recent three of which have been spent as a companion animal vet. You’ll be at the stage where you still get a thrill from new cases and problem-solving. You can now confidently cut a foreign body, perform a tricky dental, or manage a “finicky” diabetic case (you know the ones!).

People are as much a part of your passion as pets – put another way, you quite like humans! This is super important, if you connect with everything else in this job advert but not people, then it’s really not worth reading on. Lots of people are in vet med because they don’t like people. But I’m not looking to work with anyone in this role who thinks that way because good culture can’t exist where good relationships don’t develop.

Speaking of people, your colleagues like and respect you as much for the way you treat them as the medical skills you possess. You are kind, definitely not a pushover, but respectful and have control over your emotions so when conflicts arise, you are able to work through the moment and find a way for everyone to get what they need.

You’ll be starting to get twitchy about things you might do differently if you were in charge and had the freedom to make changes. You’re probably having ideas about how to market the practice using newer methods or invest in more modern equipment, telemedicine or any one of the exciting new things that are happening in our sector. In fact, you might even be at the point of thinking, screw it, let’s tear up the manual and start over!

You’ll have begun an exploration of topics beyond veterinary medicine and be an avid reader and attendee of conferences. Your friends think you’re a bit of a learning junkie and information sponge. You’re hungry to learn from others but perhaps haven’t found the right people or networks to help you succeed.

Your values matter a lot and you live by them, they are things like, honesty, humility, working hard and playing soft, caring for others, loyalty, conscientiousness, fun and openness.

About Me

I’m a veterinarian of the 1998 vintage from Glasgow. I started out with ambitions to be a surgeon, but my love affair with humans and how we work started early and took me down a different path. I ended up learning how to be a good GP vet and then moving into leadership positions in the practices I worked in.

Over the years I have led, owned, or part-owned, four practices of sizes that vary from 8 people to hundreds of people. My preference in business and life is to work closely with a smaller number of people so I can help them deeply. This makes me a lot happier than working with a large number of people and helping them very little. As a result, I choose projects to work on and people to work with based on positive impact and values alignment.

I have always loved being a vet and to be totally honest, it pains me to hear so many people running the profession down from the inside. I had a great career and had a lot of fun. Yes, it was sometimes tough, but I think now (as I did then) that it can be the best career ever. I’d do it all again tomorrow if I had my time again.

Away from my work with people in practice, I travel the world as a thought leader in the subjects of recruitment, team performance, leadership and marketing. I share my stories and insights to those who find value. My professional network has grown massively due to the time I’ve spent doing this, so I’m connected to a lot of great people around the world. This helps a lot when problem-solving and looking for new ideas to stay ahead. You will have access to this network too.

It also means this is a role where you will have a lot of freedom to make decisions without having to get permission in triplicate! We have a set of values and behaviour statements that help to guide decision making so people can think independently while staying aligned to the overall big picture of what we are trying to achieve.

About The Opportunity

I am now looking for a vet to take over the reins as the clinical director and team leader in Roundwood Vets.  Roundwood is a three vet small animal practice in London where we do many things a bit differently. It’s a great little team that thrives on working with each other and has a good vibe because we have been careful about growing our people and our culture.

The plan is that when you join you will have the opportunity, after a probationary period where we get to know each other, to buy into the business and also earn a larger share in the practice in return for your work. At a time when practice ownership is so expensive that many vets cannot afford, this is a great opportunity to take your first steps as an owner without having to break the bank.

Ok, so let’s talk about the role in a bit more detail. At its simplest you’ll be expected to do the following (This is not an exhaustive list):

1. Invest some capital in the business – when you feel comfortable to do so.
2. Plan (together) what the next evolution of the practice will look like and how it will run.
3. Be responsible for day-to-day management of the business – making sure the team, clients and pets are happy and get what they need.
4. Making clinical decisions and developing/implementing standards of care that work for everyone.
5. Your clinical caseload.
6. Team training and development.
7. Culture curation and daily team leadership.
8. Driving innovation and change as we try out new things to improve the practice.
9. Working with the practice manager to deliver the strategy.

In return you’ll receive:

1. One-to-one leadership development coaching and membership of the VetX:Leaders community.
2. A great working relationship with a good partner and also to be a pivotal part of a wider project to do good in veterinary medicine.
3. A fair basic salary dependent on skillset.
4. A performance-related bonus.
5. The chance to receive equity in return for results.
6. The option to purchase shares at a significant discount.
7. A dividend payment in proportion to your shareholding.
8. Greater control of your own destiny.
9. The freedom to do things differently while learning new skills.
10. Generous CPD allowance.
11. Health insurance.
12. Perkbox membership.
13. RCVS fees paid.
14. Because 13 feels like a bad number to end a bullet list on!

What’s Next?

If you are ready to move beyond being a vet and want to become part of a partnership that will benefit you, the practice, the pets committed to our care AND the wider veterinary community, then I’d be grateful for the chance to talk. The first step is to express your interest by sending your CV and cover letter explaining where your head is at to [email protected].

This is my personal email address and all enquiries will be treated in strict confidence. If you are curious, then let’s start a conversation.