Nov. 22, 2023

#107: Why Can't We Do It This Way? New Ideas On How To Bring More Joy To Veterinary Practice. With Dr Russel Welsh.

#107: Why Can't We Do It This Way? New Ideas On How To Bring More Joy To Veterinary Practice. With Dr Russel Welsh.
Apple Podcasts podcast player icon Spotify podcast player icon RSS Feed podcast player icon
Apple Podcasts podcast player icon Spotify podcast player icon RSS Feed podcast player icon
Season 1

What would you say are the biggest stumbling blocks to a joyful career in veterinary science?

The unfortunate reality is that there are many people in the veterinary profession who would not readily use 'joy' and 'work' in the same sentence. But Dr Russel Welsh wants to change that.

Dr Russel Welsh is  a veterinarian with over 23 years of experience and a passion for the vet profession and the role it plays in the lives of people and animals. He’s worked in multiple sectors of the veterinary industry, including clinically, operationally and in senior executive leadership positions. Some of his previous roles include first an employee and later a co-owner of Village Vet, a 33-site primary and referral care veterinary group in the London and Cambridge area. Russel facilitated the sale of this group first to private equity in 2017 and subsequently to the MARS group, where he stayed on first as Managing Director, then as COO and eventually in the role as Business Development Director at Linnaeus Veterinary Group.

This adventure has given him invaluable high-level insights into how our profession works (or sometimes DOESN'T work), so Russel recently resigned his position and took on a new challenge as Chief Operating Officer and Co-founder of Creature Comforts, a new VC funded veterinary start-up that aims to revolutionise the veterinary experience to make it seamless, joyful, fair and transparent by combining bespoke-built tech and world-class designer clinics.

In this conversation we cover how to step outside of your comfort zone to gain the knowledge and confidence needed to take on BIG challenges, and Russel shares some fascinating insights into the world of Big Veterinary Business. We talk about what’s good about corporate, what’s bad, and how Russel and his team are planning to take the best of it to create a model of veterinary practice that breaks the mould that says you can’t use 'joy' and 'work' in the same sentence. 

 

Topics covered:

 

07:12 The Journey from Student to CEO

08:38 The Role of Technology in Modern Veterinary Practice

12:18 The Impact of Corporate Structures on Veterinary Practice

15:53 The Launch of Creature Comforts: A New Approach to Veterinary Practice

18:31 The Vision for Creature Comforts: Reinventing the Veterinary Experience

20:53 The Challenges and Opportunities of Corporate Veterinary Practice

24:13 The Future of Creature Comforts: A Vision for Growth and Innovation

38:14 Changing Access to Veterinary Care

39:34 Focus On Client Relationships

40:33 The Role of Technology in Veterinary Practice

44:18 Is The Staffing Crisis Over?

53:40 Joy Killers in Veterinary Practice

01:10:09 Russel’s One Bit of Advice for New Veterinary Graduates

 

Join our community of Vet Vault Nerds to lift your clinical game and get your groove back with our up-to-date, easy-to-consume clinical episodes at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠vvn.supercast.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

Get help with your cases in our Specialist Support Space.

V⁠⁠isit ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠thevetvault.com⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠for show notes and resources related to this episode.

Connect with us through our online ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Vet Vault Networ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠k for episode highlights, clinical resources, discussions, questions and support.

Subscribe to our weekly newsletter ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠here for Hubert's favourite clinical and non-clinical learnings from the week.

What would you say?The biggest stumbling blocks to a joyful career in veterinary science art.Seriously, Hit pause for a minute and really think about that.Maybe send me an e-mail with your answer.Or I could put a poll in the show description.I don't know if you knew this, but if you listen on Spotify you can reply to questions like these straight from the app.
I'd love to hear from you.I feel like at the start of my career I might have said not enough time off being on call, basically exhaustion and rubbish pay.But asking this question in 2023 we might get different answers.
You might be earning 1/2 decent wage and have a reasonable roster, but maybe you're overwhelmed by your caseload, or you feel like you have no autonomy and you're just a replaceable cog in what can seem like a machine that is geared more towards business than patients.Or maybe there's too much friction in the interactions that you have with your clients.
Whatever the reason, despite the fact that we work in such a desirable profession, in a job that really should be very cool, there are still way too many people for whom joy and work would not often be used in the same sentence.Unless that sentence is, you know, joy that VED I work with.
Yeah, she's had enough.She quit yesterday.But there is a lot to be joyful about, one of those being that there are a lot of inspired people who are working very hard to change this.In my role in the Vet Fault, I get to meet these people and get glimpses of the good stuff that's happening and share that with you.
And this episode with Doctor Russell Welch is another one of those that will make you excited for the future of veterinary science and put a bunch of new ideas into your head on how you can make the profession better for those around you and those coming behind you.Doctor Russell Welch is a vet with over 23 years of experience and a passion for the profession and the role it plays in the lives of people and animals.
He's worked in multiple sectors of the veterinary industry including clinical vetting, operationally and strategically, and in senior executive leadership positions for some of the major players in Vetland.Some of his roles include working his way from employee to co-owner of village vet, which he helped grow into a 33 site primary and referral veterinary group in the London and Cambridge area.
He then facilitated the sale of this group to private equity in 2017 and then again to the Mars Group later.Throughout this process, he changed roles again to become first the Chief Operating Officer and then the Business Development Director at Linnaeus Veterinary Group, a member of the Mars Veterinary Health Family.
This 20 idea adventure has given him incredible high level insights into how our profession works or sometimes doesn't work.So Russell recently swapped his executive suit and tie for the hoodie and sneakers of Founder by taking on the role of Chief Operating Officer and Co Founder of AVC funded veterinary startup called Creature Comforts with a goal of doing things a bit differently with more of that joy that I talked about at the start.
But before all of this and likely really seemingly in a success story, Russell was at vets cool with me.Well a couple of years ahead of me.So this is one of my favorite kinds of episode where I get to catch up with an old friend and ask probing personal questions without sounding like a total weirdo.
Like how does the guy I knew from uni, who I know for a fact learned nothing about business and leadership from a syllabus, go on to become the COO of a team of several thousand?And to give this a bit more context, let me add a little bit more from Russell's official bio.In his role as Business Development Director at Linnaeus, Russell was accountable for over 180 clinics including eighteen referral centers with a combined revenue of wait for IT in excess of £400 million.
So he also has four kids and three sausage dogs, a three legged cat and a tortoise.And you thought you had responsibilities.So how do you go from totally ignorant to stepping way outside of your sphere of knowledge and experience and get the confidence or courage or maybe arrogance to step up into a role like this?
Russell also shares some fascinating insights into the world of big veterinary business.We talk about what's good about corporate, what's bad, and how Russell and his new team are planning to take the best of it and ditch the worst of it to create a model of veterinary practice that breaks that mold that says you can't use joy and work in the same sentence.
Please enjoy this conversation with Doctor Russell Welch Russell.Welcome to the vet belt mate.Thank you.
Yeah.Glad to be here.I love these conversations where I get to speak to people who I know or used to know, especially I used to know them in a completely different scenario.And then we've had, what's it 20 years now, 20 years of career, of life in intervening time and to get to catch up and to see what's happened.
And how did we get from the Russell I knew back in student days to the guy who's done a lot with his career?So thank you so much for making the time, Ed.I'm looking forward to it.It's been a while.I think I lost Saw you on the balcony.Outside our old residence at universities a long time.
Yeah, in our 20s now I I normally start these with a saying that I saw once That said, bad decisions lead to good stories.Do you agree or disagree with that statement?And if you do agree, have you got any examples of a cool story that led from a bad decision?
I mean, it's an interesting question.Some of the saying is no good story starts with I drank 10 lbs of water.So you know, depending on the context that you're using that I think there's many bad decisions depending on, you know, in what stage you make them.
Some decisions are made under intoxication, some are made during the course of your life and your business.So I think bad decisions from intoxication, I've got plenty to.Plenty to talk about.I think in life, yeah, it's learning from those decisions.
And I think one of the things we do is we create stories around those bad decisions just to try and make us feel better about the decision we made.So yeah, it depends on.It really depends on the context.My old business.Partner he he used to say to me, and I'm just talking in a business context on this is.
If at the time you think it's the right decision and it's the right decision for your business, you you make it, you know you might find out later down the line that it wasn't the best decision.But at the time, take the decision and hopefully you don't get a bad story from it.But learn from them, I think.
When you're full of beer, I don't think.This is a platform for me to tell you some of those stories, but there's some some swimming in the Crocodile River, there's there's plenty of things that have happened.Yeah, I I was there for several of those stories.
I I I witnessed them.But you're right, probably not the platform for those stories.We should start another podcast that's specifically for those stories.We haven't caught up for 20 years, so I need a quick catch up though.I left Russell, you're a couple of years ahead of me.
Heading out of university high achieving student, I will point that out.You did well.You were, I don't know, were you smart or or you had that photographic memory?Thing is that is that a fact?Am I remembering that correctly it?Was.I mean, I used to remember where a picture was on a page and A and a whole leverage file, so I still had to work.
But if I sat down and read what I needed to, I could remember it.So I was quite lucky that way do.You still have that.Can you still do that?Like can you memorize documents on site?Sometimes, but definitely not as well as I used to.I used to, yeah, and it used.I used to retain it for a long period of time.
But I've got a lot, a lot of other things going on in my in my brain now.I've never rests and my brain is always on the go.But yeah, it's it's, it was.I was lucky, put it that way.I could I could study and retain.So I was.I was lucky.It used to drive my friends insane.
I could go out all night and then.Go and write an exam and come top of the class.But I had to work.Nothing came easy.I think if people said they could just, yeah, do it without hard work, everything was was was effort at vet school, but I put the effort in and I could retain it.
So that was.Good.Yeah.So then recap of your career since what's it 2000, 2002, 2000 until now?I know where we are now roughly, but give us a quick recap.When I left uni my focus was always on becoming a specialist, so I spent a bit of time as an externship in Davies University my final year and at you tracked, so I got into an internship in in American University at Washington State.
I pretty much left the day after we graduated, went to Washington, landed in the middle of nowhere and started this internship.So I did enjoy it, but I think what it it was too early in my career I had the real lack of experience.From a practical point of view, yeah, I could just see this pathway of another 5-6 years of studying and I was tired.
So I decided not to pursue residency post that and thought I'd come over to England and see what England was like.So packed my bags.I've got a a job in the Lake District doing mixed practice.I thought I could go and mountain bark and fish and do whatever there, but it never stopped raining for six months.
So I literally, I literally did carvings.I did lammings, I did, you know, all sorts of pretty horrendous farm work in the rain and mud and then foot and mouth broke out.So I was in the lakes and.In 2001 when Foot and mouth broke out so I decided to go and help out with the ministry, so I started working for Defra.
It was it was horrendous, but it was also great because I phoned around 30 or 40 of my classmates who flew over within a month because we needed help and they were paying very well, so it was great.We had a fantastic time.Met my wife up in Carlisle at that point because I had no plans to stay in the UK so stayed up in Carlisle post foot and mouth.
Did that for a year or so.But then really got tired of of of large animal practice, so moved down to London, Locum did.I was quite interested in emergency work, so I worked at a referral emergency clinic in London for about 15 months.
Being the night vet really.Again, from a career perspective it's pretty hard, but I learned a lot.You learn really just to crack on and get things done.So that was really good.And then started low coming and came across.I was introduced to another South African guy called Brendan Robinson, the founder of Village Vets.
They joined with him.And went on quite an interesting journey.I became a partner quite early on and we grew a sort of a haven't spoke model of businesses.So smaller clinics with bigger hospitals to a 33 sites sort of group with five big 24 hour hospitals and we opened up London vet specialists in run by 2015 that was the only referral clinic in London at the time very small was in the basement under a shop but.
It worked.The only referral specialist centre in London?How's that even possible?Was it just because the Royal College dominated so much?No, no, I mean it's it's actually crazy at the moment.There's still no multidisciplinary referral centre in London.Linnaeus, who were a previous employment, they building a referral centre in London, now a multidisciplinary that could be the first big multidisciplinary referral in London.
So exactly.Exactly.You look at New York, you look at I think it was down to the fact that you had these 24 hour hospitals, you had some of the larger sort of groups which had certificate holders doing referral work on the outskirts, properties expensive.
You want to go rent 40,000 square foot in London.So I think commercially at the time it didn't make a huge amount of sense, but now that referral has become elevated to where it is, it commercially makes sense and I think you're going to see multiple.Popping up, there's a need for them.
So yeah.So then what happened was my business partner was older than me.We had a practice probably about 354 hundred staff members at the time market started to get consolidated.So we started to see IVCCVS were sort of big players starting to consolidate Medi vet.
So what we we wanted an exit and we we had a good look around as to who to exit to.So we went for the private equity backed company called Linnaeus, which you may or may not be familiar with.And we knew that they were going to exit in probably about a year to two years to Mars.
So they acquired us.I stayed on as Managing Director of Village Vet until we were bought by Mars in 2018.So we grew it from around about maybe 40-50 clinics to about 160 somewhere around there before it got acquired by Mars.
So Village Bed ended up at that size 100.Linnaeus, So Linnaeus was a consolidator, so buying more businesses, but I got really, really interested in the financials in business, in actually just corporatization of business.
It was a really interesting journey.I had to, actually.I just spent time reading at night just on some of the terminology when I was in these meetings.Things have now rolled off easily EBITDAR and you know compound annual growth rates and all of these types of things.So we actually put the business plan together with KPMG when we sold our business and it started to spark my interest in the financial real financial side of businesses.
So when Linnaeus sold to Mars, Mars came in and wanted a big platform.So they came in and they bought Linnaeus.And Linnaeus differentiated from the others in that 50% of their revenue comes from referral work.So at the moment they own 18 of the biggest referral centers in in the UK.
So it was a different platform, one that I was familiar with because we'd started London Vet specialists and we're always the high end of veterinary care in London.And then I stayed on as Managing director, I was appointed as Managing Director of primary care and London Vet specialists and then COVID hit.
So yeah, we all know that really, really rocked the boat.We had a lot of acquisitions on the pipeline.We continued doing that.I was involved in the M&AI, was involved in integrations and.Probably the back end of 2020, I was asked to to step into the Chief Operating Officer role in an interim capacity which ended up because there was another lockdown ended up being around about 15 months.
So that was pretty tough.That was that was really tough.We had about 5000 you know employees at that stage in the business.So really, really tough, really hard to get to manage and keep people safe.So quite a stressful time to do that.
I was responsible for P&L delivery, so for the financial delivery was responsible for the growth M and a inorganic growth.But it got to a point I still had my Managing Director role and I had my CEO interim role.So I think when you think of bad decisions.
What I did was put my hand up for multiple roles, but that became very challenging.At one point, I was doing 2 exec roles and one senior leadership role.And we got to a point where my interest was not necessarily in operating these businesses.It was in growing them, having conversations, getting fantastic clinics on board, integrating these clinics.
So I stayed as a full board member, as a business development director.So I was responsible for growth.So inorganic acquisitions, organic.Greenfield, multiple vertical streams, you know all of these types of things integrating telemedicine and tech.
So really, really enjoyed that.There was a big role.I had a big budget, learned quite a lot of strategy from from my CEO at the time really, really opened my eyes to to different way of working.When I went on to the board of this large company, there were people from outside of the industry that have run.
Massive companies that are now on these boards so soaked up a huge amount of knowledge from them.Really really enjoyed it.Wasn't really looking, although always looking, but every time I drive past the building I go that's going to be a great.This is an area that needs it, so not seriously looking, but I did start to see.
The challenges in the industry, especially post COVID this massive massive increase in pet population.The morale in the industry really, really plummeting.A lot of corporatization, which has its benefits, but it also has curses like anything and got tapped on the shoulder through a Business Contact by a young a young guy, entrepreneurial guy in his early 30s.
He digitized and sort of disrupted the state agent market in the UK.So there's a company called I think it was called Yopa, something similar to Purple Bricks, but built the tech around really just digitizing having fixed fee for selling your property.
Exits are dead at a significant amount of money and actually had a very bad experience with veterinary in London.As a client.As a client and wanted to solve a problem really so tapped me on the shoulder and said would I be interested in if he raises the money if I would come and open up fed practices with him.
Bricks and mortar though, Because if you said he's estate thing was real estate was digital.So this is where the interesting part came in is.You look at most industries, especially even if you look at dentistry, you look at human healthcare.Far, far ahead in actually the technology that's driving access to the care, so in veterinary and especially in the UK and the US, probably similar in Australia.
The actual technology is pretty poor.There's some glimmers of hope.You've got certain companies pets at, you've got vet story, you've got our recall, you've got 15 different platforms that are entering into this space, but none of them are linking their technology worth the bricks and mortar and actually owning from here to here.
We used to think rather go out and buy all of that, but it's much, much better to own it.So what we're doing is we're building the technology.To actually have access to our clients to stream on the journey.The clients that we've got are now completely different to the clients we had pre covered and one younger.
What you've got is less experienced pet owners and more often, far more of a.Humanized relationship with their pets.These individuals are not necessarily married, they may not have kids.These are pets that sleep on their head at night and in their bed and are carried around in their rug.
Sex around London and.And have their own Instagram accounts. 100% and no one's servicing that.So these guys want to get into a clinic.How do they get into a clinic?They find the clinic, they go online and they book.They can't get in.So the journey's just not right.
So what we're doing is rebuilding the technology and rebuilding the bricks and mortar.And what we're going to do is bring the two of them together and own it from the point of acquisition to the point of care.Pause on that.I have to backtrack quite a bit.I have questions I want to take a minute to tell you about an exciting addition to the ways that the Vet Vault can support you in practice.
You already know about our clinical podcast that keeps you up to date with your knowledge and skills, which, by the way, is now a race approved.If you haven't heard of it, go check it out at vvn.supercast.com.But here's the thing, despite the fact that I personally make all of these episode, which means that I am more up to date with my clinical knowledge than I've ever been, I still have cases that stump me.
Cases where I need.Just a little bit of.Wisdom from someone smarter than me, or some reassurance that my thinking is on the right track?Or another input to help me get unstuck with my case.These are typically cases that are not quite referral cases.Or maybe they are, but there's a practical reason why I can't refer.
But I would really like the input of a specialist, so I've made exactly that.We now have in the Red Vault network a space where you can ask our team of specialists your stickiest, trickiest case questions and get support from some of the most experienced specialist minds available.
We've started with supporting small animal medicine and Emergency in critical care, but we'll be adding a dermatologist in the next week or two.Our app lets you upload files and images and videos, and you can even jump on a live chat if the case requires it.It's a paid space so that our specialists get compensated for the time, so no more feeling guilty for your request for free advice.
But we've tried to keep it as affordable as possible to make it widely accessible at around $15.00 a month, which lets you ask as many questions as you want.You'll also see the questions and answers from your colleagues, so we can learn from each other.Check out the details and the TS and CS by clicking the link for this in the episode Show description and go give it a try.
My first question before we get back Back to the Future, Back to the current days.That's a that's some big moves, man.There's some big ballsy moves.I know what we learned back in our support and it was not business and it was not strategy, that sort of stuff.How did you get the the skill or the confidence or the stupidity or whatever to take on something that big?
I think it was.I've always been a risk taker.I'm not adverse to risk.And I think it was just when opportunities came, I didn't overthink them.I just took them.And you're not going to know all the answers, but you know, you learn along the way.
And what I have learned, which I always used to look at people and say, wow, how does that guy become the CEO of Tesco's?Or how does this person become the CEO of Apple or whatever it would be?And people are just people.
When you actually get talking to these people, these are people that have taken risks.They've taken opportunities where they've got blind spots, they've gone array and learnt and spoken to people and they've often learned by experience.Some people have spent minimal time at university, but it's life experience, it's challenge, it's learning that has got them to these very high positions.
And that's what I started to learn when we started to do the sale of the business, is talking to people, meeting people and actually understanding.Hey, their journey's not that dissimilar.They've taken opportunities, they've taken chances.So I took AI, sort of had a word with myself at that point and said take the opportunity, what have you got to lose?
You know you can fall back on your veterinary degree at any point.You're no different to these other people that are in these very, very high achieving positions and I think that's the the key thing there.It's certainly my excuse, but I I think I see it a lot in our profession.
We are so well educated and we have our ticket.There's a ticket to do veterinary science.And I think sometimes it makes you feel like, well, if I don't have the ticket, if I don't have the qualification or the certificate, well then I'm not qualified to do this other thing.There's almost a limiting belief in in some extent.
And then also that belief of, well, these other people must be some kind of superhuman.Maybe they went to Business School or something.I don't know.It can't possibly be me.Yeah, 100 a 100% I think as vets.Generally, we really underestimate what our capabilities are.
To get through a veterinary degree alone shows that you can persevere.So whatever you do and whatever you take and learning, not every decision.Like you say, bad decisions.There are some good stories, but the last thing I'd want to do is look back and go.
I should have done that.Look, that person has done it, but I think for me.I just like absorbing things.I like absorbing information.I like trying things and learning.And if I didn't know I spoke to people or I went and I read a book or I just tried it and I think that's the most important thing is learning as you go along.
My management style and my leadership style now is. 1000% different to how it was when I first opened the practice.And you learn by getting feedback.You learn by actually asking people how you're doing and that's the biggest eye opener, is speaking to people, finding out where your blind spots are and working on them.
We all people.I think that's the main thing is like I say, I just looked at people and thought, why are they different?If they can do it, why can't we do it and try it?I think the other thing that's always put me off of big business ventures, so let's say because I owned a vet business and then the idea of saying well, should we open a branch clinic somewhere or because opportunities start coming and I'd often go, I'm busy enough and I'm stressed enough.
I don't know if I can handle it.I don't think if I can take it on or I don't know if I want that level of responsibility or stress.Is there a vast difference between Russell who owned a clinic or Russell who owned 100 and something clinics?No, I think what you've got is you get good people to work with you, so you realize you can't do it all yourself.
And now if I look back having been COO of 5000 people, if I think about like you say when I had a clinic with 200 people, I used to think how do you cope?You just it's it's all about scale and it's about bringing the right people in and empowering people to.
To do what you need them to do.And I think that's important.That's what I have learned.If I look back, I should have empowered people earlier and I should have given people more autonomy and given them a lot more guidance earlier on because it would have made my life easier being a very detailed person.
I would want to do it and not delegate.And that's the that's route to failure really, You know, you burn out.So actually now.Size doesn't really scare me.So our ambitions for our new business, I want 345000, you know, people working for us because you'll have the right people leading it, you'll have the right people working with you.
So yeah, it seems far less scary now.I'm having having worked in that environment.So, OK, then I want to take you to that period with Linnaeus where you were COO and what manager?Managing director.And then COCOO and then business development Director, you sound like you weren't loving that there was a you said it was a tough time.
What?What was tough?About that, it compared in comparison to some of the other roles that you had.Is it just just too much?I think I.Think it was just too much and also what you've got is you really at that level, you have accountability so you feel the pressure.There's no.
There's no, especially when it's not your own business.So the difference between running your own business is if you're making a bit of money, whether you make a little bit or a lot or it's actually doesn't matter.You you have good months, you have bad months, you have good years, you have bad years.But it evens out and you can actually pull levers quite quickly, which will influence the change in a larger organization.
One, there's a lot more governance and when you do something, the results are not immediate.So we had obviously the panic during COVID where the business dropped off a Cliff and we still accountable for the performance.So COVID wasn't an excuse.
You know, if you went to your major investor and said sorry about what about COVID, they would say we'll come up with a plan and here's your targets.This is what you've got to achieve.So I think that level of accountability was very different and also.To worry about keeping people safe.
You're making decisions which are putting people in difficult situations.You're keeping practices open, closing practices.What do you do with PPE?How do you do social distance?Are there actual operational limitations where you you you could look at people in the eye and say I'm trying my best to keep you safe?
That kept me up at night because luckily we had no serious issues.But to me that that was a huge level of responsibility.And then also just having two or three roles as I was, I was just extremely busy.I was extremely busy and I didn't push back.
I should have just gone OK, that one needs to be parked now.This is what I've got to do, but I won't do that again.However, it gave me the opportunity to move within the organization.So bad decision, Good story it.Was a challenge, it was a challenge, but I think any any role in there, even people in the clinics, it was a very challenging but I learnt a huge amount.
The opportunity of of sitting with experienced board members really changed my outlook on how to do things and that that's invaluable experience which I wouldn't have gotten.So, yeah, I, I, I did and I just absorbed as much as I could from people with your photographic memory sucking in there with them.
OK.And then one more thing, because I think it's an important question because what you guys are doing would still classify your, your new business that you're working on.Creature Comforts.That's the right name, right?Yes.Yes, it's, it's, it's going to be a corporate group by the definition of corporate practice, which this sometimes has a stigma attached to it.
Corporate.It is corporate, yes.It's venture capital funding, OK.So what we've got is the only way to grow these businesses now is you need a lot of money to grow a good business and grow quickly.
So I've been exposed mainly to private equity or to trade.Now what I'm working with is venture capital, So seed funding, Series A, Series B funding where actually you've given.I mean, you've got to believe you can deliver, but there's money in the bank to deliver what your plan is.
So what we will do is obviously we will need funding and we will get funders to help us grow.But the definition of a corporate is difficult.We've got ambitions of getting to 50 practices over the next five to seven years.So we will need investment, we'll take on debt, we'll take conventional funding.
But at that point, what is it then become?Is it a then absorbed by one of the incumbents?Is it a new entry that comes in?But I've also worked in corporates now and I know what I loved and I know what was a challenge.So hopefully by having done that, as we build this business, the ethos, the culture, what we're trying to achieve will be different.
Why couldn't creature Comforts grow to 500 practices with the right, best investments in the right team over time?So that would be their ambition versus here we go, we're going to sell the business.That's not our goal.I've done that build and flip.Yeah, I was very lucky.I made a comfortable, you know, amount from our previous business.
But the goal isn't making money.The goal for me and for my partners is just to open up something new, to test, something new, to bring this concept of mutuality into the industry, that there's a mutual benefit for everybody in the ecosystem, from the veterinary team, from the clients, from the social aspects and trying to balance all of that and bringing new technology in.
You know we're building our own tech is bringing that in to make that journey seamless and it's happening.You look over across the States, bond, vet, modern animal, small door pet folk, the list is growing.You know these guys are growing rapidly and that's what we want to do in the UK.
So you know, when I explore those concepts you said earlier, man, you alluded to it there again that you talked about the curses of corporatization, the things that you didn't like in your experience in that space, are they key things that stand out that you go, yet that's not going to work and create your comforts?
I think the lack of autonomy.So what you have with these is when and rightly so, when the businesses become bigger and it's less so depending on whether it's private equity or trade or family owned business is there has to be different levels of governance and what happens is those levels of governance I think decrease.
The entrepreneurial spirit and what you also get is you get extra layers of management.So we're in a practice, like you would know, having a practice, if there's a problem, sound like you'll solve it, you know, So someone, someone will come to you and go, Can I do this?
The answer is going to be yes or no.We'll go ahead and do it.What you find now is, can I do this?Well, I'm not sure I need to ask someone.Well, I'm not sure I need to ask someone and I think that.That starfles ingenuity.It starfles.
It makes people feel like they're a little bit trapped.It kills enthusiasm as well.It kills it because you go, yeah, I've got this idea that's going to change things.I think it's really cool that your nurse comes to you and and exactly that.She goes to the manager and yeah, that's a great idea.Let's ask the next level.
And then six months later nothing's happened.And then people stop bringing ideas because they just go.It's not going to happen anyway, so why am I going to put myself out there?So I think that's one thing that and also giving people opportunity, you know at the moment what's happened and we we were guilty of it but we needed to sell the business, we wanted to sell the business in order to my partner wanted to exit and it was the right time, but it then suddenly cut off.
That next layers of ability to buy in or the next layer of individuals to actually earn a partnership and what we want to do is we're going to give people the opportunity of one profit share and two actually shared ownership of the company.So we allocating under a government scheme, we'll be allocating options and shares to people in the company.
And not having any sort of cloak and dagger about what our future is, as we get investment, people will benefit from it.We need investment to grow.How that comes?We'll find out as we move along, but each person as they join you know will benefit from that.
And I think that that's important is everyone in the organization benefits from the growth of the organization which in a larger corporate now is not possible.There are often the ex partners on earn outs but everybody else isn't.So I think it's just looking at things differently.
Corporatization has had its benefits by far.Some of those smaller, poorly run practices that these corporates mocked up, they've closed, they've shut, they're no longer suitable for modern veterinary.So I think the level of veterinary care in the UK and probably in most first world countries now is exceptional, you know, and that's not a question.
And if an animal comes to a clinic, I think they're almost guaranteed they're going to be well looked after.But it's the whole experience, you know.It's the experience of.Staff in the clinic, it's the experience of the owner in the clinic.It's the experience of the community that these practices are sitting in, which has gone.And I think that's what what corporates will struggle to bring back.
You you you've bought 3000 or 1000 clinics with their own cultures and now trying to merge them into one is very, very difficult.So building it from the ground up, grassroots, this is who we are, this is what we're about.I think we've got an opportunity to to develop our own culture.
So that's what the corporate curves, but the corporates have also brought investment.You know they have brought modernization, they have brought new technologies and I think there's a place for everyone.But I I really believe that I think what our, our modus operandi isn't to isn't to corporate bash.
We will work with them and alongside them there's plenty of work.We're in a unique situation at work and clients and and what we need is, is not a challenge.What we want to do is position ourselves that.We catering for.We catering for a seamless journey for access to expert pet care.
You know, making that journey seamless, making the environment for our teams fantastic.You go into a lot of clinics Now the staff rooms at the back next to the toilet, the dishwasher doesn't work, the rooms are overflowing.We're allocating 1/4 of our practice size to staff facilities.
You know why can't people come in and have a shower and sit down and have a proper beans to?Cup coffee in a nice, airy staff area.We're building very, very different clinics.When you walk in from a client perspective, from our perspective, they're not going to look, smell, feel like a vet clinic.
They're going to be different.They have to be different.Clients want to come in, maybe sit and have a coffee with you and do your consult.And just by giving people access to care early on, by triaging, by managing. 80% of your queries and questions remotely through chat.
We we want people to be members of our practice.There's this sort of there's different models that are flying around at the moment around membership.We want people to be members.We want them to belong.We want them to feel part of our clinic.And by being a member you can limit the number of clients that you have.
So you can limit the number of interactions your vets and your nurses will need to have in a day.You can really make sure that the right people are seeing the right professional.If it's a question that a nurse is well placed to deal with, they will bite your arm off to deal with that.But if it's something that really needs expert veterinary intervention, then go and speak to the vet.
So it's really a whole change in the experience and by being a member, you know people will have to download our app.We're going to have you can pay as you go, so like a normal vet clinic, you know, come in, pay for your services or you can be a member.So you pay monthly.
Not a health plan, it's not a product driven, it's a service driven.If you need to talk to Hubert about your cat's problem, you can talk to him via chat, via video, you know, do you need to come in.So it's just really changing the access and the way that people access up here and making sure that when they do come into the clinic, they've got a reason to come in and they're going to be looked after.
And you can really, really streamline everything from point A, from the time the client makes an interaction to the time they leave.From digitizing your consent forms, people having access to their clinical records on their phone, the prepaying fixed pricing, there's we've toying with all ideas because we can and we we'll pivot.
And you know as we learn we've got our first two opening, the first back end of this year, early next year we'll pivot and we'll change and that that's, that's the opportunity we've got.It's really exciting stuff like I my head's spinning listening to all of this cause again it's all all of those problems that we both experienced in our careers as employed vets and as employees.
We've got a few questions around it.So just to clarify the the membership ideas.So, so the way you describe it, does it mean that unless I'm a member of the practice of Creech comforts, I I can't just phone or walk in at a clinic and say, oh, here's Skittles, because this Kittles needs us.
Jabs you go.Oh, sorry, members only.No, I think what we this is what we've got to test because it is a novel concept here.But what we want to do in the areas that we're going to be operating in is I want a relationship with those clients because I think that's more rewarding for the client.
You're going to get better outcomes for the pet and you're going to get happier, healthier staff because.What I don't want is people coming in accessing our service once because they maybe can't get into their own practice because they're too busy.This has to be someone that wants to be part of the journey.
So you could come in and say yes.Can I join Creature Comforts?Of course you can.Let's have a look.Do the vaccination, download our app.But we will communicate with you, you know, and we will.It's almost an expectation.We want you to visit our practice once a year.If I really want to give your pet the best healthcare, I need to have a health check with you every year.
You need to have your vaccination every year.I don't want people tapping in and tapping out because all it does is it increases the workload of, you know, people in the practice.These aren't people that are necessarily bonded to your practice or interacting with you.And it's no different to what you've got.
Our plan will be why do you need phones?In a practice?When lost, could you find your GP?When lost, could you find your dentist?If you could build me a practice without a rigging phone that they'll release 30% of my stress levels exactly.So this is a, this is a, this is an experience that clients will have and we're not expecting clients to pay a monthly subscription, but we're expecting them to be.
This is a commitment.I want to come and join your practice, Russell.I'll download the app and I'll come and see you for my vaccine or whatever, a health check, whatever it is.And then we're going to have the membership.So what we want is we actually really would like people to be 100% subscription based so that they pay X amount per month.
And what that then does is that opens up a whole world of unlimited consultations, a whole world of virtual care, just really a different experience.So we're testing the two, but we're going to run them side by side, where in a normal clinic you would have called people active clients.
Yeah, but you've got a list of 20,000 clients.What, 6000 of them actually visit you?I want 6000 people that visit me.If you haven't visited for a year, there's a waiting list.I'm sorry, do you really want to use our business?No.And we put someone else on the waiting list.
So that's what we're going to test.Because with that, if you look at what a normal customer journey would be, let's say you want to bring poor old Fluffy in for a SFA.So usually now you've got to phone up the practice.Yeah, the phone may or may not get answered.
You go into the practice.The receptionist may or may not look up at you because she's so busy with sorting everything out, answering phones, taking a payment.If you manage that all through your app, you can have a video consult with someone and say, OK, this is what you've got to expect.Fluffy needs to come in.
At this time, I'll send you the information about what the procedure is going to be.I'll send you a breakdown of the cost.What we'll do is the nurse will check Fluffy out and make sure we'll vet in the morning, make sure everything's OK.So by the time that client comes in, it's been seamless.
They've got all the information they need.They're probably prepaid, so when they come and actually see you, you can talk to them properly, you know, forget about them.All of the bits and pieces around there, they've got the app.When Fluffy recovers, you send them a nice video of Fluffy eating their lunch.You send the discharge appointment.
You send the discharge sheet.So when you get home and your partner says so, what did, what did Russell say?You don't say, oh shit, Did he say we could wait three days or five days and not lick the stitches?I can't remember is a prerecorded video of exactly what you need to do.So the whole journey is seamless and what you've done is each touchpoint.
You've used your nurses skill set, your admin has done the admin part and you've done the veterinary work and the conversation hasn't been about money, hasn't been about complications, hasn't been about anything apart from the the experience that does.And you can do that with anything, any part of that journey you can do this with.
And if we own the tech and we're building the tech, we've got a fantastic tech team.It's not cheap to build tech, but these guys are smart and if we own the tech, we own the journey.If we don't own the tech and it's got a another company with just a sleeve on that doesn't interact with your PMS properly, it doesn't exist.
It doesn't.If you say we are you talking PMS app?PMS by the way.The Practice Management System software, The whatever.Initially it's going to be the app and what we'll do is as we scale and grow, we may look at integrating it with our own build software or PMS.
OK, it's good to own their own journey.Yeah.And practice management systems are way over complicated.Oh yeah, they they just are So that that that's probably creature comforts 2.2 you know it's still a still a one way.You said earlier that.
This again, we're not corporate bashing.There's plenty of clients around.Is that still the case?Because if we had this discussion a year or two years ago, 100%, I would have said build as many vet clinics as you can because it feels like it's an insatiable need for vets that can't be filled.
But in conversations I'm having, not specifically, I haven't actually spoken to anybody UK based for a while.But it feels like it's slowing down, like that mad rushes over.And I'm aware that this one of the big UK groups, that's actually retrenching stuff and what's happening?
What's the vibe?OK, so, So what you've got is very, very region specific, but we're going to be opening in and around the Southeastern London.So if you look at the London demographic, what you have is it's I know because Village Vet was one of the biggest in London is they're the hub and spoke model.
So small hard St. practices and small premises probably quite underinvested.Everything gets seen there maybe one or two procedures done, everything goes to the main hospital.So what's happening now is post Covad and during Covad, people don't want to work on their own and they shouldn't work on their own.
If you think of why, how and why people burn out because your nurse doesn't arrive because they're unwell, someone's got to pick up the stack, the vet phones in sick or is in a day off or whatever it is, someone's got to pick up the stack.So people want to work in teams.And what you've got now is there's a lot of these smaller clinics owned by Medi Vet, by Vinayas, by Goddards that are shut because they cannot stop.
And people don't want to work in these small clinics.The clients haven't gone anywhere.They've just been under service.So what these clients are doing is they're seeing three or four or five different practices.They're not necessarily getting the continuity of of care that they need.Again, I need to stress the level of care is expert and it's great.
That's the continuity of care.It's the access to care.So they're either not visiting the vet as early, you know, they can't get the level of interaction that they need.So they're the people haven't gone away, they still own these pets.And if you think about how probably how you would have run your practice, we used to try and drive people in see a puppy once a month, you know, bond with that client, bond with the animal, make sure that that puppy's OK and gets everything it needs.
During COVID, that all stopped, so you not necessarily got the same level of loyal clients.It takes 3-4 interactions before a client really trusts you.Now the clients are OK, So what I'll do with my puppy, I'll go speak to my breeder, I'll go here, I'll go there.So the chaotic workload has definitely decreased, but a lot of that was driven by the fact these practices were closed for so long.
So you had this lag, all the vaccines, all the dentals, all the work that needed to be done.But the number of clients is 15% higher than it was the number of animals, you know, more households having pets.So it's definitely under serviced.
And I think if you come with something different where a client is bonded to your practice, they trust you, they're a member of something that's going to get mopped up.That's the hope anyway.We might have a conversation in a year where we got it wrong, but but I doubt it.
I I I I really doubt it.And I feel like the answer to my next question is encapsulated in that as well.And the other crisis a year ago is if we sat here a year ago and you told me I'm starting a new vet group, I would have said, yeah, great idea, lots of work, but where the fuck are you going to find staff, mate?
Good luck with that.The this is look, this is a global problem and it's one that we duty aware of.I've got two practices open and I've already recruited 18 staff.So people are still around.
They just want they just want something different, you know What they also want is more flexible working.True, true flexible working.You know, there's a term banded around about flexible working or what does that mean?Oh, can I work four days a week?No, that's not flexible working.
Now flexible working is next week.I've got my child's play can I work this or this or this or this time.And also by owning our own tech, by having that end to end journey, we're going to give people the the ability to work from home to work flexible hours.
Our clinics are not necessarily going to be open from 8:00 to 8:00.They'll be open when we have staff for that period of time.You know if you can manage your Rotary in advance, why can't you be open from 6:50 one day or from 8:00 to 5:00 the next day?As long as you managing your appointments, as long as you're managing it in advance, you know we're going to test different ways of making real flexible working annualized hours, annualized contracts, hard time working from home, shared job shares.
I think we've just got to tap into the market and what people actually want and that's what we really, we really need to test.So I think our first five or ten will be OK, going to be a challenge between the next 10 to 50, but hopefully our our offering, our proposition when people come and see the clinics, they talk to people, we're all about this joyful experience.
You know, I want to bring fun back.I want to have fun at work.I want to walk into practice and laugh with my staff.I want people to to just enjoy coming to work, you know, and that's our goal, that's our aim is enjoy coming to work your benefit.We're paying people well and that's what I think we need to do.
So yeah, it's a challenge.It will be a challenge.But we're hoping that by managing workflow, by being more flexible, by giving people the opportunity to do what they're trying to do.People are despondents.I'm a vet.Why do I want to sit and do insurance forms for three hours?
How unproductive is that?We've got admin people who love doing insurance forms.Here you go, here's this.You go fill them out, knock yourself out and let your vet or your nurse go and do the stuff that they enjoy.That one looks after pets, 2 generates revenue, three gives them more satisfaction.
So I think that the solutions are fairly simple.It's executing them.That's going to be the challenge and that's that's what we've got to do.And The funny thing is the things that you're planning are excellent and everybody wants that.But I found when I ran my business sometimes when you try and institute them then there's also some resistance of like.
So the flexibility thing I I I found I ran an emergency clinic.And because I'm personally exactly that, I resent.Having to arrange my entire life around my set roster for all of eternity.Now, I can't do this because on Thursdays I work, so I I want that flexibility to say no, I'm not sick, I don't have mental health leave.
I just want to go to a movie on a Thursday morning with my wife and I try to do that in RT.But it was cool with the vets, mainly because I ran the roster.So I I had I built systems that allowed some flexibility.But for example, the nursing team, they really struggle with that idea.They're like, but she wants, just wants to go out.
I'm like, yeah, she's 20, of course she fucking wants to go out.I made to going out, make it happen for us and I had a lot of resistance for that.People struggle with that.If you're looking at GPS, do it in the UK.So they book consulting slots.They'll say, I'll book this number of slots in this day, this day, this day, this day.
So I think, I think that technology will help because people will have access to the practice management system, they'll have access to, there's no reason why you couldn't say to someone, right, I'm going to open up a lot of video consults from 4:00 to 8:00.
Hubert, you know, you've had time off in the day.Would you like to just pick those up in the evening?So what we're hoping is when we're employing and we're getting people on board, I need people that want to have a bit of an entrepreneurial flair, that want to try something different because I don't have all the answers.
I really don't have all the answers.And what I want when we're looking at what is happening in corporate practice at the moment, that autonomy's gone, this is your practice.Make it work.These are the tram lines.This is what you have to deliver.This is a number of consults and clients You need to see in a week how you do that.
I don't really mind.Make sure that the service is there, make sure that the level of care is there.You get to the end point and that's what we want to test and say guys, it's your practice, you do it.Why am I recruiting A locum for you?You recruit your locum, you recruit your team.So let I want each business to run as if it had an owner occupier in the leadership team needs to be strong.
They need autonomy and yes, they're accountable.They have to deliver.They're getting paid well, but that's what we've got to test and technology will help that.They do it in other industries.So I think we've got to step out of that.We need to be there at 7:00 and finish at 8.
No, you don't, because your clients have also gone want to go to the movie with their wife, you know, or their husband or they've got to drop the kids off at school or so.We're going to test that, but it it won't take a workforce that wants that.And I think there's enough people at the moment that would be willing to test that.
Yeah, that sounds great.I I'm excited for you and a little bit jealous of the people who are going to work for you.That sounds really cool.I hope you pull it off.Yeah, I hope I pull it off.I've got a lot riding on.It Russell, you mentioned having fun at work and joy in the workplace, and I think it's on your website as well.
What do you think are the the biggest joy killers in event practice?I think lack of autonomy is one, I think unproductive, unproductive work.So doing work that you don't really want to do, that you're not trained to do, I think very poor leadership or poor management.
So where you've got management versus leadership, you know a lot of people leave roles because they don't like the line manager.I think just having the ability to to develop, if you can't develop, if you wake up every morning and go okay, that's fine.
Some people love what they do and they will be happy to fill in Jurans forms out till they retire.Some people want a different thing.They want to say, well, I want to run this business.So it's actually, unless people see real progression, having proper progression conversations with people and getting under the skin and saying what is it that you want, How can I help you get there?
I think would really make and change a poor to a joyful environment and also the physical space.If it's dark, if it smells damp, if your equipment's always breaking, if that's a really, that's a joy sucker.
You come, you pick up the phone and it doesn't work, or you go and your drip pump doesn't work.So it's making sure people have the tools to do what they need to do and do it well.And a sense of belonging.You know, if you don't belong to something or you don't really buy into the culture or you don't really buy into what you're trying to achieve, you're always looking, aren't you?
You're going OK, well, yeah, I really believe what Russell says, but not so much.So I think it's creating that culture, culture, opportunity, fantastic working environments, happy clients.A joy sucker is when the client comes in and starts shouting at you for no reason.
So if we can make the clients, and sometimes they got a valid reason is make that journey better for them, that when they come in, they know they're a member, they know what's expected, they know what level of service they're going to get.I think that can also make these a a very joyful experience.
What I liked about what you described earlier the the sort of membership, the buy in.Going, yes, OK.The clients are committed.I'm part of this journey and we're doing this as a team together.I feel like that also gives you license to be selective, the be selective and go this clinic, This Is Us, this is our flag, this is how we run it.
If it's not for you then we are not for you.Exactly.You don't have to tick every box and I think if you try to tick every box, that's when people get upset.You know when they come and say you know you were shouting and screaming at me in reception Again Russell, I really don't want to deal with him like he's alright.
He pays a lot of money.Don't you'll forget about it I think.I think you've really got to live your brand values and live and say, OK, I'll have a conversation with him And if people want to see that you actually staff aren't an asset, staff are your business, your clients are your business, your staff are your business.
And unless you balance those two out, we used to focus too much on a client And at the moment and that's where you saw the staff now starts to think, well, I've just asked Russell to go and have a word and he hasn't.He's just laughed me off and then we've become too focused on our staff.I'm going okay is this coughing crisis.
There's a mental health issue crisis.There's just a a crisis in the workforce.So what we've done is load more salary more, benefits more, which is rightly so.But that's not evened up and I think in some businesses the the cards have been forgotten.
You know, stay out, we we're too busy.We don't want you only come in if your animal is really sick.We've got to balance that and say, guys, if we make everybody happy, everyone's going to be happy.The outcomes will be better.Your mental health will be better, your retention will be better.
Your clients are going to be happier.They're going to spend more because they're visiting more.It's just creating this mutual benefit.Your community will benefit.How many practices are still heart of the community where someone can walk in and Russell sit down, have a coffee or you go to the local scout group or someone goes and has a conversation at the school?
I want to bring that back.That's joyful shouting about how wonderful it is to be in the veterinary industry, which it is.I love the industry.It's fantastic.It is not.It just is.And we've got to make it joyful that people start shouting about how fantastic it is.
It's a privilege.I really believe it's a privilege to be in this industry.I've certainly taken you on a on a cool journey.Wild dried It's going to get Wilder, but you're.Going to get wild.I'm fascinated with you.I had no idea that you were heading beyond the specialist journey or that was your your plan A.
Do you ever have regrets about that or think about well, once I've built this thing I'm going to go back and specialize or like do you still do any clinical work?When was the last time you actually touched the animal?I mean a while ago, you know, you know my surgery, yeah, I like laparoscopic work and scoping and that type of thing.
So I'll definitely get my hands dirty.I love dentistry.I I I just, I actually enjoy consulting.Probably my favorite is consulting.They're talking to clients and solving their problems.But yes, definitely I want to go back on the shop floor, really understand what people are are feeling and facing.
I did a surgery certificate and a medicine certificate just because I thought I had to, but I never wrote the exam.I just, OK, I did all the, I did all the CPD, but I mean the specialists now are just a different, different class and I knew that with working with Linnaeus, you go into these referral practices well, it's unbelievable.
They at the top of their game, the facilities are just phenomenal.We, we built one in a referral hospital in Southfields in East London.They're 40,000 square foot.It's got CTS, MRIS, a linear accelerator.It's it's actually unbelievable.
So yeah, so that boat's floated for me.But I I wouldn't mind getting involved in referral again.Who knows, we might start a referral the the the options are on there.It's really cool, man.It's really exciting and and and it is.I'm so optimistic about the the feeling I get and again I I I appreciate that.
Maybe I live in a.A different version of the veterinary world.Because I have these conversations all the time, I I hand picked people who live the way that I want vets to be and speak to them, and then I get in that echo Chamber of yeah, everything's amazing.Yeah, we can.
It's a great profession.It's awesome.And then occasionally I'll chat to somebody who still works in the shitty three man clinic somewhere with the crappy pass and the horrible clients and the 12 hour days, I'm like, Oh yeah, that's still out there.Not all prizes, but, but I like this because I feel like, I feel like the momentum is building because as you mentioned, there's all these other people who have similar viewpoints of saying what if this doesn't have to suck?
We really, it's actually, it's ridiculous that we have this thing we all wanted to do from most people, from when you're a little kid and we get to do the thing we want to do and then it sucks.And why?Let's fix it.So, well done, Let's fix it.Exactly.
So, yeah, So, no, I mean, we've got big ambitions.And when our first clinic opens, I'm excited.I now need bricks and mortar.I need to actually walk in there and go, well, we've built this.Now we can scale it again.So, but I'm optimistic, you know, and I think it takes people to take a risk.
I wasn't a very stable job.Yeah.I could have easily stayed there for the next 15 years and really enjoyed it.I didn't dislike it.There was nothing I disliked.I I learned from some really, really good people.But I just felt I walked into some clinics and that there was looks of despondency on people's faces and you spoke to them and and it really really got under my skin and I thought it doesn't have to be like this and is that, is it that is it that powerlessness exactly that what we talked about with corporate that you feel that and you want to fix it.
But the process to fix it is it's like sailing a massive ship and you can't just turn it because you have to do that and you just bend that.I'm just.Going to start fresh.What you'll find is these guys who have the money, they've got the footprint, they've got the technology to do it.
It's just turning.It's turning that ship.You know where now I don't have to turn anything.We can start how we want it to be And if we turn and pivot, yes, turn and pivot try something new and I think.My mind has had to change a little bit and I'm working with I've started wearing hoodies and Air Force ones now to to hang out with the tech guys in the office because I was told I was dressing like the granddad vet.
So.But you know, it's a different perspective on things.You know, you ask people, I say, well why can't we do it that way?Why?And it's true, why can't we?So I've had to change my my mindset about I've always done it this way to OK, try it, why can't we?
You might have just given me the the title for this episode, which is often the hardest part of the podcast, is Why Can't We Do It That way a.Great question.Why can't we?I look a lot older and a lot grayer in a couple of years, but hopefully we've built something that people are proud of.
I think that's the most important thing.I'm excited to see the result.So let's wrap up with our standard questions.The first one is when you're not building your business, what are you listening to?Do you listen to podcast?
Are you a podcaster?Occasionally, yeah.Occasionally, but not consistently.Put it that way.Okay then.So then, what are you reading for personal growth or for pleasure?Is there something that I should have on Michelle?Both really.Just because of starting a new business and getting the processes back in place, I've reread The Checklist Manifesto.
I'm not sure if you've ever read that, but at all Go one day I've heard of it and somebody else has actually recommended it.Really good book.It's just about making sure getting that process, getting that checklist in place.And I think it it really just.
Focuses and makes you get your process, your systems in place from the bottom up, which is really, really good.Then I actually had a very interesting conversation.Can't recall the gentleman's name, but he he started Smart Flow.He built Smart Flow, which, oh, Ivan was Ivan, yeah, Ivan Zack, yeah, yeah.
Yeah, Ivan, Zach.I had a conversation with him, really interesting smart guy as well, who's doing quite a lot in the tech space, and he advised a book called The Great Game of Business.So it's around giving people in your team that autonomy to get to the goal that you want.
Because if I go in and say this is what I need you to do in order to get there, one, I haven't empowered people, and two, I've staffed any ingenuity and people will go well.That's not really what my goal is.So guys, here's the target.
This is how what I need you to achieve and how you're going to get there and measure it and make people really be open, transparent and and measure how people get there and let them get there by thinking, by trying, by collaborating in order to get to that point.
And I think it's really it is it's gamifying it and a lot of industries are gamified.It's.It's actually.That's making it fun, giving people the power to get there and actually measuring and rewarding those goals.And when we're looking at things like a profit share, it's got to be open and transparent.
People have to know where they are.They have to know how they're going to get to take that extra bit of money home.What do they need to do, have their thoughts about this?And I think that's really also something I want to be.When I spoke earlier about empowering those people in the practices, we have targets, We have investors.
In order to get the next funding round, we need to achieve certain targets so we can deliver what we what our ambition is.But how you get to those targets is for you guys to come up with and we'll measure it and we will reward you and if you need help we'll guide you.And I think that's what that's what sort of I'm working on it.
But other than that, I spend most of my spare time sitting on my tractor, gardening, thinking, so mowing the lawn you should have come to visit when you were in Australia.I've got a a tractor and a nice big lawn for you too if you if you felt homesick.
All right, I'll pass a long question.I interviewed somebody this morning who asked what does Russell now think differently or know differently?That he wished just that Russell.I think she said 10 years, make it 10 or make it 20 years ago new.
I think for me it would have been around developing my people that that's what I've learned over the last 10 years, is really developing people, because I did find when.When we sold Village Vet and the leadership changed and you know, you sometimes have people exposed and going, OK, what now?
How do I do this?What do I do?And I should have spent more time.Making me dispensable.I should have spent time going right, identifying whose talent is actually getting an understanding of where they want to get to and helping them get there, so that if I disappear, we'll get.
I've been run over by a bus, so we won't use that.But if I leave the business, the number 93 from Putney.But yeah, that's a different story.Was it one of those stories that started with me?It was a bad idea.And yeah, it's empowering people and developing people so that they, the next generation, they've got the opportunity, you know, that five years time someone else should and from within the business should run this business.
And it's how I empower people to do that.So I wish I'd known that it would have made my life easier because I could have scaled quicker to be honest, because I would have had more time.I would have had more time to work on the business and not in the business.I think for me that that's what I'm going to do differently.
Fantastic.Your question for me for my next guest.That's a that's a strange one.I've been thinking about it, but I think you're with with all the advances in veterinary at the moment and this is going down, things like the specialist route is when does it become too much with the humanization of pets?
At what point does it become too much, considering probably 80 percent, 90% of the human population in the world has access to no healthcare?And that's my ethical question, is at what point is, is it too much?That would be an interesting question I think to to throw around.
I'm super excited for that answer because I think this probably reflects our background, our shared background, because it's something that I I struggle with sometimes I I work in emergency and I would do amazing things and I sometimes go.That's a lot.
That's really ethically the right thing to do right now and I don't know who's to say so I'd love to hear what other people say about it.I had that I I, I, I went on AI, did a little bit of charity work.It's pretty COVID in Lombok, so next to Bali and it's a poor island where people are poor, people are hungry and and I I'm one of the guys who lives there who is involved in the charity.
He said he he got it to several times where the locals would give him a shit about it and say so why are you spending money on dogs and we're hungry.It's a big question that's been floating around in my mind.Just as as well I could say that 40,000 square foot referral center with a linear accelerator in it, how many people in the world have access to cancer care with a linear accelerator.
So it's yeah, it's an interesting.For me, an interesting dilemma.You know, I think more the more we humanize, the more that's going to potentially become a question.Great question.Thanks.All right, last one, Russell, you have a couple of minutes to speak to all the veterinary new grads of 2023 to give them a little bit of advice or inspiration or wisdom.
What's your message to them?I think don't take it too seriously.Be proud of what you've got and where you've got to.It's a tough career.It's a tough role that you're going to do.You're not going to have all the answers.Have fun, but don't take it too seriously.
Your career can take you in any direction, so look at what's in front of you at the moment.Be aspirational.Speak to people, learn from people.But have fun and realize we don't have all the answers and.
It's up to you guys to influence and change the industry.You the new people coming in, you know, you, the people that have the opportunity to shape the industry the way you want to shape it.So do that.I think that's really, really important.And don't be so hard on yourself if you made a mistake.
It happens.Be open, be honest and learn from it, but enjoy it.Think about the reason you came into the profession and I think that's important.Always go back to.Why am I doing this?Come work for us.We're going to meet people.
My last plug.Love it.Russell, thanks so much for your time.And it's so good to catch up and see what you're up to and see what's happening in the vet world across the pond.I'm rooting for you because I I have the same beliefs.I think that's where we need to go.And I I'd like to think that it can only succeed further.
As you say, it won't be easy and it won't be a straight line, but I think it's a it's a fantastic venture.Thank you.It's great to chat to you as well.And yeah, don't leave it so long next time.I think it's important to connect and see what people are up to and and chat and learn from everyone's experiences.
So, yeah, thanks for the time.I really appreciate it.Before you disappear, I wanted to tell you about our new weekly newsletter.I speak to so many interesting people and learn so many new things while making the podcast.
So I thought I'd create a little summary each week of the stuff that stood out for me.We call it the Red Vault 321 and it consists of firstly 3 clinical pearls.These are three things that I've taken away from.The clinical podcast episodes, my light bulb moments, the penny dropping, any new facts and the stuff that we need to know to make all the other pieces fit.
Then two other things.These could be quotes, links, movies, books, a podcast, highlight, anything that I've come across outside of clinical vetting that I think you might find interesting.And then one thing to think about.I'll show you something that I'm pondering, usually based on something that I've read or heard, but sometimes it'll be just my own musings or ants.
The goal of this format is that you can spend just two to three minutes on the clinical stuff and move right along if that's all that you're after.But if you're looking for content that is more nourishing than cat videos or doom scrolling.Then our two other things should send you in the right direction, and then something extra for when you feel like a slightly longer read.
If you'd like to get these in your inbox each week, then subscribe by following the newsletter link in the show description wherever you're listening to this.It's free, I think it's useful, it's fun, and it's easy to unsubscribe.If it's not for you, OK, We'll see you next time.

Dr Russel Welsh