June 20, 2025

Sneak Peek: Our New Podcast for Practice Owners. With Dr Sam Bowden

Sneak Peek: Our New Podcast for Practice Owners. With Dr Sam Bowden
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Season 1

🎙️ Introducing the Veterinary Business Accelerator, our new podcast for veterinary practice owners who want more than just survival - they want to own the practice they dreamed of when they first decided to start a practice - a place that gives them joy and freedom, and where other vets like to work. 

In this brand-new series, vet business coach, author, and former Vet Vault guest Dr. Sam Bowden shares the mindset, strategies, and systems he’s used to help hundreds of practice owners transform their clinics into what he calls “abundant practices” - workplaces that are profitable, sustainable, and deeply rewarding.

 

In Episode 1: Why Even Start a Vet Practice?, we ask the question: Wouldn’t it be easier to just get a job? 

When you’re in the thick of it all, it feels that way, doesn’t it?

Especially when you’re knee-deep in payroll, staff issues, client complaints, and wondering if you’ll ever take a proper holiday again.

In this kickoff episode we start with the question every practice owner should revisit regularly: Why are you in business?

Dr Sam Bowden breaks down why most owners start with good intentions: better medicine, a better team, better money - but end up overworked, underpaid, and out of joy. And why the fix begins with something deceptively simple: clarity on that why.

Sam outlines his framework for what he calls an “abundant practice” - the five pillars that any vet business needs to get right if it’s going to support the life you want. And yes, that includes permission to take a holiday.

What You’ll Learn:

  • The real reasons vets start practices (hint: it’s not just the money)
  • Why good intentions often lead to overwhelm
  • The 5 pillars of Sam’s Abundant Practice Model: time, team, clients, finances, fulfillment
  • How a low financial drive hurts the profession—and your personal life
  • Common mindset traps (and how to replace guilt with growth)
  • The power of shifting from “either/or” to “yes/and” thinking
  • Why clarity is the foundation for fun, freedom, and financial success

 

If this episode was made just for you, and you’d like to hear more, you can find our other episodes here. 

 

There's something that I've been thinking about more and more over the years of making The Vet Vault.The focus of this podcast, the person I'm making it for, and the reason that it exists, is the individual.You wear the headphones in your ears or driving home by yourself, but individuals don't exist in isolation, especially when this is a podcast about work.
For most of us, our lives as working veterinarians play out in the workplace, and what that workplace is like has such a huge effect on how your vet life is going to look like.So just focusing on what the individual can do for themselves is an incomplete approach.Which is why if you scroll back on your Vet Vault feed, you'll see quite a few episodes aimed at the leaders of vet practices.
Because if they are better at their jobs, then those workplaces become better and we all win.But I have always been a bit wary of this becoming a vet business podcast because, A, I am not a business owner.Yes, I've owned my own vet business, but for the past five years, that's not what I think about when I'm out on the run.
So I don't think I'm necessarily the right person to host a vet business podcast.And BI started this podcast for you, the individual vet.And I'd like to stay true to what we set out to do all those years ago.But that does leave a gap because many of you listening to this are leaders and practice owners or will be one day.
And running a successful practice where people love to come to work is what keeps you up at night.And you're also individual people who are trying to create a happy vet life for yourself.And let's be very clear, these practice owners, when it comes to the things that could be better in our profession, they're not the bad guys.
Mostly not, right?I have met a few.Over the years.But for the most part, they're just vets, people who want to do what they do well and be happy doing it.Which is why I am so happy to tell you about this project that's been brewing in the background.I've been collaborating, conspiring to create a brand new, completely separate podcast just for you.
Vet practice owners Doctor Sam Bowden, vet ex, practice owner and now business coach and author, has been a guest on the Vet Vault twice now.But every time we record it, I felt that we weren't quite done.So we've decided to keep talking on what we are calling the Veterinary Business Accelerator Podcast.
Sam is in the driver's seat in this one as he talks us through the four pillars of what he calls an abundant practice, mindset, marketing, leadership, and money.So without further ado, I'm thrilled to share Episode 1 here on the Vet Vault with you to give you a taste of what we're doing over there.
If this one grabs you, then hop over to the Veterinary Business Accelerator podcast and hit that subscribe button so you get notified when new episodes drop.I've put a link for it in here in your feed, but for now, you don't have to go anywhere.Please enjoy episode 1 of the Veterinary Business Accelerator with Doctor Sam Bowden.
So Sam, we're doing a business podcast for featuring business owners.And I think the important question to ask here to start with at the very start of our brand new podcast is why?Why do people go into business?Why start of IT practice?
Why?Why not just have a job?I'm Doctor Hubert Nystra, veterinarian, former practice owner and host of the Vet Vault podcast, and you are listening to the very first episode of the Veterinary Business Accelerator, the podcast that educates you, the veterinary business owner to a Sam puts it in this episode.
Create value, have fun, and make money.For this series, I am teaming up with Doctor Sam Bowden, a veterinarian, author, and founder of the Accelerate Practice Academy.Sam has helped hundreds of practice owners like you to reclaim their time, booth profits, and build businesses that don't depend on them 24/7.
We'll introduce ourselves properly later in this episode, but for now, all you need to know is that when Sam and I started planning this thing that you're listening to right now, I asked Sam what is your goal with this?His answer was simple.I want this to be the best damn veterinary business podcast out there.
So here's our promise.We're going to try and deliver on that every time we turn our microphones on.We're so glad that you joined us.Now let's get right into it with the answer to that question.Why would you even want to own a veterinary business?One of my original mentors asked me one day really curious question, he said.
Sam, why in business?And I, I, I thought it was a weird question.Isn't it obvious?Then I'd really thought about it and I went, well, the usual things, oh, you know, I want to do things my way and I want to make a little bit more money and, and I don't know, just sort of, it seemed like a natural transition.
And I said, well, why are you in business now?Let me find out.This bloke was worth hundreds of millions of dollars and he was pretty clear.He said have fun and make money and it was just so blistering clear.And the saying is clarity is power.
And what he said is well, it it allows him to make much easier, faster decisions.And so I pretty much grabbed that scenario as to why in business and I just stole his ideas and added add value.So why am I in business?Have fun, make money, add value.
And you know, when I asked people why are they in business, in the veterinary world, often it is I wanna do things my own way.I wanna provide an environment that my team loves.I wanna be known as very good technical, like very high standard with clinical care, all these kind of challenges.
And I say, have you got that?They're like, yeah, I have actually, I get to do things my own way and I've got my own team.And it's like, and, but often they've they've got some of the equation, but not the other.And the other pieces are maybe they're working so hard they don't need time.Maybe they don't have any money.Maybe they've got their own team, but they don't know how to lead their team.
So when I ask, well, if you're clear on what your outcome is, why are you in business, it makes it really clear what do you need to do?And that's the piece of equation that niched in the vet space, I think is there's a little bit of people need a bit of help.
I asked that question not even considering the fact that I was a business owner.And then, as you listed of the the common reasons, I think I think, and I'd, I'd love listeners to give feedback on this, but for a lot of us, it is that.
First of all, I'm employed as a vet in a clinic somewhere and I go, you guys can't fucking run a vet business.I I could do this better than this.I could do this better.I want some say in my I want autonomy, right?And I want to do it in a better way.
But your reframe have fun and make money.Is it not a risk for the sort of people who become veterinarians?We want to make an impact, right?We don't we don't study vet because we want to have fun and make money.It sounds kind of shallow.
Is there a risk of that?I get what you're saying because you're right.I have also been that business owner that started with all these high minded ideas of why I want to own a business.I want to do it better.And there right, to be honest with you, the vet vault.I love what I do, but I work too hard.It's not, you know, it's, it makes me unhappy often, even though the work is great, like it's what I wanted to do.
The only reason is if anyone's not happy about their given scenario, it's because their blueprint or what they initially had in mind.We'll have a blueprint of how we think things should work.If it's working that way, ticky Boo, we're happy.If it's not, we start feeling a bit frustrated.
So we're not seeing the results that we thought we'd get.If we're not getting the results that we thought we'd get on going to business and we feel powerless to do anything about it, as in I don't know where to start or it's always gonna be this way.That's when you start feeling helplessness.And helplessness, of course, is a very, very dark side to it down the depression route.
So I think that the, the, the challenge for people is in a vet space specifically, it's a very, very unique area in business.And here's why we've done a huge amount of profiling, huge amount of profiling of people.And by the way, you can do this, There's a free profile, you can do it online, you can go to Tony Robbins website and there's a free disk profile that you can do.
And what it does, it measures your, your, your values, just drivers of what's, what do you deems important to you?When we profile veterinarians, what we find is they're one of the the profile drivers that they measure is financial and it's incredibly low.
So in the population on average of everyone that's done in this, the average driver percentage out of 100 is about 4047.I think the average vet is less than 10.So let's take this scenario.We take that one where naturally the industry is attracting empaths.
We're an empathetic group of people deeply concerned about what people think about us.And we have a low, you know, money is not deemed as that.It's not that.It's not about the money.Then you put in an audience, our clients where, hey, you'd do it for the love of the animal, not for financial returns.
And so there's this, you know, I think this massive fear of a lot of business owners.Oh my gosh, I don't want anyone to think that making money is one of my motives.And yet when I talk to business owners, it's when I say, why'd you go into business?
I can tell you you, but it'd be one out of 20 that says because I wanted to make some more money.Now they all want to make more money, but they're sure as heck fucker to say it because I think it's almost a bad thing.There's a guilt associated with it.So this is where we talk about the and philosophy is be a great fit, help a lot of people and make a lot of money.
And coming back to my original mentor story, he put the and philosophy have fun and add value and make money.And what it did, it took away any kind of negative kind of thing to it that making money was just a side, it was an outcome of doing things well, but being OK that it's OK to make money.
And that I see as one of the challenges in business that there it's a commercial enterprise in the vet practice, you own a business and if you're not financed, you don't get to take holidays, you don't get to pay the team what they want.You don't necessarily get the gear that you want to have.And it puts this pressure on that of course, has some impacts.
And the sad thing is it just doesn't have to be that way.Like literally with a bit of reframe how people view business, it isn't permission to focus on doing a cracking job and making money.OK.And when you put those two together, you end up creating what I called an abundant practice.An abundant practice is there's three things.
One, you actually love what you're doing.So you love being a vet and you love running a business #2 you make enough money that you're doing really well and #3 you actually have enough time to then go and enjoy other things outside of working that, you know, to keep balance in your life.
We love working, but hey, we also love holidays and we love to do things on weekends and that's an abundant practice.The, it's interesting, I, I, I want to disagree with you slightly because you said that people get stuck at the helplessness phase because they end up in a place that they didn't envision, You know, that's, it didn't turn out the way they planned.
I think the problem is when we talk about what you see as an abundant practice, that's actually, for so many of us, not actually part of the plan.We don't even envisage that.It is just, I want to have my own practice so I can practice my standard of medicine and do it the way I want to do it and have some autonomy in my life and be a better boss because we all have that.
Well, my price is shit and I, I'm going to be a much better boss.I want to pay everybody well, but we don't actually have that plan in place of and outside of my work life, I'm going to have a hobby.I'm going to spend time with my kids.I'm going to, it's just, this is going to be the job.
And then five years later you go, it's exactly what I planned.I'm doing exactly what I wanted, what I had in mind, and I freaking hate it because I'm so busy and I'm so tired.They've missed some crucial ingredients.We often see that people it's, it's a little bit later on in their veterinary practice journey that they go, wow, I've, I've actually got what I wanted.
I say, hey, what did you start at?Why did you go into practice?They tell me things and I said, have you got that?Because you always get your primary intention.Like your brain will find a way to create whatever your primary intention of your reason why.It's just a, it's just, we're all hard wired to do that.And when people study it, they go, yes, I have got what I set out for, but because I didn't have clarity and really map out what's going to be important, what do I actually need?
When they started, they just assumed by having a practice that all the other pieces would take care of themselves.And you know, the golden rule is whatever you focus on expands.If there is no fake focus on the financial side of a practice, well, hey presto, guess what, You're not really going to get that side of it so often.
What does that look like?Practice has got a good name, might have a great team and it's not profitable or we're really overwhelmed and I don't have time to enjoy it.So I think it's about balancing the sales and, and thinking, you know, I like to look at reverse engineer things.So what would my ideal life work look like?
You know, it's going on trips and holidays and doing stuff I love and, but not too much of any one thing, keeping that balance.And then you reverse engineer and say, well, how would my business need to be set up in order that I've got the team that I want, in order that I've got the clients that I want, in order that I'm doing the work I want, in order that I've got the finance I want and in order that I've got the time that I want.
And you actually need to break it down in different categories and then go, OK, is the system or the model I'm using moving me towards that or away from that?And so it becomes pretty easy to, to reverse engineer and create or or engineer an ideal or what I call an abundant practice is by looking at these one bits and going, well, which bits have I got?
Have I got the team?Have I got the time?Have I got the clients?Have I got the finances?And do I feel fulfilled?And there's the five areas and the answer's no in one of those.And you go, OK, I just need to maybe try a different strategy to to get that outcome that I'm chasing.List those five things for me again, more slowly.
So we've got team, have I got the team I want, which means an engaged team.That's that If you go away from the business, it's doing exactly what you want.So you've got to know how do I find a line and grow my ideal team?The second thing is time.Do I have time to enjoy my life as opposed to just working in my business?
So do I have that leverage that I can go away once again, which comes back to your team, having a team that's going to run things while you're not there and whether you're there or not, you shouldn't see any decrease in in business profits standards.I can anything like that.Third one is abundance of clients.So do you have you know clients consistently coming in that your business is just growing and growing steadily and consistently do I have the finances that I want?
So the profitability is there, which is fair recognition of the effort risk that you've put in and all the time you've put in to actually build that business.So you're getting the financial award and the last one's fulfilment.Like do you actually love doing it?Because if you do, if I, I love surfing, right, I know you like surfing tea.
So we can have a pretty strong conversation here.But if I said, mate, you've got to go surfing for 10 hours every single day, you would get sick of surfing.So it's just crazy that we actually build businesses that we think we've got to be there all the time.We don't leverage it because of course you're going to get to a point where it starts becoming frustrating and not enjoying it.
So the goal is to think, well, how could I build longevity that I can enjoy this for longer?Because the most successful business I see are a result of the compound effect of doing small things consistently improving over an extended period of time.
So you actually need to go.I need to build this that I can preserve my passion over an extended period of time, which means like an athlete, you need recovery, you need downtime, you need away time.You know, I'm a big fan of, you know, the 8 to 10 week holidays per year as a business owner, I think is a healthy approach. 12 weeks, even better.
It's a healthy approach because I can tell you after a few weeks on holiday, you start getting itchy.You're excited about getting back in.And if you're excited, you know what it's like clients are coming in.It lifts the energy of the team.Marketing starts to work and so protecting that is really important part of engineering, how your business should work.
So I raised my eyebrows when you said that around a holiday, and then I immediately think maybe that's part of the problem.Do you think people struggle with giving themselves permission to have that life, to have the money, to have the time off?
Like there's a little bit of a guilt almost towards the team going, well, I kind of ate holidays a week.What are they going to think?I need to be on the floor showing them how to work hard?I don't know.There's that, There's that.No, I'm just not quite a martyr attitude.But I'm a responsible adult veterinary practice.
I don't know.It's not about the high life I need to be.I need to do things tough because that's the way it is.Did you come across that attitude at all or is that just my wife?No belief.Belief underlines everything, which is mindset, right?Belief is the underlying thing.
If you don't believe it, it it you could do it, then that is true for you.Everyone is right by their own theory.So we all have theories and beliefs and we'll find evidence to support that belief.So if someone's belief is you can't have more than four weeks holiday a year, otherwise the business will fall apart, you'll find evidence of that.
And you know, whatever we say, the fish stinks from the head down.So whatever's going through between your ears and your thinking that will play it in your business.So first of all, has to come belief and to come belief that, hey, I could have.And if you're taking 2 weeks a year, just say, OK, four weeks a year, you know, baby steps.
And the first bit is belief.And then has to come permission that and it's OK.You know, a lot of people we see when people sell and they retire or they start making a lot of money and they're working less, the next thing they actually need to deal with is guilt because they're like, I shouldn't make this much money.
I couldn't have this much time off because we've developed a pattern of effort, return, effort, return.When they suddenly return with no effort, you feel you're guilty.So it's actually the next part of the mindset you need to work on.I should start a podcast on once people have sold their practices, how to actually wind out and enjoy what you've created.
Because a lot of people struggle a bit with that process and there's a there's an unwinding that that they need to do.And yet absolutely on the money, in order to have anything you want in life, you have to give yourself permission.It's OK for you.It's OK for you to have a great relationship.
It's OK for you to have great health.It's OK if you have a really successful business, have this much amount of money, this amount of holidays, this sort of team.And I find that's the deeper work when people will understand that and shift.It's, it's kind of like a cork.
And if you think about a cork, a cork is naturally designed to float.Float's up the top.It doesn't have to try.I think that's what humans are naturally like.We're naturally meant to be abundant, naturally meant to, you know, be grateful and successful.However, what we do is we start weighing it down with all these different beliefs and it's like we're putting all these little lead weights and it pulls the old cork down and down and down.
When you can let go of a a belief that isn't, that's pulling the cork down, what'll happen is the cork will just naturally rise.And what we see is results will naturally improve even without them actually doing anything other than letting go of that belief.
And letting out of that belief could be just giving yourself permission that I'm making 5% profit, that I could make 15% profit.As soon as they let go of the belief, they only have to do a couple of strategies and hey presto, they'll naturally move to that level.And that's the real game around abundance.
I think everyone is designed to be abundant.It's just that we've gathered all these beliefs along our journey of life that start getting in the way of us naturally floating to the top.And my observation is as we start snipping these little beliefs off and replacing with other beliefs.
The cork tends to float to the top.It's pretty cool.It's my inclination to ask many questions and I'm so used to having my guests for one session and I have to pack everything in.So I have to remember that we have time.We're going to have a whole series of podcasts to dig into the the how and the details.
Is it time you think in Episode 1 to dig into one how into one practical thing, the snipping of the cork of the financial thing?Is that a short topic or is that a multi episode series of how do we change those money hang ups again, you you touched on it earlier, but it is that you know you can't insult a bit more.
And that's why it hurts so much when clients tell us all you care about is the money because you go that's.It's not but even deep.Inside you go, but it is a little bit about the money as well.I did.I have a story. 3:00 AM in the morning, I was having an argument when I had my emergency clinic and client, It was some surgery, I forget, big surgery that we had to do at 3:00 in the morning.
And I was there and the client threw the line at me.She said, hey, all you let's care about is the money.And I paused and I said it's not all I care about, but at 3:00 in the morning, I definitely care about the money.Yeah, no answer to that, but I mean that.
And then the other thing, I see it so often in veterinary businesses where the staff will sort of grumble amongst themselves and say, yeah, the, you know, it's just since the new boss took over, it's just all about the money.They're so money focused.So there's definitely that guilt.Specifically.It's a caring profession.
There's that tension between we want to provide a surface service.We want to care for, for people and for animals, but we also want to make money.And the two can feel opposing.Yeah.How do we snip that weight from the cork and?That is the challenge is you're, you have desires that are fighting each other.
I want to be liked.And if you're playing the awe philosophy, I want people like me or I want to make money.And this awe means I need to choose one or the other.Which is the best one to choose?If you're an empathetic person, of course you're going to choose well.
I just want people to like me.Be known as a good vet.You replace awe with and I want people to really like me and that the service we provide and make plenty of money.You've instantly removed a choice.The 2 are the same thing.So step one is actually going OK, what do I want?
And we always start with clarity.If anything you want in life, you must be clear what is it that I'm after here?So if you're going to start a podcast, be clear about what the podcast is trying to do.For example, if we, we, we will get to that, I'm assuming here, but but if you're starting a business, be clear about why you're in business.
If you want to talk specifically around finances, here's what you do.You write down a figure on paper, not just in your head.You've got to write it down how much profit or how much total benefit you want to get out of that business in a financial year.
So that might be your wage plus dividends you're paying yourself or however your, your accountant has structured your finances.But you want to be clear, this is the amount of money that I intend to make this year.And that's the starting place is that and give yourself a mission, which is, and I'm going to do it by providing A10 out of 10 service and which means people will love me.
And this is the amount of money I'm going to make.And that's the starting point.And all your stuff will come up from there, right?And it's starting, How do you eat an elephant?One mouthful a time.So we start just chipping away all the little scumbag voices that are sitting in your head going, that's fine for everyone else, but not you because you're a scumbag and your job is to struggle in life.
And if you stop struggling you, I will, I will feed you a big ton of guilt.So you get back to struggling and this, everyone has this scumbag voice, this voice in their head.It's about playing the game with that and rewiring that over a period of time.I tease, I tease my wife.
This might be off air.She believes that she has to struggle.I I told her she's going to.She has to write a book called The Art of Joyless Living, Fighting fulfilment through self denial and suffering.I'll tell you what I think it'll be a well read book.I don't think that's a good book.
I think that'll be a best seller in the vet space.All right, so you teamed me up beautifully there to talk about this podcast.So that is we have so much value and so much to talk about in the coming episodes.But first of all, what is this job?
But let's get clear, what is the job of this podcast?What is it going to do?I've been watching and helping practice owners for close on 20 years now and hundreds and hundreds of them.And there's these similar themes that come up again and we've already touched on some of these which is giving yourself permission and clarity etcetera.
And one of the things that I feel, you know, I, I get great fulfilment out of is seeing someone win, seeing someone go from from struggling to have the right team to having a cracking team or from feeling overwhelmed to feeling in control and or not being able to go away to holidays to going around holidays.
And we always laugh and say, you know, our drug is your results.But one of the things that I've found restrictive is that, you know, there's only certain amount of people we can work with at a time.And yet the results are incredibly predictable in terms of someone getting an outcome.
So sometimes I feel restricted then like, what else can we do to help a, a broader group of people?And, and, and maybe these are people who are not going to put their hand up for coaching or help, but they're instant information.And I just thought, well, we can use a podcast to help people start to actually start their own journey, wherever you're at and start your own journey in creating a business that gives you those three things, fulfilment, finances and time.
And I really think that the the process to getting that is quite an engineered process.It's quite a series of steps.And I just believe that through a podcast, this can be a way that people could be in their own university at the time that suits them because everyone's so busy in starting down that journey of being able to create their abundant practice.
So I'm coming along for the ride to ask the questions.I have a business, but it's not a vet practice, but it's, I said, let's call it a veterinary education business.I have fulfillment, but I could use more finances and more time.Is this going to work for me?Basically, is this a veterinary business specific podcast and why?
Like there's a 10,000 business podcasts out there and some of them are really excellent.Why should our veterinary business owner add this to the listening list?What's unique about the veterinary business owner space?Well, there are core principles and philosophies that are cross contextual, which means you can use them in any industry, of course.
So the psychology around money is 1, you know, and you talk about, you know, marketing, leadership, finances, mindset.You can take those concepts and broad speaking that will work in any industry.However, it's, it's sometimes it's the nuances, it's the like the little 1 or 2% tweaks that actually get the really big results.
So for example, how what do you need to say in a consult for someone to say yes ethically to something that a pet ethically needs?What are the series of steps that if you do that again, it'll educate a client to value So that never feels like they're selling.
They're not getting to that.Now I'm going to have to talk about the money step, which is the bet that's hate and we know why because the impasse with low financial trial, it's all very logical.So those processes that you can do that remove that what I call the moment.And that's that sinking feeling you got where your gut Titans, you got to talk the money like, and everyone has a threshold.
You get to a certain level of how much the invoice is.You go, oh, you start feeling a little bit calmly.And this is where there's a process to overcome that that's unique and special to the vet space.So I think, you know, I have studied a lot of stuff outside of the vet space.
In fact, when I started my journey, I was broke and worse than broke, I was in huge debt and I could never see.I just couldn't see the way out and by taking these pieces and you know, I've spent, Oh my gosh, I think I stopped counting it like half $1,000,000 that I've invested in my mentors and coaches and programs and stuff.
And I just went, what if you could take all of that and put that into very vet specific and create a process that could take someone from wherever they're at to wherever they want to get to, like building Lego.You could build the the information sheet that follow the sheet and here's where you end up that gives a very highly predictable outcome.
And so that's really the the process that that to to take people on is being able to take anyone where they're at and go, hey, it's OK, I gotcha.I've been there, I've been broke.I know what it feels like and be able to build these processes, the vet specific and use the compound effect of one piece at a time, like a Lego.
You build it in and build it in and build it in.And just to give people a sense of, of like almost feeling part of someone who gets them, someone who's been through their journey, they're not figuring out, that's fine.But how do I tweak that for the vet space they actually go that's at plug and play.
We just bolt that thing straight in and with the backing of, well, this isn't a theory.This is testing hundreds and hundreds of practices.So you can kind of trust the information that it's it's going to work for you when applied.How, how are we going to do this?
What's going to be our structure?Give me the outline of the topics in broad buckets that we're going to be covering for the duration of this podcast, for however long at last.Because it's it's very easy to feel enthusiastic about these things with these high minded ideas.And you should do this and you should do this.
I know in my personal life and business life, there's a lot of stuff that I should do.It's the doing that's the downfall.So how are we going to help people with the doing?Well, just on a side note, here's the bad news, Hubert.Nobody will ever get to do everything they think they should do.
So stop thinking that way because you're just never going to get there.There's always a list, and no matter how well you're doing, there's a bigger list.So the question is, what's the one thing I could do that would move the needle further?So if you're lifting this, the danger you can get is overwhelmed.You go, oh, all these ideas.
The answer's like don't do that.Just grab one idea.And if you just do that, because the next obvious step, there's always what I call the next obvious step, It's what next.So the framework that we have found works best is looking at a practice as a very holistic sort of view.
And if you think about a table, a table has, most tables have 4 legs.And why?Because it gives us a balance.If I cut one of those legs off and I keep the same rectangular shape of the table top, table's going to start getting a little bit wobbly.Or if I've got a shorter leg, it's a bit wobbly.
And if I cut another leg off, you know, table will fall over.So the four legs that we see, the four areas of expertise that is a business owner you need to develop in order to have a very stale robust table is first of all, of course, mindset.
Why do you do what you do?Why do you think what you do?Why do you get to point at $200.00 or $250 in a consult room?It's because of mindset.So understanding why do you do what you do and why do others do what they do underpins everything.So we call that mindset mastery.
The second one is financial mastery is understanding your relationship with money, like beliefs around money, how much you should or could make.There's a relationship you've got with money that you've formed over a period of time.So it's understanding that, but also then understanding the framework of finances within a business.
So getting the point where you could look at a certain dashboard and look at the figures and within 5 minutes know exactly what the next obvious step is in your business.There's no guessing every month going.Here's where we're going to focus.So that's financial mastery.The third one is marketing mastery, which is what's the 20% of marketing that will give you 80% of your ideal outcome in finding, serving and keeping your ideal clients.
And there's a certain strategy and process to it.And the last one, of course, is how do I find a line and grow my ideal team?And that's leadership mastery.So as you think about those 4 pillars, mindset, marketing, finance, leadership, those four, you develop those.
And you can't sort of just develop really strong in one because table doesn't sit flat.We want a flat table.So it's a case of rising all four concurrently and taking them up.And that's where we've seen practices get the best results is when they're not just working on one.
If they just do marketing, get really strong at marketing, but they're not leading A-Team properly or they've just done leadership and they're not looking at finances, they've got a great, great team, great culture, and they make their money.So my observations has been you've got to have all four at once.So we'll be popping in and out of all of those four.
And of course, there's a fair bit to each one.So, Hubert, we're not going to be able to roll this over in one podcast.No, okay, all right, As for the hell.So our plan for listeners to just to give you an indication of what to expect with this podcast, the how are we going to do it on the podcast?
A podcast has to have a recipe or structure and we are going to go with three types of episodes.So this is what you'll be hearing over the next months.Two years, baby.We will have teaching, teaching episodes with Sam will take a concept and talk us through it.So you'll listen and you'll learn.
Then we will have coaching sessions where we will try and get one of Slam's clients or one of our listeners or somebody, a practice owner somewhere who's stuck with a specific problem and they're going to jump on a call with Sam and we're going to talk it through.And the rest of you can listen, listen in, fly on the wall and learn from that.
And then we will have the occasional learning episode with me and Sam both learn from an outside expert in veterinary business who teaches something that Sam doesn't teach and I don't know.So interview style podcast where we get to speak to somebody else.That's our structure, that's our plan.We have a road map and we are thrilled to have you on board, Tim.
Choo Choo, translating the station.Let's let's go.You know 1.You know one thing, We forgot anybody.We're assuming that people know who you are, who I am.Maybe before you go on a date, you should maybe just introduce yourself.Give us a quick rundown for anybody who doesn't know yet who actually is sad about it.
You've touched on it.You have been a vet new business owner.You've been a failed vet new business owner in the past and you do some coaching, but give us the the one line of summary.Absolutely one line of summaries I struggle with you.I've I've never I'm I'm used to I'm used to running like 2 and three and four day events.
But the short is I've had two of my own practices.The first one was definitely learning.The second one I built and started building became one of the fastest growing practice in Australia for five years straight.But why did it become the fastest 1?
Because I nearly went broke and I cooked myself at the start and I ended up in depression.I didn't want to talk to anyone.And I went, Oh my gosh, I've actually got a how to figure this out.And I remember there was, it was 2:00 in the morning on a Monday morning and I'm insomnic.I'm feeling nauseous, that tight feeling a gut of the week to come.
I didn't know how to do and I went.I, I just remember having what we call a Nexus point where I basically snapped and when I simply refused to live like this and what I for life to roll out like this for me and my young family and I said I will just do whatever it takes.That's when I sort of started my journey.
I went to an event and it opened my eyes that there was another.There's a completely parallel business how you run business.There was this like an opposite universe and I've sat in that space for the last 15 years just learning how do you create your ideal business?
So first of all, I put it through my own vet practice and it became one of the fastest growing practices for five years straight.But then I started sharing with other business owners, practice owners, I thought, I wonder if this will work for them.And by testing it, I'd go, I've got this result.And the thing sort of evolved is I never intended to become as a business coach, as running my own practice, but it got to a side a size that I realised that, hey, that's what I enjoyed doing was helping others get successful in their business.
And since that we've been doing it for the last, you know, about sort of 1314 years in business now just helping people do that.So yes, I've had two of my own practices, yes, both of them with turnarounds from making no money and terrible lifestyle to both very successful businesses.
But what I get a real kick out is actually taking someone else in that journey without them having to spend, you know, the amount of money and time that it took me.And maybe I'm just a bit dumb.That is likely the a faster journey to get more predictable results.
Amazing.All right, so anybody who doesn't know me, I'm Hubert Emmstra.I have a podcast, another podcast, The Vet Vault, where I speak it aimed at mostly, let's say, employed veterinarians when I speak to anybody from in and outside the vet profession who can help vets make the most out of their vet careers.
So similar goal to Sam, I've just have a slightly different audience.It's not specifically business owners.I want you to be happy and fulfilled and for vet life to not suck.I also do a clinical podcast that's an educational podcast where I get to speak to some of the smartest specialists in the world and I ask them all of the dumb questions that I've had over the 25 years of my clinical vet career.
I do still clinical vet.I do still do one or two shifts a week, mostly an emergency and I have been to practice somewhere in that journey back there for about a decade.I ran, I started and built up and ran an emergency clinic in Perth and WA and enjoyed that and did some things right and did some things wrong.
So I have that hat on when I come to these conversations.I I get it and I've been there and I'm so excited to learn from Sam about it as well and I'm thrilled to be hosting this and bring my podcasting skills hopefully to the table.Well, everyone should work in the zone of genius, right?
When it came to producing a podcast, I went, well, Hewitt's the best in the business.So super, super stoked to be able to, you know, two of us who have a desire to help people in the industry have a medium that's I think incredibly well produced.I, I listen to the podcast all the time.
It's great.I think it's just cool that we can then take that and just dive focus and just go if you're a business owner or a wannabe business owner, this is this is more targeted specifically towards you well.It's a natural evolution for me because I find with the red Rod, we talk about the same issues.
There's, there's a, there's a handful of issues that we talk about over and over and over again.And very often this, the real solution is systematic and the system is run by the leaders.So I can't say to the employed veterinarians or the non business owners, you should do this and this and this and this and this.
But they work in an environment that sucks.And so inevitably I talk leadership more and more and more and leadership is business.And I think it's a natural progression to say, well, let's split it off.Let's make a, a separate space for the leaders to go.You guys are responsible for those other guys that I'm trying to make happy.
So I'm going to help make you happy so that you can make them happy.So it fits with my goal.It aligns nicely with what I'm trying to achieve with my, my, my mid vault.So I'm going to spring this one on you only because of something you said earlier.We said it can feel overwhelming.And the answer is always, what is the next step?
What is the one thing?And maybe this should be the end for every podcast, if possible.Should we leave this conversation with the next step, with the one thing?Have you got anything for our listings right now?The one, the one thing, your first step.What exactly do you want out of business?
Why are you in business?Do some thinking and actually just write it down.There's a lot of research around the difference between thinking something and writing it down.When it actually comes to talking manifestation, it actually playing out and you getting that result.So the one thing that you could take out of This is why are you in business?
And you can just steal mine, have fun, add value, make money.That's OK, because I've found it's a pretty good formula.OK, we'll leave it there.You have your homework and we'll see you back here next time.And we're excited to start this new thing with you guys.
Thank you, Sam.Thanks for joining.

Dr Sam Bowden