Old dogs are pretty stubborn, and in Maitland they were enthusiasticly confused at the amount of material they were about to tackle. Thank you to Vetstreet, Zoetis, VPI and Veterinary Payments of America for sponsoring another HTC Workshops that WORK! Continue reading
I meet so many veterinary support staff members, as a practice consultant. More often than not, they express that their current position at the practice is a temporary one. They invariably express a desire to move onto a “real job” in another field in the next few years when I ask them where they see themselves 3-5 years from now. I can’t help but wonder why there’s such a lack of desire to grow professionally within the veterinary field itself. Continue reading
I don’t think any veterinary practice could have foreseen the need for daily to weekly posts to platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Google+, and now Pinterest a few short years ago. Throw in my favorite—blogging—along with your already fulltime job as a practice manager and you might be feeling more than a little overwhelmed. Continue reading
I’m a creative, big-picture, think-outside-the-box kind of person, so when Peter Ainslie asked me to be on the Shark Tank panel at the VHMA Management Exchange, a little piece of me was sad that I wouldn’t be doing the “creating” this time. But, I am so glad I said YES! I truly enjoyed being on the other side of the table this time, watching the collaborative process, learning more about group dynamics and then Continue reading
Consulting and working with veterinary practices all over the country gives us an opportunity to delve into a variety of management topics, problems, and issues while challenging us to find solutions. This week, my business partner Bash Halow, was in a practice helping the new owners to clean up their software and stumbled across some unsavory client classification codes (as pictured in this post). Your reaction is probably a little like our initial reaction, which was—-”OMG! What were these team members thinking?!?” Continue reading
We’re taking social to a new level—-well, a new coast to be more specific! If you’re in the southern California area anytime between January 31st and February 10th, 2013, then you’re in luck! You’ve got two major veterinary educational events taking place in San Diego, starting with Continue reading
If there’s one thing that’s pretty consistent about veterinary practice management, it’s that good team members get promoted into management roles, whether they’re equipped for it or not. For the most part, veterinarians seem to believe that a great technician will make an equally great practice manager if you give them the title and a new job description. More often than not, this sets exceptional team members up for failure. Most of the time, this type of failure doesn’t lead to eventual success for more than one reason. Continue reading
“We’re working on the culture of our practice”…..this seems to be a hot topic right now, especially in the veterinary profession. Maintaining a healthy work culture is no easy feat, but it can be done through hard work, perseverance and a mix of good “people” and “listening” skills. Continue reading
Armed with my iPad, I blogged my opinion about veterinary blogging a few days ago, in response to a colleague’s statement that veterinarians shouldn’t be allowed to blog. I saw a wide variety of veterinary professionals chime in to share their experiences and offer great advice. Between the dvm360 community boards, Twitter, Facebook, Google+ and the comments on this blog, I saw the coming together of like-minded individuals who all had an interest in veterinarians and blogging—–that’s an engaged community! Isn’t that what we’re all aiming for when we use social media tools and write blog posts? Do veterinarians really need to think bigger than blogging? Continue reading
I may not be a veterinarian, and I certainly don’t consider myself a marketing maven, BUT if the dark-rimmed glasses (purple, by the way) and iPad identify me as a blogger in the veterinary profession, then I’m guilty as charged. I also happen to be a practice manager, practice consultant, author, speaker and…..in general, a very busy person. Why do I blog, and why do I recommend that my colleagues in the veterinary profession blog? It’s simple—-blogging and social media tools bring people together. They connect people who love their pets with those who have information about pets. If veterinarians and veterinary hospitals aren’t blogging, then who is generating the content being found on the Internet? Stop and think about that before you answer. Who should be writing the pet health content on the Internet, if veterinarians shouldn’t be allowed to blog? Continue reading