Making a decision to go solo

Abstract

Many veterinarians find happiness following traditional routes in their careers. These routes include academia, research, em­ployment as an associate, buying into practices or building booming, multi-doctor practices. But what about the rest of us? Some of us don’t feel fulfilled from working the same hours in the same place every day. Some of us, like myself, find our call­ing driving around the countryside with our dogs, visiting a few clients per day, and not really having anyone else to answer to. However, making the leap of quitting a stable job that supplies steady paychecks, a shared workload, and a regular schedule is a truly terrifying thing to do. Will your business be successful? Will you be able to pay your bills? What if it’s too much work? What if no one ever even calls? Starting your own practice comes with these questions and more, but if it is your calling, it is so worth it in the long run. Everyone’s story, reasons, and process will be different. In this presentation, I will describe what going solo has been like for me, in the hopes of helping any other vet­erinarian who is considering it decide if it is right for them.