During your professional life, you will reach a number of crucial turning points that will shape your career path and financial future.  Deciding whether to move from practicing as an associate to owning your own practice is one such turning point.  Before making a decision, you’ll want to conduct careful research and give much consideration to the alternatives as each inherently entails its own advantages and challenges.  

When considering a transition to practice ownership, it’s most important to ensure that the choice you make fits your personality type and interpersonal style.  This is the key to attaining not only professional success, but deep personal satisfaction and enjoyment throughout your business career.

Evaluating Your Options: Is Ownership for You?

Working as an associate can provide a number of advantages.  You can focus on practicing your skills and better understanding your patients’ needs without the many concerns and challenges of managing a business.  You can enjoy an assured income and employment benefits as an associate, have an opportunity to learn from staff colleagues, and perhaps ultimately evolve to buy-in status with shared responsibilities for practice success.  This choice may be ideal for you if you’re more comfortable with a predictable lifestyle, prefer to focus deeply on a few areas of expertise rather than juggle multiple responsibilities, and dislike the challenge of managing the administrative details involved in owning a business.

But owning your own practice gives you a greater opportunity to gain control over your professional life.  Practice ownership puts you in charge of the quality of care, the patient and practice environment, customer service and the operation of your practice. It enables you to set goals for your future.  And while ownership certainly implies the challenges of meeting financial performance objectives as well as personnel management, customer billing and marketing activities, it also brings the great sense of accomplishment that comes from creating a successful enterprise.

So how do you know when it’s time to consider making the move to ownership?  Try answering the following questions:

1. Do you regularly experience feelings of resentment about reporting to a colleague and working according to someone else’s schedule?
2. Do you feel you have absorbed your employer’s management skills and responsibilities and are capable of running the practice yourself?
3. Is your level of confidence and clinical speed beyond the third year veterinary school level?
4. Are your case presentation skills well developed?

If you answered “yes” to at least three of these questions, then it’s time to consider owning your own practice.

Ownership:  Should You Acquire or Build?

Once you’ve decided to make the jump to practice ownership, the next big decision is whether to acquire an existing practice, or start your own.  There are many considerations to weigh with each approach – and the right answer for you will become increasingly apparent as you delve into your research.  Following are some factors to consider.

The Benefits of Practice Acquisition

When you acquire an existing practice, you gain the advantages of an established patient base and income flow.  This allows for an easier transition as you can “hit the ground running” and tweak the details of the practice over time.  You’re also less reliant on marketing your practice since you already have a steady patient flow, making practice acquisition an attractive choice for those who are intimidated by the prospects of marketing.  You may also find it’s easier to attain a loan for a practice acquisition, as the business has a proven track record upon which the lending company can base its decision.

Remember, though, that in acquiring a practice, you inherit not only the good, but also the not so good – such as problem employees who may require training or discipline, inefficient systems that need to be overhauled, outdated equipment that should be replaced, or a facility that needs remodeling.  In addition, the type of veterinary services provided at the facility may not be a true fit for you.  So you may need to engage in ongoing practice modifications and repairs in order to create the practice you really want.

Practice Start-Up: The Pro’s and Con’s

Building your own practice from the ground up gives you the ultimate degree of control in creating the professional environment you want.  From the facility itself to equipment and employees, you’re in charge of deciding what works best for you.  You’re engaged in a creative process that, while time consuming and capital intensive, will ultimately produce the work environment you’ve dreamed of, unimpeded by dated equipment and facilities or the inheritance of someone else’s problems. 

But practice start-ups can have plenty of challenges of their own.  A successful start-up practice is dependent on the doctor’s ability to sell his or her services and requires a significant degree of planning and marketing skills.  You’ll be making numerous decisions about office design, equipment purchases, employee hiring, systems and protocolsand patient outreach.

You’ll also want to ensure that the demographics of your chosen area will support your practice.  Are there enough pet owners of the ideal income level in the area for your practice to thrive?  Is there room for another veterinary practice in the area, or is it already saturated? If you are committed to living and working in an area that already has numerous veterinary practices, then acquiring one with an existing patient base and cash flow might make the most sense as you would minimize the amount of marketing required to establish your business.

And finally, some loan companies may be more reluctant to lend funds for a practice start-up, as there is no income history, existing equipment or property to use as a collateral base.  This is particularly true for lenders who are not specialists in professional practice lending.

Remembering What Counts

Despite the challenges, there has never been a more exciting time to practice veterinary care. With continuing advancements in technology and the ability to respond to patient needs more efficiently than ever before, you have many options to choose from in deciding how you want to practice. And you have an extensive network of resources that you can rely on when making critical decisions about your career direction – from specialty lenders to accountants, attorneys and practice management consultants.

Whatever direction you choose, you’re in for a rewarding, life-enhancing experience as a practitioner in today’s dynamic field of animal care.