At the beginning of my career I spent some time working in a Joint Venture Partnership practice and I could see the benefits that a professional business support network provided in terms of marketing and administration. Having also worked in private practices, when the time came to start working for myself I was very clear that I wanted to go down the Joint Venture Partnership route.

I did quite a bit of research on the internet and the proposition from Vets4Pets really stood out for me. It felt more personal and had a caring touch and seemed to be much more rounded in terms of a work-life balance. I felt that working as a Vets4Pets partner would be as much about quality of life and client service as financial success.

It has been immensely satisfying to see the business develop and we have also received a lot of positive feedback from clients, which is very motivating. Since I started as a Partner last May I have been able to grow the practice in a number of ways. We recently bought a new ultrasound machine which allows us to provide a range of new services to clients and we have also achieved veterinary nurse training status.

The training side of the business is really important to me as I received a lot of support at the beginning of my career and I feel strongly about helping others in the same way. I am particularly passionate about good nursing care as it makes an enormous difference to the overall level of service that the practice is able to offer and the satisfaction of our clients.

The training provided by Vets4Pets and the resources available from the support centre really plug the gap between the clinical expertise you learn at Veterinary College and the business expertise you need to run a successful practice. Between the support centre and my local operations manger, I have access to help 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

The Vets4Pets team have great experience and give me a lot of confidence when it comes to running the practice and making decisions. As a solo partner, I have found the HR support to be particularly valuable, as that was an area that I was less familiar with before I started, but which has been really important in terms of growing the team.

I was happy to put in the upfront investment to become a Joint Venture Partner as I understood that the potential rewards were there in the future. It was quite a steep learning curve at first, but being in charge of your own practice is very motivating and you quickly realise that you can achieve what you set out to do. I was very grateful for the support and advice of other partners who had successfully made the transition to working for themselves and now that I am a year down the line, recruiting a second vet into the practice has given me more support on the clinical side and that gives me even more support in terms of a balance between work and life at home.

If you would like to find out more about becoming a Joint Venture Partner with Vets4Pets, get in touch.