Kelly Cooper: [00:00:00] There's a tension where it'd be easy to not do that. It's to be easy to say, Oh, well, let's just keep living in the background and doing what we're comfortable with. I have this bigger vision where I can teach and show others, you can achieve what you want to achieve. You can overcome these challenges where you're at is not where you have to stay.
Megan Sprinkle: Welcome to Vet Life Reimagined. Imagine you are fresh out of vet school and are headed to a rural location away from your family to join a single doctor, mixed animal practice. And within a couple of weeks, you are faced with being the only veterinarian. This is what our guest, Dr. Kelly Cooper, was faced with.
Megan Sprinkle: And we'll discuss how not only she managed this scary situation, but also grew the practice and was invited to start speaking about her success. That 15 year journey was just the start as she discovered more about herself and learned to overcome imposter syndrome to find new avenues for herself, all while dealing with several personal challenges.
Megan Sprinkle: She worked for Banfield for about a [00:01:00] decade and now runs her own business called Reality Vet Coaching and Consulting, providing leadership and practice management coaching for veterinarians. Dr. Cooper has a fascinating story. So let's get to the conversation with Dr. Kelly Cooper.
Megan Sprinkle: When did you know you wanted to get into veterinary medicine?
Kelly Cooper: Oh, that's a great question. And thank you very much for having me on the podcast, Megan.
Kelly Cooper: I'm really excited to be here. So I am one of those people who decided as a child, I wanted to be a veterinarian. Probably. I think it was around age eight or nine. My mom always had like cats in our lives, but I don't think they got much veterinary care. And I remember my first exposure to a veterinarian, , a man in a white coat, right?
Kelly Cooper: Like that kind of embodied the, Oh my, I want to, you know, this is amazing. And, , I think we took a cat to him and got vaccines or something like that. And I thought, I want to do this, like, this is amazing. And then as I got older, you know, kind of my preteen teen years, I started reading the James Harriet books and, you know, which reinforced it.
Kelly Cooper: And I was always rescuing some sort of a something and bringing it [00:02:00] home. So it was definitely a childhood dream, you know, that thankfully was able, I was able to kind of bring to life and make real.
Megan Sprinkle: Now, when you were thinking about what you might do, like, as you're getting into vet school, did you have an idea of what career was going to look like?
Megan Sprinkle: And did that change over time during that school?
Kelly Cooper: Yeah, it changed a lot for me. I, at first I imagined I was going to be a wildlife veterinarian. And that's also my generation. What we had was, I think Saturday night mutual of Omaha's wild kingdom. We had James Herriot, this is way before animal planet.
Kelly Cooper: And so our, you know, exposure to like the wild and wildlife and working in that field was that, I mean, it was very limited. So I had this big vision that I was going to go work with wild animals or work in zoos. And then as I got into pre vet and kind of had some exposure to professionals in those spaces, and they actually started talking about, here's what that's like.
Kelly Cooper: I was like, Oh, maybe I don't want [00:03:00] to do that. And my experience was, cats and dogs like that, you know, growing up in kind of the burbs and it, you know, that's what I had knowledge of. And then as I went into veterinary school, I developed this love for agricultural lifestyle and you know, so I pursued.
Kelly Cooper: A mixed animal track which led me out to rural practice in New Mexico, because I thought, you know, kind of that whole James Herriot vibe is I'm going to be all things to all people. I love the idea of a small town vet. And I had done my preceptorship in a very tiny town in the Texas panhandle.
Kelly Cooper: And so I thought, this is it, you know, I'll just go be the small town vet. That will be my whole career. I will retire and sell my practice there. And that's, that was my vision. I thought that was the end all and be all of veterinary medicine for me. Which turned out not to be the case at all, of course.
Megan Sprinkle: Yes. And, to share, you did do your vet school at Oklahoma State University so you graduate and so feel free to share how, you know, that evolution of all these [00:04:00] different things you're exploring in vet school. I think that's a good thing about that school is we do get to.
Megan Sprinkle: Try all things out. And a lot of times we're like, Oh, I just like a little bit of everything. And we start to, get into practice and we kind of figure out, where our, zone of genius or what we like to fit in kind of comes. But what was that like for you?
Kelly Cooper: Yeah. So when I came out of school and I had this vision, you know, this rural practice life, I.
Kelly Cooper: I didn't know where I wanted to live. I kind of had a list of things I did not want to do, but not a lot of clarity on where I wanted to go or what I wanted to do. I was kind of in a place with my family where going back home was not an exciting idea. It's like, I want to go explore and, do something else.
Kelly Cooper: And I feel like there's a few moments in your life where the world is your oyster. And I think that's a really exciting time for everybody because you can go any direction and you can make anything of yourself. it can also be really overwhelming though. And therefore, you know, it's like, Oh my gosh, I don't know what to do.
Kelly Cooper: And you [00:05:00] get frozen, you know, I'm paralyzed by that. So I, was interviewing with some equine hospitals. I know I went out to, Albuquerque and went out to Houston and I was just like, what, like, what am I going to do? And, I had a professor at Oklahoma state that approached me and, and he had been out in practice in the Oklahoma panhandle.
Kelly Cooper: And he had a friend that was in Southeast New Mexico that really needed a doctor. He's like, you know, he really needs help. He's getting up there. He didn't say that, right. But he was past retirement should be say, and, uh, so Megan, I'm, my decision fell on the fact that my boyfriend lived not an hour away from that town, so not exactly a career decision.
Kelly Cooper: But I thought, wow, I'll go out here. , I'll have a lot of independence. I'll have a lot of freedom. My boyfriend will be an hour away. So that'll be nice. So I say that I followed a boy, which I kind of did. And so I, I find myself, you know, in Southeast New Mexico, a town of about 6, 000 people, I am the only vet and I get there and within two weeks of my [00:06:00] arrival, , the owner gets
Kelly Cooper: badly injured by a bull and he leaves and he basically moves an hour and a half away and suddenly retires and I'm running his veterinary practice and I'm two weeks out of veterinary school. So that, well, I did one independence and he had some health problems. So it wasn't like a total shock. Like I think I kind of asked her for what I got for what I got.
Kelly Cooper: I just didn't think it would be within two weeks of getting out of school.
Megan Sprinkle: Wow. Uh, I mean, for anybody who we're all like, Ooh, what would we do? and actually I have had one other story that I can remember off the top of my head where it was kind of a similar situation. I think she came brand new veterinarian and the.
Megan Sprinkle: practice owner either got hurt or something and they were, they were the vet. So how did you handle that?
Kelly Cooper: Yeah. well, I would lie if I said there [00:07:00] weren't tears cause there were lots and lots of tears and, you know, thankfully, I mean, I love our profession. I love what we do. I love being a veterinarian and I'm an optimist.
Kelly Cooper: So I just figured I'd figure it out. You know, it's like, okay, let's, Take it one day at a time. I was learning how to be a veterinarian. You know, you take all that knowledge from school, but you still have to learn how to apply that. So I was figuring that out. I also moved into, you know, to a culture that was very much, you're not going to fill old , doctor, so and so's shoes, you know, like, who are you young lady?
Kelly Cooper: I mean, there's actually, I just did a presentation where I showed the article that the newspaper released and it's titled The vet is a lady is how this newspaper article was titled of announcing my presence in the town. Right? So, so there were definitely some cultural things I had to overcome. a lot of just trying to figure out how to survive.
Kelly Cooper: And then also I'm suddenly leading a team of people and I don't have. leadership skills. I [00:08:00] don't have business skills. I'm just figuring it out. So, I, made friends with a retired veterinarian in the County that was good friends with the owner that , I was working for. And he was amazing.
Kelly Cooper: Like he was just, , very savvy, had had his own business, was very current on his medicine, even at the age of like 75, he was just in the game. And he was my phone, a friend I could pick up the phone and say, Hey, I have this fractured femur, a dog got kicked by a horse and he drove on up and he, you know, showed me that I could do it basically, you know, or I had a, you know, some sort of this happened or that happened.
Kelly Cooper: He was amazing. Like he was just, uh, you know, my person that was there. And thankfully the veterinarians in the County, there are very few of us. I think there were a total of. Five veterinarians in the biggest County in New Mexico. So it's a very vast and rural place, had dinner once a month as well.
Kelly Cooper: And so, thankfully they were collegial, even though there was like three clinics and five vets is there was a lot of sharing and, you [00:09:00] know, I could call someone and the hand, you'd help with this, or I don't understand how to do that. So I think that was my lifeline, you know, that kept me sane. And then, I actually ended up meeting my .
Kelly Cooper: Then later to be husband, who was also a veterinarian that lived in the county. And, he had a small animal background. And so that kind of, provided some support for me, you know, emotionally, as I kind of dove into medicine and leadership all at the same time.
Megan Sprinkle: Yeah, that is a lot. I love the idea of having like a monthly dinner that all the vets can kind of come together and Because I mean there's there's plenty of work for everyone, right?
Megan Sprinkle: So hopefully it's not like a competitive nature, but you also probably share a lot of similar Types of clientele and just kind of supporting each other from a lot of different perspectives, whether it's business or emotional, especially, I think you said, I think you said three, three practices and five vets.
Megan Sprinkle: So, I mean, [00:10:00] several of those had to be solo practice, veterinarians and d so I think that it can get kind of lonely if you don't have somebody who kind of knows what you're going
Kelly Cooper: through. Absolutely. Megan, I think it's one of the challenges of independent veterinary practices is that we very much get on our islands.
Kelly Cooper: And we don't connect with our neighbors that much is, and I think it's just one or naturally a lot of us are introverts, right? We kind of just kind of stay in our bubble and do our thing and just put our head down and work. And we don't really place value on the network and the relationships that are around us that can support us.
Kelly Cooper: Even if it's a competitor, there's a lot of pets to go around, right? There's a lot of patients that are out there. And, , that's one of the things that is important to me in the work that I do is showing doctors, especially, in the independent setting that that community around you is incredibly important and to, to make efforts, you know, to grow it because when you don't know your neighbor, it's easy to villainize them, right?
Kelly Cooper: It's easy to kind of say, Oh, well, they, [00:11:00] this and they, that, but when that's a face and a person and somebody that, you know, you, you don't do those things. Things because you have more empathy for them and you know what they're going through and they know what you're going through. And so we're much, so much more powerful together, you know, even though we're all trying to do the same thing and it feels like competition is we all wear the same hat, you know, and it's so important to have that, community around you.
Megan Sprinkle: Yeah, and I think even if you have a fantastic team of technicians and practice managers, which are all essential, and they make this work fun and doable. It's still a little bit different. Like, everybody's role is slightly different. So if you don't have somebody to kind of bounce off these ideas.
Megan Sprinkle: And sometimes I think, especially if you are leading, you don't necessarily want to bounce off every idea that pops into your head, right? , you know, the rest of the team, right? You, it's good to have a space where you can, share some of those out loud
Megan Sprinkle: yeah.
Kelly Cooper: Yeah. I [00:12:00] mean, it's as much as we want to, say and believe that our team are the same as us. They're not is when you, especially when you are the owner, like being a doctor is a unique role from being a technician or a receptionist and you want someone who really understands what that means, you know, to, collaborate with and to commiserate with same thing for ownership.
Kelly Cooper: You know, they say heavy as the head that wears the crown, where the, uh, A practice owner as, you know, where's the crown and nobody else can do that for them or really understand what that's like. And so when practice owners talk to one another and unite with one another, that's, that's where they say, Hey, I, I'm not in this alone.
Kelly Cooper: You all understand me. And so, you know, that's kind of like the tribe, you know, that's my, like, that's, that's my true peers and my people, even though I'd say your clinic teams, your family, you're, you know, those peers that you have around you is really the people who fully understand what life is like when you're wearing, the same hat.
Megan Sprinkle: and you mentioned that you, this soon to be husband after this time, and so [00:13:00] did you guys end up joining practices or how did that evolve?
Kelly Cooper: Yeah, no, no. He was an associate veterinarian in the next town. so my first year, just to kind of move the story forward, Megan. So my first year of scrambling and figuring out how to run a practice. Led me to desire to own that practice because I work so hard on, you know, you take a lot of ownership on when that's like, here, go, go figure this out.
Kelly Cooper: And, and the owners in absentia, right? Like they're not really that involved. And so I was like, well, why not buy this practice? I love this little town. I love where I'm at. And so, my ex husband, now ex-husband, now so I'm giving away the story a little bit. But he came and, you know, join me in the practice. So we were working together.
Kelly Cooper: It's probably like a one and a half doctor practice at best. I did a lot more of the large animal work and he did more of the small animal work, but it was, it was a good mix. It worked for a long time and until it did not. but it was great to have a partner in crime, going through, through all of that.
Megan Sprinkle: Yeah. And I [00:14:00] think I read somewhere that you massively grew this business too. I mean, Yes. I'm sure having another doctor help, but you said like one and a half doctors. So I mean, the, the percent is more than just doubles.
Kelly Cooper: Yeah, it is. I mean, it's, it took years. Uh, you know, I bought up what they call the no low practice, right?
Kelly Cooper: It was a little tiny. Kind of dying practice that undercharged and, had kind of ceased to grow itself a long time before. And what, when I dug into learning and understanding what it takes to lead people and run a business and, really engage with your clients is when we really started to flourish.
Kelly Cooper: And, and so what was nice is, you know, this little tiny practice in this little tiny town, over the years became. An incredibly well known location where people coming from like a hundred miles away to, come see us, you know, or clients that would move away and come back to us for years, like, Oh, I'll drive an hour to come see you all.
Kelly Cooper: , it doesn't matter. And, and so in having [00:15:00] like a high level team that was so collaborative and just functioned, , incredibly efficiently and very well and incredibly empowered. What's just such a privilege to lead. And that, that came, that was like a 15 year journey for me, Megan, because I was just figuring it out, you know, it's kind of like, okay, what's possible.
Kelly Cooper: What can I do growing my own leadership, you know, self awareness and working with my team was a, I'd say a long, slow, painful process. With little wins and you know, you, you step forward and then there's, you get hit and you fall back and you know, you keep trying and you stand up and you brush yourself off and you do it again and, and you keep going.
Kelly Cooper: So yeah, I felt like even though, you know, by maybe other people's standards, we were still a small practice in a small town. All my reps would come through and they're like, why are you here? You need to go somewhere and go do other things. and I actually had one of my reps, asked me to speak to, uh, a group of women, veterinarians in Albuquerque about change management, you know, and I was honored to be asked to do that.
Kelly Cooper: I was like, well, why would little old [00:16:00] me, you know, go talk to a bunch of big city women, you know, that are practice owners and, teach them what I knew, but it was so fulfilling. And it was part of it. What inspired me to a future career change, you know, why I ended up selling my practice and going into leadership over time,
Megan Sprinkle: which I want to get to.
Megan Sprinkle: I want to highlight though, that thank you for putting that in perspective though, too, because I don't want people to think, Oh, wow. one you're out of practice and she, you know, grows this business 480%, it, things take time and. It is, you know, leaning into these experiences, that 1 percent of learning how to do something just slightly better, right.
Megan Sprinkle: Like, all of those things can really add up into that 15 year experience where you were really thriving. I know you mentioned. That you had plenty of burnout moments, you said in practice, and, you even described that you had moments where you wanted a hole open up and just swallow you.
Megan Sprinkle: Like, that's how overwhelming some of these things [00:17:00] got. What are some of the things that you would share with people who might be in similar situations where It's a practice. It's, you know, 15 years when you're in the middle of it, it seems like a long time. what kept you going?
Megan Sprinkle: What were you starting to learn about yourself and, and what are these things that you would kind of share with others as they're, veterinarians going through practice?
Kelly Cooper: Yeah, well, I'd say we all go into this with all of us Well, most of us go into it with a lot of passion, you know, we're not here to get rich We're not here because you know, we think well, it's really lucrative industry.
Kelly Cooper: Let's go become veterinary medicine We do it because we're very passionate either about animals or about How we impact society and medicine and solving problems. And then when you get into the day to day of it and the ups and downs, you know, that come with just, let's talk about just being a veterinarian.
Kelly Cooper: we talk about just the emotional rollercoaster of our lives. You know, you, you walk into a new puppy and, you know, get to celebrate, and then you turn [00:18:00] around and you have to go do a behavioral euthanasia with somebody, you know, who's just torn to bits because it's a hard thing that you have to do and that they have to do.
Kelly Cooper: And, you know, at the same time we're fighting this level of constant perfectionism. And I, I feel like we, and I'm a, what I call a recovering perfectionist, you know, and I'm a big Brene Brown fan. Um, and that's, what's helped me get through a lot, , of my challenges is that, so you have highs and, you know, And really I learned I had to celebrate the highs and stop and recognize that I could do a lot of things well, and so like I kept every little, every little card a client gave me or little comments and our team would always make a point of encouraging and celebrating one another.
Kelly Cooper: Because if I didn't grab those moments, nobody else was going to grab them for me. there's so many of them and we just be like, oh, okay, well, it's just my job. Right. That's just my job. And we let those go. But then the few horrible things that might happen, right? Like maybe it's a really angry client.
Kelly Cooper: Maybe it's a case that went wrong. Maybe it is a [00:19:00] mistake that happened. We let those so overshadow the good, those just build up and they stay in our mind, you ruminate on them and we beat ourselves up. , I remember a time, you know, laying on the floor of my office, probably at nine o'clock at night, just.
Kelly Cooper: In tears saying, well, I need the board to just come take my license and tell me I can't practice anymore because I'm the worst ever. You know, like, , why did they let me do this? it survived, right? Like whatever, what survived, but I just beat myself up because in hindsight, I realized I had made some mistakes in my decision making, but in the moment I didn't know, right.
Kelly Cooper: I did the best I could with, with what I had. And so, you know, it's being able to. Pick yourself up, put that in balance, and for me, survival relied on community me in my own head by myself would never have made it through ever. There's no way because by yourself, you only see this, right?
Kelly Cooper: You only see this little bit of the world. And I, for me, it was a bit of a spiritual walk at the time. So I was [00:20:00] learning leadership. But I was learning a lot about myself because I was part of a women's Bible study group that met like on Monday mornings. And when I went in that group and they talked, they don't, there's prayer circles, right.
Kelly Cooper: That talks about everybody that who has cancer and whose kid got hit by a car. Who's, you know, like there's all this care for the community and you realize, Oh my gosh, that little thing I thought was a mountain. Is not a mountain, it's a moment, but look at what other people are going through. And so that helped align my perspective on what I thought, you know, in, in my little universe was so critical and what in my career or, you know, cause nobody to want to come to me anymore was a nothing.
Kelly Cooper: And, and I think, you know, in that time in my life. That's what got me through was a belief that there was something more important and bigger than just what I was doing in that community of, some veterinarians in my life, but a lot of non veterinarians that were housewives, right. And volunteers and teachers that really broadened my perspective to like, [00:21:00] I'm not all that right.
Kelly Cooper: Like, this is not all that like, let it go, move on. And it will pass. Like this too will pass.
Megan Sprinkle: very important to remember. but I love that when you, you know, you got invited and maybe you had a little bit of imposter syndrome. Why are they asking this rural vet to come talk in the big city?
Megan Sprinkle: And you were able to share some of these things. And you said that this was kind of a moment of you realizing that, Ooh, maybe I, you know, there's some other opportunities that I can stretch myself. So what was your experience when you gave that talk, and what did that start to make you think about?
Kelly Cooper: Yeah. So, I felt so humbled and privileged, I drove up to Albuquerque and these, I mean, wonderful, amazing women, you know, are sitting in a, in a conference room together. And I basically shared, I didn't even know change management was a thing at the time, Megan, like there's a whole discipline, right.
Kelly Cooper: Around change. Management and I, and you know, the internet was not a place that you went and pulled all the [00:22:00] information. There wasn't ai. You could see like, Hey, tell me all about change management. So I built my own kind of curriculum on this talk talk that in hindsight now I am trained in certified in change management.
Kelly Cooper: I was like, oh yeah, hey, I got that right. Like, I, I, you know, I pretty much did it. But it was fun to just take the stories of my success, right? These little wins in my own practice of, changing certain behaviors and tasks in my hospital and give them those tools, right? It felt very empowering to
Kelly Cooper: be able to say, Hey, here's the five simple things that happened that made this, work. And, you know, and they were like, Oh, that's, that's amazing. Thank you for sharing. You know, there were just so very gracious and welcoming. I did not feel like I didn't belong, you know, at the table or to share with them.
Kelly Cooper: And that, that was a big encourager for me to say, Hey, maybe one day. I'll do this for real. You know, like this will be a thing that I do. And here I am, I don't know, like 15 years later, doing it.
Megan Sprinkle: Yeah. Which is funny. Cause I [00:23:00] do remember you saying that that was one of the things you would not have seen yourself doing is like a lot of public speaking.
Megan Sprinkle: So, yeah,
Kelly Cooper: I have a vision, I guess I equate it to the idea of wanting to be a rockstar, right. Or wanting to be famous is you see people who, are up there like, Oh, they're so amazing. but the tension in that for me is I am an introvert and I didn't like talking to people, like how I talk now, nobody would know I love to meet people and get to know about them. The start starting that is very hard for me. Like just getting to the, you're getting to the, hi, I'm Kelly. It's so nice to meet you is the hardest thing for me and putting myself out on the stage or my ideas. Feels still that imposter syndrome, right?
Kelly Cooper: Still lives there and, and hovers beneath the surface. and so there's a tension where it'd be easy to not do this. It'd be easy to say, Oh, well, let's just keep living in the background and doing what we're comfortable with. But I have this bigger vision where I can. Teach and [00:24:00] show others, Hey, there's, you can achieve what you want to achieve.
Kelly Cooper: You can overcome these challenges. where you're at is not where you have to stay. And I can't do that. If I don't push myself out of that comfort bubble and get myself up on a stage or on a podcast or write, you know, and put out articles, even though that voice in my head is always still there.
Kelly Cooper: It's like, well, who are you? You know, who are you to do those things? And I have to stop and be like. I have this knowledge. I do have this ability. People do need this information and, and be quiet, be quiet inside voice.
Megan Sprinkle: Yes. also really important. I think we are the harshest to ourselves a lot of times.
Megan Sprinkle: Like we would never say. What we say to ourselves inside of our heads to our friends. And so that a moment to kind of like stop and think is like, Hmm, I would not say this to my friend. So let me, let me think about this. Let me be a little kinder to myself. And. I think also trying to [00:25:00] avoid those or not listen to that voice, because that is the barrier to actually sometimes achieve what we really want to.
Megan Sprinkle: The things that make us happy and successful sometimes it requires things for us to do that are uncomfortable that being able to get over those voices allows us to move through the uncomfortable to get to this place that we can be happy and successful and contribute in the way that we're wanting to.
Kelly Cooper: Yeah, I love that. Megan, you just remind me of that. It's a lot of little acts of courage is what this is about. Because I remember in that 15 years of practice, every time I was very anxious or fearful or uncomfortable Of what the outcome might be that held me back from doing the thing. And maybe it was a, conversation I need to have with my team member.
Kelly Cooper: Maybe it was asking for feedback or, making a decision that felt like a hard [00:26:00] decision is that the first emotion that would hit me. And I think hits a lot of people as fear, but what if, but what if, this could happen, that could happen.
Kelly Cooper: And those are all stories that we build up inside our head that turn out not to be true. They, they just turn out not to be true. So, pushing past that, that little fear and. doing it anyway, you know, even if it's a small, tiny little baby step, I felt always had big rewards. it was a phrase I say is when you do good, good things happen.
Kelly Cooper: Even if it's the tiniest little thing, I always felt like. I was rewarded for overcoming the fear and at least putting the effort forward. And maybe that reward was just learning. Maybe that reward was something big came of that, a change in a relationship, you know, a change in, , something that happened in the practice and how it was run.
Kelly Cooper: And, you know, interesting how much we get in our own ways. You know, I believe we are, what's great about us, right? who we are, that is what is great about us. And it's also what's wrong with us at the same time, right? Two sides of the coin. So you got to lean into what's [00:27:00] great and mitigate what doesn't work for us, right?
Kelly Cooper: Mitigate the like, okay, well, here's how I'm getting in my own way. And either develop it or just understand that that's all that's going to be there. And I just have to find ways around it. Or over it to kind of mitigate or manage, because I feel like there's lots of things we're not going to actually change fundamentally about who we are, that the things that trip us up, but we can still lean into our strengths and navigate around those things or operate and succeed in spite of them.
Megan Sprinkle: Yeah. And I think this is really helpful. In our career, when we are trying to go through potential evolutions and changes with our career as well. And so you had big transition. You went from, owning this hospital after 15 something years, and then you actually get introduced into corporate leadership with Banfield.
Megan Sprinkle: So what was the. evolution of your career, what were you thinking and, and kind of leaning into when you [00:28:00] got a job with Banfield?
Kelly Cooper: Yeah, I ended my practice ownership career because I, I had, you know, even though, as I said earlier, I thought this would be my end all right. I would retire and be the small town vet forever.
Kelly Cooper: After my 15 years, I'd grown this love of developing others and really helping them be as successful as they could. At what they did, what, whichever role, right. Practice manager, my technician, my receptionist was excellence and, um, engagement and satisfaction, you know, for each of those roles. And so as much as I love medicine, I pursued that.
Kelly Cooper: And so I started looking out to see in the industry, like, you know, what are the opportunities that are out there? And that's when, , Banfield was hiring a lot of field leadership. And I didn't know a thing about Banfield at all. Cause I was. Very rural. And I did some checking. I had some classmates, you know, that were either knew of them well, or worked with them.
Kelly Cooper: And so, you know, as I looked around, I was like, well, why not? Let me throw my hat in the ring. And it was a district manager role or a medical director role in Oklahoma. So that would be overseeing 14 [00:29:00] hospitals and about 30 doctors. And, I, wrote up a resume and sent it in. Like he gave it to the recruiter said, Hey, I don't know if you're interested in this little small town doctor, but here's, who I am and here's what I have to offer.
Kelly Cooper: And, surprisingly they snatched me up and I was on boarded like within a month. It was insane. Like the speed was incredible and I still owned a practice and my husband was back home and my, I was living in New Mexico and hired in Oklahoma. So that was a big, you know, life disruption.
Kelly Cooper: And I ended up getting my practice sold, relocated my family to Banfield and started, you know, kind of that corporate culture life, which was incredibly thrilling because you know, and I definitely saw the difference between an independent. Practice ownership in a corporate world of practice life, because I went from being an entrepreneur and like the head on the horse, right?
Kelly Cooper: That bears, like I said, heavily is the head that wears the crown. Well, in a corporate world, you are a group [00:30:00] of people. Corporate by definition is a group. Makes decisions. A group makes things happen. And so, , my biggest life lesson in that was that I had to slow down and bring people along with me.
Kelly Cooper: Things I thought were a really cool idea maybe had impact in other places I hadn't thought about. So I had to partner in, you know, I had a business partner and I had a, an HR partner, you know, I have people I had to kind of like say, Hey, what do you think of this idea? Can we do this? And that was a hard lesson for me.
Kelly Cooper: I got kind of it. Slapped upside the head, you know, metaphorically speaking, because I had launched and done something in my market that, , had an impact on the operations that I just hadn't occurred to me, you know, that it would. And so, yeah, that was a, that was a quick lesson.
Kelly Cooper: what I loved about , the corporate life, especially at that level was that it was a team approach, right? , you don't have to go get that community because it naturally exists around you. And everybody. Has the same desires and the same goals. And you're working together to achieve something.
Kelly Cooper: I love [00:31:00] working with the doctors and with the teams and every hospital was different and just, the development I was able to get through that, you know, my leadership development, my business skills, just so many things that. Just came to me because it's part of the job, you know, either they're investing in you and developing you or you're learning on the fly because you're surrounded by people who have this experience was pretty awesome.
Kelly Cooper: And so, while there were painful moments of the transition as, as all do have. I was incredibly thankful, you know, to lean into this development of myself and be able to, to impact, you know, I could impact more pets by impacting more people who serve pets, and again, in this profession, that's what we do, right.
Kelly Cooper: We, we impact our society through, through animals. So that was my big why.
Megan Sprinkle: Yeah. I completely relate to The team approach and the team feel, I have a lot of enthusiasm, but it really can build when I'm around other people. And we're kind of putting in our different perspectives and we're all working towards this goal together.
Megan Sprinkle: I think it's really exciting. [00:32:00] And you also mentioned a couple of things. You were interested in getting into this new role because you wanted More opportunity to help grow other people into, their happy places and where that they thrive. And at the same time, I also hear that you are also able to put in more, for yourself too, when it comes to learning on how to do that.
Megan Sprinkle: What did you learn through that? Maybe, I, I really like to stick with what we learned about ourselves, right? cause I think that's important part of things. I think you, you talked about self awareness as well, but what were you learning about yourself and what you liked and where you were thriving and how did that help you help others?
Megan Sprinkle: Cause again, that was kind of your goal.
Kelly Cooper: Yeah, well, you know, leadership is all about ourselves really. it is about. how we have self awareness and develop emotional intelligence to meet people where they're at, because [00:33:00] a leader leads you, right? You don't push them. You don't pull them. You lead them.
Kelly Cooper: They follow you, which means you're meeting people, you're meeting their needs and you're inspiring them to do other things. And so, in my time, you know, developing there, I mean, I just learned a lot about what my strengths were, you know, from a skill set perspective in what you know, good corporate word, what my opportunities were.
Kelly Cooper: So what were, you know, the things that I wasn't good at, or I really struggled with and as, part of a, you know, great corporate practice is, having development plans where everybody, you know, you've got to write every year. Like, what do I want to do next year? What do I want to grow in? You know, what, What do I need to just work on?
Kelly Cooper: Because it's not a, not a strength for me. And that, taught me a lot about the fact that I love to inspire. I love to grow talent. I'm great at assessing talent and just getting into the hospitals. I'm incredibly competitive and can push too hard too, right? that's a thing I had to watch out for.
Kelly Cooper: And that I, [00:34:00] you know, the things that maybe I struggled with, my partner was great at, and how we can work together. And so what I love about this field, I don't think it's just veterinary medicine, but it's life and how you engage in it is that you're never static.
Kelly Cooper: You can always keep evolving and keep growing and keep, somewhat reinventing yourself as you learn something about yourself. Like, Oh. I didn't know that about, I really didn't know that about myself. And you get to choose what you want to do with that. You can lean into it, right? And so in that world, there's so much.
Kelly Cooper: There's so much opportunity for growth compared to in the independent, practice world. there's no natural support structure that, pushes you into doing that. You know, like if you're struggling, if you're failing, if you're frustrated, those are all motivators or you just want to do better.
Kelly Cooper: Those are motivators, but it's all intrinsic. You know, it basically comes from within. And in that corporate setting, you're just surrounded by it. By that support help in an expectation that you will , learn and grow, or you probably won't, survive it because of [00:35:00] the demands and the expectations of the job.
Kelly Cooper: So yeah, to pin down, Megan, exactly what did I learn about myself? I there's like 500 things, you know, maybe there's 5, 000 things. , and, so let's go back to the imposter syndrome. I learned that I was capable, competent, and people believed in me and that I could push to do more, even though I didn't see myself that way, sometimes others did, and that I had ambition to, to drive and to do more and to become more, which, you know, I did over time.
Megan Sprinkle: I think I shared with you. I had a question from an audience member about when you feel like you're ready for a change, how do you approach that? And what do you start to do? Cause I've heard you say that, you can't develop your way out of who you are. And sometimes when you are struggling, it means that you're not in the right seat.
Megan Sprinkle: So how do you balance with understanding what am I good at? What do I need to work [00:36:00] on? And like, Not focused too much on what we need to work on, right? Like how do you balance all that out to figure out what are the things I need to start doing to maybe make a change in my career path?
Kelly Cooper: Yeah. I very much believe that to be successful in whatever role you're in, you have to be the right person for that job.
Kelly Cooper: so, if you take on a role, however, right, by whatever means, and. it doesn't align with who you are, you know, like you're intrinsic, your personality, what inspires you, what gets you excited that you will be unhappy in that role for whichever reason in time when the honeymoon wears off. Right.
Kelly Cooper: And you really get into the day to day of it is if you're not aligned with that, either. If you can grow and develop and have the support you need to become that fantastic, but if you can't, what are you going to do? Right? Like, you just got to stick it out and just, you know, let time pass and hope, for the best that nobody notices, even though, you [00:37:00] know, it's not a good fit.
Kelly Cooper: Um, and people notice, right? Everybody notices. And it, you know, eventually there has to be a moment where there's a conversation. And. I always start. with my clients that I coach, we always talk about the vision of who they are and where they want to go, because that is the foundation of all of their conversations.
Kelly Cooper: So regardless of what issue they bring to me, we go back to, okay, 10 years from now, where do you see yourself? Like magic wand? Just take all boundaries away. If you could do anything, what does 10 years from now look like? Who are you? Where are you practicing? Where are you living?
Kelly Cooper: Who are you surrounded by? Like, what, what does that life look like? And we take that and we put it into a true vision statement, you know, and that vision statement may be very professional and about their career. Maybe it's also about their life and personal and that vision statement. Then we work it backwards to okay.
Kelly Cooper: Vision is this let's put a long term let's make it more concrete. Let's turn into a long term goal. Yeah. Turn that into a shorter term [00:38:00] goal. And then let's talk about what you're doing now to get there. And so through that, I think that's where you start to understand that what I'm doing today is not aligned with who I am as a person or where I want to go.
Kelly Cooper: And that's where I found myself at Banfield because as much as I love that role and I, you know, I sought higher positions over the years and I went from a district to a regional, to a divisional, you know, in a national vice president role. I found myself uncomfortable in my chair. I found myself in as much as I wanted to get there and thought I could do certain things and have a certain impact.
Kelly Cooper: It turned out that the actual skill set and the job did not align with what I most loved as much as I tried. And I had. I had coaches, executive coaches. I had peer mentors. I had so much feedback. I had a lot of development plans and I desperately wanted to do better. You're right. And to find that magic bullet , where I would just click it in and I get it.
Kelly Cooper: And, and what I realized after fighting that for two years, and I had a, personal coach [00:39:00] that, , was a, as a leadership coach. And, she saw me through all of that. And then. And I, I think there was just a moment where it's like, I can't do this anymore. Like this is not, this is not who I am and it's not where I want to be.
Kelly Cooper: And she led me through a visioning exercise, which is where I wrote down in my wildest dreams, right. Wave my magic wand. It goes back to where I started. I'm teaching others how to lead. I'm teaching them how to work with their teams. I'm teaching them that they could achieve so much more in what they're doing.
Kelly Cooper: You know, as a leader, as a practice owner, that they don't know, right. They just don't know how to start or how to get there. And that's who I want to work with really. I don't, you know, all the corporate stuff, right. It's great, but. How am I impacting that frontline, leader, that frontline owner that really wants to do better.
Kelly Cooper: Like I really want to do better, but I don't have that corporate, you know, support around me. I don't have all that, it's just intrinsically motivated. So [00:40:00] that's for me. And for who asked the question is you can't just move away from something, right. You can't just move away from discomfort or stress retention.
Kelly Cooper: You have to move towards something is what, what are you moving towards? Where do you want to go? Or you're going to find yourself in another place you don't want to be, if you're not clear on these are my values. This is what matters to me. This is what I'm good at. This is what I'm not good at. This is what I want to avoid.
Kelly Cooper: And, do your best to find that role or that place that. As much as you can, you know, meet those things that you really want to be and do.
Megan Sprinkle: So well said. And I don't think I've shared this on the podcast, but not only is making decisions moving towards a goal instead of just running away from something, because if you run away from something, it's, you're probably bringing it with you, right?
Megan Sprinkle: Like you don't have it really thought out, right? You don't, you don't know what, what you're really looking for. So not only is it good for the [00:41:00] individual, because I've heard people say this, people can tell when you're running away from something. I've had people who were interviewing veterinarians and they could tell that they were just trying to run away from practice.
Megan Sprinkle: Unfortunately it oozes off. So. I think it is so important to sit down and think about, yeah, what do I really want? And I also want to bring in, yes, it's important to think about what you want in a career. Like what do you like doing? But I think it is important to bring the other aspects of you into that vision as well.
Megan Sprinkle: Thinking about family, , those kinds of decisions too, that impacts our career as much as everybody wants to keep everything so separate. It's not because you're one human being that is complex with lots of things. And I think that's also important to bring in. And cause you made this comment too, that some of the, your, your changes throughout the years were because of [00:42:00] non work related things.
Megan Sprinkle: so I just want to share that too, is, don't be afraid to kind of look at everything you like in that vision. , there may be different parts of the stepping stones to get there, depending on. The whole thing, but I think it is really important because we are whole human beings with lots of things that are important to us that I think we need to account for.
Megan Sprinkle: So, any thoughts about that and how it, that has also impacted you.
Kelly Cooper: Yeah, of course. and just a quick story, as you talk about running away from something, Megan is a doctor reached out to me that, is in a corporate environment and she very much wants to obtain a leadership role.
Kelly Cooper: And she feels like , she keeps getting overlooked. Right? She's doing the work, like she's being utilized to do the work, but she can't get the title. You just can't get the role. And when I asked her, to talk to me more about, Why did she want that? She just kept talking about, because I don't want this.
Kelly Cooper: I don't want this. I said, so what is it about that role that you want? She says, well, I won't have to do this thing anymore. [00:43:00] I said, so, you know, and, and as we kind of dug into it and I, that was my feedback to her basically is until you are really clear, that you want that role because of this, of why, and that's a truly aligns with, you know, who you are and your passions.
Kelly Cooper: I think you're going to keep getting overlooked because they can see that, you know, what you don't want, but you don't know what you do want and why. And maybe you don't want that job. You just see it as an escape hatch and you're going to end up in that role. And you're going to end up more miserable than you are today.
Kelly Cooper: Cause the pressure will be higher in leadership, right? It's going to get worse for you. Not better. So she took it and she's like, Hey, thank you very much. I don't know what happened. I don't know what happened, but, uh, yeah, absolutely. It's just, it's so critical to move towards you, what you want, , so much Megan.
Kelly Cooper: Anyway. So to get back on track with the personal side. So for me, my personal evolutions, when I moved from practice ownership to corporate medicine was really career driven. I think for me, it was, you know, [00:44:00] family was stable and they were supportive of let's go, you know, let's move to another state and let's, you know, go try this out.
Kelly Cooper: And then, um, In 2022, when my role became so stressful and I had that moment where I said, okay, I can't, I just can't do this anymore. at the same time. So I have been through a lot of personal transitions during that time. So in 2019, I was promoted to the divisional position. And then 2020 came in the beginning of 2020, right?
Kelly Cooper: Pandemic started. And so we're managing a thousand hospitals through the pandemic. And I got divorced one month into that and, ended up, I was relocating. So left, my now ex husband behind, moved up to, you know, the Pacific Northwest to Portland. and my daughter started college that year. So I went through like some significant, you know, life changes.
Kelly Cooper: I've been married for 23 years. And, um, you know, I moved out here kind of basically all on my own with a, a relationship that, was kind of a volatile experience and, you [00:45:00] know, the PTSD that comes with some of that and I find myself in this corporate role that is. I'm just trying to figure out, right?
Kelly Cooper: Like, how am I going to be successful in this? And an incredibly volatile environment on top of that, because of the pandemic. So what I thought the job was was suddenly not what the job was on top of that. So, , all of that played into, who do I become next? Like, where am I going next?
Kelly Cooper: And what's important to me? Cause what's important to me in 2022 was not the same thing that was important to me in 2011 when I, when I took that role and I had developed and changed a lot in my life, changed a lot. In 2021, I met my now husband. And so in 2022, I got married and it's such a different relationship his outlook on life is almost polar opposite of my ex husband's and my priorities in this had been developing over the years in corporate is because I really had to focus on my wellbeing in a very stressful environment.
Kelly Cooper: Um, [00:46:00] meditation, mindfulness, incredibly important to me, healthy eating exercise were all things that were disciplines I had to develop in a corporate lifestyle because of the, the rigor , that comes with that. And so my husband now is very much focused on that as well. You know, so there was an alignment there.
Kelly Cooper: And what I realized is I was deciding, like, do I leave this job or not? It's like, I don't think I can stay healthy. I had chronic illnesses. I was on Ambien and they put me on an anti anxiety medication just to get through my days and to sleep at night. And it was a kind of a wake up call to be like, is this really how I want to live my life and am I going to see my way through this?
Kelly Cooper: And so it wasn't. And so I decided, you know, I decided to resign and you know, I don't want anybody to think, oh, well, it's corporate, right? It's, it's not, no, it's a lovely place to work. I, the people I worked with were incredible. , I took on a very, a very challenging role and it just wasn't the fit for me and I didn't know it until I got there, it just didn't know it.
Kelly Cooper: , there's no blame. There's no regrets. There's nothing there. [00:47:00] It's just like for anyone I was doing something I was not meant to do. And I had to recognize that. So I decided to step away and , I resigned. , I did not have a safety net at the time because I needed to, stop and decompress and try to figure out what I wanted.
Kelly Cooper: Cause I didn't know what I wanted in that moment. And it was obviously Megan,. I felt like there was this tightly wound coil up inside me. And once I, resigned, and I was in my backyard picking blueberries for a month, is it just unwound, you know, that tension just kind of slowly unwound in me.
Kelly Cooper: Where I felt like I could breathe again. And I felt like I could think again and, make healthy decisions for myself, you know, and give myself space. So I went back to practice, after not practicing for 10 years, I called up a practice down the road for me, a little mom and pop practice and, you know, said, Hey, you need a vet.
Kelly Cooper: And of course it was the pandemic. So they needed a vet. And I, um, you know, within a couple of weeks I was on board and I was, you know, Refreshing my, my memory of all the things I needed [00:48:00] to know about practice. and I took about a year, and my coach had done this visioning exercise and so I spent time just figuring out what that meant for me and developed my coaching business.
Kelly Cooper: You know, Reality Vet Coaching and Consulting is about all those things. It's about helping people. Be really happy, you know, with practice ownership and see that they can do so much more than what they're doing right now and helping them love the work they do. Or maybe if they don't love the work they do, helping them find out why and maybe transitioning into something else.
Kelly Cooper: So I'm doing that thing I love to do. And I, I feel like I'm really taking a big risk because. I went from now this corporate space of being surrounded by a community, you know, and help and all these knowledgeable people. And, and it's not that I'm alone, right. It's, it's back that I'm, I work by myself, but there's that community around me as there always was right.
Kelly Cooper: Like you and like others that are out there that are doing exactly this work that are, are lifting others up in are coaches and are consultants and are in the veteran community to [00:49:00] help Develop our leaders and develop our business owners. And so, I have to work for it though.
Kelly Cooper: It's not just down the hall. I have to go reach out and I have to put myself out there and I, again, I have to write and I have to speak and I have to publicly be visible and overcome that imposter syndrome on a very regular basis so that I can just keep growing in, in doing the thing that I love to do.
Megan Sprinkle: Yeah. I wanted to comment on something you had said about where you turn in your resignation and then took some time and you had to let that coil kind of unravel. I think that's also important to . I can speak for myself that sometimes when you're not sure what to do, you just keep adding more things on your plate when sometimes we need to do less so that we can recover and get to a point where we can think about, things and not come from a place of desperation.
Megan Sprinkle: And so I wanted to highlight that as well is [00:50:00] if you're feeling like tight and you're not sure what to do, then maybe don't add more. See if you can take things off so that you can kind of get to a better point where you can think and then add on the right things instead of just adding on to either distract yourself or, I feel this gap, so I'm just gonna feel it with, you know, whatever I can, like, often we do that with email, right?
Megan Sprinkle: It's like, well, I'm just going to answer all my email all day. And that feels like this weird gap on Facebook. Right.
Kelly Cooper: or social media And you just start looking at reels and scrolling and it does not make you feel better about yourself because you spent that time. You know, for me, it was letting myself take a nap, you know, or read, just stop and read a novel.
Kelly Cooper: sleep in a little bit, like little, little things that I just didn't do and didn't feel like they were part of my fabric. I allowed myself to do and, um, not have, you know, I, I went from 10 hours of zoom calls back to back every day and that, that all just creates work, right.
Kelly Cooper: That you have to go do. to [00:51:00] where I had an empty calendar, you know, and I. Took my mom to go see the doctor. I was like, . Like that's cool. that's not something I could do before. but you're right. It's, it's hard to turn it off. Right. It's hard to give yourself permission to just be instead of just constantly do.
Megan Sprinkle: Yes. And so I wanted to acknowledge that because I think that it's hard. Again, I can speak from experience that I'm a, I'm just a filler sometimes. And I have to like, being pregnant is a great way to like, be forced to sometimes sleep more. And because your body is just, It just needs it. And so you kind of have to lean into that to be able to find out like, what is the best thing for me?
Megan Sprinkle: and so I'm, I'm glad that you did that and you are finding, your place of where you're excited to do the work that you're doing and,
Megan Sprinkle: because you've done this vision, you know what it looks like, and you've surrounded yourself with people who can help you get there. And I'm really [00:52:00] excited that you're, able to do that. And it's making an impact in our profession because you're doing what you talked about, finding that you fell in love with when you had your own practice.
Megan Sprinkle: It was helping people thrive and find their, their place of happy. And they're the right seat within the profession.
Kelly Cooper: Yeah, absolutely. I am so thankful. You know, I know there's a lot of people that get up every day and they go to go to work and they go do a job and it's not a passion for them and it's not, you know, it's just what they do.
Kelly Cooper: And, I feel very fortunate and thankful to To be in a profession and be part of something where a lot of us are here because we really love it. We really love what we're doing. And even though there's moments where we really don't love it and, you know, especially with the burnout, rates is that it can become overwhelming and, you know, we definitely have to help each other, but we all.
Kelly Cooper: We're drawn, you know, we're drawn in and even people who aren't veterinarians that are drawn into this industry love being here, you know, like, Oh, this is the most amazing industry to be in. [00:53:00] It makes me proud, you know, to be a veterinarian in an industry that, that is so just amazing to be a part of, you know, cause we get to impact families , through their, your pets.
Kelly Cooper: We impact, global food supply, we impact public health, like we impact so many things. We're just such a, just an important part of our, of our whole society. And, I am very grateful to be a part of it and humbled to be a part of it.
Megan Sprinkle: I absolutely agree. Doing this podcast and interviewing people like yourself from all over veterinary medicine, it, reminds me, like, I feel lucky that I get to be reminded of how special this industry is.
Megan Sprinkle: You know, another reason to surround yourself with people is to be reminded of the special parts of it. and, and you kind of mentioned this, uh, right then you use the word, um, but I want to, um, pull it out.
Megan Sprinkle: Cause this is the last question I like to ask people. And what is something that you are really, really grateful for right now?
Kelly Cooper: You know, um, I am incredibly grateful for my family at [00:54:00] this point, Megan, , my husband is phenomenal and incredibly supportive and is teaching me a different me, you know, teaching me like the next season of my life.
Kelly Cooper: for the first time in my life, I'm, I have my mother close to me. I have a brother close to me and I've always lived very far away from my family. So I feel, you know, very blessed by, by the family that I have around me as small as we are. And, it's one of many blessings, but it's when I, every day I practice a little gratitude and, you know, I just stop and reflect that.
Kelly Cooper: Like how, how fortunate I am to have people that I love, , and love me. And I know that, that's always there.
Megan Sprinkle: I hope you enjoyed this fascinating veterinary story. We can make an impact in so many places. Check out the show notes for lots of resources. Please make sure you are subscribed on your podcast app, subscribe on the YouTube channel and follow me on LinkedIn, where I hang out the most. You can contact me on LinkedIn, on the website at vetlifereimagined.
Megan Sprinkle: com. And brand new is that you can text [00:55:00] me to send me a text message. Find the link at the top of the show notes below that says, send us a text message. I want to thank our longtime sponsors, fire consulting, and we'll use who support the podcast over on our hosting platform. Buzzsprout. You can support the podcast to just check out the show notes for a link.
Megan Sprinkle: And I hope to see you next time on that life reimagined.
