Michael Shirley: [00:00:00] She feels the pressure of needing to be a good mom, needing to be a good business owner, needing to be a good veterinarian and needing to be a good spouse. And that's a lot of stress on her. It's a lot of stress on me. We struggle with it still today. And being able to communicate is really, really important.
So
Megan Sprinkle: Welcome to VetLife Reimagined. What's it like to be married to a veterinarian? How is a high school teacher uniquely prepared for running a veterinary hospital? These questions are answered in this episode. In perfect timing for Valentines Week, our guest gives us a unique perspective of being married to a veterinarian, as well as becoming a practice manager and co owner of a thriving veterinary practice.
Michael Shirley has a diverse animal background and is a former agriculture education teacher, now practice manager and co owner of Family Pet Health,
A 5 doctor, fear free practice.
Megan Sprinkle: in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. From meeting in high school at a veterinary clinic to building family pet health [00:01:00] together, Michael shares how they've created something special by combining her medical expertise with his talent for team building and education.
Michael shares how his high school teaching experience translates perfectly into creating clear protocols, building strong teams, and fostering a positive culture where everyone feels valued. He offers candid insights about the challenges of practice ownership, working alongside your spouse and the importance of having rock solid systems and core values to guide your decisions.
Whether you're thinking about practice ownership, looking to strengthen your team culture, or just curious about what it takes to build a thriving veterinary practice alongside your life partner, this episode is packed with practical wisdom and heartfelt stories. Michael is so fun to talk to. So let's get to the conversation about love, leadership, and learning with Michael Shirley.
I saw that you did go to college for animal science. So do you mind sharing a little bit about, you know, you growing up and getting an [00:02:00] interest in animals enough to at least major in it in high school
Michael Shirley: or college? It's actually a very kind of a cool story.
So, for those of you out there that don't know me, my name is Michael Shirley. I am not a veterinarian. I am married to the veterinarian. I spent my career in agriculture education. So my interest in agriculture and animal science started in the fourth grade when 4 H came to my school and they passed out, this was, this was a long time ago as they passed out all those project books, and so I had my project book and I saw all the different projects that kids could be involved in and I went home and I was like, mom, I want to have a cow and a horse and some chickens and pigs. And like, this is awesome. And she said, Michael, we live in the neighborhood in the middle of the city. We cannot have those things. and I was really sad, but But I was like, but we own a farm.
And she's like, yeah, but we don't live on that land. It's far away. So, but what happened was that our neighborhood backed up to a horse [00:03:00] farm. And so they let me join the 4 H horse and pony club. And I went to all those meetings. And then I got my first horse when I was 11 years old. And I also got my first job.
I was 11 years old and I went to work at our family's grocery store and I started bagging groceries at 11 years old. You can look at my social security contributions started, when I was in 1990 and, and I've been paying the tax man ever since. So, I just knew that I wanted to be a veterinarian.
Like, I just thought that was cause I loved all animals and I just really enjoyed that. so I was involved in. In 4 H all the way through middle school and then for high school. I wanted to be in theater I love acting and my middle school that I went to is a private school that they did not have theater So I convinced my parents that I wanted to go to our zoned public high school because they had theater And when I got there, I found out that they wouldn't let freshmen take theater so [00:04:00] So I joined the ag program instead and because I was like, Oh, I got to find something in my schedule and I got involved with FFA and the rest is history as they say, I knew that I wanted to, again, still was tracking to become a veterinarian.
My first job outside of our family's grocery store, the day I turned 18, I started working for Dr. David Harris, who's a local veterinarian. And that's actually where I met my wife. So the story is, I went to college to major in animal science to be a veterinarian while I was at Dr. Harris's office. I know exactly where I was standing and what I was doing.
The first time I saw my wife, she came around the corner with one of our clients who was introducing her to Dr. Harris. And I was like, Oh, yes, please hire her. She's beautiful. And, um, I had to go back to work at my family's grocery store because my dad fell and hurt his back. So I had to go and be the night manager.
And Dr. Harris actually hired Amy, my wife, to replace me. And. Fast forward a few years, [00:05:00] my wife graduated veterinary school. I did not go to veterinary school because I did not like to study. I liked the social life of college much more than the book. And so, but Dr. Harris actually performed our wedding. Um, yeah, so he's a, a good mentor of both of ours.
So we, just try to be like him, you know? So my wife, she graduated veterinary school. We got married two weeks after that. And she started working as a small animal veterinarian about a couple of weeks after that. And she stayed at that practice for 10 years. I started my career in agriculture education.
And then one day she came home and said she wanted to open her own vet practice. And I asked her, you know, like, what do you need for me? And she said, I don't know. And I said, well, I can't help with that. But stay tuned. So, so when she started describing. What she needed help with, uh, and I said, why do you want to start your own practice?
And she [00:06:00] said, I want to create the type of work environment where I want to go to work every day. And I want to surround myself with people with whom I want to work every day. And I said, now that I can help with, cause that's team building and marketing and culture, and that's what I do every day in my classroom.
Right. And so I can help with that. So what I have done is when we first started, I was teaching full time. We started our vet clinic. She was the doctor full time. And then I would come in after school and help with the HR and the business and the marketing and making sure that she had everything she needed in order to get her job done.
And that has grown into today. We have a brand new hospital. We've been in there about a year and a half now. We have five full time DVMs and about 24 full time employees. And I am no longer teaching, uh, full time anyway, but, uh, my, my classroom now is our vet clinic. so that is a very long, that is a 25 year history and.
A few minutes, three minutes. Yeah. [00:07:00]
Megan Sprinkle: And I want to dig in. So let's go back a little bit. So everybody kind of knows like the, the high level part of the story, but I really want to dig in more into your path because, you know, one of the things you mentioned when we were emailing is. Some of the things that you learned being a high school teacher and how that has helped you where you are today.
So going back, you mentioned you have interest in the ag side of things. You mentioned theater, and then of course you ended up teaching. So how do all of those interests play out? Did you eventually get into theater and any fun stories there?
Michael Shirley: Well, I'm actually, as soon as we end this podcast episode recording, my daughter and I have to go to rehearsal because.
My daughter is 13 and she loves theater and I took her to her last audition and I left with a part as well. So I am the, uh, it's the Sherlock Holmes and it's a musical. Oh God. And I'm the evil character. Sherlock Holmes [00:08:00] nemesis and my daughter is my evil sidekick. So we should have a lot of fun with that.
Megan Sprinkle: I bet. Yeah. Yeah. My
Michael Shirley: daughter, my daughter is very much like me. And so much to my wife's chagrin.
Megan Sprinkle: But, how, how did you start getting interest in teaching agriculture? And what were you kind of, cause you mentioned like, Oh, that's what I do in my classroom when you talk to like marketing. And, you know, I do have some family members who are teachers, but I don't think of marketing, you know, as the first thing I think of.
So share a little bit more about your interest in teaching and kind of what you were learning during that period.
Michael Shirley: So while the last year that Amy was in vet school. I needed to get a job cause I was like, I was like, I need to work while, while we're figuring out what, where she's going to work. And I knew that we would end up ultimately moving to wherever she found a job.
Right. And, I took a job as an animal control officer in our County. So I was a full time animal control officer out on the road, [00:09:00] doing the investigations and all that kind of stuff. so that's what I was doing when we got married. Now, how did that end up in the ag ed? Well, so when I was at animal control, I started community outreach programs.
Like I knew that the secret to fixing some of the problems that we were dealing with was to talk to the kids. The kids are, that's where you got to go, right? They're the ones with the, with, they're the ones that are pliable. Like you, and so get the message to them and they'll get it to their parents. So I started community outreach programs with our animal control.
center with the schools. And then one day it through the county email system, it sent out an email that, that, uh, the extension office was hiring for a 4h agent. And I was like, Oh my gosh, that's an awesome job. And Amy had already found a job in Murfreesboro. So we knew we were going to be here. And so when that came across, I applied for it.
And, That's how I started in ag education was originally with the extension service. And I worked there for eight years as a 4 H agent, planting that [00:10:00] seed of agriculture, uh, education or love for agriculture with kids in the fourth through the 12th grade, teaching citizenship, leadership, and life skills and marketing our program to the community, like what we were doing and then like.
You know, trying to get people to come to the fair and, buy and sponsor the kids to do their project animals and, and working with community partners to build relationships in our community where I could take education into different community groups like the Boys and Girls Club or our local, , community centers, , after school for programming and.
building our livestock programs up and all that kind of stuff, working with the school teachers as well. And one day I was at a hog show down in Perry, Georgia with my son and my, phone rang. And it was the local high school principal who was calling to ask me if I would come and lead his agricultural program, the animal science part of his agricultural program at the high school.
And I was like, Yeah, actually, I would be very interested in [00:11:00] learning more about that because my oldest son was about to go to high school and for those listeners out there that have teenagers, you kind of, you know, you really want to spend time with your kids and it's really hard at that age. So I figured, well, if I'm his teacher, he has no choice, but at least I get to see him once a day for an hour.
And so that started, I did. You know, another eight years in, in ag ed at the high school level, again, building community relationships, promoting the FFA program to our community and looking for sponsorships and things like that. So, that's how I got into agriculture, agriculture education.
Megan Sprinkle: That's really interesting, too. There, I've had several episodes with people where they really value the component of community, too, when it comes to veterinary medicine, because especially if you are a veterinarian in a community, it is really important to understand your community that's around you because you're that's who you're serving.
And so that's [00:12:00] also probably a lot of things that you can pull from understanding that into the veterinary setting as well.
Michael Shirley: Absolutely and every 100 percent of the skills that I learned as a teacher transferred into managing a veterinary practice. 100%. There's nothing that you could ask me about teaching that I couldn't directly tie into managing a good veterinary practice.
And so I tell people all the time, I'm like, if a school teacher walks into your office and they're like, I need a career change, hire them. And you're like, well, for what? It doesn't matter. If, just think about it. If they can manage a classroom of 25 kids, and then if they're a high school student, you know, multiply that by seven or eight periods a day or a high school teacher, you know, I had 150 kids that would come through my classroom a day and.
Yeah, their skills are innumerable. So just hire them. If they're looking for a career change, put them in charge of something, uh, whether it be client education or team building exercises or [00:13:00] they can fill out government paperwork like anybody. So, you know, again, it, it was really easily transferable skills.
Megan Sprinkle: Yeah. My mother is a teacher and she has taught every level at some point in her career. But, you know, watching her and some of the skills that you have to learn, including patience, listening,
Michael Shirley: you
Megan Sprinkle: all the, yes, the, the crowd management, parent management, which, you know, it was probably going to come into play in vet med too, because a lot of these pets are treated like
children.
yeah, no, I could, I definitely see some parallels now that we're talking, uh, on that. and we may come back to this, but you know, one of the things, and I do not want to get you in trouble, so don't say anything that will get you in trouble here, but I'm very curious what it is like dating.
Someone going through vet school because, it is a crazy four years. And so I am curious to hear the [00:14:00] spouse perspective watching that.
Michael Shirley: So. My wife and I were friends before we started dating. so that was helpful. I was also super, so I was, uh, college was the best eight years of my life too.
You know, like, so, and I am not a doctor, so do the math. I loved college. I was very involved in my fraternity. I was involved in student government. I was involved in the agriculture department at our school and I worked full time outside of school. So, like, my last two years Of being enrolled as a student.
I was a part time student. I just did one class a semester because I was waiting for Amy to finish, but I had, we weren't in the same city, so she was, she was 150 miles away from me. And so she had her own life of school and doing her stuff at the same time, I was finishing up mine and. We would talk every night when our cell phones would go to free.
So we would talk every night for one hour, starting at nine o'clock central time, [00:15:00] because that's when my cell phone was free. And, I think that that, that hour, a night really helped us. to communication and like, like we talked through a lot of different things. and so that was really helpful. I was also fascinated with what she was doing, but I remember one of the first times I went to visit her, one of our other doctors at our team, she was actually Amy's roommate, Dr.
Robinson. So I remember one of the first times I went up there to visit them. And we went to a restaurant and sat down and they started, they pulled out their flashcards and started like quizzing each other. I'm like, what are y'all doing? Like, take a break. So, so I was like that little evil, you know, person on their shoulder telling them, Oh, just, it'll be fine.
So, so I didn't, I wasn't around my wife enough to pull her studies down, I guess. I would just and the other thing is, like, my wife and I are polar opposites of each other. And so we kind of balance each other out. But, you know, I would go up there almost every weekend to visit and [00:16:00] we just made the most out of that time together.
I understood that she was super stressed and. It wouldn't bother me. Like I was happy, you know, that time of our lives when you just, you just love being in the presence of that person. Right? Like I was happy to sit and watch TV with subtitles on while she was studying. Like that was enough and. I think that that's, you just have to really understand what they're going through.
Now, fast forward 12 years later into our marriage, the first week of practice ownership, I had no idea what my wife did every day, right? So I was doing my own thing, teaching, and she had no idea what I did every day. But when we owned our practice, I remember when we first started, it was her and three employees.
And I, and then me in the afternoon, there was one day that I came in and I was the fourth person in line to ask her a question. And I remember seeing this look on her face and I knew that look. And I was like, everybody timeout, take, we're taking a break. And I [00:17:00] grabbed her and I took her outside and I said, are you okay?
And she goes, she just looked at me like. What have we done? And so I'm like, all right, well breathe. And so being able to recognize that those stress points and things, but that's where I first realized like, Oh my gosh, everything, like the amount of stress that she's under, was eye opening for me.
And even today, it's still challenging to know what she comes home. We have three kids, two are still here. Our oldest has moved out and doing his own thing now, but she has the stress of all day. And then we come home, we got food. Our kids are involved in a ton of different stuff. They want to talk to her.
She feels the pressure of needing to be a good mom, needing to be a good business owner, needing to be a good veterinarian and needing to be a good spouse, and that's a lot of stress on her. It's a lot of stress on me. we struggle with it still today and being able to communicate is really, really important.
So knowing in good times, like [00:18:00] having a conversation in good times of how you're going to handle the bad times is really important.
Megan Sprinkle: Oh, that's a good tip. Yeah, definitely. It is having those conversations when you're not in the heat of stress. So you kind of have. Maybe you have a code word, you know, it was like, okay, we're, we're going into our plan that we've made.
support systems are so, so important. Just when you were describing vet school, you're talking about like that one hour, you know, a night or, you know, having the weekends, I didn't date much in vet school, but something, this actually started in vet school is a. Weekly phone call with my dad and a weekly phone call with my family is a big deal.
We don't talk on the phone. So, so that was a big deal, but being able to check in. Into the world outside of vet school have someone who cares about you Who's patient who has some idea because my dad is a doctor so he understands that you just got to make it through these years. [00:19:00] You got it He's the one that taught me c equals md, which you know, of course for us is DVM That didn't make me stop studying but you know, it does help in the moment and so having that support system and I like how you continue to build That support system as you know, her career's grown and yours has grown as well.
And I am sure you have started just from a different perspective, again, noticing things about the veterinary profession that can cause challenges on the whole team. You know, you're experiencing it. As well, but again, being able to have a slightly different perspective can be helpful as a support system as well.
Michael Shirley: Yeah. You know, one thing that I think about veterinary medicine and veterinarians in particular is that your whole lives. have been about competition. You had, you, you competed with your [00:20:00] peers. Look at your peers, like look around at the vet med, look to the doctors to your right and left, especially at other practices.
You don't typically see them as, as friends. You see them as competition. It, it, and it's been that way since you were an undergrad, like you, you stressed out as an undergrad because you were trying to build your resume to get into vet school. So you all wanted to be the leaders of. school clubs. You wanted to be the best student.
You wanted to have the best GPA. You wanted to be at the top of your class. Then you get accepted into vet school. I think that first year you all are all friends. because you're like all stressed out and lost. And then as vet school continues on, here we go again. Now we're competing to be the best in the class.
We're competing for the best internships or, maybe there's very limited scholarships, right? So you're competing for those limited scholarships that are available to you. You're competing for the best externships, at the locations where you want to go. Then you get out and you're on your own and you're starting your careers.
[00:21:00] Maybe you're fighting for the best jobs when you graduate, then maybe you move into practice ownership and you start to compete with each other for the clients and stuff. And so it's like this whole industry, your whole lives, first off, you're really driven individuals and so you put a lot of personal like stress that nobody else is even putting on you You're putting it on yourself.
And then you want to be the best doctor, right? And and maybe in your practice your especially if it's a production you're competing for the cases that are gonna produce and so it's like Competition competition competition competition and you look up and you're like, I'm alone. I don't have anybody to talk to you Well, no duh, because we set up the system that like puts you against each other.
And that was one of the things that Amy wanted to really work on at our practice was creating a culture of support for each other. And what, what I've done, like I started a practice managers group in our area because I didn't know anything. So, so I needed help. [00:22:00] And it has taken years for people, I think, to really truly believe that I'm like, I'm not your competition.
, we're not competition. what's the scarcity mindset that we all are going into with? Like, there's enough clients for all of us. so why don't we help each other out? I share resumes with other practices. When people apply to work at our office, I send out not only the veterinary assistants and CSRs, but also licensed technicians and also doctor resumes.
Because I have a waiting list of people that want to work at Family Pet Health. And I'm like, these are really great people. We need to keep them in the industry. So I share them with other people that have shown that they're trying to make the industry better by coming to our practice managers groups and helping each other.
So those are the people I feed resumes to other people all the time because But I always tell them, here you go, hire him, but I am going to reach out to this person when I have an opening, so don't call me a poacher or whatever, like, it's your job to keep them happy so they don't come over here and work.[00:23:00]
But that's, that's one thing that I wish that Vet Med would do a better job of, is helping each other out, because I don't know, Dr. Sprinkle, what it's like to, I don't really know what it's like to go from a euthanasia into a puppy exam and then turn around and go and diagnose somebody's dog with cancer and then go have a meeting with a, a new grad who started with us to help them about how to be better with client communications and then go home and be a mom or a dad. Like I don't, I kind of have an idea of what that's like, but I don't really know. And the only people, like you said, are those that have walked in your shoes. And I would really encourage people to, to build a, a legitimate support system, to help so that you're not alone or don't feel alone.
Megan Sprinkle: Ooh, that's such a good call out. It's something I encourage as well is I think this is such a big little profession that we do need to make sure that we're [00:24:00] encouraging each other and supporting. It's something I encourage as early as vet school. You're definitely correct there's. And it's drilled into us, right?
There's only so many seats in vet school. It's the most competitive. It's more competitive than med medical school. So we're constantly told that. And a lot of times people are discouraging us along the way. So all of that, and then
Michael Shirley: how many times have you heard a veterinarian say, Oh, if I had to do over again, I'd be a pharmacist instead, like a human pharmacist.
Like I'm like. And I, and here we are, these kids are so, we have such a cool opportunity to show people that it can be done a better way from working with high school students. They need to know the truth. It's hard. It's really, really hard. but ah, don't, don't poopoo on their dreams. The moment you first meet them, like, Oh, I'd picked something else.
If I were you, I'm sorry. I'm sorry your career was like that. That's terrible. But their's doesn't have to be.
Megan Sprinkle: Oh, that's another good [00:25:00] point. I saw, uh, you know, of course, Reddit is never the best place to probably know if you want a happy story, but you know, there was a veterinarian on there and she was completely burnt out.
And she basically said, she said, I'm having to restrain myself from going into the vet schools and telling them all to run for their life. And I'm just like, "oh dear!" So you're right. just because. You know, you have a moment in your career and it could feel like the end of the world. I am not trying to belittle burnout or challenges.
The thing is that when we are communicating the challenges is learning how to Communicate how to do things well, or like you talked about with your wife in the times when you're not burnout, not stressed out, what are some plans that you can have? So when you start to notice those things, you can implement them and be able to get the support that you need.
And I genuinely think support is one of the biggest things that [00:26:00] we can start to create as early as possible. Make friends with your, your classmates in vet school. I mean, yes, as the economy changes, the job market may change. we're right now, it's not too, too hard to find. a position I think we're okay. Maybe not quite as hot as maybe a couple of years ago.
I'm not too, too worried that, you know, we can employ veterinarians right now. So don't worry about that. Just be your best human being self you can be. Make connections. Honestly, that's the best way to get a job is being a good person and building relationships. Uh, so not that that's an evil mindset of doing it, but just FYI.
Um, but, uh, yeah, that's the forming the support networks. I think is where it's at and continuing as adults. And you talked about, building these relationships. And it was funny because I was. Listening to a podcast and they were talking about how loneliness [00:27:00] is such an epidemic and Adults making friends is hard.
Michael Shirley: I was gonna say that a minute ago I even wrote a note on here that's like It's really hard to make friends as an adult because kind of like at first That's where I was going with that story about vet school. It's like so so take that that And then add it to the fact that it's just harder to make friends as adults, because, and the reasons are, because like, when we are growing up, we're doing everything together with our peers.
from kindergarten way through high school and even into college, you're with the same group of people as you're moving through the same stage of life. And here, if you said, I'm a veterinarian, that does not mean that your experiences are the same as the other veterinarian beside you, because you might be a new grad.
They might be 50 years out of the out of school. You might be, an associate vet. They might be a relief vet. They might be a practice owner. They might have a practice owner with five [00:28:00] associates versus. It's a single doctor practice and those are so stinking different that it's, you're like, I don't, I honestly, uh, this sounds bad, but like, I'd also don't want to be friends with people that just complain to me all the time about their problems.
Like, I need you to listen to my problems too, you know? So, but, but you, it's just harder to find people, I think, as you get older, because life takes so many different paths out from the time that we all, whether we enter the world as an 18 year old out of high school or a 25 year old out of veterinary school, it's just different.
Megan Sprinkle: It is, but then going back to as you made this practice management group is the growth mindset is that we can all support each other, learn from each other. It's actually great that we have some different perspectives because
Michael Shirley: Absolutely
Megan Sprinkle: a new grad, I want to learn from the person who's been in practice a good 10 years, uh, because they've gone through all of this [00:29:00] before.
it's important to listen to that 50 year vet too, but just know that their experience is probably very different than what you're going through. So definitely find those people that are just a few steps ahead of you. And, and the, the vets that are 10 years out, they can learn from new grads as well.
I've had, you know, Dani, who, I'm going to say it wrong. Vet Set Go, talks about. a lot of the new grads coming out, they know medicine very well. And in fact, some things they know better than her because they've just read the textbook, right? And, and so we can all learn from each other.
And that's, I think what helps is knowing we're different. That's good. Have the growth mindset of learning and supporting each other. That's where I think it can all come to that beautiful place where we find the support that we need.
Michael Shirley: At my church, they talk about discipleship and they say on your spiritual walk, it's important to have three people, [00:30:00] a mentor, someone that can help guide you.
You need to have somebody that's on your same level that's walking through life at the same stage you are so you can do it together and then you need to Be a mentor to someone that's, that's younger in their spiritual journey as well. And I think that that's good career advice too. Like , find a mentor, be a mentor and then do life with some other people around you too.
So, um, I think it's good. I think it's good advice for whatever, whatever you're looking at.
Megan Sprinkle: Yeah, I know. I love that too. so I, I want to come back to Family Pet Health cause you have done some amazing things with this practice that I think is just cool. And so do you mind kind of coming back to your, your wife comes to you and says, let's own a practice and you're like, Okay, well, let's learn this together, uh, and in kind of what you were learning, because again, you said, while you brought in very, very helpful skills being, an agricultural teacher, this is still a little different.[00:31:00]
situation. So there was still some things to learn. What did you learn? And because she came to you specifically. Good question. Why do you want to practice? That's good. Uh, and it was around culture and the human beings. So how did you, with that as your goal and you're learning how to put a practice together, what were some of your steps and what did you learn along the way?
Michael Shirley: The number one thing that I would say is the foundation for a successful practice is a clear vision. so you need to put real thought into that and that's what I challenged her to do. So she left her practice that she has been at for 10 years. She had a non compete like so many unfortunately veterinarians do.
and we thought about challenging that. We probably could have won, but it probably would have. So we just decided hey look, let's end it. you got two years before you can work in Murfreesboro again. So she became a relief veterinarian and she worked all over middle Tennessee. And what was crazy to me was that a [00:32:00] lot of those practices didn't really ask her to do very much.
They just wanted her there in case their clients needed her while they were on vacation, which was odd, but it gave her a great opportunity to work on her business plan. And so she went to our small business development center and anybody that's out there thinking about starting a business, see if you're.
chamber of commerce or local universities have a small business center. many of them do because it's part of the small business administration through the federal government. And so she went to some classes where they talked about what do you want to do? And man, and they talked What do you want to be? What is the most important things for you? You're the one that's going to have to go work there every day. So, it doesn't have to be the practice for your employees. It has to be the practice for you. It's yours. What do you want that to be? Do you want to make the most money?
Do you want to have the best life, like, balance? You want to be cat only? You want to be dog only? What do you want to do? And so she, and I couldn't do that for her. And so if I created a vet hospital and [00:33:00] then employed her to work for me, she still might have been miserable, right?
But we have built Family Pet Health around what she wanted because she was the number one veterinarian. And what we have done since then is we have recruited other people that share her vision. And now the vision for Family Pet Health, , as we have grown over the past almost seven years, is, it's a shared vision from everyone that works inside our hospital and everyone contributes to our vision.
So every year we, we re evaluate. Our core values and our mission statements, our purpose statement, our five year goals, our three year goals, our single year goal. And we all are on the same page. And I tell people if at any time you want to get off the Family Pet Health bus, you just tell me to pull over and we will let you off and that will end well We will bid you adieu and wish you all the best But if we have to throw you off the bus because you [00:34:00] are, Bringing us all down then it's not going to end well.
So just if you're not happy here just Let me know because we're not changing. This is what we're doing. It's it is spelled out. Uh, it is on our wall. Everybody can reference it at any time if they're like, what are we doing here? Go look at it And if at any time your plans change from what we are saying we're doing as a practice, then get off our bus and empty that seat out for somebody else that is going where we're going and that That is the key.
It's that's what it's all about. Everything else is secondary, right? Whether you have a therapy laser or not is not whether you're going to be happy at your job or not. It's going to be like, are we practicing the kind of medicine that I want to practice? Are I dealing with the kind of clients that I want to deal with?
Am I working with the kind of people that I want to work with every day? And all of that is vision. So that's my, like, it's all about that. That's what I say. But you know, you still have to run a profitable business and stuff, but how do we [00:35:00] have those discussions? Like we're having those discussions right now.
I'm like, Hey, we have got to fix this schedule because these, these holes that we have in these schedules is going to run us out of business if we don't fix it. And so we can have those kinds of conversations without people having their feelings hurt or they might get them hurt for a minute, but they're gonna be like, okay Yeah, I know we've got to have this difficult conversation, but we just keep going back to the vision. We all agreed that this was our five year goal. The only way we were gonna get there is if we do X Y Z, which we all agreed to if we're not going to do that Then we need to read we need to huddle back up and decide what are we going to do?
And sometimes I'm be like, hey, we're not changing this plan So if you don't like that plan, then you need to go somewhere else. And that's not a hateful conversation. It's a supportive conversation. I think.
Megan Sprinkle: Have you ever had like something come up where you being the husband of a doctor is a [00:36:00] sticky situation?
Michael Shirley: Well, nobody's complained to me. Yeah.
Megan Sprinkle: Um,
Michael Shirley: that's a big fear of ours, right? Like you hear plenty of horror stories about husband and wife teams. And, I don't think that that's been a problem at Family Pet Health. that's not to say that we've been without drama or conflict.
there are times when some stuff from home might bleed over into the, the office. but we honestly, we don't work together very much. I'm not, I'm not involved in the medical delivery of services. If I am, if you walk into the hospital and see me holding pets for blood draws, there's a problem. Like we have, we are scraping the bottom of the barrel.
It's not that I don't know how to do it. Like I said, I, that's what I did when I, that was my first job as an 18 year old was being a vet assistant I'm fear free elite certified. I know what's going on. I know our protocols and stuff, but if you see me in the surgery suite scrubbed in, we got issues like, um, so, and we have systems in place where If I have to quote unquote, [00:37:00] get onto somebody, it's not, it's just, it's not a big deal. It's just, it's just, it's what it is. It's like, we have a protocol. It wasn't followed. Why? And then we'd find out why, and then we fix it. And I don't think that there's been a lot of drama from like, nobody would ever go to Dr.
Shirley to ask a question, not get the answer that they want, and then come to me. That would never ha that has never happened.
Megan Sprinkle: Yeah.
Michael Shirley: Because that's not the way our systems are set up, our protocols and stuff.
Megan Sprinkle: Yeah, first of all, I, I just thought that would be something somebody would wonder. It's like, what's the link between you and your spouse?
Michael Shirley: Yeah, absolutely. We have a, we just did our SWOT analysis back in December. We did our leadership retreat and we went away. And one of the, you know, strengths, weaknesses, opportunity, and threats. And every year, a threat that is listed is, what happens if the Shirleys get a divorce? And I'm not, I'm like, that means I'm dead.
Like, I'm not like, we're in it [00:38:00] forever. but what if, what if the Shirleys don't want to work together anymore? Like that is a threat that, and that's legitimate. if something happens to my marriage, what happens to Family Pet Health? And that's a legitimate question for my team to ask.
It's something that we talk about in the interview process. that's one of our questions. Have you ever worked for a husband and wife ownership team? or have you ever heard any horror stories about that? Do you have any concerns about that? I would say at the size of our practice now, that's not, yeah.
It's not as much of a threat now. We actually, uh, it's on our issues list that the new threat is what happens if the Shirley's die at the same time. And you're like, Oh God, I'm like, why are they talking about this? Because it's a threat. It's legitimate question. and does my team know the plan?
Because my attorney knows the plan and my family knows the plan. My, you know, we have all the stuff set up to take care of our children, but not everybody at our office knew the plan. And so that's something that I have to do. I [00:39:00] have to deliver that to the team. It's like, okay, here's the worst case scenario plan and here's what we're going to do, and here's our vision for What happens to Family Pet Health? So so it's yeah, it's totally a legitimate question
Megan Sprinkle: Yeah, and I like how you kind of just go ahead and ask about the elephant in the room you're like just we need to have this as a open conversation because it's important because people if I always say if you do not Help bring out the narrative people make up the narrative in their head.
So if you don't get it
Michael Shirley: in the absence of facts People will create their own stories, right? I think that's in the book crucial conversations If you don't provide the facts and talk about it People are left to create their own narratives and buddy will they ever and it usually will not even be close to the truth Just talk about it And that's the same if you're having a problem with a coworker, assume good intent or assume noble intent until proven otherwise.
And there [00:40:00] have been times where, we have had some really crucial conversations with somebody that used to work on our team. And I said, I want to make sure that I'm. Addressing the issue and not creating something. I was like, and here is, here is what I feel. And I said something and they're like, Nope, that's right.
And I was like, okay, well, that's not going to work here. And, they're like, well, I'm not going to do this. And I said, okay, well then you're not going to work here. Okay, and then that conversation was over and we moved on and so you got to talk about it If you're feeling uncertain about it best to just talk about it and just say, you know If I'm having a problem with you, I might say dr.
Sprinkle not you you you I'm gonna say I feel this am I right and you and then that puts it back to you to say yes or no and if the answer is yes, you're right. Then I'm like, okay, well, we have to talk about it this way. And other times there'd be like, Oh my God, no, I didn't mean that at all. I'm like, oh, okay, great.
Well, I was feeling really [00:41:00] insecure. And so you're like, oh, I didn't mean that. And so then you leave and you're happy. So versus stewing on it.
Megan Sprinkle: Exactly. And kind of along the similar lines, I, cause I noticed this is what you are doing with your wife. You have conversations outside of the challenge. You plan on what are we going to do if and when a challenge happens.
Similarly to the hospital, every, you guys talk while there's not an issue about these are our values. This is the vision. If anything happens, this is the process that we're going. You said systems, systems are great. And so that way, it's not a surprise when those things break down.
You're like, easy. It should never,
Michael Shirley: it should never be a surprise when someone has to be let go. Right. And let's see, I have it in here. So, uh, okay, here it is. This is number five on my list of all I ever needed to know about managing a vet hospital. I learned teaching high school.
Megan Sprinkle: Oh,
Michael Shirley: the short version is [00:42:00] leadership lessons from teenagers.
Number five, clear expectations make everyone more successful and happy. high school students love conflict and buddy, I'm good at it too. Like I can fight. I love to debate for no other reason than just to debate. Cause I'm bored today. Let's, let's talk about, let's talk about politics and religion at the same time.
but, in my classroom. I had very few rules in my classroom, but I had a lot of protocols. And when you break a protocol, here's the response. And it's the same at our office. We don't have a lot of rules. We have a lot of protocols and guess what protocols can change and protocols can be talked about and developed and protocols can be different for your office versus my office.
And same thing in my, in my classroom, I had seven periods a day. And my rules for the first period were not the same as third period [00:43:00] because first period was seniors and third period was freshmen. And if you think you can treat the two of them the same, you are very mistaken. And so the protocols for an emergency only clinic are very different than the protocols for a general practice.
And so it's unfair to hold everybody to the same like these are the vet med protocols, right? But the rules are the same. Treat our clients with respect. Treat each other with respect. Never lie. And there we go. That's pretty much it. And the rest of it is all protocols. And the best time to write protocols and adjust them is when you've had problems, write them when it's calm and evaluate them after a crisis to see if they worked and, when tensions have gone back down to normal levels.
that's, that's another little. piece of advice that I might have for people out there.
Megan Sprinkle: Yeah. I mean, it's hard to be able to predict everything that happens. I mean, the reason that we [00:44:00] have our laws outside of vet med is because that probably happened. So they had to make a law about it. So, I mean, and there's some pretty crazy laws and you're like, really that happened.
Michael Shirley: Well, the other thing that's part of, Dr.
Shirley's first homework about creating her practice. So we had our vision and we had our core values. So when we started our core values were Dr. Shirley's and mine. Cause we were the only two employees before we even opened. Right. It was just us. I'm like, well, what do you want them to be? I'm like, what do you want them to be?
And I, and we both settled on three things. We wanted to be a blessing to our community and to our employees. We, education was super important to both of us. So we wanted to educate our staff. Our team needed to focus on education client education was the other one and then our third core value So we have b for for blessing e for education and the last one was g for growth [00:45:00] And we wanted to grow we wanted to grow our business. We wanted to grow our relationships with our clients and we wanted to grow our team. We wanted to have a healthy business, right?
So that was stood for beg b e g. We wanted our we said we wanted People to beg to come to family pet health. And that was our core values. Those were our three core values up until we started in 2018. And I think we redid our core values in 2021, maybe. 2020 or 2021, we re evaluated them and we changed our core values to expect.
At least we love acronyms. So the E so it was, it's, experience, positivity, education, connection, and trust. Those are our core values now. And in every room of our office, we have a poster that says what you can expect at Family Pet Health and X and then expect is has our core values listed when [00:46:00] the here's the point of the story I'm bringing it back around when You can't plan for everything as you just said you can't plan for everything But what I drill into our team is that you're gonna have to respond Dr.
Sprinkle is gonna have to respond in a time of crisis. How's she gonna respond? We don't have a protocol for this. What are we gonna do? I tell them, you have to problem solve and you're never going to get fired for making a decision, even if I don't agree with it. When we talk later, when we're evaluating it, I'm going to say, Dr.
Sprinkle, when this happened, you did this. Tell me how that decision relates back to our core values. And then I'm going to shut up and listen to what you have to say. And after I listen, I'm going to see, did you tie those back to our core values? Well, you're like, well, these people didn't have any money and this and this and this, and I did this and that, and this.
And so here's how I wanted to do the experience. And we educated them on this and I'm building trust. I'm like, okay. [00:47:00] I appreciate that. I can see how you came to that resolution. Now let's talk about it. , we may reevaluate what you did and then talk about it about like in the future, here's what we need to do.
and I might've been wrong. I'm like, you know what? I wouldn't have done it that way. I didn't think I would do it that way. But after hearing what you said and looking through the options, you're exactly right. You handled that great. Thanks. Good job. so our team at family pet health knows our core values.
They're drilled into their head. They may forget a protocol and I may say, Hey, we have a protocol for this. I totally forgot. But, and I'll say, okay, well, how did this decision relate back to our core values? And if you can do that, then we're going to be okay. Uh, I'm just gonna say, Hey, next time. Let's remember the protocol that we already had written, or we've just created a new one.
Megan Sprinkle: just to kind of take this home for everyone, you can do this personally too. It's what I talk about is having your personal value. So if you're trying to make a career decision or, you know, anything you have that to go back to, because you're right. [00:48:00] You may not have a protocol or system for everything because you can't predict everything in life.
So I think it's something you can apply. a lot of what we've talked about can apply in life in general. And so I think the, this has been great to, to see how you have, you know, made your career in the veterinary medicine and how you're supporting the industry with your unique perspective and I really appreciate what you do.
I know that, I'll talk more about the podcast to promote it. I love that you, that's an education being able to have this podcast for your community, to be able to talk to them and build trust by building that relationship outside of the handful of times that they come into the vet clinic.
I think that's, that's really special. Not to mention that you enjoy it. And I think that's important too, is to find things you enjoy.
Michael Shirley: Well, I think so. And, and, and I'll be honest, like I don't. I, I, Dr. Shirley asked me the other day in the morning while we were getting ready. She goes, are you ready to find your [00:49:00] replacement yet?
And I was like, are you about to fire me? And she goes, no, I'm just asking you. And I'm just like, I'm like, she gets me like, I don't think I'll be doing this in another five years, I'm starting to look for my replacement as the visionary of family pet health, because I started out in this journey.
Not because I wanted to own a veterinary practice, but because I wanted to support my wife. And it just happened to be that the things that she needed the most to get her dream done were the things I was really good at. And now I'm like, what's next? What's next? I was like, I've always had a dream of starting a catfish farm.
And so, so, but it's not, there's a whole joke about that that I could tell another podcast, but like I have like my next dream, like the next day, if you're like, what are you up to? What's, your longterm vision? I want to create. a retreat center that is geared towards small, veterinary offices and also 4 H teams and FFA teams [00:50:00] where they can come and learn about vision and communication skills and stuff, and then go back and put it into action in their vet hospitals or in their teams. I also have a real desire to work with fraternities and sororities at the college level. Cause that's like, I love teaching and I need to get back into that or I'm going to wither up and die.
Right. So like, the vet office day to day stuff is starting to get kind of boring and mundane. Right. And so I'm like, but what I found was a few years ago, we switched to using something called traction or EOS. And I got to offload a lot of those things that were really burning me out personally, and gave them to somebody that loves doing them.
And so we're both happier and our business is doing better. And, and I can see myself doing this for another. five or six years or maybe even longer. if I build our support team to continue to take those things that are kind of boring to me, but are really, really important, like paying the bills, you know, you got to do that every month, dang it.
And, um, so [00:51:00] anyway, that's kind of, I think everybody out there. Probably has strengths that they really enjoy. And I would challenge you, like build your veterinary career in those areas, so that you're happier. And there's places out there that will allow you to do that.
Megan Sprinkle: Yeah. And you can always take those strengths into something new, like you are looking to do.
So I think that's a great message. And I always like to end with what is something that you are very grateful for right now?
Michael Shirley: I am grateful for, man, so many things. I'll tell you right now, like what's on my heart right now. It's like, I'm really thankful for this time that I have with my daughter to do the theater stuff.
every day we get to drive to rehearsal and I get that one on one time to talk with her. And, um, yeah, I'm also really nervous, but, uh, about singing on stage and dancing, but I'm really thankful that she for now as a 13 year old young lady still wants to hang out with her dad.
Megan Sprinkle: I hope you enjoyed this fascinating veterinary [00:52:00] 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.
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And I hope to see you next time on that life. Re imagined.
