Megan Sprinkle: [00:00:00] Welcome to Vet Life Reimagined. As one of my mentors, Dr. Brent Mayabb, recently observed on a LinkedIn post, we often feel like we are riding the waves of whatever comes along instead of steering the ship with a plan. This can be in our careers and maybe life in general. It was through Dr. Mayabb that I learned about Dr.
Andy Anderson, who recently wrote the book, The Prosperous Veterinarian. Andy has an interesting career journey that is our focus today, where vet med was a second career for him and it has led him to help veterinarians create a plan and a path to comprehensive prosperity, which is financial as well as personal and professional success.
I think Dr. Mayabb gives him the best intro. As he said, in addition to being a great veterinary surgeon, Andy has one of the smartest business minds I've ever encountered. And he's been successful across several different professional endeavors. Dr. Anderson has been a big impact in the lives of many veterinary professionals.
So [00:01:00] I'm excited to bring his story to you. So let's get to the conversation with Dr. Andy Anderson.
When did you know that you were starting to get interested in veterinary medicine?
Andy Anderson: Well, first Megan, let me thank you for having me, and to celebrate what you've been doing with your work. I love opening the aperture of veterinarians to all the possibilities that their veterinary degree, education, and community can provide them. But to your question, I first knew I wanted to be a veterinarian when I was about 12 years old, not an uncommon story. , when you ask that question of the members of our profession. My very best friend in middle school, his father was a veterinarian.
My father was a business guy and he had sort of hit his stride in his company and was moving. Doing a lot of things, traveling a [00:02:00] lot. So I was around, you know, and my buddy and I were basketball players and love sports and the outdoors and, and his father is a veterinarian, of course, like most of us are pretty anchored to a traditional life.
We don't travel that much. We're around the practice every day. We're home for supper at a reasonable hour. Most of the time, things that have been the bedrock of the family. Of the family unit in our country for many decades, and so I developed a deep relationship with him. His name is Bruce and Bruce would allow me to come down there and volunteer to clean cages and whatever, you know, that I could do.
But most importantly, he would allow me to get in the operating room with him and the exam room. And, I just exposed me to so much, And importantly, it made me feel like I had a purpose. And that has been a common [00:03:00] thread in my life ever since I was 12 or 13 years old. That feeling that I am using God's talents
that he's given me in a way that is making a favorable impact on my community, the people I encounter. And that's how I felt in that moment. I remember working for him even down to, I was like 16 and there was a dog that I said I'd come down and check on all night, and I remember driving down there at 16 where my friends were out drinking beer and having a good time.
And I was going to check on that dog. And I felt, You know, like I was really doing something worthwhile and that gave me energy. and so that's sort of when I knew,
Megan Sprinkle: Well, I want to actually go back because not only was your friend's dad, Dr. Bruce, one of your mentors, but you also talked about how your dad was one of those role models for you as well, growing up. And so, He was, as you said, a business [00:04:00] guy, he became a CEO of a company. And so watching his journey, because, you know, finance and business becomes a big part of your story as we go through, what were you watching him do that kind of got the wheels turning and interest into business and kind of that business mindset?
Andy Anderson: well, the number one thing about my dad was integrity. And even Perry, as you would say in finance, Perry pursue with that was hard work. And so those were the things that, you know, the lasting impressions that I found in him that. I was able to carry forward in my life, the willingness to make that commitment at a very high level and sacrifice.
And maintain a high level of integrity while doing it. And, so I was watching him do that. actually, there's a story in the book about my dad. That's sort of, uh, the alternative to, uh, what I'm espousing [00:05:00] here, which is take some risk. My dad was a very, he was a product of the depression. He was a product of a broken home in an era when, divorce just It was very stigmatized in his era.
And so he was raised by his mother, in a small town. He was a great athlete. served in World War Two, did all that stuff and was a company man. He only worked for two companies in his whole career and he had the chance to buy that business, but the risk of, borrowing that money and taking that step just was overwhelming to him because he had come from scarcity.
And so he was doing well. He was. Earning a great living. We had a home and you know, he just felt like, what more could there be to the American dream than this? I'm living it. Why would I risk all of this to become an owner of this business? And so, you know, that's another lesson I learned from him, which was, I got to watch in the rear [00:06:00] view mirror, his regrets for not taking that risk.
And it made me more. Risk preferring than I might other had otherwise had been had I not had that experience.
Megan Sprinkle: Well, and that was going to be my follow up question is, cause you also talk about how a lot of our. Perspective of money or how our, our money mindset, I think it is in one book that I've read before a lot of it comes from our young years. We start to develop those early on. And so it sounds like watching your dad and listening to your dad kind of retrospect, explain maybe if I had done things differently, this is what I would have done. So would you have called yourself a little bit more. Uh, or less risk averse than your dad, even at a younger
Andy Anderson: Yes, well, he took very good care of me and my sister and my mom. And so. We hadn't really encountered scarcity and [00:07:00] adversity. And while, you know, I worked as a teenager and, you know, did things that he made sure I knew how to earn a living and, you know, be responsible show up on time have a smile on my face.
Say Yes, sir. No, ma'am. All the things that are predictors of success in life. Uh, I hadn't really encountered any adversity. So that tends to make 1. Yeah, a little more risk preferring a little more willing to say, yeah, things will probably work out. I've got a good backstop and so forth. But what you're bringing up is, you know, I encourage people in the book to take.
the, smart father son team, psychologists that have a test on money scripts. Basically. Sort of uncovers your predisposed pre programmed, uh, attitude about money so that you're at least, you know, engaging in some diagnostics before you just blunder through life, you know, making bad money decisions, you know, where they're coming from at least.
And so that's a great, that's a great tool as well.
Megan Sprinkle: [00:08:00] Yeah, I think it is, and I think actually Dr. Mayabb was the person who encouraged me to read, is it called The Psychology of Money?
a_1_12-11-2024_100351: I think that is the,
that's the title of their
book, I believe. Yes,
Megan Sprinkle: yes. yes. And it is very fascinating. One of the things that, I talked to doctor Mayabb about too and you talk about this in the book is that in general, we think that people who enter the veterinary profession tend to be more risk averse. And so I think that's an important thing to identify in oneself if you are, because, because that helps know what you might need to make sure that you still are on these right paths to feel more supported and.
that you are taking things to reduce your risk, , as you're making decisions in business and even in personal finances.
Andy Anderson: Yeah, and it's , not surprising and we tend to [00:09:00] talk about this risk aversion in a financial sense. I, I, don't find veterinarians in general, overly risk averse in life overall. I mean, if you take the total of, you know, non financial and financial, I don't find them massively risk averse, but in the financial business realm, they tend to be risk averse.
And it, part of it's just familiarity with the material. You know, it's like, don't know what anybody's saying. I don't understand the terminology. And therefore, you know, I really need to shrink back. I think we are also, it's always problematic to generalize. I'll engage in it with that caveat, that, we're skeptics, I think a little bit too.
And so, you know, everybody's from Missouri, right? Show me the show me state. what are we going to do? Show me, show me the truth here. So, I think the combination of skepticism and unfamiliarity with business produces a kind of a, uh, stuck [00:10:00] mode for veterinarians in making investments and taking risk and so forth.
Megan Sprinkle: I think that's a great distinction because if you think about when we're young veterinarians, we are probably more risk averse because we're still learning things. And once we've accumulated skills and have done things a few times, we start feeling a little more confident about doing things that maybe are a little bit newer, or, you know, so I think that is a really good distinction is, is don't think you're a total risk averse person.
It could just be when, when you don't know anything. So it just requires you to learn a little bit more and we're great learners. So that we can definitely
a_1_12-11-2024_100351: One of my, one of my favorite things to do, in surgery with like a first year resident, I'll go in and walk up to the table and say, Oh, you're not doing it that way. Are you? And of course, the reaction is like,
Megan Sprinkle: What did I
a_1_12-11-2024_100351: yeah, they're going to fall down. All the bloods left their, cranium. And, you know, I'm like, I'm just [00:11:00] kidding.
I'm just kidding. But you know, you go into a third year resident and say, you're not doing it that way. Are you? And they go, hell yeah. What the, what, what of it? You know, I still, I'm doing. So to your point, you know, there's nothing like repetition. There's nothing like, You know, succeeding basically through trial and error.
And, and that's why, you know, I take issues sometimes with, how much of a part time professional we're becoming, because you really learn, you know, from doing it. And so you just do the math, you know, it takes you twice as long to see the same number of cases working six days a week versus three days a week.
And, you know, extrapolate that and ask yourself, well, you know, by when will I reach my. best ever day as a veterinary clinician or however you want to think about it, surgeon, internist, whatever you are.
Megan Sprinkle: Yeah. And I may come back to that. So, uh, hold that thought on work. Um, but as we were talking about watching your dad, learning about finances, watching him, you [00:12:00] know, be top of this company, uh, making different financial decisions, you were interested in veterinary medicine. You were also interested in business and you decided to actually go pursue business. as your first step into your career. even though you did your pre vet studies. So do you mind sharing a little bit, you've done pre vet work in college, and yet you decide to go to business school at Harvard, what were your thoughts at this time?
Andy Anderson: So you're, you're, uh, uncovering my professional bipolar disorder. And, uh, it's, it is, it's very fair game for this, podcast, because it, it just hopefully will encourage people to. You know, explore, but yeah, I'd even gotten accepted to veterinary school and, had to write them a letter saying, I've been trying to do this for the last 4 years and thanks for letting me in, but I'm not coming, which made for an interesting discussion when I went back to reapply, believe me.
But I had, been [00:13:00] exposed to so much and I really, this is interesting. It hadn't occurred to me this way. I think, you know, my family was all about business. So part of it was, am I willing to go sort of against the grain of my family dynamics? Am I willing to chart a new course? And maybe I wasn't quite as strong as I thought I might be.
And, you know, I got swayed a little bit by family members, but I think there was also an element of worry about, could I achieve the goals I had for myself financially as a veterinarian and would business be a better path for doing that work? and I'll have a lot to say about that, as you know, in the book and later in our discussion.
But so I did, I headed off down another path. I had some entrepreneurial time. I worked in the oil and gas service business. I worked in, the oil oil production industry a little bit. And, quickly realized [00:14:00] that a degree in animal science, biomedical science had not equipped me very well for that work.
And so I just said, I got to get some credentials here. I got to learn these concepts and applied to a bunch of business schools. Laughably, literally laughably got in Harvard business school and I know how I did it. I know it was because I was the only applicant with an animal health undergraduate degree from the South, you know, like they have a matrix.
So they try to create this. composite, they tried to create a composite of the class and they had nobody that would fill in that box, except me. So, lo and behold, they said, well, we're going to give this, this who from Texas a chance to get in there. So, I did, and I found this great guy from Oklahoma that I met known as dad in business.
He was sort of the [00:15:00] same box, but in the petroleum industry. And, um, so we ended up becoming roommates and lifelong friends to this day. And I'm his godfather of his first son. And yeah, it's been a great friendship, but anyway, that's sort of how I made the decision. And then fast forward, you'll get to the next step, which is, well, how the heck did you decide to go back to vet school 10 years later, and, that has a lot to do with having.
You know, a dramatic period of introspection and an self examination of what is important in life. What are we here for? What, what does God have in mind for us? How do we live our purpose? All these sorts of, topics that are, um, best address with a bottle of red wine from my point of view, and the sheer blessing of having a wonderful wife in Kim, who was a great listener, asked great questions, sort of called [00:16:00] BS on things that she knew I was making up or trying to fit the narrative to what I wanted the outcome to be.
And she would quickly put her foot down on that. And allowing me to re approach, you know, what, what is my purpose and why am I here and what can I best do in life? And, um, I really found that being in the, investment banking business, private equity business, and so forth was very much a zero sum experience.
You know, I, I made a good deal. I, what I got that the guy didn't get or what have you. And, it just didn't, it just wasn't grounding enough to the truths and my faith and how I see the world and how I want to interact with it. And I wanted to have a win win experience every day of my life.
I wanted, to be able to collaborate with people and do work that benefited me and others, you know, all at the same time. And I think that that is one of the most [00:17:00] beautiful things about our profession and why I'm so, so engaged in beating the drum for people to, you know, move on from their concerns about the things that are giving them malaise around, you know, You know, mental health and debt and all that.
There's just so much opportunity and positive space to work in that we are uniquely positioned as veterinarians to take advantage of, uh, sorry, I'm rambling, but anyway, you get me,
get me going on that stuff.
Megan Sprinkle: Those are good. That's, these are things that we like to talk about on, on this podcast. So, so you've decided to go to vet school. I like that you give a lot of credit to your wife. Cause I think she seems to be a big part of the journey as well, even in creating the veterinary business. And I think you had a one year old at this time too, going into vet
school. So big decision.
Andy Anderson: Well, she's a, you know, she's a true partner, in life. I mean, we, we do everything, [00:18:00] together in the sense that, uh, make big decisions together, talk through direction together. she has in most cases been willing to be the gardener and let me be the flower, you know, be the one that's taking care of our home and our family and our infrastructure and, and freeing me up to do things.
So she's, she's been, sacrificial in that sense. And I always. Want to give her credit for that, and make sure that any chance I get to shine the light on her contribution that I do. So, but it's been a great partnership.
Megan Sprinkle: Now going into vet school, did you. I mean, you'd seen your friend's dad practice, in a clinic. Did you know what you thought your vet career would look like, or were you kind of open to just getting into vet school and exploring?
a_1_12-11-2024_100351: Well, so, you know, I keep in [00:19:00] mind, I'd had this whole career and
Megan Sprinkle: Right.
a_1_12-11-2024_100351: I happened to me, my wife was a, um, elementary school counselor. She had a master's in psychology. Which is why she could help me sort out my troubles all the time. but she had a, the principal of the school that she worked in.
Her husband was. a, boarded veterinary internist. And we met and we got to talking about, because at that time I was considering whether I would go to medical school or veterinary school. And I ultimately applied to both, got accepted to both and chose veterinary medicine over human medicine. and he was a big part of that and was a big part of my mentorship, as well.
And I give him credit in the book. He's a wonderful guy. He actually was trained at AMC. Practice as a referral internist and then put all that aside and built a general [00:20:00] practice he wanted very much to Uh get back to the full cycle of care He wanted to see puppies and kittens and you know all that stuff and build a high end Advanced practice and he did that and it was terrific Had a great career now retired, by the way. but that was my sort of re approach to veterinary medicine.
I would go to his practice, sort of observe. Help out. I kind of wanted to test that out by the way I also tried to do the same thing in human medicine and just ran into Brick wall after brick wall. So this is what I love Matthew McConaughey's book, you know about green lights and red lights You know and it was clearly, the green light was veterinary medicine everything that could possibly come together serendipitously was coming together and it was just obvious that that was the path to go down And that's been a part of My journey all along, I've always looked for the green lights in the paths that [00:21:00] had less friction and seemed to be opening up before me.
And, you know, rather than just beating my head against the wall, because my will was such that I wanted to do it. I've always thought the universe, you know, in my case, because of my belief in God, I believe there's. lower friction paths are there for a reason. Pay attention before you ignore them and head off and beat your head against the wall for five years.
Megan Sprinkle: It also seems like you, you find good friends along the way that also have big help. Cause I think it was in vet school where you met Fred, Fred Williams. Who would be a big part of your future as well. So, and it's, was there competition? Cause you talked about your rank in class. It sounded like there was a little competition there, maybe between you two.
Andy Anderson: Well, I definitely didn't come in first. He did. And, uh, you know, he, uh, but I always tell him, I said, remember I had a one year old,
so got, I get a, [00:22:00] like a little fractional grade point for something out there on the tail end of the number, but It was a good natured competition.
It was not anything. You know, significant. We were, yeah, we were good friends. Although, you know, my life was obviously quite different from his having the child and trying to build that aspect of my life while going to vet school. And, uh, so, yeah, but Fred became a great partner and we are friends today and.
Still working on things together. So it's, it's been a terrific lifelong relationship.
Megan Sprinkle: Yeah, and I highly encourage people when you're in vet school, and I, I think I emphasize this so much because I did not do this is really embraced your classmates in vet school, make friends because you never know what will happen. And these are your support people, definitely for 4 years, but. It, it's a small, big industry, and I think it's really important [00:23:00] to make sure that you are building relationships along the way. And I just, I really liked that story of you and having such a good friend in vet school. You, you did a lot. You kind of, you, you both went to get, in residencies and surgery and study for boards together.
, in your own different Texan cities. and I think that's really important. And. I think potentially, and I don't mean to put words in your mouth, but as you're building this relationship, you're probably also learning a little bit more about him and if he would make a good partner going forward. So is that true? What were you kind of seeing in him that , gave you confidence that, yeah, he's the person that I want to partner with and, and go into a veterinary business with? Yeah,
Andy Anderson: I'd take you right back to the story of my dad, integrity and hard work. Fred and I were both really hard workers and we appreciated that about one another. And. [00:24:00] We did study for, I would have loved to have zoom during board prep. I mean, wow, that would been the best, but we were faxing, believe it or not, we were faxing materials back and forth, uh, talk on the phone for hours.
running through our study plans, thinking about, how to approach the, um, board exam, the ACVS board exam. And then along in there is, as you know, we started plotting to go into business together. And I think the seeing each other through vet school and, and having those deep conversations about what we were experiencing as uh, employed surgeons and other practices and, you know, developing our vision of what great practice might look like.
We're just the building blocks of a wonderful partnership and friendship.
Megan Sprinkle: and you, of course, had seen people run veterinary clinics, and I think you said that, , Fred's [00:25:00] dad had been, or was a, a veterinarian who was running a successful practice. So you had been able to see some of those principles and again, like you said, start to form like, what's your version of an ideal clinic. You also mentioned that you had overlapping skill sets and it's a clinical skill
sets. So I was curious, what were. What did you find were your clinical strengths at this time? That kind of worked well with
Andy Anderson: whether really, the 1st thing was I had the business background of starting some businesses working in larger businesses and Fred had not, he'd been a typical, you know, straight through vet school. so that was 1 thing I could bring our clinical skill sets were. a derivative of our mentorship in our different residencies.
He had been a resident at Tennessee. I had been a resident at Missouri and I had a very, strong set of orthopedic mentors, so we had adopted, [00:26:00] believe it or not, TPLO way back in the day when, you know, it was heresy to do TPLOs. We had gotten on that, that bandwagon. In my residency, and I actually did get trained by Barclay Slocum in Oregon to do it.
And, the guy that developed the procedure. And Fred had a really strong, soft tissue, thoracic. reconstruction, program at Tennessee. Very, I mean, the basics of orthopedics, we both, you know, he had, and I had the basics of soft tissue, but I did TPLO, I did small joint arthroscopy, I did total hip replacements.
Those were not things that Fred did. coming out of his program. And so when we came together, you know, we made one hell of a surgeon by putting us all, you know, the two of us in, in the OR we could, address most things from, Pacemakers and, thoracic ducts work [00:27:00] and massive reconstructions to stifle arthroscopy, shoulder arthroscopy, elbow arthroscopy, THRs, you know, the whole bit.
So we were pretty good. We're a pretty good team.
Megan Sprinkle: that makes sense. And I will give a shout out to the university of Missouri. That is also where I did my residency. I was in the nutrition resident and the orthopedic service was fantastic. They saw the value of nutrition and rehab. They always send us their, overweight dogs before they would go to surgery. So we were a good team. So they have some good orthopedic surgeons
Andy Anderson: Well, there, I, owe, so much to the whole faculty there for my training and to ACS for all the structure and work that, and the people that have gone before us to to figure out an axial pattern flap, you know, and things like that. So that most of us were just trying to learn the trade and practice it, up to their standards.
So that's veterinary medicine, right? We [00:28:00] just have a wonderful legacy of mentorship and commitment to our patients and science. And we have a lot to be proud of.
Megan Sprinkle: Agreed. Yep. and that kind of goes back to your, your, one of your values of purpose and being able to live that through this. And it sounds like people could see it, as you and Fred are in practice and you're doing well, and you're starting to explore expansion, you're attracting other veterinarians to this way of operating.
And you, and you mentioned that no one was quite. Doing it like you that you had a very unique way of running practices Do you mind talking a little bit on that and what you thought? People were seeing that was so special that they wanted to be a part of it.
Andy Anderson: I think there are a couple of things. One thing is we valued all of the contributions, of the different team members very equally. And, of course, you know, the whole [00:29:00] compensation system of veterinary medicine has driven a wedge between colleagues because of the sort of pro sal approach where specialties that have large tickets, whether they be because their implants in there or whatever, you know, are earning outsized wages versus people that don't have that procedure income.
And so we tried to create an environment, and I think it's hard to do at scale, but we tried to create the environment where everyone's value was thought of as very symmetrical. In other words, we didn't think, Fred and I happen to be surgeons, but we didn't really believe that, our value was greater than our internist or oncologist.
So, you know, like we couldn't build the ecosystem of our practice without everyone's contribution. And so that was sort of the underpinning of how we approach things. And that's not saying that's [00:30:00] easy because people are probably today even more tribal and territorial about, you know, everybody gets up in the morning thinking that they're the most important person on the planet, right?
And so we try to get up in the morning and say the opposite of that, saying we aren't the most important. Everyone else is important and we not, we have to find a way. To sing from the same page in the hymnal and to work together and collaborate.
Megan Sprinkle: and You talked about You know, your time of being the boarded surgeon and probably also around this time of, you know, you're establishing clinics that you're really proud of. You talked about this as being a really wonderful stage of your career. what was it that was just kind of the magic of this time period for you?
Andy Anderson: The creative process. I love the creative process. I love collaborating with people, figuring it out. How are we going to make something out of this? Like right now I'm welding [00:31:00] sculptural art because I just love. Like, here's this hunk of metal and I'm going to try to stick it together in something that makes some sense or evokes some, you know, contemplative, experience for whoever might encounter it.
But, was that, I mean, that was why it was so fun. We were growing and meeting new people. Trying to piece it together and do something, you know, remarkable in our communities. And I love that about it.
Megan Sprinkle: Well, Also, you know, you were bringing in very unique skill sets with your, pretty extensive financial background. So were you finding that fun too, bringing in your background and were you trying new things in veterinary medicine with a business? you know, structures, that kind of thing.
Like what were you, cause you talked about you, you've constantly had to be kind of a translator from business and money, lingo to the veterinary clinical aspect of things. So what were you kind of discovering that you [00:32:00] were bringing in on the financial business side?
Andy Anderson: I think it was more that the translator function, you know, we weren't having to apply super creative or cutting edge business, approaches to veterinary medicine. Veterinary medicine is actually. on the business side of quite simple business, you know, we really are, which is why I'm advocating for more of us to get back to owning the practices, but it didn't take that.
But what was hard and what was, I think, important in our success was that I could, it's very much like when you go in to explain to a client about a procedure, you have to be good at making it understandable so that they can become comfortable and. adopt the treatment plan or protocol that you're recommending.
And so that was the secret sauce for me, was being able to present it in a way that my veterinary partners or [00:33:00] counterparties, whatever, in whatever way they would be, I could have been explaining to a potential landlord how veterinary medicine worked, or I could be explaining to a veterinarian, how the business side works, but just trying to get it to where people can understand at a level and, and, develop trust to get something done.
Megan Sprinkle: Trust is huge. And, and kind of going back to the why we might be more averse to something is our lack of knowledge of it. And I think the more we are open and start to gain a little bit more knowledge. We can start building a little bit more of that trust to, so, and especially this is what I, why I like that people in veterinary medicine can go all different places and come from all different places is because I think there's something special among veterinary colleagues is that there is a little bit of trust, you know, when we hear someone else is a veterinarian, it's like, Oh, you know, there's that [00:34:00] kind of neat connection that we have.
Yeah. Maybe it's just, we've been in the same trench. I don't know,
but
Andy Anderson: sure, shared experience is a great, if you look at the foundational elements of trust, shared experience is central to those, principles. Everybody's been in an anatomy lab, right? That's a good, that's a good, know, starting
Megan Sprinkle: almost smelled like formaldehyde. Yep.
Andy Anderson: I think maybe something happens to our brain with the formaldehyde. I don't know.
Megan Sprinkle: Might be it. Yeah. Although there may be less and less of that going forward, the more we get techie and AI, so if you're listening to this in the future, be grateful. But you talked to also about. The desire to share the benefits of being an owner of a practice and wishing that more people embrace that part of veterinary medicine, because you've probably seen this, our business models.
The way we practice veterinary medicine has [00:35:00] really changed in a lot of different ways, including how we, are part of the practice that we've got right now. We've got. corporates buying corporates, that's one of the trends, but then luckily, one, another trend that people are seeing is they do think that they're starting to be more interested in ownership. So again, very, very timely. I think this is important to understand this. So. Do you mind elaborating just a little bit more on why you feel that being a practice owner and embracing that really is, you know, is special and something people should consider?
Andy Anderson: Yeah. As we, move through the building of our practices and sold them to consolidators, you know, that experience was, financially very favorable, but emotionally not so favorable. And so the, experience that veterinary teams and [00:36:00] veterinarians have is highly influenced by
the decision making, agency that exists within the four walls of the practice. In other words, the power to help the team, the client and the patients have a great day. has to rest primarily within the four walls of that practice and that the organizations that serve that practice, so called veterinary service organizations, have to get up every day with the principal focus being on serving the practices and the teams in those practices rather than the other way around and what's happened so often in the consolidated realm is that we end up with a lot of non veterinarians who don't know, you know, what it's like to enter an exam room. Examine a pet, run diagnostics, [00:37:00] come back and suggest a plan and complete the plan and return the pet better than you found it and get paid to do that.
Very few of the people that work in these VSOs have ever done that. So they don't get the important aspects of it. So five years ago, as you know, I went back, I wouldn't, didn't think I was going to do more in veterinary medicine, but I just felt like I had to get back into something, putting ownership back in the hands of veterinarians.
I went back to work. , as the, uh, interim first CEO at CitiVet, now I'm the executive chair, and we spend all of our days trying to open new practices with veterinarians as owners so that they can have the agency to make that practice the best it can be every day. Based on their personality, based on their leadership skills, and then we want to help with all that.
That's what I think, is the sort of underpinning of the success of owning veterinary practices. The [00:38:00] derivative is that they're going to do well financially much better financially than they will do as employees. And, that's not for everybody. It's a lot of sacrifice, long hours, commitment, sleepless nights, whatever it's work.
Uh, but there are plenty of people that are willing to sign up for that. So I think that that, I know we're going to do some segments on 2025, but I think that's part of the trend. I think veterinarians are going to become owners at a higher rate. Going forward than they have recently.
Megan Sprinkle: And it just kind of hit me as you, you did that summary, kind of your motto of that live, share, s erve really, it kind of was highlighted right there. You know, you, you did a lot of learning, you did a lot of sharing and now you're really serving by that. That's what you do every day.
You're, you're able to bring in that creative piece that you enjoyed, as well as the give back part of what you're doing now, at city vet, and you also mentioned, [00:39:00] when you sold a practice to, a consolidator, It was financially very successful, but. There was a piece that did not feel right, and I think that also can pull into something that you're really passionate about around that comprehensive prosperity and really understanding the word prosperity, or some people might say, you know, success is more than financial. There's. Other aspects of that. And for me, I even see how that pulls into the, that aspect of purpose that you're always striving for. But do you want to share a little bit more about how you kind of came to that belief around comprehensive prosperity and were able to eloquently verbalize it in a wonderful
Andy Anderson: Yeah. Well, a lot of trial and error, frankly, and, going down the wrong paths as often as I went down the right path. So I always tell people, look, don't be afraid to redirect, you know, rethink, reexamine what you think are [00:40:00] the fundamentals of what you're doing. But, you know, it's just a state of comprehensive, comprehensive prosperity is just a state of, of, uh, Sort of abundance and thriving, feeling of opportunities and ways forward across all dimensions, whether they be family, friends, faith, finances, fitness, you know, all the things that matter most to you.
it's a customized, uh, thing. It's not necessarily prescriptive. But, but spending some time thinking about what it is for you is where I find people have not invested. They're under invested in sort of that examination of what is it for me that would fit into the definition of comprehensive prosperity. And, you know, a lot of veterinarians will say, well, I don't care about money.
And I'm like, Fine, great. Not saying you should. Beyond the fact that you will have to pay for some things and you're [00:41:00] not going to want to work till you're 90. So I'm encouraging you to care a little bit about it, but it may not be the driving force for you. But, we want to have a balanced life.
We want to, experience overall satisfaction, with our, our life experience and, you know, like you've just have a new baby in your life and you're having a full experience as a mother and. Your husband is having a full experience as a father and there's all that learning that's occurring. And so, you know, it's just, it's just, we don't want a one dimensional life to objectify anything, whether it be work or money or whatever, that's a bad thing.
So it's about having that comprehensive approach to life. That's leading you on a path that when you get to my age and older, and you look back and you say, You know what? I did that pretty well. Really, I did. I did a lot of good in the world. I enjoyed it. I've learned, you know, and for me, the learning sharing serve is, is just sort of my [00:42:00] purpose with a capital P.
And, you know, there are situational little P purposes that come along where. Right now, I think your, your little P is, has a lot to do with your daughter and how I'm going to get her through the first year of life successfully. And, you know, they don't break very easily, so you're in good shape, but, um, you know, it's just a, it's a, it's a big concept, but when you like anything, if you will break it down and you know, in the book, there's a process you can go through, if you will break it down into bite size and do the work, you will create.
a road map to a life that would be very well lived.
Megan Sprinkle: Yeah, and I think it's so important to do individually, but then also when I was talking up or reading through what you call the life operating system, think it's really important to do with your significant other. If you have said significant other, because as you talked about with your wife, you make all the big decisions together.
[00:43:00] And yeah. You know, I love that you, you and, uh, uh, Frank brought your wives when you were looking at those locations in Texas, like they, they were, that's why I said, I could see them. They were part of the journey the whole way through. , I think that's really important as well, because we're doing life with our spouse.
And I think that's important to make sure that we're. Going through those. So I, I'm, I don't know how much he's going to love it, but well, I think it's important to go through all of those together. Um,
a_1_12-11-2024_100351: gotta, you gotta get the setting right. And
as I say there, you gotta go, like somebody's got to take care of your daughter, you got to go away, you got to get someplace that you can, I believe physically beautiful ocean mountains, whatever, you know, but you can, it's, it's actually pretty fun if you can calm, quieten yourself and be there with Significant other and open it up, you know, really open up what would we do, you know, and, and [00:44:00] see what comes out.
I think it's almost all people always tell me. Oh, my gosh, we had never had those kinds of discussions. So, I
hope you guys get to do it and I hope you'll tell me how it goes.
Megan Sprinkle: I will. now this might be a little kind of to the side, but I think it's really important and I could tell you were passionate about it. And I think it's something special about you because you have a phrase in your book that I think is. Maybe a little bit different than how some people view this.
And the phrase was work is our greatest opportunity to practice love beyond our immediate family. And I think the way that you defined work is very, very special. Like that's how you are seeing your work. And so when you talked about people want to balance life, when you are defining work at that level, it starts to be more than a job. it is an expression of love and I, I just, again, I don't think I've ever [00:45:00] heard anybody quite say that. Do you want to share a little bit how you kind of came to that? I know you, your role models were integrity, hard work and all of that, but again, I still think this is a really special view that may maybe change how people see work life balance.
it stood out to me.
Andy Anderson: Yeah, you, you've read the book, so you know that I hate the term work life balance, and, and it really gets at, I say that tongue in cheek a little bit, because I think our society has evolved toward a very, selfish perspective, frankly, you know, where we're so focused on ourselves that, and this is no one's fault.
It's just You know, as social media developed and you know, all these forces have acted upon us. everybody's trying to figure out how do I get it just right for me? I turned that around a little bit because and it goes back to even like the theme of it's a wonderful life. The Christmas Jimmy Stewart Christmas movie.
[00:46:00] I don't think any of us been near enough time appreciating all of the impacts we have in life on others and the wonderful things that we catalyze or enable or outcomes that we just don't even know. And I tell the one about why I'm here because some surgeon got up and came down and did a emergency, exploratory laparotomy on my mother in the middle of the night, found a big tumor on her ovary, took it out and at 37 years of age when that was not common.
She had another child that she had wanted, but couldn't have one because her hormones were completely deranged by this tumor. Fortunately, it was benign and she lived a beautifully long life. But these are the, the impacts that we have through work. And I start that section, I believe with a quote from, the book called the prophet, which is written by Khalil Gibran that says work is love made visible.
And it was really through approaching [00:47:00] his His work that began to open my mind to the concepts of, what are opportunities for expressing love? You know, well, we certainly have our family right there and, you know, our friends and so forth. But as veterinarians, we, every day we get up and we have a full appointment slot of love expression opportunity.
And that's not the case for most people. If you're a bill collector, I'm telling you, you are not expressing love all day. And so I just am trying to, I guess I'm trying to change the narrative, the way people think about work and realize how much of an opportunity they have as a veterinarian.
I mean, there's other ways in veterinary medicine, but particularly clinicians have a great opportunity with their staff, with their clients, and obviously with their patients, to really be a light in the world. And the more of [00:48:00] that that they can do, The better off the world will be and the better off they will be, , as they move through their life experience.
Megan Sprinkle: I hope people feel very warm leaving this and proud to be in this profession. my favorite way to end podcasts is to ask, what is something that you are very grateful for right now?
Andy Anderson: Uh, well, , I kind of get siloed and I'm thinking about the gratitude have for all of my mentors and the people that encouraged me along my path and helped shape, my career, which is, which has been beyond any expectation I could have ever had. They were just wonderful forces in my life.
Megan Sprinkle: I hope you've been inspired to start looking at a path to comprehensive prosperity. It has also been my goal to help bring you resources so you can have a thriving and rewarding life and career. If you haven't already, make sure you listen [00:49:00] to last week's episode with Dr. Sasha Nefadova. She has such a fascinating and energizing personality.
It's a great episode to continue to get that support and understanding our value as veterinary professionals. And stay tuned for January because we have a series of our experts sharing 2025 trend predictions for the veterinary profession. And Dr. Anderson is included among those. So subscribe and get ready for January.
I want to thank our supporters. we have more and more coming. I really, really appreciate it. If you want to help support the podcast into 2025 financially, you can click that support the podcast. In the description and just for a few dollars a month, you can support the podcast platform and for free, you can give us a five star rating and a review, which really helps share this podcast a little bit wider and definitely make sure you recommend it to others.
You can't get better than a personal [00:50:00] recommendation. I can't wait to journey into the new year with you. So until next time, take care.
