Women Veterinary Owners: Nikki Graf, DVM and Lindsay Thurwachter, DVM
One of the things I have enjoyed the most about starting this blog is hearing stories from different women veterinary owners. There is much to learn from personal experiences and the different paths we take.
I was thrilled to get the opportunity to catch up with two amazing women veterinary owners, Nikki Graf, DVM and Lindsay Thurwachter, DVM. I’m proud to say that both of these women are ACCES alumnae (folks who worked for my previous business, Animal Critical Care and Emergency Serivces). Drs. Graf and Thurwachter are the proud co-owners of Kenton Animal Hospital, which they opened in Portland in December of 2016.
Their Story
Lindsay and Nikki are both 2010 graduates from the College of Veterinary Medicine at Washington State University. After graduation, Nikki did an internship at Dove Lewis Emergency Animal Hospital in Portland and really got the ER bug. She worked at Dove Lewis for several years, moved to Seattle and worked at ACCES, and then moved back to Vancouver, WA and worked at Columbia River Veterinary Specialists. While she loved ER, she was not sure it was going to be a sustainable career for her long term and she also became certified in acupuncture.
Lindsay worked in a number of different types of practice in the Portland area, including Banfield, Columbia River Veterinary Specialists, and another integrative practice. She really liked the integrative approach to patient care and became a certified veterinary acupuncturist and a certified veterinary food therapist. While Lindsay loved being a veterinarian, she was frustrated that none of the practices she worked for seemed to be totally in line with what she was looking for and didn’t completely match her values.
As good friends, Lindsay and Nikki had many conversations about how to make veterinary medicine a sustainable career for both of them. Lindsay came to the realization first that starting a practice was the way forward and that she really wanted to do it with a partner. Nikki was less sure but after many conversations was convinced to join forces.
It took about a year and a half after the decision to open their doors. Because it was a new start up, they opted to both work ½ time in the new practice and part time elsewhere while the practice gained momentum.
After a year and a half, the practice has grown well, they are now both working full time in their practice, and they have also added a part time associate.
I asked them to share resources and tips for other women considering opening a practice:
1) Partnerships are great but they take forethought and effort.
Lindsay and Nikki have known each other since veterinary school and were confident that their values and wants for a practice were similar. In addition, neither wanted to own a practice alone. However, they had heard horror stories about business partnerships. They decided to be proactive in both preserving their friendship and making their business partnership a success. Lindsay and Nikki were able to find a good attorney who had them discuss a large number of issues in order to draft a comprehensive partnership agreement. They talked through how to pay themselves, how to handle owner maternity leaves, what to do if one of them had a severe injury, and how to dissolve the partnership if ever needed. Having these conversations was hard but allowed them to be sure they were on the same page.
As a unique proactive way work on their partnership, Lindsay and Nikki also engaged the services of a non-traditional couples’ counselor and met with her monthly as they started. These counseling sessions were a further way to build great communication and conflict resolution skills. In addition, it provided a forum away from the hospital construction and hub bub to let each other know how they were really doing and how they could support each other. While non-traditional, both of them have found this approach incredibly worthwhile.
2) Online resources.
One of the best resources, Drs. Graf and Thurwachter found was a day by day account of the start-up process written by Dr. Christine Ortner and published on VIN (The Veterinary Information Network). They were able to use this detailed description as a road map to opening.
3) Find a support network.
Lindsay and Nikki were also lucky to be in Portland and to find a network of professionals available to support them. Their banker at Bank of America was able to help them locate a good accountant, contractor, distributor, and insurance broker. In addition, they were put in touch with a group of women practice owners, Practice Share, that meets monthly. The practice owner group as well as the referrals to good support professionals has made the process much easier. Additionally, the Practice Share group has a monthly meeting group for practice managers. Nikki and Lindsay have been able to send their head technician to help train her for a bigger management role in the future.
4) Become part of the community.
Both doctors believe the growth of the practice has been partly due to their efforts to join the community. Dr. Thurwachter joined the local business association. The hospital has sponsored local school events, and they have attended street fairs and other community events. Nikki and Lindsay have spent very little on other forms of marketing as this community engagement has proved rewarding and provided word of mouth referrals.
5) Hire quality not quantity and do so slowly.
Both doctors believe the caliber of their staff has been a large part of their success so far. They don’t have a large group, have hired carefully, and have been slow to add additional people.
6) Remember why you did this.
Dr. Graf had worked in previous practices that had driven hard and fast for growth. While you can easily think that you have to grow fast to prove your competence, that wasn’t what was most important to either of them. In fact, it was very important to both of them to remember that the practice would be most sustainable if they continued to love what they do. At staff meetings, they remind everyone that they are not here to rule the world but to create a happy place to work and treat pets in an individualized way.
Do you have an ownership story to tell? Email me at bdavidow@vetidealist.com.
