February 29, 2024 • 26 mins
They've been chased by a mama pig, rode on the back of an 8 foot ostrich and never turn down a four-legged friend in need. Meet Andy Julian and Donna Peck, owners of Pembroke Animal Hospital. This amazing couple has been working together for over 25 years and built a thriving veterinarian practice that grew from two employees to 38. They share interesting stories, advice and keys to success - for any entrepreneur. Take a listen!
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(00:00):
Hi, I'm Tony Parente.
(00:10):
And I'm Mickey Pogano Parente.
We're owners of branding shorts, creative content agency.
And we're a couple of entrepreneurs.
We started this podcast because there are so many couples in business, just like us.
Because who took risks, some even spent their life savings to build a successful business.
(00:30):
Together, without ending their relationships.
In this podcast, you'll hear their inspiring stories.
Get tips, advice, and the secret to success for any entrepreneurial journey.
Welcome to our podcast, A Couple of Entrepreneurs.
From being chased by a pig and riding in eight-foot ostrigs, to building a practice that
(00:52):
grew from two to 38 employees.
And they've never turned down a four-legged client in need.
Meet Andy and Donna, the amazing couple behind Pembroke Animal Hospital in New Hampshire.
Welcome to the show.
Thank you guys.
We're going to have you guys just briefly introduce yourself and what you guys do and
(01:16):
where you do it.
I'm Andy Julian.
This is my wife Donna and we're veterinarians in New Hampshire.
We work separately at first when we first graduated.
And then he started a practice in 97 and I joined him in 99.
So how did you guys, what made you guys think about starting a practice together?
(01:37):
Well, we both, you know, we met in vet school so we both had the same interest.
So we knew we both wanted to practice and we both worked for somebody else for a while,
several years and then we wanted to do it on our own.
So Andy always wanted to own his own practice.
That was the goal of his.
Yeah, I don't like working for somebody else.
(01:59):
So I'd rather do my own thing.
So I started a practice by myself with one technician and then she kept her job for income.
So we needed, yeah, we needed the income.
And then two years later when the practice was sort of going, she joined me and we just
(02:20):
kind of grew it together.
So, you know, it's what we always wanted to do, I guess.
It's nice being able to have your own rules because you work for somebody else and they
decide how they're going to run the practice.
And to some degree you have autonomy, but if they say, you know, no charitable cases
or something like that, then your hands are tied, but if it's your own practice, you can
(02:44):
make decisions together and decide how you want to run it.
And that's really nice.
So I started the business with just small animal, just dogs and cats, because that's
all I do.
That's really all I'm interested in doing.
Donnet adds a huge part to the practice because she brought the large animal, horses and sheep
and goats and everything else.
(03:05):
So when we combined forces, we could do everything.
We could do small animal, large animal, surgery.
And then we just keep adding to it.
Like as we go, we've added grooming and boarding and daycare.
And I mean, there's no end to what you can do.
So why do you guys want to be vets?
(03:27):
Like what was it that drove you guys?
Because as you guys know, my brother's a veterinarian.
And God bless you guys.
It would be a tough job for me.
And the animals would not want me to be a vet.
So what drove you guys with that interest, that common interest, like to go and have
fuel?
That's all I ever wanted to do.
Yeah, I mean, that's all I ever wanted to do.
We both are kind of animal lovers.
(03:49):
And from the time we were little kids, and so what else are you going to do if you just
want to work with animals and rescue them and help them?
So it was a common interest both of us.
I mean, that's all we do really.
So you grew up with that.
(04:10):
It was just an interest growing up.
Oh yeah.
Well, it's interesting because my family, my dad never let us have pets.
He didn't like animals.
My mom didn't like animals.
I always snuck one home.
But maybe it's a rebellious thing.
Maybe it's rebellion because they never let me have any that I went overboard on the other
end when I got to school.
I don't know.
(04:32):
And now how many dogs did you say you have?
Your personal and your personal life?
Yeah, 11.
So that's a lot of rebellion going on.
A lot of rebellion.
When we got married, I had two and she had three when we got married and we thought that
was a lot.
And that was the least amount we ever had.
(04:52):
It's a very dangerous profession.
You know, there's needy dogs everywhere that I mean, most of our dogs, probably half of
them were going to be put down for various reasons, you know, and we didn't think that
was necessary.
So they came home to live with us.
That's amazing.
And now they can play basketball.
You have five on five plus a referee.
(05:15):
How many like people working in your business right now versus when you guys started and
how did you grow it?
So when we started, it was I opened it.
I took an old building and I converted it to an animal hospital and I was just me and
one person, my receptionist who doubled as my technician and kennel worker and kennel
worker.
(05:36):
So it's just the two of us.
And then as we got busier, we added another tech.
Now we have a staff of 38 employees.
What was the key to like build it?
Well, I'm going to say bringing Donna in was probably one of the most important things.
Right.
That was the catch right there.
Well, it's so fun.
I mean, there is a New Hampshire does have a lot of backyard horses, you know, goats,
(06:00):
pets.
And there aren't that many veterinarians, unfortunately, who want to do large animal
because you have to be on call.
You know, you have to, you work, you make less money, but it's a really a service that
is needed.
And there are veterinary hospitals in the area, but most of them are small animal only.
(06:21):
So they always need someone to do large animals.
So that was easy.
And then if you're doing the horse, they also have dogs, you know, and so it just makes
it simple that they bring their dogs and cats in and that grows.
And then they tell their friend, there's a lot of word of mouth that goes around.
So the reason that we keep growing is a lot of clinics, if they have one or two doctors,
(06:46):
they stop taking new patients.
So they'll say, you know, no, no new clients.
So that they call around until they find us.
And we, our philosophy is we're always going to take new patients.
So in order to do that, you have to grow.
So if you get a new patient, you know, eventually you're going to have to add another doctor.
(07:06):
And we don't, we never stop saying no, we never said no new patients.
So we just keep adding staff so that we can accommodate all the new patients that are
coming.
So I figured since we opened, we've averaged maybe two new clients every day that we've
been open.
Wow, that's amazing.
Wow.
That's amazing.
So that's how we've grown so fast.
(07:27):
We still get two or three new clients every day.
You must have had some challenges along the way, right?
I mean, starting a business can't always be like, oh, just simple to grow, right?
What were some of the challenges you guys experienced as you started to grow it?
Staffing is the hardest.
Exactly.
That's what you think, that's who your challenges come in.
(07:48):
Good people up front.
It makes a, you know, I think reception is the hardest job because people can be wretched
to the front desk and mean and demanding.
And then the veterinarian goes out and then all of a sudden they turn into sweet sugar
pie and that makes me sad because that's not any way to treat people.
But front desk always gets the angry client, you know, or the people on the phone that
(08:12):
or the scared client or the whatever, and they have to be the first door to calm them
down to help them.
And then, and they always get the front of the people's bad behavior, which is too bad.
So it's hard to keep a good receptionist who can be patient, who can communicate clearly,
who can stay calm in the midst of craziness.
(08:34):
And that's a hard job.
And then the thing about getting so big with so many employees is the turnover increases
because people leave for whatever reason, then you got to replace them.
So you're always training, always training new employees and it gets, it gets more challenging
the bigger you get with the number of employees you have.
(08:55):
How do you find, what do you look for?
I mean, because it's interesting, we've had other couples talk to us about getting the
right people.
So what do you guys look for to make sure you get the right people, whether it's receptionist,
whether it's a technician to bring into the practice?
They have to have a good team attitude, you know, understand that teamwork is key because
(09:16):
we are like a big family in some ways.
We keep, you know, have each other's backs, we're looking out for everybody.
So they have to like animals, they have to be able to talk to people and they have to
have a good team mentality.
They look at us like, mind pop.
Do you have a daughter who works with you guys now?
Yeah.
(09:36):
Everybody loves her.
You know, all the staff because they've known her for a while and yeah, she's doing a great
job.
And how does that dynamic work?
Because it's a husband, wife, it's a couple of entrepreneurs and then it's a daughter.
So do you guys talk shop all the time?
Yes.
All the time and our other daughter hates it because it grosses her out when we talk about
(09:59):
abscesses at the dinner table.
And she hates it, but the three of us, we get carried away and we forget that she wasn't
part of it.
She's a very big, our other daughter is a very big animal lover, but she's very sensitive.
So blood and guts is not her thing.
(10:20):
And the idea of stabbing a dog to give it a vaccination, which is important for their
health, you know, she just wouldn't want to be that mean and do that kind of stuff.
But she has a slew of animals herself.
So it's hard to turn it off, right?
It's not so much.
We asked other couples, it's like about work-life balance and what they say is, well, it's
really not.
It's more like work-life integration.
(10:41):
I mean, is that the way you guys see it?
It's kind of...
Yes.
We can't turn it off because we come home and we got 11 dogs and five cats and, you know,
we got six horses and goats, sheep, alpacas, chickens.
So we never turn it off.
But it's because we love what we do.
That's the beauty of it.
Right.
I mean, it's not just a job.
(11:02):
It is a lifestyle and it's a joy to be able to be doing what you love.
And that's why we stay together because if we, either one of us married somebody that
didn't like animals, it wouldn't last.
Right.
But we're both in the same boat, so, you know, it works out very well.
(11:22):
That's an important thing.
That's great.
That you both love it.
You love the same thing and you love what you do.
I love that.
I love that.
Why?
You love what you do together.
I mean, how do you guys make decisions like for the business together?
Like, I mean, because I'm, it can't, I mean, we never always agree.
So I got our business right.
(11:43):
And so sometimes it's like, it's like, how do you come to a resolution when you want
to decide on doing something here or there without some video?
How do you guys like work through decisions?
And if you don't agree, how do you work it out?
You talk about it.
Andy is much more the businessman.
I don't like the business side of it nearly as well.
(12:05):
He's very good at the business side of it.
And so, yeah.
And so he'll say, this is what we need to do.
And then we discuss it and try and, if I really hate it, then can we find a compromise?
Can we find a way to make it that it will work both ways?
Because yes, we, I would have gone under if it was me running the business.
But since he runs the business side of it, it works.
(12:28):
Yeah.
I enjoy the business.
I enjoy starting the business.
I enjoy running the business.
Donna is an excellent veterinarian.
She's way better than I am.
But that's what we need because she runs that part of it.
And I just run the business and the numbers and that kind of thing.
So it works out good.
Strange.
See you guys.
(12:49):
Now, it's similar with us.
Tony's more the business guy.
I'm the creative, more the creative person.
And I prefer not to get into the business stuff.
You know, you guys, you're talking a lot about, like we talked about like how to bring in
the right people and what you guys look for, et cetera.
But obviously it sounds like you guys are doing a great job in terms of working with
(13:10):
the people.
What is there something or principles of working with people to get the most out of them, keep
morale high, you know, when you, when you're managing this many people with, you know,
you have 38 people in your, in your group, in your practice.
Vision is really key and being approachable.
You know, I want them to feel they can come to me with any questions or problems or issues
(13:33):
and we try and help where, you know, sit down and talk about a kind of thing and see if
we can work through it.
We have some great veterinarians do.
One of our veterinarians is, she's really good at morale.
Like she'll say, okay, we're having a week where it's winter and it's cold.
So this is bring cookies to work week, you know, so everyone brings, you know, and so
(13:58):
everyone gets involved in that.
And this is bring salads or, you know, she'll get theme nights or, you know, costumes and
holidays and we, she's really good at being creative that way and it's great.
And so any kind of morale boosters or unification, I guess we, we try to have an office, we haven't,
(14:18):
well, we do have an office Christmas party every year.
We try to have a summer outing with everybody, that kind of thing.
It just builds friendships and supports.
And then most of our employees are really great.
They really want hospital to succeed.
Food, food is a good motivator.
They watch me come in and they look to see if I have donuts in my hand or not.
(14:40):
And if I do, everybody's in a good mood that day.
Right.
Well, you know, you're talking to two Italians here.
So we get the food there.
Oh, yes.
Oh, yeah.
Right.
Just a little bit of donut.
Oh my God.
It's so simple.
So on the client side, what do you guys see?
Like what's the secret for clients?
Right.
You guys are built, you've built such a great client base.
(15:01):
Like what's the secret for a client to say, man, this is great.
I recommend these guys to my friends who has a dog.
Because you're literally sometimes, right?
I mean, in your business, you're dealing with life and death sometimes, right?
Trying to save animals or, you know, et cetera.
So like what's the key to keeping a happy client, you know, to deal with these clients
and what could be tough situations sometimes?
(15:22):
I think a big key is listening to them and, you know, empathizing.
They're not just a number to us.
You know, they are somebody's beloved pet owner and they have their beloved pet.
And sometimes they can be exasperating.
And sometimes, you know, you have a lot of compassion.
(15:42):
You want to slap them up the side of the head if they are neglecting their animal, you know,
or doing a terrible job.
But for the most part, clients like it when you listen to them and you genuinely want
to help them with their pet.
Right.
We don't talk at them.
We listen to their concerns and we work with their concerns in the best way we can.
(16:04):
But it's basically a communication and basically listening to what they're concerned about
with their pet.
So it's really, yeah, having empathy and engaging them and just listening.
And that's an important quality.
Yeah, when we interview a vet, it's like, how well do I talk to them?
(16:27):
How, you know, you can tell when you're talking to someone if they're listening or if they're
just all about, it's me.
You can't have a huge ego.
You know, you have to just say, we're here to help and how can we best help you?
Yeah, I love that.
That's great.
Especially with animals, it's such an emotional thing, you know, being, you know, there are
(16:49):
your babies.
So do you have any guiding principles by, you know, so you guys have been in business for
quite a while.
So do you have any guiding principles?
So we say, okay, this is our compass.
Just be honest with the client, not selling them stuff they don't need.
(17:10):
Just, you know, it's a tough one.
Yeah.
Yeah, be, be an honest with the client.
It's not all about the money.
In fact, it's very little about the money.
You have to survive.
But I think veterinary medicine has gotten so expensive that we want to make, we want
to make it affordable.
So we help people that can't really afford it.
(17:32):
We give them lots of options to save their pet.
What I'm lying is we want to save the pet and flexibility is, yeah, we want to know
that it's not about just making money from them, that we really care about their pet.
So service, I guess good service is important in a business.
(17:55):
Right.
If you have poor service, nobody's going to stay with you.
And even if you're the most spectacularly brilliant veterinarian in the world.
Which we are.
Not, not.
If you can't communicate or empathize, like you say, or be of service, then people don't
(18:17):
care.
Right.
Good service is the bottom line.
So we do a lot of work with rescues.
Donna's got a rescue that she works with.
It's called mainly rat rescue.
So.
They rescue rats and Donna gets a half a dozen a week or more that she spays and neuters
for them.
And what do you, what do you do with the rats?
(18:39):
Pet rats, actually they're great pets.
They're really good because they're very personal.
They're very friendly.
They don't last that long.
You know, now you'll have like the whole city of New York coming up to New Hampshire.
There was years, a few years ago, there were rat people are a little strange too.
(18:59):
I mean, you gotta admit.
And so there was a situation in New York where someone had rats and got.
Rats are mice.
No, they had rats and they ended up with like 200 of them lost their mind and dumped them
out on a freeway in New York city.
Oh my God.
And so mainly rat rescue, this organization called up all their people and everybody
(19:23):
went running out and caught these rats and trapped them and then they processed them
all and found them home.
They're domestic pet rats.
Yeah.
But people get overwhelmed with them and they get rid of them just like, just like pit bulls
or any other dogs that they give up.
They give up their rats.
Wow.
I never even knew there was like rat rescue.
(19:43):
Oh wow.
Now, living in New York city for many years, like you see rats and you're like, oh, like
we see, we used to see rats eating like a big slice of pizza going walking down the street
like in New York.
Yeah.
No, you don't want to mess with those rats.
Yeah, we don't deal with those.
You don't want to mess with those rats because you can't.
I was going to ask you guys, and this was actually a different type of story.
Like if there's any unusual stories or that you guys want to share about dealing with
(20:05):
a, you know, an animal or the business that, you know, I mean, that you guys run into over
your career.
We had to go and castrate some piglets and mama pigs are very protective.
So you have to make sure that you are safe from mama pig before you stick.
(20:26):
Because if you pick up any pig, it screams.
You can pick it up and snuggle it and shower it with kisses and they will scream bloody
murder if their feet leave the ground.
It's just the way pigs are.
They're not very snuggly.
Anyway, so if you're going to pick up a piglet, you want to make sure mom can't hear it.
Anyway, so Jean and I, one of our techs, were going out to do some piglets and they had
(20:50):
locked the moms in these little sheds and so the piglets were loose outside.
And so we picked up the first piglet and screamed mom went launching through a window that was
too small for her, but she took out the whole window in the side and came charging after
us.
So we had to go tearing for the fence.
It's fun.
(21:10):
Oh my God.
Yeah.
Dona has a client also that raises ostriches.
Oh yeah.
And so she can probably tell you better, but they were out.
They're tough animals to work on because they're huge and they're strong.
And they don't like being held.
This guy has ostriches.
His farm is called Fowl Language Farm, F-O-W-L, which I think is funny.
(21:33):
He had one that cut its throat on something.
They're very curious.
They're like toddlers.
You know, they're like, oh, what's that?
If you walk into an ostrich pen, if you have anything shiny, glasses, earrings, anything,
you know, they come over and they have to check it out.
So they, and they're like eight feet tall.
(21:55):
So they'll poke your head.
I mean, it's just like a bunch of things like, oh, what's that?
Oh, what's that?
Anyway, they're funny.
So this one, I don't know what he'd run into, but he cut his neck and he'd go to eat and
the food was falling out.
So we really had to stitch it up because his esophagus was torn.
(22:15):
And so there is some sedation, which we don't do a lot of and it's kind of hard to know
how to sedate and you can't weigh him.
But we did get him sedated, except he wasn't sedated enough.
Anyway, so then we were just trying to get hold of him to sit on him basically and wrangle
him.
And, oh, he was so tough.
Yeah.
And it ended up where I had, you know, his head.
(22:39):
I was like, he had a snap.
And then, yeah, I was holding onto a fence and I was trying to hold him up against the
fence and I ended up pretty much sitting on him because the other vet, there was another
vet and she was going around in the other side of the fence and was trying to stitch
while I held him still and the owner jumped on his back too.
I mean, it was such a rodeo.
(23:00):
It was crazy.
But we did get it done and he healed, which was phenomenal.
I love it.
Oh, and it worked.
You guys actually did work.
Yeah.
I mean, he was so good at succeeding in stitching up really fast his neck and it healed and
he's running around.
Well, yeah, I didn't know.
Is Ostrich riding a sport somewhere?
I think I've heard of it before.
I don't know where.
(23:20):
They're very strong.
I mean, he they're very strong.
Well, I don't weigh as much as he does, but I mean, I'm a solid weight for a Ostrich to
carry in yet he didn't seem to have any trouble with me and the owner, both sitting on him
and he's still ready to get up.
Yeah, it was amazing.
So, so I get why Andy wants to stick with a small animal.
(23:41):
You got your piggy pig, pig charging through windows after you.
I started to throw you on their back.
God bless you.
Andy, you married an incredibly strong woman and you're going to be you are very lucky.
He's amazing.
Oh my God, man.
Wow.
How long do they live?
Ostrich is 10, 15 years.
We're not getting we're not getting a pet ostrich in Hoboken.
(24:05):
So if you were to give some tips, like three tips to couples who are thinking about starting
a business together, what would you say?
Communicate.
Any, it doesn't have to be any tips.
Don't take don't take life too seriously.
You got to have a sense of humor.
(24:26):
You know, if you just too uptight, you're going to struggle, you're going to fight with each
other.
You know, you got to it's give and take.
You give into you give in a lot, you know, and you just work together and you share ideas
and you know, you put the other person first.
(24:47):
Basically, if I had to do everything my way, it wouldn't be fair and I understand that it
wouldn't be fair.
So I take her ideas and she takes my ideas and I do things I don't necessarily want to
do like large animal.
If it was up to me, I would do strictly small animal and she knows that but she likes to
(25:09):
a large animal horses and stuff.
So we add that on as half of the practice and it's give and take.
Give and take.
It's not all about me.
It's about us.
You know, what we want to do is a business together.
That's great.
That's really great advice.
I love it.
Really great advice.
Don anything to add or?
(25:31):
Well, we always ask God for guidance too.
Exactly.
Yeah, we have a common faith and that's important, I think, because he keeps us sort of focused
on that and not just around us.
It helps keep the ego in check.
Yes.
Yeah.
For more information about our guests and their practice, visit pembroke-animal-hospital.com.
(25:57):
Thank you for listening.
If you enjoyed this podcast, please share, subscribe and give us a review.
We would so appreciate it.
A couple of entrepreneurs is available on all podcast platforms.
(26:19):
For more information about our business and what we do, visit burningshorts.com.
Thanks for listening.
Hi, I'm Tony Parente.
(00:10):
And I'm Mickey Pogano Parente.
We're owners of branding shorts, creative content agency.
And we're a couple of entrepreneurs.
We started this podcast because there are so many couples in business, just like us.
Because who took risks, some even spent their life savings to build a successful business.
(00:30):
Together, without ending their relationships.
In this podcast, you'll hear their inspiring stories.
Get tips, advice, and the secret to success for any entrepreneurial journey.
Welcome to our podcast, A Couple of Entrepreneurs.
From being chased by a pig and riding in eight-foot ostrigs, to building a practice that
(00:52):
grew from two to 38 employees.
And they've never turned down a four-legged client in need.
Meet Andy and Donna, the amazing couple behind Pembroke Animal Hospital in New Hampshire.
Welcome to the show.
Thank you guys.
We're going to have you guys just briefly introduce yourself and what you guys do and
(01:16):
where you do it.
I'm Andy Julian.
This is my wife Donna and we're veterinarians in New Hampshire.
We work separately at first when we first graduated.
And then he started a practice in 97 and I joined him in 99.
So how did you guys, what made you guys think about starting a practice together?
(01:37):
Well, we both, you know, we met in vet school so we both had the same interest.
So we knew we both wanted to practice and we both worked for somebody else for a while,
several years and then we wanted to do it on our own.
So Andy always wanted to own his own practice.
That was the goal of his.
Yeah, I don't like working for somebody else.
(01:59):
So I'd rather do my own thing.
So I started a practice by myself with one technician and then she kept her job for income.
So we needed, yeah, we needed the income.
And then two years later when the practice was sort of going, she joined me and we just
(02:20):
kind of grew it together.
So, you know, it's what we always wanted to do, I guess.
It's nice being able to have your own rules because you work for somebody else and they
decide how they're going to run the practice.
And to some degree you have autonomy, but if they say, you know, no charitable cases
or something like that, then your hands are tied, but if it's your own practice, you can
(02:44):
make decisions together and decide how you want to run it.
And that's really nice.
So I started the business with just small animal, just dogs and cats, because that's
all I do.
That's really all I'm interested in doing.
Donnet adds a huge part to the practice because she brought the large animal, horses and sheep
and goats and everything else.
(03:05):
So when we combined forces, we could do everything.
We could do small animal, large animal, surgery.
And then we just keep adding to it.
Like as we go, we've added grooming and boarding and daycare.
And I mean, there's no end to what you can do.
So why do you guys want to be vets?
(03:27):
Like what was it that drove you guys?
Because as you guys know, my brother's a veterinarian.
And God bless you guys.
It would be a tough job for me.
And the animals would not want me to be a vet.
So what drove you guys with that interest, that common interest, like to go and have
fuel?
That's all I ever wanted to do.
Yeah, I mean, that's all I ever wanted to do.
We both are kind of animal lovers.
(03:49):
And from the time we were little kids, and so what else are you going to do if you just
want to work with animals and rescue them and help them?
So it was a common interest both of us.
I mean, that's all we do really.
So you grew up with that.
(04:10):
It was just an interest growing up.
Oh yeah.
Well, it's interesting because my family, my dad never let us have pets.
He didn't like animals.
My mom didn't like animals.
I always snuck one home.
But maybe it's a rebellious thing.
Maybe it's rebellion because they never let me have any that I went overboard on the other
end when I got to school.
I don't know.
(04:32):
And now how many dogs did you say you have?
Your personal and your personal life?
Yeah, 11.
So that's a lot of rebellion going on.
A lot of rebellion.
When we got married, I had two and she had three when we got married and we thought that
was a lot.
And that was the least amount we ever had.
(04:52):
It's a very dangerous profession.
You know, there's needy dogs everywhere that I mean, most of our dogs, probably half of
them were going to be put down for various reasons, you know, and we didn't think that
was necessary.
So they came home to live with us.
That's amazing.
And now they can play basketball.
You have five on five plus a referee.
(05:15):
How many like people working in your business right now versus when you guys started and
how did you grow it?
So when we started, it was I opened it.
I took an old building and I converted it to an animal hospital and I was just me and
one person, my receptionist who doubled as my technician and kennel worker and kennel
worker.
(05:36):
So it's just the two of us.
And then as we got busier, we added another tech.
Now we have a staff of 38 employees.
What was the key to like build it?
Well, I'm going to say bringing Donna in was probably one of the most important things.
Right.
That was the catch right there.
Well, it's so fun.
I mean, there is a New Hampshire does have a lot of backyard horses, you know, goats,
(06:00):
pets.
And there aren't that many veterinarians, unfortunately, who want to do large animal
because you have to be on call.
You know, you have to, you work, you make less money, but it's a really a service that
is needed.
And there are veterinary hospitals in the area, but most of them are small animal only.
(06:21):
So they always need someone to do large animals.
So that was easy.
And then if you're doing the horse, they also have dogs, you know, and so it just makes
it simple that they bring their dogs and cats in and that grows.
And then they tell their friend, there's a lot of word of mouth that goes around.
So the reason that we keep growing is a lot of clinics, if they have one or two doctors,
(06:46):
they stop taking new patients.
So they'll say, you know, no, no new clients.
So that they call around until they find us.
And we, our philosophy is we're always going to take new patients.
So in order to do that, you have to grow.
So if you get a new patient, you know, eventually you're going to have to add another doctor.
(07:06):
And we don't, we never stop saying no, we never said no new patients.
So we just keep adding staff so that we can accommodate all the new patients that are
coming.
So I figured since we opened, we've averaged maybe two new clients every day that we've
been open.
Wow, that's amazing.
Wow.
That's amazing.
So that's how we've grown so fast.
(07:27):
We still get two or three new clients every day.
You must have had some challenges along the way, right?
I mean, starting a business can't always be like, oh, just simple to grow, right?
What were some of the challenges you guys experienced as you started to grow it?
Staffing is the hardest.
Exactly.
That's what you think, that's who your challenges come in.
(07:48):
Good people up front.
It makes a, you know, I think reception is the hardest job because people can be wretched
to the front desk and mean and demanding.
And then the veterinarian goes out and then all of a sudden they turn into sweet sugar
pie and that makes me sad because that's not any way to treat people.
But front desk always gets the angry client, you know, or the people on the phone that
(08:12):
or the scared client or the whatever, and they have to be the first door to calm them
down to help them.
And then, and they always get the front of the people's bad behavior, which is too bad.
So it's hard to keep a good receptionist who can be patient, who can communicate clearly,
who can stay calm in the midst of craziness.
(08:34):
And that's a hard job.
And then the thing about getting so big with so many employees is the turnover increases
because people leave for whatever reason, then you got to replace them.
So you're always training, always training new employees and it gets, it gets more challenging
the bigger you get with the number of employees you have.
(08:55):
How do you find, what do you look for?
I mean, because it's interesting, we've had other couples talk to us about getting the
right people.
So what do you guys look for to make sure you get the right people, whether it's receptionist,
whether it's a technician to bring into the practice?
They have to have a good team attitude, you know, understand that teamwork is key because
(09:16):
we are like a big family in some ways.
We keep, you know, have each other's backs, we're looking out for everybody.
So they have to like animals, they have to be able to talk to people and they have to
have a good team mentality.
They look at us like, mind pop.
Do you have a daughter who works with you guys now?
Yeah.
(09:36):
Everybody loves her.
You know, all the staff because they've known her for a while and yeah, she's doing a great
job.
And how does that dynamic work?
Because it's a husband, wife, it's a couple of entrepreneurs and then it's a daughter.
So do you guys talk shop all the time?
Yes.
All the time and our other daughter hates it because it grosses her out when we talk about
(09:59):
abscesses at the dinner table.
And she hates it, but the three of us, we get carried away and we forget that she wasn't
part of it.
She's a very big, our other daughter is a very big animal lover, but she's very sensitive.
So blood and guts is not her thing.
(10:20):
And the idea of stabbing a dog to give it a vaccination, which is important for their
health, you know, she just wouldn't want to be that mean and do that kind of stuff.
But she has a slew of animals herself.
So it's hard to turn it off, right?
It's not so much.
We asked other couples, it's like about work-life balance and what they say is, well, it's
really not.
It's more like work-life integration.
(10:41):
I mean, is that the way you guys see it?
It's kind of...
Yes.
We can't turn it off because we come home and we got 11 dogs and five cats and, you know,
we got six horses and goats, sheep, alpacas, chickens.
So we never turn it off.
But it's because we love what we do.
That's the beauty of it.
Right.
I mean, it's not just a job.
(11:02):
It is a lifestyle and it's a joy to be able to be doing what you love.
And that's why we stay together because if we, either one of us married somebody that
didn't like animals, it wouldn't last.
Right.
But we're both in the same boat, so, you know, it works out very well.
(11:22):
That's an important thing.
That's great.
That you both love it.
You love the same thing and you love what you do.
I love that.
I love that.
Why?
You love what you do together.
I mean, how do you guys make decisions like for the business together?
Like, I mean, because I'm, it can't, I mean, we never always agree.
So I got our business right.
(11:43):
And so sometimes it's like, it's like, how do you come to a resolution when you want
to decide on doing something here or there without some video?
How do you guys like work through decisions?
And if you don't agree, how do you work it out?
You talk about it.
Andy is much more the businessman.
I don't like the business side of it nearly as well.
(12:05):
He's very good at the business side of it.
And so, yeah.
And so he'll say, this is what we need to do.
And then we discuss it and try and, if I really hate it, then can we find a compromise?
Can we find a way to make it that it will work both ways?
Because yes, we, I would have gone under if it was me running the business.
But since he runs the business side of it, it works.
(12:28):
Yeah.
I enjoy the business.
I enjoy starting the business.
I enjoy running the business.
Donna is an excellent veterinarian.
She's way better than I am.
But that's what we need because she runs that part of it.
And I just run the business and the numbers and that kind of thing.
So it works out good.
Strange.
See you guys.
(12:49):
Now, it's similar with us.
Tony's more the business guy.
I'm the creative, more the creative person.
And I prefer not to get into the business stuff.
You know, you guys, you're talking a lot about, like we talked about like how to bring in
the right people and what you guys look for, et cetera.
But obviously it sounds like you guys are doing a great job in terms of working with
(13:10):
the people.
What is there something or principles of working with people to get the most out of them, keep
morale high, you know, when you, when you're managing this many people with, you know,
you have 38 people in your, in your group, in your practice.
Vision is really key and being approachable.
You know, I want them to feel they can come to me with any questions or problems or issues
(13:33):
and we try and help where, you know, sit down and talk about a kind of thing and see if
we can work through it.
We have some great veterinarians do.
One of our veterinarians is, she's really good at morale.
Like she'll say, okay, we're having a week where it's winter and it's cold.
So this is bring cookies to work week, you know, so everyone brings, you know, and so
(13:58):
everyone gets involved in that.
And this is bring salads or, you know, she'll get theme nights or, you know, costumes and
holidays and we, she's really good at being creative that way and it's great.
And so any kind of morale boosters or unification, I guess we, we try to have an office, we haven't,
(14:18):
well, we do have an office Christmas party every year.
We try to have a summer outing with everybody, that kind of thing.
It just builds friendships and supports.
And then most of our employees are really great.
They really want hospital to succeed.
Food, food is a good motivator.
They watch me come in and they look to see if I have donuts in my hand or not.
(14:40):
And if I do, everybody's in a good mood that day.
Right.
Well, you know, you're talking to two Italians here.
So we get the food there.
Oh, yes.
Oh, yeah.
Right.
Just a little bit of donut.
Oh my God.
It's so simple.
So on the client side, what do you guys see?
Like what's the secret for clients?
Right.
You guys are built, you've built such a great client base.
(15:01):
Like what's the secret for a client to say, man, this is great.
I recommend these guys to my friends who has a dog.
Because you're literally sometimes, right?
I mean, in your business, you're dealing with life and death sometimes, right?
Trying to save animals or, you know, et cetera.
So like what's the key to keeping a happy client, you know, to deal with these clients
and what could be tough situations sometimes?
(15:22):
I think a big key is listening to them and, you know, empathizing.
They're not just a number to us.
You know, they are somebody's beloved pet owner and they have their beloved pet.
And sometimes they can be exasperating.
And sometimes, you know, you have a lot of compassion.
(15:42):
You want to slap them up the side of the head if they are neglecting their animal, you know,
or doing a terrible job.
But for the most part, clients like it when you listen to them and you genuinely want
to help them with their pet.
Right.
We don't talk at them.
We listen to their concerns and we work with their concerns in the best way we can.
(16:04):
But it's basically a communication and basically listening to what they're concerned about
with their pet.
So it's really, yeah, having empathy and engaging them and just listening.
And that's an important quality.
Yeah, when we interview a vet, it's like, how well do I talk to them?
(16:27):
How, you know, you can tell when you're talking to someone if they're listening or if they're
just all about, it's me.
You can't have a huge ego.
You know, you have to just say, we're here to help and how can we best help you?
Yeah, I love that.
That's great.
Especially with animals, it's such an emotional thing, you know, being, you know, there are
(16:49):
your babies.
So do you have any guiding principles by, you know, so you guys have been in business for
quite a while.
So do you have any guiding principles?
So we say, okay, this is our compass.
Just be honest with the client, not selling them stuff they don't need.
(17:10):
Just, you know, it's a tough one.
Yeah.
Yeah, be, be an honest with the client.
It's not all about the money.
In fact, it's very little about the money.
You have to survive.
But I think veterinary medicine has gotten so expensive that we want to make, we want
to make it affordable.
So we help people that can't really afford it.
(17:32):
We give them lots of options to save their pet.
What I'm lying is we want to save the pet and flexibility is, yeah, we want to know
that it's not about just making money from them, that we really care about their pet.
So service, I guess good service is important in a business.
(17:55):
Right.
If you have poor service, nobody's going to stay with you.
And even if you're the most spectacularly brilliant veterinarian in the world.
Which we are.
Not, not.
If you can't communicate or empathize, like you say, or be of service, then people don't
(18:17):
care.
Right.
Good service is the bottom line.
So we do a lot of work with rescues.
Donna's got a rescue that she works with.
It's called mainly rat rescue.
So.
They rescue rats and Donna gets a half a dozen a week or more that she spays and neuters
for them.
And what do you, what do you do with the rats?
(18:39):
Pet rats, actually they're great pets.
They're really good because they're very personal.
They're very friendly.
They don't last that long.
You know, now you'll have like the whole city of New York coming up to New Hampshire.
There was years, a few years ago, there were rat people are a little strange too.
(18:59):
I mean, you gotta admit.
And so there was a situation in New York where someone had rats and got.
Rats are mice.
No, they had rats and they ended up with like 200 of them lost their mind and dumped them
out on a freeway in New York city.
Oh my God.
And so mainly rat rescue, this organization called up all their people and everybody
(19:23):
went running out and caught these rats and trapped them and then they processed them
all and found them home.
They're domestic pet rats.
Yeah.
But people get overwhelmed with them and they get rid of them just like, just like pit bulls
or any other dogs that they give up.
They give up their rats.
Wow.
I never even knew there was like rat rescue.
(19:43):
Oh wow.
Now, living in New York city for many years, like you see rats and you're like, oh, like
we see, we used to see rats eating like a big slice of pizza going walking down the street
like in New York.
Yeah.
No, you don't want to mess with those rats.
Yeah, we don't deal with those.
You don't want to mess with those rats because you can't.
I was going to ask you guys, and this was actually a different type of story.
Like if there's any unusual stories or that you guys want to share about dealing with
(20:05):
a, you know, an animal or the business that, you know, I mean, that you guys run into over
your career.
We had to go and castrate some piglets and mama pigs are very protective.
So you have to make sure that you are safe from mama pig before you stick.
(20:26):
Because if you pick up any pig, it screams.
You can pick it up and snuggle it and shower it with kisses and they will scream bloody
murder if their feet leave the ground.
It's just the way pigs are.
They're not very snuggly.
Anyway, so if you're going to pick up a piglet, you want to make sure mom can't hear it.
Anyway, so Jean and I, one of our techs, were going out to do some piglets and they had
(20:50):
locked the moms in these little sheds and so the piglets were loose outside.
And so we picked up the first piglet and screamed mom went launching through a window that was
too small for her, but she took out the whole window in the side and came charging after
us.
So we had to go tearing for the fence.
It's fun.
(21:10):
Oh my God.
Yeah.
Dona has a client also that raises ostriches.
Oh yeah.
And so she can probably tell you better, but they were out.
They're tough animals to work on because they're huge and they're strong.
And they don't like being held.
This guy has ostriches.
His farm is called Fowl Language Farm, F-O-W-L, which I think is funny.
(21:33):
He had one that cut its throat on something.
They're very curious.
They're like toddlers.
You know, they're like, oh, what's that?
If you walk into an ostrich pen, if you have anything shiny, glasses, earrings, anything,
you know, they come over and they have to check it out.
So they, and they're like eight feet tall.
(21:55):
So they'll poke your head.
I mean, it's just like a bunch of things like, oh, what's that?
Oh, what's that?
Anyway, they're funny.
So this one, I don't know what he'd run into, but he cut his neck and he'd go to eat and
the food was falling out.
So we really had to stitch it up because his esophagus was torn.
(22:15):
And so there is some sedation, which we don't do a lot of and it's kind of hard to know
how to sedate and you can't weigh him.
But we did get him sedated, except he wasn't sedated enough.
Anyway, so then we were just trying to get hold of him to sit on him basically and wrangle
him.
And, oh, he was so tough.
Yeah.
And it ended up where I had, you know, his head.
(22:39):
I was like, he had a snap.
And then, yeah, I was holding onto a fence and I was trying to hold him up against the
fence and I ended up pretty much sitting on him because the other vet, there was another
vet and she was going around in the other side of the fence and was trying to stitch
while I held him still and the owner jumped on his back too.
I mean, it was such a rodeo.
(23:00):
It was crazy.
But we did get it done and he healed, which was phenomenal.
I love it.
Oh, and it worked.
You guys actually did work.
Yeah.
I mean, he was so good at succeeding in stitching up really fast his neck and it healed and
he's running around.
Well, yeah, I didn't know.
Is Ostrich riding a sport somewhere?
I think I've heard of it before.
I don't know where.
(23:20):
They're very strong.
I mean, he they're very strong.
Well, I don't weigh as much as he does, but I mean, I'm a solid weight for a Ostrich to
carry in yet he didn't seem to have any trouble with me and the owner, both sitting on him
and he's still ready to get up.
Yeah, it was amazing.
So, so I get why Andy wants to stick with a small animal.
(23:41):
You got your piggy pig, pig charging through windows after you.
I started to throw you on their back.
God bless you.
Andy, you married an incredibly strong woman and you're going to be you are very lucky.
He's amazing.
Oh my God, man.
Wow.
How long do they live?
Ostrich is 10, 15 years.
We're not getting we're not getting a pet ostrich in Hoboken.
(24:05):
So if you were to give some tips, like three tips to couples who are thinking about starting
a business together, what would you say?
Communicate.
Any, it doesn't have to be any tips.
Don't take don't take life too seriously.
You got to have a sense of humor.
(24:26):
You know, if you just too uptight, you're going to struggle, you're going to fight with each
other.
You know, you got to it's give and take.
You give into you give in a lot, you know, and you just work together and you share ideas
and you know, you put the other person first.
(24:47):
Basically, if I had to do everything my way, it wouldn't be fair and I understand that it
wouldn't be fair.
So I take her ideas and she takes my ideas and I do things I don't necessarily want to
do like large animal.
If it was up to me, I would do strictly small animal and she knows that but she likes to
(25:09):
a large animal horses and stuff.
So we add that on as half of the practice and it's give and take.
Give and take.
It's not all about me.
It's about us.
You know, what we want to do is a business together.
That's great.
That's really great advice.
I love it.
Really great advice.
Don anything to add or?
(25:31):
Well, we always ask God for guidance too.
Exactly.
Yeah, we have a common faith and that's important, I think, because he keeps us sort of focused
on that and not just around us.
It helps keep the ego in check.
Yes.
Yeah.
For more information about our guests and their practice, visit pembroke-animal-hospital.com.
(25:57):
Thank you for listening.
If you enjoyed this podcast, please share, subscribe and give us a review.
We would so appreciate it.
A couple of entrepreneurs is available on all podcast platforms.
(26:19):
For more information about our business and what we do, visit burningshorts.com.
Thanks for listening.
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