May 13, 2025 • 29 mins
What happens when pets need specialist care but live hours away from the nearest veterinary specialist? Dr. Kenneth Pierce witnessed this challenge firsthand when he found himself the only specialist serving an enormous three-state region of the country. His solution? Create a virtual bridge connecting general practitioners with specialists nationwide.
Dr. Pierce's journey from New Orleans to becoming a board-certified ophthalmologist reveals how passion for a specialty can transform into something much larger. While studying at LSU, the language of eye diseases, surgical techniques, and diagnostic processes "turned the lights on" for him, setting him on a path through academia, private practice, and eventually entrepreneurship. His experiences across different practice settings highlighted a critical gap: while metropolitan areas concentrate veterinary specialists, vast regions of America function as "specialist deserts" where access to advanced care requires significant travel or weeks-long waits.
Vespicon emerges as Dr. Pierce's answer to this nationwide challenge. Unlike traditional telemedicine, Vespicon offers veterinary practices unlimited access to board-certified specialists through recorded video consultations across all specialties for small animals, large animals, and exotics. The subscription model removes financial barriers between veterinarians and specialist guidance, allowing practices to consult freely without passing additional costs to clients. Perhaps most importantly, the system maintains continuity by connecting veterinarians with the same specialist throughout a case's management.
Throughout our conversation, Dr. Pierce emphasizes the philosophy that guides both his business approach and advice to colleagues: "Be like water." Having clear goals while remaining adaptable to changing circumstances has allowed him to balance running a specialty practice with growing Vespicon. He credits much of his success to surrounding himself with exceptional team members who execute the vision daily, demonstrating that entrepreneurship isn't about doing everything yourself, but finding the right "who" rather than focusing solely on "how."
Ready to explore how specialist consultation could transform your practice? Connect with Dr. Pierce and the Vespicon team at VespiCon.com or on social media @VespiCon to learn how unlimited specialist access can improve patient outcomes while supporting your veterinary team's clinical co
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to the Veterinary Blueprint Podcast
brought to you by Butler VetInsurance.
Hosted by Bill Butler, theVeterinary Blueprint Podcast is
for veterinarians and practicemanagers who are looking to
learn about working on theirpractice instead of in their
practice.
Each episode we will bring yousuccessful, proven blueprints
from others, both inside andoutside the veterinary industry.
(00:21):
Welcome to today's episode andoutside the veterinary industry,
Welcome to today's episode.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
I'm your host, Bill Butler, and today we're joined
by Dr Kenneth Pierce, aboard-certified veterinary
ophthalmologist and the founderof Vespicon.
With over 15 years experiencein the veterinary industry, Dr
Pierce has dedicated his careerto advancing specialty
veterinary medicine andimproving access to expert
consultations.
Dr Pierce has dedicated hiscareer to advancing specialty
veterinary medicine andimproving access to expert
consultations.
Dr Pierce, welcome to theVeterinary Blueprints podcast.
Speaker 3 (00:51):
Thank you.
Thank you for having me, Bill.
Speaker 2 (00:52):
Yeah, so I'm glad to have you and you know we had
connected with your team and Iran into a number of your team
members down at VMX and thoughtthat it would be great to have
you on the podcast with whatVespicon has going on and just
your journey as not only aveterinarian a specialty
veterinarian but as anentrepreneur and some of the
things that you've done in yourcareer.
(01:14):
So you know, why don't you giveus a little background on your
veterinary career and how youwound up where you are now?
Speaker 3 (01:21):
So thanks.
So I'm originally from NewOrleans.
Growing up as a city boy caughtfrogs and lizards in the
backyard and my parents neverlet me have a dog but knew I
wanted to be a doctor growing up.
But didn't know what and satdown.
My cousin actually sat me downaround high school.
(01:43):
Timeframe was like you know,let's really consider your
career and why don't you lookinto veterinary medicine?
So I got connected with one ofthe veterinarians the only
African American veterinarian inthe state of New Orleans or
city of New Orleans at the time,which was George Robinson.
Spent some time with him andthen knew I wanted to get out of
(02:03):
New Orleans for school.
So went to Tuskegee forundergrad because they also had
a vet school there.
But majored in animal science,did well, resident of the state
of Louisiana, and in-statetuition drew me back to LSU for
vet school.
So was in LSU, did great there.
I was in LSU, did great there,and during my third year, right
(02:27):
before we started clinics, theneurology and ophthalmology
class were combined and I knewthat I wanted to specialize and
at the time neurology andcardiology were actually number
one and two respectively of whatI would go into until
ophthalmology came in.
Until ophthalmology came in andthe language, the disease
processes, the surgery andmedicine aspect of it and the
(02:53):
variety of species that you knoware available to you as an
ophthalmologist like just wasmind blowing to me and I was
like that's the career path thatI want to follow.
So I geared my clinical yearand externships and such towards
places where there wasophthalmologists and then kind
of went through the entireprocess of internship, specialty
(03:13):
internship, residency and soforth.
Speaker 2 (03:16):
So that's what brought meians for a variety of
reasons and you know yougravitate towards what that is
and for you it was ophthalmology.
Speaker 3 (03:32):
Yeah, it was blatant, like the lights went on.
It was just so easy.
So, yeah, I knew that was it,which is great because you know
people don't like our eyes, sothat's good job security for me.
Speaker 2 (03:47):
Well, that is good.
And uh, you know, if there'ssomething I know about my
animals, they like to eitherpoke their eyes or run into
stuff, or you know whatever.
So, um, some of my own issues,Um, and so you know, for for you
, what, what's what, what'sdriven you over the course of
your career and what drives youand what you're doing now with
(04:08):
Vespacon.
Speaker 3 (04:09):
Yeah.
So I think obviously one of themain things that drives me is
just the love of my professionand my career.
So coming to work, seeing eyecases, seeing the impact that I
have on not only animals but onclients, on the pet parents,
turning an eye around that lookslike the colors of the rainbow
(04:31):
to and a non-functional color ofthe rainbow eye to an eye that
is back to normal like is alwaysrewarding and then throughout
the years.
So I always at least try to havesome kind of plan.
I think I either was raised orjust kind of learned over time
(04:52):
that you got to at least have aloose plan and be, I tell my
nurses, be like water.
Everything changes on a dailybasis, on an hourly basis, but
if you're able to adapt, becomfortable with adapting, then
things come easy or can comeeasier.
So I knew coming out of myresidency that I wanted to at
least start in academics buteventually probably get into
(05:13):
private practice and then figureout life from there.
Didn't have a major interestright away to own my own
business but was open to theopportunity.
So actually after my residencyat Michigan State I was faculty
at LSU School of VeterinaryMedicine for a little over like
(05:34):
a year and a half and then wentto private practice in New
Jersey.
So I was out in New Jersey forover five years, then moved to
Dallas.
Just like New Orleans andLouisiana, new Jersey, it's like
they're brothers and sistersright Right by the bayou, right
by the shore in New Jersey.
Very simple.
But then so around 2020, soright in the heart of the
(05:59):
pandemic I was at the time.
I was transitioning out of myjob in Dallas in April and came
upon an opportunity of bringingmy specialty to a region of the
United States that never hadpermanent ophthalmologists,
which was in ShreveportLouisiana center, and from all
(06:22):
years of traveling around andseeing how much advice and
access provides empowerment,comfortability and just the
educational aspect of toveterinarians, as well as just
the impact on clients and theirpets, I figured that I need to
(06:44):
see what I can do as just anindividual, as a specialist, to
bridge that gap forveterinarians across the nation.
Because of the fact around thattime, shortly after maybe a year
and a half of being inShreveport, there was an
oncologist another actually LSUgraduate.
There was an oncologist anotheractually LSU graduate.
(07:05):
She graduated two years beforeme Amanda Beck, who was working
in the same building as I set upVeterinary Vision Center, but
she took a position on Florida.
So now I was the onlyspecialist in all of northern
Louisiana, east Texas andsouthern Arkansas.
And so, and again seeing theveterinarians do their level
best.
(07:25):
We're trying to manage allthese different cases, all these
different disease processes,and not having access to, you
know, a comprehensive network ofspecialists is what how
Vespicon came about.
Speaker 2 (07:37):
Yeah, and I think, like in the animal health space
and correct me if I'm wrong it'sa little bit like a food desert
, right, where you live in theinner city and there's no access
to you know vegetables andyou're buying your groceries
from a 7-Eleven or whatever,right?
I mean, we have friends thatlive in inner city, minneapolis
here, and it's like, you know,once a month, just because of
where they live, they don't owna car my wife will pick up a
(08:00):
friend and bring her to Costcobecause it's just, it's easier
to do it that way.
And so you know, unfortunatelyin the animal health world it's
not like you go to your hospitaland you see your general
practitioner and then they say,well, here's a referral or a
consult to go see, you know, theophthalmologist or the
oncologist or gastro or podiatry, three doors down.
(08:23):
You know, I get my health careat the VA.
Everything's under one roof andif you're, if you're a parent,
pet parent, if you own an animaland you want to get more higher
level of care, it's not thatveterinarians don't provide good
care, it's just you can't knoweverything, right.
I mean, that's why they'respecialists and I think and
correct me if I'm wrong thiskind of gets to.
The question is like a lot ofboard certified, you know
(08:47):
cardiologists, ophthalmologists,a lot of them wind up in
academia.
So you're in academia, you'reteaching, you're writing papers
and stuff for veterinarians, butyou're not out in the community
actually providing care.
So it like you're covering ahuge area as the only specialist
for a specific area.
Speaker 3 (09:04):
Yeah, so that is the academic population is kind of
it is.
It is small, small from overallnumbers of specialists that are
in academia and there's a hugeattraction in the industry right
now to try to get specialistsback to academia, especially
with all the new vet schoolsthat are opening, and obviously
they have a pretty wide net asfar as area of service that they
(09:26):
provide.
But even if you are like,obviously the majority of
specialists are in metropolitanareas within the nation, but a
lot of the nation is not ametropolitan area, so that's a
large net that they have to cast.
And then the other problem thatwe're seeing in the industry
with specialists or access tospecialists even in those
metropolitan areas it may takeseveral weeks before you can get
(09:51):
your pet into the specialist.
So whatever's going on withyour pet today may be totally
different three weeks later, forthe worse or for the better
right, hopefully for the better.
So that is also kind of theproblem that we currently have
within the industry and howVespicon helps to solve that.
Speaker 2 (10:10):
So why don't you describe so you mentioned, you
know, we've mentioned.
You founded Vespicon, and whatis Vespicon as a business?
So you got the entrepreneurialbug and said, hey, I see a need
for access to care.
What does that look like?
And you founded Vespicon.
So what is Vespicon and howdoes it work?
Speaker 3 (10:30):
Yeah, so Vespicon is your veterinarians or your
veterinary hospitals morepersonal, comprehensive
concierge network of veterinaryspecialists that they have
access to 24-7 for unlimitedconsultation support as a member
, and basically what that meansis that for that pet parent,
they could go to theirveterinarian.
(10:51):
They can, you know, discusstheir, they can present their
animal to them, theirveterinarian can go and talk
with a specialist because theyremember, get all the kind of
specialist advice on how tomanage that pet at no major cost
to the client.
And ideally our business modelis they don't even charge the
(11:11):
client for that consultation,because that sometimes can be a
barrier to use because theclient on the budget is going to
tell the vet no, or sometimesin the heat of the moment, as
human beings it's hard for us tosay, oh, I need to go talk to
somebody and I'm going to chargeyou for it and this is what
we're going to do, or what haveyou?
The hospital has a subscription,the doctors use us unlimited.
They get the knowledge whichwill help that pet as well as
(11:34):
future pets to come.
They are now the actingspecialists that can do
everything in-house and generateat least more revenue, more
education, have better patientoutcomes, at least locally.
Or we help them kind of managethat case until they can go to
that specialty hospital for, say, a diagnostic procedure or
diagnostic test, and the casedoesn't fall apart in the
(11:56):
interim and we're also aconcierge referral service.
So we take that pain point alsooff of the veterinary hospital
by being members with us.
Whenever a case does need to bereferred, they get back to
practicing and staying busybecause I know they're busy
already and we just help bookthat referral for them so in
essence, for for me, as a layveterinarian out there
(12:18):
practicing you know bill's vetpractice and I want to sign up
with vespicon.
Speaker 2 (12:23):
I sign up with vespicon to get access to your
stable, so to speak, of ofexperts or board certified X or
whatever in an area that I'vegot a question on for a specific
case, and then I get to usethat advice to back me up and
say, hey, I think I could dothis or this with this case.
(12:44):
What could have the bestoutcome?
I just need a sounding boardfor this heart murmur or this
eye issue, or, you know, I'vegot two treatment protocols I
can do for oncology.
Which one's the best one?
Speaker 3 (12:57):
Exactly so we.
So what makes us different andwhat sets us apart is that we
are it's, a more personalapproach, right?
Previous competitors are eitheryou get a report or something's
just over the phone or whathave you.
You don't really know whoyou're talking to, as well, as
you get different people atdifferent times.
There we are a recorded videoconsultation service with one or
(13:18):
multiple specialists at a time,and we cover everything for
large, small and exotics, and aswell as some additional and
ancillary services.
So you get that recording foryour records.
We are with you whether it's arecheck.
So you get that recording foryour records.
We are with you whether it's arecheck, so that same case kind
of followed through.
You also have the ability tojust have topic discussions with
us.
It doesn't necessarily have tobe about a case, it's just you
(13:40):
now have access to thiscardiologist and neurologist
that you never had Exactly.
And then we also provide moretoo.
We provide some teleradiologyservices.
We provide CE.
We actually are rolling out ourbusiness admin arm, vespicon,
where we already have aveterinary, social worker as
(14:01):
well as veterinary, which doesyou know practice and business
leadership within the hospitalas well, as we have some others
that are currently finalizingthe negotiations to round out
our business admin arm.
But pretty much we are thatkind of firm of all types of
(14:22):
support for DVMs, for the adminas well as, you know, the
nursing team.
Wow.
Speaker 2 (14:27):
So you've it sounds like you've made some pretty
bold moves in your veterinarycareer, moves across the country
doing different things you know.
For veterinarians out therelooking to make some bold moves
in their career, their journeyas a veterinarian, what advice
would you have for them?
Speaker 3 (14:44):
Yeah.
So I would definitely say andit's probably stuff that they've
already heard but you know,definitely doing your research
and really you know, figuringout, you know what's going to
potentially set you apart, whatis, you know, worth your time
and your love?
Because obviously, if you'remaking whatever pivot or
whatever business move, there'sgoing to be some labor of love
associated with it, somesacrifice.
(15:05):
So, making sure that that isappropriate for you, for your
family, what y'all want to do,and as long as it's an
investment in yourself, I don'tthink you can never go wrong
with investing in yourself andimproving that.
And I think if you do all that,make sure everything's in a row
(15:26):
, take that leap of faith anddon't be scared.
If it fails, no worries, youwill learn along the way for the
next best thing.
So just just know that if itdoes fail, it's not a problem.
We all have it in our life andwe learn from it.
Speaker 2 (15:41):
So what's one of the biggest lessons you've learned
along the way?
You know you've worked atpractices.
You worked at academia.
You started your own practice.
You launched a separate companyproviding services to
veterinary practices in additionto running your own.
You know we were chattingbefore the call.
You know you're in surgerytoday.
You had jury duty this week.
You had all this stuff going on, and so how do you you know
(16:05):
what, what?
How do you balance those thingsas a as a business owner and
leader and leading your team andall those things?
How do you balance that?
Speaker 3 (16:14):
Yeah, you have to be like water, for sure.
Yeah, I definitely like thatphilosophy as far as just just
being amenable but also kind ofhaving your boundaries Right.
So obviously you got to protectyour time.
Time management is superimportant.
Boundaries right.
So obviously you got to protectyour time.
Time management is superimportant.
Even even in your off time ofwork, like time management you
(16:36):
got to.
You know, take care of yourself, take care of the ones that are
around you, your loved ones andso forth, and then and the your
business or businesses.
But you know, every day issomething new, people are
different, you know, from oneclient to the next or whatever,
and probably the overall biggestthing I would say is for anyone
(16:56):
is just communication.
Make sure you're effectivelycommunicating with whoever
you're talking to, whether it'sthe most simplest thing or the
most complex thing.
Clarity of communication willsave you in the long run.
Oh, absolutely.
Speaker 2 (17:09):
I want to go back to something you said about
investment in yourself, and Ireally like a quote from Beyonce
.
Beyonce said I don't oftengamble, but you said about you
know, being willing to fail,understanding that you know a
lot of times you didn't say thisspecifically, but I think it
(17:29):
was probably what you meant Alot of times, you learn the most
lessons from failure, notsuccess, and I saw a Josh Brolin
quote saying you know, I didn'tlearn anything from success, I
learned everything from failure,and I may be wrong with that
quote, but what, what have you?
You know, where did you investin yourself over over the course
of the last you know, fiveyears?
(17:50):
As you're leading up openingyour own practice and leading up
to starting Vespicon, whatinvestments did you make in
yourself that that you look backon now and go yeah, that was
really a good move to do?
Speaker 3 (18:02):
Yeah, I think just over the years again kind of
starting from academics and thengoing into practice, paying
attention to kind of thebusiness aspect of it.
So you know, there was when Iwas at, for example, when I was
at LSU or an undergrad, reallydidn't take business courses or
the business courses in vetschool were like I remember one
(18:26):
specific right that we had.
So business acumen was real lowcoming out of vet school for me
and it wasn't something that wastaught for my family growing up
.
But being open, being receptive,listening, paying attention,
learning along the way was, Ithink, kind of the subtle
(18:47):
investments in myself over timeand then just kind of figuring
out and planning out andfiguring out what was going to
be the long-term goal Like wheredo I see myself in 10, 15 years
and then what steps do I needto do to get there and that
helped me with a little bit ofdirection of all, right, I'm
going to start doing this, I'mgoing to start looking towards
(19:09):
this.
When the opportunity came aboutof starting Veterinary Vision
Center, it actually kind ofstarted from just a simple
question of if I would come outand do a speaking engagement at
a 12 doctor GP practice inShreveport, louisiana, and so I
(19:30):
was like, yeah, I can speak.
And then I came into what wouldyou do?
Cause it's some consulting andI was already doing consulting
for the practice.
I was in a New Jersey.
So I was like, yeah, I can dothat.
And then that divulged into theopening.
Oh, I can easily set up shophere.
Speaker 2 (19:42):
Yeah, I can do this.
Speaker 3 (19:43):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (19:44):
So that's interesting and you know you had mentioned
twice, talked about your teamand being like water.
But at the end of the day, Ithink as entrepreneurs or
business owners or veterinariansif you say it's a veterinary
career I want to own my ownpractice and I've said this with
other guests and you know I'vedone this with my practice, my
(20:05):
business.
If you have a vision of whatyou want it to look like what
color walls, how many exam roomsare there and all of those
things you kind of have thatmental vision picture of
yourself.
What does it look like for youknow, dr Pierce, to be
practicing at your practiceversus a different practice?
And then you behave like wateralong the way and just kind of
(20:25):
let the decisions makethemselves.
Yeah, this is a decision thatwill help me get closer to that
goal.
It makes those decisions a loteasier to make.
Would you agree, for sure?
Speaker 3 (20:35):
I would.
I think, yeah, it definitelymakes it a lot easier, a little
less stressful.
If you're rigid in yourthoughts, it might get you there
a lot faster.
I mean definitely if you've gota plan and you execute like by
all means, you will definitelyhit your goal faster.
But then if something doesn'twork out, it derails you a lot
(20:55):
faster too, right.
Exactly.
Speaker 2 (20:58):
Exactly so.
Uh, have a good, have a reallygood plan.
I'm not advocating, notplanning.
Uh, winston Churchill said youknow, failing to plan is
planning to fail.
However, you've got to be ableto adapt that plan if something
doesn't work out.
And so you know, for you, withVespicon and everything that you
have going on there, you knowwhat's the future for you.
(21:20):
And you know I talked about 5,10-year planning for you and
your practice.
I mean, you're growing apractice, you're growing
Vespicon.
How do you see being able to doboth of those?
You know it's probably not somesort of duality where it's one
or the other, it's.
How do you do both?
Speaker 3 (21:33):
I've actually cloned myself.
Speaker 2 (21:34):
Oh, you have.
Speaker 3 (21:35):
Speaking of Dr Pierce 2.0.
That's one of my favoritemovies is, uh, multiplicity with
, uh, michael keaton has anawesome movie.
Yeah, it is a good movie.
Um, but part of the plan withveterinary vision center was to
eventually get an associate inhere with me, uh, to help kind
(21:58):
of take off some of the burdenwith managing two businesses.
And as of October of last yearwe hired our associate, dr
Kelsey Bailey.
So she has been working with meat Ben Air Vision Center, which
is great.
And as time goes on and asVespicon continues to grow, my
plan is to kind of shift myfocus a little bit towards
(22:22):
Vespicon more um but I think youalso have a good team, right so
?
Speaker 2 (22:27):
like you didn't reach out to me about being on my
podcast.
Somebody from your team reachedout to me from being on the
podcast and I didn't see youstanding in the booth down in
VMX.
I ran into your team in thebooth at VMX.
So you've, you've, you've got agood team behind you, that's.
That's kind of putting somewind in your sails, so you're
not trying to do it all byyourself you 100% about that.
Speaker 3 (22:49):
So along the way of all these travels and places,
I've been fortunate to have somereally key smart ladies yeah,
that's all that so around me andthey are efficient, they
execute, they do their job andit takes a lot of stress and
burden off of me at times.
Speaker 2 (23:08):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (23:09):
The majority of time, but yeah, so I've kept them.
You met Lauren Tufts, who'shead of operations for Vespicon.
She used to be my former nurse,oh wow.
Speaker 2 (23:17):
Okay.
Speaker 3 (23:18):
Yeah, in Veterinary Vision Center, and her husband
is in the military.
They got deployed to adifferent state and so I told
her like you're not goinganywhere.
Speaker 2 (23:27):
You're too good, you're going to help me.
Speaker 3 (23:29):
Yeah, you're going to help me execute this thing, but
yeah, so I can't do it withoutthe team and, as the future goes
, there's definitely plans forexpansion for both of the
businesses and expanding theteams as well.
Speaker 2 (23:43):
Like there's a, there's a no, no one person.
No, there's a really good bookout there called who, not how,
and it's it's thinking aboutwho's going to do this stuff,
not how am I going to do it.
And I think, how am I going todo all these things?
For to grow my practice or growmy business?
Or I want to launch a sidehustle just to see if I can get
something going.
Whatever that might be, it'snot really a how question, it's
(24:06):
who's going to do the work,because I can't do all the stuff
at Butler Vet Insurance andeverything else, and so it's
that helping you along the wayversus that solo person at the
top.
A lot of times it looks likethat solo person.
It looks like Dr Pierce isdoing it all or Bill's doing it
all, but it's really not.
Speaker 3 (24:24):
No, no, but I'm okay with taking the credit Sometimes
.
Speaker 2 (24:29):
Sometimes that works out as long as you got to share
the love.
Well, I've really appreciatedit If you had one gold nugget
piece of advice for ourlisteners out there,
veterinarians who want to wantto make a bold move.
You know you chat about it alittle bit, but what's the one
thing that you would recommendto them?
Speaker 3 (24:47):
Sorry, I started a little bit because.
I went to my Vespicon brain andone of the things that Vespicon
does that is helpful forveterinarians is basically one
of the things that I saw thatwas lacking somewhat in the
industry is supportingveterinarians right.
We do a lot with supporting theclients with supporting our
nursing staff, which is veryimportant as an industry, but
(25:08):
from a practice owner standpoint, supporting your doctors, who
are like your main moneymakersor whatever, sometimes kind of
falls and there's a lot of, youknow, deviant burnout and all
this other stuff that goes on,which was also one of the things
that kind of VespaCon broke thebarrier for of if you're
supporting your doctors withthis team of experts, now
(25:29):
they've got clinical support.
Speaker 2 (25:30):
They've got clinical mentorship ready.
Speaker 3 (25:32):
Yep, they're going to love their job, they're going
to love the fact that they can,they have access and they're
able to do more and have betteroutcomes.
So that in itself for ahospital is like the most better
outcomes.
So that in itself for ahospital is like the most, one
of the main things you could dofrom a from a veterinary
standpoint is we've got youcovered.
Speaker 2 (25:47):
Support, support, unlimited access.
Well, that's a great piece ofadvice.
You were going to say somethingelse.
What was it going to be?
I didn't want to cut you off.
What was it?
Speaker 3 (25:56):
Yeah, I was just thinking just from someone who's
again trying to make a boldmove do it, yeah, just do it,
yeah.
That would be my short andsimple uh as.
Just do it.
Speaker 2 (26:08):
As I had.
I was on a call with anotherinsurance agent, a good friend
of mine down in texas, and wewere chatting about he spent I
specialize in veterinarians, hespecializes in agriculture and
we talked about burning theships.
And uh, you know, sometimesyou've got to make a bold move,
burn the ships and say, okay,we're all in on X, whatever it
is.
And, uh, we're going to makethis work.
(26:29):
You know, we're.
We're going to make it work orwe're not going to make it.
It's going to fail, but it'sgoing to fail spectacularly.
Speaker 1 (26:35):
But I'd rather have the.
Speaker 2 (26:36):
the fear of defeat?
Uh, I wouldn't have.
Uh, the fear of failure needsto not stop me from doing it.
It's that man in the arenaquote about.
You know, I'd rather have theloss of failure than never
having done the bold deeds.
Exactly, exactly.
Well, what's the best place for?
If somebody wanted to reach outto you, and reach your team at
Vespicon, or reach out to youdirectly, how would they get a
(27:00):
hold of you, dr Pierce?
Speaker 3 (27:01):
Yeah, you can consult with us today at VespaConcom.
If you have questions, there'sa contact, or if you want to
sign up, there's a sign upbutton right on there.
We're also on all social mediaFacebook, linkedin, instagram
and X at VespaCon.
And that's V-E-S-P-E-C-O-N forVeterinary Specialty specialty
consultants.
(27:21):
It's actually an acronym forthose three words.
Speaker 2 (27:24):
VESPA-CON Altogether.
So, yeah, well, we'll have thatinformation in the show notes
for those listening along, andthanks so much for joining us on
this episode of the VeterinaryBlueprints Podcast, dr Pierce.
Speaker 3 (27:35):
Thank you, bill.
Thank you for having me, andbest of luck to everybody out
there listening to this.
Speaker 2 (27:39):
Absolutely Well, as always for those listening.
Please like, share and reviewthe podcast.
It helps get our message out toveterinarians and practice
managers looking to grow andspend time on their business
instead of in it.
Thanks for listening to thisepisode and we look forward to
seeing you soon.
Welcome to the Veterinary Blueprint Podcast
brought to you by Butler VetInsurance.
Hosted by Bill Butler, theVeterinary Blueprint Podcast is
for veterinarians and practicemanagers who are looking to
learn about working on theirpractice instead of in their
practice.
Each episode we will bring yousuccessful, proven blueprints
from others, both inside andoutside the veterinary industry.
(00:21):
Welcome to today's episode andoutside the veterinary industry,
Welcome to today's episode.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
I'm your host, Bill Butler, and today we're joined
by Dr Kenneth Pierce, aboard-certified veterinary
ophthalmologist and the founderof Vespicon.
With over 15 years experiencein the veterinary industry, Dr
Pierce has dedicated his careerto advancing specialty
veterinary medicine andimproving access to expert
consultations.
Dr Pierce has dedicated hiscareer to advancing specialty
veterinary medicine andimproving access to expert
consultations.
Dr Pierce, welcome to theVeterinary Blueprints podcast.
Speaker 3 (00:51):
Thank you.
Thank you for having me, Bill.
Speaker 2 (00:52):
Yeah, so I'm glad to have you and you know we had
connected with your team and Iran into a number of your team
members down at VMX and thoughtthat it would be great to have
you on the podcast with whatVespicon has going on and just
your journey as not only aveterinarian a specialty
veterinarian but as anentrepreneur and some of the
things that you've done in yourcareer.
(01:14):
So you know, why don't you giveus a little background on your
veterinary career and how youwound up where you are now?
Speaker 3 (01:21):
So thanks.
So I'm originally from NewOrleans.
Growing up as a city boy caughtfrogs and lizards in the
backyard and my parents neverlet me have a dog but knew I
wanted to be a doctor growing up.
But didn't know what and satdown.
My cousin actually sat me downaround high school.
(01:43):
Timeframe was like you know,let's really consider your
career and why don't you lookinto veterinary medicine?
So I got connected with one ofthe veterinarians the only
African American veterinarian inthe state of New Orleans or
city of New Orleans at the time,which was George Robinson.
Spent some time with him andthen knew I wanted to get out of
(02:03):
New Orleans for school.
So went to Tuskegee forundergrad because they also had
a vet school there.
But majored in animal science,did well, resident of the state
of Louisiana, and in-statetuition drew me back to LSU for
vet school.
So was in LSU, did great there.
I was in LSU, did great there,and during my third year, right
(02:27):
before we started clinics, theneurology and ophthalmology
class were combined and I knewthat I wanted to specialize and
at the time neurology andcardiology were actually number
one and two respectively of whatI would go into until
ophthalmology came in.
Until ophthalmology came in andthe language, the disease
processes, the surgery andmedicine aspect of it and the
(02:53):
variety of species that you knoware available to you as an
ophthalmologist like just wasmind blowing to me and I was
like that's the career path thatI want to follow.
So I geared my clinical yearand externships and such towards
places where there wasophthalmologists and then kind
of went through the entireprocess of internship, specialty
(03:13):
internship, residency and soforth.
Speaker 2 (03:16):
So that's what brought meians for a variety of
reasons and you know yougravitate towards what that is
and for you it was ophthalmology.
Speaker 3 (03:32):
Yeah, it was blatant, like the lights went on.
It was just so easy.
So, yeah, I knew that was it,which is great because you know
people don't like our eyes, sothat's good job security for me.
Speaker 2 (03:47):
Well, that is good.
And uh, you know, if there'ssomething I know about my
animals, they like to eitherpoke their eyes or run into
stuff, or you know whatever.
So, um, some of my own issues,Um, and so you know, for for you
, what, what's what, what'sdriven you over the course of
your career and what drives youand what you're doing now with
(04:08):
Vespacon.
Speaker 3 (04:09):
Yeah.
So I think obviously one of themain things that drives me is
just the love of my professionand my career.
So coming to work, seeing eyecases, seeing the impact that I
have on not only animals but onclients, on the pet parents,
turning an eye around that lookslike the colors of the rainbow
(04:31):
to and a non-functional color ofthe rainbow eye to an eye that
is back to normal like is alwaysrewarding and then throughout
the years.
So I always at least try to havesome kind of plan.
I think I either was raised orjust kind of learned over time
(04:52):
that you got to at least have aloose plan and be, I tell my
nurses, be like water.
Everything changes on a dailybasis, on an hourly basis, but
if you're able to adapt, becomfortable with adapting, then
things come easy or can comeeasier.
So I knew coming out of myresidency that I wanted to at
least start in academics buteventually probably get into
(05:13):
private practice and then figureout life from there.
Didn't have a major interestright away to own my own
business but was open to theopportunity.
So actually after my residencyat Michigan State I was faculty
at LSU School of VeterinaryMedicine for a little over like
(05:34):
a year and a half and then wentto private practice in New
Jersey.
So I was out in New Jersey forover five years, then moved to
Dallas.
Just like New Orleans andLouisiana, new Jersey, it's like
they're brothers and sistersright Right by the bayou, right
by the shore in New Jersey.
Very simple.
But then so around 2020, soright in the heart of the
(05:59):
pandemic I was at the time.
I was transitioning out of myjob in Dallas in April and came
upon an opportunity of bringingmy specialty to a region of the
United States that never hadpermanent ophthalmologists,
which was in ShreveportLouisiana center, and from all
(06:22):
years of traveling around andseeing how much advice and
access provides empowerment,comfortability and just the
educational aspect of toveterinarians, as well as just
the impact on clients and theirpets, I figured that I need to
(06:44):
see what I can do as just anindividual, as a specialist, to
bridge that gap forveterinarians across the nation.
Because of the fact around thattime, shortly after maybe a year
and a half of being inShreveport, there was an
oncologist another actually LSUgraduate.
There was an oncologist anotheractually LSU graduate.
(07:05):
She graduated two years beforeme Amanda Beck, who was working
in the same building as I set upVeterinary Vision Center, but
she took a position on Florida.
So now I was the onlyspecialist in all of northern
Louisiana, east Texas andsouthern Arkansas.
And so, and again seeing theveterinarians do their level
best.
(07:25):
We're trying to manage allthese different cases, all these
different disease processes,and not having access to, you
know, a comprehensive network ofspecialists is what how
Vespicon came about.
Speaker 2 (07:37):
Yeah, and I think, like in the animal health space
and correct me if I'm wrong it'sa little bit like a food desert
, right, where you live in theinner city and there's no access
to you know vegetables andyou're buying your groceries
from a 7-Eleven or whatever,right?
I mean, we have friends thatlive in inner city, minneapolis
here, and it's like, you know,once a month, just because of
where they live, they don't owna car my wife will pick up a
(08:00):
friend and bring her to Costcobecause it's just, it's easier
to do it that way.
And so you know, unfortunatelyin the animal health world it's
not like you go to your hospitaland you see your general
practitioner and then they say,well, here's a referral or a
consult to go see, you know, theophthalmologist or the
oncologist or gastro or podiatry, three doors down.
(08:23):
You know, I get my health careat the VA.
Everything's under one roof andif you're, if you're a parent,
pet parent, if you own an animaland you want to get more higher
level of care, it's not thatveterinarians don't provide good
care, it's just you can't knoweverything, right.
I mean, that's why they'respecialists and I think and
correct me if I'm wrong thiskind of gets to.
The question is like a lot ofboard certified, you know
(08:47):
cardiologists, ophthalmologists,a lot of them wind up in
academia.
So you're in academia, you'reteaching, you're writing papers
and stuff for veterinarians, butyou're not out in the community
actually providing care.
So it like you're covering ahuge area as the only specialist
for a specific area.
Speaker 3 (09:04):
Yeah, so that is the academic population is kind of
it is.
It is small, small from overallnumbers of specialists that are
in academia and there's a hugeattraction in the industry right
now to try to get specialistsback to academia, especially
with all the new vet schoolsthat are opening, and obviously
they have a pretty wide net asfar as area of service that they
(09:26):
provide.
But even if you are like,obviously the majority of
specialists are in metropolitanareas within the nation, but a
lot of the nation is not ametropolitan area, so that's a
large net that they have to cast.
And then the other problem thatwe're seeing in the industry
with specialists or access tospecialists even in those
metropolitan areas it may takeseveral weeks before you can get
(09:51):
your pet into the specialist.
So whatever's going on withyour pet today may be totally
different three weeks later, forthe worse or for the better
right, hopefully for the better.
So that is also kind of theproblem that we currently have
within the industry and howVespicon helps to solve that.
Speaker 2 (10:10):
So why don't you describe so you mentioned, you
know, we've mentioned.
You founded Vespicon, and whatis Vespicon as a business?
So you got the entrepreneurialbug and said, hey, I see a need
for access to care.
What does that look like?
And you founded Vespicon.
So what is Vespicon and howdoes it work?
Speaker 3 (10:30):
Yeah, so Vespicon is your veterinarians or your
veterinary hospitals morepersonal, comprehensive
concierge network of veterinaryspecialists that they have
access to 24-7 for unlimitedconsultation support as a member
, and basically what that meansis that for that pet parent,
they could go to theirveterinarian.
(10:51):
They can, you know, discusstheir, they can present their
animal to them, theirveterinarian can go and talk
with a specialist because theyremember, get all the kind of
specialist advice on how tomanage that pet at no major cost
to the client.
And ideally our business modelis they don't even charge the
(11:11):
client for that consultation,because that sometimes can be a
barrier to use because theclient on the budget is going to
tell the vet no, or sometimesin the heat of the moment, as
human beings it's hard for us tosay, oh, I need to go talk to
somebody and I'm going to chargeyou for it and this is what
we're going to do, or what haveyou?
The hospital has a subscription,the doctors use us unlimited.
They get the knowledge whichwill help that pet as well as
(11:34):
future pets to come.
They are now the actingspecialists that can do
everything in-house and generateat least more revenue, more
education, have better patientoutcomes, at least locally.
Or we help them kind of managethat case until they can go to
that specialty hospital for, say, a diagnostic procedure or
diagnostic test, and the casedoesn't fall apart in the
(11:56):
interim and we're also aconcierge referral service.
So we take that pain point alsooff of the veterinary hospital
by being members with us.
Whenever a case does need to bereferred, they get back to
practicing and staying busybecause I know they're busy
already and we just help bookthat referral for them so in
essence, for for me, as a layveterinarian out there
(12:18):
practicing you know bill's vetpractice and I want to sign up
with vespicon.
Speaker 2 (12:23):
I sign up with vespicon to get access to your
stable, so to speak, of ofexperts or board certified X or
whatever in an area that I'vegot a question on for a specific
case, and then I get to usethat advice to back me up and
say, hey, I think I could dothis or this with this case.
(12:44):
What could have the bestoutcome?
I just need a sounding boardfor this heart murmur or this
eye issue, or, you know, I'vegot two treatment protocols I
can do for oncology.
Which one's the best one?
Speaker 3 (12:57):
Exactly so we.
So what makes us different andwhat sets us apart is that we
are it's, a more personalapproach, right?
Previous competitors are eitheryou get a report or something's
just over the phone or whathave you.
You don't really know whoyou're talking to, as well, as
you get different people atdifferent times.
There we are a recorded videoconsultation service with one or
(13:18):
multiple specialists at a time,and we cover everything for
large, small and exotics, and aswell as some additional and
ancillary services.
So you get that recording foryour records.
We are with you whether it's arecheck.
So you get that recording foryour records.
We are with you whether it's arecheck, so that same case kind
of followed through.
You also have the ability tojust have topic discussions with
us.
It doesn't necessarily have tobe about a case, it's just you
(13:40):
now have access to thiscardiologist and neurologist
that you never had Exactly.
And then we also provide moretoo.
We provide some teleradiologyservices.
We provide CE.
We actually are rolling out ourbusiness admin arm, vespicon,
where we already have aveterinary, social worker as
(14:01):
well as veterinary, which doesyou know practice and business
leadership within the hospitalas well, as we have some others
that are currently finalizingthe negotiations to round out
our business admin arm.
But pretty much we are thatkind of firm of all types of
(14:22):
support for DVMs, for the adminas well as, you know, the
nursing team.
Wow.
Speaker 2 (14:27):
So you've it sounds like you've made some pretty
bold moves in your veterinarycareer, moves across the country
doing different things you know.
For veterinarians out therelooking to make some bold moves
in their career, their journeyas a veterinarian, what advice
would you have for them?
Speaker 3 (14:44):
Yeah.
So I would definitely say andit's probably stuff that they've
already heard but you know,definitely doing your research
and really you know, figuringout, you know what's going to
potentially set you apart, whatis, you know, worth your time
and your love?
Because obviously, if you'remaking whatever pivot or
whatever business move, there'sgoing to be some labor of love
associated with it, somesacrifice.
(15:05):
So, making sure that that isappropriate for you, for your
family, what y'all want to do,and as long as it's an
investment in yourself, I don'tthink you can never go wrong
with investing in yourself andimproving that.
And I think if you do all that,make sure everything's in a row
(15:26):
, take that leap of faith anddon't be scared.
If it fails, no worries, youwill learn along the way for the
next best thing.
So just just know that if itdoes fail, it's not a problem.
We all have it in our life andwe learn from it.
Speaker 2 (15:41):
So what's one of the biggest lessons you've learned
along the way?
You know you've worked atpractices.
You worked at academia.
You started your own practice.
You launched a separate companyproviding services to
veterinary practices in additionto running your own.
You know we were chattingbefore the call.
You know you're in surgerytoday.
You had jury duty this week.
You had all this stuff going on, and so how do you you know
(16:05):
what, what?
How do you balance those thingsas a as a business owner and
leader and leading your team andall those things?
How do you balance that?
Speaker 3 (16:14):
Yeah, you have to be like water, for sure.
Yeah, I definitely like thatphilosophy as far as just just
being amenable but also kind ofhaving your boundaries Right.
So obviously you got to protectyour time.
Time management is superimportant.
Boundaries right.
So obviously you got to protectyour time.
Time management is superimportant.
Even even in your off time ofwork, like time management you
(16:36):
got to.
You know, take care of yourself, take care of the ones that are
around you, your loved ones andso forth, and then and the your
business or businesses.
But you know, every day issomething new, people are
different, you know, from oneclient to the next or whatever,
and probably the overall biggestthing I would say is for anyone
(16:56):
is just communication.
Make sure you're effectivelycommunicating with whoever
you're talking to, whether it'sthe most simplest thing or the
most complex thing.
Clarity of communication willsave you in the long run.
Oh, absolutely.
Speaker 2 (17:09):
I want to go back to something you said about
investment in yourself, and Ireally like a quote from Beyonce
.
Beyonce said I don't oftengamble, but you said about you
know, being willing to fail,understanding that you know a
lot of times you didn't say thisspecifically, but I think it
(17:29):
was probably what you meant Alot of times, you learn the most
lessons from failure, notsuccess, and I saw a Josh Brolin
quote saying you know, I didn'tlearn anything from success, I
learned everything from failure,and I may be wrong with that
quote, but what, what have you?
You know, where did you investin yourself over over the course
of the last you know, fiveyears?
(17:50):
As you're leading up openingyour own practice and leading up
to starting Vespicon, whatinvestments did you make in
yourself that that you look backon now and go yeah, that was
really a good move to do?
Speaker 3 (18:02):
Yeah, I think just over the years again kind of
starting from academics and thengoing into practice, paying
attention to kind of thebusiness aspect of it.
So you know, there was when Iwas at, for example, when I was
at LSU or an undergrad, reallydidn't take business courses or
the business courses in vetschool were like I remember one
(18:26):
specific right that we had.
So business acumen was real lowcoming out of vet school for me
and it wasn't something that wastaught for my family growing up
.
But being open, being receptive,listening, paying attention,
learning along the way was, Ithink, kind of the subtle
(18:47):
investments in myself over timeand then just kind of figuring
out and planning out andfiguring out what was going to
be the long-term goal Like wheredo I see myself in 10, 15 years
and then what steps do I needto do to get there and that
helped me with a little bit ofdirection of all, right, I'm
going to start doing this, I'mgoing to start looking towards
(19:09):
this.
When the opportunity came aboutof starting Veterinary Vision
Center, it actually kind ofstarted from just a simple
question of if I would come outand do a speaking engagement at
a 12 doctor GP practice inShreveport, louisiana, and so I
(19:30):
was like, yeah, I can speak.
And then I came into what wouldyou do?
Cause it's some consulting andI was already doing consulting
for the practice.
I was in a New Jersey.
So I was like, yeah, I can dothat.
And then that divulged into theopening.
Oh, I can easily set up shophere.
Speaker 2 (19:42):
Yeah, I can do this.
Speaker 3 (19:43):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (19:44):
So that's interesting and you know you had mentioned
twice, talked about your teamand being like water.
But at the end of the day, Ithink as entrepreneurs or
business owners or veterinariansif you say it's a veterinary
career I want to own my ownpractice and I've said this with
other guests and you know I'vedone this with my practice, my
(20:05):
business.
If you have a vision of whatyou want it to look like what
color walls, how many exam roomsare there and all of those
things you kind of have thatmental vision picture of
yourself.
What does it look like for youknow, dr Pierce, to be
practicing at your practiceversus a different practice?
And then you behave like wateralong the way and just kind of
(20:25):
let the decisions makethemselves.
Yeah, this is a decision thatwill help me get closer to that
goal.
It makes those decisions a loteasier to make.
Would you agree, for sure?
Speaker 3 (20:35):
I would.
I think, yeah, it definitelymakes it a lot easier, a little
less stressful.
If you're rigid in yourthoughts, it might get you there
a lot faster.
I mean definitely if you've gota plan and you execute like by
all means, you will definitelyhit your goal faster.
But then if something doesn'twork out, it derails you a lot
(20:55):
faster too, right.
Exactly.
Speaker 2 (20:58):
Exactly so.
Uh, have a good, have a reallygood plan.
I'm not advocating, notplanning.
Uh, winston Churchill said youknow, failing to plan is
planning to fail.
However, you've got to be ableto adapt that plan if something
doesn't work out.
And so you know, for you, withVespicon and everything that you
have going on there, you knowwhat's the future for you.
(21:20):
And you know I talked about 5,10-year planning for you and
your practice.
I mean, you're growing apractice, you're growing
Vespicon.
How do you see being able to doboth of those?
You know it's probably not somesort of duality where it's one
or the other, it's.
How do you do both?
Speaker 3 (21:33):
I've actually cloned myself.
Speaker 2 (21:34):
Oh, you have.
Speaker 3 (21:35):
Speaking of Dr Pierce 2.0.
That's one of my favoritemovies is, uh, multiplicity with
, uh, michael keaton has anawesome movie.
Yeah, it is a good movie.
Um, but part of the plan withveterinary vision center was to
eventually get an associate inhere with me, uh, to help kind
(21:58):
of take off some of the burdenwith managing two businesses.
And as of October of last yearwe hired our associate, dr
Kelsey Bailey.
So she has been working with meat Ben Air Vision Center, which
is great.
And as time goes on and asVespicon continues to grow, my
plan is to kind of shift myfocus a little bit towards
(22:22):
Vespicon more um but I think youalso have a good team, right so
?
Speaker 2 (22:27):
like you didn't reach out to me about being on my
podcast.
Somebody from your team reachedout to me from being on the
podcast and I didn't see youstanding in the booth down in
VMX.
I ran into your team in thebooth at VMX.
So you've, you've, you've got agood team behind you, that's.
That's kind of putting somewind in your sails, so you're
not trying to do it all byyourself you 100% about that.
Speaker 3 (22:49):
So along the way of all these travels and places,
I've been fortunate to have somereally key smart ladies yeah,
that's all that so around me andthey are efficient, they
execute, they do their job andit takes a lot of stress and
burden off of me at times.
Speaker 2 (23:08):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (23:09):
The majority of time, but yeah, so I've kept them.
You met Lauren Tufts, who'shead of operations for Vespicon.
She used to be my former nurse,oh wow.
Speaker 2 (23:17):
Okay.
Speaker 3 (23:18):
Yeah, in Veterinary Vision Center, and her husband
is in the military.
They got deployed to adifferent state and so I told
her like you're not goinganywhere.
Speaker 2 (23:27):
You're too good, you're going to help me.
Speaker 3 (23:29):
Yeah, you're going to help me execute this thing, but
yeah, so I can't do it withoutthe team and, as the future goes
, there's definitely plans forexpansion for both of the
businesses and expanding theteams as well.
Speaker 2 (23:43):
Like there's a, there's a no, no one person.
No, there's a really good bookout there called who, not how,
and it's it's thinking aboutwho's going to do this stuff,
not how am I going to do it.
And I think, how am I going todo all these things?
For to grow my practice or growmy business?
Or I want to launch a sidehustle just to see if I can get
something going.
Whatever that might be, it'snot really a how question, it's
(24:06):
who's going to do the work,because I can't do all the stuff
at Butler Vet Insurance andeverything else, and so it's
that helping you along the wayversus that solo person at the
top.
A lot of times it looks likethat solo person.
It looks like Dr Pierce isdoing it all or Bill's doing it
all, but it's really not.
Speaker 3 (24:24):
No, no, but I'm okay with taking the credit Sometimes
.
Speaker 2 (24:29):
Sometimes that works out as long as you got to share
the love.
Well, I've really appreciatedit If you had one gold nugget
piece of advice for ourlisteners out there,
veterinarians who want to wantto make a bold move.
You know you chat about it alittle bit, but what's the one
thing that you would recommendto them?
Speaker 3 (24:47):
Sorry, I started a little bit because.
I went to my Vespicon brain andone of the things that Vespicon
does that is helpful forveterinarians is basically one
of the things that I saw thatwas lacking somewhat in the
industry is supportingveterinarians right.
We do a lot with supporting theclients with supporting our
nursing staff, which is veryimportant as an industry, but
(25:08):
from a practice owner standpoint, supporting your doctors, who
are like your main moneymakersor whatever, sometimes kind of
falls and there's a lot of, youknow, deviant burnout and all
this other stuff that goes on,which was also one of the things
that kind of VespaCon broke thebarrier for of if you're
supporting your doctors withthis team of experts, now
(25:29):
they've got clinical support.
Speaker 2 (25:30):
They've got clinical mentorship ready.
Speaker 3 (25:32):
Yep, they're going to love their job, they're going
to love the fact that they can,they have access and they're
able to do more and have betteroutcomes.
So that in itself for ahospital is like the most better
outcomes.
So that in itself for ahospital is like the most, one
of the main things you could dofrom a from a veterinary
standpoint is we've got youcovered.
Speaker 2 (25:47):
Support, support, unlimited access.
Well, that's a great piece ofadvice.
You were going to say somethingelse.
What was it going to be?
I didn't want to cut you off.
What was it?
Speaker 3 (25:56):
Yeah, I was just thinking just from someone who's
again trying to make a boldmove do it, yeah, just do it,
yeah.
That would be my short andsimple uh as.
Just do it.
Speaker 2 (26:08):
As I had.
I was on a call with anotherinsurance agent, a good friend
of mine down in texas, and wewere chatting about he spent I
specialize in veterinarians, hespecializes in agriculture and
we talked about burning theships.
And uh, you know, sometimesyou've got to make a bold move,
burn the ships and say, okay,we're all in on X, whatever it
is.
And, uh, we're going to makethis work.
(26:29):
You know, we're.
We're going to make it work orwe're not going to make it.
It's going to fail, but it'sgoing to fail spectacularly.
Speaker 1 (26:35):
But I'd rather have the.
Speaker 2 (26:36):
the fear of defeat?
Uh, I wouldn't have.
Uh, the fear of failure needsto not stop me from doing it.
It's that man in the arenaquote about.
You know, I'd rather have theloss of failure than never
having done the bold deeds.
Exactly, exactly.
Well, what's the best place for?
If somebody wanted to reach outto you, and reach your team at
Vespicon, or reach out to youdirectly, how would they get a
(27:00):
hold of you, dr Pierce?
Speaker 3 (27:01):
Yeah, you can consult with us today at VespaConcom.
If you have questions, there'sa contact, or if you want to
sign up, there's a sign upbutton right on there.
We're also on all social mediaFacebook, linkedin, instagram
and X at VespaCon.
And that's V-E-S-P-E-C-O-N forVeterinary Specialty specialty
consultants.
(27:21):
It's actually an acronym forthose three words.
Speaker 2 (27:24):
VESPA-CON Altogether.
So, yeah, well, we'll have thatinformation in the show notes
for those listening along, andthanks so much for joining us on
this episode of the VeterinaryBlueprints Podcast, dr Pierce.
Speaker 3 (27:35):
Thank you, bill.
Thank you for having me, andbest of luck to everybody out
there listening to this.
Speaker 2 (27:39):
Absolutely Well, as always for those listening.
Please like, share and reviewthe podcast.
It helps get our message out toveterinarians and practice
managers looking to grow andspend time on their business
instead of in it.
Thanks for listening to thisepisode and we look forward to
seeing you soon.
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