Dr. Cris Valas shares her Journey into Entreptreneurship

Posted On: Monday, March 31, 2014

I always knew that I would be a veterinarian. When I grew up I was surrounded with animals.  We lived just outside Madrid and I always had a dog, cats, chickens, ducks and rabbits. My parents had a farm in La Mancha area (yes where Don Quixote was from) where we kept cows and sheep, pigs, horses more chickens and of course cats and dogs.  I was always happiest when I was dirty and surrounded by animals of any and all kinds. Some of these animals were used for food and although I can tell you sometimes that was hard, I quickly saw how selflessly animals lived their lives for the benefit of us humans and I saw the importance of the Human-Animal Bond.

That strong desire to be a vet definitely helped me get through the grueling academic training that all vets need to endure.

After graduating from Tufts Veterinary School in Grafton, my next challenge was learning to work as a veterinarian. My first job was at Slade Animal Hospital where I had 3 great mentors (none of whom are still there by the way) who taught me different ways to perform similar procedures and my skills expanded and improved. Two years later I worked at Westboro Animal Hospital with Dr. Mackenzi another great veterinarian who showed me the art of veterinary medicine. Unfortunately, Dr. Mac’s practice was bought by The Pet Practice and soon after by VCA (both corporate veterinary chains) and what was once a warm inviting practice became a cold corporate engine.

Now as healers, we already tend to have a feeling that business is bad and that we are good and so the two cannot mix together.  Well, when Westboro Animal Hospital got taken over, this feeling became much stronger for me and I quickly realized that I had to create my own practice and do things better. I loved my profession and helping animals and was sure that there was a better way and that I would find it.

I started The Family Pet Hospital in February of 1998. At that time, I had a six year old daughter and a 1 year old! The practice grew quickly and what I soon realized, is that I had no business training, just a strong drive to succeed and do things better than what I had seen.

As the practice grew more, recognizing the deficit in business know how, I started to get training in the various business areas; marketing, management systems, etc. I still however continued a love-hate relationship with the business aspect of my practice.  My feeling was still that business was bad,  and being a vet was good.  I needed to check out this premise further, so I joined BNI to meet other business owners and see if they all were all two headed monsters with hearts of stones. Was I ever wrong!!! Two of the members in the group that I respected and really liked, had been participating in Nancy’s  Entrepreneurs Connection —Business Development Forums for over a year, suggested that I join the next group with them.  And so I did!

I soon learned that business owners cared and were passionate about their businesses and professions, just like I was.  We studied the E-Myth, where I learned that there are 3 hats we all wear; The Entrepreneur, the Manager, and the Technician. I was able to identify that I was stuck in the Technician (veterinarian  role) with a little Manager mixed in.  In the second Forum, we read Good to Great; and here I learned about having the Right People on the Bus. I quickly got a few people off the my team and I began to build a team that bought into and whole heartedly supported my Entrepreneur’s vision.   In the third Forum, we read the Icarus Deception, and I saw I was flying too low scared to spread my wings because of my uncertainty in my abilities as a business owner. As my confidence grew in these forums, I found my horizons expanding and I shared the new Vision with my staff.

I am proud to say that we now share a Vision that inspires us all to do our individual jobs so the bigger goals can be realized.  The individual team members are clear on their roles and contribution that they make to the big picture and are committed to providing the best experience for our clients.  We finally work together as team.  This is so much more fun than me running around micro-managing and being frustrated because things are not done.  Working in this way gives us room to create an even bigger vision that we all want to live into.  I finally found the best way for a business to grow.

The bottom line is that without knowing how to run a business, you can’t have a business that runs.

So What Makes a Successful Entrepreneur?

•Passion: Importance of the Relationship Between Animals and Humans

•Commitment and follow through: Got me through the hard training

•Being the Entrepreneur, Manager, Technician

•Have the Right People on the Bus and knowing where each fit into the big picture

•Share Your Vision – it is the only way you can allow others buy into it and play their part.

•Don’t Fly Too Low – your wings will get caught in the mud!

Join me at the Dream Factory Luncheon  in Medway on April 8th.

See Cris’ Video Interview on WACA-TV