For years, I thought the problem was everyone else.
The clients were too price-sensitive.
The economy was too difficult.
The competition was too aggressive.
The market was unfair.
At least that’s what I kept telling myself.
And for a while, it felt good.
Because as long as the problem was outside of me, I didn’t have to change.
Then one day, I had a realization that was both painful and liberating.
The day I stopped blaming clients,
the economy,
and the competition…
was the day my business started growing.
Why?
Because I finally focused on the only thing I could control.
- My decisions.
- My leadership.
- My systems.
- My standards.
- My strategy.
The truth is that every clinic operates under the same economy.
Every clinic faces competition.
Every clinic deals with difficult clients.
Yet some continue to grow.
Some continue to innovate.
Some continue to thrive.
The difference is not the obstacles.
The difference is how the owners respond to them.
The moment I stopped asking, “Why is this happening to me?”
I started asking, “What can I do about it?”
Everything changed.
Complaining became planning.
Frustration became strategy.
Excuses became action.
And action has a funny way of producing results.
Many veterinarians are waiting for the perfect market before they start growing.
But the perfect market does not exist.
The perfect economy does not exist.
The perfect competition does not exist.
What exists is today’s reality.
And the veterinarians who succeed are usually the ones who learn to win despite it.
Not because circumstances became easier.
But because they became stronger.
That is one of the hardest lessons in veterinary business.
And one of the most valuable.
Because growth begins the moment ownership begins.
The moment you stop pointing outward and start looking inward.
That is when the business starts moving forward.
Dr. Geoff Carullo is a Fellow and the current President of the Philippine College of Canine Practitioners.
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