Jeff Latimer, DVM wonders what would have happened had he joined VMG earlier. By the time he joined in 2007, his business was already built out. In hindsight, he wishes he’d had the support gained from his VMG Study Group just before he opened his first hospital in 1995.
“You reinvent so many wheels, you struggle with so many problems, and you’re so isolated in your own little business that it’s very difficult to maintain a good perspective like you would if you had the opinions of 20 colleagues or board members around your table,” he said.
Dr. Latimer would grow his business to four locations. He enjoyed practicing veterinary medicine and the entrepreneurial aspect of ownership. But with success came more organizational work and HR headaches. It eventually got to be too much, and in 2019 he sold his hospitals to focus more on consultative work.
In his role as a Study Group facilitator, Dr. Latimer speaks to many veterinarians who are about to open their practice or currently dealing with the growing pains that come with success. “VMG Study Groups consist of the opinions, questions, ideas and answers of 20 other people who understand what your day-to-day is like. It’s a trusting environment, because you’re not speaking to competitors. Everybody has signed an NDA, and everything discussed stays in the room.”
Working as a facilitator for VMG is a way for Dr. Latimer to stay engaged and connected to a worthwhile organization and a worthwhile community. VMG made a difference for Dr. Latimer personally, not just in the way he ran his business, but also feeling attached to the profession in a bigger way.
“Somebody told my wife right before we had our first child that once you have a child, in a certain way, you feel like you joined the human race. You’ve now done something that every human on the planet understands, no matter what corner of the planet they’re living in,” he said. “Joining VMG is similar in that you now are part of an organization that understands what your life is like, what your routine is like, what your stress is and what your successes feel like. I think it’s a very powerful movement in our industry, in our profession.”
Dr. Latimer said the Study Groups alone more than pay for the membership. As a Canadian-based veterinarian, Dr. Latimer originally did not have access to U.S.-based rebates. Still, he said the knowledge he gained through the Study Group helped him grow his net profit by 10% and his business by one-third beyond what he would have been able to do on his own.
“It’s an accountability mechanism that puts people in a room together and in a group small enough that you get to know each other,” he continued. “Everybody in the room is helping everybody to succeed, and there’s a tremendous amount of positive peer pressure.”
