Dr. Shelly Wickham: experienced vet, self-taught business owner

Eight years ago, Dr. Shelly Wickham found herself promoted from an associate vet to an owner at the Washington Veterinary Clinic.

“As some of our older practitioners started to retire, this happened to be available,” she said. “It just seemed natural to transition that way from a practitioner into an owner.”

As intuitive as the transition felt, Wickham said it came with a steep learning curve.

“We’re used to doing our medical stuff, but now we have the whole business side,” she said. “Typically, when you went through vet school, you got very little business schooling at all. There really wasn’t anything practice management-wise. Then all of a sudden, you’re responsible for managing the practice.”

Luckily, she had a supportive team to fall back on.

“I was very fortunate in that the staff that was here were wonderful for the transition,” she said. “It was challenging to begin with, but with the help from the staff and everything, it flowed fairly nicely.”

Once that transition was handled, Wickham said having her own practice was rewarding.

“I guess it’s just the fact that you can run your practice how you want to,” she said. “Sometimes in corporate-managed practices they have certain protocols that you follow per case, and so as a veterinarian owner you have a little bit more freedom to practice medicine in the way that you want to.”

As for her career choice as a vet practitioner, Wickham said she had known she was cut out for it for a long time.

“Obviously you have to love animals, but it also involves a lot of schooling, so you also have to be in love with science,” she said. “It requires a lot of education. A lot of us love animals and want to work with animals, not everybody can make it through the educational part of it.”

Wickham continues to juggle the responsibilities of an owner with her duties as a vet, which involve helping numerous patients (animals) and clients (people) every day.

“Somewhere in there, between that time frame, supplies need to be ordered, bills need to be paid, things like that: it could be anything,” she said. “You kind of learn to be flexible, and I think that’s part of the draw of being in a career as a veterinarian, it’s not the same thing day after day after day. Every day is a new challenge, it’s a new, different thing.”

Eventually, that flexibility spills over into ones’ lifestyle.

“In a perfect world, I do like to be structured and have plans and to be on a schedule, that sort of thing,” she said. “But that doesn’t always work that way … my husband is also a veterinarian, so sometimes our plans just change, it’s something you have to adapt to.”

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