Dra. Ellaine - PH Vetpreneur

01/11/2026

The angry pet owner at 6pm is a leadership moment, and your whole team is watching how you handle it.

Ang kulit ng owner, we say after they leave. I have said it too. But maybe they're scared. Maybe the animal is their family. Maybe that bill is a big part of their budget this month.

My team doesn't learn how to talk to pet owners from the SOP on the wall. They learn it from what I do at 6pm when I am tired and someone is upset at the counter.

I still have to remind myself of that at the end of a long day.

Send this to whoever closes your clinic at night.

01/11/2026

01/11/2026

𝕎𝕙𝕚𝕔𝕙 𝕠𝕗 𝕥𝕙𝕖𝕤𝕖 𝕗𝕚𝕧𝕖 𝕕𝕠𝕖𝕤 𝕪𝕠𝕦𝕣 𝕔𝕝𝕚𝕟𝕚𝕔 𝕤𝕜𝕚𝕡?

I still catch myself telling a new hire "sumabay ka na lang muna" on a busy day. It sounds kind. But it usually means nobody planned their first week, so every question ends up with me.

Here is the first-week plan I would hand any clinic owner before the next person starts.

1. Choose their person. Before day one, pick one teammate who answers their questions. Not you. Tell that teammate it is part of their job this week, not a favor.

2. Write the common questions down. Sit with your receptionist or assistant and list what a new person gets asked at the counter or in the treatment area. Where are the lab results? How do we book a recheck? What do I say when a pet owner asks about the bill? Write the answers next to them.

3. Name the decisions they own. Tell them which things they can decide alone from day one, and which go to their person or to you. A new hire who knows what they can decide asks less, not more.

4. Check in on day three. Ten minutes, before closing. Ask what confused them, and what they guessed. Maybe they guessed right. Maybe they guessed the way the last person did it.

5. Ask them to fix the plan. At the end of the week, ask what they would change about their first five days. Add it to the list for the next hire.

Being a good vet and being a good employer are two completely different things. This list is one small part of the second one.

30/10/2026

ℍ𝕒𝕧𝕖 𝕪𝕠𝕦 𝕖𝕧𝕖𝕣 𝕤𝕒𝕚𝕕 "𝕥𝕒𝕨𝕒𝕘𝕚𝕟 𝕞𝕠 𝕟𝕒 𝕝𝕒𝕟𝕘 𝕒𝕜𝕠" 𝕥𝕠 𝕤𝕠𝕞𝕖𝕠𝕟𝕖 𝕠𝕟 𝕥𝕙𝕖𝕚𝕣 𝕗𝕚𝕣𝕤𝕥 𝕕𝕒𝕪? 𝕋𝕖𝕝𝕝 𝕞𝕖 𝕨𝕙𝕒𝕥 𝕙𝕒𝕡𝕡𝕖𝕟𝕖𝕕 𝕟𝕖𝕩𝕥.

8:05 on a Monday morning, the first day for the new receptionist at a small animal clinic.

The owner hands her the clinic phone and the appointment book. "Ikaw na muna dito ha. Tawagin mo na lang ako pag may problema." Then she pulls on her cap and goes into the surgery room for a spay.

The receptionist sits up straight behind the counter. She answers each call carefully, writing names on sticky notes because she isn't sure where they go. Two walk-ins arrive. She smiles and asks them to wait.

At 10:40 a pet owner comes to the counter. "Miss, nandito na ba yung blood test result ng aso ko? Sabi kasi ni Doc kahapon, ngayon daw."

She opens the drawer under the counter, then the one beside it. The pet owner checks her watch.

She walks to the surgery door and waits. She knocks once, softly.

Inside, the owner hears it and keeps her eyes on the table. "Mamaya na," she calls, loud enough to carry through the door.

At 11:15 the surgery is done. The owner steps out, pulling off her gloves. The pet owner is gone. The receptionist is at the counter with a stack of sticky notes. She looks up and says, "Sorry po, Doc."

The result was in the folder on the owner's desk, where it always was.

(A composite of first days in small clinics, not one person's story.)

30/10/2026

𝔸 𝕟𝕖𝕨 𝕒𝕤𝕤𝕚𝕤𝕥𝕒𝕟𝕥'𝕤 𝕗𝕚𝕣𝕤𝕥 𝕨𝕖𝕖𝕜 𝕤𝕙𝕠𝕦𝕝𝕕 𝕟𝕠𝕥 𝕓𝕖 𝕤𝕡𝕖𝕟𝕥 𝕗𝕠𝕝𝕝𝕠𝕨𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝕨𝕙𝕠𝕖𝕧𝕖𝕣 𝕙𝕒𝕡𝕡𝕖𝕟𝕤 𝕥𝕠 𝕓𝕖 𝕗𝕣𝕖𝕖.

I know that is how most of us learned. We shadowed, we watched, we asked when we could, and we figured things out along the way. And that's good. It taught us to be resourceful. But it also taught every one of us a slightly different version of the clinic.

Here is what usually happens. Someone resigns, and we hire fast because the counter cannot stay empty. Day one, the new person follows an associate. Day two, the associate is in surgery, so they follow the receptionist. By day three nobody is free, and they are sent to sort the stock room. By Friday we wonder why they still ask us everything.

Maybe they are not slow. Maybe they are scared to get it wrong. Maybe they were shown three ways to do the same thing and nobody told them which one is ours.

Being a good clinician doesn't automatically make you good at bringing someone into a team. Nobody taught me that part. I still catch myself saying "sumabay ka na lang muna" when the day gets busy.

But the first week is when a new person learns what this clinic really expects. If we don't plan it, the busiest day of the week plans it for us.

Why do we write protocols for every procedure and none for a person's first five days? Why do we judge someone in week three on a week one we never designed?

Some of you will say shadowing works and a good hire adapts. Tell me why I'm wrong.

21/10/2026

I still catch myself saying "𝒂𝒌𝒐 𝒏𝒂 𝒍𝒂𝒏𝒈 𝒈𝒂𝒈𝒂𝒘𝒂 𝒑𝒂𝒓𝒂 𝒎𝒂𝒕𝒂𝒑𝒐𝒔 𝒏𝒂" when the problem is a person and not a patient. With a patient, I would never skip the history. With my team, I used to skip straight to fixing it myself.

So here is how I try to handle a people problem now, the same way I handle a difficult case.

1. Name it exactly. Not "communication" or "morale." Write the specific thing, like "the new assistant doesn't follow the discharge protocol" or "the two receptionists avoid each other and pet owners notice."

2. Take a history. When did it start? What changed around that time? What have you already tried, and what happened? Who else is affected? Maybe the person is struggling with something you can't see yet.

3. Ask before you decide. Talk to someone who has led a team, another clinic owner or a mentor, the way you would refer a case you're unsure about. Leave out the names.

4. Choose one treatment. One conversation, one clearer rule, one change in who owns the task. Not five things at once.

5. Set the recheck. Put a date on the calendar and write down what you will look for. Then actually look.

Clinical judgment and leadership are two completely different things. But the habit of taking a proper history works for both.

𝑾𝒉𝒊𝒄𝒉 𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒑 𝒅𝒐 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒖𝒔𝒖𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚 𝒔𝒌𝒊𝒑?

20/10/2026

𝐏𝐚𝐠 𝐰𝐚𝐥𝐚 𝐚𝐤𝐨 𝐬𝐚 𝐜𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐜, 𝐦𝐚𝐲 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐛𝐥𝐞𝐦𝐚 𝐚𝐠𝐚𝐝. 𝐈 𝐮𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐚𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐢𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐦𝐲 𝐭𝐞𝐚𝐦'𝐬 𝐟𝐚𝐮𝐥𝐭.

Every time I stepped out, something waited for me. A schedule question. A discount. A pet owner who wanted to talk to "the doctor who owns the clinic."

Maybe my team was being careful. Maybe nobody ever told them they were allowed to decide. Maybe the only person who was ever allowed to solve it was me.

I still catch myself doing it. Ako na lang gagawa para matapos na.

What is the one problem that always waits for you when you are out? Comment it below.

20/10/2026

𝑾𝒉𝒊𝒄𝒉 𝒅𝒐𝒐𝒓 𝒘𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒍𝒌𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈? 𝑻𝒆𝒍𝒍 𝒎𝒆 𝒉𝒐𝒏𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒍𝒚 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒔, 𝒍𝒆𝒇𝒕 𝒐𝒓 𝒓𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕.

Thursday, 8:55 in the morning, at a veterinary convention in Pasay. A clinic owner stands in the hallway between two breakout rooms.

The sign on the left says "Managing Your Clinic Team." The sign on the right says "Advanced Abdominal Ultrasound."

She looks at the left door for a moment. A few people are already inside, sitting near the back, notebooks closed. Then she walks right and takes a seat in the second row, because she knows exactly what to do with a liver image and the speaker will use words she already understands.

At 9:20 her phone buzzes. "Doc, may tanong lang po. Sino po papalit kay ate sa counter mamaya?" At 9:48 it buzzes again. "Doc, pwede po ba yung ibang brand ng gamot? Naubos na po." At 10:15, a third message, about a pet owner who is upset at the front desk and wants to talk to the owner.

She answers each one under the table, thumb moving fast, eyes still on the screen at the front of the room. She takes careful notes on liver margins.

At the coffee break she walks past the left room again. The door is open. Someone inside is asking the speaker a question, and she can't quite hear it.

She goes back to her seat on the right.

19/10/2026

𝑾𝒆 𝒓𝒆𝒇𝒆𝒓 𝒂 𝒄𝒂𝒔𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒎𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒘𝒆 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝒊𝒕 𝒊𝒔 𝒃𝒆𝒚𝒐𝒏𝒅 𝒖𝒔. 𝑩𝒖𝒕 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒃𝒍𝒆𝒎 𝒊𝒔 𝒂 𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒐𝒏 𝒐𝒏 𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒐𝒘𝒏 𝒕𝒆𝒂𝒎, 𝒎𝒐𝒔𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝒖𝒔 𝒌𝒆𝒆𝒑 𝒊𝒕.

The associate who keeps snapping at pet owners. The receptionist who freezes every time someone raises their voice at the counter. We don't call anyone about those. We handle them alone, late at night, and hope they settle on their own.

We are good at asking for help with medicine. We ask a colleague when a diagnosis doesn't sit right. We send the case to someone with better equipment or more experience. And that's good. But when the problem walks in at 8am wearing our clinic uniform, we treat it like a secret.

Being a good clinician doesn't automatically make you good at leading people. Nobody taught me that part. I learned it by figuring things out along the way, and for a long time my answer was "ako na lang gagawa para matapos na."

So my position is this. A people problem deserves the same respect as a difficult case. Take a history before you decide. Ask someone who has handled it before. Choose one thing to try, then recheck it the way you would recheck a patient.

Maybe asking feels weak. Maybe it feels like gossip about your own staff. I still ask anyway, without names, because I would rather be a beginner again than repeat the same mistake with the next hire.

Why can't we talk about our people the way we talk about our cases? Why do we refer a dog in a minute and carry the same staff problem for a year?

Tell me where you disagree. Should people problems stay inside the clinic, or should we be asking each other for help with them too?

18/10/2026

𝑾𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒊𝒔 𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒑𝒂𝒓𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝒃𝒆𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂𝒏 𝒐𝒘𝒏𝒆𝒓 𝒚𝒐𝒖'𝒓𝒆 𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈?
𝐓𝐞𝐥𝐥 𝐦𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐥𝐨𝐰. 𝐍𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐩 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠.

Vet school taught me medicine. Nobody taught me how to be an employer, and I figured that part out along the way, mistakes included.

After around 15 years, I still attend trainings. I still ask other veterinarians for opinions. I still refer cases. Clinically, I never expected to know everything.

But the owner side felt different. I could read a CBC, but nobody showed me how to read a payroll summary, run a staff meeting or have the hard talk with a staff member. I thought I was supposed to just know. So I said ako na lang gagawa para matapos na, for years, because doing it myself felt faster than admitting I had to learn it. Maybe you think that too.

Being a good vet doesn't automatically make you a good owner. Those are two completely different things, and both can be learned.