When I Grow Up: How Passion and Purpose Birthed an Entrepreneur

Join me and my guest Danielle Inman as we discuss the importance of passion, persistence, and pioneering in the making of an entrepreneur. For anyone wondering if this path is for you, this inspirational story will definitely get your creative curiosity going. 

Danielle is a passionate force for animal welfare, conservation, and veterinary medicine. She's a featured fixture on National Geographic's Animal ER. She led the avian and exotics team at Gulf Coast Veterinary Specialists in Houston, Texas for over 13 years. She's traveled to the most remote corners of the globe, observing and studying wildlife in over 40 countries. More recently, she has established a consulting firm called the other pets to empower and support veterinarians and pet owners, to elevate the standard of care for non traditional pets.

Transcript

0:10

Welcome to The Water Trough, where we can't make you drink, but we will make you think. My name is Ed Drawster, the Small Business Doctor, and I'm really excited you chose to join me here as we discuss topics that are important for small business folks just like you. If you're looking for ideas, inspiration, and possibility, you've come to the right place. Join us as we take steps to help you create the healthy business that you've always wanted. Good afternoon, folks. This is Ed Drost of the Small Business Doctor. I want to welcome you back to the WaterTrop with my guest today, Danielle Inman. Danielle is a passionate force for animal welfare, conservation, and veterinary medicine. She's a featured fixture on National Geographic's Animal ER. She led the avian and exotics team at Gulf Coast Veterinary Specialists in Houston, Texas for over 13 years, she's traveled to the most remote corners of the globe, observing and studying wildlife in over 40 countries. More recently, she has established a consulting firm called the other pets to empower and support veterinarians and pet owners. To elevate the standard of care for non traditional pets. Danielle, welcome. Thank you so much. Thanks for having me. it's a real pleasure. And I want to point out that Danielle and I met as a result of the other pets, our own beloved bird, Lola had been to see a vet locally and they introduced us and I just simply want to say, Danielle, your business yourself, you yourself really quite impressed. Debbie and I and Lola for that matter. She doesn't know how to express that but believe me. so we'll talk a bit more about the other pets in a bit, but let's take a look here at the inspiration story behind how this gal dreamt about and then became an entrepreneur. How did the other pets come to beat? so it really kind of evolved over years of noticing the deficits within, the pet care sector, so to speak, specifically for non traditional pets, for exotic pets. And, after years starting in the zoo field and then, working in veterinary medicine and seeing firsthand, where those weak points were between, the pet trade and, the care available for these species and what was missing and then figuring out how I could, Help to fill that niche. and it was just a perfect storm of, education and didactic learning and, observing and then inserting myself inserting part, Daniel. I think that's one of the most interesting things about what you have accomplished. Yeah. Specifically in specialty veterinary medicine, where I saw only non traditional exotic species. So not dogs or cats and not farm animals, but everything in between. we call it, exotic companion animals and zoo medicine and wildlife medicine kind of all combined. and after, year after year, decade past, it really became apparent that so many of the animals who came through our doors were there because of deficits in husbandry because shortcomings with the captive environment and the captive care provided to these animals and. Because of my background in biology and herpetology zoological settings, and combined with a lot of field research and field observation, I had the knowledge, and the experience and the expertise to fill those gaps to teach the people who loved their animals so much and didn't want them, suffering. None of this was for lack of love or lack of trying on behalf of pet owners. and certainly none of it was for lack of education or know how on the behalf of the veterinarians caring for them. But, there's this big gap between. pet ownership or pet care, from a pet owner perspective and veterinary medicine. There's this, whole big chunk of the equation, that I, determined was the missing link. it seems very simple. but because in exotics we're dealing with thousands and thousands of species. And the natural history is so diverse and each animal has evolved, to fit within a specific niche within these environments, sometimes the knowledge is just not there on either end to recognize where these critical errors are occurring, to be able to correct them and turn things around and really, Support both the veterinary aspect and the pet ownership aspect and bring them together to work in concert and really garner these long term positive outcomes rather than, what's happened over and over and over and over and every pet owner and every veterinarian can think of an instance where, something like this has happened where, the issue, the initial kind of inciting factor that caused whatever malady occurred to bring the animal to a veterinarian may not necessarily be addressed fully, like intervention is enacted, which is usually necessary, but we're not correcting what caused it to begin with. And so that's. Really what a big part of this is it's a multifaceted endeavor and a lot of it is, educating and teaching and training on both ends pet owner and the vet med that's where I have managed to insert myself. For a moment, I'd like to reflect on the insertion part. So first of all, you identified an existing situation in which you felt there was a gap that based on your own experience, observation, et cetera. And having identified that experience, You then took the initiative to do something about it, thus being the insertion, I presume. Is that correct? Yes, and initially that insertion was, while still in private practice, and it wasn't enough. Quite frankly, because I could not balance, working on 40 plus cases a day, with patients. And Doing what needed to be done, from that in between perspective, walking people through, what exactly needed to change on their end and how we could support that on the medicine end. So initially, I did insert myself in some way, but it was not enough. Well, I think this is really important for people to note. As you know, the water trough is about trying to inspire people to think rather than to tell them what to do. and you are highlighting the fact that we often think that things are cut and dry. The job should be there. The task should be evident. The business should be apparent to everybody. But here's a case where a need exists, but is not fully understood. And it takes the initiative of the individual to step forward and say, okay, we got an issue here. And I not only have the desire to do something about it, but I have the capability to do something about it. And that is the distinction I think is really important about what you have done, because a lot of people hesitate to take that next step. They think, Oh, no, nobody needs that. They don't want me, blah, blah, blah. I don't know enough. I'm not qualified, whatever it might be. Right. And you were talking about that next step that requires that. I'd say visceral, maybe a need in yourself to go forward with that. And if you will take a chance because isn't that kind of what you did? You took a chance. Yeah, absolutely. I think for me, it's a part of my nature I'm a risk taker. I jump out of airplanes. I climb mountains, that's second nature for me. I'm not someone who's particularly risk averse, but we all know that is a an evolutionary adaptation that our species has for good reason and it can certainly be scary it was frightening it was daunting. For me, I think that, yeah, like you said, that the driving factor was, I care so much about this. I knew that I could make a difference for the people and the animals that I cared so much about, and I knew that the more of myself I could invest in that, the broader my impact would be. So the equation was, clear to me if I could just make other people see it and make other people understand and, get others to really invest in it with me not necessarily from a financial aspect, but just from, your trust, your time, your energy, your efforts. Yeah, caring for me, I think was the big push, like that I knew I could help. More if I gave more, so whether or not you're risk averse or a risk taker,, I'm hearing you say that motivating factor, it's well beyond that you're willing to go there, you're so driven that the risk is irrelevant. It seems like a lot of people would just take the risk and, basically dismiss it and say, no, I can't. But what you're saying is listen to that inner message, that inner voice is saying, well, what do you, you know, do you want to do this? in this day and age, and I'm sure you've heard this as well, a lot of people say, passion is not enough, but what do you think about passion? you're describing passion to me. Passion was your first step. Yeah, I think passion is enough for some people. passion is enough if you're passionate enough,, you know, I do a lot of lectures for universities or even for younger, primary school kids, or, For school clubs and things like that. And passion is always, a very common theme in my lectures. Especially when I'm talking about my personal experience, because, people are sort of enamored of the fact that I have done all these really cool things, across the globe, worked with, uh, group in India to garner protection for, a section of land that, encompasses all kinds of amazing wildlife and worked in the Galapagos, worked in Central and East Africa and South Africa, worked all throughout Latin America with, all these cool species captured and tagged crocodiles and the Yucatan and I love that stuff. Obviously it is a hundred percent my passion. If I wasn't passionate about it, I don't think I would have gotten anywhere with any of this. I think that it's my passion that pushes me to persevere. It's my passion that, translates to tenacity, because I am so passionate about this and because, I'm a bit obsessive over making a positive impact and, leaving good in my wake and trying to, elevate the standards for, a lot of these species. Personally, if I did not have the passion that I have, I can't imagine that we would be having this conversation. Right. That's very evident. So passion, is also a form of internal support. What are the kinds of support mechanisms have you identified along the way and how they played into your ability to continue this journey? Who, you know, is always a big part of, One success, I think, I had someone tell me once, in their own personal success story, he was recounting to me how he got to where he was and how he was at a point where he thought he'd run out of money, thought he'd run out of options, and, didn't know what to do next, in his own pursuit of his passion. And, someone told him, You don't need more money, you need more friends. And so he was like, oh my gosh, you're right. I need to start calling in these favors. I need to start talking to the people that have, been by my side or I've been by their side, throughout this. I think there's a lot to be said for that throughout my career in veterinary medicine, for instance, I helped to mentor and raise, over 30 veterinarians, in specialty medicine, the hospital that I worked in was, a teaching hospital and we were a private practice, but we took interns and residents and externs and, had students rotating through and things like that. And so. I made so many good connections and good contacts with, people who my passion Rubbed off on, I do like to be a little bit of an infectious disease in that way. And, if I can just imbue people with a little bit of this, caring about what happens next. And so I developed all of these great friendships and connections and contacts and, 100 percent exploited those in the best way possible as I began this endeavor and, some of my former interns who are now in their own practices, who are now heading up their own hospitals, who are now heading up their own projects globally or, in, Organizations, they have been huge champions for my cause, so that support group, I think, without them knowing me, knowing what I know, knowing what I've done, And having a real measure of faith and confidence in my knowledge and abilities, and just going with it, initially. I think if I didn't have them, then I probably wouldn't have this. You identified this tribe when you needed them. Did you realize when you met them the importance of what you were doing how you were Communicating with these people connecting with these people. Did you ever think you'd come back to this? Not at all. Okay. as I grew out of what I was currently doing and Into this next step and into this, entrepreneurial consultancy. I thrust myself away from corporate medicine and, having an employer, rather than looking around and feeling like I was, alone or adrift or, didn't have the same safety net or support system. I realized even more that, oh my gosh, I have. All of these people who have grown to be my friends and, my contemporaries and, even if they're people that I only talk to a couple times a year, we still have this, good connection, and we talk about an interesting case, or they reach out to me because they don't know what the heck this, Snake is that came into their practice. I realized that inadvertently I had set myself up for success there, with, this community, this tribe, my support system. Lesson for all to hear. You may not realize at the moment. What you've got that the time you spend cultivating these relationships, and not that they're being cultivated with a distinct purpose in mind, other than the fact that you're cultivating relationship, but there may come a time when they take on a totally different meaning and significance. I think it's really a good lesson for people to pay attention to never, dismiss the opportunity to engage with someone to learn from them, to teach them if you can and here you are living proof that this is a valuable thing. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. and you know, I used the word exploit and that sounds like a negative thing, but I think any of them that heard that would just laugh. it's one of those things that, was completely by accident. but, when I was thrust out into this brave new world, I was fortunate enough to look around and realize that I had a whole bunch of people, towing my line. I had, tons of great friends and contacts and, peers that I could work with and rely on and that, knew me well enough to know that whatever this was, it was going to be. Good. You earned that respect. You earned that opportunity and support. this is a very important lesson. it doesn't come to you. you earn it and you did. You invested the time and the effort, not because you're going to get something out of eventually, But you did get something out of it eventually. And I love the word exploit, by the way. I put exploit in the same camp as selfish. You know, selfish is, I think of myself first so that I'll be okay. Therefore, I'm capable of helping out somebody else. It's not necessarily a bad word. Exploit is well, to take full advantage of, but not a negative way. And there's two sides to that coin, but I hear you. It's taking advantage in an appropriate way. Yeah. Bringing it forward, if you will. Yeah, yeah. Thank you. And I think another big thing there, like in that same vein is that this has been a mutually beneficial relationship. one of the practices that I partner with actually just posted this really. Wonderful post on social media about how, they have elevated their standard of medicine and standard of care by partnering with me and how happy they are that we, are on year three of this, even just from a business perspective. one of the practices that I partner with, we sat down and went over some numbers and the exotics portion of their practice because they're a mixed species practice, has seen, an over 150 percent increase in a year of working with me. and that's just with, word of mouth spreading that, you know, Oh, well. These people do it differently. And, we have this evidence based positive outcomes. And so people want that for their animals. and of course, veterinarians want that for their patients. it has been a very symbiotic relationship yes, there is exploitation, but in the most positive way. I think that's really cool because, these are things that people don't often think about. I'm running a veterinary practice and. I see the medicine and I see other people who do the marketing stuff like that, but I don't really think about the nuance of the, relationship between my patients and their owners you're bridging that gap and giving them a whole new perspective I'm sure they've thought about it, but in traditional practice, they don't really talk about it. Right? If you don't talk about it, you don't do it and you don't really understand it. you identified something was missing, but you're illuminating something that has been missing. Not quite visible. And that really does have the power to transform anything, a practice or otherwise it does transform things again. It's that fundamental stuff. you said it before, it's not rocket science. It's very simplistic, but we tend to overlook the simplistic for the sake of the more difficult because, well, it can't be that easy. Okay. But it, it can be. Yeah, absolutely. I think that's, really cool. let me ask you, it's evident that you have had, tremendous personal success as well as the business success, but what about the challenges you faced along the way, particularly in the realm of going out there where people don't. I think one of the toughest things, it's the double edged sword of nothing like this existed before. And so the need is so apparent because, this is totally new territory, but because this is totally new territory, no one knows what to do with it. I think one of my biggest trials one of my biggest speed bumps or hurdles is making people understand why this is so important because this hasn't been done in veterinary medicine before. This hasn't been done in the pet industry before. It's just so novel and people are like, well, we've been trucking along like this. for decades, for centuries, why do we need this? And I think it's making people see that. just because we've done it one way all along doesn't mean there's not a much, much better way to do it. So it's really trying to sell myself, I guess I know with a lot of these, practices and things if I can just do one pet owner consult for them they will see the fruits of that labor, and they'll see an animal, that was otherwise just surviving begin to thrive, if they could just see it once, then they will understand the value, but it's getting super, super busy, incredibly overwhelmed, generally underappreciated people who don't know what they're missing to understand what they're missing. Your situation, is, radically innovative and therefore, It does take a lot more effort on your part to, convince or even to, engage somebody in the conversation. engage and then convince. but I think that's the beauty of it. Because as you're finding, step by step practice by practice. It is having an impact and those who are excited about what work you're doing, and then this goes for anybody in a situation like this, we'll talk to others because these are these sorts of things. Make them look good, too. Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Right. Yeah. and that's one of the things that I try to, make people understand like these hospitals that I work with are getting positive reviews because of what we are doing as a partnership because of, what I am, adding to the value of what a pet owner is getting. and certainly people don't have to go through a veterinarian. I take on pet owners individually, and I also go to practices independently, and help teach and train, staff to elevate their standard of care and of medicine. but yeah, it certainly does. The whole purpose of this is to, make everything better. Right. Well, again, that's very evident. And for that, I thank you firsthand because of our bird Lola. and I mean this with all sincerity, we Debbie and myself, and again, as I said before, Lola appreciate this, so thank you for that. Of course. Danielle, our time is coming to an end. So I wanted to know if there's anything you'd like to leave us with before we go. I think that from a small business owner slash entrepreneur. it's still hard for me to even now to you say those words and believe them, because it's such a weird thing. we tend to elevate the entrepreneurial spirit. and make it almost out of reach for us plebeians, I guess. And it's such an awesome thing. Such a cool thing. It's brave. But it's totally achievable, you just have to, try it. I think there were so many things that I did along the way that was like, what's the worst that can happen? I fall on my ass, you know, I mean, like, I fail. And then I just figure out how to do it differently and do it better. and I try again. and so to me, I was passionate enough about and cared enough about. What outcomes we could get here, with what I'm doing to endure the failures and to endure the frustrations. it's all worth it to me because I know and I believe in what I'm sometimes it takes a push, a negative push, even, sometimes it takes someone getting fired. Sometimes it takes someone, having no other options. Um, because. It's, it's so daunting to, to have that, that kind of rug pulled out from under you, um, with the known versus the unknown, but I think it's within reach for so many more people than, than recognize it or realize it. Thank you for that insight. Danielle, thank you for being with me today. I really appreciate this. This has been fantastic for me. Yes, thank you folks. This is Ed draws to the small business doctor here at the water trough. I want to thank again, my guest, Danielle Inman, and I encourage you to check out Danielle. Uh, her business is called the other pets. And if you have an exotic pet in your, in your home, I think you'd be very intrigued by this. If you're a veterinarian that happens to hear this. All the same, I hope you will also check her out. That information or contact information will be provided in the post editing script. So you'll be able to find that, uh, when you open or when you listen to the podcast as well. Again, this is Ed Draws of the Small Business Doctor and here at the Water Trough. Until we meet again, I want to wish you a healthy business. I can't say it any better. I can't say it any better.