Veterinary nurses, just like me, reach a point sometimes in their careers where they may question their life in practice: do you continue your career as you are and how much further will it take you? Or should you be a Rep, a Teacher? Gain some more qualifications? Or……. are you an entrepreneur?

The official meaning of an entrepreneur according to the Oxford Dictionary of English is: ’A person who sets up a business or businesses, taking on greater than normal financial risks in order to do so’. I can’t argue with that its true but an entrepreneur is also so much more.

Just as millionaires have a ‘profile’ (characteristics that most of them have) so do entrepreneurs.  Briefly, and this is certainly not exhaustive, most entrepreneurs have the following profile and characteristics:

• Passion and drive – without doubt entrepreneurs will live, eat, breath and sleep their passions.
• Highly motivated to achieve - They have to win, be the best and be number one – anything less than this is not tolerated at all well!
• Innovative or creativity – Highly creative people with the ability to visualise, spot AND take opportunities, whilst learning from mistakes.
• Courageous - They hold their nerve. At 3am when everything seems it’s falling apart, this one nerve is sometimes the only thing left to hold on too but a successful entrepreneur will. 
• Hard working– They are completely committed to their work and passions, More often than not at the expense of family and friends. They will think nothing of working till 2am then up again at 6am to do the same again the next day.
• Intuitive - They posses the ability to use and trust their intuition.
• Determined – nothing deters an entrepreneur from reaching where they want to be – NOTHING.
• Huge energy - An essential quality which is vital to keep everything flowing and working. Mental stamina has to be at 100% all the time.
• Like to inspire and energise others – entrepreneurs like to help others to realise and reach their potential and dreams.
• Non- conforming and independent – Most entrepreneurs don’t conform well to what is considered ‘normal’ for example the typical 9-5 job, working for someone else, being unable to express and explore their (many!) ideas.

If the thought of just one of these fills with you doubt, then it’s not for you, go and do something else. Entrepreneurism is not for the faint hearted but if you want to embark on the best journey you’ll ever have in life, then welcome aboard!

We all have a story and I don’t consider mine or my life to be any more important or interesting than anyone else. We all though, do like to know a little more about people, certainly those we like or who interest us, which I believe is a good thing. If you don’t know anything about me as ‘Annaliese’ then how will anyone trust, believe or care for my work and my passions?
I will talk about my career in the veterinary profession, as a writer and as business founder and owner shortly. For now, to use one of many expressions! I prefer to start at the beginning.

I lost my father when I was 12, I was involved in a horrific accident at 22, which left me in hospital for 3 months and learning to walk again, my second son was born premature and spent the first few weeks of his life in the special baby care unit. I’ve being told so many times over the years I wasn’t good enough for this, that and the other and I lost my brother 4 years ago, the day after his 30^th,  I could continue to list my misfortunes (there are more!) but I think you get the picture.
So why’ve I brought these up? It’s not for attention, sympathy or admiration but to make the point; we all have ‘bad stuff’ happen to us. It is however, these adversities and situations that give us the pure grit, determination and stamina to follow and live our dreams. It is not uncommon to find that entrepreneurs have battled or suffered with trauma or crisis at some point.

On a lighter note! l love all the girlie stuff which runs throughout my businesses but I’m also a typical ‘Yorkshire lass’, I drink tea and draught ale, I call a spade a spade (which not everyone appreciates but hey ho). I have the northern humour, can spot ’bull’ and false fronts a mile off and I’m a chronic Insomniac. I am very honest and prefer the same from others, games and lies bore me. I’m incredibly loyal, caring and passionate, not only about pets and clients but also to colleagues and the people in my life.

So what do I do?

I began carving my career in veterinary nursing in 1993, qualifying from Edinburgh in 1997. I went on to gain the D32/33 assessor qualifications in 2000. In 2002 I obtained the Advanced Veterinary Nursing Diploma in Surgery. I spent 15 adorable years in small animal and mixed practice, the last 10 of those in senior positions running the nursing departments and many aspects of busy veterinary practice.

My crossroads in life inevitably appeared and 2007 saw me make the difficult decision to leave practice, I still miss it to this day but for me, it was the right decision. Then I think of the 4am call outs and maybe I don’t miss it that much!

One deciding factor in choosing whether to leave practice (amongst others) was instinct, that gut feeling we all have. To quote Stuart Baldwin on this fascinating subject, ‘If it feels good, do it!’
Although the reasons why may not always be obvious at the time, in my experience, rarely is instinct wrong. Like most entrepreneurs, I always follow instinct and base my decisions on the ‘gut feeling’ far more than the use of facts and figures. When I haven’t followed it, guess what? I should’ve done!

Since then I’ve gained the Suitable Qualified Person (SQP) status and took the plunge and opened my own business 'Fuchsia' in July 2008. In October 2008 I was honoured to receive the VN Times award by the British Veterinary Nursing Association for my continued work within veterinary nursing.

Fuchsia is a pet health spa, combining high standards of pet health care and advice, with equally high standards of grooming and fabulous treatments. In a luxury and girlie environment, keeping pets happy and healthy is what it’s all about. Educating and supporting owners to do this as well, is also a priority. Me and my team make sure we maintain excellent client relations and I (verging on the point of paranoia) make sure me and my team are all singing from the same hymn sheet and go the ‘extra mile’, so both the pets and their owners feel well cared for.

I’m also an author, my first published book was in 2004, since then I have written four veterinary nursing text books. My fifth  book, Desperate Housepets – A Guide to Healthy Pets was released in June this year. It’s been received well and has even reached Australia. I have since written articles and blogs about nurses in business that not only feature here in the UK but also in Australia.
My own site www.annaliesemorgan.com followed on, due to the demand I was getting for my know how and abilities. It enables me to motivate, help, change and inspire, not only nurses about their work and business but also vets and practices as whole, why do you want to be the same as every other nurse, vet or practice? I feel nothing but honoured to be able to do this work.

My business and my work are extensions of me ‘Annaliese Morgan’ and I can guarantee that everything I have done, do now and anything the future holds, has my heart and soul in it. The veterinary profession and keeping pets healthy are my passions and for me, I now use the vehicles of my own business, writing and other projects to do this.

My own business wasn’t done on a whim, it was a year in planning and I’ve written more business plans and visions than I care to mention – you MUST know what your business is, why yours is special and where you are going with it and yes, some of this I have learnt the hard way and some from very inspirational people I have the pleasure of knowing or working with.
I was asked in a recent interview what a day is like in my life? - With my businesses, writing, various off shoots from this and my two boys (I’m a single parent too), it’s busy. Some days are unbelievably long and juggling all the balls is a skill in its own right. The days are spent either at Fuchsia or amongst my other projects; I am always home for dinner with my boys and any writing I tend to do at night, once the house has returned to some sort of normality! Hard work? No, because I love it! And I get to make a difference.

Every day, I focus where I am going and where the business is going, EVERYDAY. As Stuart Baldwin states, focus is the first part of the process when trying to find your direction.  If I feel something isn’t right and not working, I’ll change it and reinvent things until it is working. I spend huge amounts of time on personal development (this is actually harder than you think).
Paul Avins made a superb point at speech I heard him make, that is ‘Always invest in yourself’, how many don’t do this? Daft really when you are the centre of everything, both in personal and business life. If you’re not aware of who you are and what you’re trying to achieve and where you are going with both your business and personal life, then (as I put it) ‘job’s knackered!’

Never be complacent or rest on your laurels but don’t forget to enjoy it and have fun. Good stuff comes to happy people and at 36, I’m ‘Living the dream, man!’ as the Americans would say. Or more importantly, I’m living MY dream.

So, what’s it to be - Are you an entrepreneur or an aspiring entrepreneur? Please let me know I would love to hear from you!

Annaliese x