FlightPlan: Quick Consults

In this Halloween special, Brenda asks a spooky question: what if the biggest threat to your practice isn’t the economy, but the decisions you’re making because you’re afraid of it?

Brenda takes on the monsters hiding in your financial closet. The monster under the bed telling you to freeze your fees. The vampire quietly draining your margins when prices don’t keep up with costs. The ghosts of clients who haven’t been back (and why lower prices aren’t always the fix). Along the way, she shares a practical exercise for reviewing your top ten services, how to get your team confident talking about money (no more “unfortunately, the doctor wants to do these tests”), and real scripts for the toughest client conversations about cost.

She wraps up with a five-step Halloween survival kit to keep those financial monsters away for good. Because compassion and financial sustainability aren’t opposing forces. They depend on each other!

Thank you to VIN for partnering with us for today's episode!

Thanks for listening!

Website: https://encorevet.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/encoreveterinaryconsulting

Instagram: @encorevetconsulting

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/encore-veterinary-consulting

As Vet Tech Week wraps up, host Brenda Tassava Medina sits down with Kitty Olson, CVT, FFCP, CVBL, and Carol Hurst, LVT, CVPM, CVJ, CCFP, to ask a big question: are you really using your veterinary technicians? They talk about what changes when practices stop seeing techs as support staff and start seeing them as medical professionals who expand what the practice can do. They also cover where tech talent gets left on the table, why trust and delegation matter so much, and whether your practice is short on people or short on skill.

Kitty and Carol also take on the “it’s just quicker if I do it myself” mindset and share what happens when a practice truly invests in its techs: better retention, a team that feels valued, technician appointments that help the business, and a doctor-tech partnership that lifts everyone, assistants included. 

Thank you to VIN for partnering with us for today's episode!

Thanks for listening!

Website: https://encorevet.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/encoreveterinaryconsulting

Instagram: @encorevetconsulting

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/encore-veterinary-consulting

What happens in your hospital when someone is afraid to speak up? A tech notices a missed med. A CSR knows the schedule isn’t working. A manager disagrees with the owner but keeps the peace. That silence costs you in turnover, lost ideas, and sometimes patient safety.

In this solo episode, Brenda Tassava Medina takes on the topic that keeps coming up with practice leaders nationwide: psychological safety. Drawing on Amy Edmondson’s book, The Fearless Organization, she covers the four workplace zones, why safety and accountability go hand in hand, and 7 leadership habits you can start this week. She also asks the hard question: what if YOU are the reason your team stays quiet?

Pick one habit. Practice it. Keep going. ✈️

Thank you to VIN for partnering with us for today's episode!

Thanks for listening!

Website: https://encorevet.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/encoreveterinaryconsulting

Instagram: @encorevetconsulting

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/encore-veterinary-consulting

AI is everywhere right now, but where is it actually making a difference in the practice? Today's conversation skips the product pitches and focuses on what matters: reducing friction around the work your team is already doing. From AI scribes and admin support to client follow-up, workflow orchestration, and turning data into insights you can act on, the right tools can get your team to trusted answers faster. The big takeaway? When AI takes the right things off our plate, it can actually make veterinary medicine MORE human.

Panelists:

• Dr. Brian Hur, Principle AI Scientist, President of Association for Veterinary Infomatics
• Jessica Fuller, CVPM, CCFP, HABc, VP of Community at Pawsitive Intelligence

Thank you to VIN for partnering with us for today's episode!

Learn more about VIN AI mode HERE!

Learn more about Pawsitive Intelligence HERE!

Thanks for listening!

Website: https://encorevet.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/encoreveterinaryconsulting

Instagram: @encorevetconsulting

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/encore-veterinary-consulting

Twelve years after losing Dr. Sophia Yin, her push to take patient fear and stress seriously still shapes veterinary medicine. Today's panelists talk about how far we've come from labeling patients "difficult" or "dominant."

They also dig into what happens when low-stress handling becomes part of the whole practice: fewer bites, happier teams, and clients who see how much you care. The key? Training, buy-in, accountability, and building it into your SOPs, because it takes a village.

Panelists:

• Dr. Christine Calder, Diplomate, American College of Veterinary Behaviorists, Director of Behavior Educational Content for VIN Behavior Academy
• Bradley Phifer, CBCC-KA, CPDT-KSA, Executive Director for the Certification Council for Professional Dog Trainers
• Joy Stizza, RVT, Clinical Supervisor and Practice Leader at Town & Country Veterinary Hospital

Thank you to VIN for partnering with us for today's episode!

To learn more about Sophia Yin and Low-Stress Handling:

• https://cattledogpublishing.com/
• https://www.vin.com/vinmembers/ce

Thanks for listening!

Website: https://encorevet.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/encoreveterinaryconsulting

Instagram: @encorevetconsulting

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/encore-veterinary-consulting

Melissa Mauldin and Brenda Medina both started at the front desk, and 40+ combined years in veterinary medicine later, neither path looked like a straight line. Melissa worked her way from CSR to bookkeeping, practice and regional management, and now VP of HR for Encore Vet Group. Brenda thought she'd become a tech before realizing the medical side wasn't for her, working her way up from CSR to Hospital Administrator and then a veterinary consultant.

Together they talk about why success doesn't have to mean a promotion, how sprinting from role to role leads straight to burnout, and what Brenda learned the first time she rolled out a job level program. 

Plus, advice for newer associates thinking about leaving the profession: come in like a sponge, take time to find a special interest, and remember your skills might just fit a different practice better.

Thank you to VIN (Veterinary Information Network®) for partnering with us for this episode!

Thanks for listening!

Website: https://encorevet.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/encoreveterinaryconsulting

Instagram: @encorevetconsulting

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/encore-veterinary-consulting

If we want vet professionals to have sustainable careers and real, livable wages, that has to come from somewhere: the care we provide. In Part 2, practice owners, Dr. Brianna Armstrong and Dr. Marie Maher dig into what that means on the business side, why teams need to stop apologizing for what things cost, and how pricing confidently (while still working within the spectrum of care) is what lets a practice actually pay its people what they're worth.

Then a parent of a veterinary student shares what she hopes practices will one day offer her daughter. Her daughter, finishing vet school now, weighs in on what a sustainable career should look like, from friends already hitting burnout to why "firing a client" sometimes has to be okay.

This one's for every vet professional thinking about what the career should pay, and it's especially worth passing along to any vet students you know!

Panelists include:

• Dr. Brianna Armstrong, Practice Owner at Firehouse Animal Health Centers
• Dr. Marie Maher, Practice Owner at Tranquil Tabby Mobile Cat Vet

Resources mentioned:

• Dr. Armstrong created a free Hospital Culture Interview Guide for veterinary professionals. It includes 33 questions to ask, what to listen for in the answers, and red flags to watch for during an interview or working visit. Download it here!
• WMPB Fees 2026: Redefining Value Through Strategic Pricing
• Veterinary Fee Consults with Encore Veterinary Consulting
• With thanks to Dr. Eve Harrison of The House Call Vet Academy, whose coaching shaped several of Dr. Maher's comments throughout this episode!

Thanks for listening!

Website: https://encorevet.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/encoreveterinaryconsulting

Instagram: @encorevetconsulting

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/encore-veterinary-consulting

"It's just so expensive" is one of the most common things veterinary teams hear, and one of the hardest to answer without feeling defensive. In Part 1 of a 2-part episode, two practice owners get honest about affordability for pet owners and sustainability for hospitals, and why charging what care actually costs shouldn't come with guilt attached. They break down what really goes into the price of a visit, how expenses have climbed like everything else in the economy, and why "expensive" doesn't mean "overpriced," from the years of schooling behind the medicine to what it takes to pay a team well.

Then a pet owner and her daughter, who's currently in veterinary school, weigh in from the other side of the exam table: how she personally thinks about the cost of care, whether her daughter's path has changed her understanding of it, and how vet school itself has reshaped her daughter's sense of the value behind it. Part 2 continues next week!

Panelists include:

• Dr. Brianna Armstrong, Practice Owner at Firehouse Animal Health Centers
• Dr. Marie Maher, Practice Owner at Tranquil Tabby Mobile Cat Vet

Resources mentioned:

• WMPB Fees 2026: Redefining Value Through Strategic Pricing
• Veterinary Fee Consults with Encore Veterinary Consulting
• With thanks to Dr. Eve Harrison of The House Call Vet Academy, whose coaching shaped several of Dr. Maher's comments throughout this episode!

Thanks for listening!

Website: https://encorevet.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/encoreveterinaryconsulting

Instagram: @encorevetconsulting

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/encore-veterinary-consulting

Where's the real opportunity for your practice in 2027 and beyond? Brenda sits down with Dr. Marty Greer of Veterinary Village, Maggie Holcomb of Reynolda Veterinary Hospital, and Michelle Winter of Encore Vet Group to talk about the services reshaping veterinary care, from technicians stepping into a bigger advisory role to rethinking spay and neuter timing to expanding into senior care, rehab, and exotics.

But not every new idea is worth chasing. Marty, Maggie, and Michelle break down how to know when one is: listen to your clients, track what you're referring out, find a champion on your team, and don't skip the hard part of training staff and explaining the why before you roll it out.

Host = Brenda Tassava Medina, CVPM, CVJ, MVLCE

Panelists:

• Dr. Marty Greer, Practice Owner at Veterinary Village
• Maggie Holcomb, CVPM, Practice Manager at Reynolda Veterinary Hospital
• Michelle Winter, CVPM, CVJ, VP of Operations at Encore Vet Group

Thank you to Joan Marshall of PIMidlantic for sponsoring this episode! Want to take the Predictive Index Assessment? Click here!

Thanks for listening!

Website: https://encorevet.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/encoreveterinaryconsulting

Instagram: @encorevetconsulting

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/encore-veterinary-consulting

Have you accidentally trained your team to wait for you? If a vacation brings decisions to a halt until you're back, this episode is for you. Brenda sits down with a panel consisting of a veterinary consultant, a practice manager, and a practice owner/veterinarian to talk about letting go of being "the fixer," starting with the everyday things that pile up waiting for the boss, like client complaints and scheduling. They dig into how to build real trust with your team by asking "what would you do?" instead of jumping in, and why doing something differently than you doesn't mean doing it wrong.

Panelists joining Brenda Tassava Medina for this episode include:

• Dr. Amy Tate, Managing Partner at Riverview Animal Hospital
• Carol Hurst,  LVT, CVPM, CVJ, CCFP, Consultant at Encore Veterinary Consulting
• Crystal Hardison, RVT, CVPM, Practice Manager at Winterville Animal Care and Trinity Veterinary Hospital

Thank you to Joan Marshall of PIMidlantic for sponsoring this episode! Want to take the Predictive Index Assessment? Click here!

Thanks for listening!

Website: https://encorevet.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/encoreveterinaryconsulting

Instagram: @encorevetconsulting

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/encore-veterinary-consulting