Many of us are afraid to follow our passions, to pursue what we want most, because it means taking risks, and even facing failure. But to pursue your passion with all your heart and soul is success in itself. The greatest failure is to have never really tried. - Robyn Allan

[Note: The following is an unedited letter from a seminar participant. The items in brackets are added by the author for clarity.]

"We met last at your team's VCI Shirt Sleeve Seminars, in Edmonton, in May, just 59 days ago. I just wanted to let you know how much myself and my team enjoy the Shirt Sleeve Seminars. We went last year, but were not ready to take the risk, and this year they took the challenge you gave us at the graduation dinner; we will go again. I am so proud of our team, things are really coming together for us.

"We now have OPNTs [Outpatient Nurse Technicians] in the consultation suites [exam rooms], and if you forget to have one, they haunt you! The OPNTs are bonding with the clients and providing exceptional client service. Last week, in one afternoon, we sold at least $25 dollars more inventory than we would have if I was in the consultation room alone. The AHTs [certified animal health technicians] are pushing me to perform even better quality medicine than before.

"I have not billed any small animal work in two weeks now; I am no longer allowed near the computer or the bills; this was a suggestion I made a long time ago, but no one seemed to have heard it until your meeting told us "why" it was needed. The OPNTs and IPNTs [Inpatient Nurse Technicians] are filling in the circle sheets [travel sheet, super bill, etc.] and are ensuring that each item is billed for before the invoice is printed.

"Job descriptions, procedure manuals, and training manuals are being built daily by the staff, just because you said "Staff members needed to do it themselves." For years I dreaded going to work because nothing ever changed. Now I almost look forward to going to work to see what new things are being done and implemented daily. The core values are framed and posted on the wall and we are learning to implement them in our everyday happenings. Our practice website has been expanded and a newsletter is made. We have used our pound and stray adoption program for free media coverage. Most vets would be driven crazy by the number of changes we have implemented in the last few months, instead I hope that the drive to improve and perform will continue to motivate this team to change for a long time to come. Continuous quality improvement [CQI] is really our success story, it uses everyone's brain and talents."