RVN Elle Payne is founder of The Positive Vet Nurse on Instagram and passionate about helping veterinary professionals achieve their goals without burnout or self-doubt. Here she shares how she discovered from her own journey that you don’t have to wait for fulfilling career opportunities to fall into your lap.
Many veterinary nurses reach a point in their careers where they feel stuck or unfulfilled, especially if they have a particular niche or interest that they can’t fully express in practice due to things like time, staffing issues or “because that’s how we’ve always done it”. It can be frustrating for veterinary nurses, feeling that they have hit a ceiling with nowhere to go.
The reality is that now we live in a digital world and one where we can make connections and harness passions easily, veterinary nurses can create their own empowering opportunities. These allow nurses to share their enthusiasm, grow their confidence and shape their career into one that feels meaningful.
Here are some ways you can start creating your own opportunities:
- Seek out CPD to build your skillset within your niche or speciality that interests you. Take up the opportunity to extend your knowledge and become an expert in the area by attending CPD events, special interest groups and using social media to find others with similar interests that you can learn from.
- Become a resource for others. Share your knowledge and skills with colleagues, other local practices, other vet nurses and pet owners.
- Set up your own nurse clinics for your area of interest and inspire owners to create positive changes for their pets.
- If your niche is something that pet owners need to learn more about, run an event for pet owners either in practice or within a local community to help spread awareness.
- Create your own social media page, blogs or vlogs and share your passions with other like-minded individuals. There is someone out there who is looking for the information that you know already, share it!
- Ask to speak at veterinary events such as BVNA Congress. By talking about what lights you up, you can inspire others while you are doing it.
- Remember to keep an open mindset and say ‘yes’ to opportunities when they are thrown your way because you never know what they could lead to.
A place to connect
My story: I started my Instagram page, The Positive Vet Nurse, over 7 years ago, during my final year at university at a time when there were not many veterinary nurses with accounts. I was struggling with severe low self-esteem and mental health difficulties, and with the stigma around mental health in our profession, I wanted to talk about and share my own experiences, because I knew I couldn’t be alone in how I was feeling. The idea was to share content in the hope that I could help at least one person who could realise that they are not alone in how they are feeling or what they are going through. So, I created a safe space and an online community where the stigma towards mental health issues could be diminished and asking for help could become more normalised.
Building on passion
My community grew, and with vets and vet nurses sending me private messages to ask for advice and sign posting, it was clear to me that there was a lack of information on social media, so I started to tailor content around this. I get many messages saying how I have helped someone by making them feel like they are not alone in their struggles, which I find to be truly special. The community grew even more when events in the veterinary space began to happen. Katie Ford hosted ‘Vetstagram’, an online webinar during the Covid 19 pandemic, in which I spoke about the different self-care pillars for veterinary professionals. Many others joined as guests to deliver a useful free resource for others, which was enjoyable to be a part of! Creating this space and turning it into a coaching business has been my greatest achievement and one I am insanely proud of. I am currently planning a membership option to really enhance that community feel!
Evolving opportunities
Since then, I’ve spoken at events hosted by the BVA and BVNA, been invited to big events for networking opportunities, been paid for publishing my work with big companies, created a podcast channel, hosted my own events online and created my own coaching business.
This is something I could never in a million years have imagined doing with my career, but I am so glad I started all those years ago. It has given me fulfilment in my role and allowed me to diversify into content creating which I enjoy thoroughly.
So, if you’re feeling stuck and deflated in your role, maybe it is time to make your career into something special by taking back the reins, mapping out all the possibilities and creating an action plan on how to get there. Small actions taken are better than doing nothing and staying the same. You never know what could come your way, but when you’ve created something you love, there will be no doubt that your hard work has paid off – the most amazing things can happen!
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