Get to know Florida Veterinary Advisors.

After Tom moved companies in 2013, he partnered up with CJ in May. During a training session, Tom was given a list of professions that could benefit from the services we offer and Veterinarians were included. Tom started to pursue working with Veterinarians because of his love for animals. From that day, the community gave us great feedback on how they felt, and many wanted guidance on their personal finances and business plans.

They began to work with a variety of Veterinarians: practice owners, associates, relief, and other veterinary professionals. One client provided them an opportunity to speak at a local association, the Pinellas County Veterinary Medical Association (PCVMA) in Pinellas County, FL. During this meeting, they met several great people within the profession who introduced them to others that became clients. For the rest of the year, they stayed in contact with the members and spent time refining their planning processes.

They focused on building stronger relationships in the veterinary community to support the rapidly changing practice ownership environment. They started helping practice owners understand how to protect their practice’s value, and income that is generated by the business, implement programs to keep essential employees, and design a plan to exit on their terms.

They were introduced to corporations wanting to offer financial wellness to their Veterinarians. Their business grew quickly, and they realized there was an opportunity to impact the veterinary community through financial continuing education that counted towards their license requirements.

Clients were actively introducing them to other veterinarians because of their strong belief in the approach to planning. They started working with others outside of Florida, and the firm began to work nationally. The message they were communicating was received really well, and it motivated them to improve the education provided.

They became Florida Continuing Education Providers in June and received approval for two presentations: Creating Balance in Your Financial Life and Maximize the Value of Your Veterinary Practice. These courses were presented at multiple veterinary associations and presentations at their office.

Since their presence was expanded nationally, they became RACE Providers and created 5 more courses. They were invited by multiple associations in Florida to share these presentations.

In the summer Tom Seeko joined VetPartners, a national community of veterinary professionals that work with practice owners and help the overall veterinary community.

Since the business was operating as “The Office of CJ Burnett and Tom Seeko,” they were branded as “Florida Veterinary Advisors.” This helped represent their roots in Florida and what they were doing in the veterinary community.

They participated in their first annual Veterinary Business Management Association (VBMA) meeting and spoke about a mixture of financial topics with students. The door opened for them to speak at several veterinary schools throughout the year from this meeting. Some of the schools they spoke at were Tufts, The Ohio State, Cornell, University of Florida, Michigan State, and the University of Georgia.

Alongside their school involvement, they presented at associations in Florida and Georgia. They participated and spoke for 4 hours in September at their first IVECCS conference. From this conference, they received an invitation to speak at the Western Veterinary Conference in February 2020.

In June, they offered 7 RACE presentations online monthly, starting with How to Be Effective With Your Money. These courses are complementary and provide Veterinarians an opportunity to learn about financial topics without leaving their homes.

At the end of 2019, people asked if they work with Veterinarians outside of Florida. Since they have clients in over 20 states, they started working to change their name to a national brand.

They participated in the Veterinary Business Management Association (VBMA) for the second time. They were invited to present for eight schools through virtual meetings and scheduled several other school presentations in the coming year.

In addition to schools, they presented for 4 hours at the Western Veterinary Conference (WVC) in Las Vegas, Nevada. This was the second major conference they were scheduled to speak at, and they co-presented at Fetch dvm360 with two veterinarians. They also hosted three exclusive presentations for Relief Rover and co-hosted virtual events with Blue Frog Construction, CARR, Hippo Manager, and Coppens Business Strategies.

Smarter Vet Podcast was released in April. A podcast created to simplify finances for veterinarians, practice owners, and veterinary students. New TED talk length episodes are posted each month on financial topics, and interviews with industry thought leaders and other professionals that work with veterinarians.

Starting in December, all RACE presentations were made available each month. One of the seven presentations is hosted each day and available to be viewed at four different times during the day.