“Your veterinary identity can be a foundation without becoming a boundary.”
That was the message running through our Career Q&A with Wendy Furness, whose journey has taken her from equine practice to business ownership, board leadership, angel investment and conservation.
This wasn’t a polished tour through her CV. Wendy spoke candidly about what she didn’t know, the mistakes made along the way and the courage required to keep entering unfamiliar rooms.
Here are some of the lessons that stayed with us.
Stop saying “I’m just a vet or RVN”
When Wendy saw gaps or problems in practice, she didn’t wait for someone to create a formal opportunity. She developed newsletters, built business cases and explored how new services could benefit clients, animals and the practice.
Clinical work already teaches us to gather different perspectives, diagnose complex problems and develop workable solutions. Apply that same process to a workplace challenge and you are practising strategy, operations and change management.
Document what you did, why you did it and what changed. That is powerful evidence for your CV.
“You are not ‘just a vet’ - you are already a problem-solver, you just need to start naming it.”
Learn the skills that don’t sound exciting
Finance, governance, operations, systems and marketing may not be the glamorous parts of career development. Yet they enabled Wendy to build businesses, contribute to boards and advise founders.
Her MBA also showed her that many supposedly unique veterinary problems are mirrored in other professions and industries.
The skills that feel “boring” today may unlock tomorrow’s most interesting opportunity.
“The unglamorous skills are often the ones that give you the most freedom later.”
Enter the room before you feel ready
Moving into investment meant entering unfamiliar and often male-dominated rooms. Wendy’s advice was simple: put on your brave pants and walk in.
Your veterinary background may make you more interesting and valuable than you realise. Scientific understanding, practical decision-making and experiences that feel normal to us can stand out enormously elsewhere.
You don’t need to know everything. Sometimes the bravest and most useful thing you can say is: “I don’t understand this yet.”
“Confidence doesn’t come before you enter the room - it comes because you did.”
The importance of the non-vet world for your career
Wendy’s career is a reminder that stepping outside veterinary medicine can dramatically expand what you think is possible. Exposure to other industries—whether through business, investment, conservation or governance—helps you see new ways of solving old problems.
The non-vet world also gives you language, frameworks and expectations that can elevate your impact when you return to clinical or veterinary-facing roles. It challenges assumptions about what “normal” looks like in work, leadership and decision-making.
Most importantly, it helps you realise that veterinary skills are transferable, valuable and often rare in other sectors.
“The moment you step outside veterinary medicine, you realise how powerful your veterinary thinking really is.”
Remember: coming from the veterinary world is cool
It is easy to underestimate how distinctive a veterinary background is. But Wendy’s journey shows that it is not something to downplay - it is something to bring with you.
Veterinary professionals are trained to make decisions with incomplete information, communicate under pressure, and balance emotional and technical complexity. That combination is unusual in most industries.
Instead of trying to translate yourself into something else, there is power in owning where you come from and letting it shape how you contribute in new spaces.
“Don’t hide your veterinary background—it’s often the most interesting thing in the room.”
Let criticism become information
Criticism hurts, particularly when you’re pursuing something new and your confidence is fragile.
Wendy suggested letting it sting, writing down how you feel and returning to it later. Then ask: is this simply unhelpful negativity, or is there a useful truth hidden inside poor delivery?
Founders will hear no repeatedly. So will career changers. Resilience doesn’t mean pretending rejection doesn’t hurt; it means learning from what is useful without making every no a verdict on your worth.
“Not every ‘no’ is about you—sometimes it’s just data in disguise.”
Interesting is not the same as investable
Wendy explained that many business ideas are interesting. Far fewer are ready for investment.
An investable founder must clearly articulate the problem and solution, understand the numbers and demonstrate that a genuine market exists. Showmanship may attract attention, but it must be supported by realism, resilience and evidence that people will pay.
Before seeking funding, understand what the investment will enable you to achieve - and prepare yourself to hear no more than once.
“Interest gets attention, but evidence gets investment.”
You don’t have to leap straight into a new career
If conservation, charity work or another sector interests you, explore how you can contribute while building relevant experience.
A trustee or volunteer role can develop governance, strategy, financial planning and board-level skills. It can also help you test whether that world genuinely suits you.
Read the organisation’s strategy and accounts. Understand what the board already has and identify the perspective you could add. Don’t rule yourself out because you cannot tick every box.
“You can step sideways into a new career long before you step away from your current one.”
Make your experience visible
One of Wendy’s most striking examples involved reviewing the CV of an accomplished former colleague and realising it bore little resemblance to the person’s actual capabilities.
This is especially important for women and others whose contributions may be overlooked or attributed elsewhere.
Keep a record of projects, positive feedback, problems solved and outcomes created. What feels ordinary to you may be extraordinary to someone else—but only if you learn to communicate it.
“If you don’t record your impact, someone else will underestimate it.”
Stay curious. Keep evidence of your progress. Find an honest mentor or critical friend. Make time for whatever restores you—and remember that opportunities rarely arrive beautifully wrapped.
Sometimes you have to put on your brave pants and go looking for them.
Watch the full episode in our memberships and gain CV and career support too!