Somerset Veterinary Hospital with Dr.Charles Felz
To Become a Veterinarian or Not?
For Charles Felz that Childhood Dream Became Reality.
From an early age, Charles Felz, DVM, knew that he wanted to become a veterinarian. At age 14, he started working after school and on the weekends cleaning kennels at a hometown veterinary hospital. As time passed, his passion for medicine and animals intensified.
He chose to study pre-veterinary medicine at Colorado State University before receiving his DVM degree from Ross University School of Veterinary Medicine in 2008. After graduation, Dr. Felz returned to Colorado to practice at a busy mixed animal practice for one year.
He then completed a one-year small animal internship at Iowa State University (ISU) in Ames, followed by residency training in anesthesia and pain management at ISU. While working and teaching at Iowa State, Dr. Felz moonlighted at a busy emergency practice in Des Moines. During his time at ISU, Dr. Felz fell in love with Ames (a community located about 30 miles north of Des Moines) and decided to open Somerset Veterinary Hospital there.
“I did a geographic study in 2011 which showed the need for a veterinarian in Ames,” said Dr. Felz. “Rather than rent and modify space, I chose to hire an architect and local builders with experience in veterinary hospital design to have building space built out for us.”
In May of 2011, Dr. Felz attended a seminar where Gary I. Glassman, CPA was one of the key speakers, continued Dr. Felz, “We didn’t get any type of start-up training or business strategy planning in veterinary school, so Gary’s talk about starting up a veterinary practice was invaluable to me.”
With construction underway on Somerset Veterinary Hospital, Dr. Felz surrounded himself with a team of qualified people, including Burzenski & Company, P.C. to help him not only for the initial start-up but also for the long-term business strategy of the practice.
“Burzenski & Company came on board at the opening of the practice,” said Dr. Felz. “Gary and his team, particularly Melody Mann Fox and Jeffrey Bliss, helped by putting together benchmarks for pricing. This was important because a person doesn’t necessarily know what to charge when first opening the doors to a practice. Burzenski & Company was able to access all kinds of information, especially what we should be charging for services and inventory in our area.”
Not only does Burzenski & Company handle the practice’s accounting but also Dr. Felz’ personal taxes. “This makes everything so simple,” he added.
The business world is complex. New practice owners must be concerned with government regulations for hiring employees and taxes, as well as record keeping and general business issues. Missteps in the early stages of business can create costly mistakes.
Continues Dr. Felz, “The digital age has made it ever so simple for us to communicate and keep my practice on track. Burzenski & Company has done an amazing job guiding and preparing me and my staff for any potential tax liabilities which has been a real advantage. From a business owner’s perspective this has been extremely helpful.”
Burzenski & Company is uniquely qualified to assist practice owners through the maze of complexities associated with starting a practice, saving practices time and money, allowing doctors to do what they do best.
“Our practice has been successful as a startup,” continues Dr. Felz, “and I believe this is directly related to Burzenski & Company. Their advice has been invaluable. We have to do the hard work. But they are always there to help us and to keep us from overextending ourselves. Burzenski & Company is very good at what they do!”
Somerset Veterinary Hospital offers preventative health care services for cats and dogs. Services include house calls, dentistry, anesthesia, pain management, surgery, internal medicine, after-hours emergency care and dermatology. They are AAHA accredited.
Click here to learn more about Somerset Veterinary Hospital.
