How I Built a Stable, Flexible Career as an Associate IndeVet

IndeVets is a veterinary career model where doctors earn a guaranteed salary, choose how many days they work each week, and have a dedicated Scheduling Coordinator build their schedule. 

For a long time, I believed something many veterinarians believe: that stability and flexibility were mutually exclusive.

Traditional associate roles offered stability and benefits, but they often came with rigid schedules and very little control over your time. Relief work offered flexibility, but usually without predictable income, benefits, or the continuity that makes practicing medicine so rewarding.

What I didn’t realize at the time was that there was a third path. 

IndeVets offered something I hadn’t experienced before: the ability to choose the days I work each week while still having the financial stability, benefits, and predictability of a salaried role.

I discovered IndeVets during one of the biggest transitions in my life. I had just become a new mom, and the way I thought about my career started to shift.

I still loved practicing medicine. I loved my patients, my clients, and the feeling of working alongside a strong hospital team. But I also needed more control over my time and more predictability than my previous role allowed.

 It turned out I didn’t have to give up one to have the other. 

A Different Way to Practice

When I first heard about IndeVets, I was skeptical. Like many veterinarians, I had assumptions about relief work. Flexibility sounded appealing, but the lack of financial stability and benefits made it hard to imagine as a long-term career.

What changed my perspective was understanding how the model actually works.

As an Associate IndeVet, I’m a W-2 employee with a guaranteed salary, benefits, paid holidays, and PTO. I get a consistent paycheck from IndeVets every two weeks.

That stability changes the entire experience of relief medicine.

Instead of worrying about whether my schedule will fill or whether income will fluctuate, I can focus on practicing good medicine and supporting the teams I work with.

Veterinarians choose a schedule program based on how many days per week they want to work, anywhere from one to five. We also select our Default Working Days, which are simply the days of the week we prefer to work.

Those days are built into the schedule months ahead. If life changes, we can adjust any unassigned working days before shifts are scheduled.

Each doctor also works with a dedicated Scheduling Coordinator who gets to know our preferences, our clinical strengths, and the types of hospitals where we do our best work. They handle the logistics of matching doctors with partner clinics.

For me, that support has been one of the most underrated parts of the experience. Anyone who has done traditional relief knows how much time can go into coordinating schedules and finding shifts. Having someone manage that process makes the day-to-day experience of relief practice much more sustainable.

Exploring Hospitals Without Losing Stability

When I first joined IndeVets, I intentionally worked at several partner hospitals. I wanted to experience different workflows, meet different teams, and understand where I felt most aligned.

Because my salary was guaranteed and my schedule was already structured, I could explore without worrying about whether my income would fluctuate.

Over time, certain hospitals naturally became regular placements in my schedule. That consistency allowed me to build the kind of continuity many veterinarians worry they will lose when they think about relief work.

I started rechecking cases, seeing familiar clients again, and collaborating regularly with the same techs, associates, and CSRs.

A big part of that continuity came through long-term placements. These are structured weekly commitments to one partner hospital for a defined period of time, usually 13 weeks. They allow doctors to follow cases, integrate with a team, and build stronger working relationships while still maintaining control over their broader schedule.

At one clinic especially, it began to feel like a home base. We understood each other’s communication styles, and the team trusted how I practiced medicine. Those relationships made it easier to step into the hospital each week and contribute in a meaningful way.

That continuity has been one of the most rewarding parts of the experience. It allowed me to maintain the relationships I value in practice while still keeping the flexibility that originally drew me to relief work.

Stability Looks Different Than I Expected

One of the biggest lessons this experience has taught me is that stability in a veterinary career does not necessarily mean working in the same building every day.

For me, stability is really about predictability.

I know what my income will be every two weeks. I know which days I’m scheduled to work. And I can see my schedule months in advance.

That level of clarity makes it much easier to plan the rest of my life.

As a mom of two young children, having that kind of predictability has made a meaningful difference. I can show up fully for my patients when I’m in the clinic and be present with my family when I’m home.

The Balance I Was Looking For

Looking back, I realize the choice I thought I had to make between stability and flexibility wasn’t really the right question.

The real question was whether a career model existed that could support both.

I still practice high-quality medicine. I collaborate with strong hospital teams and build relationships with clients and colleagues. But I also have the ability to shape my schedule in a way that supports the life I want outside the clinic.

It may not be the right path for every veterinarian, and everyone’s priorities are different. But for this stage of my life and career, the structure of the IndeVets model has made practicing veterinary medicine feel sustainable again.

Curious What This Could Look Like for You?

If you have ever felt like you had to choose between stability and flexibility in your veterinary career, it may be worth seeing how the IndeVets model works.

You can explore how our schedule programs, guaranteed salary, and dedicated Scheduling Coordinators support veterinarians practicing on their own terms.

No resume required to start the conversation.