In the very first episode of Pharmacy View Podcast’s Pharmacy Career, Resource & Training, we are joined by host, Kavita Nadan, Pharmacist, and Founder at Locumate, and guest, Karen Brown, Managing Partner at TerryWhite Chemmart, Co-Founder & Director at Batch Tested and Pharmacy Redefined. Listen in as the two passionate Pharmacists talk about the Pharmaceutical Industry at large and how Pharmacies across the country sit at the cusp of transformation in the near future.
Karen, in their own words, wears many hats. In addition to being an Award-winning Pharmacist and Pharmacy Owner, Karen is a Founder, a Director, a Leader, a Speaker, and most importantly, a wife and a mother. Having said that, they see synergy in everything that they do and say that at the core of it all is their want to help people—helping their team members be better people, helping their patients get healthier, helping the community achieve better results. They believe that whether in sports or in business, they are people managers who bring together a group of individuals to achieve a common goal.
Having done so much across sectors, when asked what their top three pieces of advice for someone starting something completely different, their prompt response was
· Take your blinkers off
· Say yes to opportunities
· Build the plane while you’re flying it (don’t wait for it to be perfect before you launch it)
Having said that in their own business, Karen knows how one person as a Pharmacy Owner doesn’t need to know everything and should rather take on the challenges while surrounding themselves with a team of experts. Their advice being, “You need to get comfortable being uncomfortable.”
Karen, a firm believer in their mission to challenge the status quo and to redefine how people view community Pharmacy, is no stranger to awards and accolades. They are the Winner of Australian and Qld TerryWhite Chemmart of the Year - Arana Hills 2022, Winner of Small Business Person of the Year - Dickson Australia Day Community Awards 2021, Finalist in the Rhonda White Leadership Award 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020 and Nominee for Telstra Business Women’s Award 2019, 2020, among others.
They believe their work reflects the mark they have left in redefining community Pharmacy. Even though there is validation, they believe that as a team they need to understand that so long as good work is done, the community responds to that.
Talking about what Pharmacies need to focus on, they share about
· investing heavily in personal development for the team as they strongly believe that people want to belong to something bigger than themselves and people want to belong in a team;
· investing in professional development and finding the right person for the right job.
Karen believes that the Pharmaceutical Industry is sitting at the precipice of something huge and they are excited about the endless possibilities that the future has in store. They think that in the near future there will be boutique health hubs and more work will be driven toward specialty services and niching. And even though at the core each Pharmacy will still be the same, the customer journey and use of technology will evolve.
When asked about Owner’s Summit. Karen elaborates how ownership can be lonely and how contrary to popular assumption, Pharmacy owners are not competitors, they are one another’s biggest cheerleaders rather. They add that instead of doom and gloom, people need to come together, share ideas, and have the courage to be vulnerable in a safe space so that together they can work towards better outcomes. Karen shares how it is important to not just share ideas but also understand how the shared ideas are handled so that the fear of rejection doesn’t plague team members. As they iterate, the pillars remain the betterment of health, team, and community.
