Meet Sabrina Grinstead | Veterinarian and Small Business Owner

We had the good fortune of connecting with Sabrina Grinstead and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Sabrina, how do you define success?
The obvious answer, that success means being financially stable, is only a small part of the answer. Having a workplace I enjoy, with happy coworkers, is important to that success.

Being able to help and contribute to the wellbeing of others should also be part of the definition of success. Having the freedom to spend quality time with family and friends is the ultimate goal.

In order to consider oneself successful, I think there should be a feeling of pride and accomplishment, and also contentment.

Can you give our readers an introduction to your business? Maybe you can share a bit about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
Eno Animal Hospital has served Durham and surrounding communities for about 35 years. When I took over, in 2011, it was small and cramped and outdated. My proudest moment is opening our beautiful new hospital after three years of planning, designing, and stress.

Our mission is to help as many pets as possible with the best Fear Free medicine. My goal is to be a one-stop shop for fur babies. We asked our community what they want for their pets, so we specifically designed a cozy, comfortable place with all the services: wellness care, surgery and even specialty surgery, dentistry, ultrasound, boarding, grooming, laser therapy, acupuncture.

Twenty years of experience being a vet does not prepare you for being a business owner! Owning a business is a whole other set of challenges and requires a whole new set of skills and knowledge: in hiring, HR, management, insurance, taxes, safety and building codes, marketing, scalable growth.

I’ve been training in business management so I can grow Eno successfully and in a healthy way. Getting to where we are today was hard, but it’s worth it when I see Eno pets and the Eno family thrive.

My favorite part of leading Eno is working with an amazing team. Building a team of great people takes a lot of effort and investment. We go to professional conferences and take training courses often to sharpen our skills in both business and vet medicine. We confront challenges head-on with a lot of collaboration. My motto is: “We’ll make it work!”

I’m really proud to be a local small business owner, and that our executive leaders are all women. What sets us apart is our independent spirit, plus how active we are in the community. We adopted the new local dog park at Rock Quarry, sponsor and attend tons of events big and small, and raise money to put pet oxygen kits on all the city’s fire trucks.

I want people to know veterinary medicine is incredibly rewarding and meaningful but still such a stressful job. Compassion fatigue is real. Self-harm and suicide are higher in our industry than the norm. Leaders have to create a fun, safe, empowering work environment to protect and support our people. Our team really lifts each other up, and it’s great to come to work every day with a profound sense of purpose, surrounded by other animal lovers who truly care.

For three years running we’ve won Durham Magazine’s Best Vet, and this year we won Indy Week’s Best Grooming. I’m so excited about Eno’s bright future.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
Durham is so dog-friendly! So we could go out and about pretty much anywhere with our puppers. We’d have to go visit our friends at Hi-Wire Brewing and toast with the biggest stout, and play trivia at Bull City Ciderworks. Definitely a visit to our dog park at Rock Quarry; it’s tucked into a beautiful pine forest.

If it’s a summer visit, on the 4th of July you better be at Festival for the Eno! Tons of music, food trucks and a beer garden, local arts and crafts: It’s hot and dusty and amazing, and we always have a blast giving away prizes at our booth. If it’s the fall, we can hit Barktoberfest (a huge Halloween fundraiser where everyone, including the dogs, is in costume) and a Durham Bulls game for Bark in the Park (pooches welcome of course). In the spring we have Canine Field Day and the famous APS Walk with all our veterinarian and rescue group friends. In the winter you have to check out the Bahama Christmas Parade! Our team LOVES riding on our float, decorated like A Charlie Brown Christmas, and throwing tons of candy to the kiddos.

The Farmer’s Market downtown, Parizade for delicious Mediterranean food, ax throwing at Urban Axes, zip lining: There is always something amazing to do in Durham.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
My family, friends, colleagues, consultants, executives, and team!

Website: https://www.enoanimalhospital.com/

Instagram: @enoanimalhospital

Linkedin: Eno Animal Hospital

Facebook: @enoanimalhospital

Yelp: Eno Animal Hospital

Image Credits
Eno Animal Hospital