DeLana Canida

I really attribute my success to my former manager, Willie. She was German and definitely a strong, dependable person who kept her eye on the ball. When I was trained by her, that's how I've persisted my whole life - she taught me to cover my rear end, make sure I do my job, and do it correctly and proudly. She instilled that in me when I was coming up through my younger years, because I started at the business when I was pretty young. I also had another great influence in Bill Tully, who was the owner-operator of Phoenix Central Laboratories. He's now passed, but he was a really great guy. Even with 200 employees, he knew everybody's names and remembered my kids' birthdays. He made me want to work there. I love making sure I make people happy, making sure I do a good job for them, and I want to pass that out to other people too.

The best advice I've received is to stick with it and don't give up. Ask a lot of questions - if you're interested in something, pursue it. Even if you think it's out of your realm, try it out, because otherwise you'll never know. You have to be brave enough to ask a lot of questions and take a venture, take a leap of faith. It's really hard because I feel like I'm just a normal person, not an expert in anything, and I'm taking this great big leap of faith. That's what I would suggest people do - go for your passion, because it'll work.

Do your homework. There's a lot of different ways you could come into this industry - through clinics, through advertisement, through selling products, through partnering up with other people in the industry. It's a good thing out there. There's a lot of different partners you can partner up with that helps both businesses on both sides. Just do your homework and get out there and reach out to people that have more knowledge than you. I'm a perfect example - I was thirsty for knowledge my entire career until I got to the point where I was ready to use that knowledge for my own benefit. You also have to know your limits. I have enough knowledge to know that there's parts of this business I can't do, so I've looked for people that have the expertise to do that also. You don't want to step into something that you don't have any idea about. If somebody else can do it better than you, let them do it.

The biggest challenges are the corporations - 100%. They monopolize a lot of the industry, not just the lab part but everything. They monopolize the independent veterinarian clinics by buying them up. They buy up pet toys, pet supplies, everything - they're not just in one lane, they're in everything now. It affects me starting my own business because I don't have the globalization that they do. I don't have the money, the marketing, the wow factor. I'm just a small little place. What I come across with is that I'm your partner, I'm your friend. You can come in and customize the type of work you want done with me. The corporations are one pickup, one way, straightforward - they don't have special things for this or special things for that. As a small company, I'm way more flexible and customizable. I'm not going to have a contract per se - clinics can leave us as they want to. I'm going to try to make them stay, and that's my job - to be a good person and make them want to stay with us.

In my work, honesty is most important to me. I don't like people that lie to me. If you don't like the job, or if you miss something, or if you messed up, just fess up, because we'll work it out. Most of the time you're not going to get disciplined unless it was a major thing. A lot of times we can work through things, and that way it's a learning thing, not necessarily like 'oh gosh, I did something wrong.' The other value is consistency. I like somebody to be consistent and proud of what they come to do, and I want them to be proud to work for my company. In my personal life, again, it's honesty. I like people to just be real with me, and just have fun and relax.