The path to practice ownership isn't always straight and narrow. For Sam Vaught, AuD, it took almost two and a half decades.

"I always had the notion that I wanted to go into private practice, but the timing just wasn't right for one reason or another," says Dr. Vaught. "Until 2 years ago, anyway."

Rather than growing complacent as he worked in a variety of settings as a staff audiologist, Dr. Vaught embraced the unique challenges and opportunities in each position and allowed them to prepare him for eventual entrepreneurship.

Through membership in his state association, he also enjoyed regular contact with colleagues who had crossed the bridge to ownership and encouraged through example and word. Then, in 2004, he completed his AuD degree, an experience that rounded out his professional preparation and granted him a title garnering almost universal acknowledgement, respect and success: doctor.

In his mind, he was finally ready to take the big step. So when he heard about a nearby retiring audiologist looking to sell her already established private practice, Dr. Vaught jumped at the opportunity.

Now the owner of The Audiology Center of Snellville, in Snellville, GA, Dr. Vaught admits to low-grade nervousness about his practice's future but overrides it with mass marketing, quality care, personal service, and faith in the value of a job well done.

"I survived the first 2 years, so that is a blessing," he says. "It can be challenging going it alone. But I am really glad I did it, and I am enjoying the journey."

Preparing for Ownership

Dr. Vaught began his career working for an ENT group in Kinston, NC, after earning his master's degree in 1982. During the next 3 years, he dug in his heels as an audiologist and learned how to practice proficiently as well as efficiently.

"It was a fast pace and not always easy to keep up doing audiological evaluations, electronystagmography exams and starting their hearing aid dispensing program from scratch," he says. "That's when things started to click about building things from the ground up. But I was doing it for someone else."

For the next 10 years, Dr. Vaught practiced at New Hanover Regional Medical Center in Wilmington, NC. There, he worked his way into a half administrative position as coordinator of audiology and also practiced alongside two other audiologists and five speech pathologists.

"That gave me good experience supervising and hiring other professionals and support personnel, creating and working within a budget, and growing and expanding the services there as well," he recalls.

From there, he went on to work at hearing instrument manufacturer GN Danavox, right around the advent of digital hearing aid technology. Besides excitement, the position offered him a behind-the-scenes education on how hearing aids are designed and made and an understanding that an important aspect of being successful in sales is the ability to build relationships with clients.

After returning to clinical audiology the next year for a large ENT group in Atlanta, his next destination was a six-office private audiology practice in metro-Atlanta. Part of the time he worked alongside audiologist colleagues. On other days, he was the only audiologist in the office, providing audiological evaluations, electronystagmography exams, auditory brainstem response testing, otoacoustic emissions testing and hearing aid dispensing on his own.

"I really got to see first-hand how to run a private practice, and I think that is when the motivation to branch out on my own resurfaced," he says.

During his 7 years at the practice, he also enrolled in a distance-learning program at the Pennsylvania College of Optometry, School of Audiology, Elkins Park, PA, and completed his AuD degree.

"That was the culmination of finally feeling prepared to take the big step," he says. "I was able to be called "Dr. Vaught," and I learned so much in that program that I felt capable of going it alone from a business perspective as well as fundamentally as an audiologist."

Sealing the Deal

On March 31, 2006, Dr. Vaught signed the documents to purchase his practice and became a business owner. Although taking over an established practice had its benefits (think furnished office, equipped exam rooms and an extensive patient database), it also carried a few professional and personal challenges.

"I had some big shoes to fill," says Dr. Vaught. "I was assuming a practice that had been in existence for more than 25 years, and most everyone loved the previous owner. I believe she and I are a lot alike, but I knew her patients were used to her way of doing things. And I knew I was going to change some things and there could be some resistance. That's where I just hoped that people would give me a chance and realize that I'm a nice guy and a good audiologist, too."

One of Dr. Vaught's first orders of business was to change the practice's name from Focus on Hearing to The Audiology Center of Snellville, which he thought offered a broader, more professional message.

"As audiologists, we do much more than just ?hearing' or ?hearing tests,' and I wanted the name to reflect that," he says. "I would like for audiology to become a household word at some point, so I thought I would do my part to help move our profession in that direction."

The retiring audiologist and seller helped ease the transition by sending a letter of introduction to patients and then staying in the office for a few weeks while Dr. Vaught gained his footing and a following. Over time, the new owner made the practice more his own by purchasing a Maico MI 34 impedance bridge, hiring an office manager and eventually renovating the site to improve efficiency. Valued advice from other audiology practice owners helped guide him along the way.

Today, much of the practice's appeal is its mix of professional atmosphere with personal service.

"I do care about my patients, and I want them to recognize that," says Dr. Vaught. "My office manager tries to treat people with respect and is very personable, and they appreciate that."

Every person who purchases a hearing aid from The Audiology Center of Snellville (manufacturers most often dispensed there are Unitron, Oticon and Phonak) receives a thank you card and handwritten note from Dr. Vaught. Patients who refer friends or family members receive a year's supply of free batteries. And it isn't uncommon for some of the center's most senior patients to receive birthday cards from the practice.

Marketing to the Masses

Greeting cards aside, Dr. Vaught works to keep The Audiology Center of Snellville in the minds and mailboxes of the community through semi-annual newsletters and annual mass mailings.

American Hearing Aid Associates (AHAA), an organization perhaps best known for offering group buying power for hearing aids,also provides help with practice development, peer-to-peer support, public relations and marketing. When preparing his spring newsletter, Dr. Vaught wrote some of his own text and collaborated with AHAA on other text. He then received an electronic newsletter back from AHAA, took it to the printer and mailed a printed copy to every patient in his database.

AHAA also provided guidance and text for a promotional letter Dr. Vaught sent to patients who purchased hearing aids at the practice more than 4 years ago.

"We invited the patients into the office to discuss how technology had changed and to show them the new mini-behind-the-ear and open-fit designs that might be appropriate for some of them," explains Dr. Vaught. "We had a tremendous response to that letter."

Dr. Vaught also publicizes his clinic through a Web site, occasional newspaper ads and listings in the Yellow Pages and on Yellowpages.com. In addition, he cultivates relationships with local physicians so they keep the center in mind when they need to refer patients.

Although every one of these marketing efforts yields results, none are powerful enough to completely tame the ups and downs of the private practice roller coaster.

"There are always some slow months," says Dr. Vaught. "So we have to be prepared for those, ride them out, and just keep planning and marketing our services to various referral sources so we always have new patients coming in via different means."

Looking Forward

As the sole audiologist at the center, Dr. Vaught wears many hats: clinical services provider, treasurer, director of marketing, president. If the practice grows as he hopes, however, he'd like to one day expand the clinical staff to include another audiologist or audiology assistant, offer more electrophysiological testing and increase children's services. Vestibular testing and rehabilitation are also on his clinic's to-do list.

Until then, he's quite content to practice solo despite the occasional headaches.

"I can't run down the hall and ask someone else to take care of any problems that creep up, so that part can be challenging," he says.

"But, you know, I have always worked long, hard hours and been dedicated to every place I have ever worked. I knew that if I implemented that same dedication to my own business, I would be rewarded with success. And I think I am headed in that direction."

Jolynn Tumolo is a freelance writer in Morgantown, PA.