Welcome to this special recap of Your Pharmacy Career podcast, proudly produced by Raven’s Recruitment - Australia’s experts in pharmacy career and locum services for over 30 years.
It started in the scrublands, not the dispensary. Alex Shepherd once dreamed of saving wildlife, studying conservation and genetics in university. But through muddy boots, rain-soaked fieldwork, and a gnawing sense of misalignment, Alex’s path pivoted - unexpectedly - toward pharmacy. What followed is a story of relentless reinvention, heartfelt honesty, and forging a career that fits life, not the other way around.
Episode Summary
In this heartfelt and insightful episode ofYour Pharmacy Career Podcast, host Krysti-Lee Patterson sits down with Alex Shepherd - consultant pharmacist, WA sales rep for Bold Health, and mum of two. Together, they unpack Alex's non-traditional journey into pharmacy, from her early days in wildlife conservation to the rigours of pharmacy school, locum life in remote Australia, managing a burnout during COVID-19, and crafting a career that prioritises health, family, and purpose.
Alex is a powerful reminder that pharmacy isn’t a one-size-fits-all profession. She shares candidly about her transitions: from hospital to community pharmacy, to locuming, to HMR consulting, and eventually stepping into a hybrid role with Bold Health. This episode is a must-listen for pharmacists seeking flexibility, especially those navigating parenthood, burnout, or career transitions.
Key Takeaways from the Episode
🦘 From Wildlife to Wellness: Alex’s entry into pharmacy wasn’t linear - she shifted from conservation science to health after discovering her true passion lay in helping people.
🧪 Academic Redemption: Despite average undergrad grades, Alex bulldozed her way into pharmacy school with grit and determination.
🌄 Locum Adventures: Her time locuming in rural and regional Australia wasn’t just a career move - it was a life experience that built confidence and resilience.
👩👧👦 Motherhood & Medicine: Alex speaks honestly about the impact of motherhood on her career and the unrealistic expectations new pharmacist mums often place on themselves.
💡 Building Her Own Path: Through consultant pharmacy and partnering with Bold Health, Alex now balances income, flexibility, and purpose - on her terms.
💬 Valuing Expertise: One of the most powerful themes is the need for pharmacists - especially women - to recognise their value and charge accordingly in non-traditional roles.
🛠 Pro Tips for Consultant Pharmacists: Use virtual assistants to streamline bookings, report prep, and admin. Structure your day around your lifestyle, not the other way around.
Our Partners & Supporters
Pharmaceutical Society of Australia (PSA)
Proudly brought to you by the Pharmaceutical Society of Australia. The PSA is committed to empowering pharmacists through advocacy, innovation, and industry-leading professional development. To become a member or learn more about how the PSA can support your career, visit www.psa.org.au.
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How to Listen
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Full Episode Transcript
Welcome to Your Pharmacy Career Podcast, proudly produced by Raven's Recruitment, the experts in pharmacy career and locum services for over 30 years.
Every episode is your gateway to new opportunities in the pharmacy profession, from expert advice to inspiring success stories.
We're here to spark ideas, guide your career, and help you achieve your goals.
Stay tuned, the next step in your pharmacy journey starts here.
Hi, everyone, and welcome back to your pharmacy Care podcast.
I am your host, as usual, Krysti-Lee Patterson, and today we're joined by someone who embodies the phrase career on your own terms.
Alex Sheppard.
Alex is a consultant pharmacist at WA sales rep for Bold Health and mum to two beautiful boys.
Alex has crafted a career that works for her lifestyle, her passions, and her purpose.
From rural locuming to redefining success after burnout, Alex's store stories raw relatable and inspiring.
Alex, welcome to the podcast.
Thank you.
I'm excited to share the story.
Thank you.
Well, Alex, I's take it back to the beginning and I asked this of everyone, what made you want to become a pharmacist?
Did you even want to be a pharmacist?
Well, I came into it a little bit different.
So I did an undergrad and I was doing conservation and wildlife.
So I was going down a different path that I thought I wanted to be in the environment.
Yeah, wow, that's very different.
Which, I mean, it had its times that were good, but it also was totally not for me.
I was like, oh, this is hard work.
They out in the rain and amongst all the scrub and, I don't know, elements was good, but it was, at the end it wasn't right for me.
So I was trying to find find an alternative pathway and it just popped up in my head.
Someone had come into one of our lectures one day during some genetics course thing. And they said, you know, consider doing Pharmacy.
We've now got the graduate entry courses available.
And so that popped back up into my head and I thought, oh, it's funny.
Just what I do for enjoyment, I'm always was looking up things around health.
Like just, that was just what I read about and it was generally what I was always going to.
So I thought, well, why don't I look a little bit further into this?
Because that kind of ties in nicely to what I enjoy doing anyway.
So then I kind of asked lots of questions and I was like, yeah, I'm going to do this.
But my scores from undergrad were like average.
I was not dedicated.
Like, my undergrad, like study lifestyle was more of a party lifestyle and just like, get by.
Peace get degrees, right?
Totally.
That was my anthem.
That's what I live by.
So I had to do a bit of convincing really to get into the course because I needed to increase from, I think it was maybe like a 55, 60 average up to like a nine 90 to get into it..
Yeah, like it was insane.
And I went and had a meeting with the lady at the uni that was going to sort of assess who was coming in.
I had a big chat and I was like, I really like trust me.
Once I've got my mindset, like, I'm ready to go, I'm committed, I'm going to get a new watch.
And I had to then convince my other uni because I was transferring uni that let me do an overload because they also don't want you to overload when you're in pharmacy.
So I had to do like five units and they wanted me to do four or something like that.
So basically, that's when my study ethic came in and I was obsessed with pharmacy.
I had to absolutely work my butt off and get like all 95s in every test result and all my exams.
Like it was.
It was so much pressure.
And but at the time of actually, I really enjoyed it.
So I didn't feel the pressure so much.
I was just living on coffee and study.
I had some really good uni workmates, sort of uni mates that I live with.
And so we just all did that and it was fine.
Yeah, fun.
And then I got into pharmacy and then basically as I was in the graduate entry course, there was a group of us, all of us, the study is crammed into two years.
So you just keep that momentum going and it was all really relevant.
And I loved it.
I was so obsessed with pharmacy.
I kept going.
I was like, this is so my thing.
And it still is.
I'm still obsessed with pharmacy.
I can tell.
You can really see, yeah, the way that you talk about it.
We've only been chatting for a couple of minutes, but you can see that passion coming through.
Yeah, I think you see lots of people, you go, they go back and and forth with pharmacy or they feel, you know, it's obviously not the right fit for everybody.
Some people feel really burnt out from it, but I think it lends itself to so many different career pathways, which I think that's what we we're going to talk about.
But I think it's such a good starting point anyway for wherever you're going to go.
Oh, absolutely.
You mentioned that you've got that, I guess that genuine love of health and care.
And I'm actually now thinking it's not too far off with the wildlife conservation because that's health and caring and just in for animals, right?
I mean, the ecue system.
So it's not too far off, like, health and helping humans.
I do remember saying to people, I'm like, I'm just moving from looking after the animals to looking after people.
Yeah, and I'm sure in your personal life outside of pharmacy, you've probably still carried on that love of animals and the environment.
Yeah, certainly.
So with that genuine love for health and all of the different opportunities available to you once you finish your degree, where do did you go from there?
You finished your graduate degree?
What's that?
When did Alex go next?
So I did jump around a bit.
And I think early career pharmacists should not be afraid to explore so many different avenues and different pharmacies because they're so different.
I mean, over the time, I've worked with some seriously amazing pharmacy teams like community pharmacy teams, and I think that's what holds most pharmacies together, is like the team that you work with are usually like really aw.
It's the hard work in the job that gets us down sometimes.
And we have to lean back into the team to kind of keep us together.
But I started off actually doing hospital pharmacy.
I've been everywhere.
You?
My dad My internship in hospital pharmacy in Perth and loved it, but probably like halfway through, it was really, there was a couple of factors that came in.
So it was a mental health hospital.
So it was quite heavily focussed on that.
And I just felt like I wasn't getting the full spectrum .
And if you usually say have to do like a weekend shift for community pharmacy.
So I suppose I was actually already scientific to identify that burnout was going to be an issue if I was doing hospital, niche, then all the study, then also a weekend.
So an opportunity arose for me to move from Perth to Victoria and work in a community pharmacy there in Victoria.
Was this in your internship for?
In my internship.
Oh, wow.
So I ended up doing six months in hospital and six months in a community pharmacy in another state.
Yeah, wow.
Yeah, which actually worked out really good because, you know, there's some legislation changes as well.
So what you can do in WA is there's quite a few differences that you can do in Victoria, you know, around S groups being able to leave the pharmacy or where your S2 meds sit and all that sort of stuff.
And that was awesome.
I sweat, the owner of the pharmacy that I worked for was so dedicated and he really invested the time into me to make sure that I was a really, real, all-rounded pharmacist and he did starting with me to make sure I was going to get through my exams.
It just gave me some really fantastic opportunities.
And that was more, I suppose it's not rural, rural, but it was a little bit more country, not metropolitan city sort of work.
So that was awesome.
And then from there after I finished my internship, I did obviously stay working at those pharmacies for a little bit, but then I started my locuming.
So I probably timeline, I'm not really sure how long I was there for, but I think you might find in those early days , sometimes you maximise everything that you can learn in one place and you start to get a bit stagnant and then you're like, I need to move because I need to keep developing.
I can totally relate to that.
Yes.
And I feel like when I look back on my career and also my CDB, now I'm so comfortable with what I've done and where I've been, I embrace that I guess I dropped hopped, but you'll definitely see there was a bit of a pattern with maybe only staying at a place for either one to two years max . And that I used to still really get worried about that, that that was a bad thing.
But yeah, I thought, well, if I'm not developing myself and I'm also not giving anything back or anything new, it's time to move on.
So I can definitely relate.
I was the same.
I did worry that I was going to be job hopping and I remember talking to my auntie once like, oh, I think I'm like doing all these things.
And she's like, I'm exactly the same.
I was like, okay.
So there's some people that can just stick to a job and there's some people that can't stay in that same place and they've got to keep moving.
And I think it's probably something really interesting for like business owners to consider as well.
Like, where are you moving your staff through within that business?
If you've got somebody who does need to keep sort of making their way up the ladder or achieving goals, like, how do you move them through their career?
But yeah, so then I started locuming after that to keep things interesting and seeing what else was out there.
And that's when I went to more rural, rural places.
Very rural.
Yes.
Really eye-opening, you know, very small populations.
That was actually awesome though.
I loved it.
I learned so much, just different people.
Oh, brilliant and miss.
So when you decided you wanted to do the locuming, like, how did you go about that?
Like, did you reach out to people that you know?
Did you use agencies?
Yeah, like like, how did you take that first step, especially when, I guess you are still recently, early in your career, Were you a bit concerned that maybe people were like, oh, I don't have the experience as well to be a loc?
I was pretty confident.
So I wasn't too concerned.
I tend to just leap off the edge with things.
It's just my personality.
I was like, oh, it we'll just work it out once once we're there.
So I I start off looking at those couple of Facebook groups.
It depends on which state you're in, but they'll have, you know, locum pharmacists Perth, Locum pharmacist, Victoria or whatever.
So I went into all of those, looked posted, you know, jobs that were up and looked through there, and I did put my name down at a couple of the bigger agencies to say, like, I'm available, and put my CV and they did send me lots of stuff.
So that's how that worked.
It just, I don't know. Was there's always locum work available, I think, if you're just looking for it.
So it just came from both all like return, but it probably didn't do too many returns.
I probably just looking back, it was probably a bigger stints, like a month in one place or something like that.
And that worked really well.
And I love, I love the flexibility of it because I could, you know, go work really hard for that period of time, make really good money, negotiate wage, and then have a break and then go back.
And I think that's even better now.
You can really negotiate wage.
Yes.
That's right.
Like, I've done some really great locum students, especially if you go rural or even, you can still go to a metropolitan regional city, but it's still very much rural and like they'll pay for your flights.
They pay for your accommodation.
They give you a higher car.
Like it's, yeah, like, it's just amazing and you get to see some really nice parts of the world as well.
So a couple of times where I've gone to different states, I've asked to stay like an extra day or two before or after and they're always really willing to do that.
They're like, yeah, sure, fly out when you want.
And so then you can also see a little bit of the world.
Yeah, it's a great way to explore Australia, especially rural Australia.
I mean, unless you're somebody who is into camping and big road trips, you might not ever go and see those places.
And there's so much beauty in rural Australia.
Like it's really amazing to see.
But my biggest tip, I suppose, for somebody who is going to do locuming would be try and have like some kind of sheet or template, maybe that you can send or make sure that you gather all your information prior to starting in terms of safe codes, procedures, like, who's going to be there when I rock up on the first day to give me the key?
Like, just some, there's sort of standard stuff that you need to know for all pharmacies and it's really handy to even have that sheet that you can give them and be like, can you fill all this in and give it back to me?
Or, you know, otherwise you're relying on them to provide it and there might be gaps.
And it depends on if they've used locums before or not.
And yeah.
You don't know how organised that pharmacy is going to be.
Exactly.
So don't leave it to them.
Take it, like, take it on for yourself.
That's such good advice.
And , yeah, okay.
So with the working that you did, you spent a lot of time in the dispensary, but what was next for you?
So after doing your work in community pharmacy and doing all that locuming, where did your career journey go from there?
So I ended up moving sort of back to Perth, where I I initially was sort of studying stuff, but then I was there for a little bit, and then back to my hometown in Busselton, which was in the southwest of WA.
I ended up coming , yeah, back to my roots because I loved the lifestyle here, we're coastal area.
It's a beautiful, beautiful city.
And I had an opportunity to work as sort of the managing pharmacist, but also business development for a really awesome little pharmacy, which was quite different to what I had been in or what I had seen.
So, and we're probably seeing more of these sort of pharmacies pop up now, but it was one that was more incorporating natural health with pharmacy.
We had like a nutritionist that was in the pharmacy who did consultations and a natural who did consultations of like a smoothie bar.
Oh, wow.
That's Which was awesome because when I would be get there.
Those morning mudies.
Like I normally would have snacks.
I could go get a smoothie from the smoothie bar.
It seriously is awesome.
It allowed me to explore my passion with developing that business.
Mm and get business minded.
But it also allowed me to have this really good work life balance and not be like snacking on, you know, lollies and stuff like that in the dispensary, which prior to, you know, when you're doing those really, really long days and you're standing in your feet and you're so tired and you're like, I just need to get through the last three hours and you're snacking away at lollies in the dispensary. .
Yes, yes.
It's funny.
We're meant to be doing health, but so often, you see, we've got the worst, worst habits.
So it really allowed me to balance all of that back.
Do it.
That is so true.
And I literally did a shift in a pharmacy the other day and all of us had two minute noodles for lunch, all the pharmacists.
And in the top drawer of the dispensary, they literally put it the snack drawer and it was full of like chocolate and lollies.
I'm like, oh my gosh, what is this?
This is Surely this is not ideal.
So eats.
But it's too tempting when it's right there.
I can't control myself.
I just eat, like all of it and it's gone and then I have a tummy ache.
Oh, yeah, I have my You don't enjoy the bad, your music and all that stuff.
Yeah, yeah.
Totally can relate.
So, yeah, so I did that.
And then I suppose after working in that business for a while developing it all of that, which I absolutely love to pieces, but COVID hit and burnout hit and things changed again.
Yes, I feel like COVID is definitely a theme for most people that I talk to, whether it's on the podcast or even just in my life, that it was a bit of a transition period for a lot of people with their lives just to really centre them and really realise what's really important and why am I doing, what am I am I actually really happy where I am or do I want to do something different?
So for you, it sounds like that was very much a turning point in your life and career as well.
Yeah, most certainly.
I mean, yeah, all pharmacists who were working at that time would have the same sort of feelings.
I'm sure it was just chaotic, wasn't it?
Like, the uncertainty.
Having to make the decisions before government was releasing any kind of notifications on what to do, you know, we're creating our own guidelines, because we're like, this is happening, like, lockdown's going on. Happen.
And we're trying to run this pharmacy, which we normally have, five or six staff.
We were running it with two at one point because one of the staff members couldn't handle it.
The pressure got too much.
So they dropped out.
And we had to split our team in two because we were a smaller pharmacy, we couldn't risk that if we were all there.
If one person got it, then the pharmacy was shut down.
We wouldn't be able to keep running.
So we had to already die dilute the team.
Yeah.
And then in my team, which is the three of us, we lost one, I was like, that's okay.
You've got to do what's right for you.
We were just, you know, we're just got to get by.
And the stand and some things change.
I end up closing the shop for an hour in the middle of the day because I was like, sorry, we have to have lunch.
We've got to recoup.
We're going to have to, we have no other option but to shut the shop for an hour to have something to eat, to settle our nerves, to pack some of the stock away, and then be able to front up again and be able to actually help the public room panic.
Like it was was nuts.
And I remember because there was the two pharmacists.
So one, he did the other rotation of the week and I did this second half.
And then at nighttime, we would be passing each other because he would be also compounding.
We're a compounding pharmacy.
So he'd be in the compounding and I'm like, got my mask and I'm going past them.
I'm like, I'm just going to check all of the websters.
I'm packing and checking Websters because we have to do this at nighttime now because. There's no time during the day and I can't have another staff member coming in.
So it was crazy times.
And I remember.
At that point, I didn't have children.
I was single and that was fine.
And I remember at one point going, "How the hell am I going to have a child?
Like, there's no way I can bring a baby until all.
This is crazy.
And then it eventually, yeah, I was like, nah, but but eventually settled again.
And then I think that's when I went, oh, I think now I'm actually ready to take a change.
I'm Let's try.
We're going to have a try and get get pregnant, have a baby, change things up.
And again, I diverted.
And I think that was all to do with the burnout and just resetting.
And yeah, I took a good amount of time off.
And this is probably any mum who did pharmacy, is probably going to relate to this next part.
But yeah, you get pregnant and you think, oh, I'll take maybe three months off.
Like, would they give us three, four months to maternity leave?
That's probably all I need.
I'll feed them and surely they'll be on the bottle after that.
It'll be fine.
It'll send them to daycare.
That is so not the case.
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Yeah, oh my gosh.
For me, I have a stepdaughter, but I haven't had to, I guess, give birth myself, but I've seen my sister do it and a number of friends go through that journey.
And, yeah, I certainly had that perception that you had of what it would be like to have a baby that, oh, yeah, like, why don't they just come back to work?
Like, it's there's so much support out there now, but it's not like that.
So how did you manage that?
Yeah, as like being a new mum, but then also thinking, oh, wow, okay, what does this mean for my career?
Yes.
So it was because I was so career orientated prior to that, I think that was the hardest thing.
So many different things happened.
You know, the general challenges of he wasn't a very good feeder, but I was so determined that we were going to breastfeed.
So that alone was insane.
So four months with that.
We continued for a long time, but it was four months until he established properly without pain and all that stuff.
He didn't sleep at all.
Like, not just, you know, a lot of babies don't sleep.
You get used to that.
He was like a half an hour every hour, wake up at some points.
Oh, my gosh.
How did you live?
Yeah, not, not even surviving.
And so the funny thing from the first baby to my second baby, I was so, you know, being a pharmacist, we're like, we just work out.
What is the problem?
There's got to be a solution and we'll put these steps in place and that will work.
And that's just not how little humans at all humans.
We're not like that.
You can't change anybody else.
And I think that's the biggest thing is you, you can't change anybody else.
You can support them, but you can't actually change who they are.
And so with a little baby, they also most certainly do not care.
Yes. What you want.
They are just trying to, they just try to survive themselves.
They just want to be fed and cuddled and they're going through a lot, whether it's tummy stuff or whatever it is, we don't we really don't know what is going on a lot of the time.
So, yeah, I wasn't sleeping at all.
And I really wasn't sleeping for like the good 18 months of.
And so I was, we ended up co sleeping and all of that stuff, which actually made things so much better, like I could survive.
Because during the time, my husband also broke his legs, so then he was out of action.
Oh, my gosh.
I'd remember one note.
Another thing.
Completely breaking down, I was like, how am I doing this?
This is just bananas.
So the fact of looking of it going back into pharmacy, I was like, I just couldn't even stand in the dispensary and get through.
Like, I would make serious errors because I have not slept.
So that part alone was like, I couldn't really conceive the idea of going back into pharmacy, just trying to get day by day with being a mum.
But then once things settled and I was ready to put him into daycare, he also had other plans and and he was like, I'm not ready for day.
Yes, okay.
So you really have to, you know, you think, oh, they'll cry and then they'll settle down.
And he was like, nah, they would call me and they were like, he's not settling down.
And that's so heartbreaking.
You're like, in the end, I was like, if he hasn't settled within 20 minutes, like, or it's like, he's not going to settle.
This this little boy is stubborn.
He still is.
I'm like, he will cry and cry so loud until I'm there.
So don't even, don't even worry.
So, yeah, that was like, that delayed me going back into pharmacy as well.
And eventually, I was able to slowly introduce him in like an hour at a time and lots of lots of support.
And then I was lucky to have a fantastic pharmacy that was really supportive of that, of me returning back in.
And the pharmacy owner, he is a young guy, funnily, he didn't have kids at the time, but he was very good with looking after me, which was great.
He was so good.
He was in the dispensary alongside me.
He basically didn't leave my side for, you know, a good couple of months, just to make sure that I was on top of things and it it was okay.
And we just went like a day, started back a day and then we increased it to two and then everything sort of smoothed out and it was fine and we're back into pharmacy.
And I think, you know, it was overall it was okay being back in pharmacy as a mum with a toddler, but there's so many challenges that come up with one baby and then when you have two, it's more frequent.
And the thing, the biggest thing that most mums struggle with is when their child is sick.
It is so hard, especially with having shortage in pharmacy at the moment of pharmacists.
It's just you sometimes or, you know, nobody else, they've, you know, if you've got other moms, they've also got commitments and kids.
So if your child's sick and you've got to stay home with them because they can't go to daycare, it's not the easiest thing just to ring up and be like, oh my child's sick I'm not coming in to work today.
It's like, no, you've got to find someone to fill your shift or you've got to come in and open and then we'll try and find someone and then you can have your child.
I remember one day I was like, I'm going to have to strap him on my back and bring him in.
I have to know what else to do. The pharmacist that have done that.
And in some ways, I've kind of thought like, oh, wow, how great that is.
But also it's like, this is the environment that we're creating.
Like, I don't know how we've fixed that.
I don't know if you've got any ideas, but yeah, it's really, really hard.
I really don't.
It's really hard.
I think because you have to have a pharmacist on, it just makes it so challenging.
Unless you have, you know, some pharmacists there who don't have children in a, you know, younger and flexible and able to come in, I don't really know what the way around that is.
And I mean, if they're a little bit sick and you can bring them into work and they can, that's really hard with babies and toddlers, they don't sit still.
They don't sit in colour.
Like, you think they do, but they don't.
Some might, but when they're older, they might sit there in colour.
Most of them don't.
And if they're really, really sick, then you've got to be at home cuddling them and you're not moving because they're really unwell.
So, yeah, I don't know the way around that, but it's tough.
It's very tough.
I think maybe, though, just from your experiences, just having a boss or owner or a colleague, that's just understanding.
Like, I think that can just go a long way.
And I know, yeah, reflecting on my own career as a manager and earlier on in my career, I probably wasn't that supportive of the parents that I was looking after, and I wasn't until, yeah, I was a bit older and had more life experience.
And, yeah, sometimes now I think, oh, my gosh, I feel so bad that like, I put pressure on people to, yeah, like, I would say, yeah, just, we'll bring your kid.
Like we'll, yeah, like, that'll be fine.
And I thought that was like, really good idea.
But, yeah, sometimes it's I was the same.
I didn't, I didn't understand either.
And it's really, you can't until you're really in it.
It's really hard to, to know it experience. Especially if you're a breastfeeding mum.
They won't eat anything else.
So, you know, they're not going to take a bottle, some children, or if they're sick, they most certainly aren't eating and drinking very well.
So they'll only want you.
So you really often are just sitting there with them attached to you.
So it's, yeah.
And then also, they don't sleep all night.
So you're awake all night.
So you're not fresh to even go in to work and function because you haven't slept.
We were lucky the place that I was out there, three or three other mums.
So you try and help each other out as much as possible.
You'd be like, oh, I might be able to get my kid into daycare today.
I'll get back to you and I might be able to cover you or, you know, you use your husband.
I've got a fantastic husband and he often would stay home with them, but they do often want mum.
Yeah, that's right.
So dad's. Want to help, but they can't always.
It's really, yeah.
Yep, I get it.
Like I, yeah, even now, like I'm an adult, but it's like, and being a pharmacist in a healthcare, but yeah, I called my mom a couple of weeks ago because I was just having tummy pains and I just was like, oh, mum, what do I do?
She's like, you should know what to do.
This is literally your job.
I was like, I, but mum.
Yeah, but I need you.
Yeah, I've done that before.
I'm like, what do I do?
And then she's like, take some pan at all.
I'm like, oh, that's a good idea.
Yes, yeah, that's right.
I'll do that.
Sometimes it's, yeah, just, yeah, just having them there.
For you during that time and once you were back in the pharmacy, did you start, I guess, exploring what being a pharmacist could look like in the other maybe settings or how did you make that show transition into, yeah, becoming accredited HMR pharmacist?
Is that something that you're having a family kind of helped with that decision?
100%.
Yeah.
So around, I started the training around COVID time, as most a lot of mums do when they have their first baby, they're like, I'll just start up a little small business because that will, you know, be fun to do Instagram stuff and sell a little bit on the the side.
So I sort of tinkered around with something like that, but I was like, oh, that's not really it.
And with all the COVID, you know, uncertainty with the vaccines and if your breastfeeding, is it safe to do the vaccine, if you're pregnant, is it's safe to do?
Like it was in the early days and we we're trained to question these things as health professionals and we're trained to look at the evidence.
And so, you know, it's pretty understandable for you to be like, this is a brand new drug.
And like, what is, what is everything going?
Like, what do they actually know about this stuff?
So we couldn't just turn a blind eye and be like, oh, just jab me out.
I'll be back in the pharmacy.
So I um, I was looking at other avenues and yeah, colleagues said to me, why don't you look at doing consultant pharmacy, like be a HMR pharmacist?
It's kind of the thing that you enjoy doing.
You really love doing consultations and all that stuff.
And I was like, oh, yeah, that would really give me some flexibility as a family.
So it started the training, obviously COVID and everything settled down, so it was fine then, to be going into people's homes and all of that stuff.
And I lined the consultations, like the HMR work with being in the dispensary, so I was in the dispensary two days, and I did a day of HMR work, which allowed me to really boost my income, which was probably one of the biggest things.
I'm time poor, I need, I can only have a certain amount of hours where I'm not at home, you know, where I'm in a work environment.
So if I can go out and smash out some medication reviews, like do all the interviews on a day, then I can write reports when I can fit it in at home.
And in the early days, you know, when your child's just sleeping on your lap, I can actually write reports really easily because they're asleep.
So that has worked a treat for me and also meant that when I had my second child, although I had to finish works in the dispensary sooner because standing up when you're third trimester, it's really, really hard.
It's exhausting.
But I could keep going and doing HMRs pretty much like a week up until I was due .
It just simply said that I didn't have to ring something like, hey, I've gone into labour, I've got to cancel our appointment today.
And I wanted to make sure that my reports were done and, you know, so you could really do that right up to the end.
So that's been fantastic.
And it's also been great for the flexibility in those early days where I wasn't sure where the second child, were they going to go in to take childcare, were they going to be okay.
We don't know what we're dealing with this time.
I was overminded with my second child and I had built in a system that allowed me to bring us good income with the flexibility.
And that's just played out more so now.
So I only recently have stepped away completely from the dispensary to pursue full on with HMRs and residential reviews.
It's growing in this area where I'm at, even though there's a lot of change in this space with aged care facility, pharmacists, and whether you do residential reviews or not, and HMR spaces is all changing.
But there's so much work at the moment for me.
And it was a big leap.
I was getting burnt out already where I'm like, oh, these HMIs are getting more and more and more and I'm still in the dispensary and my children aren't sleeping as much because they're getting bigger.
I'm squeezing my time.
I don't have time.
And I'm like, I need to make a change.
And a big, big thing for me is I I love running.
I need to be able to get out in the mornings and do my run or my walk to basically have that fitness built into my lifestyle to be able to feel okay throughout the day.
And with being in the despenser, obviously, I have to go in and open up.
I either have to open or I have to close and closing is not ideal because you've got to be home with screaming kids who want to.ing out?
That does not work.
The witching hour is just an eye.
So the morning was what I chose, but that meant that I have to be up early into work to open the pharmacy and, you know, my husband takes kids to daycare.
But I miss out on some of my exercise time, my me time.
So I really was like, oh, what are we going to do?
And that's when bold health came in a sales rep opportunity and that has allowed me to have flexibility with the growing HMRs and allowed me to step away from the dispensary, which was a big scary decision.
Yeah.
Especially because I love the dispensary.
Yeah, that's a huge.
And I love the team.
I love the work environment.
It's a huge change.
It's almost like it's a safe place, right?
Like, because you know you've done it for so long.
Like you said, it sounds like you had a great team.
But I think for people listening, even though it was great for a certain period of time to step into that unknown and try something you step into this sales rep roll, something you've never done before, but that's going to give you the, I guess, an opportunity that maybe you haven't had before.
Yeah.
Yeah, it is scary because, and this is where I say that you you can create a career for yourself that fits with whatever your lifestyle is and whatever you are feeling.
So you're right.
Staying in the dispensary was my comfort zone.
I knew exactly what to do.
I didn't really have to think too much.
I know just rock on in and it's all like second nature, really.
Yeah, when the opportunity to do bold health, which I had already been tinkering around with because, so I explain what bold health is.
Bold health is a protein company and it does protein powder specifically for healthy ageing, so, you know, over 50s, but really over 30s.
So that's all like changing a little bit now, actually.
The more that we've, I've like researched it with them, we're like, oh, I no, this protein is really, you know, just to help with general ageing, it's not not like the major gym goal is it's the alternative to substagen.
So I do all of my HMR stuff.
I'm like, these people are not getting good nutrition.
They're definitely not getting enough protein.
And the biggest option that we've got out there that we put everyone on is susten.
And when I start looking at sustain, I'm like, wowser, the first four ingredients is milk solids, which is where the protein's coming from.
So it doesn't specify actually how much is whey and how much is cine.
But anyway, sugar is the second ingredient.
And then the third ingredient is something like corn cornflour or something like that and then sugar again or sucrose.
So, you know, it's six teaspoons of sugar in the protein.
And when you look at the ingredients, they're like, cornflour and milk solids?
Like, and then they've got the mix mineral riddles and the vitamins that they chuck in.
So it's not a great option for a lot of the people.
And then all the other ones that we've got there, a lot of them are complaining about taste and flavour and all of that sort of stuff.
So I just like, they initially reached out to me and was like, would you be able to jump on a consultation call with us because we want to talk about how we can get into pharmacy.
And I was like, oh, well, how do I do that??
I spoke with my husband who's in marketing I like, what do I charge?
Like, how does this work?
And he's like, well, just say your fee and go on there for an hour and chat with him.
Share, yeah, share and your knowledge and then do a little write up afterwards.
I was like, yeah, okay.
And I think what we struggle with the most is pharmacists is seeing our own value.
We really, really, really struggle with that.
And so that forced me to be like, butut this seems like a lot of money, but actually, it's not.
Like, I'm giving them so much value in how to what the pharmacy world is like, because they aren't pharmacists.
They're protein through, they've got a nutritionist involved, which is how they developed it.
So it's all certified that way.
And they do most of their sales online.
But they haven't experienced the pharmacy world and they don't have like feet on ground doing like any kind of consultation, you know, HMR stuff.
So all of that that I could give them of like, oh, well, when we have a rep come in the pharmacy, this is what we expect.
This is yada, yada.
So that was the first stepping stone into it where I was like, oh, okay, I can provide value as a pharmacist doing like as a consultation to this company.
And then I started referring all my patients to get this protein.
I was like, hey, can I actually just get this product into these couple of stores near where I live?
Because I I know these owners, they should take it, and I want to send my patients to there to somewhere to be able to get the protein.
And they were like, really?
Like, you can just get us straight into some pharmacies.
I'm like, yeah, yeah, that's fine.
Like, then we can start getting data and you can work from there, how you're going to like step into pharmacy.
And then they were like, oh, awesome.
We were wondering, if we could maybe pay you to step away from the dispensary and do this role and get us into pharmacies in WA.
And I was like, amazing.
Yes.
That's scary.
That's scary.
Yeah, that's scary.
And they were like, just tell us how much we need to pay you to step away.
And then I was like, far out.
I don't even know how to price myself.
I wouldn't have a, like, I knew how much my wage was.
I'm like, do I pay the same or do I pay more?
Or like, do I pay less?
Like this is a whole different role.
I've got to like totally back my myself here.
So anyway, I put for the figure and they were happy to go with it.
And I'm really happy with what I because I did put the price on what my actual value was.
I didn't undervalue you myself.
And I think that's the best thing that's been the really big outcome of this.
It's like, oh, okay, no, I actually am delivering.
So it's fine.
And I was able to then step away from the dispensary.
And yeah, I just, I suppose, work connections and stuff in the pharmacy, but it is a whole nother thing doing sales.
It's a mental hurdle to jump over of like how to do sales, like a repping roll.
But I think what makes it a little bit easier for me is I'm like, no, this, I genuinely want pharmacies to have this product, whether I'm in the sales rep roll or not.
This is something that we need to be putting in pharmacies as a standard line as an option for customers, because we're giving them the only option of having like a standard protein, with no added like vum vitamin D, all that sort of stuff.
So this is a big gap in the market that I think we need to address.
So I'm like, cool, I'm all in.
I'm super passionate about it.
Oh, that's amazing.
And you know, you've you've kind of created that role yourself from, right?
Like you, yeah, you were so passionate about it.
You saw, there was a leak up in the market and you're like, how can I help?
Like, I think as a pharmacist, we're problem sol is and how can I help?
Well, this is the way you can help.
You believe in this product and you want to get it out there.
And now you're able to do that, yeah, as a job to and get paid for it.
Like, that's amazing ..
I think the biggest thing, just going to say, I think the biggest thing there is that you said that you backed yourself and didn't sell yourself short.
I think that's really an important message.
And it's definitely something that pharmacists do.
And I know also like in my own consulting work, yeah, I really struggled at trying to determine prices of things, but then I were like, no, this is the value that I provide.
And most of the time they will pay.
Sometimes they don't.
And that's okay But then I'm like, okay, well, maybe it's not, I'm not right for you then.
And it's really scary when when you need that money to say no to something.
But I think that's, yeah, I'm really, I barely just met you, but I'm so proud that you did that and yeah, you didn't sell yourself short, so well done.
Thank you.
It is a tricky thing as women as well.
We're just, it's built in to us to be like, oh, I don't know how to negotiate wage or price or anything like that.
So I think we just need to put our big boy pants on and just put it out there.
And they can say no and they can say yes.
And if they're good at negotiating, they're not going to put an emotion to it.
So they'll, if they say no, be like, okay, well, what do you want to charge?
And then you can negotiate?
Or they'll say yes, and you'll be like, or sick, why did I freak out for so long about that?
Yeah, that's right.
Or it's almost like, oh, they said yes too easily.
Yeah, I should have charged more.
Yeah.
But I think it is like, for there's so many, you know, other mums or other like pharmacists who may be getting a little bit bought in their role if they need a bit of extra money or they want to do something else.
Like this is actually something that they could do.
They could just be a consultant for other product, other companies who have a product they want to be into pharmacy.
So you can just charge like an hourly rate for your consultation, like do a consultation call.
I can give you the ins and outs.
Like it's actually something super easy that you can do as an add on.
Oh, amazing.
And I think that's what's so exciting R.
Like, again, you can build a career on your own terms.
That's what the title of this podcast is.
So for you, Alex, build a career on your terms, what does that look like for you now?
So now it's still, it's a massive juggle.
I'm not going to lie.
I have a lot of things going at the moment.
But what I've done is I've carved out my timetable.
So this is how I work and not everyone's going to work like this, but I make sure that my morning are free.
I have my set days to go do my run.
So I have my me time.
I go do my run and my coffee, and then I'm home and I'm present with the kids and get them ready for daycare or I'm spending the day with them or whatever.
Or if it's on my off day, I'll take the kids with me and we'll do a coffee date in the morning or something like that.
I basically structure my week.
I'm usually only like schedule appointments like a week ahead.
So I have an assistant that does all my bookings for my HMR stuff.
So that's actually really helped me free up some time in my week.
So if I've got three days, which often only have three days a week to do consultations like HMR work and my rep work, I need to get rid of stuff handball of things that I don't have the time to do.
So my sister will make all of my bookings for my HMR appointments.
She'll also do all my note prep.
So she'll get the referrals and put a list of all the drugs into a chart for me.
So I just go to my appointment and it's sitting there waiting.
I can just go straight into the chat with the person.
She also does my report prep, so she gets it all ready to go.
And then I just feel in like, obviously the main part of the report.
I know this too's templates and stuff for that, but there's always, you always have to input, you know, what the person's medical history and dear doctor, da da d d.
So, you know, she helps me with that.
But I think the bookings is the biggest thing that I find her the most beneficial for.
I hate chasing out people for bookings.
I hate making appointments.
It's just, I don't know, don't enjoy doing it.
So she doesn't and she invoices me.
And I just set basically my timetable.
I do everything in like hourly chunks more or less.
So whether it's a HMR, if it's, you know, maybe some podcasts, I'll schedule out an hour or two hours and and then I'll have like a day that I'll do or whatever it is, a couple days of bald health , whatever the week looks like, but I do that and then I have to be really strong now in the evenings, I have to switch off.
It's kid time.
And if I think that I'm going to try and do work that afternoon that evening, like, just forget it.
It's not happening.
It's not happening.
You do kid family time and a new dime again.
So, that's how it is on my terms now.
It's, and I'm loving it.
I love it.
It was scary, but now, like I've got the income that I want, I've got the time that I want, I've got the flexibility.
And if the kids are sick , I can cancel my appointments because it doesn't, like, it really doesn't matter.
I can reschedule them.
Like my kids and and my family come first.
So if I've got four or five appointments, or usually it' only be, you know, two appointments for that day or two or three appointments, just reschedule.
And the best thing is Susanna does it for me.
Amazing.
So I'm not running around ringing on the phone to reschedule appointments.
I'm like, Susanna, the kids are sick.
Like, I've got it.
She just rebook them.
Yeah.
Oh, Amazing.
Well, what do you think think is next for you?
It sounds like you're very settled in what you're doing right now.
Yeah, so where do you see your career going next or you don't know?
It's interesting.
I'm not 100% sure at this point because I'm really in the sweet spot.
So I'm really quite focussed on trying to get bold into more pharmacies.
And we're actually going nationwide in pharmacies now.
So I start with WA and now we're moving into Sydney, South Australia, and basically anybody who wants to put it in because we're getting awesome, awesome feedback.
So it's good to know that it's just like a really good product.
So now I can just go hard and be like, no, this is actually good.
Like, you should have it.
And I'm loving that, but I really, really love the development of that.
So the staff training, I'm all in on that.
I get so much back from that, just so much enjoyment.
So it'll be really around doing that and seeing how this HMR space continues to grow.
In the back of my mind, I would love, love to help other pharmacists, especially consultant pharmacists, actually, try to work out how they can streamline their consultancy business, their sole trader business.
Like if they want to implement a booking system with a, like, an assistant who can make all the bookings, that sort of thing, I would love to do that.
I can say that that's probably in the future where I'd go.
Something more along the lines of business because I love business.
Yeah.
Oh, that sounds exciting.
Ben.
Yeah, I think you're right.
There's, it's definitely running a business is a skill and there's so many tools and things out there that you can utilise and think sometimes for some consultants, like it's, you're a company of one, right?
But it doesn't mean that you can't use the tools and things and act as if you're a bigger company and use things to help streamline your time.
Because, as you said, Alex, like your time is so important.
Yeah, it just seems if someone else can do some of those other tasks for you cheaper and quicker, why wouldn't you utilise them, right?
Yeah, it actually works out really good when you break down the numbers.
Yeah.
Oh, awesome.
Well, Alex, your story has been such an incredible example of what's possible, I think, when you just stop to have a think about, yeah, designing a career that fits your values and what's important to you.
And I really want to think you for sharing your journey and for right minding us all that , yeah, flexibility and family and fulfilment doesn't have to be mutually exclusive and to sound really cliche, I guess you can say you can have it all or like it' it's not always roses.
You can try, but don't try too hard to have it all in, actually.
But I think that for me to out one sort of that. Saying to me, I'm like, well, it depends on what your all is.
What does that mean, right?
And so for you, your all is, you've created this career and path that's on your terms.
And so, right, now, this is your all.
So I try to describe it that way.
It's like, well, yes, I do have it more. Because this is what I want to do right now.
Yeah, I've got all of what I wanted at the moment, most certainly.
Yeah, when you say I've got all, that is 100%.
Yeah.
Amazing.
Well, thank you so much, Alex, for joining us on the podcast.
Do you have any final words for our listeners?
No, but if anyone does want to reach out, I'm on Instagram so they can DM me there, or you'll see me on the consultant Facebook page all the time commenting stuff.
But yeah, Alex Shepard pharmacist on Instagram.
Or if you want to like trial getting some free samples for balls, I'm happy to send them out to anybody who wants to try that.
So yeah, DM me again on there is probably the easiest thing.
Yeah, awesome.
I'll definitely be hitting you up.
I've actually started taking protein myself, actually.
So when you saying that about in your 30s, I'm like, oh, I need to start, you know, getting more protein in teeth.
And I've got to, yeah, some sausage and sitting in my cupboard, so maybe I'll reach out for.
Yeah, go. Look at that.
Go look at the ingredient lesb when I want.
But, yeah, most of are really sickly sweet or really flavoured, and I'm so opposed to that when I have my own protein.
So, yeah, it's nice to find one that that tastes good.
I'll definitely be having a look when I go downstairs.
I have something to eat for lunch.
Well, thanks, Alex.
It's been a pleasure and I hope we get to talk again soon.
Thank you.
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Final Thoughts
Alex’s journey is an inspiring example of what happens when pharmacists refuse to be boxed in. By embracing change and backing herself - whether as a consultant, a businesswoman, or a mum - she’s crafted a career that doesn’t just pay the bills, but fills her cup.
Ready to design a pharmacy career on your terms?
