All Posts
Time For a New Optometrist?
Practice Management
February 26
8 min read
Running your own business is tough. It’s tougher still if you are the sole optometrist proprietor of your practice. Not only are you the boss, with all the responsibility of staff, bills, and premises, but you are also the key revenue generator of the business. Without the eye exam there is no money available to pay the bills. Put simply: “no you, no money!”
It’s actually slightly worse than that. If you are the sole pro (...)
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Getting Started: Hiring Staff
Practice Management
February 26
8 min read
OK, so you have the OD certificate neatly framed, state boards passed, couple of years retail experience under the belt and now it’s time to open your own office. I mean that was always the goal wasn’t it, to own your own optometric practice? All those nights of studying, the hours in the optometry school exam lanes and the mounting college fees, they all culminate in this point, Your Name OD, Independent Doctor of Optometry. Sounds g (...)
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The New Work-From-Home Balance
Work/Life Balance
April 01
8 min read
It’s amazing how much life can change in such a short time. A month ago, the conversation was about how we could make time to spend at home with our loved ones away from our busy work schedules. And then COVID-19 hit. For many; lock down. Offices closed except for emergencies and suddenly more time at home than any of us had ever imagined. So, what is the new work-from-home balance that has trumped our typical work/life balancing act?
The (...)
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The Dreaded Employee Review Process
Practice Management
December 11
8 min read
We know that reviews are important. Every management course that you’ll ever go on will tell you how important they are, and every book ever published on people management will have chapters written on reviews. That said, ask most associates what they dread the most and the answer is: “My review”! Ask most managers what they enjoy doing the least and the answer is, you’ve guessed it, “Doing reviews”!
Why is th (...)
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We've Tried That Before: Introducing Change to Staff
Practice Management
January 27
8 min read
So, 2020 wasn’t quite the year of vision that you had hoped for, but at least you have had plenty of time to catch up on reading. That pile of journals that used to sit on the desk are read and you’ve broken your all-time personal best for the number of webinars that you’ve attended. The office is tidier than it’s ever been and, having had some thinking time, you have some great ideas on how you can improve the patient jou (...)
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Mutually Beneficial: Setting Employee Objectives
Human Resources
February 23
8 min read
I’ve written before about the “Dreaded Review”. The review is an assessment of your staff’s performance. If you are going to review someone, then you need a set of standards to review them against. In the 1st article, we discussed the need for a job description. A job description outlines the tasks that are required to be done (the “What) and the quality standards that are expected from an individual (the “How& (...)
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Corporate Optometry and the Independent OD
Practice Models
November 16
8 min read
Corporate optometry is growing and it’s here to stay. Like it or loathe it, a combination of high and constant demand, excellent (in comparison to other retail categories) margins, and projections of increased demand all point venture capital equity towards investing in what they see as a relatively safe sector. Where the money flows, activity quickly follows. As companies look to buy up, or jointly franchise, with independent OD’s or (...)
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Happy New Year, Eyecare: Tis the Season for Change
Work/Life Balance
January 07
8 min read
It’s that time of year again. The clock strikes midnight, the ball drops and a new year starts. And what a year. After all the trauma of the past 18 months, 2022 starts with optimism. Hopefully, maybe, the worst of the pandemic is behind us and we can start to plan anew, for a brighter year ahead.
But where to start? New year resolutions perhaps? Well, the success rate of such resolutions isn’t that great. 90% of all resolutions fail (...)
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