Optometrists Building Empires

Optometrists Building Empires

By Ankit PatelBusinessCareers
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Optometrists Building Empires episodes

  • From Clinical Specialist to Multi-Location Empire: Dr. Thanh Mai Returns
    Dr. Thanh Mai of Insight Vision Center Optometry (Costa Mesa, Irvine, Las Vegas) returns for a tactical second conversation. We get specific about what it takes to turn an underperforming practice around: why the effort from zero to one location matches the effort from one to three, where hiring and team systems create real pull, and the one part of the New Business Road Test framework that goes against common logic. He also explains why a named person still beats automation for patient attention.
    Episode 113 of Optometrists Building Empires.
    38 min
  • Why Your Best People Actually Leave
    Every practice owner has an instant answer for why their best person quit: money, a better offer, kids these days. The data and the owners who fixed it say something else. Healthcare front-line tenure averages 18 months. Some practices keep their people. The difference is system and culture, not personality.
    This solo episode opens with a question you have to answer out loud, then tells Nico's projection-booth story before the number lands. Real clips from Dr. Nick Lillie, Dr. Gina Wesley, and Dr. Fred Cho show what it looks like when the system owns the failure, not the person.
    Episode 112 of Optometrists Building Empires.
    12 min
  • Dr. Alex Martin: Curiosity, Grit, and the Future of Eye Care
    Dr. Alex Martin: Curiosity, Grit, and the Future of Eye Care
    Dr. Alex Martin joins Ankit Patel to discuss access to eye care, remote diagnostic technology, and the role clinicians should play in shaping new tools. He shares his perspective that remote tools cannot displace full eye exams when patients need them.
    He also shares how a high-school biology experiment taught him persistence and why he is learning to recognize when saying yes has become overcommitment. This episode reflects Alex's views and experiences from the August 28, 2026 recording. It makes no product-performance or clinical-efficacy claim.
    CHAPTERS
    00:00 Optometrists Building Empires
    00:27 Meet Dr. Alex Martin
    02:48 A career across clinical care and technology
    12:16 The access gap in eye care
    17:25 Remote diagnostics and access
    24:02 Clinicians shaping new tools
    28:02 Learning persistence
    33:27 Connect with Alex
    CONNECT WITH ALEX
    LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexander-martin-od-faao-2a609ab0
    ABOUT OPTOMETRISTS BUILDING EMPIRES
    https://buildingempires.live
    BOOK WITH ANKIT
    https://meetings.hubspot.com/ankit98/optometry-redefined
    36 min
  • Dr. Nadia Afkhami: Start Before You Feel Ready
    Dr. Nadia Afkhami: Start Before You Feel Ready
    Dr. Nadia Afkhami started sharing her experience online as an optometry student. Those connections later helped her find mentors, meet her podcast co-hosts and connect with an associate for her practice.
    In this conversation with Ankit Patel, she talks about starting optometry school at 29, buying into an existing practice and choosing a work schedule that fits her family. She also shares why taking the first step matters, how she asked her podcast network for help pursuing a Vision Expo speaking opportunity, and what she would tell her younger self about noticing progress.
    In this episode:
    - How sharing her own experience helped Nadia build a professional community.
    - Why her practice, social media and podcast belong to the same story.
    - What practice ownership means to her beyond adding locations.
    - How she approaches opportunities when she feels uncertain.
    - Why she values the path that brought her to optometry.
    Chapters
    00:00 Opening
    00:27 Meet Dr. Nadia Afkhami
    02:05 Building an optometry community online
    05:18 Saying yes before you feel ready
    08:09 Starting optometry school at 29
    09:25 Practice ownership on her own terms
    11:20 How the practice, podcast and social media connect
    12:40 Take the first step and ask for help
    15:08 Her hopes for the profession
    18:39 Family support and a first-generation journey
    20:02 Advice to her younger self
    22:28 The opportunities behind a change of plans
    24:26 Connect with Nadia
    27:35 Closing and Optometry Redefined
    Connect with Dr. Nadia Afkhami
    Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/eyeamdrnadia/
    LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/drnadiaafkhami/
    The Depth Perception Podcast: https://defocusmediagroup.com/the-depth-perception-podcast/
    Connect with Ankit
    Book a conversation with Ankit and ask about Optometry Redefined:
    https://meetings.hubspot.com/ankit98/optometry-redefined
    Optometrists Building Empires
    https://buildingempires.live
    29 min
  • Your First Associate: Hire When the Number Is Real
    How many more hours a week does an owner spend on patient care than the associate they employ? Most owners say ten. The best national numbers put it at about two. This episode takes apart the belief behind every first-associate hire that did not work out: busyness is not demand, an associate multiplies demand but does not create it, and the number that decides the hire never shows up on a report. With real cut-ins from Dr. Carlos Grandela (Episode 092) on hiring before the patients existed versus hiring off a documented 8-to-12-week wait, and Dr. Kyle Maxam (Episode 089) on using your own patient base to fill a new doctor's column. Plus the 1962 Tusko story on scaling by the wrong input.
    By the numbers: owner vs employee patient-care hours 1,828 vs 1,731 (AOA 2017). Net income $172,016 vs $101,457 (AOA 2017). Seven years later $243,650 vs $156,819 (Review of Optometry 2024, n=422). Widest ownership gap: doctors 4 to 6 years in practice, $59,716 apart.
    One thing to count: every Monday for four weeks, write down how many days out your third open exam slot is. Under two weeks is a demand question, not a doctor shortage.
    22 min
  • From the Catalog: Avoiding Stagnation with Harbir Sian
    From the Optometrists Building Empires catalog. This is the Harbir Sian conversation on avoiding stagnation, first published as episode 34.

    Are you ready to scale your optometry practice and embrace bold career moves? On this week’s episode of Optometrists Building Empires, host Ankit Patel sits down with Dr. Harbir Sian, award-winning optometrist, practice owner, and host of The 2020 Podcast. Dr. Sian shares how he expanded from one to three clinics, navigated staffing challenges, and leveraged public education to build a strong professional brand. If you're looking for insights on growth, resilience, and thinking big in optometry, this episode is for you!

     

    Takeaways:

    • Success doesn’t happen in isolation, so surround yourself with people who provide honest feedback, even when it’s tough to hear. A reliable network of mentors, peers, and business partners can help refine your ideas and keep you grounded.  
    • In a challenging labor market, bringing candidates in for trial periods allows you to quickly assess their fit within your team. This approach ensures you find dedicated employees who align with your practice's culture and values.  
    • Growth requires stepping outside your comfort zone and embracing challenges that may seem intimidating at first. The biggest opportunities often come from pushing beyond what feels safe and trying new approaches.  
    • Success in optometry isn’t just about clinical skills; it’s about adjusting to industry changes and patient needs. Staying flexible and willing to pivot your business strategy ensures long-term stability and growth.  
    • Public education is more than just a way to give back—it’s a powerful tool for establishing authority and trust in your field. Creating content and sharing insights helps expand your reach and strengthen your professional brand.  
    • Scaling a practice isn’t just about opening more locations; it requires thoughtful evaluation of community needs and long-term sustainability. Strategic growth ensures your expansion benefits both your patients and your business.


    Quote of the Show:

    • “ I wouldn't be where I am without the support that I've gotten from friends and family.” - Harbir Sian


    Links:

    • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/harbirsianod/  
    • Clarity Eye Care: https://clarityeyecare.ca/our-practice/  
    • High Street Eye Care: https://highstreeteyecare.ca/our-practice/  
    •  Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/harbirsian.od/?hl=en  
    • 2020 Podcast: https://www.the2020podcast.com 


    Ways to Tune In:

    • Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5w1H9BBwRXvBSSkexePYxG 
    • Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/optometrists-building-empires/id1762685070 
    • Amazon Music: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/689a039b-54ce-4f04-b641-66d8640d93d0 
    • Podchaser: https://www.podchaser.com/podcasts/optometrists-building-empires-5812208 
    41 min
  • The No-Show Math: The Leak You Can See vs the Patient Who Never Books
    It is 7:42. Marcus is packing two lunches. Fourteen months ago he paid in full and said see you next year. The recall text is good. He glances at it over the milk and swipes for soccer. At 9:40 your lane is empty. That hole is real, and it is the small one. The bigger leak is the patient who never makes a promise your PMS can report. This solo episode uses Dr. Bethany Fishbein's warm-start math from Episode 098 to show why a buyer totals that file wall at the closing table if you do not total it first, and three fixes that need no new hire.
    22 min
  • Mike Guelcher: Building a Practice That Is Profitable AND Sellable on Your Own Terms
    Mike Guelcher is one of the few people in eye care who has seen the business from every angle: senior leadership at Allergan, eight years leading acquisition efforts for one of the largest private equity-backed optometry platforms in the country, and hands-on projects inside the exam lane. Now co-founder and managing partner at Prism Consulting Partners and a certified exit planning advisor, Mike helps independent optometry owners build practices that are not just profitable but sellable on their own terms. In this episode, he walks through the 22-year journey that made that work possible, why the sequence of those career steps mattered as much as the steps themselves, and how he learned that prescribing decisions and practice sales alike come down to trust built over years. He also shares how an unexpected corporate reorganization in 2014 turned into the most fortuitous door of his career. If you own a practice you may one day sell, this conversation is a look at the other side of that table.
    41 min
  • The 2:15 Problem: Missed Calls, Burnout, and the Half of Optometry That Is Running on Empty
    It is 2:15 on a Tuesday. A patient sits in her car with 15 minutes before her next meeting, contacts running low, finally ready to book the exam she has been putting off since April. The phone rings four times, five times, and about 30 seconds later she hangs up. Research puts the callback rate closer to 1.5 out of 10, which means roughly 85 percent of those callers never try again. Worse, the call leaves no evidence: no voicemail, no note, no report. Three weeks later the schedule looks soft and it feels like a marketing problem. This solo episode connects that missed call to the burnout data. A University of Colorado study of U.S. optometrists found 53.6 percent burned out, with only four tenths of a clinical day separating the most burned out doctors from the least, and EMR users running 17 percentage points higher. The fix is not working harder. It is changing the ratio of what you personally do.
    13 min
  • From Burnout to Building a Team of Travel Optometrists with Dr. Fred Cho
    Dr. Fred Cho is not a practice owner and never has been, yet he is building something most ODs do not know exists: a team of travel optometrists serving remote communities and filling a multi-provincial doctor shortage in Canada. Licensed in Ontario, Manitoba, and Newfoundland, the University of Waterloo grad tells Ankit how burnout forced the change that reshaped his whole career, and why he now speaks, blogs, and podcasts about building a career that actually fits your life. A different kind of empire, built on freedom, geography, and a business model worth understanding whether you own chairs or fill them.
    37 min

About Optometrists Building Empires

From the publisher's feed

Welcome to Optometrists Building Empires! Each week, host Ankit Patel, explores the journey of practice ownership and leadership in optometry with some of the top minds in his field. This show is…

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