Optometry Scale Up

In episode 2 of Optometry Scale Up, Dr. Thanh Mai and Dr. Tyler Mills take on a question every acquirer faces sooner or later: when you buy a practice, do you rename it, keep the name, or do something in between?

They don't fully agree, and that's the point. The right answer depends on the brand equity you're buying.

IN THIS EPISODE

- The devil's advocate case: why renaming a 30-year-old practice can burn the goodwill you just paid for

- Why patients can walk in feeling like you're "the bad guy" in the first year after a takeover

- How Tyler went from "everything under one brand" to deciding case by case

- Why chains that open from scratch brand differently than groups that buy existing practices

- Co-branding: how "in partnership with" keeps the original owner and patients on board

- Rip the band-aid off or leave it alone? Two big groups, two opposite playbooks

- When to keep a second website alive, and how to check if anyone is even visiting it

- Why one overarching brand makes content, brochures, billing and phones easier to scale

- Duplicating vs. scaling: why five locations don't need five receptionists

- The new term the hosts coin on air: the Optometry Services Organization (OSO)

- Why one big location usually beats several small ones

COMING UP ON THE SHOW

The OSO deep dive, revenue per location and the metrics that only matter once you have multiple locations, EOS, deal making, seller financing, and the acquisitions that go wrong.

If you own a practice, want to, or are about to acquire one, start here. Hit follow so the next episode finds you.

In the very first episode of Optometry Scale Up, Dr. Thanh Mai and Dr. Tyler Mills explain why they started this show, then get straight into the question most practice owners never get a straight answer to: how do you grow from one location to many without working yourself into the ground?

No script. Just two optometrists who each opened a practice from scratch, grew it, and then started buying more.

IN THIS EPISODE

• Why consultants can help you grow one location, but few know what comes next
• The myth that a bigger business means more work, and why both hosts say they work less now
• “The swamp”: the stretch between roughly $3 million and $5 million when you need help you can’t afford yet
• How hiring an associate frees up your time and grows the practice
• The one constraint Thanh believes holds most smaller practices back (hint: it’s not what you think)
• The “thousand paper cuts” of doing jobs your staff could do for less
• How Thanh would reach a $3 million practice in a year or two, including seller financing
• Tyler’s mindset shift: pick a much bigger goal and work backward
• Why you need a mentor or consultant who has actually walked the walk

COMING UP ON THE SHOW

EOS, deal making, seller financing, phantom equity, executive hires, and the acquisitions that go wrong.

If you own a practice, want to, or feel stuck between one location and the next, start here. Hit follow so the next episode finds you.