On this episode, we sit down with principal financial advisor and co-founder of Credentialed Wealth Advisors Clint Chedester to discuss the realities of today's economy and its impact on independent eye care professionals. 

Clint's Disclosure:

“We represent Credentialed Wealth Advisors, an SEC registered investment adviser.  The opinions expressed are solely our opinions and are not necessarily those of the podcast host or any advertisers or of Credentialed Wealth Advisors, LLC.  Our appearance does not constitute an offer to buy or sell securities and no investment process is free of risk.  No investment process we may discuss can be guaranteed to be profitable.  The investment opportunities discussed may not be suitable for all investors.  All data and references we cite are believed to be reliable.  Any opinions, news, research, analysis or prices discussed are general commentary and do not constitute investment advice.  Our comments cannot be construed as tax or legal advice.  Listeners are urged to contact their tax or legal advisor for any related questions.”

Key Takeaways:

1. One key economic metric to understand the health of the US consumer is the S&P Experian Consumer Credit Default Composite Index - the percentage of consumers behind or in default of consumer credit. Today it is 0.63% compared to over 5% at the height of the Great Recession in 2009.
2. Interest rates continue to rise to increase the cost of borrowing money, ultimately leading to lowered inflation. As small business owners, high interest rates indicate a much deeper need to be especially strategic about how new purchases will be used to drive growth in revenue. If cash flow is high, retaining cash in the business is valuable.
3. The US economy has been in decline for much of 2022 and a number of leading economic indicators show this. A few of these: the number of manufacturing hours worked, ISM Index of new orders, and consumer expectations. All are down and interestingly, the consumer expectation index as lower last year than at the worst part of the Great Recession. Consumer expectation is improving.
4. The US Labor Force Participation Rate indicator shows that we still have not replaced the jobs lost during the pandemic. Consumer demand is higher than it was prior to the pandemic with less workers in the labor force.

What Clint is reading:

• The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey

Want to recession proof your practice? Join PECAA at www.pecaamax.com!

In this episode, I sit down with PECAA's Optical Business Advisor, Kayla Groves, to discuss the biggest pitfalls that practices fall into with their optical. 

Key Takeaways

1. Pitfall #1: Overstocking of frames. Turn rate should be 3x on average in a practice. Frames that aren't turning at this rate shouldn't be stocked.
2. Pitfall #2: Capture rate isn't calculated or calculated poorly. Not having this data affects ability to make key decisions well within the optical.
3. Pitfall #3: Not maximizing reimbursement from insurance by taking wholesale and Frames Data and taking into consideration the type of optical they have: heavy managed vision care, budget, or luxury. 
4. Pitfall #4: Not actively managing the frame board and inventory, taking into consideration the practice goals, the practice business model, demographics, price assortment, and turn rate.
5. Pitfall #5: Not training all team members on the essentials of the optical.
6. Optical is still a significant opportunity for growth in private practice. The patients purchasing online and from e-commerce players are not ones who would purchase anyways from a practice. A large proportion of patients still want an in office experience.

What Kayla is reading:

• The Missing by Kiersten Modglin

Want to learn more about PECAA's Optical Management resources? Email us at [email protected].

On this episode of the Practice Advantage podcast, I sit down with Kathy Long, PECAA's Business Operations Advisor to discuss the importance of taking time to review your standard practice operations and find ways to make them more efficient and more effective. 

Key Takeaways

1. Leverage your office manager. If your practice doesn’t have one, consider team leads to drive change.
2. It’s important to get started. Take some time away from patient care, pick one specific process to evaluate, determine your metrics, ask the right questions, involve the team, and most importantly, get started.
3. Consider the most important processes like recall, optical capture, doctor hand-off, and marketing – ones that have significant revenue impact for the practice.
4. Focus on the customer journey and map that journey. The mapping exercise helps lay out the process operations that you can focus on and improve.

What Kathy is reading:

• Stop Overthinking by Nick Trenton

On this episode, we sit down with the masterminds behind midbrain, Randy Bunka and Saul Alvarez, to discuss the tools that big box stores and e-commerce platforms and how independent eye care professionals can take advantage of them to drive new patients into their practice. 

Key Takeaways

1. The average practice loses at least 10% of their patients each year. Marketing to new patients in new markets is critical just to stay flat as a business, much less grow.
2. The big players are leveraging big data and AI, based around who the patient is, what they're looking at, when they're looking at it, to market to new potential patients successfully.
3. Re-marketing is incredibly effective. We don't always know when the consumer is in the awareness phase of the customer journey. Re-marketing keeps your product and service front and center so they know where to turn when they're ready to purchase. 
4. The most effective marketing is targeted - towards multiple categories of patients, but individuals who are most likely to access your services. 
5. PECAA Ads allows independent practices to leverage the big data and AI to drive re-marketing display ads to new patients in your community. Learn more today!

What Saul is reading:

• Drive by Daniel Pink

In this episode, we talk with PECAA's incoming President, Jonathan Worrall to discuss the power of emotional intelligence as a skill all leaders should possess. 

Key Takeaways:

1. Great leaders are curious. They listen more, ask more questions, and rely on input and feedback from those closest to the work. 
2. Emotional Intelligence is recognizing the entire person on the team and the thoughts and feelings they bring to their work. 
3. An EQ driven leader is self-aware of their own emotions, thoughts, and biases.
4. Creating an EQ driven workplace and leading with empathy does not absolve people of responsibilities to perform. Performance goes hand in hand with a great workplace. 
5. An EQ driven leader invests in their team's success, both professionally and personally. 

What Jonathan is reading:

• Daring Greatly by Brené Brown

In this episode, we sit down with Dr. Davis Capaccioli, owner and founder of Peak Eyecare to discuss the culture strategies helping him build his one-year old Cold Start practice. 

Key Takeaways:

1. Davis's One-Year Cold Start Lessons learned:
   1. Make yourself available to patients to grow your practice. Efficient and optimized is great but not at the expense of being available for new patients.
   2. Patients will pay more for higher quality products especially with a story
   3. Don't burn out team members all for the sake of being lean and mean
2. Culture matters because the amount of time the patient spends with the doctor is less than they spend with the rest of the team.
3. Emphasizing core values, daily reminding of core values, celebrating living out the core values and encouraging them members to call out others helps drive a strong and great culture.
4. Every team meeting includes a “Values Moment” in which the owner and team members highlight others for living out the core values with a patient in the last month.

What Davis is reading:

• Five Dysfunctions of a Team by Pat Lencioni
• Beyond Entrepreneurship 2.0 by Jim Collins

On this episode, I sit down with PECAA executives Dr. Lance Anderson and Jamie Hughes to discuss the key principles that make a great leader.

Key Takeaways:

1. Jamie's 3 Roles of a Leader:
   1. Define the North Star
   2. Have a structure for how they run and manage of teams
   3. Shows up when the chips are down
2. Lance's Keys to a Great Leader:
   1. Willingness to listen to other points of view even when it's different from yours
   2. Being able to be honest
   3. Selflessness
   4. Decisive
   5. Trust in team
3. Delegate results, not tasks
4. Take care of the organization, then the people, then the customer

In this episode, we sit down with PECAA's EVP for Member Business Advisory Bryan Hoban to discuss key performance indicators that give us a deeper look into the health of the practice. 

Key Takeaways:

1. The basics are always important: Revenue Per Patient, Frame Capture Rate, Revenue Per Pair, CL Capture Rate
2. Data is only as valuate as the insight it provides: why the numbers are what they are and the steps that need to be taken to improve them. Deeper KPI's provide greater understanding as to why the main KPIs are there they are. 
3. Unique KPI metrics to consider:
   1. Frame line by gender
   2. Frame line by age
   3. Frame sales by gender
   4. Frame sales by age
   5. $0 frame sales
   6. Frame sales per period of time
   7. CL sales per period of time
   8. Months of CL sold
   9. Annual supply rate
   10. Frames per refraction and Lenses per refraction
4. KPI's that don't always help:
   1. Revenue per refraction. High amounts of medical can really throw this data points off.
   2. Chair cost. It can be skewed in a way that leads to poor decisions especially around managed care plan acceptance.

In this episode, I sit down with Jamie Weeks, Executive Chairman at Legacy Franchise Concepts and CEO of Honors Holdings to discuss the secrets of scaling a business. Whether you want to grow your practice as a single location or turn it into 5, 10, or even 15 locations or more, the secret to scale comes down to one thing. 

Key Takeaways:

1. The secret to scale is culture and speed
2. What is your mantra? Determine it and drive it home every opportunity you get.
3. Culture depends on your ability to be vulnerable and connect with your people. Work life balance should just be life balance. 
4. Culture involves surrounding yourself with people who you would want to have lunch/ dinner with and not talk business.
5. Processes and procedures make us more efficient and effective. It drives our ability to move fast. 

What Jamie is reading:

• The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan

In this episode, I sit down with Dr. Lynn Hellerstein, owner of Hellerstein & Brenner Vision Center, author, and podcast host to discuss the tools and strategies needed for growing a binocular vision and vision therapy practice.

Key Takeaways:

1. Starting a VT practice can be intimating. Starting small and slowly scaling by adding services and space is a great way to get started. You do not need all the space and all the technology available to get started.
2. Success in VT practice relies on referrals. Referrals depend on relationships that you build with those in your community - teachers, educators, psychologists, neurologists, other ODs, and more. Always follow up with a report and take the time to understand their role in children or adults that need VT services. Consider speaking opportunities in your community. 
3. Don't be afraid to market your VT services for the practice. Share your message through your website, social media, Google ads, newsletters, books, and more!
4. Track and manage your numbers, trust your gut. 
5. Don't let your space confine you and impact your patient experience, but don't move before you're ready.

What Lynn is reading:

• From Strength to Strength by Arthur Brooks

Find out more about Dr. Hellerstein's books and podcast!