Power Hour Optometry

Independent practice performance is under pressure. Refractions are down. Revenue is down. Exam-only behavior is climbing. And for many practices, the first half of 2026 has been much tougher than expected. In this week's episode of Power Hour, Eugene Shatsman sits down with Dr. Jason Lake, General Manager of PERC & Opti-Port, to examine real-time independent practice performance data and discuss...

You did the exam. You built the relationship. You made the recommendation. And then the patient walked out and bought their eyewear somewhere else. That moment is one of the most frustrating leaks in an independent practice. But it is also one of the most strategic opportunities. In this week's episode of Power Hour, host Eugene Shatsman sits down with Megan Molony, Vice-President of the Optical W...

What does it actually mean to be the CEO of your practice? For many practice owners, that question does not become real until growth starts creating pressure. The practice gets busier. The team needs more direction. Associates need more training. Patients still expect the owner's touch. And suddenly, the thing that once felt like a successful business starts feeling like a very well-paying job. Th...

There's a moment in every specialty service conversation where the patient either leans in or checks out. And in dry eye, that moment usually has very little to do with the machine. It has to do with whether the patient understands what the doctor sees, why it matters, and what happens if they do nothing. That's where this week's Power Hour with Dr. Todd Cohan, Owner of Midwest Dry Eye Center and...

By overwhelming request, we've decided to do something special for our Power Hour listeners. As a thank you for being part of the community, we've partnered with Amazon to make the Kindle version of The Eyecare B.O.S.S. book completely free, only for the next 48 hours. If you've listened to our recent Power Hour episodes introducing The Eyecare B.O.S.S., you know this isn't just another business b...

Some practices are built from scratch; others are inherited. While both come with challenges, inheriting a practice brings a unique responsibility: preserving what made it successful while finding the courage to evolve it for the future. In this episode of Power Hour, Eugene sits down with Dr. Luke Small, a third-generation optometrist and Owner of Armstrong & Small Eye Care Centre, one of the old...

For more than two decades, some of the most important conversations in optometry have happened quietly behind the scenes. Not on stages. Not in public Facebook groups. But inside private discussions where doctors could speak openly with each other about what was really happening inside the profession. That eventually became ODwire. In this episode of Power Hour, Eugene sits down with Dr. Adam Fark...

EXCLUSIVE OPPORTUNITY: Be the first to get the book, "The Eyecare BOSS," by Eugene Shatsman & Jamie Rosin → https://eyecareboss.com/   When practice owners are asked about their biggest challenge, the answer is usually the same: People. Because when your team is aligned, accountable, and operating at a high level, growth feels possible. New ideas get implemented. Patients have a better experience....

More revenue per patient. It's one of the most talked-about goals in private practice right now. But in this episode of Power Hour, Dr. Patricia Poma makes something very clear: You do not get there by chasing every new machine, trend, or specialty that shows up on the market. You get there by building intentionally. That is exactly why the shift toward a specialty-driven practice is starting to g...

Membership plans are starting to move from an interesting idea to something practices genuinely need to understand. In this episode of Power Hour, host Eugene Shatsman sits down with Cody Tomasik, Founder and CEO of DirectOD, a platform built within real optometry practices to solve the frustrations of vision plans, low reimbursements, and cash-pay patient retention. What makes this conversation c...

364 days of silence, then one automated appointment text. A patient who walks in completely unprepared to purchase. This is the current state of most optometric practices, and according to consumer expert Jeff Fromm, it's a massive missed opportunity. In this week's Power Hour, Eugene Shatsman is joined by Philip Alexander, AI Technologist and CEO of AnswerMyQ, and Jeff Fromm, a 5x author who has...

187,000,000 views. 1.3 million subscribers. +- 500 long-form videos. And right now, thousands of people are watching his content live. Not a media company. Not a full-time influencer. A doctor. In this week's Power Hour, Dr. Joseph Allen, Founder of Doctor Eye Health, breaks down how he built one of the largest eye care education platforms on YouTube, from zero experience in 2018 to a global audie...

In this episode of Power Hour, host Eugene sits down with Dr. Jason Lake, General Manager of PERC & Opti-Port for another Metric of the Quarter, and this one hits differently. Some episodes give you ideas. This one gives you numbers you can't ignore.

AI is everywhere right now. And the real challenge right now isn't access, but knowing what to trust. Every vendor has a solution. Every platform claims to be "intelligent." Every conversation seems to come back to what AI is going to do next. But when you step into your practice, the question becomes much simpler: What actually works for me? In this episode of Power Hour, host Eugene Shatsman sit...

There's a point in every growing practice where things start to feel different. Not because the business isn't working, but rather it's working only because of you, and the moment you try to expand, that dependency gets exposed. You start to realize that growth isn't as simple as opening another location. It's about building something that can operate without you being everywhere at once, and that...

Most practice owners think growth is about doing more. More patients, more staff, more lanes, and more locations. But the truth is, scaling a practice is about building the right structure underneath it. In this week's episode of Power Hour, host Eugene Shatsman sits down with Dr. David Moore, President of Moore Eye Center, and Dr. Julia Zyrina, Founder of Pine Vision Care, two doctors who are bot...

Every year at Vision Expo, companies make massive promises about the "future of optometry." But as a practice owner, you don't need more hype; you need solutions that are real, scalable, and useful. In this special Innovators Edition of the Power Hour recorded live at Vision Expo, Eugene Shatsman sits down with three executives attacking the future of the profession from three completely different...

What would you do if you discovered someone inside your business had been stealing from you? Not hundreds. Not thousands. Millions. In this week's episode of Power Hour, Eugene Shatsman sits down with Mick Hall, President of Bard Optical (one of the most respected multi-location practices in the country) to hear a story that every practice owner needs to listen to.  It started with something small...

Burnout is more common than many leaders are willing to admit. It's rarely a sign that the practice itself is broken. More often, it's a signal that the systems supporting the business need to evolve. In this week's Power Hour, Eugene sits down with Allison Kraemer & Dr. Brian Spittle from The Power Practice to talk about something many practice owners experience but rarely discuss openly: Burnout...

How many times have you said, "We had such a great interview," only to be thinking 60 days later, "How did we get this so wrong?" Staffing is still the #1 issue in practices, but what if the sustainable fix isn't another job post? What if it's understanding who you're hiring (before you hire them) and knowing how to develop them once they're on your team? In this episode of Power Hour, Eugene Shat...

How do you transform your practice from something that depends on you for everything, into something that grows with clarity and control on its own? You've invested in equipment, hired good people, and are working hard; and yet, growth feels heavier than it should. In this episode of Power Hour, Eugene Shatsman sits down with Jamie Rosin to talk about a systematic approach to practice growth.  The...

As  t he economics of practice ownership  evolve,   t echnology  accelerates , and  l egislative conversations  become  more complex,  who  is shaping the future of optometry behind the sc enes? And what decisions are being made right now that could  impact  your practice next year?   In this  episode of  Power Hour , recorded live from the  AOA  Leaders  Summit in St. Louis , Eugene  Shatsman  si...

People, Technology, and Strategy.   Three pillars that shaped how  Dr. Solomon Gould  built a scalable medical model, developed high-performing teams, and grew without sacrificing patient experience.     In this week's episode of  Power Hour , Eugene sits down with  Dr. Solomon Gould , Sr. Director of Eye Care at  EssilorLuxottica , and a leader whose career spans  nearly every  side of optometry:...

What if the biggest story in vision care right now  isn't  a new produc t,  but a shift in patient  behavior  that could reshape 2026?   Today's episode is a little different (in the best way) because  we're  recording  live from The Vision Council's Executive Summit . This is a  conference  filled with CEOs, founders, and eye care industry leaders who are here to network, but more importantly, to...

2025  wasn't  business as usual in optometry M&A.   Fewer buyers, more deal scrutiny, softer multiples, and a growing number of practice owners asking the same question:  "Is my practice worth what I think it's worth?"     That's  why this episode is perfectly timed for the start of  2026 .   Eugene  is joined by   Anne Kavanagh   (Founder & Managing Director)  and  Jason Preator  (Managing Partne...