20/20 MONEY: The Business of Optometry

Welcome to this episode of 20/20 Money! My guests on today's show are Drs. Jennifer Stewart & Sam Hornberger, both private practice owners in their respective practices.   Sam and Jennifer join me on the show to talk about a topic that admittedly, in over 300 episodes of 20/20 Money, I haven't talked about yet: edging and the decisions around whether to bring edging in-house or continue to outsour...

Welcome to this episode of 20/20 Money! My guest on today's show is Dr. Leigha Nielson, OD FOVDR, founder of High 5 Vision Development in New Braunfels, TX.   Leigha joins me on the show to talk about how she's created both a successful practice and a life she loves—personally and professionally—through a vision-therapy focused practice. She talks about her journey as a practice owner under the TS...

Welcome to this episode of 20/20 Money! This week's episode is my guest appearance on Dr. Steve Vargo's show "Eye Own a Business," produced by IDOC.   Steve had me on the show to talk about something that I've been thinking about for some time, and I used his show to "stake my claim"—I don't like term "admin day" and want to see the profession start embracing a different way of thinking about the...

Welcome to this episode of 20/20 Money! My guest on today's show is Jackson Pace, CPA. Jackson joins me on the show to talk about ways owners can maximize the ROI on their team, specifically non-OD team members. He shares examples of ways in which practice owners have brought focus and intention to different areas of the practice, how practice owners can empower their team to take ownership of an...

Welcome to this episode of 20/20 Money! My guest on today's show is Dr. Steve Vargo, OD. In addition to being a practice management consultant with IDOC , Steve is also the host of the podcast " Eye Own a Business " a show with episodes aimed to help independent ODs grow a thriving practice while wearing the hats of both OD and business owner. In this episode Steve and I talk about the importance...

Welcome to this episode of 20/20 Money! My guest on today's show is Nathan Hayes with IDOC & Books & Benchmarks.   Nathan and I spend time discussing a topic that was briefly brought up on our last conversation ( here's the link to that discussion ) which is the importance of understanding the relationship between multiples and the risk associated with ownership. Said differently, we bring clarity...

Welcome to this episode of 20/20 Money! My guest on today's show is Peter Lazaroff, CFA, CFP® , Chief Investment Officer at Plancorp , host of The Long Term Investor podcast , and the author of the book Making Money Simple .   Peter joins me on the show to talk about an investment approach that has been around for a long time but is starting to become more prevalent for investors: direct indexing....

Welcome to the first episode of 2025! In this episode, I take a bit of a trip down memory lane as I recently came across a list that I wrote 10+ years ago. Re-reading it, I thought it would be a great way to kick off the new year and give optometrists & practice owners some principles and habits that can guide and shape how they plan & live their life, on purpose.   As a reminder, you can get all...

As we set up for the beginning of yet another year, I wanted to bring back an episode that I released earlier in the year. I think the timing of replaying this episode is good as it's being released during a very busy time of year and also while you're likely thinking through how you want to set yourself up for success in 2025. All the best to you and your family during the holiday season! In the...

Welcome to this episode rewind of 20/20 Money! In keeping with tradition, I'm bringing back this episode again, just like I did last year, for one of the last episodes of 2024!!   Given that this is the last episode of the year, this is usually when we are thinking about goal setting, and everyone's schedule is anything but normal being the day after Christmas, I wanted to bring back the conversat...

Welcome back to another episode of 20/20 Money. My guest on today's show is JR Armstrong, CPA and a partner at May & Co , a CPA firm dedicated to serving optometric practice owners nationwide.   JR joins me back on the show for a year-end tax planning episode. We talk about the importance of taking a multi-year approach when evaluating your depreciation strategy on equipment, how inventory influen...

Today's episode talks about how I think about Dave Ramsey's baby steps towards financial independence as it pertains to optometrists. I share where I think the baby steps are great to follow and I also share some iterations on the baby steps that I believe are more relevant and applicable to ODs, specifically with regards to the journey as a practice owner.   As a reminder, you can get all the inf...

Welcome to this episode of 20/20 Money! My guest on today's show is my friend Ashby Daniels, CFP® and we have what I think is a very engaging and revealing conversation about the emotional and mental journey a business owner goes through when considering a sale of their business. We talk about getting over the fear of selling, how to think about regrets, the alternatives to selling, the importance...

Welcome to this episode of 20/20 Money! My guest on today's show is Dr. Chris Wolfe, host of The Chris Wolfe Podcast, founder of the online billing & coding LMS EyeCode Education , and a partner in Exclusively Eye Care, a private practice in Omaha, NE.   This is part 2 of my conversation with Chris and I'd really encourage you to check out Part 1 of our conversation over on Chris's podcast The Chr...

Welcome to this episode of 20/20 Money! My guests on today's show are Drs. Jeremy Ciano & Jennifer Stewart. This is another 20/20 Money takeover, so while I usually will spend the introduction giving you a glimpse into what we talk about on the show, your guess is as good as mine about what this episode is about…since I just gave them the platform to talk about whatever was top of mind for them ar...

Welcome to this episode of 20/20 Money! My guest on today's show is Dr. Bethany Fishbein, OD, consultant and executive coach with Leaders of Vision. Bethany has been on the show many times in the past and today she joins us to talk about a topic that is admittedly harder and more distressing to talk about: embezzlement in optometry practices. In Bethany's experience as a consultant having worked w...

Welcome to this episode of 20/20 Money! My guest on today's show is Mike Neal, OD . Mike joins me on the show to talk about something that we've indirectly talked about on various episodes in the past: delegation. Specifically, we talk about the mindset shift that happened for Mike when he started looking at his team as an investment in the business and the opportunity cost of him hanging onto so...

Welcome to this episode of 20/20 Money! My guest on today's show is Erich Mattei, founder of Akrinos . In this conversation, Erich and I discuss five specific concepts and ways that optometrists can make prudent business decisions in their practice and reduce the chances of making a strategic wrong decision.   As a reminder, you can get all the information discussed in today's conversation by visi...

Welcome to this episode of 20/20 Money! My guest on today's show is Dr. Jennifer Stewart, founder of the private practice Look New Canaan and OD Perspectives .   In this episode, we talk about two major themes that she's observed over the years as she has consulted with both friends and colleagues. Whether it be an OD launching a cold start or trying to make decisions inside of an established prac...

Welcome to this episode of 20/20 Money! My guest on today's show is Daniel Palmer, founder of Morether Creative, a Fractional CMO for optometrists nationwide.   In this conversation, we talk through and explain the Story Brand process and the SB7 framework. We talk about the common marketing mistakes that biz owners (not just ODs) make when it comes to marketing their brand, how to think of the SB...

Welcome to this episode of 20/20 Money! My guest on today's show is Dr. Bethany Fishbein, OD, Consultant & Executive Coach with Leaders of Vision . Bethany and I talk about a topic that an OD might not think about directly correlating to the financials of a practice: leadership skills. However, I believe that we quickly illustrate in our conversation how the things that negatively impact a practic...

Welcome to this episode of 20/20 Money! My guest on today's show is Dr. Michael Neal, OD. Michael joins me back on the show to discuss bonus structures that work for non-producing members of your team, and how they can be put together in a way that is advantageous to both the team member and the overall growth of the practice.     As a reminder, you can get all the information discussed in today's...

In this episode, we break down why the Federal Reserve decided to cut interest rates by 0.5% (50 basis points) and what it signals about the economy. More importantly, we dive into actionable steps that optometry practice owners can take to benefit from these lower rates while preparing for potential economic shifts.   Resources: 20/20 Money Community Information CS Eye Optometric Billing Consulta...

Welcome to this episode of 20/20 Money! My guest on today's show is Dr. Kurt Steele, OD. Kurt joins me back on the show to talk in further detail how he and his partners have structured their compensation structure in a way that works for everyone in the practice while also ensuring that there is parity in comp based on the amount of revenue that each of them collect for the work they do clinicall...

Welcome to this episode of 20/20 Money! My guest on today's show is Nathan Hayes from Books & Benchmarks . Nathan joins me back on the show to talk all things business financials and how owners should be thinking about actual profit in a business—and where to look in your business financials to learn how much money the practice has actually provided to you on the personal side. Nathan & I have a g...