20/20 MONEY: The Business of Optometry

Welcome to this episode of 20/20 Money! I'm joined by Kayla Ashlee (founder of Spexy ) live at Vision Expo West. Kayla and I spend our time talking about a word that often gets a very negative connotation in practices: sales. We talk about ways to make sales a positive experience, we each share our definition of what sales means to us, and ways to think about changing sales culture in your office....

Welcome to this episode of 20/20 Money! My guest on today's show is Billy Murray with myeyedr .   I wanted to have Billy on the show to talk about the current state of private equity in the optometry space and have him share his perspective as someone that is working with partner practices that choose to align with myeyedr. We talk about everything from the basics of PE, where he feels we're at in...

Welcome this episode of 20/20 Money! Practice financials can sometimes seem complicated and overwhelming, especially if you haven't had any business training or your accountant/CPA or bookkeeper hasn't spent time helping you understand your financials. In this episode, I'll walk through the basics of the three important financial documents and how to put those through the filter of your own person...

Welcome to this episode of 20/20 Money! This is a very special episode of 20/20 Money in that it is our 200th episode!!   And I can't think of a better way to celebrate than to announce the launch of the "20/20 Money Community!"   In this episode I'm going to get pretty personal with you and share some of the backstory and context around how this show has evolved, the "why" behind a lot of the wor...

Welcome to this episode of 20/20 Money! My guest on today's show is JR Armstrong. JR joins me back on the show to talk about a common tax planning strategy that we both see utilized in optometric practices: buying a vehicle through the practice. We cover the basics of what needs to be considered, some of the nuances and limitations of having the practice buy the vehicle, and most importantly ensur...

Welcome to this episode of 20/20 Money! My guest on today's show is Dr. Jennifer Stewart . Jen joins me again on the show to talk about an interesting transition that's just occurred for her, and that was selling her practice! Longtime listeners of the show will know that she owned a very successful practice in Connecticut. However, she also felt a calling to use her experience as a successful pra...

Welcome to this episode of 20/20 Money! My guest on today's show is Greg Crabtree, CPA .   Greg is the author of two of my favorite books about running a business and using the numbers of your business to make informed decisions ( Simple Numbers, Straight Talk, Big Profits and Simple Numbers 2.0: Rules for Smart Scaling ). He's also the Partner in Charge in the Huntsville, AL office of Carr, Riggs...

Welcome to this episode of 20/20 Money! My guest on today's show is Dr. Mick Kling, OD. Last week was part 1 of our two-part conversation on all things related to practice transitions. We talk about practice transitions from both the buyer's and seller's perspective and talk about the entire life cycle of the process.   Today's episode is Part 2, and we continue the conversation by first diving de...

Welcome to this episode of 20/20 Money! My guest on today's show is Dr. Mick Kling, OD. In this two-part conversation with Mick, he and I have a deep and well-rounded discussion on all things related to practice transitions. We talk about practice transitions from both the buyer's and seller's perspective and talk about the entire life cycle of the process.   Today's episode is Part 1, and we cove...

Welcome to this episode of 20/20 Money! My guest on today's show is Steve Alexander. I wanted to have Steve back on the show to "bookend" the mini-series we did around the subject of vision care plans and their role in your practice's profitability. In this conversation, we discuss some of the highlights and takeaways we both had based off last week's episode with Dr. Kyle King. If this is your fi...

Welcome to this episode of 20/20 Money! My guest on today's show is Dr. Kyle King . Kyle is a partner at Evansville Eyecare Associates in Evansville, IN and is a 2011 grad of IU School of Optometry (I know this because he graduated with my wife). Kyle joins the show today to talk about a journey and transition that I feel a lot of practice owners have thoughts about in the past, and that was his a...

Welcome to this episode of 20/20 Money! My guest on today's show is Steve Alexander from Anagram.   Steve joins me on the show today to talk about a topic that is getting an increasing amount of attention in the private practice landscape: the role that VCPs play in a private practice and how the landscape is shifting in the way that practice owners evaluate the partners they have in their practic...

Welcome to this episode of 20/20 Money! On today's show I recap some of the ideas and thoughts I shared during the recent town hall event I did with The Power Practice . I talk about ways to attract and retain your team members, specific areas to drill down on your profit/loss statement, why you need to revisit the debt in your practice, what can happen to multiples of practices in a rising rate e...

There are so many options an optometrist can consider when thinking about the prioritization of savings vehicles for both short term and long term needs. In today's show, we walk up the savings ladder through the lens of tax efficiency.   As a reminder, you can get all the information discussed in today's conversation by visiting our website at integratedpwm.com and clicking on the Learning Center...

Welcome to this episode of 20/20 Money! My guest on today's show is Peter Lazaroff ( LinkedIn Profile ).   Peter is a Chartered Financial Analyst, firm owner, author, speaker, podcast host, and chief investment officer of Plancorp, LLC, a fee-only Registered Investment Advisor in St. Louis overseeing over $6 billion of assets for clients around the country. Peter joins me on the show to talk about...

Welcome to this episode of 20/20 Money! My guest on today's show is Dr. Ryan Gustus. Ryan is a partner at Eyecare Associates of Bluffton and Roanoke and also co-founder of Lensquote and their newest tool called Profit Assist .   Ryan joins the show today to talk about something that every practice owner should be focused on in their practice and that's the pricing of their contact lenses. We talk...

Welcome to this episode of 20/20 Money! My guest on today's show is Nathan Hayes with IDOC .   In this conversation Nathan and I talk through the qualitative and quantitative metrics and mindsets to consider when identifying whether and when your practice is ready to add an associate. We talk about the importance of beginning with the end in mind, the steps to consider when adding an associate, ho...

Welcome to this episode of 20/20 Money! My guest on today's show is Eric Nelson ( @servowealth on Twitter). Eric joins us back on the show to talk through being an investor in a choppy market, as we're recording this as the major markets are knocking on the door of a bear market, which is when markets decline 20% from their previous highs. We talk about celebrating diversification, the role of fix...

Running a practice can be complicated and there is no shortage of numbers to track. Distilled down, though, an optometry practice (or any business for that matter) has three areas in which to deploy the excess cash that it produced. In this episode, we'll discuss those three areas, the prioritization of those areas, and why it's important to understand the relationship that all three of them have...

Welcome to this rewind episode of 20/20 Money! My guest on today's show is Dave Goetsch. I wanted to bring this episode back from early 2020 because we are finding ourselves in the midst of another market correct, albeit for different but yet related reasons. What I think it still timely (and timeless) about this conversation is the part where Dave talks about some of the big bets and lessons he m...

Welcome to this episode of 20/20 Money! My guest on today's show is  Erich Mattei . Erich is the founder of  Akrinos , a consulting firm that not only helps ODs thrive in today's practice management landscape but takes it a step further by helping with the implementation and execution of identified strategies that will improve upon a practice's success. In this conversation, Erich joins me live at...

Sometimes we can lose focus of just how simple business can be, and an optometric practice isn't any different. In this episode I'll break down the three factors that, when multiplied together, will give you the top line, gross revenue of your practice. I'll then walk you through the mindset and logistics of how you can use this number to start thinking about intentionally creating the practice th...

Welcome to this episode of 20/20 Money! My guest on today's show is Dr. Bethany Fishbein. Bethany is the CEO of Power Practice and host of the Optometry Power Hour podcast. Bethany joins me live from Vision Expo to talk about her perspective on why we both love the model of private practice model in optometry, why it's important to surround yourself with a good community as a business owner and OD...

Welcome to this episode of 20/20 Money! Coinciding with tax day, this episode will dive into the nuances and understanding the clarity (and penalties) associated with not understanding that getting an extension to file your tax return is not an extension to pay. I'll also discuss the details of underpayment penalties as well as how to think about proactive cash flow planning and how that influence...

Welcome to this episode of 20/20 Money! My guest on today's show is Dr. Todd Cohan ( email ; website ).   Todd joins the show to talk about how much of a positive impact integrating ocular surface disease has been not only for the increased standard of care he's been able to provide patients but also how that has helped him run a very profitable practice. We start out talking about how his practic...