As a business owner, I can’t even begin to describe how much I value Independence. It lives in every corner of my business. It shows itself in how I purchase goods, it becomes apparent in looking at the companies I choose to do business with, it can be seen in the interactions with my clients. Independence is the inherent understanding that you are ruled by no one, you are doing things your way, and that your gut is the only compass you follow.

In an age when brick and mortar must compete not just with internet but big box and other opticals, presentation is key to not only differentiating yourself from the competition, but providing patients with a pleasing ambiance and atmosphere to encourage browsing and purchasing. Done well, good presentation can lend generous dividends. In-store visual presentation is accountable for the majority of retail purchases, according to Joseph Weishar, author of The Aesthetics of Merchandise Presentation (2005, stmediagroup.com/stbooks). How, then, does an optical retail—especially one attempting to compete by offering patients the boutique experience—succeed through presentation?

A new, exciting and "radical" way of establishing office efficiency is by allowing the doctor(s) to delegate refraction duties to scribes and technicians. This allows the doctors to dedicate more personal "one on one" time with the patient thus increasing the quality of care, provides the patient with a more personalized experience, and also allows the doctor(s) to increase the number of patients seen per day, which nets an increase in office revenue.

When I was new to this field, a mentor told me that when people asked him what opticians did, his answer was, “Opticians make people happy.” Doesn’t that really sum up what we do? We help people to see better and look better, and that makes them happy. That’s something we should all be excited about.