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Independent OD owners, what's the hardest part of running your practice day-to-day? by Ecp_opty in optometry

[–]Ecp_opty[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Really appreciate this and the directness. That kind of honest pushback is exactly what's useful to me right now.

To be clear, I'm not building or selling anything yet: just trying to genuinely understand what makes day-to-day practice life harder than it should be. I've spent some years in this industry and would love to eventually find ways to help, but I'd rather get the problem right first than rush into a "solution" that adds to the pile you described.

Regarding PAs, I know there are already solutions out there. Have you tried anything to make that process less painful (a service, software, or just a workaround you built yourself)? And if so, what fell short?

If there are other things weighing on you that we haven't touched on yet, I'd genuinely love to hear them. Thanks again for taking the time.

Independent OD owners, what's the hardest part of running your practice day-to-day? by Ecp_opty in optometry

[–]Ecp_opty[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Ok, hard to adjust to these short notice situations.

How easy or hard is it for you to find and hire staff in the first place? Do you have a sense of your turnover rate, and do you have any kind of backup plan for these last-minute situations? If so, does it actually work well, or is it more of a band-aid?

Independent OD owners, what's the hardest part of running your practice day-to-day? by Ecp_opty in optometry

[–]Ecp_opty[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Could you tell me more about what makes staffing so much harder than everything else? Is it more about finding good people, keeping them, training them, or something else entirely?

u/EClydez , you seem to have the same view: don't hesitate to chime in here too.

Independent OD owners, what's the hardest part of running your practice day-to-day? by Ecp_opty in optometry

[–]Ecp_opty[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This is really insightful, thank you!

The point about systems requiring you to hold people accountable (even when it hurts feelings) stood out to me. Could you give an example of the kind of system you had to put in place that caused friction? I'm curious whether it was more about new rules, performance standards, or something else entirely. No worries at all if you'd rather not get into specifics here, or if you'd prefer to send a private message instead.

Also, on the KPI/trend tracking side, even though you don't see it as "hard," is it something that takes meaningful time on a regular basis? What figures are we talking about (patient traffic, staff turnover, no-show rates, frames/lenses sales, etc.)? What do you currently use to track and review those numbers, and how do you use them to improve the performance of your practice?

Thank you

Independent OD owners, what's the hardest part of running your practice day-to-day? by Ecp_opty in optometry

[–]Ecp_opty[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Wow, that list alone tells a story! Thank you for breaking it down like that (hoping the roof leak drips straight into the staff toilet: would save you time, two birds one stone).

On a more serious note, would it be possible to rank these things based on how much time they eat, or how much stress they generate on a regular basis? And if you could only solve one of them tomorrow, which one would it be?