temporary optician...

[aaron]

I am thinking about trying to start a temp business when I get back. I would be the main option with maybe two others at the most (provided I could find anyone worth their salt of course).

I know that this is something that is needed sometimes either on an emergency basis due to illness or to fill in for a vacation period so that the optician you have employed for 3 years that hasn't taken a real vacation because she doesn't want to leave the place can actually go for a minute and destress before she goes postal on the whole place.

Does anyone have any ideas on how this would work best. What would be the best way to market to the doctors that would be most interested? What would be an acceptable pay scale for a temp optician? If any of you have used these services in the past how did you feel about it and what did you pay them? Thanks again for the help. I will be in the San Diego area when I return to the US.

Peace.

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[Ladyoptician]

I often thought about doing this myself while I was a stay at home mom for 3 years. But, with small children and a random schedule, I thought it would end up more of a headache than anything else. I would need to be able to travel at least an hour and a half to make a good go of it and that was not an option. When my children are much older and if I am not working where I am now (very happy at present), I definitely think there is a market for it. We have one local business that desperately needs this option, but it would most likely be a spur of the moment as the only optician there falls ill quite a bit. The other issue would have been payment. I would think you could look up average pay in your state with your qualifications to get an idea of what you could charge. Once you get some clients that you can get great feedback from, I bet your business will grow. Problem is, unless it's like a maternity leave or vacations where the business is left in a bind for a while, most places won't bother to call for an employee calling in sick, I bet.

[PAkev]

As an independant owner/optician I would like to have access and would probably use a temp optical service as you described. We all know prevailing business demands change from day to day and therefore having responsible help available when we need it would enable us to be more competitive.

Although the concept is great, I still see a lot of stones that would need to be turned over in order to execute the logistics:

1. Can you support a constant resource of opticians when accounts will indeed want to hire your opticians upon positive demonstration of their skills. In this case you will become a job placement service instead of a temp service. Perhaps an employment contingency fee could be in your contract.

2. As the industry has become highly competitive, how do you prevent a conflict of interest as opticians wear a different hat on a different day?

3. Some times of the year (ie summer vacation time) may create more demand than slow industry periods (ie. first quarter) Therefore, do you charge a premium or reduction at these times.

I am sure it can be done effectively if all the possibilities are thought through completely. Keep us posted.

Kevin

[CME4SPECS]

Aaron, I think your best bet would be to circulate a flyer through Consolidated Courier in Southern Ca. It'll cost you some bucks but, it'll get your name out there and you can see what kind of need there might be for you as a temporary optician.

[cocoisland58]

What exactly are you trying to achieve? Do you want to work part-time? Or do you want to own your own business and feel this would be a marketable one? I don't think I've ever worked anywhere that a temp would have been used since hopefully we had enough employees to cover a sick day or vacation. Or we just work short-handed for a few days. What about health care? I assume if you were the owner of the temp agency you would provide health care insurance to your employees? And where would you find these temps? The only opticians I know who would work temp are mothers of dependent children. Can't really count on them for last minute call ups. Lets say you do get people who will work for you. What are the benefits of being on-call versus having a job with regular hours whether it be full or part-time? Also, wouldn't the temp need to know individual office procedures to function well at a job? Or you could have in mind just doing lab work which many already moonlight this. So, you need to think and if you can come up with a viable business plan, who knows what may happen. Good luck.

[Jubilee]

When I worked in Washington state, they had a service similar to this for Optometrists.t

I believe this model can work. There are plenty of independent shops that have only one or two opticians on staff period. So when one would like to take a vacation, has an extended illness, placed on maternity leave or just plain leaves the company with short notice the business owners/managers are really in a bind.

The people who would be doing the temping will have to have the right mix of skills. Ability to work with multiple practice management systems, adapt to different office cultures, work well with a variety of different personalties, and duties. In one office an optician might be doing only sales and dispensing, in another they could also be in charge of the insuance filing and reconcilliation, in another they could also have to do tech duties etc...

As was mentioned previously you can also see how it could be easy for someone to be recruited away from the temp agency into full time employment if they possess a variety of skills the owner/manager desire. If you and the others you were thinking of have alternative routes for insurance, you wouldn't necessarily need to provide medical, dental, etc.. however in the long run if this grows and you want to retain people who work for you, this would make working for you much more attractive.

Start networking with many of the local opticians and doctors to see how much demand is there. Investigate the wages, and figure out how much it would cost you for the sheer administration of a service... and how to give the temps a fair wage. This may mean actually charging a bit of a premium for your service.

Good luck!
Cassandra

[Fezz]

Pakev brings up some very good points. There is a service similiar to this in SE PA. It seems to work OK. We have used it on a few occasions. We have used for Opticians, and ODs. They have a "contract" type deal so that you don't steal the employee from her/them. I do not have any info on the contact at home, but can get it if you need it? Might be a start.