Advise Wanted? Career change..

[Mike K. Jordan]

Thanks for stopping to read this post. I am soul searching to see if I am doing the right thing. Here's the situation. I am a licensed optician in Florida. I have been with the same company since 1991. (ECCA) Most of this time I have been a General manager. I'm 36years old, married and have two kids(4 and 9 years old). I am tired of the day in and day out BS of the "Super Optical routine."

You may ask what is the problem then? This is the change I have made and was wondering if anyone else has been from one end of the spectrum to the other. I have accepted a position with Cole at Target optical. I wanted to either get out of management or to make my life less stressful. After checking several opticals this seems to meet my idea position. Slower by volume, less associates to manage and same salary. In my current job it seems like I am running all day long, not really delivering good optics to my customers due to pace of business and one associate problem after the other. Is it wrong to want more but to have to do less? To only want to account for the actions of myself and not to have to answer to the mistakes that others make?

I don't consider myself to be a slacker. You know that expression " I'm to old for this sh*&^"? Well that is how I feel. The only thing I hate is the transition period. When you are with the same company over ten years you fear changes. Lets face it, going from a store that does over $5,000 a day to a store that is lucky to do that in a week is a rather big change. Am I looking forward to taking it easier or will I be bored out of my mind? I would love to hear any of your thoughts or suggestions. Do you think this is a bad time to change to Cole due to the Luxottica buy out? Or do I just have the preemployment jitters(LOL)?

Thanks to all that respond,
Mike Jordan

[UFRich]

First of all, good luck to you.

I live in Jax and commute to Lake City for work. I manage a private practice for a couple of Dr friends of mine. Having worked for a 3 store chain, JC Penney (US Vision), Wal-Mart, 2 private offices in Jax, VA Hospital in Lake City, and the office I am in now, I have run a the gammut. I found going from a very busy situtation, such as WalMart or 1 of the offices here in Jax to a slow office, the VA and JC Penney, I became bored and started wishing I was back in the fast pace. My days would drag and never seem to end. As a GM for WM I was running all day, but the day went fast. I would rather deal with solving problems than clean all day. I am lucky in my current position, because it was a ground floor situation. I am given the leeway to do the things I feel necessary to make us successful and that gives me plenty to do as business is building.

Once again, good luck to you.

[PAkev]

Mike,

I know this is not really the answer you want to hear but we are in a business that deals with problems regardless of who you work for.

My first job in optics was with a large retail chain after graduating college in 1986. The $6.25/hr salary was pitiful dispite my four years of effort and lots of money spent on a marketing degree. It took me over 7 years after that to realize that most chain retailers were hiring opticians to staff their stores and aside from lower level management positions don't really give a hoot about any two or three other initials you may have after your name. 18 yrs. later I have pioneered two optical businesses which I execute the service and business functions of and am happy I got out of the chain environment.

My recommendation would be to entertain offers from lower volume opportunities with a mutually agreeable contingency plan for your advancement so that you can maintain the professional expectations of your job and improve volume and/or profitability of those who sign your paycheck.
This is not something you can do by the seat of your pants but will involve execution of a well developed and presented business plan. Your involvement in keeping the business going in a positive direction will also be worth keeping you around with fair compensation. I promise you will still have problems but at least you will also have an ownership of those problems with the opportunity to make a better businesss decision.

Kevin

[stephanie]

Hi Mike,

I have also done the entire optical spectrum. From private OD to Wal-Mart to private MD as ophthalmic technician to private MD as hired slave to Lenscrafters to small chain that I am with now. Having weighed my pros and cons when deciding to move on from LC to small company the pros far out weighed the cons. While yes sometimes I am bored out of my mind, I get to choose what frames I want to carry in my store. I get to help design where to put them...not some preset frame board thing. I am not worked to death and know I am never going to have to work later than 6pm. On the flip side...insurance stinks. Raises are far few and in between. It is really hard to say what is the best decision to make. As for my decision, I am very glad I left LC and don't even look back. I just went to CE hours and ran into a few old co-workers and since I have left 6 other Licensed opticians have also found other employment. While some times I wish we were as busy as we were in LC I don't regret working for a corp empire like it. The company I work for doesn't get on you if sales are down. If no one comes in there is no one to sell to. Simple as that. You might want to make your own list of pros and cons and see how it comes out. You may just surprise yourself.


Best of Luck to you!
Steph

[Mike K. Jordan]

I just wanted to thank all of you that took the time to give me your words of wisdom. I look forward to change. I weighed the pros and cons out and feel better about the decision I have made to leave my current position. I also know that if it doesn't work out for me I have been offered to return to ECCA if I ever want to.

Thanks All.
Mike Jordan

[fvc2020]

Mike,

Good luck at leaving the store in Regency:p I always thought you were much to good to be working with Glenda(if she's still there). I hope you have happiness and joy in whatever private office you go to work for.


Much happiness

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