Get WEALTHY in optical?

[Fezz]

I have been doing more and more thinking about the business side of optical. I have been in the business for 21 years and am only 35. I have seen plenty of changes. I keep thinking....Is it possible to become wealthy in the optical business? We all have an idea of what wealthy really means. Is getting wealthy $100,000 a year, $200,000, $650,000, $1.5 million a year? At one point, I foolishly believed that it truly was possible to become wealthy in this business. I no longer hold that falsehood to be true. I don't see any real innovations that will set the optical world on fire. How many different frame shapes, materials, progressives can we really sell? I see 3rd party and consumers shifting buying trends erroding the bottom line evryday. We all have seen the stories of those that picked the "luxury" end of the market, or those that extended themselves and sacrificed to open multiple locations and made it. But made it is sorta bogus. Some of you have seen the "Good Ole Days" come and go.

I would like some feedback and perspectives.

Is it possible to become WEALTHY in this business?

[For-Life]

I think the possibilities at the moment are limited. At this point if you did a Porter's Five Forces Model (Porter, 1980), you would see that the industry is not ideal to enter right now. The lens industry is being dominated by the big boys, and really expensive to compete or even enter at their level. The frame industry is over saturated. The dispensing industry is over saturated. The chain industry is over saturated, and have two big players strongly controlling that field.

[Johns]

I don't see any real innovations that will set the optical world on fire.

Don't look to changing products to make you wealthy, take the products, as well as the market, and work them to your advantage.

I have a client that makes HUGE,HUGE $$ with a really inovative product...nuts and bolts. That's it! Nuts & Bolts. He buys boxcars full of nuts and bolts, has a bunch of old ladies repackage them, and resells ten of millions of them every year to hardware distributors. Now there's a product that hasn't changed for hundreds of years, but he makes a living off of them, and he doesn't even make them!

[AWTECH]

Johns said:

Don't look to changing products to make you wealthy, take the products, as well as the market, and work them to your advantage.

I agree and base on the tone of the first two threads I would caution you as follows: A sure way to make sure you are not successful, is to assume that you can't be, (because there is nothing new, because of saturation etc.) There are quite a few small optical chain operators who have built there business up and then sold them for $millions$.

As far as new in optical lenses, there is a whole new premium progressive catagory being created. There are those optical retailers who don't see the benefit and don't understand the benefit that some new freeform designs offer. Then there are others who are paying 30% or more than a conventional lens wholesale premium job and are making an extra $100 or more per job profit.

The opportunities are there, the question is do you see them and are you willing to take the risk and put out the effort to capitalize on them.

[For-Life]

Johns said:

I agree and base on the tone of the first two threads I would caution you as follows: A sure way to make sure you are not successful, is to assume that you can't be, (because there is nothing new, because of saturation etc.) There are quite a few small optical chain operators who have built there business up and then sold them for $millions$.

As far as new in optical lenses, there is a whole new premium progressive catagory being created. There are those optical retailers who don't see the benefit and don't understand the benefit that some new freeform designs offer. Then there are others who are paying 30% or more than a conventional lens wholesale premium job and are making an extra $100 or more per job profit.

The opportunities are there, the question is do you see them and are you willing to take the risk and put out the effort to capitalize on them.

Opportunity for who? All retailers will be willing to offer these lenses. If the profits are there then more competition will enter.

For the suppliers? I argue that lens suppliers in the future will have to all have their own AR, and it will have to be comparable to the big boys. So there are considerable barriers there too.

[AWTECH]

For-Life said:

Opportunity for who? All retailers will be willing to offer these lenses. If the profits are there then more competition will enter.

OPPORTUNITY FOR YOU! If all retailer will, (future), be offering high end products, are you going to wait until all retailer are offering these and the margins have declined, or are you selling these now as a greater percentage of you PAL sales. I used the new premium freeform PALs as an example. Only about 10% to 20% of opticians are even aware of the benefits these new designs can offer. Less than 1% of the public is aware. So my suggestion to an optical retailer is start selling these now. Your customers will immediately see the difference if you pick the right lens designs. Currently there is not enough manufacturing capacity in this catagory for the competition to show up at every optical for at least 10 years. (remember to process these a standard lab setup will not work).

So on this one example: You immediately saw how to not take advantage of the opportunity, by assuming everyone else would.

I met one of the largest optical retailers in Sweden about 8 years ago. He showed me how he change all of his retail store to 1/2 optical and 1/2 sunglass stores. All stores sell both and by cutting his board space for frame by almost 1/2, (because he carried a limited selection of sun before), he had not decrease in optical sales and obviously increased his sunglass sales with non Rx wearers walking by a storefront and coming in to look and then purchase. No labor increase, limited inventory increase. Just new signs, some staff training. A simple idea that worked. I am sure he could have found many reasons not to do this, such as prescription customers won't come into a sunglass combo store, etc.

[For-Life]

You are talking short term though. So I adapt these things (which I have) and have increased my market share. How much longer until the big guys move in and offer it for half what I do.

Adapting these things are survival techniques, not things that can lead me to expand to become a multi-millionaire.

[AWTECH]

For-Life: My point was this PAL high end catagory which you say you have used to increase your market share, is the beginning. You have to see each of these opportunities and take advantage of them.

Curious did selling these premium PALs increase your market share? or your profit margin? If they did both you have increased your retail traffic by offering these premium products. You next move could be to find existing optical locations who have not yet choosen to use these products. You, your banker and a business plan could see you growing rapidly.

Don't make your goal to be a multi-millionare. No one wants to help you do that. Set you goal to improve the distribution of optical products with the lowest overhead, or the best service, or something that sets you apart from the average optical.

As the saying goes:

"EFFORT=RESULTS" Roger Penske

[ziggy]

It seems like yesterday that I thought "if I could just make $7.50/hr I'll be set!" wealth is a relitave term. The kids are , the wife has a new car, hell, I'm even taking a vacation in December!

[Johns]

You are talking short term though. So I adapt these things (which I have) and have increased my market share. How much longer until the big guys move in and offer it for half what I do.

YOU ARE GOING TO DIE!! (So are the rest of us.)

How long term do you need ? Do you want a lifetime warranty against failure?:D The ideas that were making us big bucks 10 years ago are now pretty worthless, but we're full of ideas.

[For-Life]

YOU ARE GOING TO DIE!! (So are the rest of us.)

How long term do you need ? Do you want a lifetime warranty against failure?:D The ideas that were making us big bucks 10 years ago are now pretty worthless, but we're full of ideas.

3-5 years would be considered long term in the business World.

Listen, we are the only store in town that sells easy to clean AR on every pair (other stores may do it on 15 percent of their AR's), that sell free-form lenses, that sell sunglasses with backside AR, that sell the new Nike contact lens, and that do many things.

This helps me differentiate. It allows us to compete against the price discount shops, the OD's and the other optical stores. But there are other varaibles in place that hold us back from further expansion. First off, it is expensive to hire more Opticians with the purpose of opening another optical store. Secondly, in my location the supply for opticians is very low, where the demand is high. While that may not exist in other locations, when expanding into a larger business that also means that I am putting power into someone elses hands. One of the biggest problems businesses face is expanding from small to large.

Then we have to look at the chains. We have Luxottica making Lenscrafters the boutique, and then we have the discount guys. Both huge barriers to entry.

Is there room to be profitable in the industry? Yes.

But is there room to become wealthy? Very limited.

[Framebender]

on your definition of wealthy. Most Opticians I've met are very service oriented. I've never had any illusions of private jets. I've worked as much as I wanted to and made a decent living. What was rich when I 20 is different now.

This business will continue to evolve and our best and brightest will stay ahead of the curve. I think you have to consider other things when you talk about wealthy. What are the cookies worth that your little old ladies bring you? What is the dirty joke that the old guys stop in with worth? What about the folks that stop in just because they were in the neighborhood? That's worth alot to me.

At 20 I wanted to make enough money to be able to take a month off and still have a job when I got back. At 30 I wanted to be able to take 2 months off. At 40 I started working more and putting money away. Now all I've got to do is turn 2 stores into 4 stores and I've got 10 years to do it. No problem!

I believe that it is possible to live your dream and be an Optician. From the talent I've seen I believe the youngsters are going to be alright to. A friend of mine has 2 daughters working with him and their prespective of optics is very different. They can problem solve a job, do an adjustment or dispense and one has her MBA. They also have a real love for the business. They'll do just fine.

[AWTECH]

How to become wealty!

I know quite a few wealthy people, from multi millionaires and have met a few billionaires as well and none of them had as a primary goal to become wealthy. I think very successful people who become weathly, are able to achieve this by hard work, some luck and a passion for living night and day their business dream. The money is just a way to keep score as to how they are doing.

[ellivron55]

I know a multi-millionaire who cannot walk 5 yards without being out of breath.I know he would give up all his money to be in good health

[Fezz]

Is there room to be profitable in the industry? Yes.

But is there room to become wealthy? Very limited.

Thats what I have been looking for. I think the prospect of become WEALTHY in the optical business IS very limited. Sure, we can be profitable, and maybe very profitable, but wealthy from optical......No way.



I understand hard work, position your business, sell blah, blah, blah. What I am truly getting at, is that unlike other fields, I think the day of great ideas and wealth potential are gone for optical. Good, bad, or indifferent-I think we could agree.

[CEO]

Having been in optical my entire life and having achieved a fair amount of success, I can say that I have never seen the optical industry more competitive and demanding than it is today. On the other hand, I have never seen more opportunity than I see today.

Whatever your individual measure and definition of "wealthy" may be, it is my opinion that it can be achieved in the optical industry today, in virtually every level of distribution, and throughout the world. I see it happening all the time.

Sometimes you just have to be hard-headed enough and naive enough to believe in your dreams, and then you wake up and they come true!

[impact500]

CEO is correct. It is not easy but it is possible.

I spent 6 hours with the #2 guy at Lenscrafters and 2 hours with the #1 guy when they were close to opening their 3rd store. Dean Butler's key comment will never leave my mind. When everyone consistently told him it could not be done, he knew he had a winning plan. The facts were clear and everyone in the industry was too close to it to see it.

Backing up further in time, frames used to be overwhelming distributed through labs. Then labs refused to distribute frames from some European companies to a meaningful degree. So they went direct. Crazy Italians. How dumb was that?

It does not happen often, but dramatic changes do take place and will continue to. And the changes seem impossible from the view of many who know too much for their own good.

[EyeFitWell]

Fezz-
I have wondered the same things lately. I've been in the field for a little over two years. While I've been well-rewarded for my progress those two years, I find myself disillusioned about the whole field sometimes. IMO, the lack of $$ comes from the lack of respect from consumers. What I mean is, if someone says they're a doctor or a pharmacist or even a rocket engineer, people say WOW. It's not "wow, you must make a lot of money." It's "wow you achieved a lot in your life." If you say you're an optician, you get a reaction more like, "oh, that's nice..." But I think a good optician is hard to find. I just wish people knew more about what it takes to be an optician, and treated it as more of an acomplishment. I'm young, and I know that one day, I'll make my reputation in this town.
More to your point, though, you can get "wealthy" cleaning sewers. It really just depends on you, what opportunities arise, and what fate has in store for you. Some people get wealthy for thinking outside the box, others get wealthy from a relative passing away. As for me, I've decided to keep my nose to the grind stone (hehe) and slowly but surely develop customer relationships that show people opticians can be your very best friend.