Opticianry and Optometry

[kcount]

So, this morning while laying in bed thinking of how I needed to change the bucket on the egder and skimming through the stock market futures I began to think about this thread. Dont ask me why, its just how my strange head works. Anyway I started to think back to 'The Opticians Coalition'.

Some of you may remember this it was back in the early to mid 90's (1995-1997) and the NAO and the OAA were going to finally bury the hatchet and stop fracturing the industry. Yes, education and political activism would go hand in hand and help define and protect Opticianry. Now, not being an insider to the conversations the idea crumbled almost as quickly as it started. But if you think about it Opticians came incredibly close to what we're all talking about here. A single message of the industry with capacity to define an optician. To protect opticianry and move it forward. Saddly the people who were in charge at the time failed and instead burried the hatchet in the coalition.

WE came close to defining ourselves as professionals and moving beyond being glorified sales people. Thank you the past leaders of the OAA and the NAO, great job.:hammer:
(then you wonder why I wont send in my dues to be a member.)

[MarySue]

So, this morning while laying in bed thinking of how I needed to change the bucket on the egder and skimming through the stock market futures I began to think about this thread. Don't ask me why, its just how my strange head works. Anyway I started to think back to 'The Opticians Coalition'.

Some of you may remember this it was back in the early to mid 90's (1995-1997) and the NAO and the OAA were going to finally bury the hatchet and stop fracturing the industry. Yes, education and political activism would go hand in hand and help define and protect Opticianry. Now, not being an insider to the conversations the idea crumbled almost as quickly as it started. But if you think about it Opticians came incredibly close to what we're all talking about here. A single message of the industry with capacity to define an optician. To protect opticianry and move it forward. Saddly the people who were in charge at the time failed and instead burried the hatchet in the coalition.

WE came close to defining ourselves as professionals and moving beyond being glorified sales people. Thank you the past leaders of the OAA and the NAO, great job.:hammer:
(then you wonder why I wont send in my dues to be a member.)

Very strange thing to wake up thinking! What did you have for dinner? Geno's stuffed Pizza??? -

I don't think we should give up hope, or set aside big dreams. What I do think we need to do is JOIN our local associations, and begin asking for change. Talk to those on the Board of our associations, ask what is happening, where we can help - how it can begin.

As I've said before, the College of Opticians in Ontario really wants to spear head this. They have the numbers, and resources - I think we need to contact them directly - each association, each state, each country --- whatever ... and see where we begin.

For me, it's getting those in my country to see the benefit, hopefully with the recent influx of British DO's we might have a chance. :cheers:

[rbaker]

The closest that we ever came to becoming recognized as a profession was back in the days of the Guild. Things were pretty good then as an independent business owner or as an employed Optician - so good in fact that we thought the goose would hang high forever. Apathy killed opticianry and unfortunately there is a lot more of that around today than yesterday.

If there is any hope of elevating independent opticianry as a craft it will be when real opticians learn that they must stand on their own two feet and not depend on state legislatures or licensing laws to bolster their position among the seven O's. As long as the buffoons who can't see beyond their own door sill are in charge opticianry will continue to be just be another species of mall trolls.

[Fezz]

And Harry, thanks. That means a lot to me. Hold on to that cuban until Feb. and we can smoke a couple together.

Wes

Sounds like a blast!

I am jealous!

:cheers::cheers::cheers:

[Wes]

You can come too, as long as it's ok with Harry...

[YrahG]

I don't think we should give up hope, or set aside big dreams. What I do think we need to do is JOIN our local associations, and begin asking for change. Talk to those on the Board of our associations, ask what is happening, where we can help - how it can begin.

I am sure that this doesn't apply for all the state societies but the experience aI have had with a few is that they want to succed but not using YOUR ideas. Every society wants to offer education and collect dues, but the education is "how to sell AR?", blah blah blah.

1. How to incorporate?
2. How to get a loan?
3. How to start on a shoestring budget?
4. How to effectiuvely market an optical business?
5. How to write a business plan?
6. How to set goals and track progress?
7. Bookkeeping (Quickbooks for opticals)
8. Optical processes and procedures?

Hows that for education, teach opticiasn to becoem independent.

[kcount]

I am sure that this doesn't apply for all the state societies but the experience aI have had with a few is that they want to succed but not using YOUR ideas. Every society wants to offer education and collect dues, but the education is "how to sell AR?", blah blah blah.

1. How to incorporate?
   

1. ] to your Accountant and a Business attorney, You can Incorporate on your own but your going to miss something. My lawyer cost $2000 in a High rent town.
   

   How to get a loan?

   Try if you want I went to 3 banks but its also a tight financial market. Finally funded it from the Home equity and my Retirement. Thats not to say you cant get funding I know a guy who went to more than 12 banks before finding an investor. Remember no matter what your going to have to come up with at Min 20% of the total. You HAVE to have skin in the game.
   

2. How to start on a shoestring budget?

[YrahG]

] to your Accountant and a Business attorney, You can Incorporate on your own but your going to miss something. My lawyer cost $2000 in a High rent town.

Try if you want I went to 3 banks but its also a tight financial market. Finally funded it from the Home equity and my Retirement. Thats not to say you cant get funding I know a guy who went to more than 12 banks before finding an investor. Remember no matter what your going to have to come up with at Min 20% of the total. You HAVE to have skin in the game.

Buy only what you need. The build out will cost 10-15% more than you think. Terms are your friend and ask for all the incentives you can get. Also look into the Plum card from American Express its designed for small business and give 1.25% off the bill if you pay it off in 10 days from receipt.


Still working through this. Basically buy a Mailing list. Then send your old patients an announcement that your on your own. Your loyal fans will come to find you.

Check out the SBA web sight there are tutorials, classes, and software to help with this. Its time consuming but a MUST HAVE. You'll find out more about your idea than you can imagine. Ask everyone you meet about your idea. this is marketing and market testing at the same time.

Your Business plan helps with this. Its a tools to help you build, not the guid. your plans and goals are going to shift as you go along.

I use Quickbooks for the accounting and Quickbooks POS for the storefront. Look into becomuing a ProAdvisor. Its cheaper and you get better support.


Spend some time in the business and you'll know this in one side and out the other. If you've managed a store/office you already know the day to day, now its a matter of state regulations for an OD (if your going to have one) and the zoning laws for your towne/village before you sign the lease. This was almost a problem for me.[/LIST]Hows that for education, teach opticiasn to becoem independent.

If I had a class on this it would have made life easier.

:cheers:[/QUOTE]

You see the merits in courses like this. Opticians have a few large disadvantages in this business:

• Cannot write scripts
• Low wages working for others
• Not as respected among the O's

These are just three quick ones. The reason for pointing them out is by not having the ability to write scripts an optician must be able to market themselves better than the other O's in order to get business in the doors, or hire an OD which is costly especially in a start up. Low wages means that it would take longer to get that "skin" that you mentioned to get in the game, and if the venture fails it may take longer to get another crack at it if it is even possible. Not as respected among the O's means that a smaller percentage of the consumers are going to be searching your services out from the begining.

Now I'm not one of those, it's a horrible business to get into. On the contrary I think that a skilled and educated optician has a great possibility of starting and maintaining a very succesful optical that provides a community a much needed service. If the odds are stacked against an independent optician why wouldn't the societies make an effort to try and improve those odds. Look the reality of the situation is that to keep puching for licensure keeps amounting to wasted dollars, time, and disgruntled members (of which I am one) to try and support optical professionals now that's something different.

Every society values their firm members above all their dues are higher and their employees are often also members. Knowing this why wouldn't the societies be taking an approach where they try t recruit new membership while at the same time try and hedge their bets by trying to create a new firm memeber.

BTW, great discussion.

[kcount]

Here's my offer, Someone tell me who to talk to to get in VEE, I'll put together a class on what it is to open an independant optical/opticianry. I agree with YAG the path is in a strong Independant Opticanary base. More owners means stability and ultimately market share.

[fjpod]

All of the respondents are giving good advice. But the loss of independence is common to almost all professions and occupations. Small mom and pop "retailers" have lost ground in whatever,...drug stores, restaurants, auto dealerships, jewelers, etc. Large corporations like WalMart, Costco, have hurt the independence of lots of retailers.

In our optical field, we have our own large behemoths that have swallowed up the business that was once performed by dozens of small retailers. Some see this as progress. Some see this as the demise of the American small businessman.

So I think you have to separate the concepts of indepence and professional recognition.

I don't have the answers...but let's take the example of nurses for a minute. Very few of them are independant. They generally work for hospitals, corporations, and doctors. Does that make them "unprofessional". Of course not.

Lately, some are moving towards independence and setting up small practices as nurse practitioners (which I think is going to be a wave of the future, BTW, as physicians have become too specialized). In any case, they are considered low on medical totem pole, but they are perceived by the public as compassionate, hard-working, capable and knowledgeable. State laws and Medicine don't make it easy for them to advance. Usually, a masters degree would be necessary to become a nurse practitioner.

Maybe the problem with the optical business is it involves a product sold at retail.

I also think many posters have been too hard on themselves.

[MarySue]

I am sure that this doesn't apply for all the state societies but the experience aI have had with a few is that they want to succed but not using YOUR ideas. Every society wants to offer education and collect dues, but the education is "how to sell AR?", blah blah blah.

1. How to incorporate?
2. How to get a loan?
3. How to start on a shoestring budget?
4. How to effectiuvely market an optical business?
5. How to write a business plan?
6. How to set goals and track progress?
7. Bookkeeping (Quickbooks for opticals)
8. Optical processes and procedures?

Hows that for education, teach opticiasn to becoem independent.

I think Kcount has the right idea - education for business should come from business professionals, not physics and optics educators.

If you're really serious, start here: http://www.sba.gov/smallbusinessplanner/index.html and good luck!:)

[YrahG]

I think Kcount has the right idea - education for business should come from business professionals, not physics and optics educators.

If you're really serious, start here: http://www.sba.gov/smallbusinessplanner/index.html and good luck!:)

This might come as a shock, but the educators here in the US that are teaching opticians don't always have their degree's in physics or optics. A majority of them have a associates in optics and maybe a bachelors in teaching.

As fo the folks lectureing their education varies even more with some having nothing more than a certification.

If I wanted to learn how to run a successful optical business I would want a successful optician to show me the ropes not a business professional.

I do agree that it would be great to have an accountant teach a quickbooks course, or a lawyer teach a how to get incorporated course, but the real issue is provideing value to members and helping members see that their is more to this profession than working for the other guy. The majority of independent opticians I see today talk like it's all over and if they had it to do over again they would have chosen another profession, yet opticians are starting new practices all the time. We are our own enemies, we need to step aside and let ourselves be successful.

[Fezz]

We are our own enemies, we need to step aside and let ourselves be successful.

I like this....I like this a lot!


:cheers::cheers::cheers:

[wmcdonald]

As I have posted many times, we do have a pretty good deal, if you compare income and entry requirements. We still can be successful individually and professionally if we make some changes already discussed.

[MarySue]

If I wanted to learn how to run a successful optical business I would want a successful optician to show me the ropes not a business professional.

Hi YRAH

Yes - exactly why I started my business 4 years ago www.hopperconsultants.co.nz

Too bad you're not a kiwi!

:cheers:

[YrahG]

Hi YRAH

Yes - exactly why I started my business 4 years ago www.hopperconsultants.co.nz

Too bad you're not a kiwi!

:cheers:

MarySue,

I don't know you personally, but I would suggest you update your site's calender to either be current (currently 2 months behind) or remove the line that says "this page is updated weekly". If I could make a suggestion you could easily link it to a google calender which can then be updated through your cell phone or outlook software using google sync. My first consultation is free so no need to write a check.

http://www.google.com/mobile/sync/
http://www.google.com/sync/index.html
http://code.google.com/apis/calendar/

I don't really see a need for consultants if the societies function as business incubators. Also consider this an optician who opens a B&M will have more invested than a consultant that pops up a website. If you had owned a successful optical business before than I would consider you to be the right person for the job, but as a consultant you collect your fees win, lose, or draw and have considerably less invested.

If you're ever in the US I could show you more than a few tricks to help you leverage current techologies.

[YrahG]

Another great course:

1. Web presence and implementing technology

[MarySue]

MarySue,

I don't know you personally, but I would suggest you update your site's calender to either be current (currently 2 months behind) or remove the line that says "this page is updated weekly". If I could make a suggestion you could easily link it to a google calender which can then be updated through your cell phone or outlook software using google sync. My first consultation is free so no need to write a check.

http://www.google.com/mobile/sync/
http://www.google.com/sync/index.html
http://code.google.com/apis/calendar/

I don't really see a need for consultants if the societies function as business incubators. Also consider this an optician who opens a B&M will have more invested than a consultant that pops up a website. If you had owned a successful optical business before than I would consider you to be the right person for the job, but as a consultant you collect your fees win, lose, or draw and have considerably less invested.

If you're ever in the US I could show you more than a few tricks to help you leverage current techologies.

Ta - I am in the process of changing the whole thing at the moment. I have very little wiggle room this year, and will be eliminating the calendar. I use google calendar, great tool, but because I also run Office 2010 beta with One Note, I've lost the sync option for the calendar - I have to actually run side by side views and can't update the website automatically. Thanks for the info, I really appreciate it.

[YrahG]

Ta - I am in the process of changing the whole thing at the moment. I have very little wiggle room this year, and will be eliminating the calendar. I use google calendar, great tool, but because I also run Office 2010 beta with One Note, I've lost the sync option for the calendar - I have to actually run side by side views and can't update the website automatically. Thanks for the info, I really appreciate it.

If I can suggest, BETA software was never intended for production. It is buggy that's why it is in it's BETA stage, you should run BETA software on computers that are not used for production or business. With microsoft it's almost a must to wait for any SP1 pathces at least before moving to their new version software.

[MarySue]

If I can suggest, BETA software was never intended for production. It is buggy that's why it is in it's BETA stage, you should run BETA software on computers that are not used for production or business. With microsoft it's almost a must to wait for any SP1 pathces at least before moving to their new version software.

Hi Yrah - I appreciate the comment, but my lovely hubby is a beta tester CPT Microsoft - and I've lived with software like this since Windows 95 - we've have Windows 7 since it was code named Longhorn. Ah the joys of having a genius for a husband.

[YrahG]

Hi Yrah - I appreciate the comment, but my lovely hubby is a beta tester CPT Microsoft - and I've lived with software like this since Windows 95 - we've have Windows 7 since it was code named Longhorn. Ah the joys of having a genius for a husband.

Windows XP/2003 Server = Whistler
Windows Vista = Longhorn
Windows 7 = Blackcomb/Vienna

[MarySue]

Windows XP/2003 Server = Whistler
Windows Vista = Longhorn
Windows 7 = Blackcomb/Vienna

Thank heavens I'm not the beta tester.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/1393120

Hubby's interview with our local paper: (toward's bottom)
Hamilton software tester Colin Hopper, who has been putting Windows 7 Beta through its paces for nearly a year, said Windows 7 promised to be the best Microsoft operating system yet. :cheers:

[rdcoach5]

I usually stay with from political issues, since I generally try to remain as objective and impartial in this forum as possible, but in the spirit of friendly debate...


Before describing my personal experiences in this matter, I will first pose this question to you: Is Optometry responsible for the success, or failure, of Opticianry? Is Ophthalmology responsible for the success or failure of Optometry?

Optometry has made a great deal of progress over the past few decades with arguably even greater resistance from Ophthalmology. Of course, Opticianry has access to the same legislative opportunities that Optometry and Ophthalmology have.

And it isn't just about money... It's about convincing policy makers that licensure is in the best interest of consumers. While money certainly helps, plenty of policies get pushed through by the "little guys." Just as Optometry has done on several occasions when expanding their own scope of practice, without concessions from Ophthalmology or Opticianry.

I would argue that Opticianry's best hope of success is working with Optometry, not slinging rocks at them, to play on your David versus Goliath analogy. I would also assert that convincing Optometry of the benefits for both patients and optometrists could have gone a long way in driving licensing initiatives for Opticianry.

As for my own personal experience... I was actually on the board of directors of the Opticians Association of Missouri when we were finally on the brink of pushing a licensure bill through state legislation. The state optometry association was actually willing to support our bill under only one condition: They did not want us to include contact lens fitting.

Mind you, opticians in Missouri were not allowed to fit contact lenses in the first place, so this would not have been some great sacrifice if it meant at least legitimizing opticianry and spectacle dispensing. Nevertheless, several of the key decision makers in our organization refused to agree to this compromise with the optometrists, instead pursuing an "all or nothing" campaign strategy.

It should come as no great surprise that our bill was eventually shot down. And the Opticians Association of Missouri eventually disbanded. Opticians in Missouri will not enjoy the benefits of licensed professionals anytime soon. But when I look at how close we came to convincing our state legislators to pull the trigger on licensing for opticians, I don't blame Optometry.


I don't necessarily disagree with any of these points. I think they echo my own feelings, which I alluded to with my original comment. I will end with a link to an article available on OptiBoard that I think all opticians should read: Opticianry at a Crossroads, which was actually written by an optometrist.

When hairdressers require licensure and opticians don't, who is to blame ? There are Optometrists behind this somewhere, trust me.

[kcount]

I will end with a link to an article available on OptiBoard that I think all opticians should read: Opticianry at a Crossroads, which was actually written by an optometrist.

This may be one of the most depressing papers I have ever read. Cant say I agree with it in whole, but there are parts that are still accurate today.

[Fezz]

When hairdressers require licensure and opticians don't, who is to blame ?

Hairdressers have to deal with many different chemicals and concoctions that can harm themselves and their clients if misused, applied incorrectly, or not properly cleaned off and disposed of.

Until the optician can prove that harm can come from eyewear, I doubt that any possibility of licensure will exist. What harm exists? How will you prove that? Who would take any optician lead initiative seriousley seeing that there is no standardized educational foundation that proves some level of competence?

Opticians can not agree on what color the sky is let alone anything else that may prove helpful in the cause.