I am an average optometrist who worked on average optometric field of eyeglasses and contact lenses for about 30 years. I worked for a big box corporation for 6~7 years and some high volume corporation for 6 month or so then private practice.
Optometry was not on my dream list of future professions but it was what was available in front of me with the best financial reward and certainty. Having some family members who are medical doctors, I knew I was getting into wannabe-medical field. Still in these day I do not like to be called an “Optician” by some ignorant people but it is what it is. Optometric training in Ferris State was not that hard, I played lot of golf during summer vacations ( May to August). I was first one at the Katke Golf course Monday to Thursday and left Katke after sunset. With student membership, I had full excess to range and course as many times I wanted. Maybe this was the reason my wife still does not like the golf. I also worked as a knock-off Japanese Teppanyaki cook on weekends in Grand Rapids on every Friday afternoon and all day Saturdays for through my pre-op & optometry school. But optometry school work was moderate enough to receive 3.75 GPA on my graduation.
I worked for a Walmart optical right after graduation in Port Huron. It was 5 week days only work for first couple years then their policy changed to 6 days. I left them when they were talking about 7 days. Walmart has the regional optical department managers who “controls” doctors which I had lot of friction with because my expectation on optometric doctorhood was not reality based at that moment. Boredom from 2 long weekend made me to find Saturday moonlighting job at Oak Park Americas’ Best. They paid me top dollars ( 50/hr) but they loaded up my schedules with 6 patients per hour. They never failed to leave my 10 minute appointment blocks empty. My America’s Best doctor boss told me to finish everything in 6 minutes to keep up with schedule. Money was good but It was little too much of stress for moonlighting. This lasted only 6 months.
My innate naivety whispered me into cold turkey private practice. I opened up a new office in a strip mall close from our house. I don’t think I did any Indepth research on locations and stuff. It looked OK to our ( wife and me) eyes. Rent per sqft was high but it was only 1200 sqft on looks-busy mall. I did not know what can go wrong with it. We took second mortgage on the house and use credit card to supplement operating cash. I built all the displays cabinets and office furniture except chairs. We start with 2 employees and dispensary, examroom and edging lab. I was doctor / lab tech and dispensing optician. My Ferris State undergrade days of computer lab work-study-tech knowledge became handy to mange office networking and Compulink EHR troubleshooting. We filed up lot of credit card debts for first 3 years. We did not have a single day not worried about credit card balance in those days. Out of desperation, we opened for anytime who ever wanted to come in for whatever reason. I answered all the incoming calls anytime we get.
Financial condition gradually improved as equipment loans were paid ( 5 year loan) and more returning patients.
As a first generation Korean immigrant, we thought we-Korean Optometric/optical- will be OK because enough Korean demands. Oh boy, we were way off on that calculation. Most Koreans living metro Detroit were well educated enough and did not have in desperate need of Korean speaking docs. Most of them had optical insurances and they had been served by local optical shops near by. Run of mill brands such as Gucci, Prada, Polo, Georgio Armani, Oakley did not bring the customers because there were/ are every where. Contact lens business got sour as 1800 contacts got bigger as well. Back in 2004, I signed up on Ortho-K ( Paragon CRT) myopia control trend. My office was in the middle of well educated Asian professionals. Well educated Asians tend to have bad myopia some how. It was successful from beginning. I used Goggle analytics and Adword and web site to market the ortho-K while Google click ad was cheap. I do not have good text memories but I can rotate 3d shapes and dimensions of parts/objects in my head before I cut them. I am more visually oriented to remember mundane amplifier circuits than world history. Trouble shooting ortho-K and keratoconus contact lens cases were natural and fun because I can see in the head. Thanks to parents putting high priority on their kids’ needs, we did not do badly in ~2010 economic depression in Michigan.
Money made from optometry may not hugely different from other professions I might became. Having near full control of my destiny and growing old with patients are few of things I would not trade for. As a medium stress licensed occupation, in my mind, optometry is up there high on the list.