20/20 MONEY: The Business of Optometry

On this episode of 20/20 Money! My guests on today's show are Drs. Eric Baas and Bob Steinmetz, co-founders of iCare Advisors. If you missed last week's interview or this is your first time checking out 20/20 Money, please go back and check out last week's interview. You don't need to listen to that one first to gain value from the rest of our conversation, but you'll definitely want to go back and give that a listen as there was a lot of great information. As I mentioned in the intro last week, we continue the conversation today by discussing the runway to profitability and how they think about the return on investment in equipment in a cold start, how you grow into the next "chapter" of the practice's life cycle, why a 2nd location might be better than expansion of your existing location, staffing and scheduling best practices, their outlook on cold starts and private equity's influence on the success of cold starts, and we wrap it up with their insightful answers to the one question I ask every first-time guest of 20/20 Money. As a reminder, you can get all the information discussed in today's conversation by visiting our website at integratedpwm.com and clicking on the Learning Center. While there, you can also set up a 20-30min Triage conversation to learn a little bit more about how we help ODs around the country reduce their tax bill, manage cash flow, and make proactive money decisions or check out any number of additional free resources like our eBooks and on-demand webinars. And with that introduction, I hope you enjoy the rest of my conversation with Eric Baas and Bob Steinmetz. ————————————————————————————— Please rate and subscribe to 20/20 Money on these platforms Apple Podcasts Spotify Google Podcasts Stitcher ————————————————————————————— For past episodes of 20/20 Money with full companion show notes, please check out our episode archive here!

On this episode of 20/20 Money! My guests on today's show are Drs. Eric Baas and Bob Steinmetz, co-founders of iCare Advisors. iCare Advisors consults with ODs all around the country and their specific area of expertise is helping ODs navigate the decision making matrix and analysis behind opening a cold start practice. This wide ranging conversation was so deep and so long that I actually wanted to break it up into two episodes. In part 1, Eric and Bob talk about how important it is to "start with why" when considering a cold start and the importance of having a mission and vision statement guide the process of opening your practice. We talk about the importance of having goals, taking the time to grow into your practice, and the importance of involving your spouse in the decision making process as well. We spend the rest of the time talking about one of the most important factors that plays into any cold start: location and occupancy cost. In part two (next week), we continue the discussion by discussing the runway to profitability and how they think about the return on investment in equipment in a cold start, how you grow into the next "chapter" of the practice's life cycle, why a 2nd location might be better than expansion of your existing location, staffing and scheduling best practices, their outlook on cold starts and private equity's influence on the success of cold starts, and we wrap it up with their insightful answers to the one question I ask every first-time guest of 20/20 Money. As a reminder, you can get all the information discussed in today's conversation by visiting our website at integratedpwm.com and clicking on the Learning Center. While there, you can also set up a 20-30min Triage conversation to learn a little bit more about how we help ODs around the country reduce their tax bill, manage cash flow, and make proactive money decisions or check out any number of additional free resources like our eBooks and on-demand webinars. And with that introduction, I hope you enjoy my conversation with Eric Baas and Bob Steinmetz. ————————————————————————————— Please rate and subscribe to 20/20 Money on these platforms Apple Podcasts Spotify Google Podcasts Stitcher ————————————————————————————— For past episodes of 20/20 Money with full companion show notes, please check out our episode archive here!

It's tax season, which means that we're spending a fair amount of planning energy reviewing clients' tax returns to ensure that strategies that we're discussing and implementing with clients are proactively and properly reported on their tax returns. However, sometimes lines of communication get crossed or DIY tax preparers overlook how strategies should be reported on your personal and business tax return. In this episode, I'll share 4 places on your tax return that you should review to ensure that you're not over-paying your taxes. As a reminder, you can get all the information discussed in today's conversation by visiting our website at integratedpwm.com and clicking on the Learning Center. While there, you can also set up a 20-30min Triage conversation to learn a little bit more about how we help ODs around the country reduce their tax bill, manage cash flow, and make proactive money decisions or check out any number of additional free resources like our eBooks and on-demand webinars. If you're interested in having your question and your voice featured on the 20/20 Money podcast, you can submit it here. You can either include your name or submit anonymously. Please keep your questions short and to the point. Sometimes writing it down beforehand can help. ————————————————————————————— Please rate and subscribe to 20/20 Money on these platforms Apple Podcasts Spotify Google Podcasts Stitcher ————————————————————————————— For past episodes of 20/20 Money with full companion show notes, please check out our episode archive here!

On this episode of 20/20 Money! My guest on today's show is Dr. Chris Wolfe. Chris joins the show to talk about a topic that can directly impact the profitability of a practice, and that's around the introduction of managed care into an optometry practice. Whether you're a seasoned OD that has been providing managed care for your patients for years or you're an OD that has intentionally stayed away from the "managed care" sandbox, I really believe you'll enjoy this conversation. Chris talks about the ways in which ODs can start "dipping their toes" into managed care, how to think about your schedule and potential operational efficiencies to increase revenue on the same number of doctor hours, how to reframe your thinking when patients inform you that they have a high deductible health care plan, and why it's so critically important that you revisit your negotiated fee schedule with your various payors and how you can benchmark that to determine if you're getting a fair reimbursement. All of the information talked about in today's conversation can directly impact not only your top line but also bottom-line profit, so I hope you enjoy listening as much as I enjoyed interviewing Chris. As a reminder, you can get all the information discussed in today's conversation by visiting our website at integratedpwm.com and clicking on the Learning Center. While there, you can also set up a 20-30min Triage conversation to learn a little bit more about how we help ODs around the country reduce their tax bill, manage cash flow, and wisely invest their portfolios or check out any number of additional free resources like our eBooks and on-demand webinars. And with that introduction, I hope you enjoy my conversation with Dr. Chris Wolfe. EyeCode Education Episode 81: The Benefits and Strategy to Adding Dry Eye Tx to Your Practice with Dr. Damon Dierker, OD Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/2020moneypod/ ————————————————————————————— Please rate and subscribe to 20/20 Money on these platforms Apple Podcasts Spotify Google Podcasts Stitcher ————————————————————————————— For past episodes of 20/20 Money with full companion show notes, please check out our episode archive here!

On this episode of 20/20 Money! My guest on today's show is Jordan Clarke. Jordan is one of the Vice Presidents of Charles M. Moore Insurance just outside of Bowling Green, KY and has an extensive career in in the insurance profession. I asked Jordan to come on the show to talk about a daunting and obscure task that the health insurance companies have seemed to obfuscate for business owners and that's the topic of selecting group health insurance plans for themselves and their team members. In this conversation we talk about the 3 different options that exist for practice owners, the breakdowns in cost and flexibility in cost sharing, how spousal carveouts work, "middle ground" options for practice owners that don't want to insure on the individual marketplace but also don't want to carry full group coverage, the difference between PPO and HMO plans from your perspective as the practice owner, and a couple of examples on why it could be expensive to do this all on your own. As a reminder, you can get all the information discussed in today's conversation by visiting our website at integratedpwm.com and clicking on the Learning Center. While there, you can also set up a 20-30min Triage conversation to learn a little bit more about how we help ODs around the country reduce their tax bill, manage cash flow, and make proactive money decisions or check out any number of additional free resources like our eBooks and on-demand webinars. And lastly, your HSA contributions that you can make in the year in which you turn 65 are pro-rata. For example, if someone turned 65 on May 5th and was electing Medicare, their eligibility date is May 1st, which means that they could contribute 4/12 (Jan, Feb, March, and April) the annual maximum HSA amount in the year in which they turn 65. I promise this will make sense towards the end of this show. And with that introduction, I hope you enjoy my conversation with Jordan Clarke. https://cmmoore.com/ Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/2020moneypod/ ————————————————————————————— Please rate and subscribe to 20/20 Money on these platforms Apple Podcasts Spotify Google Podcasts Stitcher ————————————————————————————— For past episodes of 20/20 Money with full companion show notes, please check out our episode archive here!

On this episode of 20/20 Money! My guest on today's show is…me! This is a different solo episode of sorts, because it's actually the interview that I did for IDOC's Focal Point Podcast, hosted by Dr. Steve Vargo, OD. If you're interested in subscribing to Focal Point Podcast, the link is in the show notes of this episode. On this episode, Steve asked me to talk about how business and personal planning are integrated and why it's important to understand and be able to answer the question "In service of what?" and "What are you solving for?" when structuring your practice. We also talk about a very impactful tax planning strategy that can potentially save and/or defer practice owners tens if not hundreds of thousands of dollars in taxes in the year they sell their practice and the timeline to be aware of if you consider this strategy. As a reminder, you can get all the information discussed in today's conversation by visiting our website at integratedpwm.com and clicking on the Learning Center. While there, you can also set up a 20-30min Triage conversation to learn a little bit more about how we help ODs around the country reduce their tax bill, manage cash flow, and make proactive money decisions or check out any number of additional free resources like our eBooks and on-demand webinars. And with that introduction, I hope you enjoy my conversation with Steve Vargo. Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/2020moneypod/ ————————————————————————————— Please rate and subscribe to 20/20 Money on these platforms Apple Podcasts Spotify Google Podcasts Stitcher ————————————————————————————— For past episodes of 20/20 Money with full companion show notes, please check out our episode archive here!

On this episode of 20/20 Money! My guest on today's show is Nathan Hayes of IDOC. Nathan joins us to talk about something that is oftentimes discussed towards the end of the year and the beginning of the next year: budgeting, specifically budgeting your business expenses. Even though this show isn't coming out until the spring, it's still worthwhile to discuss, because as you'll see throughout the conversation, it's not just something that happens once a year. In our conversation, we talk about what your target revenue growth should be per year (hint, it's not a percentage), why your budget already exists and therefore why it's actually hard to budget, how you should rethink the way you budget, how to assess when to spend money and how much to spend, financing vs paying cash for capital investments into the practice, a list of areas in your practice that you should be auditing, and 2 items that you absolutely must budget for on an annual basis. As a reminder, you can get all the information discussed in today's conversation by visiting our website at integratedpwm.com and clicking on the Learning Center. While there, you can also set up a 20-30min Triage conversation to learn a little bit more about how we help ODs around the country reduce their tax bill, manage cash flow, and make proactive money decisions or check out any number of additional free resources like our eBooks and on-demand webinars. And with that introduction, I hope you enjoy my conversation with Nathan Hayes. Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/2020moneypod/ ————————————————————————————— Please rate and subscribe to 20/20 Money on these platforms Apple Podcasts Spotify Google Podcasts Stitcher ————————————————————————————— For past episodes of 20/20 Money with full companion show notes, please check out our episode archive here!

On this episode of 20/20 Money, I share one example of why it's important to ensure that your portfolio has a well-rounded asset allocation and the importance of including all different asset classes in your portfolio—not just the most popular and well-known indices like the S&P 500 (and I'll share some actual numbers to substantiate this thought process). As a reminder, you can get all the information discussed in today's conversation by visiting our website at integratedpwm.com and clicking on the Learning Center. While there, you can also set up a 20-30min Triage conversation to learn a little bit more about how we help ODs around the country reduce their tax bill, manage cash flow, and make proactive money decisions or check out any number of additional free resources like our eBooks and on-demand webinars. Callan Chart Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/2020moneypod/ ————————————————————————————— Please rate and subscribe to 20/20 Money on these platforms Apple Podcasts Spotify Google Podcasts Stitcher ————————————————————————————— For past episodes of 20/20 Money with full companion show notes, please check out our episode archive here!

On this episode of 20/20 Money! My guest on today's show is Dr. Steve Vargo. Steve joins me on the show to discuss a challenge and stepping stone that practice owners may eventually find themselves reaching: how to step out of their business and delegate leadership-type tasks and responsibilities to someone else on your team. Steve's experience not only as a practicing OD but also as a leadership consultant for IDOC gives him a very informed and well-rounded perspective on this challenge. He's a student of leadership develop and also an author on the topic (links below). In this conversation, Steve and I talk about how to think about the process of removing yourself from the "messy middle" of practice ownership. Steve shares 5 areas that impact leadership at the practice level, we talk about why it's important to think about developing your team instead of training them, the three P's that make up any organization, and the quick test you can do to determine if you're the best person for the task at hand. As a reminder, you can get all the information discussed in today's conversation by visiting our website at integratedpwm.com and clicking on the Learning Center. While there, you can also set up a 20-30min Triage conversation to learn a little bit more about how we help ODs around the country reduce their tax bill, manage cash flow, and make proactive money decisions or check out any number of additional free resources like our eBooks and on-demand webinars. And with that introduction, I hope you enjoy my conversation with Dr. Steve Vargo. Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/2020moneypod/ ————————————————————————————— Please rate and subscribe to 20/20 Money on these platforms Apple Podcasts Spotify Google Podcasts Stitcher ————————————————————————————— For past episodes of 20/20 Money with full companion show notes, please check out our episode archive here!

Dr. Wesley is back on the show to talk about a topic that I think might seem taboo to ODs out there, and that topic is around sales. Gina talks about her journey on how she got comfortable selling from the chair and you'll very quickly hear in our conversation how and why it doesn't even seem like sales…which is the point altogether! We talk about why sales get a negative connotation, how you might reframe the type of conversations you have with patients, how to work with your team to embrace the same structure of patient conversations, and the impact that it can have on your practice. As a reminder, you can get all the information discussed in today's conversation by visiting our website at integratedpwm.com and clicking on the Learning Center. While there, you can also set up a 20-30min Triage conversation to learn a little bit more about how we help ODs around the country reduce their tax bill, manage cash flow, and make proactive money decisions or check out any number of additional free resources like our eBooks and on-demand webinars. And with that introduction, I hope you enjoy my conversation with Dr. Gina Wesley. Gina's OTOTW Article Loom Good to Great Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/2020moneypod/ ————————————————————————————— Please rate and subscribe to 20/20 Money on these platforms Apple Podcasts Spotify Google Podcasts Stitcher ————————————————————————————— For past episodes of 20/20 Money with full companion show notes, please check out our episode archive here!