

20/20 MONEY: The Business of Optometry
Adam Cmejla
20/20 Money is the top podcast for optometrists, private practice owners, and ODs who want to master optometry practice management, financial planning, and long-term business strategy. Hosted by Adam Cmejla, CFP®, the show delivers practical guidance on everything that affects the profitability, growth, and value of your optometry practice.
Episodes cover:
• Optometry practice management & operations
• Financial planning for optometrists
• Practice growth strategies & profitability tips
• Selling your practice & OD exit planning
• Private equity deals in optometry
• Hiring, leadership, and team development
• Tax planning, cash flow, and retirement readiness
• Student loan strategies for ODs
• Cold starts, acquisitions, and multi-location scaling
With expert interviews, case studies, and step-by-step breakdowns, you'll learn how to make smarter business decisions, build personal wealth, and create a thriving career inside and outside the exam room.
If you're an OD serious about elevating your practice and improving your financial future, 20/20 Money is your competitive advantage.
For more information on the show and on Adam, please visit https://www.integratedpwm.com/
Episodes cover:
• Optometry practice management & operations
• Financial planning for optometrists
• Practice growth strategies & profitability tips
• Selling your practice & OD exit planning
• Private equity deals in optometry
• Hiring, leadership, and team development
• Tax planning, cash flow, and retirement readiness
• Student loan strategies for ODs
• Cold starts, acquisitions, and multi-location scaling
With expert interviews, case studies, and step-by-step breakdowns, you'll learn how to make smarter business decisions, build personal wealth, and create a thriving career inside and outside the exam room.
If you're an OD serious about elevating your practice and improving your financial future, 20/20 Money is your competitive advantage.
For more information on the show and on Adam, please visit https://www.integratedpwm.com/
Episodes
Mentioned books

Apr 8, 2024 • 50min
Increasing optical revenue by rethinking--from buying to selling--your frame management with Kayla Ashlee of Spexy
Welcome to this episode of 20/20 Money! My guest on today's show is Kayla Ashlee from Spexy. Kayla joins me live on location at IDOC Connection 2024 to talk all things optical. Optical is admittedly an area of practice management that has always been intriguing because of the retail component—I feel like there are a lot of "retail 101" lessons that we can take from how other retailers manage their business. While practice owners may not have the multi-million dollar IT and inventory management systems that large, big-box retailers have, Kayla illustrate why it doesn't take an incredible amount of time, energy, or expertise to significantly improve the way you run your optical, and thus the profitability of your practice. We talk about best practices for frame reordering and the common mistakes and missteps she sees opticals making, whether it's beneficial to be "an inch wide and a mile deep or a mile wide and an inch deep" with regards to frame lines and designs, a case study on how one optical was able to increase their sunglasses sales, and how to think about showcasing different brands to increase sales of a particular line. 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, be sure to subscribe to our monthly "planning life on purpose" newsletter that's filled with tips and ideas to help you plan your life on purpose. You can also set up a Triage conversation to learn a little bit more about how we serve in the capacity of a personal and professional CFO: helping OD practice owners around the country reduce their tax bill, proactively manage cash flow, and make prudent investment decisions both in and out of their practice to ultimately help them live their best life on purpose. You can also check out any number of additional free resources like our eBooks, blog posts, and on-demand webinars. Lastly, if you're interested in learning more about the upcoming launch of the 20/20 Money Membership in January of 2024, please check out the link in the Resources to learn more about what we have in store for you! In next week's episode, I'll have more information on some upcoming webinars that you can attend which will give you a sneak peak into the membership and details about joining the first cohort! And with that introduction, I hope you enjoy my conversation with Resources: https://learn.bespexy.com/courses/frameturnintro 20/20 Money Community Information ————————————————————————————— 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!

Apr 1, 2024 • 54min
Using Medical Virtual Assistants in your practice to increase efficiency (and profitability) with Dr. Adam Ramsey, OD
Welcome to this episode of 20/20 Money! My guest on today's show is Dr. Adam Ramsey, OD, representing VA Healthcare. In this episode, we talk about the role that a virtual medical assistant can play in your practice's patient flow and how to think about the changes that you'd have to make in your practice for this to be a viable option. Adam provides a list of responsibilities that they're doing in his practice and how he thinks through capacity for this person while ultimately striving to deliver the best experience for his patients. 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, be sure to subscribe to our monthly "planning life on purpose" newsletter that's filled with tips and ideas to help you plan your life on purpose. You can also set up a Triage conversation to learn a little bit more about how we serve in the capacity of a personal and professional CFO: helping OD practice owners around the country reduce their tax bill, proactively manage cash flow, and make prudent investment decisions both in and out of their practice to ultimately help them live their best life on purpose. You can also check out any number of additional free resources like our eBooks, blog posts, and on-demand webinars. Lastly, if you're interested in learning more about the upcoming launch of the 20/20 Money Membership in January of 2024, please check out the link in the Resources to learn more about what we have in store for you! In next week's episode, I'll have more information on some upcoming webinars that you can attend which will give you a sneak peak into the membership and details about joining the first cohort! And with that introduction, I hope you enjoy my conversation with Dr. Adam Ramsey. Resources: 20/20 Money Community Information Weave https://socialitevision.com/ www.hellorache.com ————————————————————————————— 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!

Mar 25, 2024 • 52min
Hiring an associate full time vs easing into it: the discussion, numbers, and mindset for optometry practice owners with Nathan Hayes
Welcome to this episode of 20/20 Money! My guest on today's show is Nathan Hayes from IDOC. Nathan joins me back on the show to discuss and dialogue about the two basic ways practice owners can think about the way in which they hire associates for their practice: easing into it by bringing them into the practice gradually or proactively planning ahead by stockpiling cash in the practice and thus then "making the leap" by hiring an associate full-time—and then intentionally stewarding the practice to success by ensuring profitability in as timely manner as practicable for the 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, be sure to subscribe to our monthly "planning life on purpose" newsletter that's filled with tips and ideas to help you plan your best life, on purpose. You can also set up a Triage conversation to learn a little bit more about how we serve in the capacity of a personal and professional CFO: helping OD practice owners around the country reduce their tax bill, proactively manage cash flow, and make prudent investment decisions both in and out of their practice to ultimately help them live their best life on purpose. You can also check out any number of additional free resources like our eBooks, blog posts, and on-demand webinars. Lastly, if you're interested in learning more about the upcoming launch of the 20/20 Money Membership, please check out the link in the Resources to learn more about what we have in store for you! And with that introduction, I hope you enjoy my conversation with Nathan Hayes. Resources: 20/20 Money Community Information ————————————————————————————— 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!

Mar 18, 2024 • 56min
A pay structure that works for optometry partnerships with Kurt Steele, OD
Welcome to this episode of 20/20 Money! My guest on today's show is Dr. Kurt Steele, OD. Kurt joins me back on the show to talk in further detail how he and his partners have structured their compensation structure in a way that works for everyone in the practice while also ensuring that there is parity in comp based on the amount of revenue that each of them collect for the work they do clinically in the practice. He shares the details and formula he uses and we run a couple of hypothetical examples to show how the numbers work out for each partner. He also shares how he uses operational margins as an incentive bonus structure for his non-OD staff and which line items of the P/L are used to determine whether they've accomplished their margin goals and when those bonuses are paid out. 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, be sure to subscribe to our monthly "planning life on purpose" newsletter that's filled with tips and ideas to help you plan your best life, on purpose. You can also set up a Triage conversation to learn a little bit more about how we serve in the capacity of a personal and professional CFO: helping OD practice owners around the country reduce their tax bill, proactively manage cash flow, and make prudent investment decisions both in and out of their practice to ultimately help them live their best life on purpose. You can also check out any number of additional free resources like our eBooks, blog posts, and on-demand webinars. Lastly, if you're interested in learning more about the upcoming launch of the 20/20 Money Membership, please check out the link in the Resources to learn more about what we have in store for you! And with that introduction, I hope you enjoy my conversation with Resources: 20/20 Money Community Information https://www.legitvisionpllc.com/ ————————————————————————————— 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!

Mar 11, 2024 • 1h 8min
How a hyper-effective, right-fit team can increase your profitability: a follow up convo with Dr. Mike Neal, OD
Welcome to this episode of 20/20 Money! My guest on today's show is Dr. Mike Neal, OD. Mike is the founder of a number of different businesses, include a primary care practice in PA called Lakeside Vision and Build My Team, an effective outsourced hiring system for eyecare that does not use resumes. Mike joins me back on the show to provide additional context and clarity around the numbers that he shared on the first episode, proving/dispelling the naysayers out there about the margins of his practice. This episode admittedly went long, but I really believe it's packed with a lot of great insight for practice owners. We talk about the process he used to successfully add an associate in the practice and what that's meant to the profitability, how he embraces training for success, and leadership qualities that have proven to be successful when empowering his team to effectively run the practice and own each of their respective responsibilities to drive profitability in the practice. We talk about how he's been able to protect his margins so well year-over-year. We wrap up the conversation with the time-tested (albeit probably frustrating) reoccurring theme that successful practices and their owners take that contribute to their success. 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, be sure to subscribe to our monthly "planning life on purpose" newsletter that's filled with tips and ideas to help you plan your life on purpose. You can also set up a Triage conversation to learn a little bit more about how we serve in the capacity of a personal and professional CFO: helping OD practice owners around the country reduce their tax bill, proactively manage cash flow, and make prudent investment decisions both in and out of their practice to ultimately help them live their best life on purpose. You can also check out any number of additional free resources like our eBooks, blog posts, and on-demand webinars. Lastly, if you're interested in learning more about the upcoming launch of the 20/20 Money Membership in January of 2024, please check out the link in the Resources to learn more about what we have in store for you! In next week's episode, I'll have more information on some upcoming webinars that you can attend which will give you a sneak peak into the membership and details about joining the first cohort! And with that introduction, I hope you enjoy my conversation with Dr. Mike Neal, OD. Resources: 20/20 Money Community Information Link to first convo with Mike https://www.slybroadcast.com/ ————————————————————————————— 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!

Mar 4, 2024 • 1h 2min
Reconciling a successful succession plan with a growing practice with Dr. Kurt Steele, OD
Welcome to this episode of 20/20 Money! My guest on today's show is Dr. Kurt Steele, OD. Kurt is one of the owners of Precision Eyecare, a member of the Vision Source Network, in Newport, TN and also the founder of Legit Vision, a consulting firm to help ODs unlock the potential in their practice. Kurt joins me on the show today to talk through the unique and successful way that he has married the growth of his practice into the succession planning considerations that he wanted to have in place to ensure continuity of the practice to the next generation of ODs. We talk through a hypothetical example that illustrates the timeline and buy-in options along with a number of different details around the structure of his deals and why it's been so successful for him and his partners. 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, be sure to subscribe to our monthly "planning life on purpose" newsletter that's filled with tips and ideas to help you plan your life on purpose. You can also set up a Triage conversation to learn a little bit more about how we serve in the capacity of a personal and professional CFO: helping OD practice owners around the country reduce their tax bill, proactively manage cash flow, and make prudent investment decisions both in and out of their practice to ultimately help them live their best life on purpose. You can also check out any number of additional free resources like our eBooks, blog posts, and on-demand webinars. Lastly, if you're interested in learning more about the upcoming launch of the 20/20 Money Membership in January of 2024, please check out the link in the Resources to learn more about what we have in store for you! In next week's episode, I'll have more information on some upcoming webinars that you can attend which will give you a sneak peak into the membership and details about joining the first cohort! And with that introduction, I hope you enjoy my conversation with Dr. Kurt Steele, OD. Resources: 20/20 Money Community Information https://www.legitvisionpllc.com/ ————————————————————————————— 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!

Feb 26, 2024 • 1h 9min
Using a cash balance plan strategies when you sell your practice with Charlie Steingas of Cash Balance Actuaries, Inc.
Welcome to this episode of 20/20 Money! My guest on today's show is Charlie Steingas, founder and chief actuary at Cash Balance Actuaries, a firm that specializes in the design, implementation, and ongoing monitoring of cash balance plans. In this episode, we define what a cash balance plan is and how it's different from a defined benefit plan (hint: they're similar, but still different), what influences whether one would go DB vs Cash balance plan, how investing your plan assets impacts overall plan funding requirements, how cash balance plans influence the funding strategies of a defined contribution plans like a profit sharing plan, and the positive changes that took place in the wake of SECURE Act 2.0 passing. 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, be sure to subscribe to our monthly "planning life on purpose" newsletter that's filled with tips and ideas to help you plan your life on purpose. You can also set up a Triage conversation to learn a little bit more about how we serve in the capacity of a personal and professional CFO: helping OD practice owners around the country reduce their tax bill, proactively manage cash flow, and make prudent investment decisions both in and out of their practice to ultimately help them live their best life on purpose. You can also check out any number of additional free resources like our eBooks, blog posts, and on-demand webinars. Lastly, if you're interested in learning more about the upcoming launch of the 20/20 Money Membership in January of 2024, please check out the link in the Resources to learn more about what we have in store for you! And with that introduction, I hope you enjoy my conversation with Charlie Steingas. Check out the Case Study video: https://bit.ly/3IkDn4N Resources: 20/20 Money Community Information https://www.cashbalanceactuaries.com/ ————————————————————————————— 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!

Feb 19, 2024 • 26min
"Flights and Insights" with Dr. Michael Neal: Implementing finance charges, profit sharing with team members, associate comp structures, and new reads
Welcome to this episode of 20/20 Money! My guest on today's show is Dr. Michael Neal, OD and this is another episode in which I experimented a bit with the format of 20/20 Money: we recorded this episode at 8,000 feet, flying from Indianapolis to Chicago! As you'll hear in the beginning of the episode, Mike was in town meeting up with other successful practice owners from around the country. They're all friends and have turned their personal friendships into a professional mastermind group, where they get together at least one time per year to exchange ideas, talk about the business of optometry, share what's working in each of their practices, and learn what's not working…all in the spirit of helping each other deliver a great patient experience while running highly efficient and profitable practices. As Mike and I were chatting during one of our recent recording sessions for the show, he mentioned that his return flight home to Pennsylvania was departing from O'Hare and that he was riding up to Chicago with one of the guys in the group on Friday morning. Knowing my calendar was flexible…and having the idea of capturing some of the ideas from his recent meeting…and ALWAYS looking for a reason to fly, I invited to give Mike a lift on a short flight to Chicago Executive airport and from there he could take a 15-minute Uber to ORD. During our flight, Mike shared some insights and takeaways from his meeting, the topics of which you can see in the title of this episode. I hope you like this different format of the show. It's one that I may do more of from time to time, as the situation presents itself. If you have thoughts either way, you can email me via the link in the show notes of this episode. 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, be sure to subscribe to our monthly "planning life on purpose" newsletter that's filled with tips and ideas to help you plan your life on purpose. You can also set up a Triage conversation to learn a little bit more about how we serve in the capacity of a personal and professional CFO: helping OD practice owners around the country reduce their tax bill, proactively manage cash flow, and make prudent investment decisions both in and out of their practice to ultimately help them live their best life on purpose. You can also check out any number of additional free resources like our eBooks, blog posts, and on-demand webinars. Lastly, if you're interested in learning more about the upcoming launch of the 20/20 Money Membership in January of 2024, please check out the link in the Resources to learn more about what we have in store for you! In next week's episode, I'll have more information on some upcoming webinars that you can attend which will give you a sneak peak into the membership and details about joining the first cohort! And with that introduction, I hope you enjoy my airborne conversation with Dr. Mike Neal, OD To see some video of this podcast recording, please subscribe to our YouTube page: https://bit.ly/49F6pb7 Resources: 20/20 Money Community Information ————————————————————————————— 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!

Feb 12, 2024 • 1h 8min
An optometry practice "cold start" update with Drs. Bob Steinmetz & Eric Baas, OD from iCare Advisors
Welcome to this episode of 20/20 Money! My guests on today's show are Drs. Eric Baas and Bob Steinmetz, co-founders of iCare advisors, a consulting firm dedicated to the success of cold start practices nationwide. With close to 350 successful cold starts nationwide and 11 practice starts between them, I was really excited to have them back on the show to talk through the "state of the cold start" marketplace—looking back on 2023 as well as looking forward (as best they can) to what's coming down the pipe here in 2024. We spend time talking through data that their team has compiled directly from the source—that is to say it's not self-reported—and what they've learned from that data that is helping cold start ODs be successful. We also take a bit of a trip down memory lane, with both Bob and I sharing some pieces of data that we both just happen to come across in our respective archives, that show just how much optometry has changed over the years, and why that should give us so much confidence on the success of private practice into the future. We discuss rural optometric practices and what they're observing as established practices are looking to sell and how they reconcile that with a younger OD that is faced with the decision of buying that established practice vs cold-starting in the area (hint: if you are an owner of said rural practice, we share an offer/statement you should most definitely NOT share with anyone). We wrap up the conversation with a light-hearted discussion about how both of them manage to get so much done in all of their businesses. 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, be sure to subscribe to our monthly "planning life on purpose" newsletter that's filled with tips and ideas to help you plan your life on purpose. You can also set up a Triage conversation to learn a little bit more about how we serve in the capacity of a personal and professional CFO: helping OD practice owners around the country reduce their tax bill, proactively manage cash flow, and make prudent investment decisions both in and out of their practice to ultimately help them live their best life on purpose. You can also check out any number of additional free resources like our eBooks, blog posts, and on-demand webinars. Lastly, if you're interested in learning more about the upcoming launch of the 20/20 Money Membership in January of 2024, please check out the link in the Resources to learn more about what we have in store for you! In next week's episode, I'll have more information on some upcoming webinars that you can attend which will give you a sneak peak into the membership and details about joining the first cohort! And with that introduction, I hope you enjoy my conversation with Drs. Eric Baas and Bob Steinmetz. Resources: 20/20 Money Community Information iCARE ADVISORS Buy Back Your Time by Dan Martell Bob's Review of Optometric Business Article Warming up to cold starts Part 1 Warming up to cold starts Part 2 ————————————————————————————— 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!

Feb 5, 2024 • 51min
Insights into practice financing and lending for optometrists with Kevin Wills from PNC Bank
Welcome to this episode of 20/20 Money! My guest on today's show is Kevin Wills. Kevin is Sr. Vice President, Healthcare Business Banking with PNC Bank and I wanted to have Kevin on the show to discuss the state of lending, specifically in the healthcare space, from a nationwide perspective. In this episode, Kevin and talk about steps borrowers can take to put themselves in the best financial position prior to going through underwriting, how important projections and pro formas are in the underwriting process, how the banking landscape has changed as more and more banks have focused on healthcare lending, and a number of other topics. 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, be sure to subscribe to our monthly "planning life on purpose" newsletter that's filled with tips and ideas to help you plan life on purpose. You can also set up a Triage conversation to learn a little bit more about how we serve in the capacity of a personal and professional CFO: helping OD practice owners around the country reduce their tax bill, proactively manage cash flow, and make prudent investment decisions both in and out of their practice to help them live their best life on purpose. You can also check out any number of additional free resources like our eBooks, blog posts, and on-demand webinars. Lastly, if you're interested in learning more about the upcoming launch of the 20/20 Money Membership, please check out the link in the Resources to learn more about what we have in store for you! And with that introduction, I hope you enjoy my conversation with Kevin Wills. Resources: 20/20 Money Community Information ————————————————————————————— 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!


