optometry compass

EP3 : Why do good things... have to be small?

Story By Dr.Loft ,O.D.

Can't Keep Passion ,But Why ?

This article is another set of ideas that should be applicable to optometrists who want to have a small own optometry clinic. For doing practice that you love But as we all know, The job of optometry involves using glasses to treat patients. Make it similar to the existing eyeglasses shops in the market ,which sells glasses for living as well. causing many people to still be unable to tell the difference between How is an optometry clinic different from an existing eyeglasses store. Because they use computers (auto-refractometer) to measure refraction as well. The way they work is also rough by hurry to inspect for refraction value with out binocular function test and hurry close the sale as well. They dancing on Tik Tok to attract people for selling glasses as well. They do the same discount promotions for frames and lenses (all year and entire nation) as well. The results are not very different (equally bad).

Cause of this reason cause optometrists are in new with passion after graduate will burn out and loose passion to do good in optometry practice in real life after start practice just a couple months. Even though they want to follow the ideology but When they encounter a hard sale market eyewear where people cannot distinguish between products and services of (optometry service and glasses shop) and they don't know what to do and with debt or interest, they feel lost and hopeless and eventually burn out and give up.

In the end ,they go to play the hard-sale market as well because it’s very easy for dumber marketing can do with out brain. This is the main reason that the newbies optometrist can’t keep passion in this profession.

There are many such problems. And if you get lost in it, it will be difficult to find a way out. Because the name has already been broke, rebranding is more difficult than make it brand new. But the way be able to do this (rebranding), you have to be very patient. Think of “Made In China” or the word "Shenzhen." Once it's broken, it's difficult to recover. Even now, good products There are many from China. But the memory still haunts us, and if we had a choice, we would run away and use things from Europe instead. But if the power of paying is not enough ,We agreed to use products from Shenzhen. Then find words of comfort and something to make us feel comfort.

I foresaw this problem. So I wanted to write this story. Use it as a compass. For people who are lost or don't know which direction to take.

Do good things... Have to be small ,But Why ?

Why do good things...have to be done small? This idea did not start with me. But it started with a friendly optician, Spod Eyeglasses Shop (SPOD), Mukdahan.

One time, 10 years ago, at that time I was working as a lens consultant for Rodenstock Asia and started to feel familiar with routine work and wanted to look for a new challenge and it had to be work that I loved and could live with every day without discomfort. That is working in clinical optometry.

Leaving the safe zone is a matter that requires a lot of effort to accept because it is a "risk" which is the opposite of the word "stability" and of course, everyone says that "stability is a necessity." It's true. Like they say But if it's in order to do things that make yourself happy, it's worth taking a chance and giving it a shot. At least you can still test your performance.

Risk and Fear

"Risk" always causes fear which no one is not afraid of it, but the point is not fear ,but how can we control fear ,so that, it doesn't become an obstacle in chasing our dreams. That is "risk control". The easiest way to control fear is to look for “Adults who have taken hot baths before” let him tell us his experiences that they face during this long road business to find what the obstacles must we face and how can we overcome them? Asking from those who have walked before Knows the obstacles along the way , So that we will know how to prepare to deal with it.

Looking for IDOL

So I chose to look for an idol ,whose way of working I like, is someone who is always happy ,have a colorful life, enjoy their work, not crazy about money, but just do their duty in best and do everything in life with love. It's true that money is necessary. But crazy about money isn't necessary because doing good doesn't require you to be crazy about money. The money still be there with doing good thing and will increase when you doing good long enough. But if you're crazy about money, it might work in short,But it will go away soon. (Think of drug dealers or corrupt people. It (money) actually existed, but it didn't last long and it was confiscated. Because the gain from sin is classified as hot money) ,But People who are happy Naturally will be creative person and creative person alway have a good ideas and will create value and Things that are valuable alway have value and make money . According to the law of karma.

The person I chose was my guide to living life at that time. I chose Mr. Kornrit, Spod Optical Shop, Mukdahan, for the reason that he have a happy and small optical shop but can become a first-class Rodenstock customer ; smart ,good, kind, polite ,mutual mind and royalty. Patients who come to receive services always look happy. It's not like a big shop owner that looks miserable and just worries about monthly targets. they only worried about the discount the bill. Not interested or care in lens technology at all , but how much discount will they get? (But a shop like this is rich. But it probably isn't my happiness and it probably isn't a loft style.)

Simple Question & Answer

I started asking a simple question:

“I will resign from Rodenstock and open a my own optometry clinic , What must I do?” - I ask.

“make a small shop In a location with cheap rent with Sufficiency space. It doesn't have to be a prime location. The people must not be crowded (not in big market or department store. Have a convenient parking. That’s Enough and then you just have to do it in Good Hand and do it slowly, one case at a time. And doing good as much as you can be, that's it "

The answer is quite contradictory to the feeling of most people who do business that it must be a big store with many booths shelf of glasses ,make a small exam room (to keep space for glasses show) . Almost think The maximist bigger , the better,(but may be not always true) and then they will looking for Prime location, crowded people , in a community where many people walk by ,Make cheating-promotions (by make up over price and discount), cheap (cheating-)prices, find as many customer as possible to buy a glasses, rough check-up very quickly and don't waste too much time per patient Because it will lose the opportunity to sell to the next customer. for binocular function or disease, there is no need to detect it , It's not seller job and use time to much. Because of, If the disease is detected, the patient will go to the doctor or they will lose the opportunity to sell eyeglasses. All of this only for maximum sales and Most people think like this. But very a few has ever brought the matter of "doing good things little by little, one case at a time" into the main policy. But Spod does it and does it well, which is completely opposite to the market.

“Why does it have to be a small shop? Cheap rent, no need for a prime location? People don't have to be crowded.” -I further asked,

“ To Opening an optometry clinic business is a long-term business that requires traveling for at least 10 years before it becomes successful. Therefore, during this period is the time of marathon that we must walk in long way and the journey requires enough supplies to reach the goal. If we have a long line of money No matter how much you use it, it won't run out. That way, we can dissolve our playing money. (but if you dissolved and lost It's still at par, or if there's a lot left over, maybe it's better to buy stocks or bitcoin and just hold?) But what if we don't have money like that? The method is to make it small. Energy use (cost) that occurs each day will be less. This leaves us with supplies left to travel to reach our goal. Our rent will be lower. The cost of decorating our shop will be reduced. The stock of eyeglass frames will be less. Electricity bills will be less because you don't have to turn on many air conditioners. By doing this we had enough supplies to walk to shore.” -he said and continue explain.

“On the other hand, if we do big things, everything will be big. The rent is big, the decorations are big, the stock of glasses is big, the electricity bill is big, the staff is big. It is said that the money that you earn must come to pay for your greatness (if you never known, the optical shop in central have to pay 5-800,000 Bath/Mont for rent and rent never going low but higher and higher every new sign contract). Until we have nothing left to eat. Like cattle, they have to eat grass all day because they are big. Some people have to raise many buffaloes. They must be difficult for the breeder to find enough grass to feed it. But the dog and cat are small. Eat just one meal and play, eat, sleep, and travel all day. But most people don't know about these things so they are obsessed with raising buffalo. And then you can't go back to simple small clinic . In the end, you had to sell the buffalo at a loss price and Escaping deep debt .There’s a lot of case like this to see.

I’m contiinue asking, “Why must people not be crowded? The more people, the more sales opportunities, right?”

"In fact, if you do it well, you can't do too much. In one case, we have to spend about 1-2 hours in the examination room, and if you include choosing glasses, adjusting glasses, and fitting the center, it takes 3 hours in total. So if a day If you open a shop for 8 hours, you can do no more than 3-4 cases, allowing time to serve people who come to get their glasses. Also change spare parts. That's all for the day, and being crowded makes the people who come in too diverse. Some people just happened to be walking by and stopped by to put on their glasses for fun. then walked away and We wasted the whole day. Instead of using my free time to study and gain knowledge, we had to take care of guests we didn't know. They don't respect each other and did not make an appointment to visit but just come and try on the glasses and then throw them away.

On the contrary If we will do a lot ,That means we are willing to do bad things. such as grilled fish menu If you want it to be delicious It must be burned on low heat for about 1 hour, but if we are willing to reduce the quality by burning and waiting and then microwave it. In order to greatly increase the number of fish sold. Of course it's not delicious. The question is, will they buy the grilled fish again? I believe that If their intestines are still not broke , they wouldn't want to shovel microwave fish down their throat.

The value of the cooking fishes ,therefore, does not rely on the number of fishes you sold per day. But it is in each fish that it is intended to make the eater aware of the sweet, juicy taste of the fish meat to its full potential and the happiness of the eater. It's the value of a chef and yes he's definitely not rich, but he's definitely not poor. Because people who eat it will be impressed and come back to buy again. If he(customer) gets bored with fish He would go and tell people to come and buy grilled fish from this shop. The customer base will gradually growth widen. But when people who come to buy fish, they know that they have to wait a long time while custom grilled fishes so He will call and order grilled fish in advance before coming to pick it up. And this group of people is not interested in buying fish for promotions like "Buy one fish get one fish free" or "50-70% off grilled fish." They only care about how well you can control the quality of the fish.

Patients who will come to receive services with us are the same. If we do good things, they know that good things have to wait and take time. They will make an appointment with us. They will prepare themselves, prepare for their health, prepare to get enough sleep, avoid alcohol, prepare everything so that it will work out well and when it’s good ,the spread word of mouth is happen. And You can't stop it, even if you don't want them to spread the word. He said it anyway because it’ so good. The results of good karma (do good ,get good) are also inevitable.

Continue asking, “If I open a clinic and there are no patient and sales are not well, what should I do?”

Mr. Kueng replied: “doesn't sell well, that's well”. Because selling are not well , It gives us time to read, practice, train ourselves, practice procedure, practice watching the flow while working to see what's stuck while doing clinic. When the case comes in We will be able to do it well and flow smoothly. But if people crowd in all at once, the flow won't be good. There will be congestion and in the end the work won't come out well. And when it's not good, that's the problem. Because besides him not coming back He will also tell others not to go. At first it might seem exciting ,Because of the promotion of cheap frames and lenses .But if it's cheap, but quality is so bad, it's worthless anyway. This is the reason causing the need to continually increase promotions endlessly to let customer try pretty bad product and service but cheap. The customer may try because it’s look cheap and if it's not good, just throw it in the trash. But In the end, the debt is deducted and there is a loss every days and then the business had to liquidate. There is much case like this to see.”

Summary

In short, there is no other way For this long journey of making a good optometry clinic, do it well, do it a small and slow, do it with love and meticulousness, reduce unnecessaries costs to a low level by running a small shop. The location doesn't have to be prime, there's plenty of parking space and you'll gradually do well. Let the love of your work be the nourishment for your heart in times of discouragement. One day we'll reach the shore of your dreams.

I really hope that This story will be an idea for newbie optometrists who want to do work that they love and can stand up to. Can be sustainable in the long term.

Make the world a better place with our love . Our world already has a lot of trash. Sometimes it is too difficult for us to get rid of garbage. Just don't let us be the one who adds garbage to the world.