Starting an Optometric Practice: Checklist Part 1
Three Part Checklist Series
Starting an optometry practice requires careful planning and execution. This three-part series will provide you an important framework for organizing your thoughts and plans for starting your own private practice.
Our expert teams of MBAs, CPAs and business consultants are trusted, experienced and knowledgeable in all aspects of practice start-up. We are ready to help you achieve a business that is not only profitable, solvent, and patient centered, but one that will provide you a lifetime of pride and financial rewards!
Let’s start with Checklist Part 1 as a systematic approach to guide your process planning.
Planning / Assessment
- Self-Assessment: Assess your skills, knowledge, and readiness to start and run a practice. You may have deficiencies when it comes to your business experience or financial acumen, but those can be readily overcome with training and education. If you are ready to chart your own path on how you want to serve your patients and your community and want to be able to keep what you’ve earned, then there is no need to wait one day longer to live your dream of private practice ownership.
- Define Your Niche and Your Ideal Target Patient: Decide whether you’ll focus on general optometry, ocular disease management, pediatric care, specialty services or combining these areas. This is your practice vision and we can help you achieve it.
- Market Research Data: Williams Group will help you evaluate the demand for optometry services in the target area via research demographics, competitors, and community needs and assist with your location selection.
- Competitive Analysis: Understand who your competitors are, their strengths and weaknesses, and how you can differentiate yourself. Our guidance will help you assess where and how you can stand out from the crowd and capitalize on your strengths to become the pillar of excellence in your community.
- Define Your Unique Value Proposition: Determine what makes your product or service unique and how it solves your target customers' problems to provide sustainable profitability, solvency and long-term success.
Finance / Practice Funding
- Create a Business Plan: Once you’ve done some initial soul searching and market analysis, outline your business’s mission, vision, target market, revenue model, operational plans, marketing strategy, and financial projections. Our expert consulting team can help you with this important step.
- Calculate Startup Costs: Determine costs for office space, needed build-out improvements, instrumentation, equipment, furniture, fixtures, frame inventory, EHR. Your wants and needs will need to fit snuggly into your cash flow and lending budgets. We can help finetune your cash flow projections to prioritize your best lending position.
- Secure Financing: Identify sources of funding such as personal savings, personal investors, and commercial loans is key. Don’t get too far ahead of yourself with this step as your budget and forecast preparations will play a major role. Pro Tip: Lenders will be evaluating your practice’s risk for default as well as your own personal risk for default so keep discretionary personal expenses in check. Williams Group has decades of experience assisting start-up clients successfully navigate this important step of the process. We can help you, too!
- Create a Forecast: Develop a forecast for estimated operational costs, including employee salaries, inventory purchases, rent, utilities, marketing, debt, and other expenses. We’ll help you project with confidence to make every dollar count.
- Improve your Financial Acumen: Learn to read an income statement/ P&L statement, balance sheet, tax return; compute a break-even analysis, understand cost structure, up your financial knowledge to maximize profitability in your new practice. Our financial experts will provide you a foundational mini-MBA.
By staying organized and dedicated to the process, you can lay a strong foundation for your new business and increase your chances of success. Look for Checklist Part 2 and Checklist Part 3 soon. In the meantime, connect with Williams Group for guidance as you begin your journey to private practice ownership!
Tammi Sufficool, MBA