Like many entrepreneurs, optometrists can work toward the goal of starting and owning an independent practice one day. The benefits of owning your own practice only begin with working for yourself. You can also control the messaging, branding, hiring, and overall direction of the practice over the years.

Of course, starting any business can be scary if you feel unprepared or don't have as much business background as you'd like. For most ODs, handling the finances and operational tasks of opening a practice can cause them to give up before they've given it a shot. That's why we've compiled all of our best information to prepare you for the reality of starting your own eyecare practice cold in this master post.

Everything You Need to Start an Optometry Practice

The Basics

From preparing yourself mentally to designing a patient workflow, here are the first few general resources you need to set yourself up for success. These blogs include external resources, websites, interviews, and advice from ODs who have been through it and emerged successfully.

• 5 Steps to Help You Open Your Dream Practice
• Are You Ready to Open Your Own Practice?
• Independent Optical Practices: 5 Tips for Getting Started
• 10 Pieces of Advice When Opening a Practice from Scratch
• Patient Experience Considerations When Opening and Optical Practice

Branding

Although you may have a vision for what you want your practice to accomplish, it's difficult to bring it to life without the aid of an expensive designer. Luckily, we have a few tips on how to clarify your branding from creating a logo to designing the best layout for your practice.

• Design Your Practice Like Apple Designs Products
• 5 Things Your Eyecare Practice Logo Should Be
• Simple Ways to Improve the Design of Your Eyecare Practice
• What Does Your Logo Say About You?

Hiring & Training

We want to make sure you're equipped with all the possible online tools you might need to hire the best people to form your team and prepare them to handle any question, software, patient, or complaint they might receive.

• Tips for Writing Enticing Job Descriptions
• Interview Questions that Will Lead You to the Perfect Candidate
• Training Staff with Zero Eyecare Experience
• 5 Online Certifications to Help Your Practice Grow

Software & Outsourcing

In order to make sure you're choosing the best EHR or practice management software for your new practice's needs, you should do some research into the big players in the market today and the bundles they have to offer. You might want to outsource your claim management to experts from day one, too. The following blogs can help you decide the best path for you.

• Train Small Practices with New Practice Management Software
• 5 Tips for Effective EHR Training
• Pros & Cons of Different Claim Management Solutions
• 3 Terms to Help You Understand Optical Software
• 3 Eyecare Practices that Will Love Uprise Essentials

Give your new practice cutting-edge technology. The following ebook details how your optometry business can thrive in this digital age.

Originally published in December 2018