Question for optometrists with a private practice.

[mupreopt]

To current optometrists with private practice,

I have always wanted to work for myself and my goal is to open a private practice one day.
I am currently an undergraduate. At this point, I have no knowledge at all at running a business/private practice and all the details (ordering glasses for display, computer software needed to keep a record of patients, billing, insurance, etc.).
Where do I learn all this? Do I work for another optometrist first and learn that way before starting my own practice?

Any suggestions? Any books that you have used and recommend that I can read on my personal time during summer/winter breaks? I want to get a head start.

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[KHE]

To current optometrists with private practice,

I have always wanted to work for myself and my goal is to open a private practice one day.
I am currently an undergraduate. At this point, I have no knowledge at all at running a business/private practice and all the details (ordering glasses for display, computer software needed to keep a record of patients, billing, insurance, etc.).
Where do I learn all this? Do I work for another optometrist first and learn that way before starting my own practice?

Any suggestions? Any books that you have used and recommend? I want to get a head start.

A head start on owning a private practice? My God. What you should be doing is trying to do well in your undergraduate courses, and in particular whatever that chemistry course that you're taking for the 4th time is.

Seriously, and this is NOT a personal attack....what you need to do right now is take some time off from worrying about optometry and optometry school and fretting about on SDN. Your thinking is totally discombobulated. Take a deep breath, take a vacation from this website, go and study for your current classes and then worry about owning a private practice later.

 

[4Eyes]

If you want, you can take a business class or two, but my experience with an intro to business class was that it was completely impractical. It might look good when you're applying, but not typically required, and it really won't help you in the long run.

Finding a job in an OD practice will help a bit in understanding the ins and outs, but it's rare (based on what I've observed) that you will have a job that encompasses everything you might be interested in right now. If you're a tech, you get the head start on the clinical aspect of things, but you'll mostly just be working with patients. If you're front desk, you get the business end of things a little more, but nothing clinical. If you're in the dispensary, you'll mostly just be helping people with their glasses all the time. I haven't seen many places where EVERYTHING overlaps, but that is okay. Any experience is good. I will say that I never worked in an optometry office, but I did do a lot of shadowing, and that was fine.

A couple of things prevent me from being able to open cold when I graduate. You may want to take this into consideration, but I'm not the one to tell you how to go about doing so.
1) Establish credit somehow (I have never had a credit card in my life)
2) Start up a savings account unless you have some generous relatives with cash. I have no means of contributing any percentage whatsoever to a start-up, but if you start saving now, you might. There are other ways of coming up with the cash, but I don't have access to any of them. Maybe you will.

Really though, KHE is right in that the biggest priority for you right now is to focus on undergraduate studies. Getting involved in a practice somehow--whether it's working or shadowing--will also be important.

 

[KHE]

A couple of things prevent me from being able to open cold when I graduate. You may want to take this into consideration, but I'm not the one to tell you how to go about doing so.
1) Establish credit somehow (I have never had a credit card in my life)
2) Start up a savings account unless you have some generous relatives with cash. I have no means of contributing any percentage whatsoever to a start-up, but if you start saving now, you might. There are other ways of coming up with the cash, but I don't have access to any of them. Maybe you will.

.

Oh my God....you need to open up a credit card account RIGHT NOW and start using it and making payments on it, even if it's just a gas station card or a small $500 per month limit VISA. A significant portion of your credit score is the length of time your credit has been established, not just whether you are on time with payments. So even if you open one today and start using, by the time you graduate you may still find that your credit score is adversely affected since your credit history will be relatively short.

When I moved to New York City from Canada in 1996, I had a long and excellent credit history in Canada. During my second year, I wanted a new computer. I had a part time job, so I went to a bank and asked for a loan to get the computer. I was declined. I tried another bank. Declined. A couple more...both declined. I didn't understand this because I (thought) I had good credit and I had a job, so making payments wasn't going to be a problem. I phoned one of the banks and asked them what the problem was, and they said I had NO CREDIT HISTORY. (in the USA) None of the banks would help me. I finally found a bank (HSBC) that would agree to look up my Canadian credit history, and I was swiftly approved for the loan and got my computer. Of course, once I made that first payment, my mailbox immediately filled up with dozens of credit card offers including some from some of the banks who turned me down for the computer loan.

Years later, my wife had to be the primary signer on our mortgage and a few other big ticket loans because her credit score was so much higher than mine, not because I had any blemishes....my payment history was perfect. It was the fact that my file was relatively new.

So ALL YOU STUDENTS OUT THERE....WORK ON ESTABLISHING CREDIT NOW!

Also, you don't have to have a large sum of money saved up for a practice purchase or start up. There are companies out there that specialize in lending to doctors who will finance 100% of your capital needs. Matsco is the one that I have used, and they have been great. I can not speak highly enough of them. (No, I'm not paid by them.) www.matsco.com

 

[mupreopt]

Do student loans count as credit?

 

[eyestrain]

A couple of things prevent me from being able to open cold when I graduate. You may want to take this into consideration, but I'm not the one to tell you how to go about doing so.
1) Establish credit somehow (I have never had a credit card in my life)
2) Start up a savings account unless you have some generous relatives with cash. I have no means of contributing any percentage whatsoever to a start-up, but if you start saving now, you might. There are other ways of coming up with the cash, but I don't have access to any of them. Maybe you will.

1) I didn't ever use credit cards until pretty much this year and was able to get more than enough money to start up.
2) I didn't need to put any money down for the loan.

Oh, I used GE Financial (formerly HSBC or something like that). Very easy to work with.

 

[Laurac]

Do student loans count as credit?

Not until you have a good history of making payments. But the amount you owe will work against you.