Whether it’s a long-held ambition, or an unexpected career move, the rewards of independent ownership in optometry are attainable to all, as two optometrists reveal.
Mr Tom Bennett had no intention of owning his own practice. In 2009, he and wife Alison, also an optometrist, were both working as employee optometrists in Townsville and weren’t planning on becoming small business owners. That all changed when a practice in nearby Charters Towers operating on a part-time basis came on the market.
Bennett, who had been working at The Optical Superstore in Townsville, says the practice in Charters Towers was appealing because it didn’t require a significant investment of time or money to take the keys.
“A rep told me there was a practice for sale. Because it was only open part-time, my wife and I were able to keep working in Townsville in our respective jobs, and travel to Charters Towers an hour-and-a-half away, taking turns in the practice,” he says.
Since taking ownership, they have joined the Eyecare Plus network, and the practice has grown organically from a part-time to a full-time operation.
“Because it was a small, part-time practice, it wasn’t a huge investment. We weren’t looking for a lifestyle change, it was just something on the side,” Bennett says.
Between them, Tom and Alison, who both graduated from QUT in 2004, had 10 years’ industry experience, working in independently and corporately owned practices, when they purchased the practice. Although it might sound like they were dipping their toe into business ownership, Bennett says that wasn’t the case.
“If you had asked us when we moved to Townsville six months before we bought the practice, I would never have said we would become practice owners. It was never our intention. It was something that came up, and we thought about the fact that it only required one of us to work one day a week, and it wasn’t too expensive. We didn’t think it would change things too much.”
Nevertheless, 12 years and three children later, it is now operating as a full-time practice. Its growth happened organically, which Bennett puts down to a not-so-secret recipe.
“It’s an age-old formula: look after people and they will return. I think this is especially true in a country town like Charters Towers. The people are friendly and welcoming, so the longer we have been there, the busier we have become.”
Tom has also been prepared to go an extra mile for his patients, once booking a helicopter to fly to the practice when floods closed roads and bridges, cutting off all access to Charters Towers.
Now splitting all of their time between the Charters Towers practice and their young family, the Bennett’s enjoy the many benefits of independent ownership, including the freedom to make their own clinical and financial decisions.
“The control is in our hands. Both the decisions and the mistakes are ours – and we like that. We have the freedom to decide things like work schedules and holidays to fit in with our family life. You also do make mistakes, but you get to learn from these and use them to make improvements to your practice,” he says.
“I think probably the biggest benefit of independent optometry, is the satisfaction you derive from being committed to something that is yours. You’re building something that you’ve made a commitment to, and that has a deeper satisfaction. You can’t get that as an employed optometrist.”
As the Bennett’s have proven, you don’t need to necessarily have a long-term goal to become a practice owner in order to reap the benefits of independent ownership.
“We never had a plan to become practice owners until it happened. You might think you’re not capable, but you are. You learn as you go.”
No time is the right time – just get started
When ownership of an outer suburban independent optometry practice transferred into the hands of Canadian-born optometrist Dr Geoff Demare in August 2022, an aspiration he’s held since he was 15-years-old was finally realised.
Optometry Sunbury and Vision for Children in Melbourne’s west is part of the ProVision network and has had three owners in its 36-year-history. Unusually, both former owners still work in the practice, alongside Demare, sharing their experiences and mentorship.
“I grew up on a 6,000-acre farm in Manitoba province in Canada. When my dad asked, ‘What do you want to do?’, I wasn’t sure. I shadowed my aunt and uncle who owned a pharmacy – that experience was all right, but not great – and then I sat-in with my local optometrist and thought, ‘this is pretty cool. Maybe I’ll go down this path’.”
After completing an undergraduate degree in science and microbiology at the University of Manitoba, Demare then moved to Australia where he furthered his studies, graduating with a Doctor of Optometry at The University of Melbourne in 2016.
He then joined an independent practice in Deniliquin in southern NSW. He stayed for three years, then accepted a succession-planning offer at Optometry Sunbury and Vision for Children, commencing in January 2020.
He gradually transitioned from employee to owner, taking the reins from then-owner Mr Rod Baker seven months ago.
Demare has been overhauling practice management systems, and modernising its dispensing set-up.
“We recently purchased Rodenstock’s DNEye Scanner and adopted Rodenstock’s B.I.G. VISION lenses in the NORM and EXACT lines. We’re modernising our understanding of optical design principles and moving into clinical and biometric optics for patients. It’s proving to be a success, providing patients with great visual outcomes and allowing us to craft higher quality spectacles,” he says.
For Demare, one of the benefits of independent ownership is being able to build a health service that suits the needs of patients and takes them into account.
“They can tell us what they need, and we can then investigate how we can provide it. We launched a dry eye clinic as part of our practice in January [2023]. At the same time as purchasing a DNEye Scanner, we’ve made the investment in an Optilight from Lumenis as well.”
As practice owner, Demare says it was a very easy decision from a business perspective to establish a dedicated dry eye clinic at Optometry Sunbury and Vision for Children.
“Sunbury is undergoing a change in identity from a country town to an outer suburb. The nearest dry eye clinic of any description is 40km away. Dry eye is a significantly underserved area in healthcare, and we decided that was the direction we were going to go.”
One of the core tenants of the well-established practice is to serve the community, and Demare says being an independent owner lets him do that in several ways.
“We have frameworks of practice that help us to understand our patients’ needs and how we can address those needs. We have greater latitude to provide our patients with services that can fall outside both our framework and more traditional optometry frameworks,” Demare says.
“This approach also lets us develop referral sources and integrate with other allied health practitioners. For example, we’ve got physios that refer to us and vice versa. Being independent lets us connect with local healthcare practitioners that can continue to benefit patients not only here in our place, but in their practices as well.”
Owning his own practice has been a long-held ambition for Demare, and was a matter of when, not if.
“It was one of those things that I wanted to do some point within the first five or even 10 years of entering the workforce. I was already sniffing out opportunities with location and lifestyle in mind.”
When an opportunity came up in Sunbury, it ticked all the boxes.
“After moving from Melbourne to Deniliquin, my wife and I moved to settle near our family in Woodend. Taking a look at what opportunities were in the area, and wanting to have a semi-rural life, Sunbury is only a half-hour down the Calder Highway. I can take the train – the practice is a five-minute walk from the train station – or I can drive – it’s simple,” Demare says.
“For me, it presented an ideal lifestyle. One of the other benefits of owning an independent practice in a location of my choosing is it lets me live a lifestyle that that’s not too onerous. We get support through ProVision and networking opportunities with different practice owners. We see firsthand what other independent practice owners are doing and how their approaches help us.”
A father to five-year-old identical twins and a two-year-old, Demare says another benefit of being an independent owner is that he can be flexible with how he approaches his time spent on, and in, the business.
He believes anyone considering independent ownership would be well-served to take advantage of the learning opportunities early in their career.
“Take a moment to look outside of your consulting room to see how the business you’re working in functions on a day-to-day basis. Understand the processes going on around you from when the first staff member walks in the door until the last person is out.”
He also believes that successful practice ownership is not just about one person.
“Make sure you’ve got a group of good people around you to support you through all the ups and downs, because you can’t do it alone. I’m fortunate that my team is highly experienced; my staff all have a minimum of 10 years of experience in industry,” he explains.
“There’s no time like the present. There’s no good time for anything, best to just get started.”
More reading
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Making dry eye work for your independent optometry practice
Independent optometry ownership: a sound investment
