Welcome to this episode of 20/20 Money! My guest on today's show is Dr. Chris Wolfe, OD. Chris joins me back on the show to talk about why it's important to be intentional about the business decisions you make in your practice and make those decisions based on data and a plan. We talk about this concept through the lens of schedule management and h…

Welcome to this episode of 20/20 Money! My guest on today's show is Kayla Ashlee. Kayla joins me on the show to discuss how the communication cues (or miscues) that unknowingly are happening in your office can be both positively or negatively impacting your patient experience and thus influencing the buying decisions of your patients. She shared ex…

Welcome to this episode of 20/20 Money! My guest on today’s show is Nathan Hayes with Books & Benchmarks and IDOC. On this show, Nathan and I RAGE!! That's right, we Rant Against Growth Excuses. We talk about the common headwinds, obstacles, and challenges that we both hear when talking with practice owners...and how to think about solving those is…

Welcome to this episode of 20/20 Money! This week's episode is the recording of my presentation at NSUOCO, titled "Top 10 Tips for (Financial) Success for Optometrists." Over the course of the year, I'm privileged to present in front of a variety of optometry schools' private practice clubs and classes. The purpose of the presentation is to help OD…

Welcome to this episode of 20/20 Money! What would I do if I were starting an optometric practice from the ground up? A listener posed the question—and I went deep. In this episode, I walk through everything from choosing the right location (hint: geography is everything) to building the skills that matter most when you’re just getting started. We …

Welcome to this episode of 20/20 Money! In this episode, we tackle the confusion around key financial numbers in your optometric practice and why it’s critical to have a common understanding of their definitions. From gross COLLECTED revenue, cost of goods sold, and net operating income, we explore the most important KPIs that influence your bottom…

Welcome to this episode of 20/20 Money! In today’s episode, we’re diving into the details of your tax return—beyond just whether you got a refund. We’ll break down the difference between deductions and credits, how our tax brackets work, why you should focus on Line 24—your total tax paid—instead of Lines 34 or 37, and what Line 38 might be telling…

Welcome to this episode of 20/20 Money! My guest on today’s show is Dr. Ted McElroy, OD. Ted and I share in a conversation that's on the heels of a 2 hour CE session I did at SECO 2025, which was titled The Art of Delegation. We talk through why practice owners get stuck on delegation, ways to think about becoming more comfortable delegating, the t…

In this episode, we break down the common misconception that tax deferral is the same as tax savings—spoiler alert: it’s not. We discuss how strategies like funding retirement plans, loss harvesting, and depreciation only push taxes into the future, while true tax savings come from tools like QCDs, business deductions, and Roth account growth. We e…

Welcome to this episode of 20/20 Money! My guest on today’s show is Daniel Palmer. Daniel joins me back on the show to talk through a growing service and role in small businesses (optometry included), which is the Fractional C*O service. I use the * to depict the fact that this role could be Chief Operating, Marketing, Information/Technology, and y…

Welcome to this episode of 20/20 Money! My guest on today’s show is Rick Norwood, founder & President of Norwood Device & Diagnostics. Rick joins me on the show to talk through an often-discussed topic in practice ownership, and that is the responsible purchasing of equipment. We talk through how practice owners should evaluate various suppliers, t…

Welcome to this episode of 20/20 Money! My guests on today’s show are Drs. Jennifer Stewart & Sam Hornberger, both private practice owners in their respective practices. Sam and Jennifer join me on the show to talk about a topic that admittedly, in over 300 episodes of 20/20 Money, I haven't talked about yet: edging and the decisions around whether…

Welcome to this episode of 20/20 Money! My guest on today’s show is Dr. Leigha Nielson, OD FOVDR, founder of High 5 Vision Development in New Braunfels, TX. Leigha joins me on the show to talk about how she's created both a successful practice and a life she loves—personally and professionally—through a vision-therapy focused practice. She talks ab…

Welcome to this episode of 20/20 Money! This week's episode is my guest appearance on Dr. Steve Vargo's show "Eye Own a Business," produced by IDOC. Steve had me on the show to talk about something that I've been thinking about for some time, and I used his show to "stake my claim"—I don't like term "admin day" and want to see the profession start …

Welcome to this episode of 20/20 Money! My guest on today’s show is Jackson Pace, CPA. Jackson joins me on the show to talk about ways owners can maximize the ROI on their team, specifically non-OD team members. He shares examples of ways in which practice owners have brought focus and intention to different areas of the practice, how practice owne…

Welcome to this episode of 20/20 Money! My guest on today’s show is Dr. Steve Vargo, OD. In addition to being a practice management consultant with IDOC, Steve is also the host of the podcast "Eye Own a Business" a show with episodes aimed to help independent ODs grow a thriving practice while wearing the hats of both OD and business owner. In this…

Welcome to this episode of 20/20 Money! My guest on today’s show is Nathan Hayes with IDOC & Books & Benchmarks. Nathan and I spend time discussing a topic that was briefly brought up on our last conversation (here's the link to that discussion) which is the importance of understanding the relationship between multiples and the risk associated with…

Welcome to this episode of 20/20 Money! My guest on today’s show is Peter Lazaroff, CFA, CFP®, Chief Investment Officer at Plancorp, host of The Long Term Investor podcast, and the author of the book Making Money Simple. Peter joins me on the show to talk about an investment approach that has been around for a long time but is starting to become mo…

Welcome to the first episode of 2025! In this episode, I take a bit of a trip down memory lane as I recently came across a list that I wrote 10+ years ago. Re-reading it, I thought it would be a great way to kick off the new year and give optometrists & practice owners some principles and habits that can guide and shape how they plan & live their l…

As we set up for the beginning of yet another year, I wanted to bring back an episode that I released earlier in the year. I think the timing of replaying this episode is good as it's being released during a very busy time of year and also while you're likely thinking through how you want to set yourself up for success in 2025. All the best to you …

Welcome to this episode rewind of 20/20 Money! In keeping with tradition, I'm bringing back this episode again, just like I did last year, for one of the last episodes of 2024!! Given that this is the last episode of the year, this is usually when we are thinking about goal setting, and everyone’s schedule is anything but normal being the day after…

Welcome back to another episode of 20/20 Money. My guest on today's show is JR Armstrong, CPA and a partner at May & Co, a CPA firm dedicated to serving optometric practice owners nationwide. JR joins me back on the show for a year-end tax planning episode. We talk about the importance of taking a multi-year approach when evaluating your depreciati…

Today's episode talks about how I think about Dave Ramsey's baby steps towards financial independence as it pertains to optometrists. I share where I think the baby steps are great to follow and I also share some iterations on the baby steps that I believe are more relevant and applicable to ODs, specifically with regards to the journey as a practi…

Welcome to this episode of 20/20 Money! My guest on today’s show is my friend Ashby Daniels, CFP® and we have what I think is a very engaging and revealing conversation about the emotional and mental journey a business owner goes through when considering a sale of their business. We talk about getting over the fear of selling, how to think about re…

Welcome to this episode of 20/20 Money! My guest on today’s show is Dr. Chris Wolfe, host of The Chris Wolfe Podcast, founder of the online billing & coding LMS EyeCode Education, and a partner in Exclusively Eye Care, a private practice in Omaha, NE. This is part 2 of my conversation with Chris and I’d really encourage you to check out Part 1 of o…

Welcome to this episode of 20/20 Money! My guests on today’s show are Drs. Jeremy Ciano & Jennifer Stewart. This is another 20/20 Money takeover, so while I usually will spend the introduction giving you a glimpse into what we talk about on the show, your guess is as good as mine about what this episode is about…since I just gave them the platform …

Welcome to this episode of 20/20 Money! My guest on today’s show is Dr. Bethany Fishbein, OD, consultant and executive coach with Leaders of Vision. Bethany has been on the show many times in the past and today she joins us to talk about a topic that is admittedly harder and more distressing to talk about: embezzlement in optometry practices. In Be…

Welcome to this episode of 20/20 Money! My guest on today’s show is Mike Neal, OD. Mike joins me on the show to talk about something that we’ve indirectly talked about on various episodes in the past: delegation. Specifically, we talk about the mindset shift that happened for Mike when he started looking at his team as an investment in the business…

Welcome to this episode of 20/20 Money! My guest on today’s show is Erich Mattei, founder of Akrinos. In this conversation, Erich and I discuss five specific concepts and ways that optometrists can make prudent business decisions in their practice and reduce the chances of making a strategic wrong decision. As a reminder, you can get all the inform…

Welcome to this episode of 20/20 Money! My guest on today’s show is Dr. Jennifer Stewart, founder of the private practice Look New Canaan and OD Perspectives. In this episode, we talk about two major themes that she’s observed over the years as she has consulted with both friends and colleagues. Whether it be an OD launching a cold start or trying …

Welcome to this episode of 20/20 Money! My guest on today’s show is Daniel Palmer, founder of Morether Creative, a Fractional CMO for optometrists nationwide. In this conversation, we talk through and explain the Story Brand process and the SB7 framework. We talk about the common marketing mistakes that biz owners (not just ODs) make when it comes …

Welcome to this episode of 20/20 Money! My guest on today’s show is Dr. Bethany Fishbein, OD, Consultant & Executive Coach with Leaders of Vision. Bethany and I talk about a topic that an OD might not think about directly correlating to the financials of a practice: leadership skills. However, I believe that we quickly illustrate in our conversatio…

Welcome to this episode of 20/20 Money! My guest on today’s show is Dr. Michael Neal, OD. Michael joins me back on the show to discuss bonus structures that work for non-producing members of your team, and how they can be put together in a way that is advantageous to both the team member and the overall growth of the practice. As a reminder, you ca…

In this episode, we break down why the Federal Reserve decided to cut interest rates by 0.5% (50 basis points) and what it signals about the economy. More importantly, we dive into actionable steps that optometry practice owners can take to benefit from these lower rates while preparing for potential economic shifts. Resources: 20/20 Money Communit…

Welcome to this episode of 20/20 Money! My guest on today’s show is Dr. Kurt Steele, OD. Kurt joins me back on the show to talk in further detail how he and his partners have structured their compensation structure in a way that works for everyone in the practice while also ensuring that there is parity in comp based on the amount of revenue that e…

Welcome to this episode of 20/20 Money! My guest on today’s show is Nathan Hayes from Books & Benchmarks. Nathan joins me back on the show to talk all things business financials and how owners should be thinking about actual profit in a business—and where to look in your business financials to learn how much money the practice has actually provided…

Welcome to this episode of 20/20 Money! My guest on today’s show is Chris Tuff. Chris is the author of the book The Millennial Whisperer and in this conversation we talk about all things related to leading a team. As one might expect, a lot of the conversation that we had is applicable to leading all team members—not just Millennials. We talk about…

Welcome to this episode of 20/20 Money! My guest on today’s show is David Mason, Ph.D. David joins me on the show to talk about a seemingly abstract but important distinction that you should consider when thinking about your team: do you have satisfied team members or engaged team members? Our conversation spills over into multiple different topics…

Welcome to this episode of 20/20 Money! My guest on today’s show is Dennis Moseley Williams. Dennis joins me to revisit the importance of the customer experience on the success of your practice. He shares the five phases of the patient experience and how to think differently about the way you engage your patients in your practice. I really love hav…

Today's episode is a bit special because I'm FINALLY able to announce that the 20/20 Money Membership is live! The beginning of the show is a walk-through of the membership, the offering, who it's for, and why I created it. One IMPORTANT item that I didn't share in the episode: join the Membership by September 30th using promo code FOUNDER and get …

Welcome to this episode of 20/20 Money! My guest on today’s show is Dr. Justin Kwon, OD. Justin joins me on the show to talk all things myopia control. Justin’s passion for this topic is very evident and I found our conversation very informative. While there’s the obvious clinical angle that is a deeper and separate discussion than what we had here…

Welcome to this episode of 20/20 Money! My guest on today’s show is Dr. Chris Lopez. Chris joined me back on the show to talk about all things related to the associate OD/owner OD relationships. As the career consultant at ODs on Finance, Chris has a unique perspective and gives us insight on the conversations he has been having with both associate…

Welcome to this episode of 20/20 Money! My guest on today’s show is Pete Kehoe, OD. Pete joins me back on the show to discuss all the hard lessons he and his team have recently learned while they navigated their practice being shut down due to a massive ice storm that destroyed a large portion of the building's roof. Pete shares more about the head…

Welcome to this episode of 20/20 Money! My guest on today’s show is John Marvin President of Texas State Optical. As one of the country’s oldest optometry business models, TSO has seen many different headwinds and tailwinds that have impacted optometry. As President of TSO over the past 20 years, John has seen TSO grow into one of the top 10 retail…

Welcome to this episode of 20/20 Money! My guest on today’s show is Tim Merrigan with Acquios Advisors. In the 16 years or so that I’ve been an advisor, I’ve noticed that there’s something “motivating” about turning 50: people start thinking about their lives differently and thus they start re-evaluating the way they’ve been investing and spending …

Welcome to this episode of 20/20 Money! My guest on today’s show is Mike Jorgenson with Carr Healthcare Realty. Mike joins me back on the show to give us an update on what he and his team around the country are seeing in the commercial real estate market. We also dive into some of the considerations, mistakes, and blind spots that both buyers and s…

Welcome to this episode of 20/20 Money! My guest on today’s show is Eugene Shatsman, Managing Partner of National Strategic Group and new host of The Power Hour Podcast. In this wide-reaching marketing conversation, Eugene shares a variety of “low hanging marketing fruit” mistakes and misconceptions that practice owners nationwide have about how ma…

Welcome to this episode of 20/20 Money! My guest on today’s show is Amber Morgan, CPA with Mohr CPAs. In the wake of tax season, Amber and I run through some of the easy and conspicuous action items that you can take proactively over the year that not only will have a positive impact on your overall tax planning, but also make for a happy and produ…

Welcome to this episode of 20/20 Money! My guest on today’s show is Amanda Bennett. Amanda joins me on the show to talk about a topic that we’ve discussed directly and indirectly on this show—human capital. Specifically, Amanda talks about a gap that she saw in the hiring process over the years and how she developed a platform to help automate part…

Welcome to this episode of 20/20 Money! My guest on today’s show is Dr. Ryan Gustus, OD. Ryan joins me on the show live from Vision Expo East to discuss something that is very timely given the recording location: how practice owners can think about the implementation of various pieces of equipment in your practice to ensure that it's done with inte…