Your partner wants profit. You want freedom. Now what?
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Why do partners clash over profit vs. freedom in an optometry practice?
Welcome back to the Optometry Success Podcast. Co-host Chad Fleming, which is me, and Adam Schmela. It is I'd say it's good to see you again, Adam, but I have not properly introduced I mean you've asked me to call you Superman. Here we go. I'm struggling with that. I feel like every time I schedule an appointment with you, it's like it's it's a Well, you gotta go through peop you gotta go through my people first. You gotta go through. I know I gotta go through your people and then getting on the just the link to get on to the show. I'm like, oh my gosh, this is unbelievable. So you're in rarefied air, my friend. For our listeners, you just just be grateful today. It's always good to be grateful, but just be grateful you get to listen to Adam and whatever wisdom comes from him.
So I just want to introduce him as the great Adam, the just privileged to work with.
This will be the last time you enter the show. Who'd have thought that just me com me casually saying the one, the only Dr. Chad Fleming, that it would turn into this? So uh are you done? Can we move on now?
Here we are. We can move on, but I'm gonna say I I am excited to talk about today because I think today is one of those non-tangibles that we talk a lot about. You and I get geeked about talking about profitability. We talk about line items, how to cut costs, this and that. But there's an intangible about relationships, about culture, and about generational differences that I think today our listeners are going to appreciate, especially if you're in a partnership and your partnership is with another human being, you're going to appreciate some of the dialogue we have today talking about different Priorities, different financial goals that generations have that are different. I'm Generation X. The older generation, my father, baby boomers, it was all about you work, work, work, work, work.
That was like a, you know, notch on the belt that, hey, I put in 10, 12 hours today. It's like the the farming mentality that I work 80 hours this week, and I'm gonna put all that. money away, not enjoy it until I can retire. Now we have partnerships and multiple owners from generations that there's some owners that are like, that's how they work. And so they're watching every penny spent. And there's other owners at them. And this is what I'm interested to get your feedback on, is we have other owners that Profits are important, but they're willing to sacrifice profits. And I say sacrifice because they're not willing for a trade-off.
How do generational priorities affect financial goals for practice owners?
They're willing to sacrifice profits because of the quality of life. And so through the week, they would rather pay more for more staff, increase the staff uh costs. But not willing to see more patience or see. patients more days of the week because they want the luxury of what hopefully good staff but increased staff uh brings. So my question to you as an owner is how do I go about creating an environment that in a culture that's managed well from the financial aspect Keeping the profits high. But adding more cost than I'm not offsetting immediately because when I add those additional staff members, the trade off of, hey, you gotta produce more or hey, it's like No, I I I'm okay as an owner if if the bucket's smaller.
I'm curious what your response
is to that. There's two initial thoughts that come to mind and and they are related. The the first thought when we were talking about this pre-recording was, you know, as you were talking about it, I had this visceral reaction of Hell would sacrifice profits. Like w why? What in English, please? Uh that just doesn't make sense. And then as you started talking about it, the thought that came to mind was um There's a book, I don't remember when it was published, but it it's been making the rounds now for a number of years. And it's called Die With Zero by Bill Perkins. Uh and and this concept that Bill talks about in Die with Zero is that the the goal of life shouldn't be to accumulate, accumulate, accumulate, maximize, maximize, maximize, but to try and have this balance.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
Why do partners clash over profit vs. freedom in an optometry practice?
0:06–2:41
2
How do generational priorities affect financial goals for practice owners?
2:41–6:20
3
What does “sacrificing profit for quality of life” really mean for owners?
6:20–9:15
4
How can an opportunity‑cost line item help quantify trade‑offs in staffing decisions?
9:15–11:29
5
When should partners adjust compensation to reflect added benefits?
11:29–14:17
6
What role does communication play in preventing resentment and burnout?
14:17–17:15
7
How can a mediator or operating agreement resolve profit‑freedom conflicts?
17:15–19:34
8
What practical steps can owners take today to balance profit and freedom?
19:34–22:18