We recently connected with Ashley Atencio and have shared our conversation below.
Ashley, appreciate you joining us today. If you had a defining moment that you feel really changed the trajectory of your career, we’d love to hear the story and details.
“Life is not linear.”
In 2016 that is the EXACT opposite mind set I had when graduating from the University of Houston, College of Optometry. I graduated college with the mindset I was going to go to grad school, get married, have kids, be a health care provider, and miraculously balance all the things life had to offer and let’s be honest… be really good at all those things.
I am a first generation Filipino-American that was thrown into a life of “setting the example”. My family was amongst the small percentage of Asian-Americans in the small town of Lockhart, Texas. I was taught to excel, get involved, perfect and “build my pyramid” to reach an end goal to being successful. There were no cracks in the pyramid, No “rebuilding” if you will. Just. Building. Upward.
In retrospect it was almost a constant state of anxiousness about the future. Not that it’s a terrible thing, but you’ll understand why this defining moment changed the trajectory in my career.
I graduated, got married, had kids, and was an associate for a private practice 4 of 5 days of the week. “Well Ashley you did all those things, sounds like success to me, what changed?”
In September 2022, we took a risk and packed up our home, moved our toddlers across town, closed on a home then closed on the bill of sale for the business all in the same week. Some say we were crazy for jumping into a venture like this. But amongst the chaos of how to fund the business, where capitol was going to come from, we also had to be parents, good parents – Present parents.
KIDS CHANGE YOU. When tiny eyes start to watch every move you make, you start to question if the moves you make are worth being repeated.
In late 2022, I had a complete mental break down/panic attack. I couldn’t control everything like I was designed, thought to work and be. Balancing being a mom of 2, a small business owner, and a wife; all of a sudden it was like having 50 tabs open on my browser and I couldn’t figure out how to close them.
I believe a friend heard this from something she saw on the internet, but please let me know if you can find the author of this as they deserve the credit much more than I do ” Life is divided into rubber and glass balls. The glass balls are the balls you absolutely cannot drop, or else they will break: you health, your kid’s health, your employees health. Then there are rubber balls that if you drop them, they will never break: the laundry next to the stairs, those dishes you needed to put up, that email you forgot to reply to until 9PM in the evening.
This was a defining moment in my career. I learned to step back. I learned that it is OK to say no. I learned not everything needs to be perfect.
As a write the finishing touches to this interview, I ask myself… Do you regret it? Was this worth the sleepless nights? tears? If it were not for this risk, I wouldn’t be sitting in the parking lot of the school about to enjoy lunch time with my eldest child. Time I cannot get back.
Life is NOT linear. Life is like varying action potentials, going up and down, high and low. If yours is linear… what risks have you taken today?
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
Hello there! My name is Ashley Atencio. I am a Therapeutic Optometrist, Optometric Glaucoma Specialist serving the north side and greater San Antonio, Texas. I am a first generation Filipino-American with deep roots in central Texas. My husband and I opened our small business optometry clinic, Lookout Eyecare in September 2022. We are proud to offer an array of services ranging from family eye care, specialty contact lens evaluations, medical eye exam (diabetic eye exams), ocular emergencies, and treatments for dry eye syndrome such as bi-polar radio frequency (RF) and Optilight IPL ( intense pulse light) therapy. We aim to evolve our knowledge in eye care to better serve our patients with offering the latest advancements and technologies in the industry.
As a husband and wife duo we quite literally “welcome [you] to the family”.
Let’s move on to buying businesses – can you talk to us about your experience with business acquisitions?
In September 2022 my husband and I purchased an optometry clinic from relatively new owners. You could say this was a “warm start” practice. The original owners opened this location in 2019 in hopes for this to thrive into their second location. As we all know, COVID hit in 2020 causing some hiccups along the way. Expecting their 3rd baby on the way, the previous owners did not find it financially suitable to continue with their second location and wanted to sell.
We took the plunge! This acquisition was not easy, and if you ask me if I’d be willing to do it again vs starting cold… I’m not sure if I’d be willing to do it. ( ask me again in 5 years ;) )
We currently lived about 40 minutes away from our soon to be new location. When looking at our options for commuting vs moving, it made more sense for us as a family with small children to move closer to our new office. After all, the vision we had for this clinic was community integration, what better way to do that than now living 0.5miles from the office. The last week of August 2022 we closed on our house for sale, house bought, and bill of sale for the office – all while moving and moving toddlers across town. We changed preschools, neighborhoods, hired on a staff member and began our journey into our small business. As of September 1st, our official change in ownership and PLLC began. Patient care began slowly. In healthcare, opening a small private practice cold typically means by the time you have the buildout, signage and equipment to open your doors, insurance credentialing should be ready to go. Conversely in an acquisition and both new providers to this location we were forced to start from scratch. Credentialing for all major medical insurances and most vision plan took about 4-6 months. This meant patient volume suffered greatly these first 6 months into ownership. Now, 2 years, 4 employees, and a handful new equipment; we are finally seeing the fruits of our labor.
Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?
I need to reference our acquisition question to answer this question.
One of our missions for this office was to ingrain ourselves in to the community – Quite literally welcome our patients to the family. Well into the first 6 months to a year of opening, we strived to be very transparent with our patients.
Many people do NOT like change. When you see a store or restaurant change ownership, in some cases these evolutions are not received well. So how do you alter the general idea of transformation and spin it with a positive outcome?
You give them what no one around you has give them: TIME. TRUST. SINCERITY.
TIME: I spaced my scheduled uniquely to accommodate and use the appointment to really engage and establish a one on one relationship with my patients. Now with busier schedules, I make an effort to still book my schedule uniquely to assure I still give my 100% every time.
TRUST: This is something we establish with our staff from the very beginning: Educate and communicate. The utmost goal for our office was to build strong relationships and create Lookout Eyecare patients for life.
SINCERITY: EVERYONE is SOMEONE to SOMEBODY. There is no “the 3:30PM” They go by “Mr. Smith”. This also applies to our staff in maximizing the talent of our office to the benefit of each individual. We truly work and want to thrive as a team.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://lookouteyesa.com
- Instagram: @lookouteyecareSATX
- Facebook: https://facebook.com/LookouteyecareSATX
- Linkedin: Ashley Atencio, OD
- Yelp: Lookout Eyecare
Image Credits
Eric Calbillo ( instagram: @ericcalbillo)