We recently connected with Ruth Domber and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Ruth, thanks for joining us today. We’d love to have you retell us the story behind how you came up with the idea for your business, I think our audience would really enjoy hearing the backstory.

When I was 16 and in high school my optometrist needed a receptionist. In those days it was very common for teenagers to have jobs after school.. Over the years I would increase my skill set and go to the next optical job and learn as much as I could. By the end of a few years, and a few different positions within optical industry I had learned a profession. At the same, having graduated college and was applying to law school while working at aHillman Cohen Vision Center, It was there that I met my future partner. He was the optometrist. He was planning on opening his own practice with a friend of his who is also an optician. I asked if I could join the group because I realized I did not want to go to law school but wanted to stay in the optical profession. My academic background was in business and my skill set was now in retail after working so many different optical practices. The other guy was not interested in having me join the group but the optometrist Dr. Stephen Rozenberg was interested. The two of us opened our own practice as partners, where he would run the optical optometry side and I would run the business side. Our first name of the store was Les Yeux Optique. This French name did not resonate nor was it easy to find but our address was 1010 2nd Ave. On our door was painted our address in a graphic form and people just started calling us 10/10. It was a no-brainer to change the name, made us easier to find, and easy to remember.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers

When we decided to open on a practice we wanted to do something different and to create a new niche market in the optical industry. An independent luxury Optometric practice. I wanted the optical experience to be more of a curated expert driven experience. The design of our first optical boutique was similar to that of an upscale jewelry store. The patient would sit on one side of the counter we would sit on the other side of the counter and based on our knowledge and their needs, we would select frames from our collections for them to try on and advise them as to the best choices. That was the first element of our concept. The second component was to have collections that were more unique, artisan driven, and not widely available and provide beautiful unique designs to choose from. On the optometric side along with examinations and traditional contact lens fittings we also specialized in Orthokeratology. Orthokeratology is the reshaping of the cornea overnight while sleeping. The lenses are removed during the daytime and vision is 2020 as long as you sleep in the lens at night. At the time no one else in Manhattan was doing this. Before the word BRAND was ever used, we apparently created a new market in the industry and out logo and reputation was the identity of our brand for expertise, ethical care, and unique artistic curated eyewear collections.

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

I grew up in a house or a business events were part of every dinner table discussion. Both my parents and grandparents were small business owners. The most important lesson learned from early on was the your handshake and word must be stronger than a written contract. Also, to make payroll and pay vendors before you pay yourself and to treat your clients (patients) as you would wish to be treated. By building on these standards and ethics we were able to attract excellent optical staff. To know that you are serving the public property and that you are safe at work is as important as a the right terms of employment. On the other side of the counter, every person walking in our door as a patient knew that they’d get the best of we have to offer. No tricky business, ever. When you operate your business that was, news travels fast. They say that one unhappy person will tell 29 people. A satisfied customer tells 9 people. There is no better source of referral that the kind words of an a patient. To build on that goodwill is a primary goal.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

Over 15 years ago I hired Silkin Management Consultants who taught us that teamwork can be the anathema of an efficiently run business. If everybody is responsible for everything then nothing can ever get reliably done accomplished and no one is responsible for any specific results! This blew my mind. I had always been trained to believe that teamwork makes the dreamwork, I had to rethink all that I believed was the right way to organize my staff. That was a tremendous game changer for 10/10 Opitcs.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.1010optics.com/
• Instagram: @1010optics
• Facebook: 10/10 Optics
• Linkedin: Ruth Domber
• Yelp: 10/10 Optics
• Other: orthok.nyc