We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Carrie DeWolfe. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Carrie below.

Alright, Carrie thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. We’re complete cheeseballs and so we love asking folks to share the most heartwarming moment from their career – do you have a touching moment you can share with us?

I will never forget a patient I met a few years ago. She had been recently diagnosed by a specialist at a very busy office with an eye condition called Keratoconus. All she had been told was that this is a condition that would cause blindness and she was very scared. The specialist’s office is a very busy office and the specialist unfortunately did not have time to do an in depth explanation of her condition. She was very concerned because she had noticed a gradual decline in her vision, and she was even to the point of planning how she would be able to take care of her children and work without being able to see. I spent about 40 minutes talking with her about what Keratoconus is, what causes it, as well as specialized contact lenses that would be able to provide her with close to 20/20 vision. I also talked to her about new surgical procedures that could slow, or in some cases, halt the progression of Keratoconus. She was elated when I informed her that there was a very low likelihood of her going blind, and that I would be able to improve her vision. I gathered the parameters for fitting her with specialized contact lenses and ordered them that day. When the lenses came in and she inserted them, she started to cry because she could finally see clearly. She gave me a big hug and told me how much it meant to her that I took the time to talk with her and answer questions, and get her vision back. It’s really easy to get caught up in the hustle and bustle of the clinic, but sometimes it means the world to a patient when you stop what you’re doing, listen to them, and provide individualized care. She went for months thinking she was going to go blind, and it only took 40 minutes of my time to alleviate her fears with quality patient education.

Carrie, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I am an optometrist, which is a doctor that specializes in the eyes. I provide vision exams (determining if glasses or contact lenses are necessary) and medical eye care, which is important for the early detection of ocular disease. My passion is the treatment and management of ocular surface conditions (like dry eye), and prescribing hard to fit contact lenses. Working in eye care is very validating because, for the most part, someone might come to me with an issue that is bothering them every day (eyestrain, dry eye, blur, binocular vision problems that are affecting a child’s performance in school) and I can improve their daily quality of life with taking a tailored approach to their specific issue. It is very satisfying being able to fix an issue for someone. I have recently purchased a small private practice and have rebranded it completely. I am also in the process of updating the equipment to better service patients in office, instead of referring them to a different office. Being able to take care of the patient in that moment of time (instead of referring them to a specialist) saves the patient time and money, and also helps boost their impression of my expertise and the services I am able to offer. I am still working on building my brand and establishing my presence in community, I think that is something that I will be working on very hard over the next few years. But I am proud of what I have accomplished over the last year (I’ve grown the patient base by about 40%) and am looking forward to further growth over the next year. This has been a lot to undertake by myself, and every day I am learning something new.

Let’s talk M&A – we’d love to hear your about your experience with buying businesses.

I just purchased an optical office January of 2023. I met with an optometrist that listed his practice for sale online in a community that has very good growth potential, reviewed his previous profit and loss statements, and started applying for practice acquisition loans. Most of the applications asked the same items of information, my personal financial information, and the historical financial information of the practice. As I do not own a home, and the practice is a leased location (no real estate), one thing that caused rejection for a loan or high rates was that I did not have a lot of collateral. The bank that I chose did a very thorough job of vetting the practice to make sure it was a good investment. However, my expectations of the practice’s net income have not panned out as I anticipated. Even though I have been able to grow the practice about 40% from the previous provider, my cost of operation is much higher due to the monthly practice loan payments, buy-ins as a new provider with frame venders, as well as paying for staffing. I kept the previous owner on as an employee to help train me with the business during the transition, however I calculated his hourly rate based on what an average optometrist makes as an employee, not what he was actually doing, doing business advising. An optometrist generates revenue based on production of exams and glasses orders, therefore when I was paying him this rate to help advise me with the practice, I was probably paying him too much. Looking back I would have considered this, because the high rate of payroll I paid the first 3 months took a lot of my working capital, for very little return on investment. I would have also set up vender accounts before I started at the practice, because for a short period of time while I was trying to decide what ophthalmic lab I wanted to work with and what frame lines I wanted to invest in, patients were still walking in the door and needing glasses and contact lenses, and we had to use the previous doctor’s venders. That led to some messy financials in that I ended up owing him money after the fact for the materials that were purchased with his accounts. However, I don’t think that is something I could have foreseen. Now I am going on a year of ownership, and I am still learning things every day on what I should have done differently. I think 3-5 years from now I am going to look back on where I am now and realize how much I did not know about being a business owner in healthcare, but I will be much happier and confident in how the business is running and feel like these first few years have just been the necessary growing pains of a new business.

Other than training/knowledge, what do you think is most helpful for succeeding in your field?

The best way to succeed in my field is just to be very personable. Having a patient leave feeling like they had a good experience is key to word of mouth referrals. Some times its a little challenging because there is a delicate balance between being a warm and kind medical professional, and being so friendly that the patient thinks of you more of a buddy or a therapist.

Contact Info:

• Website: freshcoastoptical.com
• Instagram: @dr_carrie_dewolfe
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100090262116055
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/carrie-dewolfe-46b789152/