Welcome to Optometrists Building Empires! Each week, host Ankit Patel, explores the journey of practice ownership and leadership in optometry with some of the top minds in his field. This show is sponsored by My Business Care Team: We help increase revenue, reduce costs, and reduce staffing headaches. Let's build your empire together!
From Clinical Specialist to Multi-Location Empire: Dr. Thanh Mai Returns
# E113: From Clinical Specialist to Multi-Location Empire: Dr. Thanh Mai Returns
Dr. Thanh Mai, OD, FSLS went from scleral-lens specialist to co-founder of Insight Vision Center Optometry, now three locations across Costa Mesa, Irvine, and Las Vegas. He is also VP of Clinical Innovation at Treehouse Eyes and past president of the Orange County Optometric Society.
He came back for a second conversation, and this one is specific:
- Why the climb from zero to one million in revenue takes the same effort as one to three, and three to six
- Where the pull points are: hiring, team systems, and location economics
- The New Business Road Test framework, and the one part that goes against common logic
- Why each location still needs a named person, even when automation does most of the work
Recorded September 28, 2026. Episode 113 of Optometrists Building Empires, out Thursday October 8 on YouTube and every podcast app.
1 Oct 2026
Why Your Best People Actually Leave
# E112: Why Your Best People Actually Leave
## Episode Summary
Every practice owner has a front-desk person who quit. When asked why, the answer is always the same: money, a better offer, or that kids these days just aren't loyal.
But the data tells a different story.
Healthcare front-line tenure averages 18 months. That's not because people are flaky. That's the baseline when you do nothing intentional about retention.
Yet some practices keep their people. The difference? Not the people. The system.
Practice owners who cracked turnover share one insight: **turnover is not a people problem, it's a system problem**. When Nick Lillie stopped being the special one and started building a system that didn't need him to be special, his team stayed. When Kevin Stefany brought in scribes to reduce clerical chaos, turnover dropped. When Fred Cho measured happiness against retention, he found they were the same thing.
The practices that keep people do one thing differently: they design the environment, not just the job.
---
## What You Will Learn
- Why every owner's instant answer about turnover is usually wrong
- What the data actually says about healthcare front-line tenure
- How system design, not personality, determines who stays and who leaves
- The identity shift from "I need special people" to "I need a better system"
- Specific examples: scribes reducing turnover, culture reducing friction, systems replacing heroics
- How to flip the question from "Why did they leave?" to "What would make them stay?"
---
## Best For
Independent optometry practice owners who are experiencing turnover and wondering:
- Why good people leave
- Whether it's something they're doing wrong
- How to build a culture where people want to stay
- Whether the problem is them or the system
---
## Key Quotes
**"It's not me that's special. It's the environment. It's the system and the culture that we created."** — Dr. Nick Lillie, on what actually keeps people
**"My biggest obstacle was myself. I was the bottleneck."** — Dr. Nick Lillie, on realizing system design matters more than personality
**"Failure and success are on the same road. Failure just has an earlier exit."** — Dr. Nick Lillie, on the cost of not redesigning
---
## Featured
- **Dr. Nick Lillie** — Family Vision Optical (Allendale, Michigan)
- Cold-started practice in 2011; went from doing everything himself to building systems that run without him
- Podcast: [Optometry: The Ultimate O.D.](https://theultimateod.com)
- Link: [Rejuvenation Dry Eye Center](https://therdec.com)
- **Dr. Gina Wesley** — Complete Eye Care of Medina (Medina, Ohio)
- Cold-started in 2008; moved away from low-value vision plans toward a membership model
- Guest on [E98: Gina Wesley — The Private-Pay Playbook](https://buildingempires.live)
- **Dr. Kevin Stefany** — Autograph Eye (Multiple locations)
- Built scriba-driven operations that reduced admin friction and staffing turnover
- **Dr. Fred Cho** — Featured for correlation between staff happiness and retention
---
## Resources Mentioned
- **iCare Boss** — EOS-based practice management system for optometry
- **VPS practice consulting** — On practice systems and operations
- **Level 10 meetings** — Weekly operating rhythm framework
- **Practice membership models** — In-house membership alternatives to vision plans
---
## Data & Context
- **Healthcare front-line tenure baseline**: 18 months (industry average)
- **Turnover cost**: 50-200% of ann
24 Sept 2026
Dr. Alex Martin: Curiosity, Grit, and the Future of Eye Care
# Episode 111: Dr. Alex Martin: Curiosity, Grit, and the Future of Eye Care
## Hook
Dr. Alex Martin asks how access to eye care can work beyond a practice's four walls. He says remote tools can't displace full eye exams when patients need them.
## Guest Intro
**Alexander Martin, OD, FAAO**
Chief Medical Officer, Eyebot; Optometrist, Boston Vision
## In This Episode
- [2:48] A clinical career that led into vision technology
- [12:16] The access gap and the need for more paths to care
- [17:25] Where Alex sees remote diagnostic tools helping practices and patients
- [24:02] Why clinicians need to shape how new tools are used
- [28:02] A high-school experiment that taught persistence
- [33:27] Alex's on-air answer about how listeners can connect
## Quotes
> The access gap is so big and people don't realize it.
>
> Dr. Alex Martin (10:48)
> Getting patients more access to care is not a bad thing. It just has to be done responsibly.
>
> Dr. Alex Martin (20:28)
> So I learned a lot about persistence and I didn't know that I had that.
>
> Dr. Alex Martin (28:51)
## About Guest
Alexander Martin, OD, FAAO, is Chief Medical Officer at Eyebot and an optometrist at Boston Vision. He's also involved in education and ophthalmology publishing.
## Connect with Guest
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexander-martin-od-faao-2a609ab0
## Resources
- Remote diagnostic technology discussion: Alex's perspective, not a product-performance or clinical-efficacy claim.
## About Show
Learn more about the show: https://buildingempires.live
## Book with Host
Want to continue the conversation? Book time with the host.
[Book time with the host](https://meetings.hubspot.com/ankit98/optometry-redefined)
## Explore the Show
[Explore or listen to Optometrists Building Empires](https://buildingempires.live)
Who has been a guest on Optometrists Building Empires
Names identified in recent episode analyses. Showing up to five guests.
Dr Carlos Grandela
Dr Kyle Maxam
Harbir Sian
Bethany Fishbein
Mike Guelcher
Reach and audience
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YouTube views
4,696
Score snapshot 15 Sept 2025
Apple Podcasts (US)
5.0 / 5
7 ratings
Spotify
5.0 / 5
1 ratings
Podcast Authority Score: 70 / 100
A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.
Quality
100
Social presence
0
YouTube
68
Engagement
32
Contact Optometrists Building Empires
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