My Annual Nine-Week Summer Break: A Litmus Test for My Practice

How long would you be willing to step away from your practice? How long could it function without your physical presence? The answers will reveal whether you own a business or the business owns you.

Part of the allure of private practice ownership is the autonomy it can offer. I prize my freedom. It’s been hard-fought.

I told my parents I was going out of state for the whole summer. “You should have been a teacher,” Dad said. Escape for an entire season as a practice owner? No way. And they would know—both are retired optometrists who together ran a successful business for 30 years.

WHAT IT TOOK TO STEP AWAY

I believe the hardest working private practice optometrists are the solo ODs seeing patients most days a week and squeezing practice management into the margins. Kudos to all of you out there, truly. That’s how my parents ran their clinic for 20 years before hiring their first associate.

Growth in private practice demands strategy, time, luck and above all, investment (read: risk). But the payoff is worth it. Once your practice reaches a certain size, you can build redundancy into your staffing and outsource both clinical and administrative roles. That’s how I’ve been able to step away from my practice for nine weeks three summers in a row—and I plan to again this year. For a great read on this mindset, I recommend “10X Is Easier Than 2X” by Dan Sullivan and Dr. Benjamin Hardy.

From 2015 to 2020, I gradually purchased 100% of the shares in our California-based multi-doctor family practice, ultimately paying $1.49 million—a note I’ll be carrying until 2035.

It was a big price for a big practice: more staff, more legacy systems, more problems. For years, that’s exactly how it felt. But once we hit a critical mass—revenue, headcount, a core team I could trust—I could finally step back.

LEADERSHIP LESSONS FROM STEPPING AWAY

A good way to test your systems is to let them operate without you. How does your team respond to an unhappy patient, a broken piece of equipment, an emergency referral, a pushy unscheduled rep or integration failure when you aren’t there to fix it?

During the weeks away from my practice, I have the bandwidth to think clearly. I realize that few things are urgent. I can make better decisions when I’m not bombarded by a million simultaneous requests. Big decisions are best made with a quiet mind.

There’s a beautiful Zen proverb: “To see the moon clearly, the water must be still.”

YOUR PRACTICE ISN’T YOU—AND THAT’S A GOOD THING

A little separation is good. Helmus Optometry is not my child nor my identity. It’s a separate, dynamic, independent entity. I want it to exist, and hopefully thrive, with or without me. Practice ownership is an infinite game.

The independence provides a sense of security. If a family crisis ever arose, the clinic would carry on. My team shares that same confidence.  That’s peace of mind for all of us.

But beyond crisis management, stepping away actually strengthens my connection to the work. As the saying goes, absence makes the heart grow fonder. When I’m away, I find myself missing the smiling faces of my team, hustling from exam room to exam room and the connection with my patients.

Most importantly, these breaks preserve my commitment to remaining independent. Every year, I dodge buyer inquiries. “My practice is not for sale,” I say. Everyone has a price, and many eventually find theirs. But I’ve found a different way to handle the weight of ownership: “When you are tired, learn to rest instead of quit.” By checking out for the summer, I hope to maintain ownership long term.

HOW I ACTUALLY LEAVE MY PRACTICE EVERY SUMMER

I own a second home in Washington state, north of Seattle close to the Canadian border. I am a proud Pacific University College of Optometry alum, and I love the nature, moody weather and coffee culture of the Pacific Northwest.

The craftsman-style home I purchased in 2022 was affordable by California standards but still a stretch financially. It is zoned for short-term rentals, a strategic decision and managed by a professional property manager who takes 25%. Even though it rents frequently, the house is still in the red and therefore in my liability column. Investing in index funds would have been smarter.

However, I believe in its long-term financial potential and it’s my excuse to escape every summer. I rent my primary California residence to local families through Facebook or Airbnb while I’m in Washington.

So, what do I do up in Washington? It is not quite a vacation. My two kids attend camp all summer. I’m a single mom and, while they are playing in the woods with their campmates, I’m working, exercising or doing chores.

Every morning, I check the company bank account, credit card accounts and patient schedule. I monitor outstanding charts from my three providers and their patient satisfaction surveys. I review revenue per patient, special testing, low-level light therapy and pre-appointment rates by provider.

Every Monday morning, I send out a weekly staff memo, as I do throughout the year. I schedule reps and trainings, respond to online reviews and monitor monthly numbers for no-show rates, open rates and warranty capture rate.

It’s easy to connect with my leadership team, bookkeeper, CPA and marketing firm remotely. Every two weeks, I meet with my two office managers for a four-hour leadership meeting via Zoom. Honestly, I might be more connected with my office managers while I’m away than when I’m stuck behind an exam room door.

FREEDOM AND A TRAIL WITH CELL SERVICE

My favorite place to field calls is from the trail. I have several loops with reliable cell service. I call my managers and colleagues. The conversations are deeper because I’m more at ease and less distracted.

I try to replace as many Zoom or Teams meetings with phone calls, listen more and talk less (especially when I’m going uphill) and tune into industry podcasts, my favorite being 20/20 Money and The Power Practice.

When the high-priority work is complete, I tame my inbox, complete some CE, go over notes from conferences I attended the past year and follow up on leads. I read articles on leadership and culture and share the highlights with my team.

I don’t take this time away for granted. If I lose a key associate or manager, I could be tethered once again to the office, just as I was when my father retired from practice or when I dismissed my former business partner or during the pandemic. We do whatever it takes, don’t we?

But for now, the systems are holding. Recharged and clear-headed after a long summer off, I’m always ready to return and make it rain like the Washington skies.

Read more on staffing here.