Professional Development

Why Athletes Make the Best ODs: Getting Paid 22% of Collected Revenues

Dr. Fleming's son. Dr. Fleming says participation in athletics helps create a mindset that makes winning at both sports and business more likely.

Dr. Fleming’s son. Dr. Fleming says participation in athletics helps create a mindset that makes winning at both sports and business more likely.

Optimizing the athletic mindset in optometry practices

By Chad Fleming, OD, FAAO

August 7, 2024

As the world enjoys the 2024 Summer Games of the Olympics, it’s a good time to consider all that athletics can teach a person about being a great optometrist and practice owner.

Mindset of a Competitor

It’s not the physical aspect of being an athlete that is so valuable; it’s having the mindset of a competitor. The athlete who competed at a high level in sports must be a highly competitive individual who fights to make themselves continually better, and does not accept defeat.

Too many optometry students and new ODs lack the mindset of a competitor. In seeking an associate optometrist at our offices, I give preference to a high school, and especially, college athlete. I find they do not back down from a challenge; they embrace the challenge.

I know from firsthand experience how an athletic mindset can contribute to practice success, as I was a Division I golf player in college.

My experience as an athlete taught me grit and the ability to fight through losses. This produced a competitive spirit in me that demonstrated the harder I worked when no one was around (i.e. practice), the better the results on the court or on the course.

Our practice’s model of production compensation plays perfectly into an athletic mindset. The athlete wants to be rewarded for their success and they want measurable benchmarks to compete against. Give them that, and they far exceed their production goals.

Finding a Practice that Suits the Approach of the Athlete

I knew that compensation coming out of school was the wrong thing to focus on when looking for a place to practice.

The key was asking the right questions to determine how each practice’s compensation model worked and then putting myself in a position to exploit my competitive mindset.

Most athletes who are highly successful are most competitive within themselves, so I knew I would drive myself, and that a salary-based model would not be most advantageous to me. Knowing this, I looked for practices that paid based on production.

We pay our doctors based on revenue per hour, which directly compensates efficient doctors. For years our top two performers in a nine-doctor practice had the athletic mindset.

One other doctor and myself would average $700 per hour collected revenues. This translated into being paid at the practice’s highest compensation percentage of 22 percent of collected revenues.

“We” Advantage Over “Me”

Staff and doctors who played team sports tend to understand the “we” advantage over the “me.” When we work as a team, we win together instead of fighting against each other. Being an athlete taught me not just how to spur myself to success, but how to lead a team.

Setting & Reaching Goals

As a kid, I grew up on the golf course and dreamed of playing Division I golf and winning a state championship. When those dreams came true, it reinforced the hard work required to be at the top. Many times we see successful people and think they were just born into it or lucky breaks. I learned that lucky breaks come from hours and hours of hard work in your craft.

I have the pursue-excellence mindset, so I believe our practice and doctors can always be better. We work together toward continual improvement.

A Lifelong Passion to Share with Others

I’m involved in sports now as a coach mentoring boys in basketball and teaching life principles through the extremely competitive arena of modern-day sports.

Sports is a great tool to teach grit, sportsmanship and understanding what it takes to be the best.

Chad Fleming, OD, FAAO, is a partner with Wichita Optometry, P. A. in Wichita, Kan. To contact: chad@optometryceo.com

 

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