Forty years ago, at the ripe age of fourteen, I took the step that was to open the door to my career. As the yard-boy for an entrepreneurial optometrist, I was exposed to the profession at an early age. My first job in the industry was at age sixteen, as a telephone sales person for a start-up frame importing company owned by that same O.D. From the very beginning, the profession of optometry grabbed at me. I flew home from the American Optometric Association convention to graduate from high school. I went on to start the first national buying group for optometrists (Co-Optics of America) at age twenty-three. Today, twenty-two companies or company divisions later, I am still in love with the profession. While not an optometrist, I consider myself the profession's biggest fan.
Currently, I am finishing up a tour of North America's Optometry Schools under Graduate Connections, a program jointly sponsored by my firm and Hoya Vision Care. My "Entrepreneurial Optometry" workshop begins with my telling the students that the profession of optometry has more opportunity today than ever. They can look forward to an amazing career full of possibilities. Apparantly, U.S. News and World Report agrees with me as they've recently named Optometry one of the top 50 careers.
I founded Cleinman Performance Partners in 1989 to help optometrists both recognize and realize all of their possibilities. Today, Cleinman Performance Partners is the leading business development consultancy for the owners of large optometry practices. We are honored that so many of North America's most successful optometry leaders have chosen our firm as their business guide. It is our privilege to work with amazing people in an incredibly diverse and dynamic industry. Thank you!
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