Latest / Optometrists Building Empires / From Collapse to Comeback: What It Really Takes to Succeed in Optometry - Lee Ford - Episode # 62
Transcript
- [00:00:00] Ankit Patel: Today's guest is someone who I love talking to every time, and I think you'll love hearing from him. He's an accomplished business owner, skilled entrepreneur, and a seasoned optometrist. He has over 25 years of professional experience in the iCare world. He specializes in eye exams, contact lens fittings in managing ocular diseases. He's also a passionate advocate for ocular education and accessible vision care, regularly giving back through community outreach programs. He's the owner of Golden Triangle Eye Clinic. Please welcome Dr. Leaf Ford Lee. [00:01:00] Welcome. Lee Ford: Hi. Thank you, sir for having me on. Ankit Patel: Yeah, I I'm, I'm excited for this conversation. So, uh, let's jump into it. What was the most important thing that helped you build your empire? Lee Ford: Failure, uh, the, the continual breaking down of what you're doing and reevaluation of where you are and how you got there. Uh. I, in a former life, I used to be an athlete and uh, uh, physical training is a matter of breaking it down and it building back up. clinical training is the same thing. Uh, you make mistakes. Business training is the same Ankit Patel: Yeah. Lee Ford: You screw it up and you figure out that was not a good thing, so you don't do that again. Ankit Patel: Yeah, Lee Ford: they call it wisdom, intelligence. Ankit Patel: I like that. That's actually really insightful. Um, I think, um, uh, I'm curious, uh, you have a really, your journey, how you got here. I think that really resonates a lot more [00:02:00] people kinda understand your, your arc of how you ended up here. Can you kind of tell us briefly your, your, your journey and how you ended up here? Lee Ford: college was a Mississippi State, uh, was A-L-S-E-C player in football. Uh. Had no desire really to do anything other than play professional football as all 20-year-old idiots do. so I dedicated my life to that and, uh, through several different iterations of just keeping my grades up. Uh, done with that. Finished playing some arena football. Finished in Spain in 19 94, 4 or five, something like that. I don't remember. Uh, and um. Got back to work on school uh, got my, uh, bachelor's, uh, was working on my master's degree. Uh, got accepted into optometry school, is what I meant to say. um. Uh, went to SCO, uh, had a great time over there. Uh, met a lot of real nice folks and had [00:03:00] a good time. Got through school, uh, got out, started working with my dad. Uh, there's one bull per pasture for a reason. they'll kill each other. And my dad and I determined that, uh, we'd rather enjoy Christmas and him get to meet his grandkids than me work with him. So, uh, off I went and did several different things and, uh, like I said, failure's a good teacher. Uh, so fail, fail, fail. Had several of them and, uh, kind of got where we are over here. Uh, and, uh, enough, I'm in a, uh, old pizza hut that I used to work in when I was in high school, so I gutted it. turn it into an eye care clinic. That's a pretty weird thing, but I'm actually sitting in the room that I used to wash dishes in. So, uh, it's one of those circle of life things. Ankit Patel: that's pretty cool. That's really, and you're, you're in, um, Mississippi, correct? Lee Ford: I am Ankit Patel: Yeah. Lee Ford: Mississippi, Ankit Patel: Oh, this Mississippi. Lee Ford: Smack in the middle, next to Alabama, Ankit Patel: Okay, Lee Ford: in Alabama, and I work in [00:04:00] Mississippi. Ankit Patel: now you went, you went to a Mississippi school, so I'm guessing you don't pull for Alabama, so, no. Lee Ford: Not at all. Ankit Patel: So, so, uh, I like, I like this theme of like, Hey, you gotta fail. Um, tell me how, how, how, um, how you got back on the horse, uh, with your optometry clinic. Like what, something that happened, you were like, man, this, this would've been tough, but I, I got back on the horse. Lee Ford: I have four kids and they like to eat, Ankit Patel: Yeah, so. Lee Ford: The option of failure is really not a. Uh, it's not a, it's not something that can happen. Uh, but yeah, you try stuff and it fails and you try something new and it fails and you take the two of those that you failed on, you look at and you go, Hmm, how about we try this? And, uh, and it works. And you're like, all right, high five. getting a good team has been the best thing for me. Uh, I have a very personality of great ideas. Uh, very poor. Putting the rubber to the road. Uh, implementation is [00:05:00] not my strong spot. So I had to get some people on board that could help me with that. And, uh, it's been just going. So find the right people, tell 'em what you want and get out of the way. it works wonderful I don't abdicate. I delegate, uh, but I also keep up with what they do. uh, and we have meetings quarterly and, uh, weekly, and annually to, to readdress the direction of the ship, uh, and make sure that the right people are in the right positions and that we're heading where we want to go. uh, forks pretty dead. Come. Good. I've been happy. Ankit Patel: You know, I want to touch on something you said earlier too. You said you take, you made a mistake here. You made a mistake here, and then you like take a look at 'em together and be like, well, maybe we should try this. Uh, do you have an example of something like that in your offices? Lee Ford: I have tried to to implement, uh. [00:06:00] equipment. Uh, we, we got, I can't say a name, but a specific, oh, I can say it. I'm, I hope they burn. Uh, I bought a visual field, uh, uh, system from a company that sounds like he, uh, and the hero field bombed. Uh, the concept was great. but the implementation was not right. And I also bought another system, uh, for radiofrequency surgery that we do. Uh, it's an rf great concept. Didn't get it. Applied properly, wasn't ready, didn't train. have a tendency to go off and buy things before I think about it. And uh, that's why I had to take both of those. 'cause I bought those. I was like, man, that's awesome. I'll take two of 'em and I'll take one of those too. And, uh, my ROIs were junk, so I had to, that was the last two that I [00:07:00] did on my own without going through my, my. I have to have, I have a, in my company we follow a protocol called the EOS as an entrepreneur operating system. had some, uh, great guys, uh, help me, uh. Corey and Tim, uh, helped me, uh, learn to be a owner and a manager. And I'm not a good manager. I'm a good eye doctor, but I'm not a good business person at all. I don't know if you've ever heard that about optometrists, but not a lot of us. Were good at that. uh, I, I hired some people to help me, do business. Uh, I do. The visionary role, and I have the ideas and I have an integrator. His name is Eric, Eric's job is to play battleship with my ideas. I don't know if you know that game from kids, uh, E four, miss E five hit, uh, E six sunk my ship. Uh, he sinks all of my ideas and if [00:08:00] he can't sync 'em, then it's his job to implement them. He has to integrate it and he's good at sinking them. Uh, but he's also very good at taking what's left and going, know, that's kind of weird. It actually might work. So it, uh, it works really well and. we, we meet daily and then we have, like I said, weeklys and, uh, quarterly meetings to make sure we're on the right path. It it, like anything, you have to work it. You can't just touch it every once in a while. If you do, you, you will fail worse. Uh, and we, we have to stay on top of it and I have to trust my team because I'm busy. Uh, I don't have time, you know, I've got. 40 patients. If I don't see those 40 patients, you know, uh, we don't keep the bills paid and, uh, the profit's not there and we can't afford the, tools that I'm wanting to bring to the, to the table. So I have to stay busy, but we meet and do our little thing, and it works [00:09:00] really, really well. Ankit Patel: I like that. Yeah. EOS is a theme that we see a lot on this call, uh, on these calls. So there's a lot of folks that do that. I think we even have, I, he, he, I, I did the interview already, but I think it's gonna be released maybe after yours or before Larry Goon, uh, he's also optometrist turned, uh, EOS implementer. So it's, uh, we, we use that too in our offices. So I, I, I, huge fan. In fact, I got to the point where. I don't go into my offices anymore. 'cause you're exactly what you said. It's like I'm terrible at running day to day. at, Lee Ford: you have to recognize what you're good Ankit Patel: yeah. Lee Ford: And it's, I, I have a personality that I don't. Again, I don't admit failure, I just, it's not right yet. So I, I, I just gotta do more, work harder. And that doesn't work always. Sometimes working harder is not smarter. Ankit Patel: What did you run into that you didn't expect when you were growing your business? Lee Ford: people that I have brought on that I have done. for, for a long time. [00:10:00] Didn't this, this business is my baby. It is my baby. It's not theirs. Uh, it's their job and it's, it's different. I expected them to achieve a certain level and have a certain desire that, that I did, it was kind of disappointing that they didn't. But then again. It's, reality. they're, they're here for a job. They may like the job, but it's, it's not their, not the thing that they are all about. Uh, optometry and eye care and, uh, providing services for patients, I couldn't do anything else. This is, this is my It's my, it's my breath. I love it. Uh, I was at a meeting last night, uh, with some friends. Uh, we had a, a surgeon take us to dinner and had some discussions about, uh, you know, corneal work and, uh, several of 'em are wanting to back [00:11:00] off and I'm like, back off. Mm-hmm. I've got more time. I have more days of the week to do what I wanna do. I was like. Uh, this is what I wanna do. Uh, so, you know, I love this and I wouldn't do anything else. And, uh, again, that was my biggest problem. 'cause it was hard to, to understand why they didn't do me. You, you're not in this as much as me. No, they're not. So it, it changed my point of view about how I deal with, my team. And I understand it's more of a transactional. Uh, but it's also, uh, it, it, you can grow some, some of them will, uh, matriculate up into leadership positions and, uh, ideally ownership positions because I want them to be a part, I want them to be a vested partner. Uh, nobody works as hard as the person that owns it. Ankit Patel: Yeah, Lee Ford: I want them to be an owner. Ankit Patel: that's pretty good insight. So, uh, how, how do you, um, what are some ways that you do that? Like, can you give us one [00:12:00] technique that really works well for you Lee Ford: we kind of train, we, we make it as we have taken the, the staff that we have. we have, we do personality tests. We, we see are they meeting expectations? Are they growing? part of our core values is always learning and improving. And if you're not learning something every day, then it's not for you. But I also understand you're not going to get that kind of person that, that diamond in the rough. Is not in Every handful of rocks that you pick up. So sometimes you just gotta pick up the rocks and, work with it and do the best you can. And maybe they'll turn into it and maybe they won't, and that's okay. There's nothing wrong with having people who want a job that's okay. they, perform a good service and they're paid well for it. but then there's the other ones. That are interested in learning more, doing more, [00:13:00] they come to me and say, I read this, or I watched this video, or I was looking at, ods on Facebook and I saw X, Y, Z and dah, dah, dah, dah. What do you think about bringing this into the office? That's the ones that we start polishing and training and working with. And, when we do that. it gets to where it's better. Ankit Patel: I love it. Love it. That's awesome. what, why, what makes you tick? Like why, why, why do you want to grow? Why do you want to keep going? I feel like what is it about that, like what do you think that is about you? That, yeah. Lee Ford: Um, I honestly like helping people. I like making a difference. I enjoy being able to have somebody smile at the end of the exam and go, you know. Thank you. Nobody's told me that before. I wondered about that, or I didn't even know that was an option or, you know, I, I've been to other places before and, and your team is just wonderful and they're the nicest people. [00:14:00] And I'm put it this way, having the good team has been big. And, and, and I will say that again and again and again. I had 30, 40, uh, Google reviews. Two years Ankit Patel: Mm-hmm. Lee Ford: I've got 500 and something Now, uh, they're 90%, 99%, five star. The few of them that, that are not, uh, other than the people who just don't give five stars, uh, are very pithily, re, re, uh, responded to by me, as because they're upset. They didn't pay their bill and they couldn't come in or other things like that. But almost. one of them is talking about my staff, about my team. I am in my little room, shut up in my little box, and I don't see what goes on out there, but it's really good to have, uh, people that are, that are doing the job well. And I [00:15:00] track it and I watch it, and I, with 'em. I'm kind of, you know, big brother. I've got cameras everywhere, audio, and I sit back here when I have a moment. Hmm. What were you doing right there? Okay. I listen to the, uh, to the, the phone system we have, I'll go back and listen to all of the calls. Not all, but I'll pick a few and listen to them and, and just make sure that they're, again, I'm not abdicating my role, but I'm delegating it and make sure that they do the job right. And when they don't, we coach 'em and they either wanna learn or they want to find a new career. And most of them like to learn. Ankit Patel: Yeah, that sounds, that's pretty cool. Um, I, I'm going, I'm gonna ask you a question now and shift gears a little bit. A lot of folks are having challenges with reimbursements. Uh, you know, either more patients are just having, getting paid enough per patient or, or staffing. How are you dealing with those challenges, if at all? Lee Ford: They're a challenge for everybody. Uh, it just is what it is. it's the game we play in. There's a [00:16:00] lot less providers there are taxpayers. And taxpayers wanna pay less in taxes, and providers wanna get paid. And that's never gonna balance. We will lose that battle always. So we have to be more efficient. Ankit Patel: Hmm. Lee Ford: Uh, we have to find other revenue sources. Uh, you know, we've started doing aesthetics. Uh, like I said, the radio frequency I started with that didn't get it implemented as well as it should have been. But I'm learning a little bit more and a little bit more, and I'm trying to come back my second round. And do better. we've, we've added skills, uh, PEP certified a couple years back. Uh, primary eye care procedures. Uh, we've moved more into the medical glasses. Is is literally glasses. Contacts is less than 20% my overall revenue. Uh, it's just not that big. A part of what we do. We're medical oriented. So I'm kind of a, an [00:17:00] outlier. I do a lot of Glock, tons of Diabe, Mississippi's number one. We are number one in glaucoma. Uh, excuse me, I'm number one in diabetes per capita. the national average. We're going to double again by 2032. Lots of work for me. So, uh, tons of diabetics, tons of glaucoma, a lot of a MD, uh, cataracts left and right, man. And, uh, dry eye abundantly. That's another thing. Uh, you can really make a difference in patients' lives. Just doing more explaining, talking treatment modalities, Dan. Well, here's your, here's your big bottle Put those in. you next year. You know, you have to, you have to research, you have to learn, you have to grow. That builds revenue streams. It builds, uh, patient, doctor, patient relationships, and people feel better. They keep coming back and they do better and they keep coming back and it just builds, builds that stair step process to grow your practice. Ankit Patel: I like [00:18:00] that. That's good, good, good insight. Um, as far as, um, what do you. We talked about your community involvement. What do you do for the community? How do you, I know it's important, you've kind of hinted at it, but talk to us about that and how you use that to, I know you don't do it because you wanna build your practice, but it helps with that, but talk about that a little bit more. Lee Ford: We just, I support all the things that come to me. Uh, I, the basketball teams, baseball teams, uh, different churches, uh, you know, whatever they need, we help with. Uh, I just, I feel the need to, my personal faith requires me to achieve more outreach. And help of my fellow human being than it does for me to achieve a higher balance in my bank account. there are no U-Haul for your checkbook on the hearse, so you, you have to answer for that one day. uh, I want to be sure that I [00:19:00] can say yes, I did it right. So that's what I try to do. Just try to help folks, you know, if they need it, we do it we'll, do the best we can. And I, I have a tendency, again, this's, why I rely on my team. Uh, I have a tendency to be like, sure, man, here you got nothing, no charge. my staff is like, well, come on here, Mr. Smith, let's talk about this. Have you signed up for Medicaid? Have you, have you looked at this? Have you asked your, no, no. Well, let's do that. And if that doesn't work, then we'll get you here. And a lot of times they, they're able to get these people hooked up other places, which helps them in the long haul. And it also is not me just giving it away. So, uh, that's been good for us. Ankit Patel: So, so that's something I have not heard folks do. So folks, they, you actually work with them helping them get like, support and help. Uh, Lee Ford: absolutely. We have, man. We're poor. Dude. This is Mississippi. Ankit Patel: Yeah. Lee Ford: I mean, we're, we're number one in diabetes, but we're also, eh, depending on how Alabama or Arkansas is doing, we're number one in poverty. Uh, you know, we, we, people, they're, we, we do beds for, for, uh, humanity with our [00:20:00] church, and we take beds to people. People go beds, dude, there's so many families. Kids ain't got beds. They're sleeping on the floor. Uh, they rolled up in a sheet on the floor and, uh, you know, we're poor here and we try to, try to help them and, and get, and believe it or not, you would think they would know. don't. And uh, we, we, we have a team that helps with that. Bristol is the, my, the lady that you met earlier, Ankit Patel: Yeah, Lee Ford: she's the one that helps with that. And she knows all the people to call. She'll help set 'em up and, and we do that. Ankit Patel: you, you might be underselling this. It sounds like it's more a programmatic programmatic than just like, oh, let's just help people as they come in. It sounds like you have a Lee Ford: it's, it's Ankit Patel: way of doing this. Yeah. Lee Ford: It's big man. It's very, it's tough here, and we're in one of the top 15 or bottom 15, I guess you would say, top 15 for worst. Uh, you know, counties outta 82, Lowndes County is pretty much up there Ankit Patel: Yeah. Lee Ford: It's tough stuff. But these [00:21:00] people, they, they. They have a hard time, and it's not from lack of trying. I mean, there, there are some lazy butts. Uh, you can pick them out. Uh, but there's other people that are really busting it and Ankit Patel: It's tough. Lee Ford: It's tough. You, you live in a small little rental place that has no insulation. Your electric bill's, 500 bucks a month just to keep your family from dying, you know, because without that ac running a year, you know, 24 hours at full pump. It's 130 degrees in your trailer, so, you know, what do they do? You know, they don't know no better. And, and it's just difficult stuff. So we try to help with things like that and, and reach out to, there's a lot of other people and it's not just me. I'm, I'm not, don't let me even think that I'm singing that there are lot people doing a lot of good around here. And, uh, they come in and say, doctor, before we think about, you know, help here. Absolutely man. What can we do? You know, we, we get backpacks for kids. We get. Back to school packages. Uh, one of the things that happens in our area, all the schools [00:22:00] call the, the different retailers in the area and they'll have, you know, school X, school y, school Z. Here's the first grade package, the second grade package the third. So the family doesn't have to go shopping on all the shelves. They can just come in and up the box and walk out the door. So we, we help with a lot of that and, and covering the cost of that. And, we cover Christmas, which is one of my favorite times. Ankit Patel: Yeah. Lee Ford: I enjoy taking my kids and we go shopping for kids and we, we go pick up, we pick up things for, for children, uh, you know, for gifts and things. And, uh, just, you know, just being a decent human Ankit Patel: I gotta ask. You got the beard for it. Christmas time. Lee Ford: Oh, Ankit Patel: Christmas time comes around, you know, are Lee Ford: uh. Ankit Patel: Are you on? Lee Ford: I don't, I wouldn't. That's pretty funny there, kid. I wouldn't know about that. How are you doing now? Yeah, I do Ankit Patel: It. Lee Ford: I got the beard and the belly. I got both man wall needs, red attire and I'm good to go. Ankit Patel: That's [00:23:00] awesome. Uh, and so what, what are you excited about for, for your, well, let's start with your practice first and your business. What are you most excited about there? And then I'll ask you about the industry next. Lee Ford: I just getting here, just being here. Uh, I enjoy just being here every day. I love seeing patients. I love practicing my craft. I love getting better. I am as far out as I can go training wise. I mean, I'm always going to more, but I'm as certified as you can get, uh, for what we do. I'm excited about the next step. what's next? Are we gonna have SLT? Are we gonna have intravitreal, you know, what's, what's next on the horizon? Because in, in ophthalmology this year, I believe it's this year, we actually go negative net. And that's not good. Uh. negative net, so more retiring and dying that are coming out and as bad mojo when you got 6 million plus a year turning 65. and, [00:24:00] and these young docs, when they come out, most of them have their pick of whatever. How many of 'em think are coming back to country place like where we are? Ankit Patel: Yeah. Lee Ford: Anybody. And, uh, I don't blame 'em. If I could, you know, I could make 3 million a year in Columbus, or 1.5 million a year in Miami, and I'm doing a lot better. So where am I going? you on the beach. Peace out. So they, they, not many folks want to come here in, into the south, into the country areas, rural. uh, there's gonna be a lot of need. We already right now have 10 counties in my state, in my state that have no iCare. Zero of 82, 10. It doesn't seem like a lot. It's easy for you and I to drive, but what about mama and Pop pop? Ankit Patel: Yeah. Lee Ford: Doesn't see real good and Pop pop's incontinent and he's having some, some Alzheimer's issues. It's tough to get him to drive a 50 minute drive on streets that mama's not very comfortable driving on and, uh, you gotta deal with that and, and [00:25:00] medicines and bathrooms and kids and grandkids and, and it's just. Stuff. Whereas, you know, five years ago down by the local Piggly Wiggly, Dr. X was down there. He'd been there for 50 years and by the time he went to look, Dr. X is gone, building's boarded up. So that's a lot of what happens in our state. I, Ankit Patel: Yeah, that's, that's, um, yeah, it's interesting. I haven't thought about that. You know, 'cause like you, you're seeing more, I think you're seeing more of a scope increase too for optometrist. Lee Ford: Yeah. Ankit Patel: Um, and so hopefully Mississippi is expanding the scope so you can Lee Ford: Oh Ankit Patel: more in. Lee Ford: we're cutting edge, man. We're up there. Ankit Patel: Yeah. Yeah. A lot. I know, I know. I think Wyoming, I, I interviewed a person from Wyoming and he was like, he could do almost anything like, so I was like, wow, this is pretty wide scope. Yeah, Lee Ford: I mean, Wyoming, you're out in the middle of nowhere. I mean, it's, it's either you or nobody, Ankit Patel: yeah, Lee Ford: they kind of have to open those doors. Ankit Patel: Yeah. Exactly. Lee Ford: the only thing that, uh, keeps that from happening is politics and, and politics and pie. [00:26:00] Uh, keep outta my pie. Get, get your hands in your own and, uh, and, and political. Yep. But I've been happy to see us be able to get past some things. It's pretty cool. Ankit Patel: That's cool. Um, I wanna shift gears just a little bit. I, I kind of wanna hear a story that you feel made you who you are. So it could be something when you're much younger or more recent, but a, a story you're like, yeah, you know what, this really formed me who I am. Lee Ford: Really for me, that's an interesting one. Um, professionally, uh, again, one bull per pastor when I got outta school. Uh, had to kind of go do my own thing. And, uh, I chose to go to an area that is extremely in need. And, uh, I went down to the delta, which in Mississippi is every biological entity. [00:27:00] Uh, kid has an, uh, entrance, orifice, and an exit orifice. The delta is the exit orifice of Mississippi. It's the butt hole. And, uh. I went down there and lived for a decade, and I mean, if you're gonna do something, do it right. So if you're gonna have a bankruptcy, chapter seven, make it seven figures. So, I mean, I, we expanded out to five clinics. I had four other doctors working for us at different places, and the 2008 financial crisis hit and it just rolled it up and, uh. And start over. Uh, you know, when you ex I, I learned that's what made me learn to be more cautious. Uh, once you've been bitten by that bug once, you don't ever want to go back to that again. I kind of can relate to Dave Ramsey. Uh, Dave Ramsey said, you know, hey, I had a car but didn't have 20 cents to put gas in it. So I, I was searching couch cushions for [00:28:00] about four years. Uh, it just, it's life. You, you come to find out what's important and what really doesn't matter that much. Ankit Patel: Yeah. Lee Ford: Uh, that's, that's been something that having, been through that and uh, getting back into, uh, to family life, getting remarried and, and having two little boys now, has let me kind of start over and redo some stuff that I didn't do as well as I could have or should have. Ankit Patel: Yeah. Um, that's a, that's a, that's a, that's a heck of experience. So if I heard that right, you had like, what, like four or five locations? Four or five doctors? Like 10, 10 locations. Was that Lee Ford: I had five Ankit Patel: five locations? Lee Ford: Different, four different clinics Ankit Patel: different clinics? Yeah. Lee Ford: Uh, Hey man, if you're going, if you're going to blow up, the bigger the boom the better. So it was, it just one of them things. So just the timing was terrible. The, the, the clinics were killing it. And then everything financially hit and it just, boom. It was done. It turned it off. We, [00:29:00] I didn't understand at that time, I had a person who was, uh, my. Help. He was my financial help who had been in the military, and I understood after that why the military cost so much, uh, because we had everything, couldn't pay for it, but we had it all. We, we were right on the edge of just every month having enough. And I didn't wanna look at business. I just wanted to do doctor. And, uh, I got in my little room and, uh, I saw patients and it was great and it just wasn't enough. One guy cannot float five offices, just doesn't happen. So had to learn the hard way and, uh, came back and, uh, started working in, uh, uh, a corporate place with a big old smiley face. And, uh, did that for decade. uh, and then had a. Core disagreement on what my role was, uh, at that [00:30:00] corporate place with a smiley face. And, uh, I had to tell him goodbye. I'm actually 2.1 miles away from my former lease. So I was within the, the realm of the issue, which I'm glad to see is now not a problem anymore for doctors. So, uh, yeah, and that's how we ended up over here. Ankit Patel: It's nice. Well, that's, um, that's a heck of a story. So that's, you weren't kidding about like keep going forward. Right? So that's a big setback. Lee Ford: one foot in front of the other. Ankit Patel: Yeah. Lee Ford: Up and rinse and repeat. Never had a problem taking care of patients. That was always easy. taking care of the finances. I suck. I'm terrible, but I have people that help me now and I'm doing a lot better. I, Ankit Patel: So you learn a lot from that journey, it sounds like. Yeah. Lee Ford: I learned a lot of what not to Ankit Patel: Yeah. Lee Ford: Sir. Ankit Patel: That's, it seems to be what most, uh, education is sometimes, especially in the real world. Lee Ford: not intelligence. Uh, clinical intelligence. I've been doing pretty good Ankit Patel: Yeah. Lee Ford: Business intelligence. I'm short bust baby. [00:31:00] Uh, but I've got some folks that help. So it's been good and um, they have helped me. You do what you have to do. You pay your bills. There's things you love to do. there's things you do to pay the bills, and I'm lucky enough that, that I enjoy all of it, but doing the, the things that I have to do the door for the things that I want to do, and, and I happen to be okay with both of them. So it's, it's, it's a good win and I get to help people. That's the whole point. Ankit Patel: Yeah. Lee Ford: Difference. Ankit Patel: That's awesome. Lee Ford: It is every day. Ankit Patel: Uh, what, what is it that, um, what advice would you give to your younger self right outta OD school? Lee Ford: Slow your roll. Ankit Patel: Okay. Lee Ford: Cash reserves are king and patience young man. Not the kind you see, but the kind you have. So invest in those [00:32:00] three and you will do very well. uh, I've always been a ready, fire, aim kind of guy. Uh, ready, fire. You know, like I said, I have the, the things that I've made mistakes on. Oh, those are awesome. I'll buy two, you know, that's great. I didn't think about what it cost and how to implement it and what to do and, so slow down. a moment, think about it. again, do some prayer, uh, talk to some people that are smarter than you, which I don't have any trouble finding those folks around here. There's a lot of people smarter than me. Uh, they're not wiser 'cause they hadn't done as much dumb stuff as I have. So, um, just I would tell 'em to slow down. your time. Cassius King, Ankit Patel: I think, I think those are, um, some good, good insights for, for folks. So I like that. I think that's very translatable. So, uh, well, Lee, this has been amazing. Uh, I think you have a lot of wisdom that you could share with a lot of folks. Everything from your, how do you set up community programs [00:33:00] to EOS, to, Hey, this is how I dealt with the, you know, my business going under. Uh, if people wanna learn more about you or connect with you, where can they find you, uh, on your socials or anywhere else Lee Ford: Uh, 6 6 2 8 2 2. And the, uh, ever present eye Doctor Kool phone number twenty twenty six six Ankit Patel: it Lee Ford: two two twenty twenty. I give my cell number out to my patients every day. Believe it or Ankit Patel: Awesome. Lee Ford: Call that much. They just know, wanna know that you're there. uh, I'm always available for a text. uh, or call. And, and I, I love sharing, I said, wisdom is stupid. Things that you actually survived that should have killed you. I got lots of wisdom. I don't know about smarts, but I got lots of wisdom. I've been very blessed to get through some of the medicines I've had. So, but it's fun and it's, it's, if I'm not enjoying it, I'm not gonna do it. Ankit Patel: Yeah. Lee Ford: Uh, that's the whole point. I, I love this career. It's great. I, I see people say they hate it, and man, I can't wait to be done. And I'm like, dude, [00:34:00] what are you talking about? I mean, I, apparently you're doing it wrong and I, I need to, you need to, somebody needs to show you how to have fun with it. I mean, there's some, I have little, uh, little kid, I call 'em my, my little mini mes that come in and they come into shadow from, we have MSMS, Mississippi School of Math and Science. It's down the road of the college, and it's these high school kids that are just geniuses. And, uh, they come, they, they're out of high school in college. They're at a college facility doing like advanced high school. Like it's, everything is advanced for these kids. they come over here to get some real world experience. And I try to give 'em the Jedi mind trick. You wanna be an od you think it would be wonderful. You know, I try to do that little mind move on 'em and, uh, you know, show 'em what it's about. You know, let 'em see what's happening. And it's just a lot of fun. It's a lot of fun. Ankit Patel: That's cool. That's, um, well hopefully one of 'em will come back and maybe, uh, help you out in your practice. Lee Ford: working Ankit Patel: Yeah. Lee Ford: I've [00:35:00] got, I've got, I, I've had, I've had three. In the last four years go to optometry school. None of 'em have graduated yet, Ankit Patel: All right, so maybe, Lee Ford: of 'em that are, that are iCare. One of 'em was wanting to do it anyway, Ankit Patel: okay. Lee Ford: I turned another one from, uh, O-B-G-Y-N. Uh, she actually, she ended up going to UAB uh, I got another one going to SEO Ankit Patel: Nice. Lee Ford: Year. So it's been, it's been a lot of fun having 'em. They're, they're fun to have and they look at you like. What are you gonna tell me? Yeah. Like you have to Ankit Patel: It all up. Lee Ford: Say, and I'm like, Ankit Patel: Yeah. Lee Ford: Uh, lemme give you some wisdom. Ankit Patel: Good. Well, and, and Dr. Ford, we'll put all that contact information in the show notes and, and again, thank you again so much for being on the podcast, Dr. Ford. Lee Ford: My pleasure. I had a ball. Thank you. Ankit Patel: This is fun. Yeah. And thank you audience. If you learn something laughed, uh, please share the podcast with a YouTube with a friend and make sure you hit the subscribe button so that you never miss an episode. And there's also a link, uh, in the show notes to book a meeting with me. And if you do, I'll send you a [00:36:00] free copy of my new book, optometry Redefined. Uh, thank you again, Dr. Ford. This has been another exciting episode of Optometrist Building Empires. We'll see you next time.