I have taken the time to put down in writing where our company is going in the future and would like to share it with you so you know who we want to be and what we represent.
This is what our company is going to look like in the near future. We all understand this is not what it looks like today but this is us leaning out 3 years ahead, describing what it looks, acts and feels like.
Westlake Hills Vision Center
Vivid Vision for 2027
The following is our 2027 Vivid Vision for Westlake Hills Vision Center. Creating a Vivid Vision brings our future into the present, so we can have clarity on what we are building now. It is a detailed overview of what Westlake Hills Vision Center will look like, feel like, and act like—by December 31, 2026. Sharing it with others helps it become reality!
Core Values
- Go the Extra Mile
- Have Fun, Smile
- We see you
- Constant and Never-Ending Improvement
- Deliver Wow
Culture
Culture is a top priority. We want to create a drama free environment where other team members feel comfortable giving feedback to each other. We want to create a team that exemplifies our core values as a company. We want to create team members that feel empowered as leaders in their role.
We take our interview process seriously and want team members that are not only qualified and excel in their roles but have the right attitude and willingness to work as a team. We deliver first class customer service by spending time to interview each and every member to ensure they are eager to succeed, adaptable, display a positive attitude, want to be an empowered leader, and innovative in their thought process.
Employees
The right culture starts at the top. We take it seriously that those in a leadership role in our company exhibit empathy an understanding when working with their peers. That they also demonstrate that when working with our clients.
All our employees have a positive can-do attitude and are cross-trained in multiple areas of the office. Our employees are empowered leaders that excel at their position.
Clients
We are one of the few private practices in Austin that has not been bought out by private equity. These private equity practices are short-staffed and try to see as many patients as possible as quickly as possible. For our clients we want to get to know them as individuals. We will treat them well and in turn we expect they will treat us with respect and value our time.
We want to collaborate with them to take a full-scope approach to their visual needs. This takes time, effort, and cost on our part. We want to cultivate those clients that understand and appreciate this and move away from clients that do not.
Our clients are raving fans and absolutely love us. They tell all their friends where they got that amazing pair of glasses. Their glasses are their most commented on fashion accessory. We know them by name when they walk-in to our office and often know their family as well. We feel like we know them as a person. Our clients have eyewear wardrobes that build year after year. They see us for their eyewear wardrobe, their IPL/RF, and they tell their friends about us. They see the value what we do and almost all our clients do multiple pairs. We have gotten so popular that we have 3 to 4 walk-in clients a day and often have busy days in the optical alone. Our clients see glasses as not only a functional item but also a fashion accessory. Our clients understand one pair of glasses may not meet all their needs visually or fashion wise.
Our other main cliente are specialty contact lens clients. We fit with WAVE software which takes an intense amount of training and expertise and we charge accordingly for this background knowledge. Our doctors are experts and can handle challenging cases with ease. This is partly why we are so popular. Even our team can answer fairly in depth questions on these contacts and the conditions they treat. These specialty contact lens fits often take many visits. We are not the get you in and out as quickly as possible office. We do things meticulously and by the book to systematically make sure we get lenses that fit well and that our client understands why we are doing everything we do. We get to know our patients and spend an above average amount of time with the patient to explain to make sure we are our taking care of all their needs and they understand the full scope of their condition. We are for clients that appreciate the value in that. We are not the cheapest and we never intend to compete on price. We will spend the extra time and charge accordingly.
This is why we no longer take VSP. We did have clients we absolutely love with VSP. Thankfully, they saw value in our practice and we are thankful they stayed with us through the transition. Though VSP did bring in a great amount of traffic, many came to us because we took their insurance, not because they believe in what we do.
We manage to balance the optical and clinic pretty well between our 5 member team, all of which are cross-trained in optical and the clinic.
On the clinic side we are booked out 2 weeks and actively must leave slots open to make sure we have space available if someone needs it. We have over 300 ortho K patients, most of which are on a payment plan. We have a doctor in 5 days a week to handle the large patient population but still have a dedicated team meeting and team retreat every year.
On the clinic side our cl team is so well trained they do all the pre-testing so the doctor time needed is greatly reduced. Our clients often know and love our team members more than the doctor.
We are known all throughout town as the place to go for both fashionable independent eyewear and specialty contact lenses.
Remodel
As we have flourished over the years, we were finally able to complete our remodel. Our front desk is just to the left of the entrance when you walk in. We have a more private seating area for price conversations for specialty cl patients and for our VIP optical clients. The clinic area finally got nice white doors and the pre-test room is painted.
We also installed security cameras that are high definition and can run indefinitely and not just on motion sensor.
We now have a second topographer to help manage patient flow.
Events
We have a trunk show once a quarter that is by RSVP only and often 50-100 people show up. We go all out and have live music, drinks, a food truck. We try to collaborate with other small businesses to make it happen. These trunk shows can generate substantial amount in a single night. They are indeed events that everyone wants to attend and we have waitlists for these events. It’s truly exciting when one happens.
Media
All our advertising is now word of mouth. We have done a sensational job of treating our current clientele well that it has grown exponentially each year. We have over 500 5-star reviews on Google.
Financials
We doubled our revenue each year. More importantly though, because we have decided to work smarter not harder our profit margin has increased. All our debt for the equipment and practice loan is paid off and the team gets a nice profit share each month. I am able to give my team benefits equal to that of a tech company. We are able to continually invest in training, upgrade equipment, and keep the practice looking up to date.
Brand
We changed our name to reflect a company that suits our goals more and is more memorable. It’s easier to recommend a friend now because our clients can remember our name. We have redone our website to really reflect who we are. It is a huge source of information and helps our clients make an informed decision before they even set foot in our door.
Thank you so much for reading this far. We hope to be with you along this journey but do understand if it’s not a journey you want to take with us. 🙂
