The Journey to Eight-Figure Net Worth

Over the past decade, I built an eight-figure net worth. Recently, I had the opportunity to speak with four other ODs who accomplished this same milestone before reaching 50 years of age. In doing so, I learned that we all followed five steps that centered around building scalable businesses, practicing disciplined financial habits, and investing in the long-term. Here, I go into detail on each.

1. WE FOCUSED ON THE BUSINESS

All five of us worked on our private practices rather than just in them to increase net income, not just revenue.The key to doing this was analyzing our practices the same way an investor or operator might:

• Reducing cost of goods through smarter vendor negotiations and purchasing strategies
• Streamlining staffing and operational efficiency
• Leveraging technology and automation
• Managing payer mix and reimbursement strategy
• Funneling legitimate expenses through the business when appropriate

Pro tip. Implementing monthly profit and loss reviews with key performance indicator tracking and making real-time adjustments can improve profitability within 3 to 6 months.

2. WE OWN MULTIPLE PRACTICES

Multi-practice ownership creates systems and teams that allow for scale, which is what happens when revenue streams multiply without requiring proportional increases in personal clinic time. It also offers enterprise value, which is the total value of a business as a scalable entity, not just based on one doctor’s production. It manifests through systems, associate doctors, management layers, and consistent earnings that allow the business to operate independently of the owner, making it more attractive to buyers and investors.

Pro tip. Hiring and developing associate ODs early reduces reliance on owner production and creates capacity for expansion.

3. WE LIVED LIKE STUDENTS

One of the most surprising things we all shared was how conservative our personal spending was the first 5 years after graduating from optometry school. Specifically, we deliberately lived like students by delaying major lifestyle upgrades, living in modest housing, keeping fixed expenses low, and avoiding lifestyle inflation. We chose to live this way because these early years tend to offer the highest leverage opportunities, as early investing benefits from compound interest over time.

Pro tip. Automate your savings, and invest immediately after graduation before increasing your lifestyle expenses.

4. WE INVESTED CONSERVATIVELY

Most of us focused heavily on simple S&P 500 index funds; small monthly investments of a few thousand dollars in our late 20s and early 30s compounded significantly over decades. Any extra income went toward paying down high-interest debt, reinvesting into the practice, and investing in low-cost index funds that had expense ratios generally below 0.10%. Finally, we never participated in day trading, cryptocurrency, high-risk leveraged investments, or hot-tip investing.

Pro tip. Set up automatic monthly contributions into index funds, and never interrupt them, regardless of market conditions.

5. WE BUILT ADDITIONAL INCOME STREAMS

All five of us also have additional businesses beyond our practices. We identified these by focusing on opportunities within our existing networks and expertise, prioritizing scalable models not tied to hourly work, and evaluating demand, margin potential, and ability to leverage our existing audience and infrastructure. These include:

• Consulting services
• Financial education platforms
• Industry partnerships
• Rental real estate portfolios
• Healthcare-related businesses

These ventures diversified our in-come streams and created scalable revenue not directly tied to patient visits. In several cases, they eventually were able to produce income comparable to or greater than our practices themselves.

Pro tip. Start with one adjacent, skill-based income stream before deciding to expand into capital-intensive ventures, such as real estate.

THE BIGGER LESSON

The strategies discussed here are available to nearly any optometrist willing to think like an entrepreneur. You can do this by:

• Viewing your practice as a business asset, not just a job.
• Regularly analyzing your financials and looking for inefficiencies.
• Asking how an endeavor can scale without you.
• Making decisions based on return on investment, not just comfort or habit.
• Continuously investing in business, financial, and leadership education