>Patience is one of the most difficult virtues that I have had to learn. As an entrepreneur and business owner my patience meter is always running in the red. I have an idea that makes perfect sense to me and I am ready to pull the trigger. I am learning that most people do not operate as I do. As I muse about my past I appreciate that optometry partnerships carry with them a healthy tension that can save the entrepreneur many mistakes, some of which can be costly.
As a new optometrist, or optometrist waiting to make their move to the private sector, I say hold on. Take time to learn from those who have gone before you. Take notes of what has made the practice that you are looking to transition into successful. If I had not had the healthy tension of partners I would be miles ahead technologically BUT it would had cost me great staff. In youthful exuberance I would have missed the fact that all the staff were nodding their heads in front of me and saying behind me that they don’t have a clue.
Instead of pushing out the seller, invite feedback and insight from the mistakes and successes that they have had in practice. Then after time has passed and your Evernote, Onenote, or notebook is full, you have a huge reference for when the times are not so bright and you realize that the seller/senior partner was not as “outdated” as you had convinced yourself.
