Hi there! Today, I have a post from Kim at Eyes on the Dollar. Kim is a private practice optometrist by day and financial blogger by night. You can follow her on Twitter @Eyesonthedollar. Let me know if you would like to guest post on Make Money Your Way.
We are all looking for ways to make more money. I have been a private practice optometrist for over thirteen years, and I have seen just about every way to make money in the eye care industry. Some ways might be pretty obvious, but I bet there are some relatively easy ones that you might not have considered.
Ophthalmologist/Optometrist
This would be the obvious one. An ophthalmologist is an eye surgeon. An optometrist does vision exams and medical eye treatment that doesn’t require surgery. Both hold a doctorate degree, and you can work for someone else or be your own boss.
The big hurdles are the amount of school and training and the high cost of professional school. You’ll be putting in 8-12 years after high school, and you need very good grades and an interest in science and math. You could also come out owing over six figures in loans if you aren’t careful.
In recent years, there has been some oversaturation of providers in popular areas, like Southern California. However, there is a shortage of providers in some rural areas or in smaller urban areas that aren’t on the coasts. Think very carefully about where you want to live before racking up student loan debt.
Potential starting salary: Optometrist- $80,000 per year. Ophthalmologist-$250,000 per year.
Optician
An optician a person who repairs and makes glasses. You don’t need a degree to be an optician, but it would help your job prospects to take a certification course and become licensed.
You have to be a detail oriented person, have good fine motor skills, and be able to deal with difficult patients. You also have to be a salesman because many jobs offer commissions.
Potential Salary-Varies, but my head optician makes $55,000 per year.
Insurance Billing
Medical insurance billing in general is a hot topic these days. Eye care billing is especially difficult because there are insurance codes for routine vision exams and medical eye visits. Billers need to know the difference and how to maximize insurance payments with the least amount of work.
You don’t need a degree, but there are courses online or at community colleges that can help.
You’d need to be very detail oriented and able to speak with insurance companies if necessary. A bonus is the ability to work from home, and you could potentially bill for several different offices.
Potential income- Insurance billers often take a percentage of the total revenues billed, generally 5%-10%. As an example, my small office bills about $20,000 to insurance each month.
Optical Equipment Repair/Maintenance
In my opinion, this is the hidden gem of making money in eye care. When something breaks in my office, I can’t see patients until it’s fixed. If I can’t see patients, I don’t make money. As a result, I recently paid a repair man $120 per hour to fix my visual fields machine, plus $220 per hour for travel.
Most ophthalmic equipment needs yearly cleaning and maintenance as well. Cleaning generally costs $300 for less than 30 minutes of work. There seems to be almost no one who does this type work, at least in my area, so you pay what is charged without question.
You don’t need a degree, but technical or computer skills are helpful. You can work for an ophthalmic company or be on your own. This job would require travel, paid for by the client, of course. You’d have to apprentice with someone or take courses to get certified, and you’d need to do some marketing to be successful.
Potential income: $120 per hour!
Cleaning Service
I’ll throw this last one out there for those who are not technical people, aren’t interested in sales, and don’t want to take classes. For me, it has been a huge effort to find quality cleaning people for my office. They all start out great, then, either the quality drops off, they are irresponsible with office security, or things go missing.
If you are reliable, willing to learn and sign off on patient privacy rules, and don’t mind working in the evening or on weekends, I think there is a bonanza of commercial cleaning jobs in all medical offices, and they really are not that dirty in most cases.
Potential Income: $25-$50 per hour
These are a few of the ways eye care can be profitable. Most of them could apply to any medical industry. Find a need that matches your skills, and fill it. That’s how to Make Money Your Way!
This post was featured on the Financial Carnival for Young Adults, Yazekie Carnival, Eyes on the Dollar, Personal Finance Carnival, thank you!
Its interesting to see how many possible money making opportunities there are in one industry outside of the obvious role. I’m sure this is the same in all industries.
moneystepper recently posted…Amazon refund policy – customer service at its best
My friend is an Optometrist and came very close to starting a private practice about a year or two ago. The loan fell through last minute and he said he’s now content with not trying to build a business from scratch and will review his options from time-to-time, but for now will just be an employee.
DC @ Young Adult Money recently posted…True Life: I’m a Recovering Design Enthusiast
I don’t regret buying a practice, but I certainly understand the appeal of being employed and just doing what you were trained to do rather than having to also be a business manager/accountant/HR person.
Kim@Eyesonthedollar recently posted…How Far Would You Drive to Save Money?
Wow, the repair work sounds like it could be pretty lucrative. It reminds me of DC’s post the other day about the stability of jobs for people like plumbers who will always be needed and the work has to be done by someone in a specific geographic location. It definitely seems like if you could position yourself as THE repair person in your area, you could stand to make a pretty good income.
Matt Becker recently posted…5 Simple Questions to Ask Before Investing in Anything
I tell all kinds of high school kids who seem to have no idea what they want to do that they should go into ophthalmic equipment repair!
Kim@Eyesonthedollar recently posted…How Far Would You Drive to Save Money?
When I was younger and I was considering what type of doctor I wanted to be (this was back when I wanted to be a doctor) I decided I wanted to be an eye doctor. I quickly changed my mind when I realized that I didn’t want to be a doctor at all. There’s definitely a lot of money in eye care.
Daisy @ Prairie Eco Thrifter recently posted…Your Car Insurance Rates Can Be Lower If…
I know one of my friends is making lucrative income by selling eye glasses and sun glasses. He has a store in the middle of the city.
I believe in making money, it needs our creativity and good service. Customers don’t mind to pay or buy if they get good service.
My Wealth Desire recently posted…Home Improvements in Our Little House | My Wealth Desire
Some people are all about cheap, but there is a pretty big element of the population who will still pay for service.
Kim@Eyesonthedollar recently posted…How Far Would You Drive to Save Money?
I used to want to be an optometrist. Then I realized how much I hate science. Haha, to each their own!
Lisa E. @ Lisa Vs. The Loans recently posted…Weekend Recap: Us
Honestly, I would say I use more psychology than anything else!
Kim@Eyesonthedollar recently posted…How Far Would You Drive to Save Money?
Thanks for an informative post, Kim! Funny about the office cleaning – I always notice messy offices when we’re at an appt., and think “I could do better”. 🙂
Laurie @thefrugalfarmer recently posted…Using Hope to Reach Your Financial Goals
Lots of people are pigs. I feel like I need to walk behind them with a broom sometimes, especially during wet times. I’m sure you could do better. I have to leave very specific notes about how to dust the blinds!
Kim@Eyesonthedollar recently posted…My Trip to the Food Bank
Who knew there were so many ways to make money when it comes to vision? My friend worked for an optometrist for quite some time.
SuburbanFinance recently posted…The Good Ol’ Expensive Hockey Game
I didn’t know that there were so many ways to make money with vision! Love the cleaning service one!
Mary recently posted…New Checkout 51 Offers
Nice! I didn’t realize that there were so many income-making opportunities in eye care. And who knew cleaners made so much money :S
CF recently posted…Top 10 Side Jobs – #10: Mystery Shopping
This is very interesting… it is amazing how many different ways their are to make money in one field.
Michael | The Student Loan Sherpa recently posted…Too Good to be True: A Review of the Consumer Assistance Project
Very interesting, I had no idea what the starting salaries were in those fields. In my mind the opticians made more money, but I guess it makes sense that that don’t because they’re fixing glasses not examining eyes.
KK @ Student Debt Survivor recently posted…Please Seat Us in the Happy Hour Section
its nice post…thank you..
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