Building 9 Rural Optometry Offices with Mike Herrera
Mike Herrera is the co-founder and managing partner of Vision Now!, a rural Colorado eye care group with nine practices. Before eye care, he served in Marine Corps intelligence and managed defense programs at General Atomics and ViaSat.
What we cover:
- How he entered optometry without being an optometrist
- Why experienced operators mattered more than inventing from scratch
- Why margins can shrink as a group grows
- How rural practices use tele-optometry and local trust
- The 30-day hiring checklist and the need to move fast on poor fits
- Why a program-manager mindset helps in clinic growth
Connect with Mike: https://www.linkedin.com/in/herreram111/
More episodes: https://buildingempires.live
Mike Herrera came from the defense industry with no optometry background and built Vision Now! into nine rural practices across Colorado, with about half using tele-optometry. He talks with Ankit Patel about hiring experienced people, margin pressure as a group grows, rural access, and running an eye care group like a program manager.
Sponsored by My Business Care Team. https://mybcat.com
