Josh Cook is a determined individual who never takes no for an answer. When he realized there was no opticians association in Pennsylvania, he didn't simply accept it and move on. Instead, he turned his mindset from "can't" to "how" and started reaching out to people who could help.
During our conversation, Josh delves into the challenges they faced in developing the association's website, but also the excitement and enthusiasm driving their work. We explore the intricacies of opticianry, comparing it to the complexity of chess, and emphasizing the importance of continuous learning and involvement in improving the industry.
We also discuss the power of remote engagement in providing quality vision care, particularly for patients who have ordered glasses online and are dissatisfied. The conversation highlights the vital role opticians play in preventing glasses that are of no use to the patient and stresses the need for personalized, one-on-one interactions. Josh also shares his interest in learning more about working at Delray Vision Academy and running his own shop, underscoring the importance of exploring different office practices and constantly seeking growth and improvement.
Timestamps 02:59 Mindset shift from can't to how 04:06 Vision for Pennsylvania opticians organization 08:27 Completely agree, biggest surprises and challenges. 11:18 Leadership about selflessness, not personal interests 14:38 Connecting, inspiring, and educating opticians is important. 20:07 Taking proactive steps for success now. 23:06 Optician provides comprehensive care for progressive lenses. 26:28 A great conversation, future discussions, documenting experiences. 29:03 Free consultation to determine ideal products.
Josh Cook is a determined individual who never takes no for an answer. When he realized there was no opticians association in Pennsylvania, he didn't simply accept it and move on. Instead, he turned his mindset from "can't" to "how" and started reaching out to people who could help.
During our conversation, Josh delves into the challenges they faced in developing the association's website, but also the excitement and enthusiasm driving their work. We explore the intricacies of opticianry, comparing it to the complexity of chess, and emphasizing the importance of continuous learning and involvement in improving the industry.
We also discuss the power of remote engagement in providing quality vision care, particularly for patients who have ordered glasses online and are dissatisfied. The conversation highlights the vital role opticians play in preventing glasses that are of no use to the patient and stresses the need for personalized, one-on-one interactions. Josh also shares his interest in learning more about working at Delray Vision Academy and running his own shop, underscoring the importance of exploring different office practices and constantly seeking growth and improvement.
Timestamps 02:59 Mindset shift from can't to how 04:06 Vision for Pennsylvania opticians organization 08:27 Completely agree, biggest surprises and challenges. 11:18 Leadership about selflessness, not personal interests 14:38 Connecting, inspiring, and educating opticians is important. 20:07 Taking proactive steps for success now. 23:06 Optician provides comprehensive care for progressive lenses. 26:28 A great conversation, future discussions, documenting experiences. 29:03 Free consultation to determine ideal products.
Welcome to Optometry Profits Revealed. I'm your host, Peter Pracht. On this show, we explore the strategies and tactics eye care professionals need to thrive in this digital age. So put on your glasses, and let's focus on the future of your success. Welcome to Optometry Profits Revealed with Peter Prich. Today, we're here to welcome Josh Cook. He is the president of the Opticians Association of Pennsylvania. He's an optician owner of his own shop at Optical On Pointe. He's got a bachelor's degree in English and 15 years in the optical Pratt. You also work at the Delaware Vision Academy. We'll talk a little bit about integrating that with, your practice Thank you so much, Josh. Thanks for being here. Thanks for inviting me, Peter. It's great to be here. You've got a great, radio voice. I've been told, it kind of rolls off my tongue. I didn't realize that until I began this, but it Yeah, it is. It's enjoyable. It's fun to do this. It sounds easy. It comes off, you know, out of my mouth the way it should. Without any further ado, let's roll into, what we wanted to talk about and For lack of better terms, we'll speak to the mission of the Opticians Association of Pennsylvania. And then we're going to interrelate that with a few other things. Sure. That's probably the, As far as scope, that's probably the biggest project I'm involved in right now. So at the beginning of this year, 2023, There was no opticians association in a state that according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics Has 3,000 working opticians. I moved here, I think in 2012, I want to say. Right. And at the time, I was working at VisionWorks in South Carolina before I moved. I was apprenticed to a licensed optician in South Carolina. I had passed my ABO. I had, completed a Career progression program from National Academy of Opticianry. So I was I think it was like a year into the So I was on my way to becoming a licensed, moved to Pennsylvania and that all stopped Because there was no formal organization for opticians. So I wish I'd done something about it at that time, but, I didn't. And there's no connection because, you know, Like you said, there was nothing here. Certainly nothing connecting international level, let alone an interstate level. So Anyway, years later, I'm I'm at a point in my life where I kind of made a mindset shift from From can't to how. And, rather than simply accepting that there was no opticians association in Pennsylvania said, well, what can we do about that? And And I started getting connected with, people that helped. The Opticians Association of America. I I have a friend in Ohio, John Bruning. And then I went to the Opticians Association of America's Leadership Conference, which was in Asheville, North Carolina last year. And, Donna Hatch and president Diddy Bartlett. They all started getting behind this idea of bringing an opticians association Back to Pennsylvania. So we actually, shortly after the meeting, shortly after the leadership conference, we had, like, a grassroots Actually, it was our 1st grassroots meeting to see who was interested in helping was before the leadership conference. And then I was sworn in as president at the Opticians Association America Leadership Conference. Cool. And since that time, awesome people like Peter and, people have just Lot of people the probably the thing I've heard the most is we've been needing to do this. I've been thinking about doing this. I'm so glad you're doing this. How can I help? I've heard that a lot from people around the state and highly qualified people, people with lots of experience. I'm really the least qualified person, but I happen to be the guy who, like, put himself out there and said this needs to exist. But, so our 1st 1st several months, we really, had a lot of meetings and hammered out, what we are and why we are. So I'll just read, what we developed out of that. Our vision Is what we see as an organization and see for opticians in Pennsylvania. And the the vision of the Opticians Association of Pennsylvania is To connect and inspire professional opticians statewide and nationwide, we will continue to shape opticianry's role So it remains indispensable in an evolving industry. Absolutely. And one of the things we always keep coming back to and and a theme that we're gonna embrace, So, you know, when we do have a conference is empowering opticians. That gets a little lost in some of the shuffle Because, you know, obviously there's different empowerment means different things in different places, but it really it basically having a little more control over your profession is about the best way to to to put it in my mind. You know, that that is empowering in my mind. My my focus Is we are by and for opticians. And probably the biggest reason we exist in my mind, Is because who else is advocating for opticians? I mean, this is, Pennsylvania's a union state. And, like It is. UPS just threatened to strike. Have a a labor, and FedEx. Would they negotiate for their, I could go I in fact, I did. Before I opened my practice, I wanted to, Have a source of revenue that, so I could leave my work, since there was, you know, no guarantee when I opened up optical on point. So I went and started loading brown trucks at UPS, from, like, 3 AM to 8 AM. Yeah. Like, almost killed myself for about a month. But, Not something you could do with that baby. My point is the common labor moving boxes, loading boxes on trucks can make more money than an optician. It's because the union is so strong. Because they organized. No, that is completely true. Organization, For lack of oversimplifying, they came together. They came together and they had basic requirements, Basic needs, basic wants that that were gonna be met and, they were gonna be met or the work wasn't gonna be done. And I get that, you know, I can relate to that. I mean, and, and you know what We're gonna talk about in a second, but better together, it wasn't, couldn't be more true than what you just described. You know, they, they ended up Having a better together moment because at some point they did come together. That's our motto At Opticians Association of Pennsylvania, we're better together. We're gonna bring that in, Peter. And the other thing I'll say, I'll read our mission. Opticians Association of Pennsylvania believes the professional optician's role as a craftsman is indispensable in the eye care and eyewear delivery system. We strive to empower our members by providing them with a platform for connection, opportunities, and professional development. And that's that was my story. The, you know, 10 10 years ago when I moved to Pennsylvania, there wasn't something here for me. And I think that needs to be here. Like Pennsylvania should be leading the way. Definitely not have nothing at all. I agree. I completely agree with you. Hey, so far along on this journey, because like you said, we've been meeting routinely, Through the spring and then took a little bit of break when we hit summer because we accomplished a lot of stuff to be quite frank with you. What do you think has been the biggest surprise? And then we'll kind of elaborate on that. What's been easy? Because there have been parts of it that, I mean, For me, the for me looking in from your shoes, the the website development was like, you know, we were really blessed that we We have the ease of that taking place, and what's not been so easy. People have surprised me from both directions. I, and I probably shouldn't have been surprised by either one, but I've been surprised that people with extremely high level Of expertise, people with extremely valuable time, people with excellent credentials have just come in and volunteered because they believe Believe in opticianry. They believe in opticians. They believe in the value of what we do. And I've been overwhelmed by that. Like, just amazed at like, wow. And it's it's not about me, but I'm a part of it. So it it it just feels really good that overwhelming positive response from really quality people. So in a way that surprised me. But also the other thing that about people that surprised me, and I see this as one of the biggest problems in opticianry is I think opticianry would be further ahead if we could get along better. That and that's what we're forming our our association on is we're better together. And even here in the early days, there's been disagreement. And you're gonna have this agreement when anytime you work with other people. Right. In Opticians Associate of Pennsylvania, We have taken the idea of it's not that I have to be right. If if I have a really passionate idea that I think is is correct, but that idea gets taken and changed as a part of a committee or, you know, final vote that it's really not my idea. It's something Maybe my idea initiated, but it became something else, something different. Like our logo, for example. Right. I put time into in a logo, but then that logo is not what the the board voted on to approve. But we took Our mindset from I have to be right to we have to be right. And it's by working together with other people that's improved, we're better together. That's fine with me. I don't care about I'm not right. I care that we, as a group, as an organization, as a profession are right. And I think that's one of the biggest things that are holding opticians back is we we can't agree amongst ourselves enough to move forward. That's a little microcosm story of what excellent leadership's about. I mean, it's not it's about the bigger picture. It isn't about you. And it's so much easier to say than to actually do because how much of everything we do is about us. I mean, it isn't Everything that we want to do comes back to our own personal interests and we know this and And that's ingrained in us. But when you see genuine leadership, be able to push certain things aside to See that clear picture that that that involves way more than you and even the people that are around us right now, you know, You couldn't be you couldn't be more accurate, I think. And, and I'm gonna take it a step further and say that the people that are on the board Of the Opticians Association of Pennsylvania are the most amazing people I've come across in quite some time. They, their contributions are jaw dropping, you know, Charlie, Sue's, and oh my gosh. Harry, the website And volunteering. Like and these are these are people with full time jobs. Right. A lot heavy demands on their time. Like Right. Nobody has time for Right. But we're all here. Probably I mean, we have a we have something going on with Opticians Association of Pennsylvania every week of the month. We have board meetings 1st Monday of the month. We have a committee meeting 2nd Tuesday of the month that your your committee, membership committee of of which Peter is the chair. Yep. And we just merged with convention because that's what we ought to be doing at this point, you know, now that we've done an official launch. And then you and I have talked about other types of communication that we're gonna Pratt. Bring to the table and, and see what works. You know, these are, we have, some nice roadmaps with other associations that we can Work with, you know, what they've done or what they're doing. Yeah. We don't have to reinvent the wheel here. We're Nope. We don't. We have Donna Hatch has been huge with that. Right. Because she works with a number of associations and a lot of it's, it's just, You know, taking the template, taking the format and then applying it with, the people, you know, the boots on the ground team that you have in Doctor. Right. It's the truth. It depends on where it is. One of the coolest things, and you and I talked about this before, One of the coolest things about the sessions that I've been a part of, listening in on, you know, to the National Opticians Association Of America. They're always focused on education first. It comes back to education first. I know for myself from the day that I got involved with the Opticians Association of Pennsylvania to today, I've almost done a complete 180 from this, stomp and pound need for licensure to, woah, Education is the road to get there. You know, when you understand that and you begin to see that, and then you see the network of education that's available to us, It's, you know, then it, then it becomes a little eye opening and, and, and you realize what we're really about. We, we all wanna be better at our job, You know, so even you and I just attended a continuing ed meeting, which was really a fundraiser for the OAP. But you and I both came away inspired And encouraged as opticians as a result of being a part of that that meeting. Right. And then it's gonna The this we we're not gonna accomplish anything significant of of value, which, you know, I I don't disagree that licensure ultimately is a good goal. But we need to be connected. We need to have a group that, can can do that. That's that's That's a down the road goal of but first but right right away, we can connect and inspire opticians. We can help educate opticians. We can advocate for opticians. We, we gotta build the building blocks of getting the people connected, getting opticians connected. Demonstrating that the continuing education is a genuine commitment. It's the very first thing that we rolled out. Like you said, we participated in that right away, literally, What? 6 weeks after we we rolled out membership. One of the key things I'm excited about is, we're gonna have nerd sessions, every 3rd Tuesday of the month, we're Yep. A an average Joe optician, Josh, working down at VisionWorks, You know, 10 years ago as an as a rookie optician and has has questions about, you know, anything, anything that comes up in the normal workday, I can go and I can be connected to some real industry experienced experts. And I can just come in, no judgment, no CEs, and just ask my questions. Right. And anybody can come to that. Doctor It's awesome. I mean, and, and it's needed, you know, The, not, not just the hands on, but, you know, we have this constant wave of new technology, Not just with frames. Lord knows there's there's there's lens technology that is just blowing my mind away that's that's being rolled out right now at Just for mid to digital mid stuff is jaw droppingly clear. I mean That's the, that's a cool thing about opticianery. You can, You know, just the math, like in the class by Tina Lotti, talking about IoT lenses. You know, she says Every lens that's generated, it's basically like a supercomputer that's doing that. You know what, you know, the compensation, the lens, etcetera. So If you're a visual visually that mask by hand, like forget it. Right. Here I am trying to wrap my head around a visual acuity booster point, you know, and she's explaining to me this whole other wave of mapping. I'm like, Oh, okay. I'm already behind the, I'm already 2 generations behind in my in my understanding of digital lens technology. You know? There's a quote about chess. It's an old Indian saying. Chess is a ocean at which, An elephant may bathe and a gnat may drink. And the point is It's just so big and deep that you can get in into it at an incredibly deep level, like an ocean dig, an elephant taking a bath, or just like a nap Taking a drink at a very small level, but like it's so much bigger than even, even that. So that, that, that the quote is about chess, But I think it also applies to opticianry. There's just so much you can learn and do in the field. Totally. I completely agree with that. And, you know, to me, to me, a definition of, of what an optician Prash. It's a combination of artistry, design, hand and eye skill, craftsmanship, bedside manner. And those are just things that are on top of the basic skills of an optician understanding a prescription, a frame, Lenses, lens enhancements. You know, those are, those are 2 very different characteristics, but they're integral to being a Truly skilled and gifted optician that takes time to understand. It takes experience. It takes caring about what you do, the people that you're working with, you know, and when, You know, when this stuff comes together, it can be transferred down. It can be, the teaching can be more genuine. The teaching can be, can be real, you know, states that have this in place or that are putting it in place like we Press. You know, they have a huge advantage on places that don't. You know, there are 22 states that have, You know, licensing, I think. The pay I mean, over half of them, over half the states don't. Over half the states don't have associations, just opticians associations in general. That's terrible. That that's anybody in the industry, when when you look at, like, the fact that half the states Don't even have a opticians association? That's unacceptable. Like, we we all I don't care what state you're in, if your state has an association or not. We everybody needs to be getting involved in one way or the other to to make that a reality. I completely agree with you. And to to take that One step even further down the road, now is the time to do it. You know, make because you can make it Make these associations on your own terms based on your state, where you are, your demographics, your cities, your populace, what you need, What's gonna work for you, but do it now because if you, you want to be organizing proactively as opposed to reactively, You know, otherwise you're, you know, you're, you're the cleanup crew and, and you weren't even invited to the party. And What do I mean by that? I mean, you're standing there in front of a patient who ordered a set of glasses online And they're explaining to you that they can't see out of them. Well, there's an opportunity For you to say, I'm going to help you, but here's how I'm gonna help you. And you hand him the business card and you encourage remote engagement And you're going to push that remote engagement and you're going to say, Hey, take a kit like this, put our frames in it, Engage remotely with me and do this the right way so that this doesn't happen for you, so that you don't have a set of glasses that are absolutely useless. Now your clear vision has just been pushed back another 3 weeks. This didn't have to happen. So fix this, do it the right way, Have remote engagement work in a way that it functions for all parties, that it, that it helps The practice closed a sale when, when they wouldn't be able to do that, you know, it's a huge tool to put in your toolkit. Josh, this has been a fantastic discussion. Did you have anything that you wanted to add on top of what we were just talking about? Every time I start thinking about this, I get excited about, where opticianry can be and what opticianry can do. And, you know, you're, I've seen that way too many times where, someone came in to me recently at my store, and they did not get Expert care at the place they'd been before. And, I made them a set of lenses, and They worked great for them. And they actually brought me 2 additional pair and bought lenses for those as well because of the difference of My glasses work so much better for them. Right. And now anybody they know. Anybody they mentioned that to. Well, you touched on it a minute ago. Like that's we're somewhere there's a failure. If somebody if a patient ends up with a pair of glasses that are of no value, That are of no use. So there's a lot of ways that can happen, but it shouldn't happen. And who keeps that from happening? Opticians. Absolutely. So that's Because where the clarity, you know, where the rubber beats the mood road in terms of clear vision, there's an optician. Or even if it's just, you know, because this person always takes them off to see the computer or whatever, and they need progressive. Right. You know, it's that, It's that comprehensive care where an optician is gonna think of everything and they're gonna get get the fitting height, right? They're gonna, they're gonna do those things That a computer is not going to do that a machine is not going to measure that, a layperson is not going to know what questions to ask You're it's gonna be an optician. And it's and you need an optician who's connected, so that if they don't know the answer, They can show up at the neuron session on a Tuesday night and get the answer from somebody who's been in the industry 30 years and can do the math in their head. And you're right. And this comes right back to us being better together because the more together we are, the more we can critically analyze what technology we want to use To embrace where we're gonna stand. You know, there are some digital measurements that are fantastic right now and highly reliable, but What advice is taking place as far as the prescription, the frame, and the lens enhancements? Are you are we making single vision, near vision only? Intermediate vision only? Are we doing like a an On Altus type lens, are we doing a conventional progressive? Right. That's a conversation where an optician is gonna think through the patient's needs. Right. And ultimately land them in. That's that's the kind of thing that no matter how you're ordering your glasses, Those things need to be thought through. And I've had the conversation literally hundreds of times with hundreds of patients. Right. And they don't know The right factors to consider. People come in all the time and tell me they want red Versace glasses. And my response is, do you want red Versace glasses? I do want glasses that are gonna look and work great. That's my response. Right. Because, right. It's just a tragedy and it happens. It happens way too often where, you know, they get the glasses and the glasses end up in a drawer, you know, whatever they paid for them and they're not, They're not able to be used because Right. And and to me, that's so wrong. Anytime, like you like you said to to Just a couple of seconds ago. Anytime there's a set of glasses that aren't working, it's a, it's a failure. It's a, the industry failed. Yeah. Yep. Could be the Rx was wrong. It could be the Yep. The optician the salesperson was motivated by Financial rather than buy. You know, the That, that does happen. Or, or the, the example I always come back to is the overworked optician who is trying to be professional, but oh my gosh, there's a line of people getting their contacts. There's a lot of people that wanna get sunglasses and the doctors are rolling their fingers on the desk. And guess what? Our conversation's over. Here's the 1 pair you're being fit with by and that was a person who was ready to probably drop blah, blah, blah on 4 pairs of glasses. But no, That can't happen, you know, because that got pushed through, you know, take the time for the 1 on ones, you know, Use remote engagement that suits you the way that it's going to work for yourself and the practice and the patient. You know, it should be a tool in your toolkit, not something to replace anybody. You know, that's, that's not what it's about. This has been a great, great conversation. I really appreciate your time. And I fully look forward to speaking to other leaders as we move forward. And I'd like to talk with you down the road because I'm curious to talk a little bit more. We talked About it before, but we didn't really get deeply into it in this discussion about what it's like, to be working at Delray Vision Academy And running, your own shop 3 days a week, that's quite engaging. And, you know, What's there for you? What, what are the obstacles, the tools, what are the successes? You know, how do you make those steps to being there full You know, and, and document that, you know, keep a road, keep a roadmap of it because that situation exists for a lot of opticians, Josh. They want to know, And I wanna know too. So if you have an opportunity to document that and we could check back in on that, I think that that would be an awesome topic and an awesome show to go through. Final thought on that, just to touch briefly. You know, it's valuable to see again, we're better together. I I don't think any office can improve. So, you know, it's valuable to see what the way one office does things And compare and contrast that with, another, you know, private practice. Because probably, They both have some best practices that one's doing the other is not, and they could both improve themselves by learning from one another. And one way you can do that is by working at one way you'll see that is working at different places. Doctor. I would agree completely. You know, because it you can learn so much working at a Sam's Club. You can learn so much In, in a Walmart environment, you know, opticians are skilled. They know what they're doing and the more they do it, the more they learn. It's, you know, it's not where your feet are. It's how you care about your profession and The way you carry yourself and what you do, the way you take care of people, the way you listen, the way you deliver. You know, to me, that's what it's, That's largely what it's about if you're gonna be a good optician. Hey, thank you so much for this. Again, what a wonderful discussion. And I look forward to discussing With, you in the future, some more of that journey. If you can document it, I think that would be wonderful. Thanks again, Josh. Really appreciate it. This has been another episode of Optometry Profits Revealed with Peter Precht. If what we've talked about has had any impact or interest to you, please visit icclearly.com And submit an inquiry. We'll have a free consultation with you and determine whether, what products we offer are gonna be ideal for your staff and you in the practice. Thank you so much, everybody. Take good care. Thank you for tuning in to Optometry Profits revealed. Remember, amidst disruption, there are tremendous opportunities to lead your eye care business toward Increase profitability. Contact me, Peter Pratt for a free consultation today at icclearly.com. Let's turn these ideas into your profits.
