@Barbara: If you’ll look in your records you’ll notice that I bought your Optometric Office Design book/binder. I used it to help me start my private practice (http://www.summitvisioncenter.com). The layout I came up with can be seen here (PDF file 520K). It’s nothing special, but the book gave me the inspiration along with very helpful details about ceiling tiles, lighting, carpets, talking with contractors and more. I didn’t think I could cram a 2 exam room space into 1100 sq. feet, but I did. Everyone comments on how big it feels.

I’m glad I found your blog (thanks to Google Alerts). I also read your essay about why more OD’s should blog. I thought you’d like to know that, indeed, people ARE listening to you!

Your comment about optometry consultants made me chuckle. My specialty is optometric office design. I do my best to give OD’s lots of helpful free articles and tips on office design through both my website and my blog.

Even though I’ve been successful in business for over 20 years, there are still many of people in the industry who don’t know that I exist. Advertising in trade magazines is cost-prohibitive for a small business like mine.

The internet has leveled the playing field for me. It took a few years but now my site comes up #1 when people search Google for optometric office design. I now get nearly 40% of my clients from my website, blog and monthly newsletter. (The rest are referrals.)

All the other office design sites are strictly self-promotional. I believe mine is the only one that has valuable free information about office design along with some promotion of our products and services.

I’m going to give you a mention in my next newsletter and a link to your blog. I invite you to visit my blog and website. If you like what you see, I hope you’ll do the same for me.

http://www.barbarawrightdesign.com/
http://optometricofficedesign.blogspot.com/

Barbara

Thank you for your kind comments. We have set up http://www.ukoptometry.co.uk here in the UK as an online arm of our training company. Together with the UK’s leading health care recruitment consultancy, Flame Health Limited, we aim to provide current debate and educational articles for the optometry profession, together with sound advice and information on recruitment and development, which would include, for example, how to write a decent CV.

We are now publishing CPD articles by leading members of our profession, which are currently available as PDF downloads. We would be interested to hear whether these are also ‘very useful’ to our overseas colleagues.

Oh, and I am glad to hear that Thomas and Friends are as popular with you as they are over here, which our toy box all too often confirms!

Jane Macnaughton MCOptom