In This Episode:
- Carissa’s journey into optical
- What an optician in 2020 should be focused on
- Improving office culture
- How to spend the doctor’s money on frames and lab services
- Dealing with sour co-workers
- Creating a less-competitive sales work environment
- Why opticians need to know the business side and not just technical
- Frame inventory hacks
- Taking risks in frame buying to increase average sale
- Buy-back frame programs. Good or bad?
About The Guest:
Carissa Dunphy is an ABO Certified Optician who has been working in the Optical industry since 2008 and in healthcare for several years prior. She grew up in a house where her parents ran their small business in the home office and she began learning all of the elements of running a business at an early age. Seeing the hard work of her parents instilled in her a strong work ethic, the desire to do and see a job well done and to above all, do the right thing and what’s best for the customer.
She has worked in Optometry just outside of Seattle in the heart of the technology of Microsoft, Google, Amazon, and many others, for over 10 years. Carissa served on the Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors for three years, was a featured contributing Optician in Vision Monday Magazine’s year long Millennial Project, and was recently interviewed on the #1 Optometry Podcast, Defocus Media. She currently contributes to The Eyewear Forum Magazine, The Optical Vision Site, Optical Vision Resources, serves on INVISION Magazine’s Brain Squad panel and is a guest contributor for other publications in the industry.
Carissa’s formal education is in technology as a Certified Computer Applications Specialist, graduating Phi Theta Kappa, with additional coursework in Bioethics, Justice, Economics, Communications, and Digital Marketing. Before working in the healthcare industry she spent several years working for an internet startup and also a web hosting and live-streaming company where she provisioned servers and built websites for other small businesses. During this time Carissa hosted over 60 live podcast episodes which ranked as the #2 Marketing and Management Video Podcast, second to the Harvard Business Review. Her podcast and small business blog has been highlighted on MSN Money, the New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Huffington Post, GeekWire, StartupNation, The Shark Tank Blog, Quirky, Edison Awards, Barbara Corcoran’s Facebook page, Mark Cuban’s Twitter feed, and various other websites. She felt that her previous knowledge of small business, helping people, and love for Opticianry and technology would be a great combination, and Optician Now was created.
