The Abundant OD Podcast

My name is Eric Levenhagen, and I'd like to welcome you to the introductory episode of the Abundant OD podcast. This is a relatively new venture for me, and I'm excited to see how it grows and evolves over time. I've been in the financial industry for over 20 years. I became a CPA in 2008 and started my own practice in 2010.

From an early point in my career, I realized that many of the clients I worked with, especially in professional services industries, faced specific challenges that traditional accounting and tax services didn't fully address. Most of my counterparts in the space were focused solely on crunching numbers and filling out forms.

As a CPA, business owner, and practitioner in professional services, I recognized that our industry wasn't adequately serving small business owners like you. So I began developing a framework that we now call financial harmony. Our main goal is to help improve the financial health of our clients' businesses so they can design and lead fulfilling lifestyles.

When you step back and look at it, most financial strategies are quite similar, right? Tax law is what it is, the numbers are the numbers, and business is business. What sets them apart is how these strategies are thought about and implemented. Not every idea you hear is suitable for your goals and aspirations.

Likewise, there are probably some actions you should be taking now but might be overlooking. Your financial health and that of your business are interconnected. Imagine focusing on a comprehensive approach that addresses all areas of your financial performance, working together in harmony with your life goals.

This has evolved over time to working with more and more optometrists in private practice, which brings us to where we are today. So my goal for this podcast and my hope for you as a listener is that you'll hear stories from colleagues about decisions they made while growing their practices, the results they experienced, and the impact on their lives, families, patients, staff, and communities.

Our discussions will revolve around specific challenges that we all face as owners of private practices. Your time and expertise as an optometrist are extremely valuable to the people you serve.

At some point, you also have to figure out running a business, which is something that very few of us were ever trained to do. We know that over 80 percent of businesses fail in the first 5 years. And out of those that survive, 80 percent of them are doing what I call failing slowly. They aren't sure how to grow or scale their operations to a desirable level.

They see a lot of activity that doesn't always translate into a bigger bank account, which means they're surviving month to month in their practice where one bad week or month could jeopardize their entire business. A lot of them feel like they're paying an exorbitant amount of taxes and not sure how to solve that.

Does it really take some complex tax strategy, or is most of the issue rooted in their cash flow? At the end of the day, how do we make sure you're not being overworked, underpaid, on the road to burnout? So many before them have come, right? Instead, we want to show there's a way to run a practice the way they want, with the values and goals they had when they first started, and they can still design a fulfilling lifestyle. Both are possible, right? So, we're lining up a lot of great doctors and industry specialists here to interview. You can get inspired and know that the path you're on and the things we're talking about are all worthwhile.

People like Dr. Mick Kling, one of the leading experts in eye care consulting and leadership. That was a great discussion. Dr. Brianna Rhue, an entrepreneurial optometrist who owns and operates several ventures to serve the industry. You'll hear about the impact she's making and her devotion to her community.

Dr. Kristie Nguyen, an optometrist in Florida, also a bran

Transcript

My name is Eric Levenhagen, and I'd like to welcome you to the introductory episode of the Abundant OD podcast. This is a relatively new venture for me, and I'm excited to see how it grows and evolves over time. I've been in the financial industry for over 20 years. I became a CPA in 2008 and started my own practice in 2010.

From an early point in my career, I realized that many of the clients I worked with, especially in professional services industries, faced specific challenges that traditional accounting and tax services didn't fully address. Most of my counterparts in the space were focused solely on crunching numbers and filling out forms.

As a CPA, business owner, and practitioner in professional services, I recognized that our industry wasn't adequately serving small business owners like you. So I began developing a framework that we now call financial harmony. Our main goal is to help improve the financial health of our clients' businesses so they can design and lead fulfilling lifestyles.

When you step back and look at it, most financial strategies are quite similar, right? Tax law is what it is, the numbers are the numbers, and business is business. What sets them apart is how these strategies are thought about and implemented. Not every idea you hear is suitable for your goals and aspirations.

Likewise, there are probably some actions you should be taking now but might be overlooking. Your financial health and that of your business are interconnected. Imagine focusing on a comprehensive approach that addresses all areas of your financial performance, working together in harmony with your life goals.

This has evolved over time to working with more and more optometrists in private practice, which brings us to where we are today. So my goal for this podcast and my hope for you as a listener is that you'll hear stories from colleagues about decisions they made while growing their practices, the results they experienced, and the impact on their lives, families, patients, staff, and communities.

Our discussions will revolve around specific challenges that we all face as owners of private practices. Your time and expertise as an optometrist are extremely valuable to the people you serve.

At some point, you also have to figure out running a business, which is something that very few of us were ever trained to do. We know that over 80 percent of businesses fail in the first 5 years. And out of those that survive, 80 percent of them are doing what I call failing slowly. They aren't sure how to grow or scale their operations to a desirable level.

They see a lot of activity that doesn't always translate into a bigger bank account, which means they're surviving month to month in their practice where one bad week or month could jeopardize their entire business. A lot of them feel like they're paying an exorbitant amount of taxes and not sure how to solve that.

Does it really take some complex tax strategy, or is most of the issue rooted in their cash flow? At the end of the day, how do we make sure you're not being overworked, underpaid, on the road to burnout? So many before them have come, right? Instead, we want to show there's a way to run a practice the way they want, with the values and goals they had when they first started, and they can still design a fulfilling lifestyle. Both are possible, right? So, we're lining up a lot of great doctors and industry specialists here to interview. You can get inspired and know that the path you're on and the things we're talking about are all worthwhile.

People like Dr. Mick Kling, one of the leading experts in eye care consulting and leadership. That was a great discussion. Dr. Brianna Rhue, an entrepreneurial optometrist who owns and operates several ventures to serve the industry. You'll hear about the impact she's making and her devotion to her community.

Dr. Kristie Nguyen, an optometrist in Florida, also a brand ambassador for several companies and a successful entrepreneur in her own right. She shares some great insights on networking as well as some other things. Dr. Hank McKinney shared his story of how he is impacting underserved youth in Hawaii and around the country, just a lot of amazing stories and experiences that wouldn't happen if these elements of financial harmony did not exist in their business and in their lives.

We really need to believe that running a profitable business that serves our own lives is not a bad thing. It's critical so that you can continue to impact people's lives. Through improving their eyesight and how they experience life. So we're probably going to have at least a guest a month where we're talking about, the decisions that they made in their own practice, which led to the actions that improved their practice and how that has helped their own personal prosperity.

We'll have some shorter episodes with just me, maybe weekly, where I can share some insights, having been in practice myself now privately for over 14 years. Some lessons learned and things you can take away and implement in your own life as the leader of a private optometry practice. This podcast is a newer chapter of my own business journey.

So I'm looking forward to getting feedback along the way. I'm really excited to see how this grows and where, how we can form a community where we can all grow together. So if you're as excited about this opportunity as I am, I want you to subscribe. I want you to share this with your friends and colleagues, get this into their hands so they can experience it because.

What we'll be talking about is solving those financial and business management challenges that we all face. And once we work through those, we know that a life of true prosperity is waiting for us on the other side for you and for everybody you serve. So subscribe, share this with your friends, and we'll see you in the next episode.