Today we’d like to introduce you to Kevin Hong.
Kevin, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
Artisan Eyecare officially opened its doors in May 2016, a little over a year ago. The year that has passed has been filled with many milestone “firsts”: our first patient, first sale, first profitable month, etc. Along with these often exciting landmarks in discovering Artisan’s identity were also many little mistakes and learning experiences. As I reflect on this past year, I feel that Artisan and I have grown side by side to find in our journey to create and deliver the best possible eye care experience.
Prior to becoming the owner/founder of Artisan Eyecare, I thought my exposure to the field of optometry gave me all the tools I needed to create, operate, and upkeep an office. In 2007, during my undergraduate days at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, I had taken a job as an optician. During this time I sold, adjusted, and repaired eye wear while learning and gaining a deeper appreciation for the field of optometry. By the end of my time in Champaign, I had befriended an optometrist who took me under his wing and really solidified my goals of becoming and eye care provider.
Fast forward to 2009, when I had moved to St. Louis to further my education in the field of optometry. The deeper I dove into the field of eye care, the more excited I became about actually delivering patient care and treating eye and vision conditions. By the time I saw my first patient in our school clinic, I knew that this was going to be my career – that I could do this for the next 40 or so years of my life.
As excited as I was about the actual work of delivering patient care, I hadn’t given much thought to what mode of practice I was going to be performing the actual work in. Like many fields of study, there are a lot of directions you can go once you graduate. Options included: private practice, corporate optometry, research, academia…the list goes on. I got my very first glimpse of what Artisan Eyecare might become when I took on a business plan challenge for a scholarship of sorts while I was in school. Weeks and weeks were spent working late into the night doing research and putting together a business plan that would be presented to a panel that would judge our work as well as the feasibility of the business plan. I’ll go ahead and spoil the story and tell you that I didn’t win that particular scholarship, but the experience and preparation had awakened something else in me. As excited as I was about embarking in my career as an optometrist, many parts of the work had become routine, automatic, and almost ingrained in myself like muscle memory. The small amount time that I had spent in planning for and preparing a business presented a new challenge that seemed to light a fire inside of me.
Back in the real world, however, I was about to graduate and become real optometrist. Along with an exciting new career ahead of me were also a ton of student loans to pay off. In the months prior to graduation, I had received some final loan documents that I finally looked at carefully. Past all the legalese was that final daunting number of what I had spent over the past four years to get my degree. To be completely honest, it scared. Enough so to make me forget about wanting to take on the challenge of opening my own optometry office and optical. So I did what I believed to be the sensible and safe thing and took on a stable and steady job as an employee at a multi-location optometry practice.
Most aspects of my career were great. I was making a steady living and finally able to stop living the student lifestyle. I was slowly starting to pay off my student loans and they started to look a little scary. Also, I was able to deliver pure and great optometry to patients who loved me without having to think about that business decisions that come with owning a practice. The training wheels were off and I was learning to become a great doctor on my own. As the months and years passed by, though, I began to wonder and question why things were done a certain way and why certain decisions were made. It was during these months that I slowly began to flesh out a business plan that was more realistic and less hypothetical. I began to take note of how patients were being taken care of even outside of the exam room, questioning every step in protocol and trying to come up with better and more efficient ways to run my own office.
Two and a half years later, I finally decided to move on the plans that had been carefully laid out. By day I worked diligently performing my duties as an optometrist, and by nights I arranged meetings and calls with bankers, lawyers, real estate brokers, and more vendors than I could remember. Things slowly came together we found a wonderful neighborhood that looked like it had room for unique and eclectic optical and optometry office. As our build-out came underway, I also needed to find vendors to purchase inventory as well as equipment from. Due to construction noise, personnel, and dust, I even began to schedule meetings in my apartment building, as well as our local chamber of commerce (which was a very valuable resource to have from the start).
Through the collaborative efforts of all our contractors, bankers, lawyers, not to mention some very enthusiastic friends and an extremely understanding and supportive then fiancée (now wife) who was planning our wedding concurrently, Artisan managed to open its doors for business in May 2016. We have been growing steadily since then and proud to offer a hand curated selection of unique eye wear to our friends and neighbors in the North center community.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
I’ve been trained as a scientist in undergrad and worked as an optometrist for almost all of my adult career. I’m confident and comfortable with skills as a clinician, but building and maintaining the reputation of an entire business has made me have to develop another skill entirely. Business decisions are not always as clear cut as making a diagnosis and coming up with a treatment plan. We have learned throughout the process that it is important have a team of trusted employees and advisers that we can rely on.
Alright – so let’s talk business. Tell us about Artisan Eyecare – what should we know?
Artisan Eyecare is both a primary eye care provider as well as an optical. That means that we provide vision and medical examinations as well as proudly offer a diverse selection of different types of eye wear. Our licensed doctors of optometry (ODs) are Kevin Hong and J. Christopher Wooldridge, both of whom practice full scope optometry including vision exams, standard and specialty contact lens fittings, and the diagnosis and treatment of eye diseases. While the practice of optometry has an established standard of care, we don’t believe in “standard” patients. Each patient presents a unique challenge and a problem that we aim to help overcome. That’s partially where the name “Artisan” comes from. We strive to deliver a unique and what we believe to be the best eye care experience for each individual patient. For us, it’s about truly listening to each patient and making sure our treatment plans and solutions are customized for each individual.
The second part of “Artisan” name comes from the frame partners we’ve chosen to work with. While Artisan Eyecare carries many iconic and recognizable brands, we have also consciously chosen to offer eyeglass frames from some smaller names as well. Most products have up-to-date, unique, and remarkable designs that are hand-crafted from high quality materials like such as wood, titanium, and Italian Mazzuchelli acetate. We feel that our collection reflects who we are as well, since all our staff members play an important part in curating the frames we offer.
Is there a characteristic or quality that you feel is essential to success?
I believe that being open to collaboration is absolutely necessary for success. I had strong convictions and ideas for where I wanted to be as an individual and where I wanted Artisan Eyecare to go as a company. It is also important to be open to new ideas and to take any criticisms in a productive light. I’ve had to grow as a practice owner, and I definitely couldn’t have done that without listening to what friends, employees, and even patients have had to say.
Going hand in hand with being open to advice is to also be adaptable. Advice is useless unless action is taken. Staying true to your dream is important, but so is knowing when you have to correct the course to maintain your trajectory.
Contact Info:
- Address: 3929 N Western Ave
Chicago, IL 60618 - Website: ArtisanEyecare.com
- Phone: 773-906-5725
- Email: office@artisaneyecare.com
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/ArtisanEyecare
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/ArtisanEyecare
- Yelp: www.yelp.com/biz/artisan-eyecare-chicago
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