August 20, 2007
Double vision | A chat with Ian Jones, co-founder of Newport Eye Care in Newport.
Founded April 2006
Startup costs: $982,000
Employees: Ian Jones, his wife, Kiran Jones, six full-time workers and one part-time worker
Revenue, year one: $654,256
Projected revenue, year two: $1 million
Contact: 355-3333
419 Moosehead Tr., Newport 04953
www.newporteyecare.net
What kind of services do you offer?
We're doing full scope, from your glasses to surgery. My wife specializes in pediatrics, I specialize in geriatrics, and then we both do in between, so we do a whole full spectrum of patient age. We also have a surgeon from Waterville [who] comes up here once or twice a month for any type of surgical procedures that need to be done.
Tell me how you started the business.
My wife and I are both originally from New Brunswick, Canada, but we went to school in Boston, and then ended up having an opportunity to go to San Antonio, Texas. So we were there for seven years, and while I was there, I did have a partnership with two other doctors where we had our own practice. I came on after the fact. It had already been open for a year.
But once we had kids, we wanted to move closer to home and we always loved Maine. So we came back here and both worked in Bangor at other offices for about a year before we [opened our own practice.]
How did you decide on the location?
We looked from Kittery to Presque Isle. We drove into Newport and said, "This is kind of a growing town and it doesn't have any eye care." That's when we started looking into statistics and finding out if it'd be worth having a practice here.
We were going to rent a location, but we looked at startup costs for the build-out and it happened that there was some land on one of the main roads between Newport and Dexter. We thought, "It's probably worth it to build on our own."
How did you get startup funding?
One of my wife's patients in Bangor was [a business banking officer] at Bangor Savings [Bank.] So we started talking to her and she said, "Well, make up a business proposal and submit it and we'll see what we can do."
And we did that. My father-in-law's an accountant, so he helped with that part a lot. Once we had the proposal and submitted it to the [Small Business Administration], they actually gave us a 100% loan for both the building and the practice.
Has building the office been worth the expense?
Oh yes. It was definitely a risk but it was more like a calculated risk. Even our projections we really did low. We thought we'd be averaging two patients a day, because we were starting cold. We didn't buy records from anybody. We thought by six months, we'd have six patients a day. We started out right off the bat with six to eight patients a day and now we're up to 15-17 a day.
How did you set your prices?
That was the hardest part. The first six months we started changing things back and forth [to see] where we should be. We also looked at the other eye care providers in Bangor, Waterville and the surrounding areas. We may not be the lowest but we're certainly not the highest.
When we first started, we took every insurance. Because we've been open for a year, we've re-looked at all the insurances. We have cut back on some and maybe that will cut back on some of the patients we have, but you have to look at the cost effectiveness of each plan, too.
How do you and your wife manage being in business together?
We divided things up. So she dealt with the building, because that's her kind of thing. She did the designing, the painting, the colors, the carpet, the frame displays. I dealt with purchasing the equipment, setting up our 401(k) plan, our insurance plan.
But we went to undergrad together ˆ that's where we met, at the University of New Brunswick. And then we went to optometry school together, so we've been dealing with each other for a long time. It'll make or break you. If you can get by building an office and not kill each other, you're doing well.
New Entrepreneurs profiles young businesses, 6-18 months old. Send your suggestions and contact information to editorial@mainebiz.biz.
Startup costs: $982,000
Employees: Ian Jones, his wife, Kiran Jones, six full-time workers and one part-time worker
Revenue, year one: $654,256
Projected revenue, year two: $1 million
Contact: 355-3333
419 Moosehead Tr., Newport 04953
www.newporteyecare.net
What kind of services do you offer?
We're doing full scope, from your glasses to surgery. My wife specializes in pediatrics, I specialize in geriatrics, and then we both do in between, so we do a whole full spectrum of patient age. We also have a surgeon from Waterville [who] comes up here once or twice a month for any type of surgical procedures that need to be done.
Tell me how you started the business.
My wife and I are both originally from New Brunswick, Canada, but we went to school in Boston, and then ended up having an opportunity to go to San Antonio, Texas. So we were there for seven years, and while I was there, I did have a partnership with two other doctors where we had our own practice. I came on after the fact. It had already been open for a year.
But once we had kids, we wanted to move closer to home and we always loved Maine. So we came back here and both worked in Bangor at other offices for about a year before we [opened our own practice.]
How did you decide on the location?
We looked from Kittery to Presque Isle. We drove into Newport and said, "This is kind of a growing town and it doesn't have any eye care." That's when we started looking into statistics and finding out if it'd be worth having a practice here.
We were going to rent a location, but we looked at startup costs for the build-out and it happened that there was some land on one of the main roads between Newport and Dexter. We thought, "It's probably worth it to build on our own."
How did you get startup funding?
One of my wife's patients in Bangor was [a business banking officer] at Bangor Savings [Bank.] So we started talking to her and she said, "Well, make up a business proposal and submit it and we'll see what we can do."
And we did that. My father-in-law's an accountant, so he helped with that part a lot. Once we had the proposal and submitted it to the [Small Business Administration], they actually gave us a 100% loan for both the building and the practice.
Has building the office been worth the expense?
Oh yes. It was definitely a risk but it was more like a calculated risk. Even our projections we really did low. We thought we'd be averaging two patients a day, because we were starting cold. We didn't buy records from anybody. We thought by six months, we'd have six patients a day. We started out right off the bat with six to eight patients a day and now we're up to 15-17 a day.
How did you set your prices?
That was the hardest part. The first six months we started changing things back and forth [to see] where we should be. We also looked at the other eye care providers in Bangor, Waterville and the surrounding areas. We may not be the lowest but we're certainly not the highest.
When we first started, we took every insurance. Because we've been open for a year, we've re-looked at all the insurances. We have cut back on some and maybe that will cut back on some of the patients we have, but you have to look at the cost effectiveness of each plan, too.
How do you and your wife manage being in business together?
We divided things up. So she dealt with the building, because that's her kind of thing. She did the designing, the painting, the colors, the carpet, the frame displays. I dealt with purchasing the equipment, setting up our 401(k) plan, our insurance plan.
But we went to undergrad together ˆ that's where we met, at the University of New Brunswick. And then we went to optometry school together, so we've been dealing with each other for a long time. It'll make or break you. If you can get by building an office and not kill each other, you're doing well.
Interview by Kerry Elson
New Entrepreneurs profiles young businesses, 6-18 months old. Send your suggestions and contact information to editorial@mainebiz.biz.
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