“I’m always thinking about how we can improve”

6.30am

I’m up at about 6.30am. I do what we shouldn't do first thing: I look at my messages and emails, to see if anything panic-inducing is happening, any members of the team are not coming in, or if there’s anything extra that we need to plan for.

Once I have checked my phone, I do 15 minutes of meditation and stretches and then eat soaked chia and fenugreek seeds, fennel, and raisins, which have all been soaked overnight.

8.45am

I get in by 8.45am. Usually my business partner is there, and we have a debrief about what has happened, and look at the diary. We brief the team about the patients coming in: the last time they attended, or anything else the team should know.

I always call the patients our guests. We should imagine that they’re coming into our house. We want them to feel that they’re entering somewhere warm, rather than a practice, because people are sometimes nervous. We open at 9am.

10am

We have a really wide range of patients. We have City workers, and we have built up corporate accounts with them. But because the practice has been here for 45 years, we also have people who used to work in the City and have moved away, but still come in. Our oldest patient is 90 years old. They will still travel, even though they’ve moved outside of London.

My main morning task is to make sure the patient journey runs smoothly. If the patient has time, we offer them a coffee. The team will ask about their lifestyle: what do you do? Where are you going on holiday? Do you wear sunglasses? We also take an interest in their family. This information is really important to pass on to the optometrist when they’re testing. That, to me, is key, and I ensure that the team are doing it. If they’re not, I flag it afterwards. I want them to ask patients as much as possible, to get to know them and make them feel at home.

12pm

I don’t take lunch. I’ll be in the background, maybe having something to eat or going for a little walk, but it’s rare. Eyelink Opticians is a five-day, rather than a seven-day, practice. For me, Monday to Friday, every hour is golden. We don’t want to miss anything, and we want to make sure everything is running well in the practice.

1pm

We have recently started a dry eye clinic. I used to have an office space, and I’ve turned that into a dedicated dry eye room with a bed for comfort, so people can come in at lunchtime for 20 minutes, and relax whilst we perform a diagnostic assessment, followed by the appropriate treatment.

2pm

By the afternoon, all the deliveries have come in. The team is checking all the glasses, and I’m making sure that everything is running smoothly. I let the team do it – I’m there to ensure that they’re learning all the time.

I fully believe in empowering the practice team. I think it’s important that they always feel that they’re part of the family, and part of the decision making.

We might have a debrief (time dependent) on what has happened in the morning. We need to build up the number of corporate accounts we have, because that’s how we survive.

3.30pm

We may also have a rep visit. We try to get them in in the morning or late afternoon, avoiding lunchtime, as that is when we are busiest.

I’m not on the practice floor the whole time. My business admin time includes thinking about the future and planning ahead, whether it’s working out what we need for frames, making sure everything is up to date on lenses, budgeting, or ascertaining whether we are meeting our targets.

I’m always thinking about how we can improve. That happens not only on the practice floor, but behind the scenes.

5.30pm

The practice closes at 5pm, officially, but we don’t usually leave straightaway. It can end up being 5.30pm, depending on if there’s a patient, or what else is going on.

Walking, for me, is really important. Being outdoors, even if it’s just walking back from the station after commuting – greenery and fresh air changes everything.

7pm

I play Bridge, and I also do outdoor bowls, which I took up a few years ago, and which I absolutely love.

I’ve got grandchildren too, so I have a few hats: grandma, family, children, husband, and my mother-in-law and my mum, who are both elderly. The day doesn’t stop after work.

7.30pm

I’ll pick up my grandkids, and they love the Indian food that I do, so in the middle of the week I’ll probably cook an Indian for dinner. It will be a daal or something similar, because I know I can just get on with it. If not, it will be an Italian.

I like listening to business-related or motivational podcasts, where you pick up ideas. I look at LinkedIn as well, and pick up little tips from there. I tend to send them on WhatsApp to the family group.