Why were you called to contribute to Go-Getters?

 

I am happy to support this movement because what I see in our generation are a whole group of people that  may feel that it is a right to be successful. I don’t want to deny anyone of this however a lot of hard work goes into this. I would love to see people doing more rather than talking about how life is fair or unfair for them. Your site may be a voice for this, it may not, but to me it appears to be a good starting point to demonstrate the point that if you want anything in life you must work hard at it. I believe that you must also believe in what you do and find your passion. If you are not passionate about what you do or have self belief that what you are doing will succeed you will fail. I have learnt this in the face of family members that doubted me 7 years ago when I said that I wanted to change the world. I am not there yet but with the help of others we are well on our way.

 

Tell us about your degree and the path you’ve taken to get to where you are today:

 

In order for me to provide insight here I will first explain where our academic worlds are slightly misaligned. I am an optometrist, as part of the training for this you need to complete a pre-requisite year in health sciences in Auckland (or elsewhere) and then apply. When you get in you then study 4 years learning about the eye. You can then apply for work at either an independent (privately owned practice) or a corporate practice (OPSM, Specsavers etc.) When we first start optometry we were told by the corporate entities that it is tough to find a job but they can help as they can guarantee work if you sign up with them. This may not be the case now. This is where I would impart my first thought/lesson. Usually when someone tells you something like this it is seldom true especially when if comes from the provider of the solution. The classic example here is from a book Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist by Stephen J. Dubner and Steven Levitt. In this book they discuss real estate agents and the way they approach selling their own properties versus a vendor and also the final price that they accept. The long and the short of this is that on average they hold out longer to get the price they want then they would for a client.

 

The approach that I took was to take a step back and evaluate the probability of me not getting a job when I graduated with the population of the country and the number of optometrists.

 

I graduated in 2009. I also set out my values and principles. The first value I set out was that I did not care about the money I obtained for my first job. What was most important was that I found a place that could teach me how to be a better optometrist and provide me with a skill set or set of tools to carry on life long learning. 

 

This brings me to my first principle - I believe that we never stop learning and that we should continue to do this throughout life. When I graduated I had five options of employment to consider. I ended up choosing the lowest paying job because it felt the best and I have never looked back. I chose to work at a world renowned contact lens practice in Hamilton called Visique Rose Optometrists (www.roseoptom.co.nz). The practice was founded by my mentor and friend Paul Rose in 1969 the day that man first landed on the moon. He and my partners Simon Rose and Peter Walker have taught me valuable lessons in business and optometry and I am forever grateful to them. I was able to learn from someone else’s experience which was invaluable so that I could make better decisions. 

 

I was possibly paid the lowest in my class where the highest paid member of my class as a first job out of university (six figures) has now left the profession. Now just because I chose the lowest paying job it does not mean that I deliberately chose that job. It was just the way that it happened. 

 

The next value or principle that I would impart is hard work. When you are passionate about things the following sentence never exists “I dont have time to do this”. When you work hard and have passion for what you do you make time. For the first six years of my working life I ran on four to five hours of sleep a day in order to get everything done that I needed to. Some might say  “that is crazy” others would call it a lack of balance. I have never really thought about it until now.

 

When I started at my practice I was an employed optometrist and I decided that I wanted to setup a new subspecialty called Orthokeratology in the practice. This is essentially a method of controlling your vision correction whilst you sleep at night after wearing specially designed contact lenses that you do not replace like traditional contact lenses. In the morning you wake up remove the lenses and then have clear vision without the need to wear glasses or contacts during the day. 

 

In order to set this up I needed two things. 1) Knowledge 2) A willing employer allow me the freedom to drive my passion. To address number 1. I got in touch with the author of the only textbook on the subject and asked that I come and spend some time with him, I also read every paper that was ever written on the subject (at the time ~300 scientific papers) To address number 2. I approached my then employer and put my money where my mouth was. I said that I would train myself and pay for myself to learn this specialty and if it was successful then they could reimburse me. This did two things. It showed to my employer my passion and secondly it mean’t that I was committed. 

 

I then carried on doing what I wanted to do with the blessings of my employer. My normal work week was 60+ hours as I was seeing patients for 34-36 and being paid for 34-36 hours however I was doing extra work and staying late so that I could develop this subspecialty. I have never thought about this until now, but the key learning is that hard work and unbridled passion pays off. As an employee I also think that we need to be dutiful and have the mindset that we cannot demand anything we want i.e. Saying no to an employers request should not really be an option if you want to progress in your career and grow as I have found that every time you say "YES” a new door opens. Saying “NO”, no matter how impossible a task may be closes opportunities. 

 

Within three years I had become a partner in our business. I believe this is from my commitment to the little things. For example - I believe that as I was an employee I should work every Saturday where possible as my bosses deserve a break as they own the business, sadly for many Gen Y’s/Z’s millenials this is not a mentality that we typically have. Our parents have it and their parents have it also. It’s a little thing for a few years of your life (probably less than one percent of your entire life) and then other doors open. 

 

Other colleagues look at the same situation like this: Its not fair that I have to work on a Saturday, they own the business they should work in it too. When I became a partner I did not change this philosophy either. My partners have families and as I was single I decided to carry on working every Saturday unless I was out of the country. I try to make win-wins and for this I believe I am richly rewarded. 

 

I am now a part owner in a company called Innovatus Technology. We have a software that designs orthokeratology lenses for patients and we use a cloud system and we currently supply lenses in the following markets: USA, South Africa, Singapore, Taiwan, Hong Kong, New Zealand and Australia. What has also come to light is as we predicted many years ago is that the procedure orthokeratology has been proven to slow the rate of change for your glasses prescription. This means that we can effectively decrease the need to change spectacles year to year. Which is the best health outcome for patients. It also means that we decrease glasses sales. 

 

The evidence is overwhelming and in my mind it would be negligent to not offer all solutions to patients that can effectively reduce their chances of getting worse. This field of optometry is called myopia control and more information can be found at themyopiacontrolclinic.com. I set up the first clinic devoted to slowing down the progression of myopia (shortsightedness) in New Zealand in December 2009. 

 

So in 7 years this is where I am at. I am also on a few boards globally and am passionate and involved in my profession. I want to get others enthused with passion for our profession and to make informed decisions about their work life. I believe that if you find a job that you love you will never work a day in your life. So leading on from that the day I work will be the day I retire. (Winston Churchill said words to that effect). I also believe that you should sleep when you are dead. :)

 

Learning about business was challenging. I didn’t graduate with business acumen and had to teach myself that but through surrounding myself with people that could teach me it meant that my learning curve decreased.

 

I hope that this article helps or inspires others who are looking at careers or finding their "why" to keep striving for it and I also hope that they surround themselves with people like Nicky who are looking to encourage and help people achieve their passions through hard work.