How are you?

Most people answer that question without thinking.

"Good. Fine. Okay."

Then the conversation moves on, and nothing meaningful is learned.

But what if that question is one of the reasons so many conversations stay stuck at the surface?

In this week's episode of Power Hour, host Eugene Shatsman sits down with Bart Foster, Founder and CEO of BusinessOutside, to discuss how better questions create stronger connection, how connection builds trust, and how trust can change the way leaders, teams, and patients respond.

Bart works closely with executives across the eye care industry, helping them move beyond surface-level conversations and into the kinds of relationships that create real insight, vulnerability, and growth.

And while this conversation begins with executive forums, it quickly becomes relevant to every practice owner, manager, doctor, and team member trying to build more trust inside their business.

Independent practice performance is under pressure.

Refractions are down. Revenue is down. Exam-only behavior is climbing.

And for many practices, the first half of 2026 has been much tougher than expected.

In this week's episode of Power Hour, Eugene Shatsman sits down with Dr. Jason Lake, General Manager of PERC & Opti-Port, to examine real-time independent practice performance data and discuss what owners can do now to protect revenue, improve capture, and prepare for demand to return.

You did the exam.

You built the relationship.

You made the recommendation.

And then the patient walked out and bought their eyewear somewhere else.

That moment is one of the most frustrating leaks in an independent practice.

But it is also one of the most strategic opportunities.

In this week's episode of Power Hour, host Eugene Shatsman sits down with Megan Molony, Vice-President of the Optical Women's Association and CEO of Europa Eyewear, to discuss what independent practices can learn from big optical, how patient expectations are changing, and how practices can compete smarter in an increasingly consolidated market.

Megan brings a rare perspective to this conversation.

Before leading Europa Eyewear, she held senior roles across some of the largest players in optical, including EssilorLuxottica and National Vision. So when she talks about patient behavior, merchandising, retail strategy, value perception, and capture rate, she is not speaking from theory.

She has seen how the big players think.

And she revealed one of the biggest insights from the episode: Large retailers are counting on a meaningful percentage of patients leaving independent practices after the exam and coming to them for eyewear.

What does it actually mean to be the CEO of your practice?

For many practice owners, that question does not become real until growth starts creating pressure.

The practice gets busier. The team needs more direction. Associates need more training. Patients still expect the owner's touch. And suddenly, the thing that once felt like a successful business starts feeling like a very well-paying job.

That is what makes this episode of Power Hour with Dr. Nick Lillie so valuable.

In this week's episode of Power Hour, Eugene speaks with Dr. Nick Lillie, Owner of Family Vision Optical and Rejuvenation Dry Eye Center, who has spent the last two years intentionally moving from doctor-owner to true practice CEO. And the results are not theoretical.

His practice has continued to produce double-digit growth, even in a market where many practices are starting to feel pressure. But the real story is not just the growth, it is the machine he is building underneath it.

There's a moment in every specialty service conversation where the patient either leans in or checks out.

And in dry eye, that moment usually has very little to do with the machine.

It has to do with whether the patient understands what the doctor sees, why it matters, and what happens if they do nothing.

That's where this week's Power Hour with Dr. Todd Cohan, Owner of Midwest Dry Eye Center and Forsight Vision, LTD, gets especially practical.

Todd has built a medically focused practice where dry eye, myopia management, aesthetics, retinal testing, and comprehensive care are not treated as side offerings.

They are part of the practice philosophy.

And that philosophy has helped his team consistently produce some of the strongest revenue-per-patient numbers we've discussed on the show, consistently producing numbers in the high $800s, $900s, and even over $1,100 per patient across multiple doctors.

But the episode is not about chasing a number.

It's about the behaviors that create the number.

Because if a patient walks out without understanding the finding, the recommendation, or the reason behind the next step, the treatment conversation is already on shaky ground.

By overwhelming request, we've decided to do something special for our Power Hour listeners.

As a thank you for being part of the community, we've partnered with Amazon to make the Kindle version of The Eyecare B.O.S.S. book completely free, only for the next 48 hours.

If you've listened to our recent Power Hour episodes introducing The Eyecare B.O.S.S., you know this isn't just another business book.

It's the complete operating system Eugene Shatsman and Jamie Rosin created to help independent eye care practices grow, optimize, and scale.

The goal for this launch is simple.

To get as many practice owners as possible to read the book, implement the concepts, and tell us what they think through an Amazon review.

So for the next 48 hours, you can download the Kindle version completely free.

You have two ways to get your copy:

Option 1: Download the Kindle Edition Free

Get instant access and start reading today.

[Read It For Free On Amazon]

Option 2: Order the Paperback Edition

If you'd like a copy for your desk, want to highlight pages, make notes, share it with your leadership team, or support the project, the paperback edition is available as well.

[Get Your Paperback]

We truly hope the ideas, frameworks, and tools inside The Eyecare B.O.S.S. help you build the practice you originally envisioned when you became a practice owner. If you do read it, we'd love to hear your feedback. This will help deliver as much impact as possible for your practice growth.

Get your copy today and start building your B.O.S.S. practice.

[Read It For Free On Amazon] [Get Your Paperback]

Some practices are built from scratch; others are inherited.

While both come with challenges, inheriting a practice brings a unique responsibility: preserving what made it successful while finding the courage to evolve it for the future.

In this episode of Power Hour, Eugene sits down with Dr. Luke Small, a third-generation optometrist and Owner of Armstrong & Small Eye Care Centre, one of the oldest optometry practices in Canada, with a history spanning more than 110 years.

Luke's grandfather helped shape the profession in its early days. His father expanded the practice into a standalone eye care center and embraced technology long before most practices considered it.

Today, Luke is leading the next chapter, modernizing the business through medical eye care, advanced technology, a second location, and a culture-first approach to patient experience. This is a conversation about growth, leadership, and what happens when the doctor everyone wants to see must begin transforming into the CEO the practice needs.

For more than two decades, some of the most important conversations in optometry have happened quietly behind the scenes.

Not on stages. Not in public Facebook groups. But inside private discussions where doctors could speak openly with each other about what was really happening inside the profession.

That eventually became ODwire.

In this episode of Power Hour, Eugene sits down with Dr. Adam Farkas, Founder and Chief Technologist of ODwire and CEwire, to unpack the story behind one of the most influential private communities in optometry.

What makes this conversation fascinating is its vantage point. For more than two decades, Adam has had a front row seat to the real conversations happening inside optometry, the ones doctors have with each other when nobody else is in the room.

And over time, those conversations have quietly become a reflection of how the profession itself has evolved.