When Michael O’Neal first thought of becoming an optometrist as a high school freshman, it sounded like a nice profession. Now, 36 years into owning and operating his own practice, it’s a way of life.
“It’s become a big piece of my identity,” he said. “I’m not Mike O’Neal, I’m Mike O’Neal the optometrist. It’s fulfilled me more than I ever thought it would. I’m proud of the fact that we’ve survived 36 years. That’s a long time in any profession. To have started from scratch and survived that long, it took a lot of hard work but a lot of good people along the road helped in many ways and didn’t hesitate to do what they could to help us succeed.”
DISCOVERING HIS PATH IN MARTINSVILLE
O’Neal moved to Martinsville from Columbus at 12 years old, though he said it felt more like coming back home since his family had a longtime connection to the community, going back multiple generations.
As a first-year student at Martinsville High School, O’Neal said he shared with his friends that he wanted to be a doctor someday. He gave it thoughtful consideration and determined optometry was a good fit after shadowing and speaking openly with his own optometrist.
“Fortunately, through the path of my education, I liked science and things that fit with the profession,” he said. “I never wavered since I was a freshman in high school.”
O’Neal graduated from DePauw University in 1983 and Indiana University School of Optometry in 1988. He planned to go into business with another optometrist but when that fell through, he decided to give it a go on his own. He purchased his building at 1089 E. Morgan St. in Martinsville and remodeled it. Martinsville Eye Care opened on August 8, 1988 and recently celebrating its 36th anniversary.
“I was the only one in my graduating class that started a cold practice, started from scratch,” he said. “I had some help with family getting set up, but it was a big debt to take on at the time. My theory was I could outwork it. We didn’t have kids at the time. I just worked all the time. Slowly but surely the success started happening.”
ENGRAINED INCOMMUNITY SERVICE
When he first started, having incurred a lot of debt for his degrees and no guaranteed patients, he said he was scared. He did end up booking some patients, mostly friends and family, before opening day.
“I knew I needed to grow the practice, so I kept some extraordinary hours at first,” he said. “I was open until 9 p.m. a couple of nights a week and open on Saturdays. I had no off days for many years. I tried to offer things that other people didn’t. When other people were closed, I stayed open, worked late, and tried to grab people after work.”
While he tends to still be on call much of the time, he has obtained a better work-life balance. He enjoys spending time with his family, especially his grandchildren, golfing with his son, camping, hiking, and traveling out west to hike the Rocky Mountain area when he gets the chance.
O’Neal also initially focused on the school system, something he said helped grow his business the most. He started doing vision screenings for first grade students before the state made it mandatory. He stayed involved in extracurricular activities such as high school sports, band, sponsored little league baseball and football.
“I geared my practice toward families,” he said. “If you get mom and dad, you get the kids. You get five patients instead of one.”
His favorite clients are the children, and he said if it were financially feasible to have a pediatric practice, he may have chosen that route.
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