What Is Essential?


There is an excellent book you must read called ‘Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less’ by Greg McKeown. On the back-cover McKeown outlines the premise for the book:

  • Have you ever found yourself stretched too thin at home or at work?
  • Have you ever felt both overworked and underutilised?
  • Do you ever feel busy but not productive?
  • Do you ever feel like you are constantly in motion, but never getting anywhere?

If you answered yes to any of these, the way out is becoming an ESSENTIALIST.

Greg sums up his findings: “By forcing us to apply a more selective criteria for what is essential, the pursuit of less allows us to regain control of our choices so we can make the highest possible contribution towards the things that really matter.”

I have taken an Essentialist approach to growing my practice.

This philosophy has always made sense to me. When I opened my first practice is 2004 I was clueless about what it takes to run a business but I started by trying to figure out what is ESSENTIAL.

I asked myself ‘What are the few things that will really matter to the success of my practice?’

Let me sketch out the logic of the answer I arrived at:

Conor’s Logic #1 – We make money when we sell glasses. Maybe that is the most important thing then? Let’s focus on THAT. Let’s excel at that.

Conor’s Logic #2 – What do we need to do so that customers, clients, patients, whatever you want to call them, will choose us ahead of all the other options they have and buy our glasses?

Conor’s Logic #3 – What can we do to make them happy to spend MORE on their glasses, love the experience, refer their friends and keep coming back for more? Specifically, what can we do so that they want to spend £600 instead of £200 on their glasses? Because if we can make that happen then we can really focus on looking after a smaller number of clients who spend more and we’ll actually be far better off than trying to be all things to everyone. Plus, this sounds a lot easier.

That essentialist thinking led me to creating a practice with several important USPs:

USP 1 – We travel to Paris, Milan and Munich to find niche eyewear that is different and individual. So we can show clients glasses they actually get excited about and that are different than the mass-produced frames on the high street.

USP 2 – We have no frames on display. Rather than confuse clients with rows and rows of glasses that all look the same, where they don’t know what fits them or suits them, we take a different approach. We give clients an eyewear styling consultation and guide them through the process of choosing glasses so they find the perfect pair without any hassle. All of the team are qualified dispensing opticians so they get the highest level of professional expertise.

USP 3 – Personal Service! We treat our clients as individuals and take the extra time with them to find out about them and what they need. We make it an effortless and enjoyable experience. We have nice coffee, nice furniture, and even prosecco on the weekends. This is a different type of service.

This essentialist strategy has WORKED. It will work for you too. Instead of the practice being scattered in a thousand directions, we focused on a single direction. We ignored lots of stuff so we could focus exclusively on what really matters.