Senior Business Advisor/WIB Coordinator
(Guam SBDC)
Freedom,
Opportunity, and Service are the foundation blocks of Advanced Eyecare, LLC and
the reasons why Peter Lombard MD decided to venture on his own to open up an
ophthalmology clinic. We recently had the opportunity to speak with Peter on
his journey in opening his business.
Please tell us about yourself and
your family.
My mom and
dad came to Guam in 1975 and built a house in Pago Bay where they still
live. I have an older sister in Hawaii
and my brother Gabe lives with me on Guam. I came back to Guam in 2010 after
spending a number of years off island for college, medical school, residency
training, and military service. I am
leaving the U.S. Navy this summer to start my own ophthalmology clinic.
Why did you decide to start your
own business?
Freedom,
opportunity, service. I have the
opportunity to build something special and long-lasting, from the ground
up. My business will provide a service
that is tremendously useful to our community, and that makes me very
proud. There’s something particularly
liberating about being your own boss, and it’s empowering to know that the
success and failure of your business rests only on your shoulders.
What experience do you have in this
type of business?
I have no
prior business experience running a private medical clinic, but I have the
technical expertise to treat patients.
This is a problem many doctors face, and remains a big hurdle for many
doctors when contemplating starting their own private practice.
How did the Small Business
Development Center and other resources help you?
The
hardest part for me initially was understanding the steps in the process. Not having any prior business experience,
even simple terms were hard for me to grasp at first. I was assigned an advisor, Denise Mendiola,
and she worked closely with me through each step. She provided me with the Word and Excel
templates I needed, and when I would get stuck on a certain section she helped
me complete these parts. She made sure I
was moving forward at a steady pace, periodically asking how things were going
and offering further assistance. She has
been an invaluable asset for me and I’m very grateful for her help!
What was the start-up process like?
After
establishing the LLC, I determined what equipment costs I would have, the
staffing I would need, and located a place to start my business. I drafted a business plan and financial
projections to submit with my loan application. Once approved for the loan, I
acquired the medical equipment and clinic management systems needed to run a
clinic, negotiated contracts with the local insurance carriers, hired and
trained staff, and started to see patients. It all seems simple written out
like this but this took about 6 months and was very stressful at times.
How did you fund your business?
I applied
for a business loan, but also used significant personal savings for the startup
costs. Approximately 70% of startup
costs were financed with the business loan, 30% from personal savings.
What were some of the biggest
challenges you experienced in the start-up process?
I
struggled a bit with the financial projections.
For my particular business it is hard to estimate the sales of the
services I provide, because it is very different for each patient. I’m not selling items at a fixed cost from
inventory.
What is your most memorable triumph
in your start-up process?
Putting
the LLC certificate up on the wall is always a nice feeling. But I’ll never forget the day the network was
hooked up and all the computers and software was working the way they are
supposed to! You live and die by your IT
support!
Short
term: establish consistent patient base, grow the practice over the first 2
years and establish my clinic as a center of excellence in Guam. Long term:
build a new eye clinic with room for significant growth and expansion.
What advice would you give to
others who want to start a business at this time?
Definitely
avail yourself of the services offered by SBDC.
Set reasonable time goals, and understand it’s a long process. Put in the time and hours when required to
get things off the ground when it’s crunch time. Dream big.
Always look for more opportunities, and don’t be afraid to talk to
people about your plans – you never know how they might be able to help you or
what insight they can give.
For more
information on how Guam SBDC can assist you, contact their office 671-735-2590
or visit www.pacificsbdc.com
