Dr. Karine Shaghoyan is the Co-owner of Lancaster Optometry, a California practice delivering comprehensive and medically focused eye care with a personalized patient experience. With more than a decade of clinical experience, she has helped grow the practice from a cold start into an established business while guiding its expansion and distinctive approach to care. Dr. Shaghoyan draws on mentorship, peer collaboration, and strategic support to strengthen the practice, and she encourages other owners to seek guidance early rather than build alone.
Here’s a glimpse of what you’ll learn:
- [2:35] Dr. Karine Shaghoyan’s journey into optometry and the experiences that shaped her career
- [4:17] How early mentorship and hands-on experience influenced Dr. Shaghoyan’s approach to ownership
- [7:12] What goes into creating a practice that feels distinctive and memorable
- [12:27] Dr. Shaghoyan’s perspective on community, peer support, and growing alongside other owners
- [14:05] Why seeking guidance and focusing on what you can control can support long-term growth
In this episode…
Owning an optometry practice means knowing when to push forward on your own and when to seek support. Mentorship, peer connection, and clear priorities can make growth more focused and sustainable. What helps practice owners move forward with greater confidence?
Dr. Karine Shaghoyan, an optometrist and experienced practice owner, believes growth starts with recognizing when what got you to one milestone will not get you to the next. She recommends seeking mentors, consultants, and peer support early, noting that the right guidance can significantly shorten the learning curve. Dr. Shaghoyan’s experience building a cold-start practice also shaped her view that acquiring an existing practice may make more sense in saturated markets. By asking for help, learning from other owners, and focusing energy on what is within your control, practice growth becomes less about doing everything alone and more about making thoughtful decisions at the right time.
In this episode of the Cleinman Connect Podcast, Kim Carson talks with Dr. Karine Shaghoyan, Co-owner of Lancaster Optometry, about practice growth, mentorship, and lessons in ownership. Dr. Shaghoyan shares how mentorship and peer support can accelerate growth, why owners need help at key milestones, and what cold-start ownership taught her. She also discusses creating a distinctive patient experience and focusing on what you can control.
Resources mentioned in this episode:
- Kevin Wilhelm on LinkedIn
- Kim Carson on LinkedIn
- Marketing4ECPs
- Cleinman
- Dr. Karine Shaghoyan on LinkedIn
- Lancaster Optometry
- Power of Sight Foundation
- VSP Eyes of Hope
- Women In Optometry
- “How Digital Awareness Ads Can Influence Your Patients of Tomorrow” with Tyler Kemp on the Cleinman Connect Podcast
- “Why Your Practice Needs Video Marketing” with Lila Swiatylo on the Cleinman Connect Podcast
- DryEye Rescue
Quotable Moments:
- “Learning from experienced doctors has been a very, very valuable experience that I’ve carried with me into private practice.”
- “I’m a strong believer in a community; I do believe it builds you up.”
- “You get to help, and they get to help you has been one of the most valuable parts of the claimants.”
- “You really don’t have to do things by yourself.”
- “You should focus your thoughts and energy on things that are in your control at the time.”
Action Steps:
- Seek mentorship and consulting early: The right guidance can shorten the learning curve and help practice owners accomplish in one or two years what might otherwise take five.
- Build a strong peer community: Connecting with other business owners and optometrists creates a two-way support system where you can both learn from and help others.
- Recognize when you need help to grow: Understanding that what got you to one milestone may not get you to the next can open the door to smarter support and continued progress.
- Consider buying an existing practice in saturated markets: Acquisition may offer a more practical path to ownership when competition is already high.
- Focus your energy on what you can control: Prioritizing the tasks within your control can keep you from wasting attention on uncertainties that time will eventually resolve.
Sponsor for this episode…
This episode is brought to you by Marketing4ECPs.
Working with them is like hiring a full-time marketing professional who knows the industry and understands your goals. Except, instead of one experienced marketer, you get a whole team in your corner.
Whether you’re an optometrist, ophthalmologist, or optician, they can help you grow your business with a plan that’s completely customized for you. Learn more here.
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Episode Transcript
Intro: 00:07
Welcome to the Cleinman Connect Podcast, where we discuss marketing, ownership, growth strategies and everything else surrounding the business of optometry. Cleinman is optometrists trusted business partner for over 35 years. Hello, I’m Kim Carson, hosting Dr. Karine Shaghoyan, Owner of Lancaster Optometry, on this episode of the Cleinman Connect Podcast.
Past guests of this show include Tyler Kemp and Lila Swiatylo from Marketing4ECPs. You can listen to those episodes and so many more now at Cleinman.com or wherever you like to get podcasts.
This episode is actually brought to you by Marketing4ECPs. Working with them is like hiring a full time marketing professional who knows the industry and understands your goals. Except instead of one experienced marketer, you get a whole team in your corner, whether you’re an optometrist or ophthalmologist or optician. They can help you grow your business with a plan that is completely customized for you. Learn more at Marketing4ECPs.com.
I’m joined today by Dr. Karine Shaghoyan. She is a dedicated and accomplished optometrist with over a decade of clinical experience. She earned her Doctor of Optometry degree from Nova Southwestern. Oh, southeastern I was in the wrong direction. Nova Southeastern University College of Optometry and her Bachelor of Arts in biology. Cum laude from California State University, Northridge. She has been recognized for her academic and clinical excellence, receiving clinic honors at IHS Ardmore and being named to the Dean’s Honor List at CSU Northridge. Dr. Shaghoyan is deeply committed to giving back to her community. She volunteers locally with the Power of Sight Foundation and VSP Eyes of Hope. Her team is also very proud to serve a diverse community with staff fluent in English, Spanish, Armenian and Russian. Outside of the office, Dr. Shaghoyan enjoys traveling and practicing yoga. Experiences that reflect her belief in balance, wellness, and delivering thoughtful, personalized care to every patient. Thank you so much for joining me today.
Dr. Karine Shaghoyan: 02:18
Thank you, Kim, for having me. It’s an honor.
Kim Carson: 02:20
Yeah. Of course. You’re so. You’re so distinguished.
Dr. Karine Shaghoyan: 02:26
Thank you.
Kim Carson: 02:28
I’m. I wonder, you know, why. Going to optometry. Why? Why was this the path you chose?
Dr. Karine Shaghoyan: 02:35
That’s a question that my patients ask as well. So I’m going to give you the same answer. Ever since I was a child, I knew I wanted to be some kind of a doctor. Of course, I didn’t know what exactly I would put the white coat on, give medication to anyone who was sick, relatives, aunts, uncles. And once it was time to decide, I explored other options dentistry, pharmacy, internal medicine.
I volunteered at E.R. initially, I thought it may end up being my passion, but I’ve realized it doesn’t matter how good of a doctor you are, you’re bound to lose a patient if you don’t act quickly or even if you act quickly. It’s just the type of situation where you are likely to lose a life. And it was not something that I could live with. And then I started exploring other options, and I worked at an optometry office on Saturdays. I’ve realized it gives the work and life balance that would be fitting my personality better than being on hospital on call situation.
It also combined my passions and my favorite subject at school was physics. So optics involves a lot of physics. So I ended up combining my favorite subject along with what I wanted to do. An optometry was that combination and I have been enjoying it ever since.
Kim Carson: 03:56
That’s amazing. I would not have thought that physics went with optometry, as you know. I am not an optometrist, but that does make a lot of sense. Could you tell me a bit more about your journey once you were in optometry up to moving into your new location?
Dr. Karine Shaghoyan: 04:17
Yes. So first location I worked at was Alaska Science in Palm Springs, California. It was the O.D. and MD practice. We had 4 to 5 doctors on the floor on any given date. I’m very grateful for that experience because as a new grad, you always second guess yourself.
You want things double checked and being able to grab someone within minutes of a question and having that reassurance. Learning from experienced doctors has been a very, very valuable experience that I’ve carried with me into private practice. In private practice. We are alone, yes I do. Continuing education.
But you don’t have that immediate feedback. So first job was something that I’m definitely grateful for. Second, I worked at the Laser Eye Center and my entire workday was pretty much seeing pre and post op care and made me very comfortable in doing so. I still manage my pre and post op patients when I’m co-managing with other MDS, and I don’t think I would have the confidence to see day one post ops if I didn’t have the experience that I got at the Laser Eye center. Third position was a part time position in Palmdale Optometry and which led to getting to know a great friend of mine, Doctor Dan Vu, and we had the partnership at Lancaster Optometry.
She built it out, but she wasn’t able to manage two offices at the same time because she was pregnant with her third baby at a time. So that’s how the partnership came around. It was a cold start up. It was built out, but we haven’t seen a single patient there. It was a lot of hard work, but it’s definitely gives me the sense of better ownership when you.
It’s like having a baby growing it from zero to up, and that’s what I’ve been doing for the past 12 years. The office started in 2014.
Kim Carson: 06:21
Wow. You know, you do have this beautiful new location and you recently did an article with Women In Optometry. Anyone listening, I encourage you to go and read that. Especially look at the very beautiful photos of this space. And I, I will also say, Corinne, that in those photos, the chairs that you have selected to, to look like, you know, like with, with the theme and maybe I’m getting ahead of myself here, but the, the chairs that you have selected, they match perfectly a French cafe that is in the city I live in.
So your theming is spot on. Could you tell me a bit more about, you know, buying that building and what inspired the Parisian theme?
Dr. Karine Shaghoyan: 07:12
Absolutely. We grew out of our space, so we knew we needed to move. A great opportunity came up that was only 0.5 miles away from our current location, and we knew we had to stay close to the old location for the patients to be able to find us easily. And while we were building it, and it wasn’t looking like anything yet, we were just knocking walls down. I was on the phone with my cousin who lives in Paris.
I was like, I don’t want this to be another cookie cutter looking place. I just want people to be able to walk in and say, this place looks different. Since I was on the phone, I was like, how about Parisian cafe theme? So like, that’s a good idea. And then we started bouncing ideas back and forth.
She helped me out throughout the planning process of what exactly would be Parisian and what’s more in my head. And I think we created what we created now. Most people walking in will ask me, oh, do you love Paris? I’m like, I do. I used to explain more and say, well, I just wanted to do something unique.
I just say, I do, and I move on right now. But it’s something I think the goal of people walking in and saying, hey, this place looks different worked. I even had a woman in the waiting area called her friend on FaceTime so she could show the waiting area. So that was pretty nice. Just knowing that what I was trying to accomplish was there.
We do keep fresh flowers on the tables. That’s another thing that’s very common in Parisian cafes. They don’t do fake. It’s always fresh. And we do serve coffee along with madeleines that has little Paris.
Eiffel Tower on it. Just bringing the theme together. The music we play 90% of the time will be Parisian cafés. Sometimes girls do get tired and they’ll switch it up a little bit. But yes, it’s been a positive.
We’ve had a positive feedback. That’s how the Women In Optometry, they look through the pictures on Instagram and they contacted saying, hey, your place looks different. Would you mind talking to us about it? So I think the entire goal of I want this to look different ended up working out.
Kim Carson: 09:32
No, I think it’s, I mean, I, I, I don’t want to, you know, like use the term groundbreaking lightly here, but it is fairly groundbreaking to, to have this space and you’re watching it get built and you’re like, how do I just make it different? How do I make, you know, this, this space where people can come and get their eyewear, come and get eye exams, come for post op checkups. Like, how can I make this a little bit of a different experience? And it, it sounds like short of having a, you know, people walk in and you say bonjour instead of hello. It sounds like just short of that, you’re doing that for them.
Dr. Karine Shaghoyan: 10:11
Thank you. And we are going to consider saying bonjour.
Kim Carson: 10:16
Yeah. Well, I mean, the, you know, the laundry list of, of fluencies that are in your practice. And we, we got to get French on there somehow.
Dr. Karine Shaghoyan: 10:24
So I’m going to put that as a record. One of the requirements is that of Spanish. We’re just going to put French.
Kim Carson: 10:32
I wonder, you know, in Lancaster I wonder how often that would come up, but I, I think it is a worthwhile endeavor. Well thank you. I’m so glad that Women In Optometry loved your photos as much as I do. I think that, yeah, what you’re doing is very unique and extremely groundbreaking. So congratulations on your building.
I wanted to kind of kind of move us, you know, in another direction. We, you know, this, this is the Cleinman Connect Podcast and you are Cleinman member. And it always makes me want to ask whenever we have our performance network meetings, what made you call Cleinman up? What was happening that you, you know, picked up the phone and you were like, can we please partner together?
Dr. Karine Shaghoyan: 11:24
The key is. I’m a strong believer. What got you there will not get you to the next place. I think the office hit the milestone that I could achieve by myself, and I realized I needed more help to be able to grow the practice. And that’s where the claimants came in. I had the DryEye Rescue actually sent an invitation to join, and that’s how I came to that initial meeting.
And it resonated with me. We signed up and I think it’s one of the best decisions I’ve made for the office.
Kim Carson: 11:57
Yeah. Amazing. Yeah. What? What got you here doesn’t get you there.
Kind of thinking.
Dr. Karine Shaghoyan: 12:03
Yes.
Kim Carson: 12:04
That’s awesome. Well, I’m glad that, you know. I’m glad that DryEye Rescue sent you the invitation. I’m glad you. You said.
Yes.
Dr. Karine Shaghoyan: 12:12
I believe me. I’m glad as well.
Kim Carson: 12:16
You also, you know, outside of consulting with Cleinman, you also are a member of the peer to peer network. Why did you choose to do both consulting and be part of the network?
Dr. Karine Shaghoyan: 12:27
I’m a strong believer in a community. I do believe it builds you up. And even the research has shown that having a sense of community is one of the best things you can do for the quality of life. And if you yes, you have your friends for other things, but not everyone can connect on the level as a business owner, as an optometrist. So having that second community as a support and giving back as well, It’s it’s it is a two way street.
You get to help and they get to help you has been one of the most valuable parts of the claimants. That’s why I don’t miss the meetings. It’s not just about the one on one consulting. It’s just not nice to be able to be out of the office, focused on the office with people that are like minded.
Kim Carson: 13:14
Yeah for sure. I’m really excited to see you in at our next one in Banff.
Dr. Karine Shaghoyan: 13:19
Absolutely excited as well.
Kim Carson: 13:22
Well, we’ll maybe trade in some of your sunshine from California for, for some mountain views.
Dr. Karine Shaghoyan: 13:27
How about there we go.
Kim Carson: 13:31
So, you know, I, I do have one kind of final question for you. It is a bit of a two parter, I guess. So sorry. Before I ask this question, I do want to point people to our sponsors website. Again, that is Marketing4ECPs.com and my The first part of my final question is, what advice would you give to anyone who may find themselves facing obstacles similar to yours in their practices right now?
Dr. Karine Shaghoyan: 14:05
One of the biggest obstacles I had from the beginning was having a cold startup, building it up, getting the patients in. I feel if someone is in the area that’s oversaturated, unless it’s an extremely rural area, it is a better idea to buy a practice instead of doing a cold startup. That would be number one advice in saturated areas. Number two, getting a mentor and getting a consultant as early as you can. Because whatever you can do by yourself in five years, you probably can do in 1 or 2 with the right help, which will include mentorship, peer to peer consulting.
That would be the best advice I can give anyone. You really don’t have to do things by yourself. And that’s one thing about optometry everyone is always very friendly. All you have to do to is to ask.
Kim Carson: 15:03
I love that, thank you. Speaking of advice, you did also contribute. This is the second part of my question. You did also contribute to Doctor Dear Doctor, which is a new book that’s coming out in October of 2026 this year. It is a collection of letters and stories from current thriving owners, such as yourself, written to your younger self in hopes that a new graduate or an owner will draw inspiration from what you want to tell yourself.
Would you mind reading a bit of your letter?
Dr. Karine Shaghoyan: 15:38
Absolutely. First lesson, young Corinne. You must not obsess about things that are technically outside of your control at the time. That doesn’t mean you don’t care about it, or that you shouldn’t ever think about it, but it’s completely outside of your control. You should focus your thoughts and energy on things that are in your control at the time.
You may wonder, how do I do this? You will learn to prioritize tasks within your control. The other things like student loans, you will figure it out because time will show what everything else is going to be. That’s the letter.
Kim Carson: 16:14
That’s perfect. Thank you. And that is our show. So if you want to hear more of the Cleinman Connect Podcast, you certainly can. At Cleinman.com and wherever you like to listen. Thank you for joining us today.
Dr. Karine Shaghoyan: 16:26
Thank you.
Outro: 16:31
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