Michael Stefanescu is Australia's leading optometry business coach, the only coach who has built, scaled and sold multiple independent optometry practices from the inside. If you are an independent practice owner ready to move from operator to owner, this is the program built for you.
Designed for independent Australian optometry owners who want to increase profitability, strengthen their team, and create more time and freedom without compromising clinical standards.
At fourteen, his home was the streets of Cabramatta, the heroin capital of Australia. By forty three, he had built, scaled, and sold multiple independent optometry practices, owned the real estate underneath, and walked away on his own terms.
The son of a Vietnamese and a Romanian refugee, raised in housing commission across three states, Michael won the Maki Shiobara Optometry Scholarship after his first year of university and graduated with first class honours. In 2008, with less than $25K to his name and the GFC closing in, he opened his first practice in one of the suburbs he had grown up in.
From the outside, he had made it. Profitable practice, great team, house, and family. From the inside, he had built a high paying job that owned him.
A health fund audit and over $500K in coaching, including the Tony Robbins Platinum Partnership, finally brought the shift. He stopped trying to be the best clinician in his practice and started building one that did not need him. Systems. Leaders. Real numbers. A third practice acquired. In 2025, sold. Today, through Designed for Freedom™, Michael coaches Australian optometry practice owners through the same transformation.
From operator to owner
A strong practice should not need you in every decision, every staff issue, and every operational problem. Here is what the transformation looks like.
Stronger numbers, cleaner margins, Profit First implementation, and better commercial control across every part of the practice.
Less day to day dependence on you. Delegation frameworks, clinical protocols, and operational systems that free your calendar.
Clearer expectations, better accountability, and a team that takes ownership. You become the CEO, not the bottleneck.
A business that gives you real options, scale it, step back, or sell it on your terms at the number you actually want.
A 12 month 1:1 premium coaching engagement for independent Australian optometry practice owners. Not a course. Not a group. A personal transformation of your business, with Michael by your side the entire way.
A premium 1:1 coaching journey designed to move independent optometry owners from burnout and bottleneck to strategic ownership. 48 weekly sessions directly with Michael.
Clarity, systems, profit, and exit, the same levers that create a practice with real independence and genuine enterprise value. Built around your specific situation.
Weekly 1:1 coaching calls, weekly group coaching and mastermind sessions, monthly progress reviews, unlimited async support, in-person intensive days, and the annual 5 night all inclusive Bali Elite Optometry Summit.
Your best outcome is not just growth. It is a better business, a better life, and a practice that becomes genuinely valuable because it can stand without constant founder dependence.
Know your numbers. Understand exactly where profit is being created and lost. Make better decisions with confidence and commercial clarity.
Systems, team structure, and accountability reduce owner overload. Clients routinely reclaim 10–15 hours per week by month 6.
A practice that is easier to run now and easier to sell later. Real options, scale it, step back, or exit on your terms at the right time.
"Working with Michael has been one of the most important decisions I've made for my optometry businesses."
Before working with Michael, I felt like I was carrying the whole weight of my practices on my shoulders. I had a clear vision of the standard of care and experience I wanted to deliver, but I didn't have the systems or structure to get my team and numbers consistently there.
Since coaching with Michael, I've gained clarity, confidence, and a far more practical plan for growth. We've tightened up our patient journey, sales process, and team expectations, and I'm already seeing the impact in revenue, staff performance, and my own stress levels. I'm making better decisions, and I finally feel like the business is moving in the direction I always wanted.
I really appreciate Michael's mix of candour and support, I'm challenged to do better, but I never feel judged. If you own an optometry practice and want someone in your corner who actually understands the business side of eye care, I highly recommend Michael.
A few things practice owners ask before starting the conversation.
Most business coaches have never owned an optometry practice. I was a practice owner for 17 years. I know what a dry eye clinic margin looks like. I understand the associate vs. employee cost dynamics. I've negotiated optical leases. Everything I teach is built specifically for independent Australian optometry, not repurposed from a retail or accounting playbook.
The calls are approximately 2 hours per week. The rest is implementation, and within the first 90 days, the goal is that you've already reclaimed far more time than you invest in the program. Most clients report 10 to 15 free hours per week back by month 6.
Michael caps his schedule at a maximum of 10 active clients per year to protect the quality of every engagement. The best way to find out if there's a current opening is to apply, timing will be discussed transparently on the strategy call.
12 months of direct 1:1 access. That's 48 × 60 minute coaching calls, 12 monthly progress reviews, weekly group mastermind calls, unlimited async support (Mon to Fri, 1 business day response), 2 in-person intensive days, and the 5 night all inclusive Bali Elite Optometry Summit.
The most common feedback from clients who've tried other coaches is: "They didn't understand optometry." That's the fundamental difference. Michael has lived the same business you're running, every decision, every pressure, every trade off. This is not a framework imported from another industry. It's built from 17 years inside yours.
No. The program is designed to give you choices, not push you in a direction. Most clients come in wanting more time and profit, not necessarily an exit. But building a practice that could be sold, if you chose to, is the same as building one that runs well whether you're there or not. That's the goal regardless.
Practical coaching for independent optometry owners who want stronger profit, better leadership, and less day to day dependence on themselves. The goal is simple: build a practice with more structure, accountability, and commercial control.
What to expect
No sales team. Michael reviews every application personally.
Free 45 minute strategy call if it looks like a fit.
Maximum 10 clients per year. Timing discussed transparently.
If it's not the right fit, Michael will tell you, and point you in the right direction.