Don’t wait until you wake up on New Year’s Day to dream up some business goals for 2022. Now’s the time to create a solid plan to grow your top line, bottom line, profit margins or any other metric you’d like to focus on. A strong business plan helps operators envision the “big picture” while concentrating on the smaller, moving parts that make a business successful.

In these challenging times, concerns such as aging equipment, staffing shortages and changes in consumer demands force successful business owners to be proactive. Waiting until you’ve reached a crisis point to address issues can make simple problems bigger than they need to be.

December can be a great time to finalize equipment purchases. Section 179, now a permanent aspect of the tax code, provides a deduction limit in 2021 of $1,050,000 on the cost of qualifying equipment—new or used! If you purchased more than $2.62 million in qualifying equipment, the Section 179 deduction decreases dollar-for-dollar.

Don’t delay: In order to use the deduction for 2021, the equipment must be purchased or financed and put into service by 11:59 p.m. on Dec. 31, 2021. As always, contact your accountant or tax advisor for specific details, but this website provides a great overview of the deduction and qualifying purchases.

How might you use that deduction to set yourself up for the year ahead? In the November issue of SNAPP Insider Monthly, we asked where you saw opportunities for your Pearle Vision Center(s) in the year ahead. Adding onto services currently offered rose to the top of the lists. Respondents saw opportunities for adding myopia management services, more medical, and dry eye services. Some of those opportunities come with equipment costs—so consider how equipment investments today can pay off as soon as next year while saving money on taxes this year!

Respondents also saw opportunities for expanding access to patients by increasing doctor coverage. Cross-training staff was another popular response. While these strategies don’t necessarily involve equipment purchases, they may be excellent investments for 2022. Upcoming issues of SNAPP Insider Monthly will explore these opportunities in more detail and show how SNAPP members can help and support each other with ideas and shared experiences.

If you have made qualifying purchases for 2021, there’s a good chance you’re already seeing the impact of putting that equipment to work for you. But if you are waiting for January to make the purchases, consider the tax implications by moving it up.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved VUITY™ (pilocarpine HCl ophthalmic solution) 1.25% for the treatment of presbyopia, in adults. VUITY is the first and only FDA-approved eye drop to treat this common and progressive eye condition which affects 128 million Americans, or nearly half of the U.S. adult population. The product works to reduce pupil size, improving near vision without affecting distance vision.

The FDA approval of VUITY is based on data from two pivotal phase 3 clinical studies, GEMINI 1 and GEMINI 2, which evaluated the efficacy, safety and tolerability of VUITY for the treatment of presbyopia. Here are some highlights of those studies:

• A total of 750 participants aged 40 to 55 years old with presbyopia were randomized in the two studies in a one-to-one ratio of placebo to VUITY.

• Participants were instructed to administer one drop of VUITY or placebo once daily in each eye.

• Both studies met their primary endpoints with a statistically significant proportion of participants treated with VUITY gaining three lines (the ability to read three additional lines on a reading chart) or more in mesopic (in low light), high contrast, binocular Distance Corrected Near Visual Acuity (DCNVA), without losing more than 1 line (5 letters) of Corrected Distance Visual Acuity (CDVA) at day 30, hour 3, versus placebo.

• There were no serious adverse events observed in any participants treated with VUITY in either clinical study. The most common treatment emergent non-serious adverse events occurring at a frequency of >5% in participants treated with VUITY were headache and eye redness.

• VUITY is a daily, prescription eye drop that works in as early as 15 minutes and lasts up to 6 hours, as measured on day 30, to improve near and intermediate vision without impacting distance vision. Specifically designed for presbyopia, VUITY is an optimized formulation of pilocarpine, an established eye care therapeutic, delivered with pHast™ technology. The proprietary pHast technology allows VUITY to rapidly adjust to the physiologic pH of the tear film. VUITY uses the eye's own ability to their primary endpoints with a statistically significant proportion of participants treated with VUITY gaining three lines (the ability to read three additional lines on a reading chart) or more in mesopic (in low light), high contrast, binocular Distance Corrected Near Visual Acuity (DCNVA), without losing more than 1 line (5 letters) of Corrected Distance Visual Acuity (CDVA) at day 30, hour 3, versus placebo.

Go to vuitypro.com for more information.

ABSee, powered by Pearle Vision and One Sight, is on a mission to unlock the true potential of every child by ensuring that children receive the eye care they need. Annual eye exams for children—especially for the one-in-four with an undiagnosed vision issue—are important because 80 percent of what a child learns is through the eyes.

Join ABSee by making a donation at www.PearleVision.com/ABSee to help provide access to vision care for children in need so they can achieve their dreams.

Looking for other vision-related charities?

Onesight

What today’s workers want falls into a few general themes: greater freedom and flexibility, a bigger say in the workplace, better compensation and increased safety and security. Employers that can meet these demands have an advantage in today’s job market. Let’s look at each in turn.

Greater Freedom and Flexibility

Most employees who have experienced the benefits of working from home want remote work to remain an option, at least part of the time. But remote work isn’t the only way that employees desire greater freedom and flexibility. They also want the liberty to decide their own work schedule or at least receive their schedule in advance, the option to take time off when they need it and without worrying about a smaller paycheck, and ample opportunities to advance their career. Workers who feel constrained or stalled at work are less likely to stick around. And if they do stay, they’re likely to feel frustrated, perhaps even resentful. Neither attitude inclines them to do their best work.

Tip: Talk with your employees to determine what decisions about their work and their development they can freely make for themselves.

A Bigger Say in the Workplace

Employees want a cultural fit. They want their work and workplace to align with their beliefs and values. They’re willing to quit if the culture doesn’t suit them, but they also believe the culture isn’t only their employer’s to define. As they see it, the culture belongs to them, too. And many of them are willing to organize protests, perform walkouts and engage in other forms of concerted activity if they don’t approve of how their employer conducts business.

Tip: Consider whose beliefs and values take priority in your workplace. Does culture come from the top down or is it a collaborative effort? If employees don’t feel comfortable expressing their opinions about what the culture is and what it should be, what could you do to reassure them and encourage fruitful discussions?

Better Compensation

The desire for higher pay, additional benefits, on-the-job training and financial relief are by no means new. But right now, in certain industries, employees have the leverage to demand better compensation. In response, employers in these industries are advertising signing bonuses, $15 an hour minimum pay and other attractive forms of compensation.

Tip: Develop a compensation strategy that’s responsive to today’s fluctuating labor costs.

Increased Safety and Security

With health and safety on most people’s minds, there’s a big demand for work that’s physically and mentally healthy. Most employees don’t want a job that puts them in danger of getting a serious illness or causes them psychological harm. Workers want to feel safe, and they’re leaving jobs where they don’t.

Tip: Following all recommended safety precautions is a lot to keep track of, but it’s also just the bare minimum. Listen to any concerns they have and do what you can to address them.

“Personal and social measures, including handwashing, mask wearing and physical distancing are effective at reducing the incidence of COVID-19,” the study authors wrote.

Getty Images photo credits—thumbs up: Adene Sanchez; and COVID-19: Amornrat Phuchom