Embracing the Entrepreneurial Journey: The Journey Begins

Part 2 of the Embracing the Entrepreneurial Journey Series.

Day one of any new job is always nerve-wracking. Not knowing the people, the processes, or the jargon can leave many of us wondering if we will ever get the hang of it in a new environment. Day one of being an entrepreneur, however, is the exact opposite. It’s filled with promise, excitement, and expectations. It’s about the big plan. As Mike Tyson famously said, “Everyone has a plan until you get punched in the mouth.” It’s day two, three, four, or day four hundred that the nerves really begin to hit the entrepreneur. It’s in these moments we start to realize that the market we chose or want to create is not as accessible or welcoming as we thought it would be. By the time most people settle into their new jobs and master the jargon, the entrepreneur is just beginning to understand how nervous they should have been on day one.

My Journey

Currently, I am in the middle of launching an online prescription eyewear shop. The eyewear market is a challenging one. In 2023, the global eyewear market was valued at over $160 billion, with online prescription eyewear making up a growing portion of this figure, increasing at a projected annual growth rate (CAGR) of 8.4% from 2021 to 2028. Yet, this online market requires a fair amount of persuasion—the core customer base is accustomed to purchasing glasses from brick-and-mortar shops, where an optician upsells you 300% on a pair of glasses.

The Problem You Ask?

For every successful business, there is a problem that business solves. Whether it’s the gas station conveniently located on the way to the office, or the Uber driver who picks you up after one too many drinks at the bar—problem solved. Some industries are fully aware they have a problem, yet fixing it would mean sacrificing significant revenue. The car industry is a great example: electric vehicles (EVs) have existed for decades, but manufacturers were slow to innovate because maintaining the status quo was more profitable. Similarly, the mobile phone industry keeps releasing incremental upgrades because doing otherwise would disrupt their carefully curated profit margins. The classic case? Taxis knew they were hard to hail and often costly before Uber came along—they just didn’t have the incentive to change. When you own the market, fixing a problem might mean losing your first-mover advantage.

And here lies the dilemma for the eyewear industry. Eyecare is fundamentally a health matter, but it’s also a fashion statement. Doctors walk a fine line between offering sound medical care and pushing you towards a trendy pair of frames. The real return on investment for most optical practices isn’t in the exams; it’s in the frames, where the profit margins are huge. Insurance, as mentioned earlier, takes the money that doctors might otherwise make on an exam or a covered pair of glasses. Get to the point, you ask? Ok, here it is: the exam is the bait, and the upsell begins as soon as you’re on your way out the door.

Online eyewear companies, including my own, offer discounts on the same products—sometimes in the range of 75 to 90% off—to entice customers to make the shift from brick-and-mortar stores. This means the industry has high transactional costs due to the sheer volume needed to meet the desired return on investment. In simpler terms, to convince the new online customer that our product is just as good as the one they would find in a traditional store, we’re forced to offer major discounts as we wait for first adopters to spread the word. Also, the touchy filly factor plays a part. Many customers need to touch, feel, and try-on their glasses before committing, we can handle try-on, but touching and feeling is not quite developed yet.

The Challenges of the Journey

What they don’t tell you when you start your entrepreneurial journey is that passion and a good idea are only the beginning. The journey from concept to market domination is filled with roadblocks, most of them unforeseen. When I first sketched out the idea for Frame Fiesta, my online eyewear shop, I imagined a straightforward path: find suppliers, create a sleek website, market to customers, and let the orders roll in. But that was the naïve, day-one perspective. The reality is much more complex.

For instance, while the value proposition of selling eyewear online is compelling—lower prices, convenience, and transparency—the consumer psychology behind buying prescription glasses is still very much entrenched in the traditional model. People are used to trying on frames, getting advice from opticians, and walking out of a store with their glasses. For many, buying something as personal as eyewear online feels uncertain and risky. Addressing this hesitation has meant that my focus shifted from simply offering a better price to building trust, educating consumers, and simplifying the online purchasing process as much as possible.

Another aspect that took me by surprise was the importance of logistics. The more I dug into the mechanics of the eyewear supply chain, the more I realized how deeply interconnected traditional opticians are with suppliers. Most opticians source their frames from the same conglomerates that control the industry—Luxottica and Essilor, for example, control about 80% of the eyewear brands available worldwide. This monopolistic control over the supply chain creates a barrier to entry for smaller players like myself, forcing us to get creative about sourcing, branding, and marketing.

The Answer? Maybe.

Currently, I don’t have all the answers. I know that building this business will require a balancing act between time, money, and creativity. The answer might lie in a mix of exceptional customer service, a relentless focus on value, and having enough capital to endure the long journey toward profitability. Or maybe the answer is to simply keep moving, adjusting, and staying nimble until the market shifts—because shift it will. Consumer behavior is always evolving, and those who can see the changes coming before they happen are the ones who stand to win big.

There is also the realization that the journey itself holds as much value as the destination. The lessons learned along the way—how to market a product, how to build a supply chain, how to connect with customers—are invaluable, regardless of whether the final outcome is a success or not. For now, I keep building, dreaming, and making adjustments along the way.

What Comes Next

I like to think of this stage of the journey as a test of resilience. The romantic idea of entrepreneurship often ends once the sleepless nights set in and the challenges seem to outnumber the wins. But if I’ve learned anything so far, it’s that clarity often comes from being in the thick of it—from trial and error, from falling and getting back up.

In the next blog, I hope to have more concrete answers to share—lessons learned from mistakes, successes that weren’t anticipated, and maybe, just maybe, some solid strategies for navigating the murky waters of the eyewear industry. Until then, I’ll keep embracing the journey, one step at a time.