Noh Filter (Fridays with Ada Noh, OD)

“Counter” Productive

We all know small business ownership is no walk in the park. And starting from scratch? Even less so.

On my second go-around, I have more experience, more resources, and thankfully, more funds behind my dry-eye-exclusive practice. So I decided to do something I don’t usually do: ask for help.

I hired a handyman to help with some painting, countertop finishing, and a few other projects around the office.

What a mistake. 

If I needed proof that there are, in fact, people who take absolutely no pride in their work… I found it.

The countertops he left me with were somehow WORSE than what I started with—and I was now a few thousand dollars in the hole.

So, naturally, I tried to salvage what I could.

Three different trials, three different plans, and eventually… I did it myself.

Lesson learned.

The irony? This experience probably did more to reinforce my already stubborn, strong-willed, “I’ll just do it myself” personality than anything else could have.

Small business ownership continues to teach me lessons I didn’t necessarily ask for—but probably needed.

And maybe the biggest one this time around: asking for help is important… but knowing who to ask is even more important. 😂

Getting Your Foot in the (Inudstry) Door

As I've gotten more involved with industry, I've started getting asked more often how I got started and how someone else can do the same. I wish I had a particularly exciting answer, but there really isn't a secret recipe. There are a lot of different ways to get involved, and several of them can be happening at the same time. Some of it is putting yourself in the right rooms, some of it is building relationships, some of it is being good at what you do, and occasionally it's simply being in the right place at the right time.

One of the easiest places to start is with the people who are probably already walking into your office. How well do you actually know your reps? Industry and pharmaceutical reps have a tough job. They're going from office to office, often hoping to get a couple minutes of a doctor's time, if they can get past the front desk at all. When a rep comes into my office, I try to give them proper time to tell me what's new with their company, talk about a product, or share new data. But I also try to get to know them beyond whatever they're there to discuss that day. I know one of my reps has twins getting ready for college. Another has kids heavily involved in sports. I ask about them because I've gotten to know these people and genuinely care about what's happening in their lives.

Those relationships matter professionally too. Your reps are often the people who can send your name up the chain when a company is looking for someone for an advisory board, speaker bureau, symposium, or another opportunity. That doesn't mean you should suddenly start being nice to your rep because you want something from them. People can usually see through that pretty quickly. It means that if you're interested in getting involved with a company, the person who already knows you, sees how you practice, and knows you're engaged with what they're doing is a pretty reasonable place to start.

My first real break with speaking came partly from being in the right place at the right time. Tarsus had a last-minute opening in its speaker bureau and I was asked if I could fill it. That meant flying to Dallas a few weeks later for speaker training and figuring out the rest from there. Especially early on, I think there is a lot of value in saying yes when those opportunities come up. Be available. Follow through on what you said you were going to do. Show up prepared. If someone takes a chance on you, make it easy for them to feel comfortable calling you again the next time they need someone.

Conferences have also become a huge part of how I build these relationships. A lot of my industry networking happens during the few days each year when everyone happens to be in the same place. At Academy a few weeks ago, for example, I had lunch with the Associate Director of KOL and Peer-to-Peer Strategy for Dompé. I'm not a speaker for Dompé and haven't previously worked with the company, but that doesn't make the relationship irrelevant. If a company tells you that they aren't expanding their speaker bureau right now, that doesn't mean you stop talking to everyone there until they have something to offer you. Stay in touch. Say hello at the next conference. Grab lunch when you're both in town. Learn what they're working on and let them learn what you're working on. If an opportunity eventually does become available, you want your name to be one they already know rather than one they're hearing for the first time.

I've also learned that industry relationships can become much more than whatever professional reason initially brought you together. I wrote about this recently in Beyond the Business, but the people working for these companies are still people. Some of the relationships I've made through industry have turned into genuine friendships, and at this point there are people I look forward to seeing at conferences regardless of whether we have any business to discuss.

The frustrating part is that you can do all of this and still hear no. You might hear it a lot. A company may already have enough speakers, your area may be covered, there may not be a program that makes sense for you, or the timing may simply be wrong. You might get 100 no's before you get your first yes. You have to be okay with that and keep going without treating every interaction like it needs to result in an opportunity.

The other thing I try to keep in perspective is that none of this replaces the reason I'm here in the first place. My practice is my pride and joy. Seeing patients, continuing to learn, and providing the best clinical care I can is still my bread and butter. I could eventually have 20 industry roles or I could have zero, and I would still want to keep pushing myself to become a better doctor and healthcare provider. Industry work can give me opportunities to teach, meet people, contribute ideas, and hopefully have some influence on where things go next, but I never want collecting industry roles to become the measure of whether I'm succeeding in my career.

There isn't one path into industry, and mine certainly isn't the only way to do it. Get to know people. Show up. Go to conferences. Say yes when the right opportunity finally comes around, and then do a good enough job that they want to call you again. Just don't get so focused on getting your foot in the door that you forget what you were doing before anyone opened it.

Have a great weekend.

Ada Noh, OD

Andrew Zagelbaum, OD

Special thanks to our 2026 Founding Presenting Partner, Bausch + Lomb!