Formed in 1991 in California, Surgical Optics has been delivering quality endoscopy repairs at competitive prices to hospitals, surgery centers, and physician offices nationwide and internationally.

To Tony Truong, the man at the helm of Surgical Optics LLC, a firm that services and repairs endoscopic equipment for physicians, hospitals and surgery centers, "Being the sole proprietor of a small business is a lonely job. Until I began working with my SCORE counselors in January 2006, there was no one I could discuss business issues and problems with."  

Truong had worked in marketing, sales and engineering for leading semiconductor companies in the Silicon Valley, before buying the business in 1997. That was before he caught the "entrepreneurial bug" and decided to go out and try managing an operation on his own. As the new boss, with each new challenge, he found that more and more he needed an advisory ear as he worked to grow the company's revenues by a factor of four and increase the number of employees by a factor of three.

In the midst of his success came a serious misstep in 2002 when Truong sought to almost double the company's capacity by opening a second facility in Southern California. It took almost four years to recover from that experience. Truong believes that apart from the lessons learned, he might have done things differently had he had the "sounding board" that h is current SCORE counselors provide.  

"They allow me to bounce my ideas off of them and make me consider issues I wouldn't have thought of otherwise," notes Truong.

They are able to guide him through quality of workplace issues - as well as focusing on his quality of life away from the office.    

At the start of 2006, Truong wanted to review where he would go next with Surgical Optics. Moreover, after eight years of day-to-day, hands-on management, he hoped to reorganize to spend more time with his new wife. For these reasons, he came to Silicon Valley SCORE for help. He credits his two counselors, who are part of the organization's Assessment Program, with showing him how to better focus on his goals, enabling him to reduce his hours without losing control. In fact, with their feedback, he says Surgical Optics revenues will grow over 20 percent and net operating income will increase by over 40 percent in 2006.   

What is the key to these accomplishments? His advisors helped him map the business processes of Surgical Optics as he focused on developing and strengthening personnel. These changes mean that his employees can handle their workload more independently and effectively because they are charged with the ability to plan and make responsible decisions, as well as to communicate with each other regularly.  

Truong concludes: "I've made exceptional progress toward achieving my goals because of the mentoring that I've received. Not only is the business operating more smoothly and profitably, but my personal life is less stressful."