Remember that first job you had as a teenager?
The one your parents probably pushed you to get?
Tearing tickets at a movie theater in Edmonton wasn't supposed to be life-changing for Dr. Tony Jacob.
But looking back, that gig planted seeds that would grow into something much bigger.
Tony was 14 when he landed that movie theater job. Like most kids that age, he wasn't thinking about career trajectories or business empires. He wanted pocket money and a taste of independence.
"I started working as soon as I was able to," he remembers.
Seems simple enough, right?
But think about what you actually learn in a job like that. You figure out how to show up on time, even when you don't feel like it. You learn to deal with grumpy customers without taking it personally. You see how a business keeps running smoothly regardless of who's working that day.
These weren't lessons Tony consciously filed away at the time. They were more like muscle memory developing.
Habits and perspectives that would serve him years later when he opened his first optometry practice in Texas.
After the movie theater, Dr. Tony Jacob moved on to selling men's clothes at Moores (think Men's Warehouse, but Canadian).
That's where his natural curiosity changed everything.
One day, a customer came in and bought seven nearly identical pairs of pants. Tony couldn't help asking why anyone would need that many similar pants. The answer? The man was an optometrist who needed professional attire for his practice.
Something about Tony's genuine interest and customer service caught the doctor's attention.
"He said, 'You did such a great job with the sales process. Why don't you come in one Saturday and check out what I do?"
That Saturday visit opened Tony's eyes to optometry, watching someone who clearly loved his work making a tangible difference in people's lives.
"I watched how much fun he had with his patients," Tony says. "Not only the happiness he'd bring to patients once they got their prescriptions fixed, but it made him really happy. I think his patients saw that on his face."
That random conversation with a customer led Tony to optometry school in Houston, and eventually to building his healthcare business across Texas.
All because he asked a question about pants.
That clothing store conversation taught Dr. Tony Jacob something he still swears by today.
"I really try not to turn down conversations or meetings," he explains, "because you never know where it leads, and you also never know who you can help."
Tony discovered that being genuinely interested in people, not in a networking-for-profit way, but in an authentic human way, creates opportunities that strategic planning can't.
"One thing I repeatedly do is always remember people's names and something about them," he shares.
When Tony opened his first practice in Lockhart, Texas, he brought this same approach.
No sophisticated marketing campaigns.
He built relationships, remembered details about patients' lives, and let word-of-mouth do the heavy lifting.
When those teenage jobs were shaping Tony's future business approach, his home life was teaching equally powerful lessons about resilience.
Born in Kerala, India, Tony's family moved to Kuwait and then to Canada in search of better opportunities.
When they arrived in Canada, his parents faced a harsh reality. Their degrees and professional credentials weren't recognized.
"My dad and mom looked at each other and said, 'We're going to have to go back to school and get educated in the Canadian system,'" Tony remembers.
Instead of giving up, they tag-teamed their education.
His dad put his mom through school first, then she supported him while he studied accounting.
All while raising kids.
"I remember my dad at the dinner table reading accounting books," Tony recalls.
Years later, when Tony faced the inevitable setbacks of growing his Texas optometry business, that example of quiet persistence helped him push through.
His practice network eventually expanded to 11 locations, leading to what he describes as "the largest private transaction in the state of Texas for optometry."
How a Texas Visionary Built a Million-Dollar Practice
Watch how Dr. Tony Jacob turned a chance stop in Lockhart, Texas, into an eye care empire.
