Balance Method Made Easier

Hey all you Dr. Tan fans! 

My buddy Eric Sherrell (http://www.sherrellacupuncture.com/) presented a webinar yesterday on an easier way to remember the balance method through ELotus seminars. I'm hoping they will put it up on their free TCM Wisdom Tube archive soon. Check to see if they haven't posted it by next week, if they haven't, bug them! You will have to register, but it's free and totally worth it. 
http://www.elotus.org/tcm-wisdom-tube

It's hard for me to get away from my business for continuing education, and ELotus makes it easy to get at least some new learning in on a lunch hour.

In his brief presentation, Eric shows how (yes) there is a pattern to Dr. Tan's first five systems. He shows an easier way to remember the systems and makes it kinesthetic. It will still take some learning on your part, but definitely better than rote memorization.

I figure I will commit the Yang Leg and Arm portions to memory first seeing as Yang channel arm, shoulder, back and leg pain are a good deal of what I treat. 

Hometown Wyoming, pop. 25,000

Unknown asks:

"I am going back to my hometown in Wyoming (population 25,000). Just curious why you think starting a practice in a place like this (Nome was your example) is a bad idea?"

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As Joe Friday in Dragnet says: “Just the facts, ma’am...”

1. What other towns are in close proximity to Home Town, WY? Can you poach of off them? Will they drive to come see you?
2. Are you planning on joining an established practice with a chiropractor or massage therapist? This could work to your advantage. 
3. How many other established chiropractors, acupuncturists, massage therapists are there in town? How many of them will be willing to refer to you? (See also my post “A Tale of Two Cities”) 
4. How well liked are you in Home Town?  If you are well liked, assume you can attract a few more people to your practice.
5. How many people in Home Town, WY are going to think that what you do is voodoo and will never come to see you no matter how poorly they are sleeping or how bad their back is hurting?
6. What is the median income of the folks in Home Town? I ran the numbers for  what I considered to be an average four-person family through http://www.disposableincome.net/. It was quite humbling to see that this family would need to be making $65K a year to afford weekly acupuncture for one family member. Also keep in mind most folks don’t have an “acupuncture budget”, a chiropractic budget and massage budget, they just have X number of dollars at the end of the month to spend on their health and wellness. (or clothes or video games or mini golf)
7. How hard are you willing to work to promote your business? Nights, weekends?
8. Do you want to do acupuncture full-time or part-time? Would it be acceptable to work at the bank two days a week and work at your practice three days a week to live in the place you love?
9. Based on the information you’ve assembled above, how many patients do you think you can get in the door each week? How much are you planning to charge each patient? Are you planning on starting a community clinic? If so, you will need to get 3 or 4 times as many butts in chairs as a conventional acupuncture practice!
10. How much money per month can you survive on? (rent, food, utilities, necessities) Are you going to be living alone? Are you going to be living with your life partner, that happens to be a much sought-after video game designer making triple digits? 
11. How much money are you going to be spending on overhead? Rent, utilities, supplies, general and professional liability insurance, taxes, advertising (to name a few)

Now crunch the numbers and tell me if starting your dream practice in Home Town, WY  looks like a great business idea, or a poor one. I hope it still looks like a great one!

A Tale of Two Cities

Will your new practice be welcomed with open arms? That depends...

City #1
My business partner and I opened our community acupuncture practice in 2010. A month after opening, we held a grand opening party. I was astounded by the number of local acupuncturists who showed up. I braced myself for being dragged into a corner. I thought surely one of them would tell me "you have until sundown to get out of town, or else!". Instead they shook my hand and told me how glad they were to see me in town and that they would be referring patients to me.

City #2 An acquaintance who relocated her family to a resort town of which she was particularly fond. It was not long before she was told by the local acupuncturists in no uncertain terms that the "town wasn't big enough for one more acupuncturist". "You're not welcome here" they said.  Faced with an uphill battle and possible smear campaign from the local practitioners, this woman decided to leave and find another town in which to open a practice. 

Now what's the difference here? Why was my practice welcomed and my acquaintance was ridden out of town on a rail? I think it comes down to perceptions of abundance vs scarcity. 

In our case, our local population numbers at 75,000 people, with additional surrounding populations. The local acupuncturists felt secure in their abilities to get patients in the door. I can't speak for all of them, but they all seem to be as busy in their practices as they want to be. They understand that people who cannot not afford $80 a treatment are not going to come see them more than two or three times anyway. They knew these folks would benefit from regular acupuncture, so they were happy to have a place to refer these patients. Thus, we are viewed as an asset to the community, instead of a drain.

In the case of the resort town, the population was about 21,000 residents. The acupuncturists who were already there knew how hard it was to get enough patients through the door, thus the chilly reception. Maybe these locals were lousy acupuncturists and even worse marketers. I suspect, however, that the local population was just not big enough to keep them busy no matter how stellar they were.  

M is for Marketing

Here's a list of the marketing activities we've tried in the past 2 years

1. free lectures in our clinic and in workplaces 
1. Results: Eh...
2. free acupuncture events
1. Results: One of the top 6 ways we got people in our clinic the first year. We are no longer doing these. There's no money in free acupuncture. 
3. booths at local fairs and farmer's markets
1. Results: One of the top 6 ways we got people in our clinic the first year.
4. gave coupons for free or discounted acupuncture to current patients asking them to pass them on to family and friends
1. Pretty darn good. Don't just ask patients for referrals, give them a tool to use!
5. ads in the local paper (Note to the wise, we only got an article written about our clinic after we started advertising in the local paper, despite months of press releases and contacting the reporters. Just sayin'....)
1. OK, but this needs to be used as a part of a larger marketing plan
6. bulletin board flyering local coffee shops
1. Ugggh... others have had success with it, we found it to be a waste of time.
7. had a friend do active flyering for us at local stores
1. Sometimes we get great results from this, sometimes, not so much. 
8. gave out free treatment cards to local business owners and employees. Basically anyone we came in contact with in our target area while we were out and about. 
9. had giant signage made for our clinic
1. Our #2 patient generator! In spite of what Honora Wolfe says, in the right place, they do work!
2. If I had it to do all over again, I would have added "Affordable sliding scale $20-$45" to it. 
10. used a sidewalk sign
1. I like to use this for messages like: Knee Pain? Acupuncture can help!
11. Posted a website and had SEO done on it 
1. This is just a no brainer in this day and age. If you can't figure out SEO have someone else do it for you. If you have a website, but people can't find it, what good is it?
12. Gave gift certificates to silent auctions
1. Eh, not bad, but no great shakes. Other folks have seen great results. 
13. Did promotions for the local emergency assistance organizations (Donate X amount of dollars to the food bank and get your first treatment for free)
1. Eh, ok. One of our mentor clinic has had great results.
14. Gave free treatments to veterans during the month of November
1. Ugggh... Not many of them came in. Most of them were interested in getting something for nothing. 
15. Participated in the local artwalk
1. Very good! A good way to put yourself in front of your community
16. Treated "first patients free" 
1. Very good! We do this every couple of months. We promote it with print ads, take away flyers for patients, our sidewalk sign and mentions on facebook. 
17. Ran a couple social media campaigns
1. Pick the companies you do a "Groupon" with carefully. My fav: Living Social. This is great as a part of a larger marketing campaign. 
18. Facebook
1. I think this is a must in this day and age. It's a great way to generate buzz about your business. 
19. Twitter
1. I once clicked on a link entitled "How to use Twitter to Market Your Business". It linked to a page that said only: DON'T! I kinda have to agree, unless your demographic is 14-21 year olds. 
20. Phone book (not!)
1. We are not in the phone book. It costs too much, but we often have elderly people who try to find us there. They get frustrated when they can't find you there. 
21. Went to a lot of different networking events
1. OK. Some of them are definitely a big waste of thime.
22. Bring a new person into our clinic and you both get treated for 1/2 price
1. Pretty darn good!
23. Giving gift cards to patients who refer their friends and family to our clinic.
1. OK, mostly a goodwill gesture. 
24. The best marketing.....REFERRALS!
1. Ask your patients for referrals. 

Our busiest months in the clinic have come after multiple marketing activities. Here's an example of the way multiple marketing activities work. From an actual patient quote: "Well I saw your ad in the paper and I met you at the farmer's market. Then my friend in yoga class gave me one of your coupons and here I am." Each of those things helped to contribute to get this person through the door, 

Do Over

What would you do differently if you could start all over again?

Ah! The ol' shoulda woulda coulda! 

A) I would look at demographics much more carefully. I would pick a large city further away from Boulder with media outlets targeted to that city. Great examples of this type of city: Albuquerque and Colorado Springs to name two. Much easier to market your practice. You will get to profitability quicker. Any of you thinking of going back to Nome Alaska or Botkins Ohio to start up a thriving practice, think again!

B) I would have chosen as close to a free-standing office as I could have. To my way of thinking the more control you have over your space the happier you are. 

C) On that same vein, I would have looked a little longer for the right space. When you go to the lease signing and water is dripping through the ceiling in great quantities, don’t assume that the landlord is going to hop right on that problem. Our first office had leaks in the ceiling, wasp nests in the walls, little scurrying creatures in the attic, insulation material that fell down from the ceiling, air conditioning that made our part of the office freezing cold, and a lack of acoustical insulation so that we could hear way too much of our neighbors’ noise. That being said, it was dirt cheap and certainly helped us to pay the bills (and ourselves!) the first 1.5 years we were in business.  

D) I would have started off with more screened off tables. Nothing like having patients fighting over the tables. Unless, of course, you count or stripping down to their bra and laying on a table in front of another patient. 

E) I would have paid to have an enclosed office space from the git go. Yes, we were so stupid and thrifty at the beginning that we did not have an office that was separate from our treatment space. Yeah, uh, this makes it impossible to answer your phone while someone is being treated. That's just plain dumb!

F) Make sure you hire the right person, even if it means going through several people. My business partner and I hired a lawyer who was a member of a local networking group. She talked, we listened and took notes, we got back to the office and compared notes. We still did not understand what she was talking about. We called her back and talked some more. We still didn't understand what she was talking about. This is a bad sign. Get an lawyer/accountant/marketing coach that can explain things in a way that you understand them. We later learned that this person gave detrimental advice other members of the group and yet no one would openly acknowledge this. Very frustrating... Then, we hired a lawyer (a friend of a friend) who wanted to draw up our business operating documents in exchange for lots of free acupuncture. Great, right? It turns out that his speciality was estate law, not business law. Later we learned that he was trying to draw up an operating agreement, yet I think he knew he wasn’t up to the task. Eventually, HE fired US. Probably the best thing for us!

G) Back up your computer! When we started our business, my partner and I used her old laptop from school as our work computer. We installed Quickbooks on it and saved all our financial data on it. We were smart enough to purchase an online back up system for it, but alas, did not pay enough attention to whether or not we were backing up the right data. The hard drive went kablooey one day, taking all our Quickbooks files with it. It took a long time to reconstruct all our financial data. I shudder to think what would have happened had we been several years into business. It would have been catastrophic! Back up your computer in two places. 

H) One of our mentor clinics has used the technique of offering free treatments to anyone who donates to the local a local charity to bring in new patients. We made the mistake of 1) offering this deal to all patients, not just new patients 2) doing this for the entire month C) incidentally doing this the same month that our computer died and we had to buy a new one. We gave nearly $1K to a local charity and did not pay ourselves. If you want to do this, I suggest donating the profits on one day to a charity. Be generous, just not that generous!

The Dark Side of the Healing Oases: Cautionary Tales

- This is a work of fiction, based on fact. This is based on the experiences of three different practitioners I have met. The names and identifying details have been changed to protect the innocent.... and otherwise. -

Let me tell you a story that happened some time ago in a land far, far away. Once there were three healers: Ann, a massage therapist, Stan, a talk therapist, and Fran, a naturopath. They loved their work and they loved helping people. They saw that it would be to the betterment of their patients and clients if they joined forces with other healers. Each of them rented office spaces that were too big for them individually. They divided each office it into several treatment rooms with the idea that they could be shared by healers with different modalities. 

Ann had graduated with and MBA before she gained her credentials as a massage therapist. She looked forward to creating a healing oasis where she could collaborating with other practitioners. Although she was able to rent out the rooms easily at first, one of her sublettors ended up breaking his lease by disappearing without notice. He left no forwarding address, disconnected his phone and left Ann with $400/month of overhead. Another sublettor had a disagreement with her and started making catty comments to Ann’s clients as they entered the office. In addition, items started disappearing out of Ann’s treatment room. Eventually, unable to handle the financial responsibility of a full-time lease, Ann’s sublettors started asking for “part-time” rent of the rooms, leading to more sublettors and a scheduling nightmare for all involved. One of them painted a treatment room without asking Ann or the other sublettors. A meeting had to be called among all the parties. In spite of the attempt to talk it out, no one was satisfied. 

Ann prided herself on being a consummate professional. She spent a lot of time on her marketing plan and a good chunk of change to market her business. The other sublettors seemed to think it was Ann’s job to do their marketing for them. Anytime she suggested promoting their wellness group at a networking event or a local festival, none of the others wanted to put up the money. Even if they agreed to spend the money, it seemed that Ann was the only one willing to show up at the event. As time went on and Ann got to know the others in the office better, she came to learn that most of them treated their healing more as a hobby than a profession. Ann continued for a while, she finally gave up her dream of a wellness center and rented a small office in an executive suite. 

Stan, a talk therapist, also dreamed of creating a healing oasis. His office included a large meeting room, a airy reception area and several nicely appointed treatment rooms. At first, everything seemed great; then the drumming began. Another one of the practitioners started an ecstatic drumming circle. The walls in the office, unfortunately, were quite thin. Stan talked to the practitioner about scheduling the drumming circles and practices at times that did not interfere with his clients’ time. Despite these assurances, in the middle of an emotionally-charged session with a client: “boom, bitty boom boom boom!” Stan’s client couldn’t handle the distraction and left in tears. Stan felt bitter and betrayed. This wasn’t the only issue. The practitioners who shared the office tended to “pounce” on Stan’s clients as they were leaving to try to sell them on foot massages, Feldenkrais sessions or past life regressions. More than one of Stan’s clients admitted that they found these interactions extremely hard to deal with after their therapy sessions. They just needed a few quiet minutes to integrate what they had just experienced. Stan realized too late that he should have made arrangements with the others in the office as to how they would promote their services. 

Fran started her healing oasis with a group of her friends. They were so excited to offer their city a place to come together in healing. There were many healers who ended up joining the practice. Fran wanted to hire a receptionist, but her friends didn’t want to spend the money. They insisted on taking shifts to staff the front desk themselves. Fran relented, glad to avoid an additional expense. Sometimes, Fran found that the receptionist were charging her patients for the wrong items, despite her carefully itemized bills. Sometimes, they weren’t charged at all. It took Fran extra time to figure things out and keep her books straight, but oh well, at least she didn’t have to pay a receptionist. One day, Fran heard the front desk person turning a potential patient away because “The nutritionist isn’t here, today. Sorry.” Fran ran out of her office “I can provide nutritional counseling.” she said. “I spent a quarter of my program learning about nutrition and vitamins!” On another occasion, Fran heard one of the folks at the front desk telling a woman “Oh yes, I’ve heard Fran has cured lots of people of their breast cancer!” Fran cringed inside as she came around the corner to explain that, no, she doesn’t “cure” breast cancer. She wondered how many other potential patients had been turned away and how many other half-truths had been spread about her practice. Fran repeatedly tried to inform the others of her concerns, but the mistakes and misinformation continued. 

So what have we learned?

1. Healers, despite being warm-hearted and wonderful human beings can be terrible business people. Sometimes, they can be downright flaky. These warm, fuzzy people can also be as spiteful, petty and vitriolic as anyone else on the planet. 
2. The more people you get involved, the less control you have over your space and situation.
3. It’s important to tell your own story, or find a person who you trust to tell your own story. 
4. No body knows about your business or cares about its success as much you do. 
5. You get what you pay for. 
6. Good fences make good neighbors.
7. Make your expectations and responsibilities clear at the beginning. 
8. If you’re going to be in business with someone, make sure they are as professional as you are. 
9. Know when to walk away from a bad situation. 

- THE END - 

About My Crib

These are some questions I was asked this/last year about my clinic for a practice management class. 

1) Describe your practice a bit. (Where it is, what it looks like, whom you serve)

I have a Community Acupuncture practice in Lafayette, CO on the corner of two major cross streets downtown. ADA compliant, approximately 1000 sq feet in an old house. We have 5 chairs and 3 tables. We supply raw, granular and ready-made herbs through Great Wave Herbal Pharmacy and Blue Poppy. We have no speciality, we try to serve everyone. We try to refer out peds cases for the most part since they are hard to treat in the community room. We charge a one time initial intake fee of $15 and charge $20-$45 per treatment. 

2) How did you arrive at the decision to create this style of practice?

I was torn about what kind of practice I wanted. I’m glad I made the choice I did. 1) it's a great way to distinguish myself from other practices 2) there's a huge need for affordable healthcare 3) I believe frequency and consistency is key for great results with acupuncture. 4) I feel good about it! I noticed that in school I wasn't seeing my acupuncturist as much as I should because stuff like gas, groceries and shoes for the kids always seemed to come first.

3) Do you have the number of patients you want in your practice on a reasonably consistent basis? If so, how long did it take you to build the practice you wanted?

I don't have the numbers I would like yet. They are 2x as good as the numbers last year and last year is 2x what it was 3 months after opening. This practice has always been able to pay its bills without dipping into savings and I feel very positive about that. I would like to be seeing at least 140 patients a week. Average, my practice currently sees about 80 per week.

4) Has the current economy had an impact on your practice and have you changed any aspect of what you do in response to that?

Heck, my practice is designed for the current economy. I suppose some people would argue that I should lower my sliding scale to $15-$35. However, we have a loyalty punchcard and packages that allow people to save if they pay up front. A lot of our clientele is either out of work or underemployed. 

5) Do you have a website? Do you add to it regularly? Do your patients interact with it in any way?

Yes! Yes! and Yes! SEO Search Engine Optimization is key for your website as is having a professional looking website. I am changing the homepage and events page weekly. I try to post on my blog monthly. Mostly patient interaction comes in 2 ways 1) new patients printing off our forms 2) existing patients scheduling appointments with our booking tool. (Genbook)

6) What is your largest, most consistent source of new patients?

#1 REFERRALS! #2 Walk ins from our sign #3 Free days #4 Special events (Art walk, Farmer's Market, etc.. #5 the Internet

7) Do you bill insurance?

No. I like to be paid up front. I like to control the amount I get paid. I do not enjoy spending lots of time on the phone. I do not like filling out and xeroxing forms. I do not like playing phone tag. I do not enjoy playing games. I do not like them Sam-I-am. Also, our prices are often below the co-pay for many insurance plans.

8) Do you offer packages?

Yes. We have a pay as you go punchcard. (Buy 6 treatments and get your 7th free.) 67% of the patients who start one finish it and redeem it. We have an allergy/immunity 6 pack designed to be used in the space of 1-3 weeks (6 treatments for $100).  We have a smoking cessation package (10 treatments in the space of 2 weeks for $150). I may be reworking our punchcard to be buy 8 treatments and get your 9th free. 

9) What was the amount of time it took you from graduation day to opening your doors?

6 months, mostly because we could not find retail space. A good tip: count on everything costing twice and much and taking twice as long as you think it should and you will not be disappointed. 

10) Where did you come up with the capital to cover your start-up costs?

Savings and money from family. We each put up $6K. We (I) still have a fair amount of that in our savings account still. 

11) What was your biggest challenge in your first year?

Working in a dysfunctional environment. We shared an entrance with another business, our space had a lot of problems (leaks, wasps, over-zealous A/C, squirrels in the rafters), we did not always have a cordial relations with our neighbors, we did not have a completely walled-off office for a while. 

12) What brought your first patient in the door?

A free day

13) How do you keep from burning out?

Ha ha ha. I’m currently killing myself for my business, so I’m the wrong person to ask. In general I would say: Be an optimist, Acupuncture, Chinese herbs, regular looonnng vacations, brain wave vibration, EFT, and Manhattans.

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More answers to burning questions like: What were your biggest mistakes? What marketing works the best? and What's your best advice for new acupuncturists? coming soon!

7 Reasons NOT to Start a Hybrid Acupuncture Practice

<Disclaimer: LHCA is technically a hybrid practice>

Definition of a Hybrid Practice: Community Acupuncture part of the time, Private Treatments part of the time.

1. You simplify your marketing message. Can you imagine giving your “elevator speech” trying to outline the benefits of community acupuncture AND  private practice acupuncture at the same time?
2. Conserve your energy, money and focus. I really believe in the laws of attraction. You get what you think about, the harder you think about something and the more positive energy you put towards it the more of it you will get. If you are trying to hold two competing forms of practice in your mind at once, you muddy your message to the public, yourself, and the universe. 
3. Community vs private takes 2 sets of different types of rooms/equipment- that means money, folks!
4. If you are trying to do privates and community treatments simultaneously: be careful. It is difficult and distracting to switch between the two. It’s really easy to forget how much time is going by when you are in one space or the other, which leads to patient neglect. 
5. Patients can be confused by this model. "Wait, I could have gotten the same treatment for a lot less money? Dang it!" or "You've been telling me how great community acupuncture is and now you want me to do private treatments? Does this mean I've been missing out on something great?" or "Gosh I want a private treatment, but I just can't afford it, looks like I'll have to settle for 'poor man's acupuncture'...".
6. Community vs private comes down to a price point and expectations. When you want to celebrate your anniversary with something special, you don't go to Good Times. When you want a $2.00 burger and a shake you don't go to Lawry's Steakhouse. How many restaurants do you know of that offer both?
7. If you are thinking of starting a hybrid practice, look deeply into the reasons for it.  What draws you to each type of practice? What are the benefits of having both? What are the pitfalls? What could you not possibly do without? Most of all: What are you afraid of? What would you do if you knew you could not fail?

So in all fairness here are a few reasons TO have a hybrid practice:

1. It's really hard to gather all the information you need for infertility cases in 15 minutes a week. Also, these patients are likely not to want to share their information as freely in the community setting even if they are whispering. 
2. Great for people who need a private space to work through their grief or anger. 
3. We miss needletop moxa,  shiatsu, and cupping!
4. It's impossible to do Peds patients under 5 in a community room. (in my opinion)
5. Some people will get better results with the extra nutritional advice, hand-holding, talking and listening offered by this model. 
6. Obviously much easier to deal with issues located in the lower abdomen, groin, buttocks or breasts.

10 Reasons to Start a Community Acupuncture Practice

10 reasons to start a community acupuncture practice 

instead of a traditional or “boutique” practice

1. The median per person income recently dropped to $26,364, which translates to $2165 per month. (Median means 1/2 of Americans make more, 1/2 make less.) Using a disposable income calculator, I think you’ll find that a two earner household with two kids needs to bring in about $50,000 ($3400 per month) before one member of the family could even think about getting acupuncture at $65 per treatment per week. This supposes that the family doesn’t want to go out for the movies or no one needs new shoes. The current economy is not friendly to those who seek to open high-touch and relatively expensive practices.  In short: “it’s the economy stupid!”
2. A  CA clinic is a great atmosphere in which to learn, experiment and grow as an acupuncturist! In a community model in which people are seeing you more often for lower prices you will have the freedom to experiment and patients are less likely to demand instant results. 
3. You will be bathed in gratitude from people who could otherwise not afford this medicine or for that matter any other form of healthcare other than yours. Your friends, your teachers, your chefs, your mechanics, your retirees; your community needs you!
4. Don’t be put off by POCA. Yes, they can get a bit dogmatic and flag-waving, but they’re hearts are in a good place. You don’t have to believe everything they say. Yes, you can use tables, yes you can prescribe herbs, no, not all CA acupuncturists think anyone who wants to should be able to practice acupuncture without a degree.
5. Do you find parking your patient in the treatment room, charting and then puttering around for 20 minutes to be a frustrating/boring/disjointed enterprise? Try community acupuncture! It’s fast paced, challenging, and exciting!
6. You can get great results with simple and frequent treatments. Often people tell me that “acupuncture doesn’t work”. When I ask them how many treatments they received they will tell me “two”. Would you take two doses of an antibiotic and then assume your sinus infection was taken care of? No! Dosage is key! More doses = get better quicker, better results. (Or on the flip side, if acupuncture isn’t going to work for this person we know sooner rather than later and we haven’t wasted too much of their time and money!)
7. CA is kinda magical. I don’t know why or how but often the cancer survivor ends up being in the community room at the same time as the person who just got their diagnosis. The two manic depressives end up sitting right next to each other and getting a deep, long and centering nap. The mother and the daughter come in together for healing and then a lunch date.
8. CA prices are often at or below the prices of patient insurance co-pays. Why not let people decide their own healthcare? Power to the Patients! Also, <NEWS FLASH> dealing with insurance companies can at times be lucrative, but often a giant pain in the rear! Dealing with insurance companies allows an outside entity to decide how much, when and if at all you will be paid. As Daffy Duck says: “What a way to run a rainroad!” Think twice. If you enjoy drowning in paper and playing phone tag, do not start a CA practice!
9. Acupuncture is scary for people. Decrease the threshold of acceptance by making it affordable and approachable. How do you make it approachable? There’s nothing that makes a pregnant mom / buff weight-lifter guy / senior citizen feel more accepting of acupuncture than seeing another pregnant mom / buff weight-lifter guy / senior citizen in your treatment getting a nice, blissed-out treatment!
10. Many folks think it’s impossible to create a relationship with patients in only 15 minutes per week. It really is possible and I find it just as rewarding as treating private patients. It takes time, but it does happen.

Systems & Tools

These are the systems and tools I use to run my business. For better... and for worse. 

Online Scheduling Tool

Genbook

Likes: $15 a month, patients can schedule themselves online, provides a forum for independent reviews that can be searched by web engines, clean look and feel on the back end and front end.

Dislikes: cannot do 10 minute appointment scheduling, slow to load, sometimes needs to be refreshed multiple times an hour. Slightly kludgy execution. No ability to color code.

Bookkeeping

Quickbooks 

Likes: integrates with Intuit Merchant services, which allows seamless sales receipts (ie easier record-keeping), industry standard, accountants dig it.

Dislikes: cost, tech support often sucks

Email Newsletter Tool

Mail Chimp 

Likes: FREE! Professional looking, tons of ideas about how to make sure your email gets opened and not labeled spam, provides easy access to artwork that can be purchased to jazz up your email for a few bucks a pop. Every bit as good as Constant Contact in my opinion and no fees unless you have a ton of subscribers. 

Dislikes: none!

Phone system

Google Voice

Likes: allows you to have one number ring any number of phones. We use it to ring to our personal cell phones. This ensures that you're always near your business phone (sometimes this is not a good thing!). Saves us from having a land line. Free.

Dislikes: 1) Sometimes messages go to your own personal voicemail, sometimes they go to your Google Voice account. There's no way of knowing. 2) Some callers will not be able to complete their call to you, especially if they're using an older company phone system. No way to block your personal number from people, so sometimes they call your home phone instead of the business phone anyway. 

Web-based Computer Backup System

MozyPro

Likes: runs automatically

Dislikes: be sure you're backing up the right files, or you'll be in big trouble when your computer dies. This happened to us 3 months into business. It really sucked!

Online Website Hosting

Kutenda

Likes: Excellent SEO and assistance with SEO. Good for people who don't know much about HTML and aren't too picky about micromanaging their webpages. Comes with a Email Newsletter tool that's not as good as Mail Chimp. Better for larger small businesses, if you know what I mean.

Dislikes: it's lets see, 2012 in the Common Era and you're still not letting me use Cascading Style Sheets? Are you out of your minds?! Editor is kludgy,  annoying, and slow to load at best. I would move my website, but that's a big hassle I don't need right now. 

Document Sharing

Google Drive

Likes: The virtual nature of Google Drive allows us to share documents among a number of users and collaborate remotely, work from home, etc..

Dislikes: Hard to tell how things are going to print out. Can't change margins of documents

 

What's this all about?

I'm starting this blog because I think of things everyday that I think would be of interest to the budding acupuncturist/entrepreneur/business owner. Also, I have twice been asked to speak on a panel for the practice management class at Southwest Acupuncture College and the instructors never leave us enough time to answer all the questions students have.

What I have to say here is not meant to be taken as gospel, just my opinions and notes from along my journey. Things I wish someone would have shared with me when I was starting out. I promise to be as candid as I can.

I welcome your questions and ponderings.

Onward and upward!