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.