Real-life tips from Pacific College Alumna and Founder/President of Pink Image Breast Thermography Clinic Wendy Sellens, LAc

Welcome back to our Building a Practice on a Budget Series! This week we want to help you market smart. You can spend A LOT of money on advertising, but wouldn’t you rather spend less and be more strategic, so as to get the most bang for your buck? How to inform your community is the challenge, so let us help!

1. Location .

Yes, I mentioned this in the first week of this series, but it really is crucial. At My Pink Image, we chose to spend a little more in rent for location so we wouldn’t have to spend money advertising. Here are some pointers for your location:

· Our clinic doors literally open to a Farmers Market every Sunday. Spend a little more in rent for perks like this to be close to your type of clientele.

· We opened our clinic in 2009, smack dab in the middle of a recession. What to do?! We decided to celebrate our first month of business by offering free acupuncture treatments to show the community what we could offer! This was very successful. We were actually surprised at the results. We more than doubled rent our first month and never looked back.

· Our clinic is located on a boutique street that offers business owners and employees a 10% discount, which we honor. Give locals and/or military a discount as well. Since we keep our overhead low, we pass the savings on to our patients and they keep coming back!

2. Sell products.

We sell everything our patient would need to be healthy. Why have them spend their money at another store? For example, we privately labeled an all organic, petro-chemical free, bath and body product line for the entire family.

3. Referrals.

Referrals are going to be your bread and butter marketing. We have a deal for every patient who refers a friend: they receive one free acupuncture treatment. This is great for patients who love deals. We have a couple patients who haven’t paid for acupuncture in months because they refer so many new patients to us.

Also, remember that getting better sells! We have the reputation of being “honest” physicians. If we decide during the consult that we need to refer out, we won’t charge. If the patient only needs one or two treatments we discharge them. Patients love honesty and saving money, and they WILL refer back to you because they trust you.

4. Pick your patients.

We are a “cash only” business. We do not accept insurance. We believe when people pay cash they make the effort to get better. They expect results with cash and we get them results. Being cash only, we keep our prices affordable and educate our patients on the importance of three treatments a week. When patients pay cash they expect results and with affordable prices coupled with several treatments in a couple weeks they get results! Worker’s comp and insurance patients tend to have a different attitude; since they are not “paying” many patients may not be as invested in their results.

5. Give your patients homework.

We inform them that they can do “homework,” which will increase their health or they can skip their homework and pay us to take care of them. What do you think most choose? We educate all of our patients on their particular health issue and require them to make lifestyle changes. Patients love homework, if it saves them money.

This concludes our Building a Practice on a Budget Series. We hope you gained some helpful tips for your practice! Visit Wendy at www.MyPinkImage.com .

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Real-life tips from Pacific College Alumna and Founder/President of Pink Image Breast Thermography Clinic Wendy Sellens, LAc

Welcome to Week 2 of the Building a Practice on a Budget Series: Shop Til You Drop! We don’t want you to literally “drop” so we’re saving you some time with these pro shopping and decorating tips from Wendy. Ready? Get set. Shop!

1. Paint Job

A good paint job is something every new space will most likely need. You want to create your own vibe in your new clinic, and paint can lend itself in a dramatic and inexpensive way. Know this: Paint is always on sale and you should definitely go with the brand that currently is on sale. Some compromise will have to happen, but embrace it and go with it! I found a couple gallons of dark plum paint for $5. Guess what? I have a beautiful dark plum and white floor room and I love it! Eventually, everything will come together.

2. Decorations

Decorations are the most difficult to budget! Style is the key to your space. I bought cheap natural “as is” IKEA curtains - one for $5, versus two for $40 new. I stenciled them with gold ivy and tied with gold ripped cloth. Again, stenciling and hemming the curtains takes time, but you will save money. I had my decorations, pillows, wall art, vases etc. picked out before I started building. I waited till there was a sale and free shipping, and then I pounced. Some companies will give you a percentage off if you get a card. I bought my massage tables at Costco, I waited for the sale and got them for $150 each instead of $250 each. Be patient. Be organized. It pays.

3. Just Ask

Don’t be afraid to ask your friends and family! They want to see you succeed and probably have skills you don’t. It is not easy building your space; you have to know how to build walls, paint, run electricity and lay flooring. Doing the build out yourself will save you thousands. Our build out would have cost us around $25,000 if we hired help, but with volunteers, we continued to work our current jobs, build our clinic, shop, and completed our clinic within just six weeks. Be prepared to sacrifice your sleep a bit; it’s true that time is money. Every day you are still working on your space you are not earning money! Be organized, have a plan, and you can get it done in no time.

4. Be Creative

I wanted my space to be beautiful and efficient. With only 600 square feet, two doors to our private rooms were expensive and took up too much space. IKEA once again had the solution - large wood mirrors were on sale for just $69. With some creativity, we built our back walls with a lip, put wheels on the bottom, and now we have beautiful mirror doors! When shut, they camouflage our private rooms perfectly. So, don’t be afraid to get creative; you’re not making a life-investment here, so you can afford to think outside the box.

When building on a budget your time is the key to saving money. There is a great sense of accomplishment to know you built it yourself. So be creative, ask your friends and family for help, and shop for those deals!

To find out more of Wendy’s marketing tips, check back next week for the final piece of our Building a Practice on a Budget Series: Market Smart. If you missed the first part of our series, Get Started, see it here . Visit Wendy at www.MyPinkImage.com .

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Real-life tips from Pacific College Alumna and Founder/President of Pink Image Breast Thermography Clinic Wendy Sellens, LAc

Congratulations, you’ve graduated! You have your acupuncture and/or massage license, and you’re ready to start your private practice. Looking at the monetary costs can be overwhelming, but don’t be discouraged; it can be done. My first and most important suggestion to any practitioner starting out is to consider renting a room and building a patient base before investing thousands into your own clinic space. My partner and I rented space for two and a half years on the street where we wanted to build our clinic before investing in our own clinic. With that in mind, here are my “Getting Started” suggestions for building your practice on a budget.

1. Location, location, location.

I cannot emphasize this enough. Advertising is very expensive, and, after speaking with several other physicians, is difficult to find on a budget. Most acupuncturists work off referrals, and it works! Spend a little more for a street location with lots of walk traffic or high visibility. I am on a boutique street in Solana Beach, CA and my doors literally open to a farmers market every Sunday, where prospective patients are endless. I do not advertise. Location pays for itself.

2. Know your design and square footage before looking for space .

It is vital to know your design will work in (x) amount of space. Measure and then measure again to make sure you have exact numbers. Be creative to save space. We all need several rooms, but that is expensive. I created the term “studio acupuncture”. Instead of walls, I built studios that feel like cabanas. I made four small studios by inlaying my wood floor with rock borders and stenciled curtains. Plus, I have two private rooms/offices in the back and a small boutique in the front. (All within 600 square feet!) The design makes my space cozy and I am always getting compliments on the design or “feel” of my space. Being tiny and creative definitely pays off.

3. Don’t be afraid to negotiate your rent.

My landlord was asking $400 over my budget. When I told him what I could afford, he basically hung up on me. Six weeks later he called with a counter price that was only $100 over my asking price, plus gave me six weeks free rent to demolish and redecorate. Many landlords will give you some time to decorate if you ask. Do not be timid when negotiating, just do it. All they can say is no, so it doesn’t hurt to ask.

4. Know your budget. Shop smart.

Crunch the numbers. By not paying retail and doing the build out ourselves, we came in $3,500 under budget. It’s not always a walk in the park; to save money takes TIME! Be prepared to spend all day hunting for deals. I am proud to say my space is mostly re-used or reclaimed, and pretty much everything else, was on sale! Here are a few of my favorite places to bargain shop:

· Craigslist - I got most of my chairs, shelves, sound equipment, desks etc. on craigslist. Look every day. Trust me, you’ll find what you’re looking for.

· IKEA – “as is” – visit it every day. I found most of my curtains, rugs, and flooring here. Prepare to compromise your decorating plans. For example, all my floors were going to be wood laminate. (Tip: IKEA has the cheapest, and they are the easiest to install!) In “as is”, I found 150 square feet of white wood laminate that would work in one of my private rooms for $15 instead of a couple hundred retail. Easy sell, I love my $15 floors.

· Lowes – If you need to go to one or the other, I’ve found Lowes to be much cheaper than Home Depot.

· Thrift Stores - I love thrift stores. They are great places for terrific finds at nominal prices. Lamps, side tables, track lighting, fans and file cabinets are common good deals.

To find out more of Wendy’s shopping and decorating tips, check back next week for Building a Practice on a Budget Series: Shop Til You Drop, and check back in two weeks for Market Smart. Visit Wendy at www.MyPinkImage.com

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OM in the news this week. Check it out!

• Acupuncture Can Improve IVF Success Rates - from TruthDive.com. Recent research shows further evidence that acupuncture, when used as a complementary therapy to IVF, increases success rates; check it out!
• The Monkey on Your Back - from Acupuncture Today. Bookkeeping, marketing, social networking, and more for your acupuncture practice! Learn tips from PCOM Alumna Kimberly Thompson, LAc.
• Home Remedies for Summer Troubles - from Fox News. Check out this video, featuring easy, natural remedies you can take advantage of this summer! Banana peels for bug bite relief? Yes.
• 5 Tips to Make Sure You Have Perfect Posture - from Mind, Body, Green. If you’re doing yoga, make sure you’re doing it correctly so your posture does not suffer, with these tips!

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If you’re a practicing massage therapist, you probably have your hands full (no pun intended!). You have your website up, your business cards created, and you might even be on social media. Many practitioners ask the question: “To blog or not to blog?” The answer might surprise you.

If you can’t commit the time to update a blog at least a couple times a month, it might be better to let the blogging train pass. When blogs go quiet for long periods of time it can reflect poorly on your business. That being said, it should also be noted that for a blog to be successful, it’s not necessary to write a post every day, or even every week. When content is well-written and unique, it can be an excellent way to build awareness of your practice and help optimize your search engine rankings.

Posts should be engaging and informative. If you can build enough quality content, readers will look forward to your posts even if they are infrequent. So, what makes a great massage blog? What will keep readers engaged and give them the urge to return to your site (and your practice)?

Some general rules apply when blogging, regardless of what industry you’re a part of. You’ll want to make sure you strive for quality over quantity for blog posts. Make posts engaging. Offer readers info they can use. Be more than your own promotion. Feel free to mix it up: vary how you present your content. Some of it can be photos, some written articles or surveys, and if you’re really crafty, you can include video posts.

Whatever format you decide to use, in each post, try to give tidbits, insights, or news that readers can immediately implement in their day-to-day life. We’ve put together some great inspirations for your massage blog below.

• Educate. Who better to write about the benefits you can provide to patients than yourself? But rather than making it about you or your practice specifically, focus on your trade. Write a post exploring the different modalities of massage therapy and the different conditions each massage technique is most used to treat. There are great opportunities for pictures with this one as you can demonstrate how Tui Na may look very different from Shiatsu!
• Debunk a myth or misconception about your industry. For example, do people think massage is just for relaxation?
• Interview a happy patient and get their permission to post their massage response on your blog. This is a nice twist for readers to see the benefits of a fantastic massage from the patient’s perspective. Even consider posting a short video testimonial! You can also gather positive quotes from patients that describe specifics about the treatment and post those on your blog. These can even be anonymous if you prefer.
• Use guest bloggers. Feature a post written from the perspective of a different holistic business (especially one that is complementary to your own, such as acupuncture, chiropractic, or a meditation or yoga center).
• Have you been earning CEUs or attended any industry conferences lately? Did you have a great time at Pacific Symposium? Provide your readers with a fun brief write up about the experience and any upcoming trends you’ve noticed in the industry. This is useful for readers who couldn’t attend the event, and also lends you credibility as a continually educated member of your field.
• Do you receive academic journals or read any nonfiction in your field? Have you read up on the recent research of the benefits of touch? Write your take on it or provide a layman’s overview of exciting new massage studies.
• Be useful. You know what your patients love. Are they healthy eaters? Do they enjoy yoga? Are they seeing you for stress and are looking for other ways to lower their heart rate? Give them some info on these issues. It doesn’t even have to do with massage, and in fact, it can broaden your audience if it doesn’t. Write up a list of sources for great vegetarian restaurants in your area, or think of the benefits that tea and antioxidants can provide to someone with a fast pulse.

Above all: try to have fun. Get creative! Think in terms of how you connect with your patients in person and bring it to the page. You’re already passionate about what you do. Bringing that excitement about wellness and healing to your blog will shine through your posts and attract loyal, happy clients.

Get inspired by checking out the recently named Top 50 Massage Blogs here !

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You graduate with your acupuncture or massage therapy degree and are ready to take on the world. You are skilled and enthusiastic to make a name (and some money) for yourself in a career that helps people to feel great. But how do you put your education into practice? What steps do you need to take now that you’re out of school and in the workforce? How do you get clients in the door (and keep them coming back)? Pacific College is here to help you flourish even after you leave our campus. Here are a few tips to get you started.

Set up your website. Think of your website as the first sign that you’re opening shop. It should be created before you ever open your doors. A website will lend you credibility. A prospective patient browsing your website has the opportunity to get a feel for who you are before they even meet you in person. The quality of your website can make the difference between a “just looking” patient and a getting an appointment. Having a website provides you with the space that a brochure, business card, or a newspaper ad cannot. When people are shopping for a practitioner online, the more information they can access about you and how you practice, the better. We’ve talked about this a bit before here, in our article “ 12 Reasons You Need a Website ”   The National Certification Commission for Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine (NCCAOM) provides free websites for diplomats at http://www.nccaomdiplomates.com/

Talk the talk. Self-promotion is not something that comes naturally to most of us. But it’s time to set aside any reservations you have about talking the talk. It’s not bragging, it’s advocating. And if you don’t promote yourself, how can you expect it of others? You don’t have to shout your name from the rooftops to get attention, but you do need to get creative. David Fireside, Owner of Urban Decompression a massage studio in Chicago, has an interesting suggestion. Fireside says, “When someone asks you what you do for a living, don’t reply ‘I am a massage therapist’, tell them you are a ‘relaxation specialist’ or you ‘facilitate the healing of soft tissue injuries’ or ‘help people deal with chronic pain’.” The key, says Fireside, is to say something about massage therapy and your skill that will engage the other person in a conversation.

There are two halves to the equation: you must get out there and meet people, but you must also be memorable when you do. The Massamio Blog has some great advice on getting creative when it comes on places to meet your potential clients, “Get involved with groups where your target market is hanging out. Is your ideal client a well-to-do stay at home mom? Where’s that mommy hanging out? At the salon, the library, neighborhood cleanup day, the gym, 5K walk/runs? Yes, there’s always joining the chamber of commerce, but we know you can get more creative than that!” Wherever you make your connections, make sure you always leave the potential client with something to remember you by: your business card. The American Massage Therapy Association (AMTA) advises, “Always be prepared with your business cards and a 30-second “elevator speech” regarding the benefits of massage therapy.” The same goes for acupuncturists. A business card is imperative for getting your information out there in an effective and professional manner. If you’re a massage therapist, you can build your credibility and become a member of the various massage organizations for support, CEU information, and advice on opening your practice. Many even offer members the use of their logos and other images to put on your business card.

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Are you taking full advantage of all that Twitter has to offer you? Getting your voice heard in the “Twittersphere” is important, but so is listening (Er…reading). There are some fantastic acupuncture-based blogs, news sources, and practitioners tweeting every day that you can learn from. Check out who we think is worth a follow:

1.) @Acupuncture2Day Acupuncture Today is the leading provider of acupuncture news, information and research in the world.

What we love about it: Up to the minute acupuncture news that’s relevant and accessible. Acupuncture Today tweets links to each article it publishes about Chinese medicine. This publication also shares news about each acupuncture school and national acupuncture news, such as the continuing status of the recent White House petition to include acupuncture in U.S. healthcare plans.

Tweet of the week: BREAKING NEWS: Acupuncture One Step Closer to Medicare Inclusion:

2.) @LotusWEBINAR eLotus is an company dedicated to practitioner’s continuing education and Chinese medicine webinars.

What we love about it: eLotus provides a range of interesting information from acupuncture news to learning opportunities. They also have some stellar graphic images that instantly (and in a fun way) show Chinese medicine concepts (Check out the example below).

Tweet of the week: In Western Medicine the body is seen as a machine, you try to fix a broken part or take it out. In Chinese…

3.) @MindBodyGreen Mind Body Green is an online publication featuring articles from all kinds of wellness experts, not just acupuncturists. The site is focused on natural healing and includes insight into acupuncture, reiki, nutrition, meditation, massage, crystal healing, and so much more.

What we love about it: By following and sometimes retweeting Mind Body Green, you can broaden your audience. The topics covered here vary widely, but they all have to do with a holistic lifestyle and natural healing. Full of positive insight, it’s information that anyone can use and most will be interested in.

Tweet of the week: 17 Ways To Shed Negativity And Achieve Happiness by @ CynthiaBelmer on @ mindbodygreen

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Let’s face it: We practice an ancient medicine in a modern world . You are not only a healer but also a business owner in a rapidly changing world that seems to gravitate more and more towards marketing online. Getting a website up and running in order to attract new patients may feel like a daunting task. It doesn’t have to be. Below are 12 good reasons for not letting this apprehension stop you from taking the next step for practice success.

1) It is targeted

A website has the ability to allow you to market your practice to “warm” leads -patients actively searching for an acupuncturist- rather than you trying hard to make your presence known in your community.  A prospective patient browsing your website has the opportunity to get a feel for who you are before they even meet you in person. At this point, how good your website represents you will determine whether or not this “just looking” patient makes an appointment.

2) Lots of space for content

A website provides you with the space that a brochure, a business card or a newspaper ad cannot. When people are shopping for a practitioner online, the more information they can access about you and how you practice, the better.  How long you have been in practice, what got you into acupuncture, health issues you specialize in treating, etc are information that will attract your ideal patients to you.

3) No contracts to sign

Traditional advertising requires contracts, ad submittals and basically, money. When you have a website, you are free to use the internet and drive traffic to your website without being bound by the cost or the limitations of a contract.

4) Available 24/7/365

Your online presence is available all the time, any time. Someone could do an online search for a local acupuncturist specializing in insomnia at 3:00 am and can still find you. Your marketing efforts are not limited by the times you are awake or open for business.

5) Higher Return On Investment (ROI)

When you are running a business, the need to get the highest return on each dollar you spend on marketing becomes a priority. According to a study by the Direct Marketing Association, the ROI (return on investment) from email marketing in 2008 was $45.06 for every dollar spent while every dollar invested with direct offline marketing brought in an ROI of just $15.55. The math speaks for itself.

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