Authenticity
Posted on May 28, 2008 - Filed Under General, Marketing Sites
Jenn Givler has an interesting post over at Create a Thriving Business about Authenticity. I also quite enjoyed the source posts that inspired her to write such a post.
How do we create authenticity in our practice? Are we practicing acupuncture in the way we believe it should be practiced or are we trying to live up to an ideal of a favorite professor?
One of the wonderful things about acupuncture is that the practice is different for everyone and we need to follow our passion for the medicine. If we don’t, we aren’t likely to be very happy, even if we manage to be successful. I would guess as well that such success comes only with more difficulty than if we were being authentic in what we do.
As a note to those who read this in a feed reader, I am likely going to be moving this site from quantumlifestyles.com/wordpress to blog.quantumlifestyles.com. This should happen in the next couple of weeks. For those who come to the site periodically to check on new posts, I will have a permanent redirect. My next post should have more information on this.
Display Your Needles at Healthfairs
Posted on April 30, 2008 - Filed Under General
When I first started acupuncture, I was approached by a high school teacher who taught health careers. They had a month long module on alternative care and she wanted an acupuncturist to come in and speak to her class.  I realized that I really wanted a way to show the students what acupuncture needles looked like compared to a syringe needle. I couldn’t just pass them out and I didn’t want to have to walk around holding them. I wanted the students to have the ability to really see what the needles looked like.
I went out to my local craft store and for about $5.00 (10 years ago) I purchased a small frame suitable for a shadowbox. I have since priced these and in my area the retail price runs $10 on up.
I opened the shadowbox and placed a diabetic syringe I had gotten from a friend who is diabetic. I also placed the end of a syringe that I had gotten from my vet to give fluids to my cat.  Finally I put several acupuncture needles. I used some different brands, as well as different lengths to show how there are many different kinds. I used the velcro pieces that were included in the shadowbox kit to hold them down. After about 6 years, the velcro started to wear out and I used some thin double sided tape.
I also fastened some descriptions of what each needle was so that the students would know what was what.
I use this case whenever I go to health fairs. It means I don’t have to have needles sitting out on my table to be shown or potentially stolen. It allows people to get a good look at exactly what an acupuncture needle looks like compared to a syringe. Because the needles were behind glass, they did not need to be inside their wrapping so that everyone could get a good look at them.
If you are considering doing a health fair (and it’s a great way to market your business) I highly recommend taking the half an hour to an hour it took to create this particular shadowbox.
Never Market Again
Posted on April 9, 2008 - Filed Under Marketing Sites
Sounds wonderful doesn’t? Never Market Again. Burton Kent, who I discovered a while back and wrote about here, has re-released his book Never Market Again. As a business expense, this book is a bargain.
Kent gives you some specific steps to take to help build your practice. He discusses issues like how you talk to your patients about what you do. He reminds us that we need to use language our patients can understand.
We should also ask for referrals. I love the way Kent re-frames the idea of asking for referrals. He reminds us that we aren’t selling cars and pushing someone into a sale they don’t want. Instead, we are providing a service. If a patient is talking about a friend or family member with an illness, how can we provide good service and NOT ask for that referral? After all, in most cases our medicine can help.
Yes, it’s an ebook and I hate reading on the computer. The latest edition has a very wide screen view so it does read pretty easily and if you are in a position to have it printed someplace you can do that too. It’s a fast read though with lots of little tidbits. Don’t look for earth shaking ideas. You probably know these things or at the very least have heard of them. What makes this an important read is that you’ve probably forgotten to do them. When it comes to marketing, it’s not about knowing something but being able to act on it.
Burton Kent is a business professional, not an acupuncturist. However, he was sold on the acupuncture profession and has made it his mission to keep acupuncturists from closing their doors. He offers follow-up information via his blog and you can also contact him for personal coaching if you still find yourself having trouble putting those ideas into your practice.
It was interesting for me to read his book when he talks about leveraging your time. This means seeing more than one person per hour. As a person who loves chatting with my patients and gets overwhelmed with the idea of seeing many patients per hour, I was really resistant to that. I decided to look at that resistance. I get too fatigued when I see patients three or four days a week stacked up at two an hour.
In talking to Kent about this, he recommended the book The Highly Sensitive Person
So, whatever you resist in this book, take another look and think about why you are resisting. You may not need what you think you are reading but I bet you can learn something about yourself and what you need to make a successful clinic (for you).
We Still Have a Lot of Work To Do.
Posted on March 19, 2008 - Filed Under General
It occurred to me to think about the fact that most people who come to see an acupuncturist for the first time have had the problem for a very long time. It’s unusual to get a new patient who just had a car accident, for instance, unless they saw another acupuncturist elsewhere or they have a chiropractor who insisted they also use acupuncture or some scenario like that.
While it is well known and documented that acupuncture can treat back pain, often the patients in the acupuncturist’s office have had back pain for years, tried everything, including surgery and are still in pain and are finally getting to try acupuncture.
I started talking to people about this fact. Why do they wait so long? What would have made them try acupuncture sooner? I admit that currently my pool of knowledge is small. I hope to continue expanding it.
However, I was startled to find that most of them didn’t know that acupuncture could help them. Even those people who had pain, like back pain didn’t realize that acupuncture could help them. They suggested articles in magazines where I have seen articles on back pain might help. It occurred to me that obviously these articles were not catching people’s eye.
I talked to a long term patient who has lots of pain and her response was less that she was afraid of the needles (although she is needle phobic) but more that acupuncture was so strange to her she felt intimidated about seeking it out. She only came to me because she knew another patient of mine who assured her that I would take her concerns and fears seriously and not push her to do more than what she was comfortable with.
I realized that our marketing materials and articles have a tendency to talk about research studies and statistics showing that acupuncture works or we tend to focus on educating our patients about our “jargon”. We tell them what qi is and about yin and yang and the balancing of energies. Maybe we need to focus less on the “how” of acupuncture and more on the “Acupuncture Works”. Maybe we need to focus our energies on teaching people that we helped ordinary people like them feel better rather than try and teach them HOW we help them feel better.
Right now our language of “how” is strange and foreign to people. I wonder if that’s why they aren’t getting the message when something is written about acupuncture. Maybe we need to teach them that the language and cultural barrier doesn’t matter. We can help anyone, even peope just like them, who prefer Folgers to Expresso and who don’t eat granola or know anything about yoga or tai chi.
What is Your Mission
Posted on March 10, 2008 - Filed Under General, Marketing Tools
Recently, at a marketing group I belong to, one woman was talking about having her mission statement put on her wall where she could see it.
I realized that as small business owners it is easy for us to forget what our mission is. Why did we start doing what we are currently doing? Maybe we need a statement of some sort to remind us. After writing a statement that we like, we ought to display that statement. It’s good for us to see it every day. It also helps our patients to give us feedback about whether we are meeting our mission goals, or perhaps exceeding them
Another woman in the group sells Upper Case Living, which is primarily concerned with decorative letters and small graphics. The woman writing her mission statement got her mission statement short enough that she could purchase the letters and have it on the wall. I was considering placing it on a tile, so I wouldn’t have to tear it down if I leave this office. . It’s a nice decoration that reminds you of something important.
Unfortunately, Glynis tells me that you can’t just order from the website, but you can certainly browse to see if there is something just for you. Her demonstrator ID is 817676 and her Registration Token is Glynis. If you think it’s an idea, you can find out how to order there.
Wordpress or Site Build It?
Posted on March 1, 2008 - Filed Under General
I’ve written before about how much I like Wordpress as a platform for a small niche site. I’m going to pull out some critiques and before I make anyone unhappy, I’d like to point out that I LOVE Wordpress. I use Wordpress regularly and have it set up on about six different sites.
For me it’s easy to use, easy to navigate, allows me a great deal of flexibility in doing what I want and it’s fast.
Wordpress is not without it’s downsides. For one thing, finding a hosting package can feel daunting it you’ve never done it. I frequently go surfing to look into different hosts even when I am not starting up a new site, just to see what people are saying. At this point, I pretty much only recommend Lunar Pages, where this site is hosted. They are reliable and have excellent customer service. Also, their cpanel doesn’t seem to interfere with the one touch installation of Fantastico, which is a problem I have had with a couple of other hosts.
In addition to hosting, you may need to find a place to buy your domain name. I really recommend Namecheap. I find their interface is much more user friendly than Go daddy and I have heard from others that they have had some bad experiences in renewing and moving domains away from Go daddy as a registrar.
Having said that, it means I am recommending you spend about $110 year on hosting using wordpress. Site Build It is nearly three times that cost at $299 (as of time of writing). Is it worth it? It might be.
Consider this. Site Build It will help you create really keyword rich content. Wordpress will not. Site Build It offers you a forum so if you don’t know what a keyword is or why your content should be keyword rich, you can find out. Wordpress does offer a forum, however most questions about the nuts and bolts of getting Wordpress to work.
You can find keyword tools online so if you want to use Wordpress, you are not without resources. Some tools are good. Some are not so good. Some are free and some can be very costly. Remember I have multiple sites. If I invest in a tool, it will work on all my sites, not just one.
Site Build It has a great package of useful tools that you get to help you start setting up your website. As someone who has recently realized that I have the skills to go on to be a professional webmaster (I had a slow month and started job hunting and was pleasantly surprised that I could make very good money on my hobby if I wanted to), I can say that I still look at Site Build It and consider getting a package. I have a few ideas for sites that are in highly competitive keyword markets that I’d like to see how they do on a Site Build It Site. In fact, a part of me wants to create a Site Build It site for the same keywords as I do for a Wordpress site. I haven’t yet because there is always something new to play with and learn (today that’s Joomla–when I next update the main part of quantum, it is likely to have a Joomla interface.) but I think about it. I’ve talked to other people who are also very successful non professional webmasters who also admit that Site Build It tempts them as well.
Another potential downside to Wordpress is it’s popularity. Due to it’s popularity, people do try and hack the Wordpress code and sometimes they are successful. Wordpress keeps updating it’s files as new vulnerabilities are exposed, but as a user of the Wordpress you need to keep it up to date. If you have Fantastico, this could mean thirty seconds every few months. However, you will need to remember to do this.
Should you go for Site Build It or Wordpress? I can’t make that decision for you. If you think you want to spend the time learning about the internet on your own and finding forums and like minded people, then Wordpress is likely a good match for you. I spend at least 10 hours a week and during slow times even more keeping my sites up to date and learning. I find it fun. You don’t need to spend that much time constantly, but expect that for the first few months as you figure out exactly what you want to do and how to do, you’ll be spending some time searching out answers. If that doesn’t sound like fun, Wordpress might not be for you.
The biggest (and only) complaint I can find about Site Build It (and I searched) was that they have very dated graphics. It does sound like you can upload your own graphics but it doesn’t sound like that’s the easiest way to go. I find that many Site Build It sites look a lot alike. If you have an artistic or graphically oriented soul, you may also want to explore Wordpress a little more before committing yourself. Before deciding, however, remember having a gorgeous site that no one sees is not very helpful.
Site Build It will talk you through the process. It does take some time. Lisa over at Insights for Acupuncturists laughed and said there is a 10 Day Action Guide that should be called the 10 Week Action Guide. Lisa began her internet journey not that long ago and now has three other sites she is working on via Site Build It as well as a full acupuncture practice.
How much you spend on your website and the choices you make depend a lot upon who you are. Having a website is important. How you go about getting it is up to you. Remember there are a lot of people out there who are willing to help and will do it for you. If you really don’t like being online and don’t like writing, this might be something to consider.
No More Closed Clinics
Posted on February 20, 2008 - Filed Under Marketing Sites
I’ve been reading Burton Kent’s blog and read the free chapters of his ebook, which I heard about via a mass mailing. He’s offering help to those practitioners who might be thinking they need to close up their clinics.
You can read more about this over at his blog here. While you’re there, if you are an acupuncturist, you might consider getting his book too!
Where Do I Start?
Posted on February 13, 2008 - Filed Under Marketing Sites
Cristina Favreau over at the Savvy Entrepreneur has an interesting post on focusing on one goal at a time. How many of us have said we want to earn $X dollars a month or week and get $X patients? Instead of asking for both of these things, Cristina suggests that we focus on only one part of the goal. Do we want to focus on the actual increase or the patient load increase or perhaps some other measure of how well we are doing?
Very often we have so many goals that it can be difficult to focus on any of them. Check out her post if you think you’ll want to focus more.
Cristina made a great comment that isn’t exactly what she was focused on when writing her article. It’s more about being specific about your goals which then allows you to track them more easily. However, as I read through her article I got so excited at the different ways I felt thinking in terms of patients versus money and how easy it is to get off track when you are trying to build up patients AND money coming in.  They don’t have to be the same.  If you are worried about how much money your practice makes, you may need to rethink your prices, your insurance billing or whether to add something else to your practice to bring in more passive income. If you want to just build patients, then focus on that. It suddenly made sense that those two goals were not actually the same!
The Law of Attraction and Marketing
Posted on February 3, 2008 - Filed Under General, Marketing Sites
Jenn Givler over at Create a Thriving Business had an interesting post about the Law of Attraction. Jenn credits Mark Silver with his post about the same subject that made her think. So I am passing on the credit to the two of them for my thoughts on this post!
I’ve been reading about the Law of Attraction and trying to practice it for a few years. I’m not always good about remembering it.
Very often those who are new to the Law think that the Law of Attraction means that you visualize something you want and if you do that well enough, your desire will come to you. Few people get results when they try and implement the Law in this manner. I think that if you want something, you get very excited about it and act that way. Excitement manifests differently for everyone, but excitement is contagious.
If I want to be a successful acupuncturist with lots of patients, then wouldn’t I talk about that with the people I meet? Wouldn’t I start telling the lady in front of me at the grocer who complains of chronic headaches that acupuncture might help her? Wouldn’t I be fishing out my card because I’m excited to see her? Don’t I get excited to talk to anyone who asks about what I do? If I’m that excited about what I do, isn’t it possible that I’ll have more patients?
If I’m not outgoing and that’s too scary, won’t I at least be working at home on writing up flyers to tell people in words? If I’m not a writer either, maybe I’m looking around for someone who can write and design brochures for me. Maybe I can focus on creating dream patients who tell the world about everything they love and insist all their friends try it out. Maybe I start thinking about where people like that might hang out so that I can get cards or brochures to those places.
I have to ask the question, if you insist that you are excited about your business why wouldn’t you be doing those things? Why are you sitting around doing something else and not focusing on your business? If you are focused on something else, you’ll get results in that area but not necessarily more patients.
Yes, thought and excitement plays a huge role in the Law of Attraction. However, we also need to act in accord. If we can’t act like we want what we say we want, then maybe there’s more going on that we need to look at.
Who Else Targets Your Market
Posted on January 28, 2008 - Filed Under General
We all hear how important creating our niche is. There are many good reasons for having a niche. One good reason that we may overlook is that having a niche allows us to focus on places where we might find our ideal patient.
I’ve used myself and the other acupuncturist in town as an example of two practitioners who have very different ideals. She would be very successful marketing herself to physical therapists and chiropractors in town. She works with the same types of issues they do and their treatments can be very complementary. She is likely to find her ideal patients with PTs and Chiropractic.
My ideal patients have long term illnesses. They might go to a PT but not because of their main problem. They might go to a chiropractor, but more because the practitioner is part of their overall health care team. These people are far more likely to be working with a psychologist or perhaps know their nurse practitioner very well. They may know their oncologist, their doctor’s receptionist quite well. They probably go to support groups.
My patients need to be sought out in these areas, not at the physical therapist’s office. The more I can focus on my particular niche and who my ideal patient is, the more I can focus on who else is going to be working with my ideal patient and can give me referrals.
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