Insights for Acupuncturists has a solid list of practice-building links, a few of which I hadn’t seen. Worth a look, and as with most of these resources, they apply to just about any CAM practice, too.
You’ll find this throughout the CAM/holistic professional community, particularly early in practice: the massage therapist trades a session for an adjustment from the chiropractor. The acupuncturist swaps time with the naturopath, who in turn trades a visit with a web designer. The homeopath exchanges treatments with the landscaping guy who cuts the grass in front of her office.
At first blush there’s nothing inherently wrong with this beyond the obvious tax-dodging implications. And for the practitioners just starting out who are time-rich and cash-poor, it allows them to get their hands on things they need.
I had an inquiry last week from Taradel, a print services firm that does some specialty print work in the CAM/holistic industry, particularly with chiropractors. If you’re in the US and considering any print work, particularly newspaper inserts, you may want to check them out. Here’s a snippet from what I received from them:
Business owners who visit Taradel.com are able to plan, design, target, print, and deliver full-color newspaper inserts and flyers directly into the homes of potential clients.
If you’re in the market for new space, how much do you really need? Tough call - it depends on many factors, and varies from practice to practice. Here are a few things to consider, though, and some space calculators to help you get in the ballpark.
It’s About People
In CAM practice, business revolves around people - those providing the care, and those receiving it. This is where we started planning our latest space. How many staff and practitioners do you have? How many people need does your reception area need to accommodate? Do you have treatments that involve multiple clients being treated at once, or are they all one-on-one? We broke our space down into “people chunks”: practitioner offices, patient treatment areas (other than offices), waiting areas and staff space (lunch, meeting, etc).
