Click here to download the transcript.

Disclaimer: The following is an actual transcript. We do our best to make sure the transcript is as accurate as possible, however, it may contain spelling or grammatical errors.  Due to the unique language of acupuncture, there will be errors, so we suggest you watch the video while reading the transcript.

Has it been slow in your practice this summer, or maybe this month tends to be a slow month for you and you would like to get ahead of that, so because you’ve been experiencing a dip in your practice or concerned about it being slow, typically this time of the year Today I’m gonna share with you three hot tips to boost your practice in the summer.

This is Chen Yen six and seven Figure Practice Makeover Mentor, an introverted visionary where we help introverted visionary acupuncturists and other holistic health practitioners with growing their practices to be really fulfilling and consistent as well. So that way they could just focus on helping people instead of and also changing the face of our healthcare system.

Instead of worrying about where to find patients. And then for our our clients who are at a stage or practice where they’re already busy, then we help ’em get to a place where the practice runs more without them or bring in another few income. So I’m your host for the a c show today, and I’m super excited to share with you these three hot tips.

So what do you, what have you noticed is. People just end up not coming in. What could you actually do? So the first hot tip is to send out an email that or more than just one email. ’cause have you ever had the . Experience of where even some of your patients come in for one thing, but they don’t even realize you can help them with other things.

So how could you educate your patients on how you can help ’em with different kinds of health issues? Or perhaps you have other kinds of service offerings within the practice that they may not really know about or be as aware of. And how can you educate them more about those other offerings or how acupuncture or Chinese medicine can help with certain health issues?

So what do you actually come up with to send and. Many times I, what I often hear from a lot of acupuncturists as well I end up racking my brain or I feel like I don’t really have time to come up with things and, or I’m, I don’t have any a email software thing, so then I just don’t.

Don’t do it right because that’s just ends up getting tables as a on the back burner and never ends up getting done. But if you are slower in your practice or if you would just love to have something automated. ’cause imagine if whenever you were slow, you just had certain emails that were automated that you could.

End up using to educate your patients for potential patients, perhaps those who have inquired about your services, but then they didn’t end up coming in. And I’ll share a little hot sip related to that. Like how do you actually get their email address right? You’ll share that with you here in a moment.

So as far as the email that you send out a couple of hot tips related to what to think about with, what to send out that I’m gonna share with you from our new patients from email system that our clients use. Is that one. Ideally vary the length of whatever you send out. Have you ever felt oh my gosh, I get so many emails , and do you ever notice that you don’t open every single one of ’em, but if they are your patients, likely they will open like you’ll have a decent kind of an open rate because

You are their practitioner, you’re their, your health a healthcare provider. For them, it’s very different than them just getting some random kinds of emails from all kinds of different things. So first of all, your emails are more likely to be open anyway, but. Just because there are a lot of people who get a lot of emails, how could you end up being an email that people look forward to getting?

So one hot tip is to vary the length of your email. So sometimes super, super short. It might just be a couple sentences. So one type of email you could look at sending might be a very more personal ish feel, an email. And and checking in on how things are going for them and with their, what they had come in for from before.

And then bring up that, that, whether it’s time to schedule and another visit, or in case they come across a, someone they who’s dealing with, x, y, z kind of health issues. Then in case they come across one or two people who are dealing with X, Y, Z kind of health issues, feel free to. To also share with them, to let them know about the practice.

So that’s one kind of an email you could look at sending to help increase patient flow into the practice. Another kind of an email you could consider sending. Is what I talked about earlier, which is specific to a health issue. And maybe one, kind of one email you talk about at certain Like digestive kinds of issues or another email you talk about a different kind of of pain issue, like injury.

And some people may not realize the extent of how acupuncture can help with other things. When there might be a. A first aid type of trauma related things happening or or maybe supporting with pregnancy. Some people may not know about those things and yet you might help them with that.

Think about the different topics that you can educate your patients on. And then, so that’s one. One hot tip is sending out emails and I’ll, I promise to share with you what to do to also be getting emails from of people who maybe call your practice, but then they never end up booking. So what happens with those people?

Because maybe they, they call and they ask around and then they decide to do something else, but something else might change down the road and they could have a need for your services. And again, so it’s if you’re able to stay more top of mind awareness and continue to educate them until they understand the benefits of working with you, and also see if they resonate with you or not, then they’re more likely to come in.

So one thing that you can do, It’s before every single person who calls and doesn’t end up booking before, hang up the phone with them to say something like let me send you something that can be of help to you and with your, your X, y, Z health issue. And ideally if you had a good way of navigating the conversation with them, whether you’re having it yourself or your front desk person is having it, that conversation, then you would Have found out what they might be dealing with that made them decide to call you in the first place so that way you can end up staying connected and send them something that could be helpful for their issue right now.

And then you could end up, asking for permission to continue to keep them in the loop about updates within the clinic or other helpful tips related to different kinds of health issues they might, they or their family might encounter. So the second hot tip to giving your practice a boost when it’s slow in the summer is to think about how can you communicate.

Why now is an important time to come into the practice. So one reason why people may not be coming in is they go on vacation, they fall off the bandwagon, or they just are feeling, maybe they’re feeling Fine. And maybe feeling fine is okay for them to not come into your practice if that’s a part of your philosophy, but maybe what you’re treating them for, maybe they’re feeling fine, but they’re not making as much progress with the core health issues they’re having if they’re not getting consistent treatment or care.

So how can you convey and communicate to them why now is an important time and to come in to get that taken care of, whether it’s from a clinical perspective or. Overall with it should be from a clinical perspective anyway. And some, something to think about with this is, have you ever thought about how retail stores, they often have these different sales throughout the whole year?

I. Next time you, you see maybe a brand that you love and you end up buying things from them. Notice how often they do sales and what times of the year they do sales and what do they say about why they have the sales, right? So they’re all kinds of different holidays and all of a sudden, every, those kinds of places end up having sales.

And why do people buy? Because . The, those stores or companies are mentioning why now is a great time to buy because you’re going to be getting a significant savings or because it’s Mother’s Day and it’s, it’s a great time to buy a gift for your mom, or it’s for, upcoming. It might be labor Day.

And it’s, it is time to really give yourself a breather and and reset as you get into the fall. And it’s great time to come in for acupuncture and also bring your family for To, to get them back in the swing of things or back to school. It, so there’s so many things that you could think about why now is a great time to come in.

So think about that and communicate that in an effective way so that people are presence to how important it is to come in now, or or are inspired to come in. One for clinical reasons. Another could be also for, stress, relaxation and resetting or helping with other things tied into the season.

One of our clients actually brought in five figures in a month from supplement herb sales and using, like being strategic about how he was doing . Sales. And that, that can happen when, if you would love to share more about something you offer within the practice and also experience a boost in the practice.

And part of what worked well for him was highlighting why now is a good time too to be getting those supplements or herbs. The third tip. Oh, and another thing I’ll just give you a tip that you could use right away as well, is that if you’re experiencing a slow week or slow day, one thing you can do is to either post this up in, in your social media or email it to, or text your patients.

Something about how you’ve got a few open spots on x. Such date and such date. So you might say a few spots. I have a few openings on Thursday and on Friday. And you could give a couple spots. You can say, I have a couple spots opened up for Thursday and Friday. Such and such day and times.

You can give a couple of those times. And if you wanted to come in today, make give me a call and I can work you in. So then that way it presences people to the the idea that you do have open spots. ’cause have you ever had patients who have told someone else, they told you, oh, I told someone else about you, but then that person didn’t come in yet?

Sometimes it takes more than one time letting their friend know or someone they care about, know about your services because have you ever been to a. Have you ever had the experience of where a friend told you about a restaurant? They were all excited about it and you thought, oh, wow.

I should check that out. But what did you do? Maybe you didn’t check it out quite yet, right? But then you, your friend brought up again and then you ended up going. Or you heard about it another time and then you ended up going, so that can totally happen even if you have been told by your patients that they’ve referred, but then that person hasn’t come in yet, they could still totally come in.

So if you are letting your patients know about open spots, you could also bring up how they could let their, if they or a friend of theirs had wanted to come in, they can come in. And so that can also. Remind them of how they could mention it to their friend again, and that you have spots this week.

So that has also helped our clients, our acupuncturist clients, and other holistic health practitioners, clients with getting more patients coming in the door when it’s slow. A third hot tip to boost your practice when it’s slow in the summer is to be clearing out. The non-supportive belief that, oh, this time tends to be slow for me, and this is something that I often hear from acupuncturists and other holistic health practitioners is that comment.

It’s August tends to be slow for me. Everyone goes on vacation and. And in my first business, the one, I had grown to seven figures in less than five years. So in, I remember someone on my team, so she had owned her own business for, in the same field that, that my business was in for over 20 years.

And she would always say to me, December is usually really slow because everyone goes on vacation. And I remember saying to her one year, I said, , What if December was our busiest month? And what if other people who think that, they it’s really slow. What if we actually ended up helping those people who weren’t able to be helped by other people because, They’ve, , they had this mindset that it’s gonna be a slow month.

Let’s help those people. Shifting that belief and what happened that year, we had our biggest month in December. So just because other people are having slow months doesn’t mean that you need to have a slow month either. Part of it is energetically your underlying belief about what you What’s possible for you and what’s possible for other people as well, so other people can be slow and you could be the busiest you’ve ever been this month.

I hope these three hot tips have helped you and for more six and seven figure. Practice makeover tips. Go to introverted visionary.com and start putting in place just even one of these hot tips within the practice. I shared with you several possibilities and you can even just one thing put in place, can bring in a boost in your practice even when it’s slow.

Till next time. .

 

 

 

If you aren’t having video as part of what you’re doing, then the reach that you’ll get from things like social media will become less.

Click here to download the transcript.

Disclaimer: The following is an actual transcript. We do our best to make sure the transcript is as accurate as possible, however, it may contain spelling or grammatical errors.  Due to the unique language of acupuncture, there will be errors, so we suggest you watch the video while reading the transcript.

How can you have more of an online presence so new patients find you well? Did you know that there’s a study done by Digital Sherpa saying that over 80% of online visitors prefer video while only 20% of them will read something? And truly consume it well. So there’s also, in terms of social media, did you know that a lot of social media platforms are also moving more towards video?

For example, Instagram they had talked more recently, like their executives about how it will become more increasingly more of a video platform. And same thing with Facebook executives. They said that a long time ago about how Facebook will primarily be a video platform. And so what that means is that if you.

Sharing video. If you aren’t having video as part of what you’re doing, then the reach that you’ll get from things like social media will become less. And for the amount of time and energy you put in, it’s gonna bring in less bang for your efforts that you put in. And then overall, one thing that if people don’t really know much about how you could help, If you’re able to do if you’re able to educate them through video, people are able to build that relationship with you much faster.

So today we’re gonna talk about four ways that you could use video to, to bring in more new patients in your acupuncture practice. So this is Chen Yen, your six and seven figure practice makeover Mentor at introvertedvisionary.com and your host for our AAC live show today. So let’s talk about the four ways that you.

Used to bring in new patients by video. So the first way is to put it on your home page. So why? Because it’s such a great way to build that kind of connection and trust quickly. Did you know that most people come to website, they leave and they never come back? And did you also know that one of the most visited page.

is what? It’s a page where they find out who is this person, right? So being able to feel whether they connect with you and feel comfortable with you as their provider, as their acupuncturist it, it can speed up the process so much faster when you have a video on your website and it can also help people understand how you can help.

So I used to be very self-critical on video, and I also felt would often feel like, I wasn’t saying things eloquently enough, so I probably shouldn’t do the video, and then I would procrastinate and then just not do them. And then also sometimes I would feel like, oh, I don’t look good enough to be on video today.

So then I would just think, oh, I’ll just do another day and then would never really do it right. . What I noticed was that once I started being on video, Got more comfortable with it, then people ended up coming to us more readily and also were more aligned. When we started putting video on our website, we noticed that people who are coming to us are now they’re more enjoyable to work with.

than ever before, and definitely attribute that to video. And same with our acupuncturist clients who have put video on their website. Now does it have to be professional video or does it not have to be? I would say that certainly, of course, professional video is great, but we’ve had clients who have only posted pretty homemade kind of videos, but as long as the background was professional looking and then they were showing up in a professional way.

It actually still works really well because the most important thing is being able to connect and. Really be yourself. And and then I remember one of our acupuncturist clients who was really nervous about being on video. And I helped him with this what to say and gave him a framework for this.

And then he ended up feeling more confid confident about it. And then he ended up doing a video that he put on his website and more people ended up booking with him. And then now that he has associates, he also. Them do video too. So those of you who have associates you could have them do it of an intro video or you could interview them and as a way to help warm up your patient base to the, your new associate.

Because have you ever had people, if you have an associate, have you. ever had patients say, oh, I just wanna see you. So if you end up being able to introduce your associate to the practice, then make them feel more comfortable make your patients feel more comfortable or people feel more comfortable, then that can also smooth out that transition.

The other thing is that you don’t have to do videos of yourself even. Have you ever thought about this? You could ha post explainer kinds of videos on your website and what is, what does that mean? For example, there might be something about how acupuncture can help with sports injury or acupuncture, how acupuncture can help with digestive issues.

And there are different videos out there, for example, on YouTube that you may share on, can you. Embed their video on your website and certainly, give credit to, to where that came from. And so you don’t actually have to be the one doing the video yourself also. So another possibility is, so the second way to use video to bring in new patients as a practice is to share on social media.

So I already brought up some stats related to how. Video tends to get more views than if you were to post something written on, whether it’s Instagram or Facebook. And it’s because the algorithms are favoring video over the just regular written posts. And so you don’t need to do song and dance though either, right?

, there. , you don’t have to do that kind of stuff. You could do videos in a style that feels comfortable for you. So for some of you that might be more educational and and then it’ll help expand your reach beyond just written kinds of posts and organic social media. The other possibility related to expanding your reach via social media through video is that you can also do paid ads.

You could just create one video, for example, on Facebook. To attract new patients. One of our acupuncturist clients did this and her video was running for over a year and she was still attracting new patients with that one video that we just dialed in. And she just had a wonderful presence and it helped her with what to say and it was really awesome cuz just that one video, imagine just creating one thing and it brings in patience for you for over a year.

So that was really awesome. And the third way to use video. To bring in new patients into your acupuncture practice is to send videos to those who aren’t sure. If they wanna come in to your practice or not. So this could be either in the way of where people are on the fence or it ends up being a video where you share it and with your patient base, and then they share it with people they know or end up referring people to you so that when I say people are on fence, what I mean by that?

For example, have you ever had people call and then they aren’t sure about coming in. They’re like, oh but you don’t accept my insurance or x y. Reason for they can’t book an appointment yet and then just hang up the phone and that’s it, and you never hear from them again. What if instead you did what one practice does, which is they end up sending out videos tied into that person’s issue or condition and then say sure, let me sh send you something that can help you also with your, with your.

issue. And then so that video can start educating them more about how acupuncture can help with this. And or Chinese medicine can help with whatever that health condition is. And it could also be a video. So it could be a video that you just pull for them, or it could be a video that you create, which is more, even more ideal because then they will, they’ll get to experience you energetically and see if they resonate with you or not.

So that can be a great way to help. Inspire people who are on the. To actually book with you, and especially those of you who may charge higher fees or maybe an all cash practice or maybe some of you offer packages. It just really depends on your practice situation or you offer functional medicine and and you offer.

Packages. And so if, especially in those situations it will work really well because it helps warm up people who might be on the fencer who aren’t really sure. And to you and also your approach. The fourth way to use video to bring in more patients for your acupuncture practice is to email the videos to your patient base or, and, or.

Have you ever had people come in for one thing and then they don’t even realize you could help ’em with other things, so that can happen, right? They, even your patients who really appreciate you. I remember there, there’s a so I have, I see a naturopathic doctor who’s also an acupuncturist, and I fly to outta state to go see her, and she does some pretty high level stuff in terms of e.

Work not your traditional kind of naturopathic doctor. And her acupuncture treatments are incredible too. They’re I’ve never had acupuncture treatments like how lasered she, she really is when with very few needles in. And and so the, I fly to go see her and I’ve been, I was flying to see her for, it was at least a year at that point in time.

And I love her treatments and and I, she also helped me so much. But it was really amazing because I remember one day I asked her, Hey, do you can you help with X, Y, Z? I couldn’t remember what the issue is at this moment in time, right? But it was I asked her that and she’s oh yeah, of course I can.

And I thought to myself this, how funny, I’m a healthcare practitioner and I also really trusted in her helping me. But for some reason I never put the two and two together that she could help me with this thing. And so sometimes your patients don’t even realize that you can help ’em with these other types of issues.

They might come in for pain and then they have no idea you can help ’em with digestive issues or their Hoag hormone balancing. And so the only way for them to become more educated about it is if you share about that in the practice, which sometimes you may not have enough time. And then sometimes the, it may not be issues they’re dealing with, but maybe it’s an issue that their friends are dealing with and they would be totally happy to refer people to, but they don’t even know that what you, your services could really help their friend with some of their health issues.

So this is where. If you share videos to, with your patient base by emailing out to them, you could also have videos that are, for some of you, this makes sense for, you could put a TV in your waiting area, and then it plays different videos, educating patients more about acupuncture or Chinese medicine, or you could have them.

Periodically if you don’t want to have a TV or don’t have one and to put in there, then you could have a laptop that they watch. And it doesn’t have to be at every visit. But it could be while they’re waiting in the waiting area, then you mentioned to them, okay, I’d love for you to watch this while you’re waiting.

And then the also, would you, we talked a little bit about referrals. Would you love to increase referrals? And some people hear about the practice and even if they, like your patients rave about it to their friends and family, they may not come in right away. And sometimes it’s from having seen a video and then realizing, oh, okay, I get more about what this is and or they also see you if you’re in the video, then they’ll feel like, oh, okay, I actually feel like I, I resonate with this person.

So they’ll be more likely to come in as well. You could also. , if you’re sharing these videos with your patient base or your list, then you could share about upcoming things at the clinic that you’re excited about. You could also do, one of our acupuncturist clients did a clinic walkthrough and then talked about her vision for the practice and then what who she loves to, to treat and help, like what kinds of patients.

And that way people, that, that video can end up being easily shareable also. To people who could be coming in, friends and family who could be coming into referrals. So those are the four ways to, to use video to attract patients to the practice. And then it’s just a matter of, I and I get how sometimes, especially if you are starting or thinking about this it can be easy to feel like you’re either you get nervous or you don’t like to be on camera.

It could feel uncomfortable. And what ha what I’ve noticed is that no, getting, just doing it will help you start feeling more comfortable and then knowing what to say too in a way that not only educates, but also inspires new patients to come in. So having a framework for it can also really help.

What could you say? And that way you feel more comfortable and confident. We actually have a a script for if you would like to, , for example, create a video that introduces your practice and what to incorporate in it so that people would not only feel more comfortable with you and your practice, but also inspire them to come in to also book an appointment.

We have a template for that. So if you want to email me, or, sorry, if you wanna message me and request it, I’m happy to give it to you. And then, so for those of you who are, or, and I’ll also give you our website too. Our website’s introvertedvisionary.com. And if you’re not watching this on a social media platform right now, then you’re welcome to go there and then request the script.

And I’m happy to give it to you. And for those of you who are at a place where you’re at a plateau in your practice or you just know you’re capable of so much more you would love to grow with more ease and flow and bringing a consistent flow of. Then feel free to check out introverted visionary.com.

So til next time.

 

 

 

So today let’s talk about five ways that speaking can help you with growing your practice.

Click here to download the transcript.

Disclaimer: The following is an actual transcript. We do our best to make sure the transcript is as accurate as possible, however, it may contain spelling or grammatical errors.  Due to the unique language of acupuncture, there will be errors, so we suggest you watch the video while reading the transcript.

Billionaire Warren Buffet has said that this skill is something that can help raise your value by 50%, and is a skill that any person who is running your business should learn. So it can also help you grow your acupuncture practice and without having to always be constantly posting on social media or spending money on ads or seo.

So this is Chen Yen, your 6 and 7 figure Practice Makeover Mentor at introvertedvisionary.com and your host for the AAC live show. So today let’s talk about five ways that speaking can help you with growing your practice. So that way you have an avenue that helps support you bring in a consistent flow of patients you enjoy working with.

Now, the first way to use speaking as an avenue of growing your practice is to set yourself apart. So when you speak, people will get a better sense of what it’s like to be in your presence and especially when acupuncture is something that’s such a hands-on experience and people are wanting to know what kind of a practitioner this person is and what they’re like when they’re in front of you.

When you’re in front of them, then they can suss that out. So much better than any kind of a written post or marketing or ads or anything else like that. They might see online because they get to see you and experience you and see if they resonate with you. Also. By educating more people about how you can help them, it sets you apart from other acupuncturists who may not do that.

And so I would say that, and from all the different I’ve talked to thousands of practitioners at this point. acupuncturist and other holistic health practitioners, and of all the different approaches that I hear from them about what’s working, what’s not working in their practices, hands down, speaking still one of the fastest ways to, and most effective ways to grow a practice without having to always be Constantly feeling like you need to be doing all sorts of song and dance and think things for marketing

And when it’s also the, it feels it has one of the highest impact of all the different kinds of marketing approaches because one of the reasons why people may not be coming to you yet is because they don’t really know about you and they don’t really know the scope of what you can help them with.

Have you noticed that many times, even if people do understand that acupuncture can help? Many times they just associate acupuncture with pain, and that’s about it. So when you’re able to educate them about much more beyond what they likely know, acupuncture can help with, and you’re more likely to.

Be someone they’ll think of when they have a certain kind of issue or when their friends or other people they know have the issue, they’ll then they’ll think about you. So it totally sets you apart. That’s the first way speaking can help you with growing your practice faster. And the second oh, and also the other thing too is that it’s also a way for you to get known and recognized in your community as a go-to acupuncturist and amongst your peers.

When people just see you in a different limelight when you are speaking. For example, if you were a guest speaker at a particular organization, they don’t, it’s not if you were to advertise or post on social media. It’s Hey, I’m here. I’m here. It’s a different kind of a feeling because when you actually show up and speak, people automatically already see you as a go-to expert.

So it’s such a great way to, to get known and recognized in, in your community as a go-to acupuncturist. The second way speaking can help you with growing in your acupuncture practice is by helping grow you more personally and professionally and, business, having in your own business is one of the best personal development tools we could ever have on ourselves, for ourselves.

Have, do you agree? Have you noticed that? It will, having a business will put a mirror up to your triggers. , it will put a mirror up to your insecurities. It will put a mirror up to your inner strength as well. And speaking is a reflection of that. I. And also how clear you are about your vision and what what really aspires you to have this practice and be able to communicate how you can help people and communicate that effectively.

I know that for the longest time I used to hide. I used to hide behind mainly writing because I felt very inadequate when I would speak. In fact, when I was little and it came from this experience that I felt was traumatic when I was little. So my dad’s a PhD, research scientist, engineer, so very left brain, very analytical, and When you’re younger when I was about eight years old Sunday mornings, I used to dread when other I used to think, oh gosh, I’m so jealous of other kids, because when the Sunday paper would come, I imagined that other kids would get in.

They get all excited about reading the comics. And every Sunday my dad had me do a current event talk and I hated it so much. , I did so much that because I would always be in tears. My dad was very strict and he would critique me in the style that he felt was best. And it was very, left brain analytical just, and not my style.

Totally. And I would just cry and I would feel like when I grow up, I will never. Speak in front of an audience if I could help it. And over the years I would feel a lot, a big sense of dread come over me when in class we would be asked to present. I felt like I had to I felt like if it wasn’t perfect, then I would get criticized and I would feel really bad about myself.

And but then also, I would blank out. So even as I got older and I thought, okay, I could do this right and because one of the reasons why I decided to speak and educate is because I like to teach. As a little kid. I would grow up in my I would grow up, I would bb in my neighborhood, and the funnest thing for me was to.

The, these worksheets for my third grade teacher and then end up giving them to, to all the people I was, the kids I was playing with. And that was my sense of fun as a kid. And so the, because I’d love to teach, I ended up deciding, you know what? I would love to learn this. I would love to learn how to speak and help more people, reach more people at once.

But I used to blank out a lot. and I would literally say things that didn’t make any sense when they came out of my mouth and my face would turn red. I would feel so livid. I would want to hide under a rug. And, but and I felt judged like. , all the eyes were on me. And but if I am, if I was able to, the reason I bring this up is if I was able to go from that to now being invited to speak nationally and even internationally, then you can too, and it doesn’t.

Have to feel intimidating and each level of growth as you speak is you will grow your ability to be very concise and impactful and engaging and inspiring, and it is a skill that no one can take away from you and to the extent that you grow. this yourself personally. This way, it’s going to help you with growing in your business too, without you even realizing it until one day you look back and you realize that, that you start to attract people who you enjoy working with.

Have you ever felt like of all the people you work with currently, the people you absolutely love working with, you would love to work with more of those people. Have you ever felt that way before and. , when you are able to sharpen your saw with speaking you, you will naturally start to see that more and more people who are more in alignment with you will end up being attracted to you.

And it’s such a different feeling than just helping everyone and then having people who may not be as much in alignment. . And the third, and by the way, I also wanna say , at the beginning of this I mentioned that Warren Buffet and billionaire has said that speaking is one of the, like num, it taught a nu a one skill that can really increase your your value so much.

And, he also had, when he first started speak, , he actually ended up he did this Dale Carnegie course thing, but he actually ended up dropping out of it because he just wasn’t very like, . It wasn’t his second nature, a second nature kind of thing for him. It’s not like he was great at it and he got nervous and that kind of thing, and it took him the second round and it’s, you’re not alone with it.

And at the same time, the, those of us who feel like we have a voice and. And we want to share something really awesome and amazing like acupuncture, Chinese medicine with people. Then it, as we grow this way, we’re gonna just help more and more people. Third way speaking can help you with growing your practice is this.

, it’s to, you’ll be able to reach more people at once instead of feeling like you need to network or one-on-one or which can also be good. But then you could be, imagine reaching 20 people at once, or 50 people at once, or even a hundred people at once or more. And this could be virtual or it could be in person.

So for example, for myself, I feel. What it can feel less intimidating when you’ve got, a bunch of people listening to you virtually compared to in, in person, a huge dorms room in person, right? So you could find what feels comfortable for you and start there. And then as far as, what’s really cool about this is that you could, it’s one of the few things.

When you’re marketing your acupuncture practice, you could say something once and then repurpose it in different ways. So for example let’s just have a look at even social media. So if you were, if this is a platform that you have an interest in also supporting you with growing your. Did you know that most of the platforms are going more towards video?

For example, Instagram, their executives came out more recently and had said that we’re going towards video in the upcoming years. And what this means when they say that is that algorithms will favor if you favor you if you do video and. Similarly before Instagram had, their executives had years ago they had brought up, this is going to be primarily a video platform.

And so if you are not interested in doing video, for example on social media, that might be okay for now, but down the. , you’re, you will likely not get the kind of reach that you’re used to getting right now without doing some kind of video or unless you wanna be spending money on ads. And so if you were to do a video, the good part about it is that you could end up repurposing that.

So the video could be, Put on other platforms. For example, if you do a video on Instagram, you could put it on Facebook. You can also put it on YouTube so it, you can end up expanding your reach with just one video. You could also put it on your website. You could also. , email it to your patient base.

And so there’s so much that you could do with that one video, plus that video can be turned into something that’s written, for example, a blog article or you get published somewhere and in a paper or some kind of publication where people are reading about you and learning about you. So there are many ways where you could just take one video.

Do the work once and then everything else ends up getting distributed to, to share about your practice. To promote about your practice, so you don’t have to do that work many times. Now it, you can’t do it the other way around. You can’t go from writing to. You can’t do it writing to video, but then you would need to hire either somebody to say the things for you, , or do some kind of animation, which requires you hiring also or paying a additional money for that kind of thing.

So it’s harder to go from written to video, whereas it could go from written to video to written, and so many different aspects of where you create one asset and you can use it over and over again in different ways. . So now the fourth way to use speaking to, to grow your acupuncture practice is to.

Communicate more effectively to your potential and existing patients and clients? It’s interesting because we have clients who come to us because they would love to educate more people in the community and get known and recognized as a go-to acupuncture clinic. And then as they’re working with us to for example we help them get their.

A talk dialed in a signature talk that they feel really good about and that people wanna hear about. And then we help ’em dial that in. We also help them with getting booked and invited to speak. And then also be, be attracting patients from what they’re saying too. And in this process it’s always fascinating to me that sometimes people don’t even get to speak yet, and then they’re already really busy with patients.

We had an acupuncturist client of ours. This happened too recently actually. So we got started pretty early on in this process and he didn’t even get. Be speaking. He’s oh my gosh, my, my practice is so busy. It’s already doubled. And it, and it’s when you can communicate more effectively to your potential patients or clients in a such a way that it lands for people, then it, they’ll get it and they’ll actually come and see you or they’ll refer, and , according to Ted, Ted Talks the curator Chris Anderson.

So he said, as a leader or as an advocate, Public speaking is a key to unlocking empathy, stirring excitement, sharing knowledge and insights, and promoting a shared dream. And as an entrepreneur, as someone who owns your own practice, it’s one of the most. Important skills to, to have so that you could share your dream, your share your vision, share your excitement in an inspiring way to people so that more and more people are help.

More and more people are part of your also a part of your vision. And then love to also come and get treated by you too. And Being able to do this effectively, speaking effectively is one skillset that can help you achieve all of those results that we just talked about. And so it’s like he talks about how it’s like a superpower, to share your ideas and accomplish your dreams, and also offer your services.

So the fifth way speaking can help you with growing your acupuncture practice is to bring more patients in the door and even another stream of income. So we, when we know, when we think about this in terms of speaking for one, there’s one thing to just educate people and it’s another to. , educate and inspire new patients to come from it.

So it’s a very different skillset, which is why a lot of our clients come to us for help with this. And then as far as speaking can end up bringing patients in if you have a a way, a system that supports like what you’re saying, for one, that inspires new patients to come from it, and a system in place that supports them coming in.

Even after the talk itself. And also it. Bring in other streams of income. Why? Because you could offer other kinds of things. You could offer supplements, herbs, products, other services. You could also offer things like some of our clients are offering acupuncturist, clients are offering an automated online course.

Have you ever thought about that? Where do you ever say the same things over and over again and you end up feeling like. are a broken record sometimes and you don’t mind that, but then it still takes up a lot of energy and then it’s not like everything always, like your patients don’t always remember everything you share with them.

So what if you could put it together in such a way that helps them? And be able to understand in their own time and listen to it in their own time, they can benefit from it. And your, it’s it’s not just your patient base, it’s also beyond your patient base too. Imagine all the people who are too far to drive to see you.

They can actually benefit from what you’re teaching them, and it can help them with their health. How good would that really feel? . So then you could offer automated online courses and you could charge anywhere between, we have clients charging anywhere between, it could be, $50 to hundreds of dollars to even a thousand dollars or more.

It just really depends on what topic it’s about. And it could be for the lay public audience. It could also be for other providers. Have you ever thought about how all the things that you figured out over the. That it could really benefit other acupuncturists or practitioners, whether it’s clinical side of things, whether it’s workflow efficiency, whether it is with marketing your practice.

There’s certain things, maybe something very key that you figured out and you could make that available as an automated online course or and you can, it can also, PDFs or that kind of thing and sell it, right? And or you could offer group workshops virtually or group programs virtually.

And so there are many ways that you can end up bringing another stream of income beyond just seeing patients. And how do you get the word out about it? How will people know about you and sign up for your automated online course, for example? That’s where you can use speaking as an avenue to educate people about.

And also develop a connection with you. So they feel I would love to, to sign up for this automated online course and of yours. So that’s just one example. And so speaking can help you with Growing personally and professionally and help you become more confident and also communicating effectively your vision, your aspirations, and can help you bring in another stream of income plus more patients, consistent flow of patients into your practice.

. If you are at a place in your practice where you’re at a plateau and you would love to, to have it grow in such a way that feels like it’s more an ease and flow and or you would like to explore this as an avenue of growing your practice, cuz you just, you’re bubbling up inside where you feel like, oh, this is something that, that I’ve been wanting to do and I want to share acupuncture and Chinese medicine with more people and then, but you’re not really sure how to get going, how to get things going so that you get invited at places to speak and then also be able to attract new patients and another stream of income from it.

Then feel free to go to introvertedvisionary.com. So feel free to go to introvertedvisionary.com and till next time.

 

 

 

Click here to download the transcript.

Disclaimer: The following is an actual transcript. We do our best to make sure the transcript is as accurate as possible, however, it may contain spelling or grammatical errors.  Due to the unique language of acupuncture, there will be errors, so we suggest you watch the video while reading the transcript.

Are You Undercharging or Are You Overcharging? So I decided to talk about this because some of you are telling me that you are either thinking about raising your fees because you feel like you are undercharging right now and you’re spending all this time with seeing, in terms of seeing patients and chart noting and then.

With time that you spend outside of that to either reflect on recommendations or for some of you who are also doing functional medicine work, then you’re also spending additional time outside of just the visit itself. So you have this inkling that you are undercharging and you would love to be charging more, but then you’re also afraid of raising your fees.

And then some of you are. In a place where you feel like I, I’m not sure what I should be charging because if I were to call different or look around at other acupuncturists who are charging feet, like other acupuncturists in my area and what they’re charging maybe I shouldn’t charge as high as.

People are the highest people are charging. And then I should just find somewhere in between, right? So this is Chen Yen, your 6 and 7 Figure Practice Makeover Mentor at Introverted Visionary, and your host for the AAC Facebook Live show today. Love to, to have this conversation with you about what what to actually consider when you’re thinking about charging so that you feel good and you’re in alignment with your, what you’re charging.

So I’d love for you to comment below right now, or this if you’re watching, so I know you’re seeing this right now and let me know what your thoughts are. Do you have an inkling that you might be undercharging or you. You have an inkling that you might be overcharging. So cuz some of you would like to raise your fees, but you don’t wanna be overcharging.

So there’s one thing, the first thing I’m gonna talk about today are three factors that determine what you can charge and get. And then I’ll also get into. What to do if you adjust your fees, especially if you do raise your fees. And that way you’re able to attract those patients who are willing to pay those fees.

So there are three factors that determine what you can charge and get, cuz we could be concerned about what other people are charging. But the truth is that there are people who are willing to pay a whole range of prices out there where you’re. Whether you have a brick and mortar practice, whether you have a virtual practice, there are people who are.

Feeling like they only wanna pave certain kinds of fees and you might perceive it to be low. And then there are some people who are willing to pay the fees that, that you perceive to be average. And then there are also people it right in your neighborhood, in your area, who are totally willing to pay what you perceive as high fees.

So then what are the factors that determine what you could charge and get? Number one is your confidence level in what you have to offer. So if you are not really confident, then even this is where. If you ever have considered raising your fees, or if you have raised your fees before and then you weren’t feeling really confident in it, you might have noticed that people you told about your fees would’ve been like, oh, that’s too much.

So part of it is about you really owning your sense of confidence around what you’re charging. And then the second factor that determines what you charge and get is whether, how are you communicating it in such a way that people get it, they appreciate the value of what you’re offering. So when they can see that value and they perceive it to be of that value, then they will pay for it at that fee.

And then the third key factor that determines what you could charge and get. , are you in front of people who really need what you have to offer or are you still having trouble with attracting patients and you’re not really in front of those people who really need what you have to offer?

And again, really appreci. What you can offer. So when those three factors are in place, then you could charge what you would like and get it. And so there are a couple of key tips about. From a practical perspective. And then I also want to share let’s first talk about what is something that sometimes tends to happen when fees are raised and what can you do about it if you end up encountering this situation?

And then we’ll go into strategy wise, something. To think about so that you could set things up well for fees and and being able to command those fees and actually get it without a dip in patience or income. Before I get into the what I was going to share about what do you do if you were to raise your fees and then you start feeling like, oh no, people aren’t booking, and what do I do about that?

One thing about it is that this is where you, if you feel concerned about this, that maybe people either aren’t booking newly, they’re not coming in or that people aren’t coming in for their treatments that you’ve recommended in their treatment plan. because you feel like it’s because they’re now feeling like they can’t afford it.

And so there’s often this can happen is where that there’s a timeframe between you choosing to raise your fees and then. When you might actually feel like you’re not seeing the people booking like you were before seeing this. And so what can happen in this timeframe is starting to get worried, wondering, should I have done this?

Maybe I should go back to what I used to charge and then be in this mode. Wondering if you made the right decision, right? How many of you have ever experienced that before? Go ahead and like this now or comment below . So this is, the reason for this is because you used to be sending radio signal waves at 89.5.

And that was like the old radio signal wave in terms of your certain level of confidence about what you’re about, people paying you those fees and also about the way you’re communicating that and the value of it. So the people used to track used were at like 89.5 radio signal, right? But now you’ve decided to be at 95.8 radio signal and they haven’t matched up to it yet.

So that this is why in, in that timeframe, if you do choose to raise your fees, it’s about you showing up at a higher level frequency to be able to track those people. That in terms of you. , you really owning your confidence at this level and then also being able to do the marketing that attracts people who are willing to pay that.

So that’s something that’s also. Helpful to get in place, which is do you have things in place that support patients, existing patients, getting it about why your fees are raised and then it, that it makes sense and then also depending on how much you raise it by, , can you also showcase your credibility and value at a higher, like in an upleveled way?

For example, some of our clients who have decided to raise their fees or even gone the route of going a more cash based practice and raised their cash fees more too. What they’ve noticed is that. . One thing that helps is getting things visually that, that support people feeling this is a good decision that I’m still coming here.

And certainly it’s the relationship and what you’ve done for your patient that can also affect this. But it is also in a patient’s mind’s eye of okay, I’m paying more now, but I still. , I find it to be very valuable because I can’t get it just by going to another acupuncturist like I, because I like this person, or I just really like my treatments.

So being able to communicate that both in a visual way and in a way you’re sharing it in such a way that it lands for people. The other thing is to. Do you have have you looked ahead at when you’re going to be raising your fees and then be putting things in place that support attracting new patients into the practice?

Do you have systems in place that support attracting PE patients at the like 90, 98 0.5 level or the new frequency? Not that 89. Point nine, kind of 89.8 and 89.9 kind of radio frequency, but at the new frequency level. So sometimes it, that could mean looking at other avenues of marketing that you haven’t yet before, especially if you have a desire to attract cash paying patients.

So those are some of the hot tips related. And then in terms of the undercharging and overcharging, really there is no such thing as that it’s really just about your own alignment with what you feel is the best. To be charging based on your practice philosophy, and then also making sure that you take care of your own needs so that you end up with being financially sustainable to continue to help more and more people.

And when you are looking at, if you’re looking at your whole experience of. Of sustainability in the practice, your expenses and everything and what you’re charging. If it’s not really matching up, then you may want to be Considering increasing your fees or sometimes you could also increase your fees because you might actually notice that the kinds of people you attract aren’t really valuing your services as much.

know, It was interesting, there’s an acupuncturist who brought this up to me that she said that she was charging a certain price and then it seemed like people just weren’t really she thought it was very affordable. She thought she was making it a price where it would be really affordable for people.

But then, on some level it was like so way affordable to the point where people just didn’t value it, right? So then once she started charging higher fees, it was actually easier to attract patients. And that, that might seem weird if you’re at a place where you’re like, no, I don’t know, it’s gotta be more affordable, right?

But again, remember what I mentioned about the three factors that determine what you can charge and get, and one of them being. Your confidence level, you really owning that this could really help people at this level. So instead of. Choosing to charge what you what to charge by doing quote unquote market research, , go a different rate, a route of charging.

So you can charge a from a whole range of what you would, you could charge in what you’d like and get it. It’s just a matter of finding alignment. And then also being able to have a way of attracting new patients who are at that radiofrequency wave that lines up with. This goes beyond just pricing.

It also goes when it also applies when you’re choosing to perhaps shift direction in your practice to attract a different kind of a person to work in your practice, someone you would love to work with more. And that, those are some hot tips there. And if you’re in a place where. You’re feeling like your practice is at a plateau or, and you just know you’re capable of so much more, or that you are, would love to raise your fees and be able to attract a consistent flow of patients and really have a practice that you’re proud of.

Then feel free to go to introverted visionary.com and look forward to seeing how we can help you further and till next time, so look forward to seeing you next.

 

 

 

Would you love to help more people and bring in another stream of income beyond just seeing patients? What if you had more recurring income streams in your practice?

Click here to download the transcript.

Disclaimer: The following is an actual transcript. We do our best to make sure the transcript is as accurate as possible, however, it may contain spelling or grammatical errors.  Due to the unique language of acupuncture, there will be errors, so we suggest you watch the video while reading the transcript.

Would you love to help more people and bring in another stream of income beyond just seeing patients? What if you had more recurring income streams in your practice? Because. Most of the time in your practice, you might mainly have one avenue. Seeing patients to, to be helping more people and bring in income.

And when you have recurring income streams, then you actually are able to have ongoing revenue coming in even if you aren’t seeing patients yourself. So let’s talk a little bit about the four recurring income streams that you can weave into your practice. And this is Chen. You’re a six and seven figure practice makeover mentor@introvertedvisionary.com.

Where. And also your AAC show host today as well. So I one of the things that, about this with the four recurring income streams is that we’ve helped our clients put these in place and it’s been just so wonderful to see that these are. Avenues in which you could actually help people.

So as you, as I share these with you, the four recurring income streams, I’d like for you to think about which one might resonate for you the most and then see about implementing it into your practice. So the first kind of recurring income stream has to do with more of having a membership kind of a model.

So when you think about this word membership, what comes to mind for you? You might think, oh, okay, so are you saying that I would be providing acupuncture treatments in a membership benefit kind of a way? And that’s it. It’s not just limited to that, by the way. And we’ll talk a little bit about what are some things that could expand your possibility of what this idea could bring for you in terms of recurring income stream in your practice?

But first let’s talk about it in the traditional sense of how this could work within your practice. And so there are memberships that I’ve seen that are for, cuz have you ever had, had patients who came in for care or they got better and, or maybe they didn’t actually get better and then they just dropped off care and you never saw them again and you feel like if they were to have stuck with it, they would’ve also, , gotten better results.

This is where membership could have a role in it, in, in supporting the patient. Or it could have a role more in when a patient’s already doing so much better, they would like to come in for more maintenance and then just tune-ups. But and then you having a structure that supports that.

So this is one, one of those situations. It could also. Where you are offering membership where this could be especially good for those of you who have ancillary services outside of acupuncture or your core service offering. So for example, there’s an acupuncturist client of ours who specializes in fertility and she also offer.

Massage within the practice and then their facials as well. So it, it helps with other people. What helps with your patients knowing more about your other services and actually utilizing those other services, because how many of you have other kinds of service offerings within the practice, but then your patients don’t usually hear about it as much or really understand what it is and never really utilize those opportunities to, to get help that way.

Or those services. And you forget to talk about it too because you’re really busy treating your patients typical. So she ended up incorporating a membership that in when people would pay this monthly membership fee, then they would have their acupuncture treatments at a savings, and they would also have their, the other service offerings.

They can book those at a savings plus they got first priority with the scheduling side of things too. And then she also, and also offers. more of an she offers online kind of courses and that kind of thing. So she also included that within the membership. And there are some memberships that are, have nothing to do with treating patients.

By the way. You need to be kosher with the laws of your state profession and country before implementing anything like this and tends to work best for more cash-based practices only. But here’s another possibility. Of where you can look at membership when it is let’s say you have an insurance based practice, or let’s say you are not wanting to do anything membership model wise with your overall even if you’re cash based, you, you don’t necessarily wanna do this kind of a model for your acupuncture treatments and.

Then there also think about what are other things that you offer within the practice that could be beneficial for patients. For example, there’s a practitioner who offers supplements and he has a membership that includes the savings off the supplements and then also with certain kinds of testing and scans and things like that they get a savings off of that.

For his, they pay an annual membership fee for that. And they get first priority to see him, but there’s no like discounts off of visits or anything like that. So it’s that’s another avenue to look at this, where it doesn’t involve treatments. And then there are, we have another client of ours who is offering a membership where it is purely educational.

So have you ever. I had things where you say over and over again to your patients and and then they don’t always remember it, but then, and you say it over and over again and they still don’t always remember it. And what if you could put that together in something that is either just workshop ish, right?

And you offer that even if you offer it on one topic per month. That could be a benefit to them in understanding their health better, because how many of you feel like when you can treat patients, but, and they, some of them expect you to fix them, and then you feel like they don’t really understand that if they go eat lots of Big Macs and.

and fries and supersize it up, in between the sessions that, that there’s still some lifestyle factors that could affect how well they’re doing or if they just or if they sit there all day long at the desk and then they’re hunch all over that, that, that could have had an effect on on.

What they’re doing, whether you, so you could teach them about movement, you could teach ’em about other kinds of things like lifestyle and nutrition kinds of things in a workshop way. And they can learn from that and benefit from that. Also, enjoy the support of other people, not just you. And so that could be in a membership kind of model thing.

It’s just workshops where every month there is one, and then people pay a monthly thing and that becomes recurring come stream for you. So these are all models that our clients have put in place and successfully. And so these are definitely totally possibilities for you as an acupuncturist.

Now, as far as the, so we just talked about the first recurring income stream and then possibility. Let’s talk about the second recurring income stream possibility. So another possibility is something that we touched upon. Earlier which is this. So those things that you say over and over again, right?

What if you were to put that together in something that’s automated so it does the talking for you . So then what if you were to put that together in an automated online course? and then people can benefit from it and learn from it. And you don’t have to always be educating you just record it once and then you end up being able to sell it, have people purchase it, and then learn from it.

So we have an acupuncturist client of ours who, so there are two possibilities. You could create something and then I’ll just make it available to your patient, base you. The second possibility is you could create it and then offer it to people beyond your patient base as well. And so in terms of.

Let’s talk about how much could you charge for something like this? So we have people who are charging anywhere between, it might either be like, 50 bucks a thing to to over a couple hundred dollars to even thousands of dollars. It just really depends on what it’s. Exactly you’re offering.

It could also be for other practitioners, like you could create an automated online course that is about something very valuable for other practitioners. It might be in your profession, or it might be in another profession, or even things like, the workflow of your practice. Now that you’ve been practicing, you’re noticing, oh, this works really well.

But do you remember how on day one when you started your practice, you’re like, I’m not really sure about this and that. So you could create things that could be beneficial for new practitioners as well, and sometimes, Also for seasoned practitioners, maybe if other kinds of clinical things or even marketing kinds of things figured out.

So that could also be put into an automated online course to offer. And and then for the lay public, it could be on different kinds of health topics. So yeah. So you could be, imagine if you had 10 people paying you a hundred dollars, right? That’s like an extra thousand dollars in your pocket.

How many would love to have an extra thousand dollars in your pocket for doing the work? , and this could be for ongoing months and months. And then you could be, or it’s 20 people in something that’s $200. That’s it’s like $4,000, right? How many you could do with an extra $4,000 a month.

And upwards, $10,000 a month can be total. And even more than that could totally be doable from offering something like an automated online. And then so that’s another possibility there that’s really exciting. And what I was mentioning is that some of our clients, Two possibilities.

One is you just share it with your existing patient. So one of our acupuncturist clients is doing exactly that. So she has something for, it’s like designed for more A D H D cuz she works with kids with a D H D. And then the parents end up purchasing the, this online course that the stuff that she used to say over and over again.

Now she’s just put it in a course. They really appreciate it actually. And she doesn’t really do much marketing outside of that with it for her practice. Like she just has. . And in terms of, she just shares it with her patient base and that’s it. Another one of our clients puts it on her website and she charges like 80 bucks for hers, right?

She’s this is pretty nice cuz I don’t, I just created it once and then she’ll check her inbox. She’s Hey, cool. 80 bucks. 80 bucks can pay. For dinner. 80 bucks can pay for something the kids want. 80 bucks can pay for something splurging for yourself. 80 bucks can also be money you save for retirement.

Like it all adds up, right? She’s this is so great. And she’s so happy. She got it in place. And then some of our clients end up. Offering. It’s beyond their patient base too. So then you just need to get the word out about that too. So other people beyond the patient base, you’re able to touch and help.

Imagine being able to help people outside of your immediate area. You could be helping people nationally, internationally, even, and that’s just the coolest thing when, just think about those things that are so obvious to you now that you’ve been an acupuncturist that isn’t people don’t really know about so many of these lifestyle kinds of things or that could really benefit them.

And they’re suffering right now because they don’t know about it. And they only know about many of ’em only know about conventional options as well. And what if you could educate them about holistic options and also making lifestyle changes? And that can be amazing, could help so many people outside of just your practice.

You’re making a much bigger impact that way. So it’s super, super exciting. So that’s also another possibility is. outside of your practice, you end up being able to touch them and recurring income every single month from it as well, once after you get it created. The third recurring income stream is possibility to explore is also something that we touched upon a little bit earlier, which has to do.

Do you have products or herbs or supplements that you really stand behind? You feel like it could be a lot of benefit to either your patients or people who are beyond your, your patient base too, and. What if you were able to actually educate people more about it and then that, and you’re able to put up a store on your website and then people end up buying from that’s also recurring income as well.

So do you have something like that in place, or have you ever thought about, for example, private labeling? So what is private labeling? It’s so that if you’re offering herbs or supplements instead of people, Seeing it and then feeling oh, I can just get this on Amazon or online somewhere. And you know what, there, there are some negative aspects of fighting things online is on Amazon, for example.

In fact, a lot of the like well known suppliers of. of manufacturers of supplements and herbs. Like they know that there are counterfeit ones being sold on Amazon and they try to police it, but it’s really tough too, and like the story, whether it has the actual ingredients or not, it’s like, it’s a question mark, right?

And sometimes and then also storage. Like you don’t really know how people are really storing it as well. And there are some it’s not. Totally safe for people to be buying it on a place like Amazon, which a lot of people think to buy on places like that. So when you’re able to private label your own line of supplements and herbs and.

Then that can be also supportive and in terms of people getting the best quality that you have vetted. And it could also bring in income from people who need it. They get it through you instead of looking online and just purchasing online and that kinda thing. So that’s an third possibility.

In terms of more recurring income from you, we have had clients. When they put this in place and they have products or supplements or herbs in place and they’re offering it. They have people who are no longer their patients, but they still push from them. You know that relationship, you’ve built it and it’s know, they trust you and you’re able to still help them through this, and then you’re ending up making money from it too.

So that could be also be another recurring income stream to pay attention to that you may not have thought as much about in terms of what if I could private label. So private labeling for example, we have connections with private labeling companies and then there the supplement or private supplement or herbal comp orb companies that you currently use.

You could also ask them to. if they private label as well. Currently. Now as far as the fourth recurring income stream that you could look into is this. So you could have recurring income coming from these different sources or streams and avenues here. You could also have recurring income coming through other people working for you, other leveraging other people’s time instead of your.

And so that could end up bringing in recurring income when somebody else is seeing patients for you instead of you. So what if you were to hire someone like an associate or someone to help you? So associate could be an acupuncturist and associate, could also be health coach or other kinds of practitioners or people who could help your patients and make revenue for the practice and.

And it could even be done virtually for some of you who are like, oh, I don’t know about this. And in terms of hiring an associate and that kind of thing. And because I don’t have space for an associate and that kinda thing. So is there something that, that your patients can benefit from, whether it’s what I just mentioned, like the lifestyle.

Aspects. So we have practitioners who have a health coach hired for this, and then they’re helping people and then they’re making additional income every single month from not seeing the patients themselves, but actually a health coach helping them with their, with nutrition and lifestyle and that kind of of thing.

And we even have practitioners who have those kinds of practitioners doing the work online for them. So it’s literally, it’s like you have somebody. Someone who is, who’s a health. For example, it’s, it doesn’t have to be healthcare. It could be another kind of practitioner too. But they are seeing patients and then you could set it up so that they’re, they are, there’s different ways to set it up.

But you could set it up so that they’re, they are Making money and you’re paying them when you have a patient or when you have a client, like when you don’t then perhaps they don’t get paid. That’s just one, one str pay structure, but possibility. But yeah, so there, there are opportunities for other people leveraging other people’s expertise and help and then be able to benefit.

Your, either your patient based or even beyond the walls of your current patient based and bringing in another stream of income. So that becomes recurring income for you. Like even if it’s, let’s just look at an associate hire, right? If they’re making a hundred K a year for the practice and you end up paying them 50 K or 60 k.

Like that, I’m, that’s like you still, you’re just making between 40 K and 50 K per year without having to see those patients yourself. Could you do with an extra $40,000, $50,000, whether it’s to put towards retirement or to do other things with, and To, to do the things that you’ve been wanting to do or, help with like extra money, storage money or extra money for the kids or things that you wanna do, right?

So without having to think twice about it, like it, it all adds up. So those are the possibilities for that we talked about with the four recurring income streams in their practice. , we talked about membership as being a possibility and looking at it in a fresh way. We talked about online, an automated online course that you could get in place and that could be helping more people and bring in another stream of income.

We also talked about products and supplements and herbs and have you thought about private labeling and bring, and also educating the public about it too, not just your patient base and bringing in another recurring income stream. And then we finally, we talked about leveraging other people’s time and expertise and.

and being able to have either an associate hired or maybe someone who’s like a health coach or other kinds of PR practitioner who could help people and then be, also be bringing, bring in additional revenue for the practice as well. For a more six and seven figure practice makeover tips, go to introverted visionary.com and so it’s introverted visionary.com and to you weaving in recurring income streams into your practice and helping more people and making more money as well.

Till next time.

 

 

 

There are holistic health practitioners, acupuncturists, and other holistic health practitioners who have virtual assistance, and it can be a great avenue to support you…

Click here to download the transcript.

Disclaimer: The following is an actual transcript. We do our best to make sure the transcript is as accurate as possible, however, it may contain spelling or grammatical errors.  Due to the unique language of acupuncture, there will be errors, so we suggest you watch the video while reading the transcript.

There are holistic health practitioners, acupuncturists, and other holistic health practitioners who have virtual assistance, and it can be a great avenue to support you without also having them be physically in your space or having overhead, that kind of overhead involved with having somebody physical in your space.

So this is Chen Yen your 6 & 7 figure practice makeover mentor@introvertedvisionary.com and your host, for our AAC show today, and we are gonna get into how to hire a virtual assistant for your practice to take things off your plate. We’ll talk about what what is the virtual assistant should you consider hiring one, and what are some of the The biggest let’s see here.

What are some of the common concerns that I hear about hiring one and then how to actually get it going? Like how do you hire your first VA smoothly to. I abbreviate as that virtual assistant smoothly va smoothly to, to be able to free up your time so that you can actually do more of what you enjoy doing most.

And so as far as the, should you, first of all what is a virtual assistant? So a virtual assistant as it relates to you as an acupuncturist or a holistic health practitioner. Is, and how they could be helpful for you is someone who can do anything from admin to marketing and even chart noting, did you know that virtual assistant can actually help with chart noting and yes, it’s even HIPAA compliant.

And so the. There are avenues of getting that kind of a support. And they’re virtual, so they’re not physically working in your office. And the benefits of that are that, it you’re able to have an, have someone support you. , even though you’re not necessarily seeing them every day or having them be in your physical space, and they can do a range of different types of things for you.

So you could hire a virtual assistant to just work a few hours for you a week on certain things. They also can answer phones in terms of Fred desk, receptionist possibilities too. So they don’t actually have to physically be there. And this could be good for you especially. Perhaps your, the volume of your practice isn’t that high yet in terms of patient, in terms of the, I’m talking about front desk, right?

Two possibilities. One is if the volume of patients isn’t as high yet, but you’re also not answering the phones all the time and then you’re missing calls and people are not getting attended to right away. So then they go and call somebody else and then end up booking with somebody else before, like when you call them back, they’re already like, oh, I’m already fine now.

. So it you are having some volume, but it’s not like a as high of a volume to the point where you would like to hire someone in your office to be taking calls. And then another possibility though, too related to having a virtual assistant to help you with phone calls is if you are, if your office is very busy, and you would like them to handle the overflow in your office for calls because calls do get missed because your front desk staff is already very busy and not able to really handle that load as well.

So that’s another possibility related to front desk help. virtually in terms of the chart noting side of things. It’s, it is interesting because when I first heard about it, I thought, really, is this gonna be HIPAA compliant? And that kind of thing. And yes you could, there are companies that do this where it is HIPAA compliant and and then you are able to have this taken off your plate.

Where, cuz have you ever felt like you are . You love to treat patients, but you hate the chart, noting part. , it’s such a drag that you end up putting it off and you let it pile up. Maybe at the end of the day, you feel like, okay, I, I just wanna keep seeing patients and have that kind of a flow during the day.

By the end of the day, you’re, it’s time for you to do chart noting and you feel like, Ugh, this is such a drag. And then you procrastinate it. and then you procrastinate it until it feels like even it’s even more of a drag. And then you, and when you go do it, it takes up so much time and energy. I know acupuncturists who do this and then have to stay late to do chart noting and then their family’s are you gonna come home earlier?

Cause you’re like, you’re staying home, you’re staying late at work chart noting and, starting to feel a little guilty about it, but also feeling like but I still have to get this done. Can, how many of you can relate. Like this right now, or comment blow to let me know. . Yeah. So this is something that can be happening.

And you could actually have a virtual assistant be taking chart notes for you during the visit itself, so that at the end of the visit it’s already well written in terms of the notes, and then you could summarize it or, you could tweak it and edit it and add certain things into it.

So it goes so much faster than you having to chart. Partly during the visit, also afterwards. So that is such an amazing thing. We had a client of ours we ended up connecting up cuz we have connections and and we connected her up with this one place and they’re doing chart noting for her and oh my gosh, she’s this is saving my life.

She can’t imagine now not having one. . And then the and in terms of ad virtual assistant being able to help with other kinds of admin things, it could also tie into marketing related kinds of things. So for example, have you ever felt like there are tech things that you don’t do very well, but it would be nice to be able to hand off to somebody else who’s good at doing it.

And, but it doesn’t really seem like it’ll make too much sense to hire someone to come in your office and help you with that on a regular basis. And and so you could hire that out. For example, if you would like to stay in touch with your patient base by email and then you would like to put together something to send to them, the text side of that, or even sometimes the writing side of that can be done by virtual assistant.

In terms of the talent range of the virtual systems, there’s a range, a huge range of talent range. There are those who are strictly, like very good with rote kinds of things like data entry and, those kinds of things. And. The way you do it over and over again. They’re really good at doing, but they don’t, they’re less of strategic thinking kind of people, or they might not be able to do things like marketing and that kind of thing very well.

But then there’s a ra there’s also people who are jack of all trades and they do a mix of those kinds of things that I just mentioned to you right now. And then there are also people who are very zeroed in on one particular kind of thing, whether it’s okay, so I will write up your.

Their, your newsletters for you, or I will do this thing for you, ev all the time. Very specific, more high level kinds of things. So there’s a whole range of talent and experience and and what you could hire a virtual assistant for. And so as such, cuz like one of the most common questions I get asked is like, how much does a virtual assistant cost?

And it’s, so as such it ranges quite a bit because of the level of talent and also where you might be hiring them from. So you could be hiring them from your own country or you could be hiring them from other countries, including. Like the Philippines or India, where places where there’s some really good talent.

However, the the cost of living in terms of the what people tend to make in your country is it might be significantly more than in their country. So they’re actually getting paid pretty well when they’re working for you, but then for you, it ends up being less than hiring somebody from your country.

So it ranges in terms of how much the more charges it range. So much because of the variations of those factors that I just shared with you, the level of talent, what exactly you’re doing for you and where you’re hiring them from. So now what about the. So if you have an interest in hiring someone what are some considerations, right?

It’s oh, I’ve never thought about this. What if I could? Cuz imagine if you could even just take a few hours off your plate even once a week, right? Like even if it was like, if you had three hours. Back in your life to do whatever you would like to do, whether it is seeing more patients and making more money for the practice also, or it isn’t, maybe it’s like you could actually go home earlier, , you could put your feet up and relax a little bit, take a breather for, what would that, what would that mean for you if you’re able to do that?

Just be able to have more time back in your life. Whether it’s a few hours a week, whether it’s 10 hours a week. Whether it’s 40 hours a week it’s like that, that somebody else could. Doing something for you and then you’re able to do more because of it too, right? Like you’re able to accomplish more, you’re able to grow more, you’re able to help more people because you have support instead of wearing so many different hats and trying to do everything yourself, and then feeling burnt out and feel, still feeling like you’re not doing anything.

Any, not anything, but you’re not doing like everything really. Because it’s really difficult to do that. So let’s talk a little bit about if you have an interest in hiring someone, what are some considerations? For one, it’s, I think the one, some of the most the biggest mistakes is, To just get excited about it and then be like, oh, let me go look this up and see who I can hire and then find someone and then hire them and yay they’re gonna take things off my plate.

And from experience. So I have. I’ve been hiring virtual assistants for, let’s see, I think it’s been at least 15 years. And when I first heard about one, this is back when the concept was more new for most people I thought, oh, that sounds like a good idea. And then I went and hired my first one and I didn’t think too much.

I didn’t realize you had to think about all, certain things. And so I just hired them and I thought, oh, this person’s gonna be able to help me, and I’m going to be able. To free up all my time more of my time. And I then I realized, oh, like they don’t read my mind, or, oh, they’re not really equipped to do this kind of a thing.

And so part of that was because I didn’t know a lot of things when I first started hiring virtual assistants. And one thing I wish I knew was that. to be really clear about what you’re really looking for and also understand what a virtual assistant can or cannot do for you. I had certain thing expectations and I didn’t realize that, that the person I hired wasn’t really a, like a fit for that kind of expectation that I had.

And so the first step is getting really clear. Who you’re looking for and what exactly they’ll do for you. And this is much, many times it’s much easier Seth than dad because it’s like you don’t know what you don’t know, right? . That’s something to get really clear on and also be clear about the distinction of what you could hire one for and what may not make as much sense and that kind of thing.

So that’s the first step. Then the second step is then where, as far as well, where to find somebody like that. And there’s a range of where you could look for, and so there’s. You could either be hiring someone directly or you could hire from a company. And if you hire from a company, though, many times there are it ends up being, if you’re looking at costs and that kind of thing, it’ll be higher costs just because, you’re, there’s another middleman they’re involved.

And then there are also like sometimes. Find more of a jack of all trades more if you are hiring someone more directly than go through a company in particular. So then it becomes who best to hire and then Have it really work well for you, right? And what’s your screening process?

That and I didn’t know ha half the things I should have asked back then, , now I know what to ask and evaluate with that. In fact, that’s something that we cover or clients come to us for when they’re wanting to hire, whether it’s a virtual assistant or a for their practice, or it is just an admin person with, for the.

Within their brick and mortar practice or an associate into their practice. Many times when you are hitting a point in your practice where you would love more support and would love to hire out, it’s not like you, you had learned these things in school about what to look for and what to pay attention to, how best to screen someone.

We had I just spoke to a practitioner yesterday and she’s I didn’t really think much of this back then. And then she hired and then, She realized after the fact, she’s oh, I wish I knew these things that now you can help me with. So in fact, she signed up to, to work with us in our four weeks to a new hire program that’s coming up, which is gonna help with both being able to get a new virtual assistant hired and smoothly the process for that and to shortcut that and also our connections too.

I can introduce you to, to the best kind of possible scenarios for you all in terms of where to look for someone and things like that, depending on what exactly you’re looking for, as well as the screening side of things. So this is all, this is for the virtual side of things and for brick and mortar side of things.

So I’m really excited about that coming up. In any case and also like templates from our our recruiting business set that I’ve had as another business and where companies paid us to find the right hires for them. So we had templates and frameworks for like whether it’s interview and what to ask.

Like people tend to tell you what they want, what you wanna hear, right? So things like that, to help you with navigating in such a way that, that you end up finding somebody good and you could suss things out well before you hire them. You could spot, spot for laziness or unmotivated kinds of things that through the process that normally doesn’t show up in the process unless you have certain screening things in place.

In any way, in any case, what I was gonna mention to you, So that’s the second step is where to find them, where’s the best place to find them? And then third step is then finding the right fit and screening for the right fit. And then the fourth step is how are you onboarding them so that they end up Doing really well for you.

So many times the most exciting day of hiring is the day you hire them, but then you know how it turns out can have an effect. It depends, like what you do when you onboard them has an effect on their success. So you could have somebody who’s amazing, but then you just throw them in and you expect them to do certain things and then they might actually feel overwhelmed or they might feel a little bit resentful, even though they’re not telling you that.

And then it may not actually work out as well. This goes for all hires. It’s not just virtual help. But and by the way I, one thing that you may not know about me, So now I’ve run two successful businesses and I’ve never met a single one of my hires in terms of people, my team who’s worked for me.

And for those of you who are feeling I ca you know, I can’t possibly fathom hiring somebody who I won’t be able to see in person and manage them and that kind of thing. It’s totally doable, and I’ll talk a little bit about that in a moment here, but, What I was saying, back to what I was saying about the onboarding side of things.

So what I’ve learned over the years is that sometimes you could have an amazing hire, but you could screw up the onboarding and then they might end up not doing as well as you would like, they may not be as productive as quickly as you’d like, as well. . And so part of it is do you have an a good onboarding plan in place?

And for example, we have frameworks for things like this, like a 90 day onboarding plan. And so that way you’re able to be able to Have them ramped up quickly and taking things off your plate and you’re feeling like, oh, this is so nice. I’ve got hours back in my day, or hours back in my week.

So that’s really amazing when that can happen. Let’s talk a little bit about, I was gonna talk about the most common concerns for hiring a virtual assistant. . One thing that I often hear is I don’t know if I could trust someone. And the truth is that whether you could trust someone or not, it’s a consideration for you, whether you hire them virtually or in person to work with you side by side.

And this is one of the biggest things that I see hold back a lot of acupuncturists and other holistic health practitioner practitioners to growth, which is this thing of I can do this so much better myself, or I can do this much faster myself, so I might as well just do it. Or this fear of trust kind of a thing, right?

And but making decisions based on a small percentage chance of someone not being able to be trusted is small. Think. and we can go about practicing and being distrusted people and stay small and then continue to have a smaller practice than you could really have. And also just what happens when you’re sick, like certain things don’t get done.

What happens when you go on vacation? Again, certain things don’t get done right and all the weight is like a lot of the weight is on your shoulders or all the weight’s on your shoulders. So the upside is really getting back weeks. Time, getting back time in your life, which could add up to weeks of time in your life back in, in a year, right?

So it’s much greater, the upside is much greater than the downside of the fear. So it’s just a matter of having a good certainly being intuitive and going with your intuition, that’s really important too, and having a good approach in place to, to find and. and then also get someone hired.

And then as far as another concern that I sometimes hear is that I’m not sure if I can afford one right now. And so many times this is a concern because of the fear of not being able to cover the expenses of a hire or feeling like you could take home more. if you just like yourself, if you just kept it all in your pocket and not hired anyone, right?

But the reality of it is that a good virtual assistant, or any hire for that matter can take things off your plate to allow you to actually make more money. It’ll free you up more with more energy and time so that you can make more money. Because how much money do you make an hour if you were seeing.

It’s usually a lot more than what a, a virtual assistant or any, anyone you hire would end up being right. But the unfortunate thing is that many acupuncturists and other holistic practitioners end up waiting too long and then get to that point of where they’re really burnt out, stressed, and then they feel like I really needed someone yesterday.

Instead of actually looking ahead and thinking, oh, you know what? I think it would be good to have support coming up here in the next year. So maybe let me start looking at this cuz I’m getting busier my practice or I’m wearing too many different hats, spread too thin. And so I’m going to start looking into this as a possibility and then learning about this, understanding this because remember how I mentioned to you that one of the biggest mistakes I see when hiring a virtual assistant is it’s not really Understanding the distinction and of what what to look for and then how best to really find the right person for you and suss that out.

And so it’s good to learn about this before you actually go about doing it. And same thing with overall hires. It doesn’t have to even be virtual assistant hire, but it could. , anyone you’re thinking about hiring within your practice in hi in your brick and mortar practice as well. So with that, if, for those of you who are interested in my more in-depth webinar free masterclass on this topic then feel, I’m gonna drop a link in the comment below, and so in the chapel, Section below.

So you could see, you could click on it and then watch the more about it. So I go into to answering more of your most common questions about this, how to hire a virtual good virtual assistant and take things off your plate. And then for those of you who would like free six and seven figure practice makeover chips, you can go to introverted visionary.com.

And feel free to ask us about the four weeks to a new. Program coming up as well. If that’s something that is like you’re looking for hiring you, maybe you have hired before you had a bad experience or you have hired before and you would just like to hire someone different now and you would to actually have a good process in place to save you time and energy from.

The process and also to be able to find the right fit. The, in ha have things working for you to find the right fit to. or you are hiring your first hire for you’re an admin person or associate, then feel free to, to reach out to us. So with that look forward to you having more support, feeling more supported, and and doing what you enjoy the most.

Which for many of you it’s mainly seeing patients or doing other things. So with that till next time.