Tart 'n Tiny! (or Running a Micro-CSA)

Like Lisa's paper about loving one's micro-business, I'm running what I would call a micro-csa and I hope this post is helpful for those of you who are in similar circumstances.

I have a great office space that I share with 3 others (Shiatsu; Ortho-Bionomy; Intuitive Reader). We're all independent yet often refer to one another. We share a common waiting area and a kitchenette w/ laundry!

My acupuncture space includes one large room with four tables and one smaller room with a table and an intake setting. The space is on the 5th floor of a building and we face SW and overlook trees. As great as the office is, it's quite small for a csa practice and I think would be difficult to have another L.Ac. working here. So, with one year left on our lease, I see it as a great proving ground until I can move on to bigger and hopefully joint ventures. Here's how and what I do. I hope it's helpful. Much of it is a necessity to thwart a lot of administrative stuff so that I can concentrate on acupuncture.

WEBSITE. I worked hard on this. (www.pindoctor.com) I'm a Mac nerd wannabe but actually quite a techno-chimp for someone of Gen-X. I have a .Mac account for $99/year. Money well spent because for years I had someone else do my website and that cost a lot more. I just added the video that I put together in iMovie in about 20 minutes. I want to do another quickie of inserting a needle; people need to see that it's not a harpoon. If you're not on a Mac, I have experienced WordPress while helping a friend set up a website and that was very easy to use.

VISA/MC Another $99/year expense but well worth it. I accept Visa and MC only. AmEx and Diners cost you more. I have used CostCo as a service provider and have been very satisfied. They have a great rate and good cust. svc. Also, I bought my terminal, because leasing would cost nearly double. Zero regrets on having this pay option. About 40% of my patients use it.

ONLINE SCHED. I use FlashAppointments(.com) as a host for taking online appointments. It's $30/month and response has been good so far. Some other CA clinics use AppointmentQuest(.com) which is very similar (better graphics acutally).

INVIS. RECEP. I went to OfficeDepoMAXBOXAAAGGGH! and bought a wire tray that I have on the reception desk. It has two long compartments and four square compartments. In it I have some blue heavy paper reusable envelopes that seal with velcro, two-copy carbonless receipts that I had printed, a check stamp, business cards, post-its and paperclips. There's a sign on the desk with instructions.

I have people fill out their own receipt, take the yellow copy, put the white copy and payment in the envelope and drop it in a metal box that hangs on a screen in my treatment room. If they want to pay with plastic, I instruct them to put the card in the envelope, let me know that's their payment method and I run it while they're in acu-land. They sign the receipt before they leave.

The receipt is done at each treatment unless someone wants to prepay for several beforehand. If anyone is interested I can post a copy of it on my website so you can see it.

Also, and most importantly for me, the clients are doing my administrative work by doing these receipts. That's how I track things at the end of each week.

ACUPUNCTURE Oh, yeah. That's what I do. Since I'm limited on space, I allow people to stay for up to an hour. (They schedule online in 15 min increments). It has worked fine thus far. If it's not busy, they can stay longer.

PULSE I don't do Jingei. I didn't really get it or feel comfortable with it. About a year ago I learned a pulse system taught by Martha Lucas who learned it from Jim Ramholz. I really like it and I get a lot of information from it. And, it challenges me as an acupunturist to really pay attention to my diagnostic skills. So, there's nothing wrong with Jingei, but you don't have to do it.

LECTURE Find a cause or group that's important to you and find the other end of that string. I'm getting out more and more speaking to various groups of people. I did some cancer support groups as I have recently lost friends and family to the disease and I know how acupuncture benefitted them. I bike, so this summer I'm going to set up an informal talk at a bike shop. I ski and I know what injuries skiiers are prone to. My co-worker is a stitch 'n bitcher. They get sore thumbs and arms.

BREATHE I think one of the most important things the online scheduling did for me was to set my week in cement--at least my clinic time. I realized I can't be everything to everyone and be needle-ready all the time. A client I'm seeing this week wanted to come in at 8. I start at 9. The old me would have said, OK. If you're going to be your own boss, you've got to be the boss of yourself, too. It has taken me 8 years in practice to realize that.

GUERILLA TACTICS!!! This is a vital thing that I have gleaned initially from Lisa's book and now mostly from other CSA practitioners. We've got to take matters into our own hands for the benefit of our profession. It makes me really psyched. Maybe my CSA isn't so micro after all?