Location Generosity

Yesterday, CommuniChi participated in the First Time Latino Homebuyers Fair hosted by our landlord, El Centro de la Raza. It might have seemed an odd mix - one acupuncture clinic alongside a dozen or so banks and mortgage companies greeting the public and giving information about our services. It was a tremendously successful event for us.

We introduced nearly 20 people, almost all Spanish speaking, to a complimentary acupuncture treatment. What made it possible in many ways is the fact that our clinic is located inside a dynamic community center engaged in multiple arms of social justice activity.

Although our clinic is still less than 9 months old, I am beginning to realize the extremely good fortune we have to be located in a community center such as El Centro. If this year is typical, my guess is that each year, CommuniChi will have the opportunity to participate in such community events 4 -6 times a year.

Instead of merely handing out flyers and showing Powerpoints, talking people up, or whatever, we can instead cut to the chase: "Are you stressed out?" "Would you like to relax?" "Do you have some health issue you would like to work on with natural medicine?" "Yes? Then step into our clinic and give it a free try." And people did.

"Relájese con Acupunctura! Alivia el estres y equilibra el cuerpo y la mente."

Okay, I'm leaving out a few key details. First, we established a good working relationship with the people in the Latino Homebuyers Office, treating one of their staff. She secured us a lovely translator, Hilda, from Peru, who we gave a free treatment to before the fair officially began.

My Spanish is not very good, so I don't know exactly what Hilda was saying after I spoke in English, but judging from the glow in her eyes and her easy flowing speech, people trusted her.

So there are very tangible benefits to choosing to locate a community acupuncture clinic inside a Community Center....and I'm not merely talking about marketing advantages. Perhaps the best thing is that instantly you become part of a community. You inherit the altruistic tradition of the people who've worked and served there (in El Centro's case, a tradition of three decades of service). You tap into the love and affection. That's priceless.

On a related note, I'd like to add a comment about growing a practice. CAN members, for the most part, are not following the advice of our Practice Management instructors in school, or the columnists in AT - to charge as much money as we possibly can for our services.

We gave away close to 20 treatments yesterday, and for the second time this month. On our First Free Friday a few weeks ago, we had 25 people (some gave donations).

I think if I had presented marketing plans like this to my old school instructors 10 years ago, they probably would have flunked me. Just goes to show you though that conventional wisdom isn't always on the mark.

From a Buddhist perspective, the cause of wealth and business success isn't principally cleverness, cunning, charging high prices, having multiple waterfall dioramas in your waiting room, having a catchy business name, a glamorous office, a website with flowers on it, a full time paid receptionist, or even the technical skill of your treatments.

The last factor certainly goes a long way towards the goal of business success, but these factors are merely peripherals - supporting causes.

The traditional analogy is that of a seed and its sprout. All of the above factors are like the water, sunshine, dirt, soil temperature, the activity of insects, etc. which support the seed's transformation into a sprout.

But the principal cause of the sprout is the seed, not the water, dirt, etc. The principal cause of wealth and success is generosity. That's right, giving. And it's not merely just the physical act of giving, but more importantly, the spirit of giving.

After yesterday's event, many people walked out of our clinic glowing, asking us what our hours are, taking business cards and a few made appointments on the spot. As we were packing up the table and chairs in the hall outside our clinic, a part of me knew that many of these people would back, but for the most part, my mind wasn't dwelling on shrewd calculations of what percentage of people would be back, how much our numbers would increase for next month, etc.

I was already wealthy in that very instant and my mind was basking in afterglow of that spirit of giving.