philadelphia freedom

I quit my "day job" today! Whoo hoo!

And by day job, I mean as an acupuncturist. My dirty little secret is that I have been working since December for an MD acupuncturist a couple of mornings a week. He bills worker's comp and PI upwards of $300 per treatment (as long as e-stim was involved - and he makes sure it is), and paid me $25 per patient (and that's after I insisted on more money). I go in for a couple of hours and if we're busy walk out a couple of hundred dollars less in debt. The big dirty system.

It was at his office that I realized I could treat more than one patient per hour, easily, in fact three patients an hour was no problem. And it was then that I remembered the little red book my friend Bill had told me about and revisited the WCA site to find that a book had been published (The Remedy). Ordered it, read it, joined CAN, found business partner, opened community acupuncture clinic two weeks ago, and now, quit day job! Did I mention the two year old who is constantly yelling at me to picky her uppy?? I impress myself sometimes.

Seriously though, it's all a cause for celebration. PCA is finally up and running and I went from one private patient to about 25 new patients in two weeks. On Sunday Korben and I saw 18 patients, our busiest day yet. We have been averaging about 10 a day, I think. And while some of those days everyone's been a little grumpy and I have played that bad game of being too attached to results, in general, I walk around that place pinching myself. This is my job and I love it.

And there is one thing I know for sure: If I were to take Ms. Felice Dunas's advice and start charging more than any practitioner I know, all of those patients, and my one remaining job, would disappear way faster than I can say money=qi.