Glow in Madison Park
How is natural medicine accepted in your region?
We have found that the public is excited but uninformed. The focus has been on providing a fair amount of education so that we can be attractive to the entire public.
What are your overall marketing strategies?
Prior to opening the doors or our practice we did quite a bit of remodeling. That gave us a chance to establish relationships with other businesses in the neighborhood. We are now receiving patients that were referred to us by the coffee shop around the corner and the grocery store down the street.
We advertise in the Seattle weekly and the Madison Park Times. However, we do find that we get a much greater response from the local newspaper (Madison Park Times) as it is more local and intimate and we now have a monthly column in that paper.
The marketing company that works out of our building has been great at stressing to us the importance of constantly marketing the practice. Every month they ask us what our next push is. Then they remind us to connect any promotional efforts to our overall business strategies.
We've realized that promoting the entire integrated practice in our marketing efforts has a much greater benefit than individual efforts. Which also makes sense for the practitioners given the large number of cross-referrals that are generated between the group.
It's hard to get into that mindset of having to promote yourself. It's much easier to "hide" under an integrated practice vs. an individual practice. You get more when you pull together.
What keeps you motivated to practice?
Student loans and rent. The dream of making lots of money. The responsibility of making sure the practice stays afloat.
"I just really love what I'm doing. I have bad business days but not bad acupuncture days," says Jessica Vargish.
What's next for you? Where would you like to place your energies?
Just keep the practice going. I think a good number of NDs expect that after a few months it gets easier. We have a good overall view and keep pushing ourselves. Our goal is to get the practice functioning so that we can cut back on the 50-60 hour weeks.
(Dr. Lush, Lindsey Dawson, and Jessica Vargish all have 2nd jobs so their goals are to get to the point where they don't need to have that 2nd income source.)
What would you like to see from Bastyr University?
We would like to see Bastyr University market the profession, not just the school and the clinic. A "Go see your local natural health practitioner" campaign might be a good idea.
Also would like to see Bastyr provide links to various CEU credits and a list of practice resources online.
What types of CEU topics would you be interested in seeing Bastyr host?
Insurance
Practice management
What would it take for you to get totally excited about returning to campus?
Make it a networking place with speakers that alumni could talk to and maybe other people who are interested in working with NDs such as LMPs, chiropractors, MDs, etc.
What are some of your interests/hobbies outside of healing?
Sleep! The 1st year of practice leaves no time for any outside activities. It's not the hysteria of school but "stress" of building a practice is trying. The toilet backs up, someone calls in sick and others have to cover. It's important, however, to be physically active and keep the body moving.
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