Tips Of All Sorts

A few weeks ago we talked about how to increase professional referrals to your practice. Developing this referral source is essentially a networking exercise, but the point of the post was to provide a framework in which to do it without feeling weird, creepy, or uncomfortable.

I know there are a lot of alternative and complementary practitioners who are involved with networking groups like BNI. While I don’t generally promote those groups a great deal, I read a fantastic tidbit from Ivan Misener, the founder and CEO of BNI, in a piece on Entrepreneur.com:

3. Word-of-mouth is more about farming than it is about hunting.

Building your business through word-of-mouth is about cultivating relationships with people who get to know you and trust you. People do business with people they have confidence in. One of the most important things I’ve learned in the past two decades is this: It’s not what you know, or who you know, it’s how well you know them that counts. [emphasis mine]

It’s a great metaphor for the development of your professional referral base. The approach we recommend - of slowly gathering background and connections before you approach someone - is aboutchoosing to farm relationships. Nurture them gradually in the form of inquiry, research and contemplation. Plant them, water them, and watch them grow, but don’t harvest them until they’re ready.

And whatever you do, don’t hunt them. That’s what everyone else is doing because they haven’t yet realized that you can only eat prey once, but you can harvest a garden forever.

Related posts:

1. New Patient Referrals: The 5 P’s

Try and read this article on Vitamin D by the dean of health and fitness writers, Jane E. Brody from The New York Times.  She recaps the current thinking about the benefits and proper doses of Vitamin D.

Here are some of the key points from her article:

Many Doctors and researchers now believe that the current recommended daily allowances (RDA’s) of Vitamin D are too low. 

You can get your Vitamin D through sunlight, eating certain foods rich in D or through supplements.

Skin exposure to the sun’s UV rays (the same ones that cause sunburn) forms Vitamin D. 

Other sources of Vitamin D are fortified milk, juices and certain foods such as the oily fishes.  Some vitamins contain D, but not all.  Check your labels.

It takes a quart of fortified mild a day to reach the current RDA of 400 international units (IUs).

Researchers now believe that 700-800 IUs per day will significantly reduce risk of bone fractures

Animal studies show that Vitamin D reduces tumors.

Observational studies in people show that low levels of Vitamin D are linked to the increased occurrence of many types of cancer including breast, stomach, bladder, pancreas and uterus as well as Hodgkin’s Lymphoma and multiple myeloma.  A recent double blind study showed that those taking 1000 IUs of D had 80% less chance of cancer than those that did not.  Diabetes and MS have also been linked to low levels of D.

It is unclear what the maximum safe dose of Vitamin D is as reliable studies are rare.

Check your vitamin D intake today and read the Ms. Brody’s important article in full. 

This Med Headlines article describes a recent study involving lab animals who gained more weight when they were exposed to artificial sweeteners than to plain old sugar.

The study was performed by the IngestiveBehaviorResearchCenter at PurdueUniversityand compared weight gain in rodents who ate artificially sweetened yogurt to those who consumed sugar sweetened yogurt.  The sugar fed rodents gained less.  “The study surmised that by breaking the connection between a sweet sensation and high-calorie food, the use of saccharin changes the body’s ability to regulate intake.”

As the article points out, the obesity epidemic has continued in full force during the introduction of artificially sweetened foods into the food chain.

“The data clearly indicate that consuming a food sweetened with no-calorie saccharin can lead to body weight gain that would not occur if a person consumed the very same food sweetened with higher calorie sugar, the authors wrote.”

We previously reported on the possible link between diet drinks and heart disease here.

Here are our favorite acupuncture-specific online resources for practice growth and management, in no particular order. Have we missed any? Let us know in the comments.

Acupuncture Business School

• Workshops, coaching, teleconferences, books, distance learning…ABS just about has it all. In the words of founder Andy Rosenfarb: “ABS is a developing resource for L.Ac.’s who want to better their situation in clinical practice. We want to provide real methods that work, rather than just a lot of fancy marketing talk. There are quite a few practitioners who are doing well and ABS was created to start to get these acupuncturists out of the woodwork and share what they are doing and what’s working for them. ” That sounds pretty darn fine to me.

Insights for Acupuncturists

• Lisa Hanfileti is a working acupuncturist who’s not only dedicated to helping other practitioners, she’s plenty nice too. Her site has a lot to offer, particularly for practitioners interested in passive income, and using the internet to market their practice. She’s also got a great list of online resources.

Community Acupuncture Network

• Community Acupuncture Network (CAN) is a nonprofit organization whose goal is to make acupuncture more affordable and accessible. The members are lively and active. You might also do yourself a favor and check out founder Lisa Rohleder’s book The Remedy, and her fantastic (and free) little ebook Love Your Microbusiness.

Build Your Dream Practice

• Kevin Doherty offers coaching, and a couple of great books. The first is Build Your Dream Practice, a beautifully put together ebook on practice management, filled with some great wisdom and advice. Kevin’s latest project, allows to co-author your own customized version of How to Thrive in the Modern World: A Layperson’s Guide to Chinese Medicine, for educating your patients and prospects. You can see samples of both books on the site.

Acupuncture Clinic Marketing

• Burton Kent’s blog is relatively new, but his new book Never Market Again has got some great business advice, and is on sale until Feb 14th at 50% off.

The Acupuncture Marketing Blog

• Bonnie’s blog is a great source of insight into marketing ideas and online resources circulating through the internet. There’s well over a year’s worth of blog posts - lots to keep you busy for a while.

Acupuncture Media Works

• Acupuncture Media Works is best known for their broad range of promotional print and office materials - everything from business cards and brochures, to charts and displays. What gets them on this list, though, is the remarkable quantity of stuff available in the “Tips/Free Stuff” section - a huge array of letters, forms, info sheets and more, all free for the taking.

Acufinder

• Acufinder acupuncture referral services has a solid list of practice management articles in their Learning Center.

The Acupreneur

• Dr. Eric Schneider provides some free articles on the site, but a quick signup will also get you a free copy of the ebook 52 Integrity Based Ways to Fill Your Acupuncture Practice. The book’s nicely arranged, and there are some real gems in the 52.

Other Resources:

• The forums at gancao.net
• The forums at TCM Student
  
• The TCM Practice Survival Guide on YouTube

Any Suggestions?

I know there are lots of resources out there - if you’ve got a favorite that we’ve missed, do tell. Don’t be shy!

Related posts:

1. Acupuncture Practice Growth Resources
2. Acupuncture Marketing Blog Roundup
3. Affordable Acupuncture - Charge Less, Earn More?
4. More Acupuncture Pricing Debate
5. CAM Information Resources

I was recently interviewed about our book Escape 101 by Mark Hayward of MyTropicalEscape.com, who’s a consummate escape artist himself.

You can check out the interview here, but what I really want to draw your attention to is his interview with Scott Rigsby, who became the first double amputee in the world to finish an Ironman distance triathlon.

Rigsby used “swim legs” to navigate the difficult 2.4 mile ocean swim, “bike legs” to cycle 112 miles through the heat and gusting winds of the Big Island lava fields on a standard road bike, and “run legs” to complete the marathon segment in darkness and intense pain.

It’s a great piece of inspiration to share with your colleagues and patients, and a heck of a fine way to start off a weekend. Check it out: Do the Unthinkable - The Scott Rigsby Interview.

No related posts.