Grand opening day, we treated 16 people. It’s been a slow trickle since then, 1 to 3 people a day finding their way there, with a few completely empty days sprinkled in. I’m not disappointed or feeling defeated, building a patient base takes time. A couple patients have visited every week (3 visits deep) and they’re either seeing positive results or staying curious about the potential for longer term benefits, so I am all-around thrilled. I want more of that. I am greedy for your pain relief, better night of sleep, wider range of motion. I am hungry for a better quality of life, for all of us. Maybe…It doesn’t have to hurt! Or hurt less, at least?

In the meantime...I am developing little daily rituals, of turning on and off the lights. sweeping the floor, polishing the handles, stocking needles. Filling the large gaps of time that stretch out for hours and days. Tending to the foundation that upholds the dream.

There have been some surprises, such as discovering that the barber shop that I share a wall with has a bass speaker up against same said wall and it vibrates all day UUNTZ UUNTZ UUNTZ. It shot my nerves while I spent days painting and such. But I didn’t want to be a bother or inconvenience, until I realized it would actually be kind of a problem for resting patients. Luckily, my big girl pants were clean so I put them on, introduced myself, brought over some thick foam I had found a few days earlier, and managed to navigate an English/Spanish language barrier with Google translate. I had one of the guys come over to hear it and they were like, “Ohhhh yeah that is loud!” I gave them my clinic hours and there is no more thumping. They are really nice dudes, and we both smiles and laughed a lot while trying to communicate. Compromise is scary because it gives the other person a chance to say, No. And then what do you do? But I’m not a rat so talking to the landlord is never a go-to option. We are both able to have our business needs met and uphold our various VIBES. I’m glad it went well. I need to take some Spanish classes, like, years ago. It’s been on the list of skills to acquire and I am mid-key embarrassed that I haven’t had the drive to prioritize learning. So once things calm down a bit more, I will be seeking a Spanish program (and holy shit, do not recommend me a phone app, I want to speak to human people).

The other surprise was not as easily resolved, and came in the form of a $280 CONNEDedison oil bill, for baseboard heat. Not a fun bill to eat. That’s like, 3 bags of groceries, right? Luckily, electric for April just arrived, and it was only $40. I would run the clinic on candle light, but that’s forbidden by the lease :-) So, I need to figure out how to program the thermostat… by next fall. I turned off the thermostat. During these chilly 50-60 degree days, everyone gets blankets and/or I turn on a space heater for an hour. Soon enough, it will be 95 degrees and we’ll be wishing for a chilly day. That’s just how it goes here.

After a month straight of busting ass 18 hours a day and being in a flow state of perpetual movement to get the space in shape, now I am kind of bored. Certainly, I have been fully indoctrinated into the hustle, but I also love the energy of a busy treatment room. Community acupuncture is a busybee enterprise. On May 1st, Beltane, MayDay, we held a free NADA/5NP clinic and treated 34 people over the course of about 7 hours. It was good medicine that cured my yearning for a bustling clinic. I organized 5 volunteers to come over the course of the day, and they were all very exited to practice their skills. I welcomed people in, administered the consent form, and let the needlers have the run of the space. The overall energy of the day was extremely bright and positive, almost buzzing with palpable calm settling easily into the room. Some big emotions were moved, and deep rest was had. A few moments of dripping blood. Energy got moved.
Everyone was so kind and open- a luxury that I experience to be less rare as the myriad of NYC mutual aid projects and community building efforts become increasingly more common and widespread. A balm for all of our hearts in this age of digital overwhelm and manufactured precarity.

Here are some photos from the event by other people, I snapped the last one :-)

This NADA clinic was entirely made possible by the amazing volunteers who held it down over the course of 8 hours! Big thanks to you all for your time and work <3
@move__soma
@jackiegarbe
@tamarasantibanez
@joaquin1sabel
& M

We are setting dates for the next ear clinics, and will be announce June’s towards the 3rd week of May. If you are NADA certified, reside in NYC, and interested in volunteering for a future free clinic, e-mail me to introduce yourself commongoodacu@gmail.com

Special Offer:

CGA is offering a Mom & Me 2-for-$70 acupuncture treatments on Sunday May 9th from 11am-4pm. This is a great discount for new patients, as we charge $45-$95 each for sliding scale treatments!. New and returning patients are also welcome to book, as usual, for usual prices.

Feel free to share this flier!

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5-Needle Protocol, 5NP, Acudetox, Ear Acudetox, NADA Protocol, NADA Acudetox. The protocol had many different name but is the same thing. 5NP is performed by placing thin stainless steel needles in 5 traditional acupuncture points on the ear: Sympathetic, Shen Men, Kidney, Liver, and Lung.

The protocol originates in the Bronx, NY. It was created by the Black Panthers and the Young Lords as an on-the-ground intervention for aiding their community in support of substance use withdrawal. Developed during the heroin and methadone epidemic in the South Bronx in the 1960s, it became a cornerstone of Lincoln Hospital’s outpatient program, offering highly effective stigma-free, walk-in treatment. Learn more here. Practitioners trained there have since shared these skills worldwide. The history of this 5-point protocol reflects its impact on under served communities.

The 5-point ear acupuncture protocol can be used in a spectrum of applications, from first aid to a daily treatment. It is used to support mental health, stress, PTSD, trauma, and withdrawal symptoms. It also addresses insomnia, anxiety, and aids in pain management by promoting relaxation, emotional regulation, and resilience. This treatment is for anyone, not just those who use/used substances. And especially well suited for overworked individuals who are needing extra support and respite. Ear acupuncture is a powerful tool for supporting mental and behavioral health, particularly when applied in group settings which can foster co-regulation, community building, and solidarity building.

Ear acupuncture has been utilized in numerous settings, from disaster recovery (ie 9/11, Hurricane Katrina, Hurricane Sandy) to drug courts, substance use programs, rural and indigenous mental health initiatives, prisons, and support groups.

We look forward to hosting a monthly NADA/5NP ear acupuncture clinic so that people can try acupuncture in a low-stakes setting. If you would like to support our efforts, we will always appreciate you disseminating our fliers! Additionally, we are accepting monetary contributions for materials and our space rent, in order to continue providing these treatments free of charge. Each free day can support up to 50 visitors, which will cost our clinic about $180. Our Venmo is “commongoodacu”.

Go to our website to find accessibility information and clinic details <3
commongoodacu.com

Here is what it looked like to move as fast as I could:

Graduated July 19^th
September 10th (2025): Finished national boards on
Feb 5th: Got my acupuncture license from NYS on
March 13th: Signed the lease (lawyer stuff took over 10 days for no other reason than he was busy and got sick for a few days so I had to wait).
March 20th: Moved the first piece of junk into the space on
(Then a lot of shopping and planning and driving happened)
April 1st we blessed the space.
April 2nd the floors were dirty and slippery for no discernable reason, (I was even changing out of my street shoes upon arrival).
April 3rd the mystery slippery goop was gone (??)

Then:
Painted (3 buckets of paint because I did not understand the purpose of primer- and now I do.)
Put down a floating vinyl floor all by myself (still seeking someone to do the trim finishing, are you skilled with a mitre saw?)
I filled the hallway to my apartment building with packages from the mail. Visited Lowe’s and Big Reuse in Gowanus a million times.
Updated and edited the website 100 times.
Finalized designs and ordered business cards and fliers. And as soon as the floor was done, everything else snapped into place, in about 36 hours.

I have so many more photos and details about what I did to the space to make it mine, but a lot of that is long lists of minutia, errands, and purchases. I also know exactly how much all of this cost, and it’s about what you might expect. I am content to have a small start, start-up prices all around are much lower.

Hung the sign, and BOOM! It’s a clinic now! Someone walked past at that moment and remarked to their friend, “I’ve never seen this place before!” Well yeah, me neither I went outside to bask in the glow, despite the remaining chaos. I sent a photo to a friend. They also marveled and asked how the hell I got it all done so quickly. I quipped, “A spread sheet, a credit card, and pure willpower!”

April 7th my PLLC paperwork was completed and I received my EIN.
April 10th I opened a bank account with Brooklyn Coop Credit Union
April 11th I set up the EHR/scheduler.
April 13th my malpractice insurance was officially instated and I had a soft-soft opening and invited a few people to come in so that I could try to get a more firm handle on the scheduler and EHR. (After this past week, decided I don’t like it and I am switching to a new system over the weekend/early next week so sit tight.)
April 14 I had the real soft opening with snacks and more friends. I wanted some intimate time with the people that know me, to see the space.
April 15th, my dear friend Beyah’s quilts arrived in the mail and I hung them on the clinic walls, where they will be through the entire summer and into the fall.

April 16th, I held a free treatment day - only 1 person flaked! It was a busy day! We had multiple people snoozing at the same time and at one point for about 30 minutes every chair was occupied. The space felt so good to me. My friend Ariana Roseman DJ’d ambient music for literally like, 10 hours just because she wanted to. Very positive and palpable resting happened. I hope the people who came in had a good experience.

April 13: 3 treatments
April 14: 4 treatments
April 16: 18 treatments (free treatment day and party)
April 17: 0 treatments (day 2 open)
April 18: 4 treatments (day 3 open)

total treatments for week 1: 29

Just like that, I made it though the portal of the first week with my doors open to the public. If you are one of the people who came in for acupuncture, to party, to see the space while under renovation, who paid me (!!!!), who sent snacks, who visited from out of town, who sent mail, who brought flowers, who sent words of encouragements, who have been part of my enthusiasm network, and/or who called me- THANK YOU!!! Thank you for all of your support near and far for this epic week. And really, for the past years. It has been a rollercoaster, but the royal we DID IT. We have an affordable community acupuncture clinic in Brooklyn!

And now.....

I built it, but will people actually come?

I am not someone who suffers from imposter syndrome or confidence insecurities. When I do something, I do with curiosity and not necessarily for the end achievement. Art and meditation taught me how to enjoy the process of discovery along the path. With this business project, I focused on the destination in a very serious way because is both the final boss and the new beginning. The final boss is that it took literally 5 years from learning about the existence of ORCCA to having a grand opening party of my own community clinic. And despite the goalpost continuing to move in perpetuity, this open is the new start of my new life as a community acupuncture provider. In order to live the dream, you have to keep living it. Upholding your dream life is to be the resident, occupant of your own dream. You push on the edges, see the dust in the corners, put a lid on the top to keep it from expiring. You color it in, flesh it out.

I saw it, I made it push itself outside of my brains though my heart and my hands. Waking dream. I walk around in it now. I smell it. I sweep the dust. And I feed to it on a schedule because it’s a helpless creature that depends on me not to languish and die.

The hangover, so-to-speak is a sobering, humbling reality: the gaping abyss of an empty schedule sprawling and spiraling out ahead of me into nothingness! Felicia, a practitioner currently in Madrid who was a teacher my 1st year of school and former student of my alma mater (and just did this lovely interview), chatted with me over text. She reminded me that I can connect to my acu-ancestors, all of the folks who have been in a similar terrifying position of uncertainty. That brought me a lot of comfort.

I also remember really trying to drill into us students, to run a small business is to be forced to deal with uncertainty, and how much uncertainty we can tolerate. The faster we can get comfortable with that, the better. Earlier in my quest, just really not more than 2 months ago, the uncertainty was about the particulars of the timeline and the space itself, which worked out to be everything I need and can tolerate (for now) just like everyone said it would end up being (wicked respect to the universe on that one, 10/10 and minimal notes). But now the uncertainty shifts to the particulars of survival and the future, big juicy question mark. Might as well make it MY question mark, decorate it with glitter and stickers.

I also remembered that in school, we actually talked about JUST THIS. How to attract patients. We talked about advertising tactics: How advertising can be hyper-specific to location, the population, the culture, and/or the interest niche because of the avenues people seek out to get their information and news. Some of it was just about using visualization to “let people know we’re there”. Sending out a psychic bat signal, if you will. What I am also doing is tasking myself with honoring my own hours. Holding the space. I shifted my clinic hours to reflect what I need to do in my off time (ie, whatever I want for 3 days at a time). But for the hours I have scheduled on the calendar, I will be there, staying busy with my bat signal and doing outreach work.

And you know what? On day 2 of practice, something in my little signal, or maybe it was google search results+proximity, reached someone I didn’t know. A stranger came in for a same-day treatment. In that moment, my business and practice felt truly solidified.

I’d love for my pull to be strong enough to reach many more people, so instead of continuing to vulnerably rattle on about how scary it is to sign a 2 year lease with no patient base blah blah blah I am looping you into my outreach task, gentle reader. HERE IS MY ASK
Send this flier below to 5 people you know- 5 people in NYC or visiting soon would be even better! I need community help to perform my new job as community acupuncturist, which won’t be possible without community members!

I even wrote you some lines you can send along with the flier:

“Hi _________ I was just thinking of you when I saw this, maybe you know someone who would find affordable acupuncture helpful!”

“Hi _________ ! I saw this flier and thought of you since you live in/will be visiting NYC and could probably use some acupuncture, this place is really affordable and community-minded”

“Hi __________! This new clinic is open 4 days a week in Bushwick and you can just walk in without an appointment if you need to! Thought you might be interested”

If you are a New Yorker, what are you waiting for? Come get acupuncture from me.
Schedule now! https://commongood.openacu.me/
I appreciate your willingness to help and contribute to the cause!!

I wanted to host a little tour of all of the units that I considered, what I ended up with, and what’s in the works.

This inspiration I saved over a year and a half ago! Gorgeous.

There is something very romantic about this Hutch. It sold almost immediately! I didn’t think it was big enough though.

I was deeply considering ordering this functional and ugly hulking thing off Wayfa!r mostly because they deliver right to the door and I wasn’t sure I wanted to deal with moving logistics.

I decided that the cabinet should light up. And maybe lock? Well, definitely light up. I found the mirror in this one too distracting, and the shelves too deep.

I grew up around antiques so it’s no wonder I fell in love with this cabinet. I think it was somewhere really inconvenient though, and it doesn’t have lighting, so I just saved the photo to think about it and subsequently did not think of it again lol.

This was also an inspiration piece but as a free item, got snapped up before I could act on it. I wasn’t crazy about the mirror. Why so much mirror in these things? I guess to reflect light in the absence of light bulbs.

This one was closer to what I was looking for but I can’t put a finger on why I hate it so much.. No charm perhaps.

This one was also considered. I liked that it felt a bit …impersonal? Clean. Nice storage at the bottom. But…. meh.

I messaged the lady who was selling this like 10 times. Nobody ever responded, which is very sad, because I would have very much loved to drive to Jersey to go pick it up. Alas. I sent it to a friend and complained about how much I wanted it.

Then the same friend sent me THIS from a NextDoor Listing a few days later. I hired someone with a truck and we went down to get it in Howard Beach. It’s about a million pounds. I’m not sure how the 2 of us managed to get it down 2 flights of stairs alone and load it into his truck but it happened. The original owner had it for over 20 years and it’s perfect. Has 2 lights hidden by the backs of the shelves

Here it is cleaned and assembled in the clinic.

So within this cabinet, I'll be hosting different herbalist/maker/products. The goal is to stock it within the next few months. I am so excited to fill it with a million little tins and bottles and teas and such! I have a couple things that I'm going to be offering as well like herbal pain patches, DIY ear seed kits, massage mallets, some ceramics from my collection, and maybe some merch eventually. Until then, it is full of my ceramic art (mostly bowls), which is for sale I guess? It’s so hard to part with.

I am still assembling my cohort of herbalists who will offer products in each little cube. I am prioritizing LGBTQIA+ herbalists who are local to NYC and use plants from reputable sources, but I may have a few people participating from elsewhere (Midwest, Northern New England area, Western Mass.). If you have a suggestion for a person or brand that fits that bill, I still have a few spaces remaining for consignment sales (no wholesale, sorry, this is a very low budget operation). Feel free to share this post with them or leave a suggestion for a brand or person you love to buy from in NYC, as a comment!

In the midst of banging vinyl floor panels together, online shopping deep down into VPN protected rabbit holes, painting 6 layers of paint because I thought the “primer” included would do it’s job (wrong), visiting BIG Reuse almost daily, and breaking every nail until I’m left with nubbin fingers, it’s time to set a date for opening. I’m still deeply “lost in the sauce” of getting everything together to birth this thing, so please forgive my lack of flowery elaboration about how extremely exciting this is. My to-do list could fill a roll of toilet paper.

UPDATE on Payment methods accepted… a trial period.
We are doing an experiment with just accepting cash and Venmo
Cards are requested during scheduling and securely held on file by Stripe. You are only charged via credit card if you late-cancel (less than 24 hours notice) or no-show. If you purchase a treatment package, 1 credit will be deducted for the missed appointment.

But otherwise we will not accept credit cards as a trial run for the first few months.

Public Opening

April 16th daytime hours are 12pm-5pm:
Free treatments in celebration of opening day at 98b Suydam Street. We are ADA accessible. 3 new patients per hour. Please schedule! Link below.
Donations welcome in the check-in area, if you must.

Evening open house hours 6pm-9:30pm- come say hello, check out the new space, celebrate! DJ Ariana will be playing ambient music for us ~~

Scheduling is LIVE!
https://commongoodacu.acubliss.app

Book a treatment for FREE for April 16th, 2026
Book a regular sliding scale treatment any other day we are open! Or buy a treatment package and come every day for the next 4 days that we are open!!
Scheduling is up to 30 days in advance. Hours are subject to change :-)
x
If there are bumps, and there will be, thank you for helping me find them. I do not strive towards perfection (boring), instead I prefer to move forward with the grain (less resistance, more interesting). So let’s see what happens

Our website is LIVE! ——→ Commongoodacu.com
Did I typo? Something look weird-bad? Let me know :-)
Photos of the clinic are coming soon. I am busying with… a lot of other things and will be doing a photo shoot ASAP! Please enjoy my art in the meantime.

Grand opening SALE
Why not be a little unhinged as a treat? Our sliding scale prices are already some of the most affordable out-of-pocket acupuncture in Brooklyn at $35-$85 sliding scale, but I decided CGA should have a grand opening sale just for fun. This is how badly I want you to see what a difference that acupuncture can make in your life by attending on a regular basis!

4 TREATMENT PACKAGE FOR $100!
Yes, that’s 25%+ off the bottom of the sliding scale (woah) and $25 per treatment. You can pay for a regularly priced treatment first to see if you like our clinic and then purchase a package any time before the sale ends (which is on May 3rd)
All new patients pay an additional $10. Returning patients are not subject to this fee.

There is a 3-package limit per person.

Cash discount price - In person @ the clinic
1 package- 4 treatments $100
2 packages- 8 treatments $200
3 packages- 12 treatments $300

Venmo @commongoodacu
last 4 digits “5971”
Include in the note: Name and Email address
We will follow up via e-mail for further instruction
1 package- 4 treatments $102
2 packages- 8 treatments $204
3 packages- 12 treatments $306

YAY!

Oh look she’s writing another post about MONEY!
After one of my last research projects of doing the deep-dive into the ins and outs of payment processors connected to scheduling an EHR software, I kind of have a bad taste in my mouth. And I’m surely going to have a lot more cash in my wallet from now on when I shop at small businesses! I knew that processing payments took a toll on overall revenue, but I really did not realize how much. The question is, is the 2.7% plus transaction fee worth it in order to provide the convenience of paperless payment for your patience and customers? Nationally, it seems like we agreed that it is since digital payment is absolutely the predominant method that people prefer to pay these days. But the issues with it, are obvious right off the bat. It removes that very crucial 2.7% of YOUR money that you intend to go towards goods and services, and it put it into the hands of these big payment processor companies that are doing G-d knows what with it.

So I’m starting to wonder, to cash-only or not to cash-only? … THAT IS THE QUESTION!

Upsides for me:

-no cc processing fees. ALL of the money goes towards supporting the clinic rather than part of it being leeched away by credit card processors

- same day payment in full, no waiting for disbursement of funds

-Processors require internet. With cash-only, I don’t actually need to use the internet for anything other than the scheduler and EHR so maybe that means I can run my wifi off a mobile hot spot and get a modest cost data plan :-)

Downsides for me:

-Going to the bank for frequent deposits

- Fetching change / keeping enough change on-hand

-Having to attend to patients who need change. I don’t plan to act as, or have, a receptionist in the clinic, so there will have to be some system for giving back change. One clinic that I attended in Rhode Island has you drop your payment into a box with a slip saying how much you are paying, and how much change to give you back, and then the acupuncturist would come by with the change in the same envelope and put it on your lap or in your hanging jacket pocket. I can do some version of that.

-Settling the books manually per patient end of day (this would be same in the case of using Zelle, Cashapp, and Venmo)

-Patients may pay less on the sliding scale than what they can afford, if they do not have the ideal amount on hand in cash. Numbers on a screen are more abstract than handling paper money! IE Cash can be more limiting than digital $

Downside, for patients
-Convenience, Convenience, Convenience. Cash-only is kind of annoying. Rather than just paying with a phone, watch, or tapping a card, clinic-goers will have to go to a bank or an ATM if no cash on hand- takes time or costs a convenience fee.

- Not able to pay at all, if no cash $ in their account and they rely on credit

I am building this business with the consideration that the majority of people I treat could utilize the bottom of the sliding scale- that should be a given. (I’m going to write more about my thoughts on the way a lot of acupuncture clinics operate their sliding scale (spoiler: I DO NOT like it!!)). With that being considered, $35 on the bottom end of CGA sliding scale is one of the best prices currently being offered for any non-insurance-based acupuncture clinic in all of NYC. I think it is reasonable to want to retain as much of that treatment fee as possible. Rather than continue to consider, gripe, and cry about the cost of running a business I can just choose to not accept credit cards! My feelings on this may change with experience and observation, but since I have fleshed all of this out, it might actually make sense to try a few months of a cash-only business! Simultaneously, it also makes sense to retain a credit card in order to book the first appointment (with no charge, just have a card on file), in order to instate a no-show fee if needed. I see the value of the convenience, I just haven’t done all the math yet to see how it would best work in the favor of what I am about to create!

For what it’s worth, I’m leaning towards the nuance of a cash discount:

$35 is the discounted cash price at the bottom of the sliding scale.
$37 is the “normal” credit card and payment app price at the bottom of the sliding scale.Venmo and Zelle would also be accepted and preferred

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After 5 years of working toward this moment,
I have a community acupuncture clinic!!!
Common Good Acupuncture signed a lease at 98 Suydam Street, Brooklyn NY 11221. We are about 2 blocks from the Central Avenue M train and a quick walk to Myrtle Broadway JMZ.
This was my previous neighborhood of over a decade and I am so happy to be returning in such an unexpected way. We have a 2 year lease with a 3-year option to extend, at the location.

This is a very unlikely space for us to be finding a home in, as it is much smaller than I initially imagined. But as I said in my last post: Part of the beauty of community acupuncture, is that it can be really flexible and fit into all kinds of different spaces. The vision expands and contacts to fit the size and shape of the vessel.

In this case, my vision got shrink-ray’d. 98 Suydam is no more than 430sq feet on a good day. When I first saw the space, it was listed at 625 sqft. I looked at the floor plan and did the math, and alerted their realtor, who promptly changed the ad! Incredible first impression. Landlords, take note that tenants not only love honesty, they love when you listen to them and take them seriously!

Check out the floor plan (the office and bathroom are NOT 7’6”! more like 6’x5’8”)

After the last year+ of scouring NYC for space to build my community acu practice, and considering the uncontrolled nature of the rental market: It’s clear that the real estate market here has no intention on becoming more reasonable in the near future and I want to get to work.

$3k-$4k a month seemed kind of reasonable rent, at first, but I started working out now many treatment I would need to make those ends meet…not to mention utilities, repairs, supplies, insurance, subscription fees, I sure like to eat, and paying myself might be nice too. Community acupuncture does not have a great track record with generating large sums of revenue, and I’m not (entirely) delusional- I paid attention in class when showed us the data on what a new community acupuncurist can expect to make their first year out of school (about 24k/year was the estimate, I believe). Plus, there are a lot ways a rental space can eat your money. If it’s not in repairs, it could be an exterminator bill or a plumber. I reflected, the purpose of my business is not to generate income for a landlord. It’s to give me a new career and help people get affordable access to acupuncture. So keeping costs as low as possible is a good idea, and my mentors all affirmed this.

After laying out each aspect of this location option, it came out looking surprising viable.
- The landlords have been kind, responsive, and respectful through out the entire process. Not defensive, and happy to answer my questions. I am looking forward to maintaining a positive relationship with them.
-Lower utility bills = less space to heat and cool
-Less to paint and repair!
-I think that smaller spaces may be more affordable to insure
-Rent is affordable enough.
-This space is overall in fantastic shape and needs minimal/basic work which means no permits, construction, etc.
-Clean, no pests!

There is a lot more to love about this space! It has an ADA accessible bathroom! It has an office! It’s street level without any stairs. I love that it’s so close to the train, so close to Myrtle Ave (right around the corner), close to other small businesses. It doesn’t have some of the things I wanted such as a basement (for storage) and a yard (for…enjoyment?), but I got a self storage unit instead which I’m sure saved me $400-800 for the same amount of space! As for a yard, well, it’s one less thing I have to deal with. I have too many hobbies already and don’t fancy myself an amateur landscaper.

Here’s an initial look at what I’m working with… I am bursting with excitement and it is simultaneously feeling very vulnerable to reveal this to the world!!

I will be honest: Since it is my first official business venture, the security deposit was bonkers (high but not abnormally high for a new venture- a couple friends opened a vintage shop not too long ago and also had to pay a high security fee). But I’ve been saving up for this very moment and was able to foot it, thank goodness. This would not be possible without the assistance of my dear friend Elena Cohen, who is a badass civil rights attorney at femmelaw.com. Also, advising attorney, Michael Pontone who negotiated lease terms. I also want to thank Sara B, my teachers who rooted for me a bunch, and all my friends who have put up with me talking about this stuff as my main topic of interest all of this time. Now I can move onto something else to bore you with :-) Just kidding, this is my life now and the only thing I want to talk about!!

One important thing to note is that we will not be open for treatment until some mysterious time between April 15 and May 15th. This is because in New York State, it takes 2-3 MONTHS for Professional LLC (PLLC) paperwork to process, because the department of education has to verify that I am indeed a licensed individual (even though my licensed just finished processing with the state on Feb 5th). There is no expediting this process. When the papers are done being filed, I can activate my malpractice insurance and then get a-pokin’. Hopefully all of my supplies and move in will be done by then! In the meantime, I have a lot of work to do-

-Blessing the space with my near and dear friends (academic, artist, community faith chaplain, overall luminous person) and Glimmer (witch, tarot reader, and vibrant multi-dimensional human)
-Business cards and post cards were designed months ago, I ordered them and they are on the way from Vistaprint.
-I bought a nice mop on fbmarketplace uptown and am going to start on the floors ASAP.
-That “brick” is peeling wallpaper that I can’t wait to get a-rippin
-Paint the entire space!
-Order a bunch of zero gravity chairs!
-I may lay down faux wood vinyl flooring to give it a warmer feel (literally, tile is cold!) but a. this may be a waste of $750? & b. might not be able to if the tile isnt level
-Installing a curtain track on the ceiling to section off a tiny reception and retail area for tinctures and tea made by a local herbalist + other sweet self-care items.
AND MUCH MORE TO COME!!!!

I am gathering a big miscellaneous wish list at the bottom of this post, because I love preventing waste and participating in the 2nd hand economy (keep the money in our communities whenever possible and able). If you’d like to send a gift, just for fun, I graciously accept!
Cashapp $commongoodacu or Venmo $partysparklenyc
If you have any other the following items you’d like to pass along to use, please email me at commongoodacu@proton.me

Snap together vinyl flooring, 400 sq ft (warm faux wood)
Tall glass display case (with locking doors is ideal)
Rolling stool
Locking metal cabinet (Small/medium)
Small tiered rolling cart
Bluetooth speaker
paint roller handle and rolls
Fire extinguisher (up to date)
First aid kit
White noise machines
Shoe rack that can fit at least 6 pairs of shoes
Small cushion bench or bench with storage underneath
Tall display curio cabinet with glass doors (lights would be great too)
Lightly used fleece blankets (many)
3 mini rash cans
box of earplugs
Locking mailbox
Small pillows
4 pool noodles
Tall locking metal cabinet, white

A reminder of my questionable parameters:

800-1600 square feet, under $3500 (lol), must have ADA accessible access, ADA accessible bathroom, street-level store front. Needs to be more than 13’ wide (no long hallwall spaces). 5 blocks maximum from a train is ideal.
Wish list: dry basement for storage, back yard.

There were plenty of gorgeous and affordable commerical lofts availale to the tune of $2.75-$3.50 a square foot with good light an halfway decent location! 900-1300 square feet for $2700-$3500 was not hard to find. The issue is that loft and studio buildings are hidden- usually in industrial zones, upstairs. Sometimes (usually) without a pedestrian elevator. And usually without private restrooms (not a deal breaker but not ideal). I feel resolute about wanting to establish a presence in a populated neighborhood! An industrial zone can be quite ghost town after everyone punches out for the day. Seeing a store front and knowing what purpose it serves is a special type of accessibility: VISIBILITY! People may be more likely to be curious and come in for a treatment! And the overall physical accessibility factor for folks with mobility limitations is important to me, too. Street-level makes it so much easier to arrive and just come in the door. No long and confusing hallways, sketchy service elevators with a 120 year old scissor-gate door, etc.

So here we go- a few more examples of the spaces I considered for opening a business. You can learn so much from going to see it in person. And let me tell you, that is IMPORTANT. Good thing for realtors that you can’t smell a photo…. Because once I found something with potential, I was infected with jet-fuel-infused, commercial-real-estate-grade limerence.

Exhibit 4. This one was advertised as 1000 square feet ( a lie) and $4k/month, right near Myrtle Broadway. Every single door was broken except for 1, the walls were outfitted with paneling, it was full of junk and every edge of the wall was lined in rat sh!t. It smelled like rats so badly I could taste it, despite wearing a mask. The back yard had a dumpster or two worth of trash. It needed a lot of work. Definitely an exterminator. And maybe a few hazmat suits. But being me, I was very excited about the 3-room set up. The back could be a private treatment room to rent out to massage therapists and other acupuncturists! “This one could be really gooo-oood”, I sang through the rat smell, as I eyed the bare stained mattress in the back room, trying to guesttimate how many trips I would have to do to the dump with my friend’s truck. Probably like. 10?

I bullied the realtor to lead the way down into the basement, which had air so musty it I could feel the humidity hanging in the air. A rat-smelling dirt cake. The stairs leading down there sagged so steeply to one side and were so slimy that we only made it halfway down. I waved around my phone’s pathetic little flashlight, which revealed a maze of dusty spider webs. We squinted into the slightly muggy musty darkness before turning around. I couldn’t imagine having a healthy acupuncture practice upstairs, and frankly it seemed like a health hazard. So maybe you’ll laugh while I now write- The space wasn’t totally unworkable! Made a little mental list… work load, noise (the train and traffic right outside on Broadway were very loud), dirty, rats, neglected by landlord, and the space was too narrow for my liking. The combined sum of its parts allowed me to move and not think about it for very long after. But yes I still texted these videos to at least 4 people to mull it over :-) It’s important to have a chorus of witnesses in your process. I love and cherish my chosen peanut gallery.

Exhibit 5. That’s what I never want to go look at per se, but I did go to the neighborhood and discovered that the most likely reason why it’s been for rent for such a long time is because the entire building next-door has been torn down and is in a enormous construction site! Other than that, I really feel like this space could have great potential as a small wellness clinic of some kind. I love the front room area, it would make such a great little shop. There’s a private room that could be used for cupping or rentals off-hours, but looks big enough to fit at least two chairs. I feel like this space could easily fit 6-7 chairs. The only things I didn’t really like about it that led me to decide a tour would be a waste of time were other factors—

-Proximity to the train
-It’s on a really busy and loud dirty street
-It looks like there was some kind of service base offering there before, obviously a salon. That doesn’t really bode well for a similar-ish business
-I don’t like that it’s slightly sunken, parts of Bushwick have a new propensity for flooding, and I don’t want to deal with that.
-There are stairs down to the door. Not there would be enough egress for a wheelchair or if a ramp would be too steep

Pro’s are that basement-ish spaces tend to be more energy efficient in that they are slightly more temperature controlled especially in the summer. But who knows, maybe the sun blares into these windows 14 hours a day in July.

Behold - Last I checked, it was still for rent and only $2400-ish if this piqued your interest!

Exhibit 6. Ex-weed shop, listed through Tri-State Cr
It looked like a weed shop got evicted and didn’t have a chance to come back for their displays. Hell, there was still and ATM in there! Someone has to be missing that..This space got me excited, as it was ALMOST the right shape, but still not quite. I loved the back office, and side space that could have been curtained off for cupping.

What I didn’t like:
-Too narrow- maybe 12’ across.
-It was listed in some places as 700 square feet- which could not have been accurate. I hate when square footage is not properly documented on these ads!!
-Too expensive for the area- $3650. They suggested I make an offer but I don’t think they would have accepted the $2800 that I had in mind.
-No basement or yard
-More than half the entire block was for rent at the time I went to go look at it, including across the street. HUGE red flag!
- The biggest issue is that the bathroom was too small. Closet sized. I don’t know how anyone could get a door closed and be in there comfortably! moving a wall isn’t impossible but you don’t know if there is plumbing inside that will cause issues or what. I didn’t want to deal with that. Also the angle of the toilet in conjunction with the position of the office door would have made it impossible for ADA accessibility.

Exhibit 7. I thought this was the one! Right off Broadway in Bushwick J train Kosciuszko stop, not far from where I had lived for 11 years before moving to PDX for school. I know the area well and like the neighborhood a lot. The area has evidence that community spaces do well- The Living Gallery has been there over a decade, there are multiple mutual aid project hubs near by, Wonderville is a beloved and well-attended queer bar, and there is a great hot-tray Dominican place around the corner, El Monumento at (1185 Broadway Brooklyn, NY 11221), that has affordable and hearty food.

As you can see, it is biggggg and BRIGHT! Airy! A bit over 1500 square feet, being offered for $3088. A steal in today’s market.
It has huge basement with a large main area that the stairs lead to, and 3 smaller built out rooms that I immediately imagined as an art studio, storage, a private treatment room, a lounge area, and a kitchenette. The space was in great shape with minimal work needed. The landlord was extremely friendly with me, we knew a couple similar circles of people and he said that he has experience with acupuncturists as another acu business rents from him in Williamsburg. He mentioned that they would be willing to give me up to two months of free rent in order for me to make improvements on the space, of which it did not need many.

I saw this space Mid December. The new year came around, and I decided to just go for it- I had my heart set on this space so even though I was still waiting for my license to process at the time (it took until February 5th 2026!) I figured I could get going on the set-up and have some little non-acupuncture community events in the meantime.

A short-ish version of the rest of this story is this: When I decided to apply, the landlord informed me that a friend of his was also interested in the space “and applied only 24 hours ago” but that they were still accepting applications. I sent my business plan, statement of intention, questions, and did not haggle the asking rent. I paid the $20 credit check fee and waited. And waited. And waited. 10 day elapse. When I check in, he tries to convince me to instead rent a different space next-door (in the same building), which was only $2100/mo. I ask if it’s the same layout, he says No. Well I’m not interested then but you can send me photos and a floor plan. He says he will tomorrow and never does. I check back and he says he will send next week, never does.
I start texting every Monday and Thursday like clockwork. I get strung along, Oh my business partner just got back to town and we need to review your application with the management. Oh the management company isn’t so sure about me because of my lack of experience, running a storefront, and then explained to me how hard it is! Oh we think you should rent next door. You know, the space I never bothered to send photos of. I am also told he “doesn’t want any problem”- This is because I asked some clarifying questions about utilities LOL. Because yeah, I want to make sure that the electrical works before I spend $3k+ a month on a space that I have “full mechanical responsibility” of (half the lights in the basement mysteriously didn’t turn on during the first viewing). Apparently that was too much to ask. I love being a chronically “difficult” woman, it really roots out the men around me who think I’m easy to manipulate.

So, after more than a month of this (no answers, being told “nothing definite yet” “still under review” etc), I tell him, ‘Because of his inability to communicate with me clearly and consistently, I and am no longer interested.’ Legally, landlords are required to furnish your credit report if you pay for it. So I told him that he can either furnish me the report or refund me the $20, at which point he immediately refunded me the $20. That was even stranger, as he said “everything looked great, seemed GREAT!” but my credit hadn’t even been checked…? I don’t like how it smells.
There had been absolutely zero attempts at transparent communication in regards to this application process. I kept being told later, later. No outright rejection. It was an interesting purgatory. I started to wonder if somehow this was a scam just to get my social security number. I lost faith in him as a reliable landlord, and did not want to enter into a contract with him. I mean, would you..?

At the end of all of this, I’m of course disappointed that I didn’t get what I wanted, but I think it would be even more disappointing to have to deal with a sub par landlord for 5 years. I feel my realty experience has been a series of dodged projectiles of various shapes and sizes. Is part of that due to the fact that I treat every space as if it were a viable possibility? Yes. The vision expands and contacts to fit the size and shape of the vessel. That’s part of the beauty of community acupuncture, it can be really flexible and fit into all kinds of different spaces. Thank goodness that my higher self is able to deploy reason and discernment in the postscript of swooning for a freakin’ empty room. This whole experience has illustrated the importance of patience in finding just the right space. Holding space for patients first starts with the space itself and being set up in such a way that will make that possible. That doesn’t mean it has to be ideal in any way, or decorated all fancy. But there should at least be a solid plan in how the space can get up to speed with hosting group acupuncture treatments, whether that be a full construction project with a budget, or something basic like having the correct zoning and occupant capacity. It takes a ton of time, persistence, attention, imagination, and tough nerves! PHEW!!!!

This post has nothing to do with floods really- But I am thinking a lot about foundational structures and the concept of “capacity” in a few regards- How the chairs will be placed in space, how people flow through the door, how many people can I see in an hour, and how long do they stay for? What are the limits? What and HOW do patients pay? What are the LOGISTICS?! Scheduler, EHR, and payment processing details will be crucial for maintaining an organized practice so I can see as many people as possible. If I’m going to be running this clinic as low cost as reasonably possible, I don’t want all the money flying out the window on subscription this and that. It’s bad enough ConEd is mandatory- I’d work by candle light if it was an option (though my lease stipulates no open flame!). All jokes aside, a difference of $30-$50 a month is somewhat negligible when I consider the worth of my time (and that I can never buy it back). If there is one thing about me, I like a deal. But more than that, I like efficiency and understand the value of paying for it. It’s not necessarily about finding THE BEST version of all of these systems, it’s about finding the version that allows me to retain the most amount of revenue while not having to do a lot of unnecessarily admin side-work and double-work, and will be simple for my future patients.

I’ve been rolling around various ideas in my head as to how to get around high processing fees …. some ideas:

1. Cheap scheduler/EHR or separate EHR, and use Square or Stripe independently. This isn’t a bad option, but I would ideally like to decrease my admin load and this is not the way to do it. This method requires I settle the books daily and input payments from my processor into the scheduler for each patient. I do not want to do that.

2. CASH ONLY. Even though it’s not illegal to not accept credit cards in NY, it becomes a pain in the ass for people. I can encourage cash and begrudgingly take cc but that creates a weird dynamic. I want people to feel OK at least when they pay lol.
   “Well get an ATM!” No. An ATM takes up too much space and would also probably make the insurance go up since the clinic space I’m looking to rent doesn’t have a roll-down gate.

3. Discount for using cash. Honestly that’s just annoying to me and I don’t want to deal with it. If running a credit card costs me about $1, giving a $5 discount for using cash is a $4 loss. On a treatment that starts at $35, that $4 is significant.

4. Just use payment apps, like Cashapp, zelle, and venmo. I think zelle transfers are free (not sure about for business bank accounts) but cashapp and venmo are not, when you have business accounts. They’re subject to similar fees as square and stripe. Do what you will with that info.
   I didn’t include Venmo in this chart because there are too many variables, but here are the stats:
   Venmo business profiles charge

   1.9% + $0.10 per transaction for standard, in-app, or QR code payments
   3.49% + $0.49 for online, web-based purchases
   2.29% + $0.10 for contactless/Tap to Pay
   1.5%–1.75% fee for instant transfers to a bank account (vague)
   If someone wants to make a chart with fees for a $35 purchase, and for 100 payments at $35, I accept with gratitude!

5. Chaotic evil: No scheduler, just come in. That sounds so awful and not trauma informed somehow.. People should at least arrive with some kind of assurance that there is time for them to get treated!

So with all of this in mind, I did the thing. I made a hugefuggingchart. Completed on March 8th, 2026 - so all data is current. If you’re a nerd about this stuff and have any notes to share, by all means - leave a comment.
And if you’re someone who is going to be starting a clinic in the near future or considering switching software, you’re welcome :-)

What I don’t love/am seeing as a trends:
Mainly: Integration of AI into charting. Nobody needs this. Why. Is. It. There?? Come on guys. AI scribe is overkill - I understand maybe is useful for transcription to cover your ass for malpractice, but I just don’t think it should be the standard and probably uses a ton of data storage. And stored, you know, in one of those very evil facilities that are sucking up land, electricity, and water resources? We need to chart the most important parts of what our patient tell us. The essence, if you will. Thank goodness my BRAIN can hold all of that until it gets typed into the computer machine!

More notes and findings

I am valuing treatments at the clinic’s future base rate of $35, as that is the bottom of the sliding scale ($35-$85 sliding scale with additional $10 fee for new patient paperwork).

A good number of these have 3-month introductory pricing but I ignored that because I plan to have a clinic for more than 3 months.

I used “Carepatron” software with other payment app data because it is the cheapest EHR with scheduler that I could find. The free version actually looks GREAT! It only lacks SMS texting and ability to include custom booking policies. If I was planning on having a low volume practice, I would highly consider this one. The “Essential” plan is $11.50-$14.50 for the first 3 months, and then $23 a month thereafter.

The goal of this chart is not only for price comparison, but see how tedious it would be to use multiple software to get the best price. As you can see from this chart, CarePatron initially looked pretty attractive to me. I was surprised when discovering the results, that they would have the highest fees. Using their integrated processor would result in sky-high fees - That $0.60 per purchase really stings, I bet!

Technically the winner would be Vagaro, if I was doing over 4k in sales monthly. Their internal processor is 2.2% + $0.19 per transaction, making them an excellent choice if you have strong cash flow coming through your clinic. They also work as an EHR. I will strongly consider using them once my clinic starts to see a volume of patients that is over 114 people per month, and at that point I may have more opinions on whichever system I’ve committed to. It would make the most sense to start with them and assume I’ll hit that goal, so maybe I will schedule a demo with them. But again, not crazy that they are a huge company and like to keep my cash in the community whenever possible.

Jane comes in a at 4th place. Very similar pricing - give or take $40 a month. I personally would rather give my money to a company that was created and is operated for and by acupuncturists though. And I have used Jane as a patient- I am honestly not a big fan of the UX.

In all, OpenAcu, Unified Practice, and Acubliss are all very similar in price point at the end of the day. AcuBliss has the upfront largest monthly fee -$69 w/ 10% discount when paying for the year which brings it down to an average of $62/month.
Unified Practice would be $64 with similar bells and whistles.

OpenAcu.com came in close at 3rd place in my book.— I was told by one of their owners that the subscription fee is being raised soon (unconfirmed amount). Their base rate is $55, with a $10 fee for using an integrated payment processor (Stripe), an extra $5 for paperwork, and $5 for text reminders. All of which I feel is necessary - which is why they are listed as $75 per month.

At the end of this very tedious homework assignment that I punished myself with, I decided we will probably be going with AcuBliss to get going. On my to-do for this coming week includes scheduling a demo with them so I can ask a million questions. So far, I like that there is a wait list integrated (Unified Practice - costs extra), that they are open-ended in that I can use Stripe or Square. Whatever I end up using for CGA, I will try to write an update in a few months from now re: what features are the most useful/useless etc.

There are so many more companies I didn’t even bother to look at because it’s just too much! And it was so much work to pick apart the features for each of these services and figure out who offers what, and at what price point. If I had the time, energy, willpower, and limitless time I would make another chart with the features and how much they cost. But I got what I needed out of this first chart, so, maybe you can make it yourself and share it with me.

I started searching for spaces over a year ago, while still in school, to get a better understanding of the real estate market. The dream was (is) a street-level commercial space large enough to accommodate 8-11 armchairs to treat patients- min of 850 square feet, max 1500 square feet. I set an arbitrary budget of $3500 month and quickly learned that, these parameters are a mostly an impractical, tall order. The real estate market for commercial spaces is alarmingly expensive for a new-comer with no investors! Community acupuncture is not invest-able anyhow: Supposedly 1st year practitioners make about $24k.. someone remind me why I decided this was a good career pivot?

So pretty quickly, I became obsessed with Loopnet, Crexi (more annoying to navigate) and TriStateCr (no prices listed, you have to call them. I recommend getting one of their agents phone numbers though). There’s obviously innumerable other commercial real estate sites but the ones named have the best listings, IMO. Craiglist is great for finding local creative commercial loft spaces and independent landlords but you have much more of a risk of getting scammed. I was looking at these sites multiple times a day, and at all hours. When friends (or strangers) would mention wanting to start a business, I laughed obnoxiously and said, “Hold onto your eyeballs when you see the prices!”
I would send listings rapid-fire. to a small group of friends who understood the nature of my 2am internet combing with captions like, “This one has potential and the location is meh but so cheap!”. “Needs too much work but if I had 1m for reno could shine the turd, EASY”, “Been scouring the floor plan and pretty sure this one has a basement but it’s not on the listing!”. I tried not to be too insufferable. But it’s impossible when one has a burning passion for real estate and no official bed time. Most folks eventually just started emoji-reacting, I know they weren’t boiling with me in my crab pot of enthusiasm. A few were really in it to win it with me (and still are!) and will scour the listings right along with me offering quips like, “THIS COULD BE THE ONE!!”, “Too far from the train" and “Looks condemned, you’re insane and I love it but hard pass”. Thank goodness for community, amirite?

So back then in January of 2025, there was a little handful of great, decent, affordable-ish spaces that had V.G.P. (very good potential)- Now I will play show-and-tell with my little collection of “coulda-been’s”.

Exhibit 1. She was at the end of the Wilson stop (landlord has since informed me it became a liquor store, boring!) and I loved her because it was across the street from NY Senior Housing! Think of how amazing it would have been for all of those folks to have access to affordable acupuncture!
It was cheap and big, $2750 for 1350 square feet. Kind of bare bones loft-like space on the ground floor. It also was on a corner and I loved the prospect of a gorgeous colorful mural. It had high ceilings and needed a bathroom makeover. This was the one that got away. Totally heartbreaking! I considered flying to NYC and shoveling the money into it until it was time. Maybe sublet to some art freaks and compromise the lease when they inevitably have a punk show. But alas, that is stupid, and it just wasn’t time.

Exhibit 2. A mile or so up the street at Wilson and Myrtle (now a nail salon, shout out to Haus of Femme- hausoffemme.glossgenius.com)
It was listed for $3750/month. They had just renovated and it has these warm wood floors. A secret little side office, and a skylight. I liked the location a lot, a block or two from the M train. It was kind of a weird shape, like half the letter “C”. The block was nice with a little flower shop across the street, and near by deli and coffee shop. It would have worked well. It sat on the market almost a year, but also got rented before I was ready. If I’m being honest with myself, it was probably too expensive.

Exhibit 3. Next came a call from my amazing realtor friend who had shown a building to a client of his. She wasn’t interested, but he thought of me and we went to see it now long after. It was being offered by a real estate broker friend at $4500/month (publicly listed at $5500/mo). Upstairs was about 1600 square feet, and downstairs was the same footprint but with the boiler room and other basement-flavored storage, ended up being probably about 1000 square feet. The store front was at Central and Myrtle, and is probably still empty, because it had been for about 3 years as of seeing it in mid November. It was only a couple blocks from the other space I had been considering, and is/was a wreck. Gutted down the the studs, the ceiling was leaking, all of the radiators had been ripped out, there were holes straight through the floor, and all the electrical needed to be done. It also had a small back yard, and a basement (that also had a disassembled bathroom). After a lot of back and forth, Realtor Friend told me the landlord would be willing to deliver it in “white box condition” (new white drywall build out), install a basic kitchen and a bathroom for me according to my preference and floor plan! Amazing! The basement was huge and I got me thinking I could maybe afford it, if I had someone renting the space as an art studio. When I came back for the 3rd time with said prospective renter friend, the man who showed it to us was so offputting I couldn’t help but wonder if he was actually an human personified archetype of my guardian angel sent to ward me away from taking on such a sh*tshow. He said things like, “This is where the rats used to really congregate before I drove them out!”, “This pipe clogs about once a month and water spurts out of the hole in the floor but maybe we can call the city about that.”, “Acupuncture? I think you should do a massage business instead, that will do better!”, “‘White box’ you say? PEH I don’t know when the landlord is going to have time to do that but if he told you that than OK I guess!”. I neglected to mention that this particular building has also been for sale for quite some time….I started to imagine all the ways things could go south. Signing a lease and the construction never being complete. City permits gumming things up. Contractors cutting corners. Repairs being done incorrectly and interrupting business down the line. Shoddy electrical and the the whole place burning down. Insane utility bills for heating such a large space. It was so fucked up that I had to wonder, why didn’t the landlord just renovate and try to rent it? Space of that size and layout rents pretty quickly. But then I realized with the building for sale, he wanted OUT. He could sign a lease with me and sell the building, then I’m stuck navigating a contract with a new owner who could stall for forever putting me in a special kind of buildout purgatory.
Artist Friend and I needed to get some Italian pastries and eat them in Maria Hernandez park to decompress after that. It was a lot. I said, “It has so much space! So much potential”. Friend replies, “Yes, well so much potential to go wrong, too.” That was all I needed to hear, and I gave up on dreaming about that one for my own health. Here are some pictures for your own fantasies:

I’m sorry to inform you that I am not done lamenting over commercial real estate yet (I know you love it).

Part 2… coming soon!

I’m going to start writing a real-time account of my latest adventure: Opening a community acupuncture clinic in NYC! Maybe it can serve as an open-source field guide of sorts. And moreso, I hope it provides a look inside the somewhat opaque and illusive career path of becoming a community acupuncturist, and what it takes to start an acupuncture business in NYC during this year of our lady, 2026. I would love to reach current acupuncture students, professionals, comrades, curious people, colleagues, entrepreneurs, and people interested in creating access to wellness services in a community setting without going bankrupt.

Here are the Cliff notes of my background: I grew up in a white middle class neighborhood in a raised ranch, was a mostly sub-par academic whose saving grace was a magnet arts program in high school, and ended up getting a BFA from a prestigious fine arts school on a merritt scholarship. I moved to Brooklyn in 2010 and worked for 11 years as a creative freelancer, mostly sewing and textiles-adjacent production projects though there were lots of weird odd-jobs along the way. I also spent many years sewing and learning from my illustrious friend Kae Burke, who has been one of my truest supporters and longest employer. She just opened a membership-based wearable art studio space in Brooklyn, Make Fun Studio! (Check it out if you like to make things in NYC!)
Then COVID-19 hit and all my jobs evaporated overnight, blah blah blah, 1 year later while seeking a purpose for my future, I fell down the rabbit hole of graduate school research, hauled myself cross country to Oregon, did community acupuncture school for 3 years, and the NCCAOM national boards as fast as I could. Let’s include in this montage: Spending the entire summer of 2025 sweating in my apartment, longing for the beach, and being thankful for H.B. Kim. I sent my application in to the state on September 10th, 2025. Then I packed up my entire life again, came back to NYC to see what’s what, and now I’m collaging a life together after 4 years away. I hoped to hit the ground running and start working ASAP.. hohoho. Longer story shorter: Due to multiple snafus (or perhaps this is just how they designed their system) with NYSED, the department responsible for auditing applications, I waited almost 5 months for my acupuncture license to be processed and approved. My application was sent to an auditing department which basically just checks to make sure the curriculum satisfies NY requirements for licensure. The process is not opaque in any way, getting answers from the department was like shouting into a void. I called and emailed on a schedule for updates and had a few loud angry cries. That was a lot of time to wait, to doubt that my paperwork was going to go through at all, to worry, and to spiral. Fun! I would show you the desperate e-mails that I sent, but we aren’t close like that yet ;-) I have to say, the positive part of waiting is that I lost all sense of urgency during those 5 months. The money that I have been carefully saving to open this clinic stopped burning a hole in my pocket.

For future posts, I will tell you all about my search for a suitable commercial space, and once I find one, everything that goes into making a business.

Eventually… there will be less process-of-becoming reports, because the business will be open! So it will likely be more day-to-day observations and what I am noticing in the clinic; the experience of owning/operating a community acupuncture clinic. These entries will morph into a newsletter with art, events, special offerings, updates on the how it’s going, and other items of interest/intrigue from my little corner of the world!