Tell Everyone-

We are open weekly for community acupuncture in Bushwick!

I’ve been brewing the words in the back of my head to serve you the tea that is the last 18 days of this adventure. So much has happened, and I have so many photos of micro-stages of improvements that I have been withholding in order to make a big before and after revel photos. And also, of course some long-winded context for the large scale operation of this small scale operation.

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.

Various levels of improvement chaos

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!”

When the sign went up! Inside still insane

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.

treatment room and quilts

treatment room, left side

treatment room , right side

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?

Current storefront

Hi, world! Me and my clinic

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 Lisa Rohleder 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!!