Wednesday, March 25, 2009

So How Is Business

Several friends have asked me lately how business is going. After several inquires, I realized that I have failed to report this info on the blog. So, here it is...

It is really great, fun, stressful, busy, slow, flexible, demanding...all wrapped up in one! Let me explain.

Shawn and I are having a great time working together first of all. It is so fun to be together, working at something we have planned for OH SO LONG! We are blessed to actually own the building we are in (rather than leasing) and love how it all turned out. I never dread to go to work. I love not clocking in anymore, not worried if the boss catches me "searching the Internet" and running errands anytime I want. I can bring Ella with me if I need to. We keep each other company when it is slow and help each other out when it gets busy.

Which comes to my next point.

It has been a roller coaster ride. Several weeks ago, we were seeing a lot of patients per day, now it has dropped off this week. It is so crazy. Luckily we have a loft in the building where Shawn has enjoyed doing push ups and exercising in between patients! This part is hard. From other Chiropractors we have talked with, this is pretty normal for just being open for a couple of months. But it is so hard when you prepared for so long, then are so slow. It is discouraging at times and we are often brainstorming of creative marketing (no, we have not resorted to having Shawn stand beside the road holding a spine yet waving people in...but...)So we try to stay optimistic and know that we will pick up once again very soon.

Shawn is having GREAT results. We start each day out praying for the business and for wisdom and to help people. God has blessed Shawn and the testimonials from his patients are amazing. It is so exciting to hear people say how much they are and have been helped. One lady even reported she was on the brink of back surgery, but now she does not need it! We give God the Glory for helping Shawn help people.

Another blessing has been referrals from two local MDs...if you know anything about chiropractic, it is that traditional medicine sometimes conflicts with natural medicine. But PRAISE GOD, the MDs next to us, have referred multiple patients to us! This has actually helped our business grow.

Insurance STINKS! I have for three months tried to transmit claims electronically, but have found one glitch after another. I finally would get some to go thru, then would have trouble knowing who went thru. The sentences I just typed makes it sound so simple, but it has brought multiple fits and tears. If you happened to catch one of my posts during late nights before I erased it, you would know that I have quit multiple times!

It is hard living in a small town sometimes. We are "kin" to a lot of people and it is sometimes hard to know where to draw a line with payment and for how much. Do you charge the cousin that you grew up with his copay of $40...when that is most of the cost of the visit. DO you charge your uncle...when you don't your other uncle who you see more often? Do you send a statement to your other cousin who hasn't paid yet and risk them getting frustrated at you? What about your great uncle that gave you a discount for laying your parking lot? Shawn is kin to a crazy amount of people around here. Which is a great thing, but hard to figure out sometimes.

Am I adjusting to living out in the middle of nowhere? That will need to be a post all by itself!

So there you have it. I hope it did not come across negative. Really God has blessed us so much. Our family has been so amazing and supportive! They have all went above and beyond to help us out. We are having a good time at this journey and are so blessed beyond measure just to have this opportunity!

2 comments:

Autumn said...

April! If you need any help please don't hesitate to call/email Michael. He gets many testimonials weekly from chiropractors raving over their success from his systems. Let us bless you with the blessings God has given us!

I love you and miss you!!!

Have I sent you the links to the Sterling pictures?

*kiki* said...

Sounds perfect! Things could be so worse and Im so happy that your are loving the actualy JOB! It just sounds like God is all over your practice and just sending people your way!