The Surprising Update

I was browsing through the zip code locator that I used to find all those 40 cities that I had on my list of "underserved" populations when I was deciding which one to choose to open a satellite office. I was quite surprised to see that Edgerton made it on the list quite by accident! The marker that shows where the zip codes are located was actually pointing in the wrong spot. With this in mind, I decided to redo the entire list. Now the list of underserved populations in Minnesota, chiropractically speaking, is down to 24 cities. The closest of these cities to where I live is Willow River, a mere 112 miles in comparison to Edgerton at 197 miles. But, accidents do happen. Sometimes it's the accidents that lead to something great big huge. My plans won't change because of this. It's an interesting find, nonetheless!

Nine Years In The Making

In just nine days from now I'll be celebrating my 9th Anniversary of being a chiropractor. In numerology, nine represents the end of an era and the beginning of another. In this case, let's hope so! Although I've never been successful at building a successful chiropractic practice, I did a lot of tweaking along the way which led me to the way I practice today. What I do today would indeed be something people would flock to, if I only knew how to market myself. People always told me to just do what you do and if people like it they'll tell others. That worked to a degree when I was still in Atlanta, Georgia, when I was in Maysville, Kentucky, and also when I was at the truck stop in Bartonsville, Pennsylvania. It did not work at all here in Minneapolis, Minnesota -- not in the seven years I've been here! But no matter where I was, I still have yet to make a 5-figure income with chiropractic alone.

When you look at my website, you will see all the things that I do at The Sufletesc Center. Each page of the website was written by me and me alone. Each service I offer and each technique that I use were part of the nine-year evolution. Now that I am taking this concept of the practice the way it is today to the small town of Edgerton, there's no telling what might happen. Most people don't realize that chiropractic care is pretty much a MUST for children if they are to have a healthy childhood. Most people don't realize that there is a chiropractic technique specifically for extremity injuries. Most people don't realize that chiropractors can perform Department Of Transportation CDL driver fitness exams and employment exams. Most people also don't realize that chiropractors can order lab tests including hormonal profiling, metal toxicity testing, and food allergy testing. I do all of these things at The Sufletesc Center, and it will be interesting to see what the people of Edgerton make of it.

Later today the local newspaper, the Edgerton Enterprise, will be interviewing me for an article they will place in their paper on Wednesday. What a PERFECT opportunity to tell my story! I am hoping that this opens some eyes. Like I said, what I do evolved over the past nine years. What also evolved over the past nine years was my confidence in what I do, what I offer, and how I can present myself. The reason for that is because I did so many things that DIDN'T work, both advertising-wise and business-wise, and so I can assuredly explain who I am and WHY I do the things I do.

There has been an ad in the Edgerton Enterprise running for the past four days. I am figuring that nobody called yet because they don't know that they CAN call. The ad says that the office opens for business on Wednesday. I certainly won't be driving all the way down there if nobody calls for an appointment. So, I will keep my hopes a bit elevated for another week and see what happens. If nothing happens in another week and a half, then I can start saying that this was yet ANOTHER attempt at success that went nowhere. But I'm not going to say "I have a feeling" because I've had "feelings" in the past. (Besides, Bianca knows better to roll her eyes when I say that.) Instead, I will say that I'm keeping my chin up -- for another week.

All Ready To Go

This is the ad that will start appearing in next Wednesday's Edgerton Enterprise. There had been an ad that started this past Wednesday, but I was very dissatisfied with it. That weekly area newspaper needs an editor very badly! So I decided to design my own ad. Here it is. I already submitted it to Joni as well so that she can distribute it all over town.

I'm not quite sure what the actual population of Edgerton is. It's anywhere between 800 and 1,200 people, but the exact number remains a mystery to me. I feel that the two days a week I spend there will be fruitful, though. They have a local coffee shop where I plan on eating lunch. They also have an inn just on the outskirts of the town whose owners Joni knows personally. There is also a pizza joint, a volunteer ambulance service, and a volunteer fire department where I am sure I'll make lots of contacts. But, this is all stuff I am thinking of in my head. None of it will become a reality if nobody actually CALLS me to become a patient. That's the problem I have here. I certainly would hope things would be different in a town where the closest chiropractor is 18 miles away. Time will tell, I guess.

Back here in my home city of Richfield, I am excited about the chance to serve on the local Advisory Board of Health. The first meeting I will actually attend will be this Monday night. I figure it's about time I become a community activist, now that I actually am a homeowner and settled in a community. Richfield is a great place to live, and I never considered living here before. Now that I know that there are neighborhoods in Richfield as nice as the one I live in, I am glad to be here. If you're just passing through on Nicollet Avenue or 66th Street, you pretty much miss all the good parts. I feel that Richfield is the nicest suburb of Minneapolis where you can get a lot of house for the price. Also, from the people I have met thusfar who sit on the City Council, I feel as thought I am surrounded by some pretty caring and involved people. Two thumbs up for "The Urban Hometown"!

The Curse Of Modern Technology

Remember the TV commercial for some cell phone company that was showing how human reactions to what is said, or is not said, depends very much on what message is received, or not received? That's pretty much what has been happening during the past four days between me and Joni, the person I am to share office space with in Edgerton. I had already pulled the plug in my mind, and I made contact with Joni's competition to examine the possibilities there. Then suddenly this morning I received a phone call from Joni saying that she had placed the ad in the local paper about me joining her office, and the reporter wanted to interview me for an article. WHAT??? Here is the same person I hadn't heard from in 12 days, who never returned my phone calls. And now she's acting as though everything is just peachy? Hmmmmm! When I called her back and wondered what was up, she asked me if I had received the phone messages she had left on my cell phone both Thursday AND Friday. I received neither, thus she was very surprised by my reaction when I called her back today.

After we figured out a way to get around this glitch so that neither of us thinks the other has dropped the ball and lost interest, we proceeded to make plans for opening day. The ad for me in the Edgerton area newspaper will start running THIS Wednesday, and my first day actually working there, provided somebody calls and sets an appointment, will be next Wednesday the 18th. Wow, what a turn-around! And once again I am looking forward to a regular breakfast stop at Emma Krumbee's. Once again I look forward to seeing those windmills dot the countryside as I drive into town. The sun has risen on Edgerton! Whew!

Oh, and regarding my conversation with Dr. Graber, my new "competition," I found out all about his game plan. I guess this curse of technology was meant to be JUST so I can find out what this guy is up to -- and figure out a way to outmaneuver him. I don't see him as competition, though. In reality, there aren't ENOUGH chiropractors in the world. There just aren't enough people going to chiropractors, and there aren't enough people who are educated to the fact that chiropractic is all about optimal wellness and not just relieving back pain. Perhaps in the future it would be great for Dr. Graber and I to cohort. However, from learning a bit more about him I will say that the way we treat our patients vastly differ. He uses physiotherapy machines to zap and prod his patients. I use my hands to correct their subluxations and help them HEAL.

Another Thought On Edgerton

So Joni, who appeared to be quite interested, suddenly changed her mind without telling me. After saying how excited she was and that she would do all this advertising and even make up new business cards for me, she is no longer answering my e-mails or returning my phone calls. But let's look at the other side of it all -- she certainly was not all smily and friendly. She was very businesslike, and she kept referring to her "competition" who suddenly moved into town, that being a salon up the street, who she seemed determined to undermine. So, in the end, it all seemed like one big territorial war for her. Add to that the fact that she said, for whatever reason I have no idea, that the massage therapist that shared her little place with her was not happy there and wanted to be on her own. Oh well. I guess nothing was lost after all.

Now let's look at another situation. There IS a chiropractor in town, and he only works eight hours a week, two mornings a week. His main office is in Fulda, which is about 30 miles away, and Edgerton is his satellite office. His office is located inside that very salon that Joni was afraid would pull all her massage business from her because they have a massage therapist there too. So, what do you think my next step is if I want to keep this Rural Minnesota Chiropractic Initiative alive? Well, I'm no dummy. It dawned on me tonight that I should give this chiropractor a call and see if he wouldn't mind having me share the space with him in the afternoon hours. If he's okay with it, I am sure he will refer me to talk to the owner of the salon. I am all for that. This MAY be my chance to still open shop in Edgerton. If not, then it's on to the next town.

One thing Joni said when I was at her place was, "Don't go running off to those guys," referring to her salon competition. My answer was, "Nooooo. To me it's all about loyalty." I am a loyal person. When I find someone who is willing to give me a thumbs up or a cause that is worth fighting for, I'm ALL for it, and I'll come out with all barrels loaded. Apparently Joni's barrels were empty. And now it's time for me to take my loyalty elsewhere. That's the way it goes in life, and ESPECIALLY in business! Loyalty doesn't really exist these days when it comes to making a buck. It might have in the "old days". But the "new" days are "me first" days, and loyalty is a very antiquated, and practically dead, concept. Let's see where my new idea leads.

The Rural Minnesota Chiropractic Initiative

The title of this post is what I call my effort to bring my services to underserved areas of Minnesota. The remainder of this post is actually a re-post of my progress that I wrote this past Thursday in my Facebook notes. I will also attempt to post the same cute picture that I posted there as well:

My chiropractor, Dr. Joe Donahoe in Roseville, MN, told me that if I wanted to be very successful in my practice that I should look for a town out in the middle of nowhere. So, being the audie that I am, I decided to do that in a very methodical way. Using the criteria that a zip code had to have no chiropractors listed in it, according to the Minnesota Board of Chiropractic's list, AND no chiropractors listed in all the adjacent zip codes, I cam up with a list of 40 towns. While the closest of those towns is 118 miles from where I live here in Richfield, MN, I chose to seek out the more populated towns instead. Redby came out on top, but I didn't find any info on the place anywhere. So, next on the list was Edgerton. But according to the latest census, Edgerton is actually bigger than Redby. Not only that, I did find business listings and a whole bunch of stuff on the city of Edgerton.

I found one massage therapist listed in Edgerton, so it was obvious where I would start in my search to open a new door. Her name is Joni, and I've been in contact with her by e-mail for about a month before actually making the trip to Edgerton to visit her yesterday. The trip was exactly 196 miles from where I live to her office. Edgerton is right on the "edge" of the Minnesota state line, just before you cross over into South Dakota, and is located in Pipestone County. The drive was long and boring. Once I got outside of Bloomington, I saw nothing but wheat fields as far as the eye could see for the ENTIRE trip! I did stop at Minnesota's famous Emma Krumbee's restaurant in Belle Plaine to have breakfast on the way there. What I saw RIGHT before I got into Edgerton was indeed a sight to see -- HUNDREDS of windmills dotted the landscape for as far as you could see! WOW!

Joni and I came up with a business plan. For now, my office hours in Edgerton will be from 3-10 PM on Wednesdays and Thursdays. But if nobody signs up on a particular day, I won't drive all the way there for nothing. Joni will do all the advertising and setting appointments for me. That sounds like a pretty neat arrangement, and I pay her a percentage instead of a flat rent. Pretty cool! Also, the next closest chiropractors to town is 17 miles away in Pipestone or 21 miles away in Luverne. Let's keep our fingers crossed that this pans out.

So the plan is that I will travel down there on a Tuesday night if I have patients scheduled for Wednesday, and I will drive back to the Cities on Thursday night, assuming I have patients scheduled on Thursday as well. It is a 3-1/2 hour drive. Yesterday I drove down and back all in the same day, and that way definitely too much! Then I would work at the Guthrie, like I have been, on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday nights. The job at the Guthrie, and with Mill City Security, will stay unless things get SO busy in Edgerton that I end up increasing my hours there.

Sure it would be a bit of a strain with Bianca and I not seeing each other for a couple days. But she did suggest a while ago that I look for work elsewhere since nothing is panning out here in the Cities. So, that's what I am doing here. Although Austin, Texas WOULD be a nice change! (haha) Besides, I have come to accept the fact that I am a MINNESOTAN now, and I better get darn used to this winter crappy weather. I've become accustomed to living in the constant below-freezing weather. But it is when the temperature drops below 10 above zero that things start to get unbearable, and I start screaming that I need to get out of this place. Oh well. C'est la vie!

The Meaning Of "Spirituality"

When I tell people that I diverted from my Roman Catholic background and was ordained as a "ULC" minister, I get all kinds of reactions. Most people are confused as to what that actually means. The term "ULC" has become standard for ANY type of minister who has obtained their credentials through making an online donation to a church that gives them a piece of paper or one who has completed correspondence coursework to obtain their ordination. In proper, "ULC" stands for the Universal Life Church, who originally started this trend back in the 1950s. Now there are many different variations of the ULC concept, and everyone that follows it is lumped into the "ULC" category. But what is this "ULC" religion anyway? While many ULC-type churches may pass themselves off as Christian, their basic creed is spiritual in nature. For example, the Universal Life Church itself adopted the creed "Do only that which is right." When I start discussing spirituality as a way of believing, people get even more confused. So, that is my topic for this discussion.

When I taught my Intro to Spirituality classes, one of the first things I said to open the class was, "No matter what religion you are, you can still be a spiritual person." Spirituality, in and of itself, is NOT a religion. Far too many people confuse it with some type of new age practice or a system of non-religious living. It is neither of those, yet if somebody follows either of those, they too can be spiritual. Spirituality simply means being connected to the Divine Source. Dr. Wayne Dyer does an excellent job at describing this connection in his book "The Power Of Intention," and I will not try to repeat his words here. Religion, on the other hand, is a disciplined approach to practicing one's spirituality.

How many Catholics, Muslims, Jews, atheists, New Agers, and Buddhists do you know that are very happy? How many people from these same religions do you know that are miserable? Wouldn't you say that the number is about the same? Why is that? They certainly have different religions, so we can't say that it is the religion, can we? Indeed not. Some people are connected to the Divine Source, eg Spiritual, while others feel disconnected and lost and are therefore not Spiritual. It's just that simple. No other explanations are needed.

People sometimes ask me how can they tell if they are connected or not. The first question I ask them is if they see the glass as being half empty or half full. If a person can stop, even in the middle of a moment of sadness, and see beauty in the sunset, then they are connected. If a person can grasp the fact that the entire universe is interconnected by the power of the Divine Source, they are Spiritual. They do not need to be taught anything else.

People are disconnected if:

- they think that their religion is better than anyone else's
- they love their family but they hate their neighbor
- they feel wounded and hopeless
- they think that ALL Muslims are terrorists and ALL Christians are superior (or insert your religions here)
- they think the word "om" is the name of a Hindu god that needs to be despised
- they think such things as energy healing and meditation are "the devil's work"
- they think that The Holy Bible, the Koran, (or enter your religion's scriptural text here) is absolute law
- they base their self-worth on how much money they make

And I am sure I can think of hundreds of other examples. On the other hand, people are connected to the Divine Source if:

- they see only equality in all people that they meet
- they see the Light of God before they actually see the person in front of them
- they feel love in their heart that NEVER wanes, no matter what
- they teach their children to play fairly with the children in their school who may be of a different race, nationality, or religion, and to treat them respectfully
- they take time out to pray or meditate regularly
- they are hopeful and joyful
- they spread their love and joy to others through their words and actions
- they shy away from gossip, greed, and discrimination
- they can look at the evils in the world, feel sad, and know that it is not their place to feel hateful because of it

Again I can think of many other examples.

I know that I left a lot of room for people to inquire, "Well, what about if (insert your dilemma here)." That's just the point -- get rid of the dilemmas in your mind and just BE. You will be connected, and you will be Spiritual.