Event Detail

Speaker: Russell Brown, L.Ac.

"After graduating from the University of California, Berkeley with a degree in journalism, I maintained a successful career in feature film development. I was really enjoying working in the film industry when one day at breakfast, I intentionally and shamelessly eavesdropped on the conversation at the table next to me where a woman was talking about acupuncture. Having never experienced it myself or even really thought about it, something in me sparked. I quit my job that day and graduated from Emperor's College in Santa Monica, CA four years later. I worked for a few other clinics for several years before opening my own, POKE Acupuncture, in Hollywood, CA in 2009."

Description: Nearly every patient who finds me on Google or Yelp says the same thing: I picked you out of all the acupuncturists because yours was the only one that ‘really spoke to me.’ But the only tangible difference between my practice and all the others is one thing: Better Branding.  If acupuncture is to ever be the powerful tool we know it to be and fill the void in the current medical paradigm, we as acupuncturists are going to have to step outside our comfort zones and reach people in a new way, and learn the difference between a business and a brand.

This presentation will speak to the specifics of designing my own practice as an alternative to the faux-Asian "zen" spa or drably-serene mock doctor's office; advertising to people who don’t already have an acupuncturist; speaking to patients about the medicine in their terms, finding your own voice in terms of brand identity amongst a sea of like-minded practitioners.  Also happy to talk about all the mistakes Ive made in my first few years of practicing and the one thing every acupuncture student wants to know: how long it took me to pay off my student loans.