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Today I’m excited to interview Spence Pentland, Dr. TCM acupuncturist and founder of Yinstill Reproductive Wellness and The Golden Cabinet.

Yinstill Reproductive Wellness is a group of acupuncture fertility clinics with 11 employees (and counting!) with locations in Vancouver, Surrey, and Kelowna, British Columbia. Spence also helped found Acubalance Wellness Centre (another acupuncture fertility clinic) with Lorne Brown, so he has pretty extensive background in building and expanding acupuncture clinics!

The Golden Cabinet is Spence’s practice-building website with TONS of resources for acupuncturists, based on his experience building multiple successful clinics. The Golden Cabinet has a wide range of ways to learn, including audio lessons, worksheets, eBooks, a podcast, coaching and more.

I’m excited to say that Spence interviewed me about my favorite low-cost practice-building tips on his podcast recently – you can check it out here! And he’s interviewed many other acupuncture practice-building experts as well, like Clara Cohen and Jason Stein.

Plus Spence offers a free mini course to help start building your practice right away!

Today Spence and I talk about:

• Which marketing efforts have worked best for him in building up his clinic locations
• How to know when it’s time to open another clinic location
• Spence’s top advice to get more patients ASAP
• The biggest mistake acupuncturists are making in building their practices

What inspired you to become an acupuncturist?

Actually my love of plants and my botany/horticulture western herbal background got me into TCM – then acupuncture came with it.

You’re the founder of the booming company, Yinstill Reproductive Wellness with six (soon to be seven!) associates, multiple locations and many other employees on your team. Can you share the setup of Yinstill?

Actually we are currently expanding (again) into Surrey and Kelowna, BC as well. We had a location in Surrey one year ago, but a maternity leave and a car accident caused a temporary closure, which is now re-opening as we speak. I’ve left Vancouver and am starting our third location in Kelowna, BC. We are also in talks about our fourth possible location happening in Victoria, BC. Lots of growth, and to date a team of 11 making it all happen!

How did Yinstill get started? Did you have this huge vision for Yinstill to begin with, or did you initially imagine it would just be you in clinic by yourself?

In 2003, I joined Lorne Brown and together we grew Acubalance Wellness Centre into what many know it to be today. After seven years there I chose to venture off on my own, and together with my wife found an amazing space in an amazing part of Vancouver. I always had the vision to create a company that extended beyond myself, created jobs for other great acupuncturists, and to scale the amount of people I could help create the families they dream of. It was essentially a very similar model to what we had created at Acubalance.

How did you grow Yinstill into what it is today? How did you take on new employees – one associate at a time?

Well, first of all, Yinstill is a specialized clinic, so I couldn’t just open my doors and bring any acupuncturist in. I had built my own busy practice and in order for me to share my patients with someone, they needed to be a fit for the culture I envisioned, and have a special interest in reproductive health. So growth in this respect was slow and calculated. Definitely one associate at a time.

I have basically NEVER spent much money at all on traditional advertising. The growth of my practice and Yinstill was primarily done through connecting to my community, particularly the reproductive health community, and via word-of-mouth from existing/past patients (my unpaid sales force). To me, this is the best way to grow a practice. It may take a little longer initially, but it requires less up-front capital, and it forces a focus on relationships and great patient care, which perpetuates a solid foundation for long-term growth.

I definitely appreciate that approach! At it’s core, I think the best marketing is about relationship building.

You’re in the process of opening up new locations. How do you know when it’s time to take the leap with a new clinic location?

I know it is time to grow when I have the right people on my team, and they are ready and asking for more. That said, expanding for the sake of expanding is never wise, so there has to be a need, primarily from a geographic perspective. “If you build it they will come,” is not a philosophy I subscribe to. It needs to make sense from many different perspectives as it increases expenses and kicks the shit out of cash flow, which is how rapid expansion kills so many companies. This is a huge topic for discussion, but honestly needs to be considered on a case-to-case basis.

What do you look for when opening a new location? How do you choose the right place?

Because we are a specialized clinic, the research isn’t too difficult when trying to determine where to open a new clinic. Competitors, population demographics, neighborhood culture, ease of parking, cost for space, and asking all the resources you know (including your patients) to give feedback on a good location are the main components. Bottom line though, sometimes it comes down to what makes sense and works, or what just “feels right.” Yup, business is very much about (educated) gut instinct sometimes, and trusting things will happen exactly as they should.

What’s your best advice for hiring your first associate acupuncturist? I think this is a bit stressful for most acupuncturists. Should hiring a lawyer be the first step?

I would never go back in time and change anything, as all my mistakes played such an educational role in my life, but if I could adjust one thing in regards to hiring my first associate, it would be the understanding that I should have found help in doing so. I personally do not think that a lawyer would be my first step, as I prefer entrepreneurial advice first, then legal, financial, etc. after. So I go to my trusted business advisers – my “virtual board of directors.”

Luckily I found a great associate, an amazing practitioner. He was very forgiving with my shortcomings, as I made a few decisions and promises that I later had to backpedal on. With another person, this could surely spell disaster. So to accurately answer your question, you really never truly know if you are doing something “right,” especially when you are just starting out.

My advice would be: be open and have clear communication with the new people who come on board to help manifest your vision. This is the basis for any good relationship, and if the culture is good, forgiveness will be more likely. This is why I hire first for character, and second for skills.

Be humble, and don’t try to fool anyone into the fact that you know more than you do, but be confident and make decisions quickly, so forward momentum is maintained. If you want to grow your practice into multiple clinics, then your role is leadership, and the qualities of a leader are necessary to develop.

The late, great Jim Rohn said it best:

• be strong but not rude
• be kind but not weak
• be bold but not a bully
• be humble but not timid
• be thoughtful but not lazy
• be proud but not arrogant
• be funny but not foolish
• be witty but not silly
• be content with what you have achieved but ambitious for more

When establishing a new clinic in a new city, what are the top three marketing activities that an acupuncturist should engage in right away?

1. Create your virtual clinic: Connect with the other healthcare practitioners/clinics that also serve your target patient population. Find your allies and create relationships with them. People refer to people they trust and like.

2. Find your Win-Win-Win: Connect with other people, companies, and services that are not healthcare, but serve your target patient population with various products, services, etc. Then create ideas and cross promotions that benefit the person/company/service, your mutual patient/customer, and you. Win-Win-Win. But be careful, people are busy and they will nurture connections that deliver, so seek first to provide value to others and then they will give back to you. AND…remember, people do business with people they trust and like.

3. Join and attend local groups and activities, both business and where your target patient population hangs out, as well as things you like. This way you can connect with locals and ask them for advice on starting up in the new city. Every city is a little different and you need to respect it’s “ways;” i.e. don’t roll over a smaller town with big city marketing. Bottom line: create genuine relationships that will turn into friendships and word of mouth referrals. AND…remember, people do business with people they trust and like. (Did I say that already?)

The common denominator is to build relationships and connections with real people.

Any other marketing techniques that have worked well for you?

In addition to the above, if I were to add a few things that have seen positive ROI over the years it would be:

• A good website with kick-ass SEO
• Storefront street level clinic location
• Maintaining relationships with past patients
• Getting testimonials and reviews online
• Bringing on staff and associates, and creating a great internal culture
• Focusing relentlessly on achieving clinical results
• And most importantly, knowing our target patient population with such intimacy that it is inevitable that we provide the support and experience necessary for them to scream from the rooftops that our service has transformed their life!

What about marketing efforts that didn’t work well, or felt like a waste of money?

Social media. I know you gotta be there but I don’t like dumping money into social advertising as it’s so hard to measure ROI. Bottom line, we prefer to put our money back into the local economy and local people’s pockets.

You’re also the founder of the Golden Cabinet podcast and online practice-building courses. Can you tell us about that?

Basically I think acupuncturists have so much to offer. We are a unique breed in the healthcare world. To generalize, we are good people that most certainly put their patients before profit. Admirable, but to a fault.

We need to make money to survive. Too many great acupuncturists fail and cease clinical practice. This allergy to business and money is a problem in terms of the growth of our industry.

I want to share my knowledge that I have learned along the way, particularly about growing a practice into a business, and also pulling the wisdom from other TCM folk that are kicking ass out there, and sharing that with our community as well, through the podcast.

I love it. I love the business side of our medical craft, and I want the healing gift that so many acupuncturists have to reach more people. I see business and medicine as a perfect marriage – both striving to help solve their patient/customers’ problems. As long as it is done with integrity, the results are beautiful and abundant.

You know that’s music to my ears – marketing with integrity. 🤗 💕 I love that you offer so many resources on the Golden Cabinet. Can you tell us about those, and where to find them?

The website is thegoldencabinet.ca. There’s a free course, so people can get learn a few things and to get a feel for The Golden Program (the paid course) on the website.

There are six different free ebooks that are basically the main core of the content from a few of the courses from The Golden Program. The opt-in forms to receive these change each time someone visits the website, meaning they rotate randomly, so if you come back regularly you can collect them all.

The Golden Podcast is a free podcast where I interview TCM folk that are rippin’ it, and dive deeply into who they are and how they are accomplishing this. An amazing resource for practitioners.

And of course, The Golden Cabinet Facebook page where I post the new podcasts and new resources that I create. LIKE it and stay in the know!

Can you share a little about the “Win X 3” recipe that you talk about in your practice-building program? Just a little taster?

I mentioned it above, but for the sake of teasing, I’ll share a full lesson in the WIN x 3 RECIPE course within The Golden Program:

Welcome to the ‘WIN WIN WIN’ lesson of the ‘The WIN x 3 RECIPE’ course.

Creating relationships so that you, the strategic partner, and the client all win (Win Win Win) is the goal when searching for the right strategic alliances for your clinic.

Strategic alliances are people, companies, or organizations that fit the following criteria:

• Provide a product or service that would be of benefit to your patient demographic.
• Are in alignment with the core values of your company.

Your next step is to figure out how you can help them succeed and how you can serve them. Do the research to get to know them first, so you understand their needs and can explain the benefits of your potential relationship in language and terms that will resonate with them. This is how you build a good business relationship, by showing them that you are someone who will help them accomplish their goals. So first things first, help them get more customers by sending your clients their way (when appropriate of course).

Remember, you have one chance to make a first impression.

Once they know who you are and what you do, and are starting to see how you may be beneficial to them, you must show them initiative. Innovate ideas and projects (events, discounts, education, resources, products, etc) that will benefit their customers or accomplish their primary goals, then find ways to get in front of them and pitch the ideas. Be professional and do not take up much of their time; business people are busy, and you must respect this. Most importantly, do not over-promise and under-deliver, this will destroy any hope of a continued relationship. You must be able to deliver your promise and do it in a timely manner. People do business with people they trust.

Successful implementation of these ideas and projects, coupled with the fact that they like you and that you are someone who provides a service that complements theirs and can add value to the lives of their clientele, and will create a solid strategic alliance that will pay dividends in the years to come as they start sending potential clients your way. AND, if you have completed The Golden Cabinet membership section, you will be ready to make these people your clients for life!

In life, relationships must be a two-way street to flourish. If there is no mutual benefit the chances of long term connection diminishes.

As far as your business is concerned, strategic alliances are powerful because they create a WIN WIN WIN for you, the strategic alliance, and the client.

Get out there, find your strategic alliances, figure out how to build a relationship with them, and start today.

Take a deep breath, do a few slow euphoric shoulder rolls, drink some water, and move onto the next lesson.

For our audience members who are still students in acupuncture school, what advice for starting a practice would you give to them? What can they be doing right now to get a jump on starting their clinics?

Know that you need to put the same effort into learning about business that you are putting into learning TCM. It is that simple. There are a number of acupuncturists that have proven themselves in the sphere of business success that offer coaching. This would be a great place to start. They can cater to the unique needs of that particular student, and save them a bunch of money, time, and heartache by helping them make good choices right out of the gate.

I couldn’t agree more. It’s never too early to start devoting time to learning about marketing and practice building.

What do you think is the biggest mistake that acupuncturists make in building their practices?

They think patient care is about the medicine. The understanding that potential patients only care about whether or not you can solve their problem and transform their life is essential wisdom. The sooner you get this, the sooner your practice will flourish.

Oh, and, stop putting needle images on your websites!

Anything else you’d like to add?

My recipe for practice success:

• Take care of yourself
• Surrender to the fact that you need to be proficient at business
• Have faith that things will manifest
• Persevere

Thank you for sharing, Spence!

Don’t forget to check out The Golden Cabinet (including the free course!) and join the FB group!

Plus Spence would love to hear from you – feel free to leave questions in the comments below or shoot him an email at: spence@yinstill.com