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Hi everyone! Welcome back.

Today I’m so excited to talk with Dan Dominguez, orthopedic acupuncture specialist, instructor for Richard Hazel’s motor point courses, and founder of Buffalo Orthopedic Sports Acupuncture (B.O.S.A.). Dan was previously the lead acupuncturist for the University of Rochester’s Sports and Orthopedics department, he’s been interviewed on ESPN radio and the Acupuncturist on Fire podcast, and he’s been the go-to acupuncturist for the Buffalo Bills.

Dan has a unique approach to using social media to build his new clinic, B.O.S.A. I can’t wait to share that with you so you can start using his method as well. It’s actually very simple and all about relationship building 🙌🎉 which should make everyone feel good, even if you dislike the idea of marketing.

So let’s dive in. Today Dan and I talk about:

• How he reaches to local influencers to collaborate/expand awareness of his practice
• How he gets new patients from Instagram
• How he became connected with a professional sports team, the Buffalo Bills
• How he was interviewed by ESPN radio and the local news

Why did you decide to pursue acupuncture?

Acupuncture is a family business for me. My uncle, Ric Warren, has been practicing for 33 years and my Aunt, Dr. Laura Chey, has been in practice going on 20 years, I believe.

For me, I suffered a significant leg injury my senior year in college while playing college football. After multiple surgeries and setbacks, I turned to acupuncture via my uncle and found great benefit with healing and pain control during my recovery. I have always respected the lifestyle he represented and the values he believes in tied into Chinese culture and medicine.

How long have you been in practice? How long have you owned your business?

This is the start of my fifth year in practice. In November 2017, I opened my own business in Buffalo called Buffalo Orthopedic and Sports Acupuncture, or B.O.S.A. for short. I worked there part-time and at the University of Rochester part-time until the end of January 2018, when I started full-time at B.O.S.A.

Can you describe your practice for us?

I was previously with the University of Rochester Sports and Orthopedic department. While I was there I was utilizing two rooms, in two different offices, seeing around 70-80 patients per week.

February 1st was my first full-time week with B.O.S.A. but I have been growing pretty quickly.

I have two treatment rooms and am currently seeing 15-30 patients a week. I am renting space from a local acupuncturist, Acupuncture Works, while I rebuild my client and referral base here in Buffalo.

Did you always know you wanted to specialize in orthopedics?

From day one I knew I was going to treat athletes and injury. In private practice, I knew insurance companies primarily pay for pain, so specializing and working toward being the best I can be at treating injuries became my main focus. Being a former high level athlete, I wish I had acupuncture before my last injury of my career. To see all the amazing things acupuncture can do to increase performance and manage soreness and fatigue is simply incredible.

When you decided to specialize, were you worried about losing out on other kinds of patients?

At first I was nervous to say “no”. To send patients to other clinics for care when I could treat them… I knew in my heart it wasn’t what I wanted to focus on and I knew there were better clinicians for their cases. Once I looked at it like, “What is best for this person, not what is best for me” it was an easy decision to make.

Can you outline your marketing plan, if you have one? What marketing do you engage in to keep your practice full?

I reach out to local businesses via social media. I’ve found influencers in the area, people with over 3-4000 followers. I mainly focus on other health care practitioners and strength coaches/yoga instructors. I offer them a free treatment to let them know what I do and how I’m different. It’s so hard to build a connection without actually meeting people and getting them acquainted with you and your product. I also utilize Instagram and Facebook primarily to get my message out.

When you reach out to influencers in your area, are there key points that you’re articulating each time, or do you just wing it (aka, be yourself and say whatever comes to mind)?

When I reach out to people around the community I try to stress the difference between what I do compared to the rest of the community. I know that I offer a unique skill that not many other acupuncturists can say they do. Motor point acupuncture is not taught in school or at least not when I was in school so the Upstate New York area has not caught up to it. I stress that I am the acupuncturist for athletes. I usually offer a complimentary treatment. Most of the time its not a one size fits all message. I speak directly to that person and maybe a problem they have posted about.

If you have a template for reaching out (even just an outline of things to remember to mention), would you mind sharing it with us?

My template is:

1. First greet the person.
2. Intro about who I am and a short summary of my accomplishments.
3. I mention that I’m new in town and trying to connect with people in the industry of interest. I recently reached out to two physical therapists and chiropractors to treat them so that I can meet them and see if they are a good fit for my patients.
4. Talk about my style of acupuncture and why its best for them.
5. Send my clinic info.

Have you ever had influencers not interested in working with you?

I’ve not met much resistance yet.  With Instagram though sometimes messages go to a “message request” area and people may not ever see them. Recently I reached out to a news anchor who does health and wellness and she responded a month later when she checked her messages and that resulted in a radio interview. I think it is easier for them to see if you actually follow them.

You mentioned you’ve built up a relationship with the Buffalo Bills. How did that come about?

I actually treated the brother of the head physical therapist for the Bills. He came in with a shoulder injury and after two treatments of motor points his range of motion was back to normal and his pain was gone. He called his brother and said you need to work with this guy. That was back In 2016. He called me at the end of the 2016-17 season.

It was actually the day after Christmas. I happened to have the day off and he called asking if I could meet him at a player’s house. The player couldn’t get out of bed because of a back injury he suffered that Sunday. I met him there and he watched me treat. Watched how I evaluate a patient and he was very impressed. Ultimately the patient was able to pop out of bed after treatment and the PT was sold. He said get ready… and that spring I was seeing four guys. This past fall that jumped to ten. It’s a great opportunity and I am so grateful.

That’s an awesome story! Love that you visited the athlete’s house the day after Christmas. That’s dedication and jumping on awesome opportunity ✊

How do you plan on creating a similar relationship with the Sabres? What would your plan of action be for connecting with professional sports teams, in other words.

I think the best plan is to find a member of the training staff that you can build a relationship with. The guys that work day in and day out on these athletes are the athletic trainers and physical therapists. It’s hard to connect with the docs. They aren’t around as much and usually aren’t seeing the athletes regularly. I would visit their website and look at the training staff and then research them on LinkedIn or social media.

Also, you recently spoke on ESPN radio about acupuncture (amazing!!). Can you talk to us about how that occurred?

I touched on that a bit earlier but what I did was sent her DMs (direct messages), haha. I knew a trainer who was featured on her show and found her through him. I then messaged her asking if she would be interested in coming in to try acupuncture and she mentioned she had a radio show and would love to bring me on as a guest speaker to talk about acupuncture. Check out the interview here.

I also had the opportunity to do a news piece for Good Morning Rochester that was set up after treating a news anchor. They wanted to do a piece on Dry Needling vs. Acupuncture. That went semi viral in acupuncture circles last year. (Check it out here.)

What marketing efforts have worked best for you?

• Identifying influencers has been the best thing for my new practice. People with large followings and the trust of others seem to work well.
• In-service lunches have also worked well for me. I usually have built those relationships via social media.
• Local sporting events
• CrossFit competitions
• The buffalo triathlon and marathon
• Building a relationship with a popular running store in the area. Buffalo and Rochester have Fleet-Feet but most cities will have a store that’s specific to running.

Any marketing that didn’t work at all? Just fell flat?

I have not really done anything that hasn’t worked yet, but I’m pretty new so I’m sure I will figure out a way to screw something up soon.

What’s your favorite part about being in practice?

I think like many others, I love to help people. The feeling of knowing you can make someone’s pain go away or take them from tears to laughing by the end of treatment really drives me. The goose bumps you get when someone thanks you and appreciates the help you have given them, it’s a feeling I crave.

Least favorite?

The people I can’t help. It’s hard when what you do does not work and it is upsetting. You want to help everyone but like anything in this world, unfortunately you will come across people that just don’t respond well to any therapy. But, that drives me to keep learning and keep trying to improve so that I can look my patient in the eye and know without a doubt that I have done everything in my power to help them.

You have an amazing Instagram account (@thesportsacu) and something I see acupuncturists struggling with regularly is actually getting new patients from their social media efforts. What’s been the most effective method you’ve used on Instagram that actually generates new clients?

HASHTAGS! It’s important to find out your local hashtags that are going to get your post in front of the market you are looking for. If you want CrossFit athletes include those hashtags. If it’s fertility find those. Look up other influential people doing what you do and find what hashtags they use.

I made my hashtags for a few different things and I store them in my notes on my iPhone. Then when I want to post I copy and paste the hashtags into my post and edit them to make sure its relevant to the photo I am doing.

I also recently hired a photographer to capture some content to update my website and use the pictures for Instagram. I think having high quality pictures are important. If you have the iPhone 10 or Google phone those have great cameras. If not find a photographer to do an hour session and get some friends or models to pose and create content.

I think it’s important to post daily. If you post more often you are more likely to get more followers.

Yes! I definitely agree that high-quality photos of the practitioner in his/her office are essential for both the website and social media. I usually recommend that acupuncturists do a trade with a photographer so they don’t have to pay cash for professional photos. That’s what I did and it also created a great long-term relationship with the photographer.

Okay.  A few more questions. Do you have a mentor?

I have three mentors:

1. My Uncle, Ric Warren – I worked as Ric’s assistant during acupuncture school. After graduating, I worked and learned from him at his private practice, Balance Acupuncture, in Rochester. Ric asked me if I would help out on his sons (my cousins) youth football team. That led to a meeting with Dr. Michael Maloney, Head of Orthopedics at the University of Rochester Medicine, and fellow coach on the team. Dr. Michael Maloney would later ask me to start the acupuncture program for the University of Rochester, which is how I ended up there.
2. Anthony Lombardi – Anthony specializes in Neurofunctional Acupuncture and has been a wealth of knowledge for me. He has asked me to be his lead assistant as he begins teaching exstore system, an orthopedic testing class for acupuncturists that’s immensely helpful if you want to practice motor points. He has taught me everything I know about electrical stimulation and manual muscle testing for motor points.
3. Richard Hazel – I took his First Motor Point class about two years ago and we have been on a journey together ever since. I was first introduced to motor point acupuncture by Whitfield Reaves in school and instantly bought every video he had on eastern currents and have read his book cover to cover more times then I can count. Rich though, was my first live seminar on it and really fortified these techniques and allowed me to work with him. He eventually asked me to be his lead assistant and I’ve been fortunate enough to be on this journey that is taking us all over the country and world. We will be teaching in Syracuse, San Francisco, Florida, Ireland, and possibly Australia in 2018.

What advice would you give to acupuncture students about starting their practices?

Don’t be afraid to reach out for help. Build connections in your community and ask for a referral or lead. No one is going to be able to sell your product and dream better then you, so make sure you are out there grinning and talking up what you do. All the work you put in your first few years will allow you to be comfortable later on.

Don’t let fear get in the way of an opportunity. I had to make a really hard decision to leave the University of Rochester, the program I built and grew. I left it for a new market and Buffalo is far enough away from Rochester that none of my connections really mattered anymore. That was very scary and is still scary. But I know the more I put myself out there, the better I will be for it.

Find comfort in the things that feel uncomfortable. I think discomfort is a good thing. It puts pressure on you to take action. I don’t like feeling comfortable, it makes me rest on my laurels, makes you complacent. I feel that when I start to get too comfortable then I’m not challenging myself enough and I need to make a change or create a new path to continue to grow as a practitioner and man.

What’s the most important advice you’ve ever received about running a business?

Keep your overhead low. Don’t pay for things you don’t need. An Acupuncturist I trust told me this when I was starting my practice. Don’t buy the damn waterfall. Everyone wants the waterfall but do you need the waterfall? I think it’s important to grow into your space and not waste money on space you aren’t using. I recommend starting small and as you grow, let your space expand.

Last year you were interviewed on the Acupuncturist on Fire podcast. How did that come about? I’m sure lots of acupuncturists would love that kind of exposure.

AJ actually reached out to me after seeing my work on social media. He liked a blog I wrote on common running injuries. It was an awesome opportunity and I was very humbled to be asked to speak on his podcast. After seeing the names of his previous guests, I was honored to have that opportunity. Guys like Whitfield Reaves, Anthony Lombardi, and Andy Rosenfarb, are all people that have probably forgotten more information than I’ll ever know. I’m very fortunate with the opportunities that I have received thus far in my career and I hope I can look back on this as just the start of many more great things I can offer the community.

What goals and plans do you have for your practice in 2018?

My next goal is to build a relationship with the Buffalo Sabers the way I have with the Buffalo Bills. I would also like to grow to 30 patients a week consistently and expand into my own office.

Thank you so much for sharing your experience and some killer marketing advice, Dan!

Have questions for Dan? Shoot him an email at: dan@buffalosportsacupuncture.com 

Follow Dan online:

Instagram: @thesportsacu

Facebook: @buffaloorthopedicsportsacupuncture

Website: http://www.buffalosportsacupuncture.com

Richard Hazel’s Motor Points Course that Dan teaches: http://www.chinesemedicinethatworks.com