One Year of Wild Heart Acupuncture
A year ago, I opened the doors to Wild Heart Acupuncture with a treatment table, a stack of needles, and a wildly optimistic amount of hope. Today I'm sitting down to write this with a heart full of gratitude, slightly fewer illusions about how business ownership works, and a genuine sense of "wait, I actually made it a whole year?"
So, let's take a moment to look back: the lessons, the laughs, the questionable playlist choices, and most of all, the people who made it possible.
What I've Learned
Healing isn't a straight line, and neither is running a small business. Some weeks, everything clicked. Patients walked in wound tighter than a Slinky and walked out floating. Other weeks were humbling. I learned as much from the sessions that didn't go the way I expected as from the ones that did. That's true for the people I treat, and it turned out to be just as true for me as a business owner.
Trust is built one appointment at a time. Acupuncture asks a lot of people. It asks them to lie still, to be vulnerable, to trust a stranger with a very old form of medicine. I've learned that earning that trust isn't about credentials on a wall. It’s about showing up fully present, session after session, until "stranger’ becomes ‘someone I know I can rely on.’
Community doesn't happen by accident. I used to think building a client base was mostly marketing. Turns out it's mostly caring, out loud, whether someone's cranky shoulder is doing better three weeks later. Somewhere along the way, my waiting room stopped being a waiting room and started being more like a living room where people occasionally fall asleep on the furniture… more on that below.
Slow down. It's working. (Yes, I have to tell myself this too.) I spend all day telling people to slow down and let the process work. Deeply hypocritical of me to spend the whole first year sprinting around trying to control everything at once. This year taught me to actually take my own advice, which is apparently the hardest part of the job.
The Fun Parts
Not everything was a growth opportunity in disguise. Plenty of it was just plain fun. The regulars who send messages of successes between appointments (yes, those messages “I’ve finally pooped” or “My period came without pain” bring a joy to my heart). The number of people who fell asleep mid-treatment and woke up disoriented, a little embarrassed, and thoroughly zen. The playlist… and the frustration when the calming instrumentals, caused frustration when you’re laying there and couldn’t work out what the song was (whoops!). Watching people arrive stiff and skeptical in month one and return in month two and twelve as genuine believers in what this medicine can do. Twelve months in, and I still can't get over how many people have gone from ‘I don't really believe in this stuff’ to ‘can we do this every two weeks forever.’
To My Wonderful Community
None of this happens without you. Truly.
To everyone who booked that very first appointment when Wild Heart Acupuncture was one part practice, one part leap of faith. Thank you for taking a chance on the new person with the needles. To the patients who told their family and friends, who apparently told everyone else in town. To the patients who kept showing up, trusted the process even when it took longer than a single session (healing is rude like that), and let me be part of their care. To everyone who left a kind review, sent an encouraging text, or just showed up with an open mind and a willingness to try something new. You are the entire reason this practice is still here, a year later.
Starting a small business is equal parts terrifying and exhilarating, like being handed the keys to a car you're still learning to drive… except the car is your dream and also your rent. Having a community that believed in it made all the difference. You didn't just support a small business this year. You helped build one, one appointment (and one nap on my table) at a time.
Here's to year one! The lessons, the laughs, the naps, the community that showed up in ways I didn't expect, and to everything still ahead.
With so much gratitude, Adele xx
P.S. — If you've been meaning to try acupuncture for the first time, there's no better excuse than an anniversary. Come see what all the fuss (and the napping) is about.