We recently connected with Dominique Vonador and have shared our conversation below.

Dominique, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Alright, so we’d love to hear about how you got your first client or customer. What’s the story?

My first patient, my first day in the office, was actually my husband. My schedule that week was completely empty, but my wonderful husband came through and made my first week special. I scheduled him in the calendar and treated him just like I would have any other patient. Little did I know that fast forward 10 years later, I’d be seeing 55-60 patients per week, not including my husband!

Dominique, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

Since I was a little girl, I’ve always wanted to become a doctor. I wanted to be a pediatrician! After completing my undergraduate program at Florida State University, I began working in the local hospital in the surgical medical unit, assisting patients who are recovering from multiple surgeries and stroke just to name a few. I began to become distraught.

Many of the patients were unable to attend their in-house prescribed physical therapy appointments because they were too drugged, too fatigued, too nauseated, or too out of it! Also, the attending physicians would check on the patients and only spend at the most 1 minute in the room. I just knew that there had to be other alternatives that could help patients feel better, while also giving them time to feel heard. A few of my coworkers mentioned acupuncture. At the time, I knew nothing about the profession, just what you see in the movies or on the internet.

I wasn’t motivated in that direction mostly because I did not like needles and my lack of knowledge about their benefits. I started researching acupuncture, I even reached out to multiple acupuncture physicians in Florida to get their opinions. Needless to say, I was intrigued! I then reached out and visited multiple schools in Florida, and decided on East West College of Natural Medicine in Sarasota. After I decided to attend school yet again, I informed my family. They were very excited for me. Many of my family members received acupuncture regularly!

Fast forward 15 years later, God has blessed me to have 2 successful practices, one in Bradenton and the other in Ellenton.

What’s worked well for you in terms of a source for new clients?

The best source of patients for me has changed throughout my 10 years in practice. When I began my practice, I was told to join as many networking groups as possible in the community, including BNI, Business Networkers International. I believe BNI was a very important move for me and I would recommend it for all new business owners. There is only 1 trade/profession in the group, and everyone is devoted to getting referrals to you and vice versa. It really works.

I also, started a campaign on Groupon and that turned out to be very successful as well. I just needed to get the patients in the door, and my techniques and services would keep them coming.

Fast forward 10 years, my best source of patients is word of mouth! I treat 55-60 patients per week, which doesn’t leave much time for networking events. I am very blessed to see 5-7 new patients each week!

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

Owning your own business, I believe always comes with lots of challenges. While in school, my goal was to work for someone and never to own my own business, let alone run two practices simultaneously. When I graduated, no one in my area was hiring acupuncturists so I had to go into business for myself.

I was very fortunate to work alongside a chiropractor in Bradenton named Dr. David Zamikoff, who showed me many of the ins and outs of running a medical practice. I joined multiple networking groups and made myself known in my community and in time my practice grew. I was then able to go out on my own and open up my first practice and then 3 years later open my second practice!

Contact Info:

• Website: www.DrVonador.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/acuherbdoc/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/drvonador
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/drvonador/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrVonador
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@DrVonador
• Other: http://drvonador.wordpress.com