Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Dr. Carmen Carpenter. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Dr. Carmen, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today How did you get your first job in the field that you practice in today?
I was about 3 weeks from finishing school when COVID hit and everything was shut down. Working in a hands on health care setting, I was uncertain about the future of my career after finally be done 10 years of schooling. I considered applying for positions in clinics, and working under someone else, but nothing was open. So I decided to go my own way and start my own practice right out of the gates. Starting your first business in any field at a normal time has a huge learning curve, but I had to factor in COVID rules and regulations on top of all of it. As well as thinking “how the heck am I going to get clients when no one is leaving their house?”.
I was also working part time as a bartender at the time (that’s how I got myself through all that school). I wanted out of the hospitality industry so bad, but it was my only source of income. So I decided to take advantage of all the people that were right in front of me (once they were let back inside of course). People LOVE to talk at the bar. Most of them knew what I had been doing in school, so they loved to tell me all about their health concerns. Rather than just listening and giving some free advice, like I did while I was still in school, I started giving people my business card and had them make an appointment so we could talk more in depth and start them back on the road to health. This worked out really well for me! And like I said, people at the bar love to talk, and my bar regulars started telling their friends and so the word of mouth train started.
It’s been challenging coming out of school with no business training and going right into running a business. I was lucky that I have some family with entrepreneurial experience to give me some advice, but most of it I’ve had to learn as I go and am still learning. Also with being a new practitioner, there was always moments of self doubt and imposter syndrome in my skills as a practitioner that I had to navigate. If I had a chance to re-do it, I probably would have started out working for someone else for a little bit, so I would have time to observe how to run the business, but I am one of the lucky ones that it worked out for and I’m happy it did!
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.
I am the owner and sole practitioner at Goji Wellness Clinic, and I practice as a Doctor of Chinese Medicine (DTCM). Traditional Chinese Medicine or TCM, has a wide variety of practice methods and skill sets. The main areas that I work with are Acupuncture, Cupping, Herbal Medicine, and Diet and Lifestyle therapy. TCM is a beautiful ancient medicine, that can treat a huge variety of both internal and external issues. We work with pain/pain management, women’s health/fertility, digestive problems, sleep issues, and mental health, just to name a few, which is what makes this so interesting and keeps me on my toes. Yet, TCM is sometimes misunderstood in our modern western society, mostly because the language around it is very philosophical, but realistically, it is still a very effective, and robust natural medicine, and just sort of makes sense.
I always knew I would work in medicine. I used to want to be a surgeon, but then when it came time to decide on school, I went the route of Social and Cultural Anthropology with the bold ambition to save the world. Reality hit near the end of my degree, but I realized I was still very much interested in medicine. So I scheduled a meeting with my professor to ask about going the whole way to a PhD in Medical Anthropology. He redirected me to his PhD student that was working under him, and she talked me out of that as a career. So here I was, with an Undergraduate Degree, still not knowing what to do with my life. I decided to revisit the medicine idea, but try and go a more natural direction, and Naturopathic Medicine was the route. I started looking at schools and upgrading my sciences, but while I was doing that, I discovered Pacific Rim College (where I got my DTCM), on the Pacific West Coast. Growing up in the prairies, it caught my attention. I applied, I got in, but I still wanted to be a ND. It got to a point, after a year and a half, where Pacific Rim College couldn’t hold my spot anymore, it was either go now or loose my spot. So 3 days before school started, I packed up my VW Beetle, and I made my decision to give up Naturopathic Medicine for TCM and made the move to the west coast. Although I thought it would be temporary, it turned out to be one of the best decisions I’ve made in my life.
I love what I do, and I love talking to people about this medicine. I have such a passion for helping people understand their own bodies and how humans and nature are all one and influenced by one another. I strive to make people, no matter what their background or ailments are, feel comfortable and safe in this healing environment. As a practitioner, I can only meet the client where they are at. I’m just here to help the client’s body remember what it’s blueprint is and what it’s supposed to do, they are the ones that do all the work.
Training and knowledge matter of course, but beyond that what do you think matters most in terms of succeeding in your field?
When you are in the business of people, you need more skills than just the medical ones that we learn in school. You have to learn how to flow with different personality types. You have to be able to be someone else’s calm, without taking their chaos home with you. Good communication is also important, both verbally and with body language. Even if you were the smartest at school, or consistently read studies and stay caught up on new information, if you can’t have a conversation with your clients, how can you truly understand where they are coming from and what factors play into their healthy aside from the physical? It can be really challenging and sometimes even draining, but being able to hear someone that doesn’t feel heard, is one of the best rewards from this career.
What’s been the most effective strategy for growing your clientele?
Word of mouth. Hands down, best form of marketing. You can do all the Google or Instagram ads you want, but people need to feel like they can trust you. And if their brother or best friend had a positive experience, then they feel more strongly that they will too vs just going to the next practitioner that they saw an ad for.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.gojiwellness.ca
- Instagram: gojiwellnessclinic
- Facebook: gojiwellnessclinic