How I Started an Acupuncture Business Doing 6 Figures a Year

• Gudrun Snyder quit her job as a Hollywood assistant to become an acupuncturist.
• After her grandmother fell ill, she sought a job that would connect her to her Chinese heritage.
• By 2020, Snyder had raised her own business to over $200,000.

This essay is based on a conversation with Gudrun Snyder, an acupuncturist and business owner in Chicago, about leaving Hollywood to start her own business. Edited for length and clarity.

I opened Moon Rabbit Acupuncture in June 2020 and in 2021 I made a little over $200,000 in profit. But before I became an acupuncturist, I worked as a Hollywood assistant.

I never wanted to work in Hollywood. I was trying to get a job in finance when a friend who worked in HR at the William Morris Agency told me to come in for an interview – the agency was trying to get more agent trainees. In the year It was 2006, and at the time William Morris was one of the biggest talent agencies in the world. It was a once in a lifetime opportunity that I couldn’t refuse.

I flew to LA for the interview, took a typing test, and answered personality questions about how I handle stress. They hired me on the spot. It wasn’t until I started working that I learned exactly what the job entailed.

I started working on the basis of many clients in the charity department. A year later, I was promoted to Assistant Head of Motion Picture Talent, which was a big leap.

It was a great first job, but I was exhausted every day and left my job

I remember running down Rodeo Drive to return my boss’s Oscar dress to Chanel on my first day, while on the phone with James McAvoy – it was something out of a movie.

I made about $14 an hour and worked 80 to 90 hours a week. I park her car, grab her coffee and breakfast, and rush to work in my suit before my boss arrives so I can start making phone calls at 7:30 am. And a constant day.

After working at William Morris for two years, my grandmother became ill and needed a kidney transplant. I was always very attached to her when I was growing up. She is from Shanghai and was an otolaryngologist (ear, nose and throat doctor) trained at the Yale Medical Program in China. She was unable to practice in America when she moved here because of the limitations of her degree.

When you are sick, I ask myself, “What am I doing with my life?” Yes, I had a job where people were stepping on me, but I had nothing to do with it. I wanted to feel connected to my heritage.

In 2008, I left William Morris and entered acupuncture school

I attended Pacific College of Health and Science (formerly Pacific College of Oriental Medicine) in Chicago to get my doctorate in acupuncture. It is a four-year doctoral degree that requires 3,000 clinical hours and exams. Going to acupuncture school is relatively inexpensive, about $8,000 per semester, which is not much compared to other degrees.

I spent 10 times more on my other degrees. In the year Before graduating from Vanderbilt University in 2006 with a BS in Economics and a minor in Neuropsychology, I studied General Management at Stanford University and trained as an EMT at UCLA’s David Geffen School of Medicine.

In years one to three of my acupuncture program, I sat for comprehensive exams – similar to the exams you take in medical school. Then once I graduated, I sat for three different board certification exams.

I chose Pacific College because it has a good reputation and is based on traditional oriental medicine over other options. I went to visit my grandmother in Cincinnati, and I wanted to show her the textbooks in Chinese – it meant a lot to me.

In the year I graduated in 2017. It took me a long time because I had two children and I got breast cancer when I was 32, my first child was only 1 year old. I am still taking medication to keep the cancer from coming back and I will be working for another five years.

I worked as an EMT and research fellow at Cedars Sinai Hospital and Venice Family Clinic. I also worked for my consultant in Chicago as her intern, but I knew it would be hard to let them go if I built a patient site that worked in someone else’s clinic. So I funded my own business with personal investments, mainly from my mother.

When I open Moon Rabbit AcupunctureI found myself at work very quickly

We handle different situations. I personally deal with fertility, stress, anxiety and sleep problems. My team deals with a lot of back, shoulder and neck pain as well as headaches. Acupuncture and Traditional Chinese Medicine are a comprehensive range of medicine, so there is no stress to deal with.

Site construction and initial start-up costs were under $150,000. When I first opened during the pandemic, I was the only person there, but due to its success, I had to hire staff a month after opening. I now have a staff of 15 people – five acupuncturists, four massage therapists, three administrators and three front desk assistants.

Now, with the added staff, I only see patients twice a week, and I have a waiting list that operates on a first-come, first-served basis every day.

Developing talent is important to me. I hired acupuncture students to work the front desk and develop their skills at Moon Rabbit. I spend about 25% seeing patients, 10% doing events or speaking, about 20% developing and training my staff, and the rest goes to administrative work.

Before opening my business, I conducted many cold interviews with business owners. Some of the most valuable advice I’ve received is that you get what you pay for – don’t count every dollar too much and focus on the things that really matter, like a good HVAC system. System. There were small things I asked other small business owners about such as permits, legal issues, and what I should spend money on versus what I should do myself.

Influencer-marketing was profitable and organic – and for me it is an incredibly valuable investment

When I opened my clinic, a few people I dealt with in my mobile business became my first clients. I started my concierge business right out of acupuncture school – I would go to my patient’s home and pay a premium for travel expenses.

From there, it was mostly word of mouth that helped grow my business. I tried to make letters – I bought about 1,000 letters to send to the Chicagoland area, which cost about $1,000. I hired a PR agency to do our social media because no one signed up, and the referrals exploded. I now spend about $3,200 a month on marketing and publicity.

We also brought in some influencers. My daughter goes to school with Setha Walters, a social influencer in Chicago., And I asked her for advice on connecting with other influencers. She said she came to visit and asked some of her influential friends to do the same, in exchange for more treatment.

I have never had a better website visit since she joined. Seta Walters was like me—a young mother with a good income and health problems—and so are many of her followers.

We give treats to influencers on their social media posts infrequently – less than four times a year.

Acupuncture is not seen as a necessity so it was interesting to work out my price point.

Chicago has a different market than New York or LA. Acupuncture is still seen as a luxury here, and we can’t charge too much or people won’t bother.

I wanted to make sure my services were affordable, so that’s why we carry insurance. I hate accepting insurance because of administrative problems, but we do. I also created a membership model, so that people are incentivized to continue their care but locked in at a price point.

Our current membership costs $130 per month and includes a treatment, an infrared sauna session, 10% off all product purchases, a free gift for the first month, and membership fees for additional services. It’s month-to-month, so there’s no commitment or subscription fees. I felt that a young working professional could afford this price.

Opening a business related to Asian culture as a mixed Asian person has made some people nervous

After I opened Moon Rabbit during the outbreak, there was some fear and anti-Asian sentiment growing around foreigners.

My mother told me not to include “acupuncture” in the symptomatology. She feared that humans were targeting the Moon Rabbit. However, I felt that a big reason for becoming an acupuncturist and opening Moon Rabbit was to connect with my Asian heritage, ancestry and culture. So I proudly put my acupuncture on the mark and share my story.

It wasn’t until I was an adult that I realized how important my cultural identity as an Asian person was – it gave me purpose.