My Taiji performance from 2009 Canadian Nationals. Post Up.

Alright so I got to thinking today while I was walking snoopy about what I hope happens by the end of the month. Then I started thinking well what about in a few months, in a year, two years etc. etc.
So here it is a small list of goals I would like to accomplish. Relating to business and financial security mostly.

Start planning.

Soon – End of the Month
I start at the clinic Tuesday and by the end of the month here are some things I would like.

• Money to pay bills off
  
• Have Business cards spread around.
• Gain 10 Clients
• Organize
  
• add to RMTCanada.com

Short term
In the short term I’ve broken it down over the next few months. Hopefully setting some obtainable goals for myself.
End of October

• Gain 5-10 more Clients
• Pay off  Visa
• RMTCanada finished
• New Business cards
  

End of the Year (Nov & Dec)

• Gain 5-10 more clients each month
• More advertising, flyers, pamphlets
  
• Pay off Mastercard
• Winterize car
• Money for Xmas/go home

Mid Term
The next few years.

1 Year

• steady, healthy pool of clients
• newsletter
  
• Clear 50k
• pay off bulk of Student Loan
• Apartment
• improve car/new car?

2-3 Years

• Condo/small house
• strong clinical practice 3-4x a week with no need for outside part time
• Savings, RRSP ?, TSFA ?, Stock ?

Long Term
What I will try to slowly work towards. Slowly adding, removing and checking off renewed short term goals and refining as I go.

5 years

• Own a clinic.
• strong savings and investment

10 years
so far ahead I wouldn’t even know but some dreams

• Multiple buisnesses
• Build brand/corp. name
• Post up.

Future Me.

So I’ve fallen behind again. In the weeks since I’ve posted last, there have been a few things finished on the car. The rust on the trunk has been sanded away, primed, and painted. After much fighting with the Fuel filter, it has been replaced and is saving my gas economy. And I had to get some work done by a pro. Tonights post will be about the Fuel Filter, and the shop work.

The Fuel Filter

I decided it would be a good idea to change the fuel filter as part of my tune up that i had started before. It was looking old and so I don’t imagine it is as efficient, and they are pretty cheap. Might as well spend the $30, look at a service book and do it myself and save the money in gas consumption by increasing the economy and efficiency of my fuel system. So far sounds good. Looks easy enough to do. But frustrated me madly.

Before I show the step by step of how I did it I will save some space. My initial attempt was a pure failure. I had completed all the necessary steps to removing the filter except the actual removing. The Filter was rusted onto the line so hard I could not under any amount of reasonable force get it off. I was pissed. So I bought some Liquid Wrench and soaked the joint.

Liquid Wrench: Biggest time and frustration saver!

So now that I can actually remove the filter, heres how I did it step by step.

The Removal Process…twice.

1. remove the fuel cap

2. Remove neg battery cable

3. Loosen the Service Bolt

4. Cover with a shop towel when loosening

5. Release the Banjo Bolt

6. Remove the clamp bracket

With the clamp Removed.

7. Remove the Fuel Filter

1. First remove your fuel cap. This helps release pressure in the system so you don’t get sprayed in the face with gasoline when you take the bolts off the filter.
2. Remove the negative battery cable.
3. The Service bolt sits on top of the rest of the structure and allows you to release pressure from the system before attempting to remove the filter.
4. When you go to release the service bolt make sure the area is covered with a shop towel as gasoline will leak. You don’t want it on your hands and you definitely don’t want it anywhere on the battery.
5. Once the service bolt is off and pressure is released the Banjo Bolt comes out. The Banjo bolt hods the gas out line to the filter and gas travels through the center of the bolt, again when removing the bolt see #4.
6. The filter is held in place by a bracket, remove the bracket… easier said then done as the bolt is at the back of the filter in a very tight space. Frustration ensues but will eventually come off.
7. This step the first time got me no where. After using trusty Liquid Wrench and allowing it to soak into the joint the job was much easier. Use a wrench to hold the fuel line in place and unscrew the filter from the line.

First Install

Old vs. New Part Source filter

So here we have the new filter I picked up from Part Source for $35. Not bad as it will save me some gas and help the car run better. Following the steps in the reverse order I re-installed the fuel filter. After much fighting to get it back into the bracket I put the new washers seemingly in place tightened everything up, replaced the battery cable and replaced the fuel cap. Pumped the gas line to avoid a haaaard start and at first nothing… Re-tighten the bolts and start. Success…almost.
There was lots and lots of gas leaking from the filter. at first from the bottom near the gas-line, re-tighten. Then I noticed leaking from the top near the banjo bolt.

Leaky P.O.S.

After fighting with it for 45 minutes I gave up defeated. I replaced the old filter and called Acura the next day.

Second Install

After a trip to the Acura dealership I had another new, cheaper, filter in a Honda OEM bag.

Acura Filter

So I took the filter out of the bag and had a look at it. Compared it with the filter from Part Source and noticed a difference. The Acura filter had a divot where the washers would sit, the part source filter had a ridge. Strange. So again I dismantle the old filter and have a look. Lo’ and behold the old filter has a divot. Now I understand why my Part Source filter was leaking. It was improperly made. The washers were unable to form a tight seal.

One of these things is not like the others...

Fuel Line waiting for a new filter

Acura filter on

New filter running with no leaks!

I put the second new filter on, tightened up only once, replaced all my caps and cables, primed the engine and turned it on. Voila no leaks!

The lesson learned here is dont “cheap out” if possible, go and buy OEM when possible for your tune ups.

Now that I’ve got the car safetied I decided since its a nice weekend the integra deserves some TLC.
I got new oil, Lucas oil stabilizer, Oil Filter, Anti-Freeze and Anti-Freeze Flush, Fuel Filter, and an Air Filter so I can give the car a nice tune up and have it running right for the soon to be nice weather.
Part 1 I did today and consisted of changing the air filter and oil/oil filter.

Because WordPress is only halfway functional 50% of the time the pictures follow the write ups. Sorry I probably coulve figured it out but it was frustrating me so you get this format for now.

First things first. (pic 1-2)

I had to jack the car up to get at the drain bolt to drain out the old oil. Never done this before so I asked Uncle Greg about placing the Jack Stands and then consulted my manual for how to Jack the car up in the first place. Worked out pretty well and had the car up and on stands in no time.
Air Filter.(pic 3-7)

Once I had the car up first thing I did was the air filter… which come to think of it could’ve been done without raising the car but whatever.
Removing the Air Box was pretty easy. There was three bolts easily taken off with a 5/16th ratchet. Then I just lifted the housing off the top of the box to get at the old air filter.The Old Air Filter was not too dirty. A little grey and some gunk build up. Last owner probably changed it last year, but it wasn’t bright white and I already had the replacement so I might as well replace it so that I know its done.
Before Installing the new Air Filter it seemed like a good idea to clean any debris out of the air box. Otherwise I’m just immediately dirtying a new filter with remnants. So out comes a wet rag to pick up the dirt and a dry rag to wipe it all down.

Now it gets messy. (8-15)

Ok with the easy stuff done now it moves on to still easy, but quite messy.

Having never changed my own oil before… or done anything myself to my car for that matter; this was a good learning experience as well as being messy. Leaving me and my driveway with some oil stains.

I got everything ready. Some wrenches for the Drain Plug, an oil pan to catch the old oil, gloves to keep my hands clean (sort of), shop towels, the new oil, new filter. All set.
Positioned the oil pan under the engine and went to work cautiously sliding under the car and undoing the bolt.
The oil drained nicely for 10minutes before I replaced the bolt.

I had to fish the plug back out of the black sludge in order to put it back in.With the drain plug back in place it was time to find the old oil filter so I could replace that… these things arent positioned in the most easy to reach place.I slid under the car and struggled for a few minutes to get at this oil filter and unscrew it. I wasn’t expecting as much oil to come out of it as there was. And so I almost got a nice splash of oil in the face. Luckily I was able to pull the oil pan into place and move out of the way before it happened.
I lubed the rim of the new filter and poured a small amount of new oil into the new filter then proceeded to put it in place.

Top Up. (pic 16-18)

With the messy part over all I had left to do was fill the engine back up with oil. 5W30 for the teg, and I also added some Lucas Oil Stabilizer. I’m sure everyone has seen this stuff, there is a display for it in every Canadian Tire and every autoshop. It lubricates the engine and helps the oil stay viscus longer prolonging the life of the oil and the engine. Sounds good to me. 20% Lucas, 80% oil and we’re on our way.

I ran the car for a few minutes then checked the dipstick. The red line is where the oil level was. The blue line is where it should be.  A little low so I topped it off then replaced the cap.

All done. (pic 19)

After this I ran the engine again and checked. Then removed the jack stands and lowered the jack… which happened a little faster than anticipated. I dont have the feel for lowering it slowly yet, but no harm just scared me.

Jack Placement

Jacked.

Removing the Air Box

Old Filter

Clean the Air Box

New Air Filter

New Air Filter Installed

Drain Plug location

Out comes the black oil

Old Oil (Black Sludge)

Drain Plug

Filter placement

Old Oil Filter

Free advertising

New Filter in place

refill oil

Free ad#2

low level

Cheers.

So I bought a 1994 Integra RS to replace my non-functioning 1993 Integra RS.

I was reassured when I bought the car the car needed nothing to be safetied it had only not been done because the seller had no time between posting the ad and my buying. So with that bit of confidence I bought the car. A few rust patches cosmetically, but it runs well and the interior is in good shape. It’s going to be a project car anyways so no worries about the rust.

Mr Teg 2.0

I brought the car Friday for its safety inspection so that I could get the sticker for my plates which currently hold a Temporary pass.
Unhappily the car failed the safety for a few reasons:
1. Right front wheel bearing needs to be replaced.
2. Licence Plate light must be mounted.
3. Rust in rear wheel well must be patched. Ministry says exhaust fumes can get into the cab from here.

Hole in rear wheel well

Un-mounted Licence Plate light

I was not too impressed with failing the safety. The shop will take care of the wheel bearing, but the other two jobs are up to me. So I took the chance and posted up for the first time as backyard mechanic.

Sunday 11am

I drove down to uncle gregs so I could use his grinder and sander on the rust spot. He pulled out the tools for me, set down a mat to lay on and I went to work. Having never used power tools, and having no confidence in using them I was a little worried I would mess up something. I peeled off the skirt moulding from the car so I could get to the side of the hole to make sure I had a complete patch… I found it was worse than expected. The rot out was carried back about a foot. I started sanding and some pieces fell away others crumbled and suddenly the hole was much bigger than anticipated.

The problem is bigger than expected

I spent almost an hour sanding with a bit inserted into the end of a drill. A small dremil bit, that worked…but worked slowly. By 12:30 I figured it was lunch time, having done a fairly thorough clean up job.

Lunch.

1:30pm

I got back to Uncle Gregs and set back to work. It was obvious I needed to do a little bit more and the Dremil wasn’t cutting it. So we hoisted the car up on the jack.

I decided to try my hand with the grinder to get the metal as clean as possible. Having never used a grinder I was a bit worried I might damage something, and so I’m glad Uncle Greg waited until after I was done with it to tell me horror stories of people getting injured with them.
I spent a short period of time grinding down the rust/metal until I saw silver. I wish I had used the grinder earlier as it was much quicker. A few more places had rust crumble out as I used it as well. It was decided that installing some new sheet metal into the areas that had been rotted out would be a much better idea than simply using bondo. So Uncle Greg measured and cut some pieces and I did the work of fitting them into the proper spaces.

Fresh sheet metal

Once we had the wheel well hole replaced as well as the rusted out area along the side of the rocker panel it all had to be grind down again in order to apply the fibreglass over so to completely cover up any possible holes.

Grindin'

Once that was all finished I was left to start mixing up the fibreglass resin and apply it. This stuff can be SERIOUSLY messy. I was lucky and had a pointer on a way of doing it much cleaner than how it is described in the instructions. They say to soak the fibreglass cloth in the resin. It works just as well and much cleaner to simply paint on some resin to the area, apply the cloth then paint a few more coats of resin on top taking the time to push the fibreglass into all the corners.

Fibreglass Resin Mix

Fibreglass applied

and the side

After applying the Fibreglass you have to let it cure and harden. It was cold today so this took quite a long time. Eventually I put a flood light on the area to bring some added heat to the area and speed up the process. While the fibreglass resin was hardening it was time to tackle the un-mounted light.

the Heat

3:30pm

I had no idea how to do this. I had a few ideas about mounting it but no idea if they would work. Especially since the screws from the OEM bracket were still rusted in place. Uncle Greg said maybe we could make something and to try drilling out the screws. So I took a drill to the screws not knowing what to expect.
3/4 of the screws came out from being attacked by the drill. Good enough.
Next a makeshift mount was created for the light… for which the housing is a little messed so I may be going to honda to get the part replaced.

the make-shift mount and light

I took this and mounted it into the rear bumper while Uncle Greg went to work on drilling some holes in the finally cured fibreglass so we could re-install the side-skirt.

The light finished.

4:30pm

I went through and sprayed the rocker panel and area with some rust inhibitor, making sure to stick it into the screw holes to get the inside metal as well before re-installing the side skirt. Everything looked good, holes were drilled. But initially we thought they didn’t line up, after playnig with it a minute we got it to fit perfectly.
Both jobs finished, wheel back on, jack down, clean up by 5:15pm.

All done and back together

I’m going to use my blog to track the goings on with Project [!iN]tegra as it evolves bit by bit. So stay up.

This morning on the bus ride to work I was bored and suddenly the urge to blog came over me. Sadly my swiss army knife of phones, the blackberry bold, doesn’t have internet access unless I am close to an open wifi hot spot. I started thinking about things I could write about and instead of blogging emailed sophie about them. The Bold is still useful it seems.

Lately I’ve been thinking about saving my money. Better yet, investing my money for some returns on my saving. I’ve been googling, facebook messaging and I even bought MoneySense magazine because the cover screamed at me after the night before I was thinking about RRSP’s. The cover read, “Rebuild your RRSP” with the letters RRSP in big bold font covering most of the picture. I’ve read much of the magazine on a subsequent bus ride and it got me even more into the investor suit. So this morning while I am bored on the bus thinking of things I could be blogging about had I had internet access, and in my investor mind set i noticed. iPod, iPod, iPod everywhere. Nearly everyone on the bus had some version of the iPod. Even as they left the bus another person came on with an iPod to replace the recently vacated place in my running count of who had one. No less than 70% of the bus riders at any given point had an iPod.
Guy beside me, iPod touch. Fat guy across from me iPod nano, which looked very small in his meat slab hands. Slightly odd woman beside him ,classic iPod.
Now that is a saturated market. The iPod has been resistant to any kind of racial, social or monetary block. People from all walks of life invariably have an iPod. 10 years ago when Apple was in the toilet who would have thought a music player would save them and give them PC like control over the portable device market.

What an investment that would have been. Buy into Apple at rock bottom prices then watch your money balloon into some sort of B-movie like monster because of a credit card sized device that holds and sorts your music and is portable enough to bring your entire library with you wherever you go. It may sound like I’m an iPod fan-boy, but the fact is i love my 5th generation iPod. I would’ve loved it even more if I had the funds and foresight 10 years ago to invest heavily in Apple.

As I continue to think about investing, I realize the time may becoming to jump in and get my feet wet and my dollars working. I suppose alot of it is chance, alot of it is luck and alot of it is research which you hope leads you into a chance with luck.

I sent off my email to Sophie after ranting about all the iPods then put my phone down. The lady beside the fat guy across from me was pulling out her blackberry. The girl in the row behind me had one too. Maybe its time to start prospecting future RIMs.

Wow so far behind…
I’m slow at updating apparently. Despite my effort to put blogging on my blackberry to-do list, which up to this point has been very helpful in organizing and getting things done.

Aside from the obvious lag in putting up a new blog post weekly my productivity has actually increased. I’ve started reading 7 Habits of Highly Effective People and it is motivating me to be even more proactive. I’m still reading the first habit at 40 pages in, about 1/5th of the book. Be Proactive. Yes. I’m trying and steadily I see my proactive actions increasing, maybe I will be effective soon. Which I guess implies I have been ineffective as whole up to this point. I don’t agree, I’ve been lazy. Completely, blissfully lazy; but not ineffective. So this new effectiveness is exciting.

The results are in. The polls show Burberry. Lo and behold I chose Burberry, and some other pair. 2 for 1 glasses through the pinoy connection. Hahaha.
Both frames are nice with varying levels of fanciness. Burberry are the nicer and will be worn for outings where i need to look nice and for work. The other pair, for everyday activities and wushu and random roaming around.

I haven’t actually used FB in a long time. But then again I think the hype has died down for everyone since I was mostly only on there for other people.

My new game of choice is Left4Dead. If your computer can run it then get it! and lets destroy zombies together. Its too intense to miss out.

The teg is coming back!
I realised the other day that I miss driving my Integra. I drove it around for five minutes since it has been sitting in the driveway for a few months. I inadvertently snapped the slider pin for my calipers. But my bros. will be able to fix it this weekend easily. Next step and hopefully soon is to fix my clutch, or whatever the problem actually might be. I assume clutch because I’m having trouble shifting. But it could just as easily be the clutch cable or pressure plate. I’m not a mechanic so am clueless about this matter. Except to say it needs to be fixed. I’m kind of eager to get the Teg on the road again. Its fun to drive. The thought of upgrading it excites me too. I spend lots of time looking at parts when I get the urge, even if I never do anything from it.

Taxes are done! 2008 taxes, cheers!
I get a return, and GST. Hurray. Into savings with you.

So now you’re caught up, no I just need to keep up.

I’m in search of new glasses!
Mine we’re lost on Sunday Febuary 1st, 2009 due to a freak accident with some lions and a porkchop named drOf. R.I.P.

I can’t decide, and sophie is helping me choose. But I thought it would be interesting to put pictures of them up here and see what the internet concensus is.

Nike

The Nike frames.  I like these ones. Similar to my last pair of glasses I suppose. What sells me on them is the fact that they are made of the flexible material. Good for me seeing as how i fall asleep with my glasses on fairly frequently.

Burberry

Burberry frames. Saw these ones last. The only Burberry frames that fit my face properly, the others the lens was too wide for my skinny head. I like these. Pretty sexy. But im not completely sold on the semi-rim.

Armani and my Berry

The only nice Armani glasses that look ok on me, or suit my face at all. Fuck. There is too many of these thick frame, thick arm, metro glasses now a days. Im not that metro, and im not asian, they dont work for me. These Armani looked alright tho. The frame is a little dark, so thats what has me stuck on these ones.

So there we go, the three frames I saw at a shop tonight that caught my attention. My appointment is Friday to have my prescription test so after that I have to make a decision.

Nike 2 from clearlycontacts.ca

Nike frames from a website. I like these. and again they are flexible material. But I can’t try them on which has me stumped abit.

Michael Kors

Another from the website. Sophie likes these. I think they are nice but arent totally sold on how they would look for me.

What do you think? I’ll add a poll and check the results after. Highest number wins. I won’t necessarily get them, but it will influence my decision.

Plus drOf is paying so the price point between all of these doesnt matter LMAO.

So its a New Year…again.
This time for the Chinese/Asian peeps.
If you’re involved in the celebrations this is the longest most tiring weekend of your entire year without a doubt. Its all about shows and demonstrations for lucky pockets and sometimes undeserving crowds. Nothing like working your ass off for little to no applause because the audience is apathetic. They arent grateful for your performance its just something that they expect will happen, so why should they have to applaud? Jerks.

As always Lunar New Year is a hustle and bustle but not as bad as in previous years with the exception of monday and tuesday; but in retrospective of past celebrations they still weren’t bad. There is always a few things that happen over chinese new year and this year was no exception. For starters I was the driver of a fully opertional Nissan Quest, nicknamed the MKmobile. Got to blast some korean musics that I found on Saturday night. Everyone who made their way into the van over the weekend heard it including some people that weren’t in the van. Courtesy of us driving around with the windows down blasting the stereo full volume for everyone to hear. The reason for this: the music is so upbeat and happy sounding in a rediculous so bad its funny kind of way. So if you heard crazy korean music coming from a Nissan Quest this weekend around highway 7 in markham or downtown Toronto. Hi.

The van was a non-stop source of strange occurances. On Saturday night some guy hit us…but didn’t hit us. Our Quest got rear-ended while at a red light. He insisted he didnt “hit us” cause he put his car in gear and “it jumped forward, the transmission jumped”. So to be clear, he still hit us. This is evident by the fact that the trunk no longer opens, which he claims couldnt have been his fault. To which I reply that he clearly did hit me as a piece of paint is chipped off my trunk and a piece of his plastic bumper is still resting ontop of my bumper. I handed him the piece of plastic to put his lies to rest. Then he tried to scare me away from getting his info, “well if you want my information I think we should call the cops and do it that way.”  I don’t think he initially realised he is at fault since he hit me so, fuck do I care? So I told him “ok yea call them then”. *pause…look at phone….volunteer information* sorry your scare-tactic backfired.

Had a run in with the law as well thanks to Dexter. I told him on Sunday to wear his seatbelt because I dont want a ticket. Then Tuesday night after all the demo’s are done and we’re headed home a BIKE COP pulls us over because Dexter wasn’t wearing his belt.
Lucky for us he only gave a warning otherwise a loss of demerit points from my licence due to Dexter’s negligence would have ruined my entire CNY experience.

I ran into sifu’s discount van. Twice. With him in it.

Trying to back out of a tight fit in a korean van with an oversized discount van behind you is bound to result in a bumper car game between the two drivers. I backed out and nudged gently. Ooops. Tried a few maneuvers. Then backed out and HIT the car.

“well atleast i dont think sifu is in there”
“yes he is. I see him. He’s looking at us. He looks confused”
“Oh…hahahahahaahahahah”

My face was bashed by a box leaving a nice scratch/cut. My shin was cut by a lion pole. My ankle was cut by a lion bridge. My elbow and leg/hip are sore from falling trying to do a maneuver with the dragon and falling onto hard concrete while trying to keep the dragon pole in the air so not to ruin the show. My back was sore and dying, my butt sore, my hamstrings crying out for relief. The physical joys of being a performer this time of year.

The weekend was long and tiring and left me sore but I always look forward to this time of year. Of course I dont look forward to doing more demo’s soon after we’re done; but by April I’m looking forward to the New Year again. Its always interesting and between the shows we always have fun. There is always good stories afterwords and things to reminisce over later. Its nice to hear the applause and be caught at the center of what is a tense moment for the crowd wondering and watching as we get the lettuce and bless them with a happy new year. It’s nice to have a big group and see people come in from else where to help out. Sometimes its even fun to have the late nights, although at the time you just want to go home. All the lion dancing and demonstrations are good times when you get to spend it with your friends and extended family, so for that reason I post up.

Kung hai fat choi, ricers.

Today’s post is more of a way for me to jot down some ideas and have some place to keep them so I don’t lose them in the future when I may need them. So if you lose interest after a few lines I won’t hold it against you.

I’ve been thinking recently about marketing, mostly marketing a service business i.e. a therapy clinic. I don’t plan on working for someone else my whole life and the more and more I think about it the more I would like to have my own clinic some day. Not just for massage, I would like at some point in the future to open a full multi-disciplinary clinic. With that in mind I’ve started to try and build my knowledge of the business world. I’m in no rush as I would prefer to build some experience and base of knowledge before venturing into owning my own practice again. I’ve learned from my mistakes and now its time to learn before the mistakes. I figure if I start thinking about it now and planning and researching at leisure then when the time comes I will be much more prepared and able to handle myself.

In the previous blog I mentioned getting myself away from procrastinating and getting things more organized. This I think will be the first major hurdle to over come, and one that I can start chipping away at right now so when the time comes it is no longer an issue standing in my way. Experience doesnt worry me as far as massage goes because as I work that will build on its own, and I enjoy learning new techniques and avenues for massage in practice. The thing I have been thinking about and trying to form ideas for is marketing. How do I market myself as a service within the confines of the strict College rules for advertising. I’ve been brainstorming as of late because traditional advertising tactics while starting to show don’t work well in general anymore, really don’t work well for health based services such as Massage or Chiropractic. Thus new approaches are necessary. Like I said this blog is about getting these idea’s down for myself, and are not the only ways I expect to market, I don’t even know if they will work at all, this is just a way for me to get them down somewhere so they are not forgotten.

Introduction letters – mail out introduction letters to Doctors, health practitioners and insurance agents in the area. Personalized letter detailing briefly how massage therapy fits within the health community and how a relationship could benefit them, with a gift-certificate so they may come into the office and have a massage for themself.

website – working on this already… yeaa… well the hope is that it will become an area for prospective clients to read up on what we’re(the clinic) is about. Information on massage and other tid-bits of information. A working website will be key in the future which is why I think working on it now to get it up with as much content and fine tuning as I can. Then it isnt so much of a worry when I do actually need it.

Not-for profit organizations - I would volunteer massage services for on-site fund raisers/events for various non-profit organizations in the area. A good way to give back and network while offering up “sample” services in the form of short massages and handing out business cards/information. There would also be the opportunity of showing up in their newsletters and what-not. As an adjunct to this in the clinic I would like to have a wall board dedicated to issues/organizations people find important. This would let people feel like they are interacting within the clinic instead of just showing up, it also allows for greater networking and building the clinics image as a caring organization.
also
donating gift certificates to charities for raffles. Or holding promotions where a percentage of a gift certificate purchase would go to a charity or non-profit.

Welcome wagon – these services run in most mid to large size cities. Include a small welcome gift that relates to your business with the name and number stamped on it to be given out to new residents. I know people who have been involved before and seen decent returns, potentially a good starter.

Chamber of commerce – join it. I need to work on my networking skills in the next few years. Chambers hold frequent get togethers where members can meet and exchange business cards and learn about each other. Not only could this be a source of clients or referrals but could also be a bonus when I’m searching for some other business need.

Articles - somewhat of a long shot, but I’d be interested at trying my hand at writing articles. Related to massage therapy and health of course for local papers/magazines. Becoming a local “expert” would only serve to be good for business. I give people a little bit of golden health information and the address, phone # of the clinic. I’ll start with newsletters/articles for the website and see if im suited for it.

Sports – getting involved in some facet with a local sports organization would bolster the number of athletes coming into the clinic. I don’t know in what way or fashion yet, but the possibilities are there.

co-workers – once I open a practice, if I can open a complete clinic I would need to staff it. Finding the right people with various health practice backgrounds would be key. Those who would work well together to find the best courses of treatment and eager to build a thriving clinic.

Thats about it for now. As more ideas come I’ll be sure to jot them down in here to keep an on-going tally of my ideas and schemes. Check back in 10 years to see which ones worked well and which were a flop.