Today we’d like to introduce you to Jessica Frier
Hi Jessica, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
In September of 2016, after three years of graduate school, I became a licensed Acupuncturist with the state of Minnesota and opened my private practice in a small, rented room in Eagan where I shared a suite with a massage therapist and a chiropractor. I had a humble start to my career, but my goals were big. I wanted to help people feel better. Specifically, I wanted to help people who deal with chronic pain and reproductive issues find relief and a better quality of life.
Before starting graduate school to study East Asian medicine, I had considered nursing school, traditional medical school, chiropractic school, and other medical occupations. The reason I chose East Asian medicine was because I fell in love with how that medical system approaches health, wellness, and the human body. The belief that we are all a unique and complex system that is capable of innate healing was something that resonated strongly with me. I had used acupuncture and herbal medicine to help heal my own medical issues, and chronic pain so I had experienced it first hand.
Since opening my private practice, I have expanded from one treatment to three, and a long the way I connected with a strong group of practitioners in the Eagan area that are committed to promoting health and healing. Over the years, I have learned that chronic pain is complex and the people who deal with it on a daily basis need support not only physically, but often mentally and emotionally, too. Pain is something that impacts us on all three levels, not just the physical. This knowledge has shifted how I approach client care.
There are business realities of owning a private practice that include learning how to effectively market what I do while creating a healing space that makes people feel comfortable and confident in the services I offer. I spent a lot of time meeting other practitioners because I knew that oftentimes it takes a community of healers to help someone, not just me alone. And I invested a lot of time and money in advancing my skills and knowledge so that when I showed up for my clients, I was showing up as prepared as possible.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
No, the road has not been smooth. The first few years were hard simply because it is hard to start a business and grow it. There are so many things you don’t know, and you are just trying to survive the initial start up of our practice. As soon as I felt like I had hit a stride with my practice, Covid happened and that changed everything. Like so many private practices, I had to figure out how to keep my doors open, my clients and my team safe, and how to help the community. During Covid, many people were turning to acupuncture to help manage pain conditions because they simply did not have access to their normal care providers and they needed alternatives. After Covid calmed down, I decided to expand my practice and that expansion was a huge, 3-year project that presented new challenges every day.
Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
Birchwood Acupuncture & Bodywork specializes in chronic pain, reproductive health, stress/anxiety management, and trauma healing. The services provided are acupuncture, clinical herbal medicine, functional medicine, and abdominal therapy. Birchwood approaches health and healing from a whole person perspective which means that we try to support the physical, mental, and emotional aspects of healing. People are complex, and the services we offer are complementary to traditional Western medicine to help support health and healing.
The services we offer are highly specialized services that require extensive training and are meant to work with traditional Western interventions for an integrated approach to healing. Every person has a unique care plan based on their health goals, current medication/treatment plan, and specific condition.
What I am most proud of from a branding perspective is that Birchwood has become synonymous with healing and helping. We are not just an acupuncture practice, we are a place of healing and part of the community of healers.
If you had to, what characteristic of yours would you give the most credit to?
Tenacity, courage, and determination. Those three things are what I believe define every small business. I believe that authenticity has played a big role in my success as a practitioner.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.birchwoodacu.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/birchwood_acu/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/birchwoodacu
- Other: https://birchwoodacu.janeapp.com/
