Today is March 24, 2022… 8 years and 1 day. Damn.
Geez… it’s been a long time since I first officially opened the Cathedraltown Health Clinic. Time seriously flies by when you’re having fun and busy… but the COVID-19 pandemic actually really slowed things down for me and I really got time to reflect on the past 8 years.
Honestly, when I talk to my patients I tell them of my story and what I had dreamed of when I first graduated from chiropractic college in 2012. I had applied to a job out in Singapore (my favourite place in the world), but that didn’t pan out. I then looked out west to Calgary, Vancouver, Portland or Seattle, but my roots were here in Toronto and I wanted to be close to family because that was important to me. So I decided to stay and look for a position as an associate. I never dreamt of owning my own practice. I just wanted to be an associate, be a doctor, treat my patients, make a pay cheque, go home and enjoy my life. So I did just that for about 2 years and with some luck and the current circumstances at the time… I found myself to become a business owner and running my own practice. Never would have dreamt that I would have done that.
It was exciting coming up with a logo, a clinic name, business cards, buying equipment, furnishing the space and coming up with plans to build this practice that I now own. I was excited, but super fearful of it because I’ve never ran or owned a business before. It was all just so new to me.
I remember the first open house that I had done. It was a Sunday afternoon after church service and I came back to get things ready with my parents. We were going to heat up some light hor’deuvres with some drinks. We even had a raffle for a supplement package that Kenny (the amazing help with this awesome website) and his wife Charlotte had won. Keiko my Shiba Inu puppy was the star of the day. We had people from church, friends, family, other business owners, and people from the neighbourhood show up for my open house. It was a success in my opinion! Good food, good people, good chats - what more could I ask for?
You know building a business and being a doctor… are two completely different things. In school they train you to become a doctor, but they don’t train you on how to build and run a business. So I was starting to figure that out. I just did my open house and it was relatively successful! So now I have to starting to implement my plan to build this practice and to run a business. Honestly, there was a lot of failed ideas, but a lot of successful ideas as well. I’ve tried running groups. I’ve volunteered at sport events and charities. I’ve offered raffles. I’ve done flyers. I’ve done tote bags. I’ve done newsletters. I’m working on increasing my social media presence by blogging, posting on IG and eventually Youtube. I’m still figuring things out even after 8 years.
Despite all the successes and failures, I do want to point out a lot of memorable moments throughout these 8 years. Here we go:
Helping an aspiring patient get onto the police force back in 2015 and actually having him show up at the clinic when my clinic windows shattered setting off my alarms. Happy to see that he was able to achieve his dreams of making it on the police force
Creating memorable friendships with patients and just helping them and their families and in someways going through life with them.
Always being grateful to patients who drop off lunches or even a coffee for me on their appointment days
Grateful for being able to help out at the Toronto PanAm Games and being able to treat international athletes
Patients supporting me in my personal growth to bike from Toronto to Niagara Falls, climb Mt Kilimanjaro and to see the world
Patients sadly telling me that they’ve decided to move back home to be closer to family
Obviously, I’m not going into specifics, but those memories really come to mind as I’m writing this. I’m extremely thankful for every patient that has decided to give me a chance to help them out or someone close to them. I obviously wouldn’t be here at this stage of my life without those patients. It’s been 8 years of building this clinic with lots of ups and downs, but I’m really grateful for being able to be in this position that I am in right now. I never dreamt that owning a business would allow me to create all these memories.
So for the rest of the day in between patients, I’m still reminiscing about the past 8 years and all the things that have happened. I’m grateful for everyone who’s stepped through those clinic doors and allowed me to be part of their life in whatever capacity. So thank you and I’m looking forward to build this practice for the next 8, 10, 20, 30 years.
If you got a spare 30 seconds check out the photo compliation I scrounged up on my IG: @drkevinkwlee_chiro