Darlene Earl
Darlene didn’t want an assembly line massage practice
After working in an office for 17 years, Darlene was well aware of all the things that weren’t working for her: sitting all day, doing work she didn’t love, and a repetitive strain injury from all that time at her desk. Her doctor told her she had carpal tunnel syndrome and wanted her to have surgery. Darlene wasn’t on board with that.
Her symptoms didn’t match her understanding of carpal tunnel. She talked to her massage therapist about it. Her therapist did an assessment and determined it was thoracic outlet syndrome. After treating her shoulder, the numbness and tingling in her hand went away. Turns out, there was no reason to do surgery on her wrist.
Shortly after that, Darlene decided it was time for a career change. She wanted to change her lifestyle and start doing work that made a difference in people’s lives. She became a massage therapist in 2007.
Darlene started working for a chiropractor. He treated the kind of patients she felt inspired to help. However, it became apparent that the only way she could treat and care for patients the way she saw fit was to open her own practice.
In 2009, Darlene started her own business as a solo-practitioner, where she took her time with people, got to know them, and treated them as individuals. It didn’t take long to build a clientele because her approach was genuine, and she delivered results. Unfortunately, leasing a space for her business long-term was a challenge.
After establishing her business at one location, her landlord decided not to renew the lease because he had different plans for the building. So, she relocated her business. Another landlord sold the building she was leasing, forcing her to relocate again. Constantly relocating isn’t a good business strategy.
Despite relocating multiple times, Darlene had a steady stream of clients. Her schedule was packed, and she was booked out 4-6 weeks. This was a big problem for her clients, even though they were willing to wait.
It’s become commonplace for patients to have to wait weeks or months to get in to see their doctors, dentists, and therapists. There’s nothing healing about that, and Darlene didn’t want to contribute to that culture. She was determined to eliminate that problem in her practice.
She purchased an old house in the historic district of her hometown and renovated it. She turned it into a massage clinic with 5 treatment rooms, which allowed her to open her doors to other massage therapists. Instead of hiring employees, she created a co-working space for massage therapists. This provided an opportunity for therapists to work for themselves within a supportive shared workspace.
In 2009, Darlene started her own business as a solo-practitioner, where she took her time with people, got to know them, and treated them as individuals. It didn’t take long to build a clientele because her approach was genuine, and she delivered results. Unfortunately, leasing a space for her business long-term was a challenge.
After establishing her business at one location, her landlord decided not to renew the lease because he had different plans for the building. So, she relocated her business. Another landlord sold the building she was leasing, forcing her to relocate again. Constantly relocating isn’t a good business strategy.
Despite relocating multiple times, Darlene had a steady stream of clients. Her schedule was packed, and she was booked out 4-6 weeks. This was a big problem for her clients, even though they were willing to wait.
It’s become commonplace for patients to have to wait weeks or months to get in to see their doctors, dentists, and therapists. There’s nothing healing about that, and Darlene didn’t want to contribute to that culture. She was determined to eliminate that problem in her practice.
She purchased an old house in the historic district of her hometown and renovated it. She turned it into a massage clinic with 5 treatment rooms, which allowed her to open her doors to other massage therapists. Instead of hiring employees, she created a co-working space for massage therapists. This provided an opportunity for therapists to work for themselves within a supportive shared workspace.
This business model allowed Darlene to reach her goal of helping more people. Massage clients can get an appointment when they need one, without waiting weeks for the therapy they need today. Plus, she’s helping massage therapists succeed in the business and reach their full potential. What’s more, when therapists are responsible for their clientele, they care more and deliver the kind of customer service Darlene’s reputation is built on.
Technology has evolved quite a bit since Darlene opened her business. Back in the day, massage therapists relied on CDs and MP3 players for music in their treatment rooms. Scheduling software existed, but it wasn’t great back then.
Through the years, Darlene used a handful of different booking systems before finding ClinicSense. The other software was ok, but ClinicSense was (and still is) a league ahead of other options.
Customer service is the cornerstone of Darlene’s business. It’s essential that her booking software is really easy for clients to use. That’s more important to Darlene than anything. With ClinicSense, even her 80-year-old clients have no trouble booking online. It’s that easy. Plus, ClinicSense has excellent customer service, which you don’t get from a lot of software companies.
Change is challenging, and Darlene wasn’t looking forward to changing software again. ClinicSense helped her with the transition and made it easy. Her apprehensiveness quickly disappeared as she realized she finally found a keeper.
Today, Darlene anxiously awaits the new features that are constantly coming down the pipeline. Turning customer requests into easy-to-use features is what ClinicSense does best. The software just keeps getting better.
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