Why Hypnotherapists Don’t Make Money – and What To Do About It.

There are a suspected 20,000 hypnotherapists in the UK. Or rather there are 20,000 people who have been trained as hypnotherapists and around 160 who make their lifestyle supporting money from it.

I’m steadfastly ignoring why some people spend thousands of Pounds, Dollars, Euro’s, Yen and goats; and days, weeks, months and in some cases years, to learn something and get certified just to use their embossed certification as draw lining. Or maybe they’ll get it framed and hang it strategically to hide the blood spot on the wall by the widow that is the only reminder of their kamikaze pet budgie’s final flight for freedom.

I really am making this up as I go along but I’m basing it on my own observations and experience which is at least as reliable as any other numbers out there. Of those thousands of people about half have a practice and of those maybe half again make money enough that you could call them professional.

Actually lets apply the Perato principal which loosely interpreted means that 80% of a result comes from 20% of the effort. Originally applied to economics in 1902 you’d think it didn’t apply to the humane and empowering change work of the therapist. But it does, it applies to everything. So 20% of “Trained” hypnotherapists work as some sort of therapist or coach, and 80% do other stuff.

As people often tell me on my Masterclasses, they just like learning, or as one guy said, “What else would I be doing on a Saturday? Lets just say that some people are course-aholics and leave it at that.

So a quick go on the old calculator tells us that if there are 20,000 trained hypnotherapists, then only 4,000 actually are running a business. And as you can re-apply the Perato principal, then only 800 of those actually make money enough to be called professional and only around 160 are actually making any real money.

Of course You didn’t get into hypnotherapy to make money did you? You got into it to help people, to leave your mark and assist your friends, family and to help the girl you were talking to in the cafe have pain free childbirth. You think money isn’t the point and anyway your partner, your full-time job, your pension or your inheritance and investments support you so you don’t need to charge. Or at least you don’t charge much, just a little to supplement or to make the recipient of your ministrations feel they have made a commitment.

Great! Your altruism and service to your community is commendable beyond badges, gold rosettes, ribbons and sword patted shoulders. And you are one of the two main reasons the average poor clinical hypnotherapy practice has to keep it’s charges down to compete in business where 80% of it’s artisans are not there to earn a living.

That is the major reason of any business in which the part timers outnumber the pros being tough to make money from, the other major reason of course is that of those 800 who do need to uphold or build on their lifestyle by actually earning more than a thank you card is that they themselves are are bad at business. And I don’t care if you are the best, most empathetic or genius hypnotherapist in the world, if you are bad at the business of being in business you will remain outside of the 160.

It always makes me smile when I’m reading some of the groups and forums that abound on the InterWeb and see the questions asked by the newly ‘Qualified’. One such prompted me to write this missive this week, and I see this one all the time.

“I have spent thousands getting my qualifications and now I really need to get that money back. Have any of the more established hypnosis practitioners here got any ideas?”

Of course the usual litany of stuff comes back. “Advertise you do Stop Smoking and Loose Weight Hypnosis or Hypnotherapy.” Get in touch with the local press… sadly most of that is from the part-timers who have never actually done any of that and don’t even have a website. Not even a free one.

But you know the thing that seems Most obvious is never advised, until now that is. And not only is it the most obvious step to take but the easiest. If you spend 5,000 on hypnosis training, spend the same on A: Running a business training or better yet, B: hire someone to do it for you who knows what they are doing.

I know there are some schools out there that will give you advice on how to make money in the field of change work and clinical hypnotherapy. But they are few and far between, mainly because the reason they are training is they don’t make enough money in practice. Many don’t actually ‘practice’ at all, including yours truly but we’ll come to that in a minute.

So what to do about it?

Well first off if you live in the UK go to your local Business Link. They run simple classes on everything from basic book-keeping to marketing and will tell you all about your local networking organisations and give you contacts. If you are not in the UK ask around for the address of your local Chamber of Commerce or check in the library to see what small business schemes might be running in your city or town.

Don’t do a marketing course to launch a business. Hire a local advertising company or PR person. The more you can pay the better you will get but be careful. As with hypnosis there are lots of them and many are partner supported part-timers. Get someone with some connections, easy enough to prove, ask for a referral on the local radio or news desk. If they don’t have that sort of connection don’t use them.

Run a group session introducing yourself and what you can do. This couldn’t be easier nowadays. Use Facebook networks or local groups on Twitter and Linked-in or Ecademy and get a group going for your area. Run a local get together and meet potential clients and referrers.

Finally my best advice is specialise. Offer a single service or ‘method’ aimed at getting rid of of putting in place 1 single thing. I for instance specialised as a stage hypnotist and now specialise as an Edutainer. That doesn’t mean you won’t get all the other stuff as well, but it does mean you can double your charge and on a personal level it means you will get very good at it, trust me on that one.

Look at Paul McKenna specialising in “Thin”, or Kevin Hogan who for years specialised in “Tinnitus”.

I don’t ‘practice’ hypnotherapy, and I don’t teach it either. I teach hypnosis method and artistry more than how to get a piece a wall hanging to stop people shuddering when you tell them why the red splat on the wall belonged to someone who used to swing from a perch asking the world in general “Who’s a Pretty Boy Then?”

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Can Hypnosis Make you Happy?

The big question is this. Has hypnosis got any value as an experience itself or is it just the actual stuff done with words or symbols or neuro-re-framing-linguistic-cognitive-conversational-psychotherapy that ends up with you feeling better?

I’m of a mind that being cut off from physical reality and being allowed to experience nothing more than, well, experience, is itself the major factor in what we hypnotists do. It’s a mental floatation chamber.

That’s right. It isn’t what we do inside the hypnosis, important as that is, that makes all the difference. It’s the hypnosis and the hypnotized state itself.

Now if you go along to my website and sign up to my mailing list, I put out a daily dose, or maybe that should be a daily doze for some people? In that easy to read one or two lines of hypnotic experience usually inspired by a question asked on one of my many in-boxes. Last week I put this out.

“Hypnos is the God of healing as well as sleep. Hypnosis = healing sleep.

In some cases it is just the experience of being ‘hypnotised’ that does the job.

So make it an EXPERIENCE for them.”
The story goes that in the depths of time the architect of the great pyramid ImHotep, and the ancient Egyptian who gave his name to the bandage wrapped zombi in the Mummy movies, is also credited with running “Dream Clinics”. Apparently they worked like this. You entered the halls where in you were placed into a dream state and basically left there until you were better. Then you were wakened and sent on your way.

Notice you were “Placed into a dream state”. A very common thing to happen throughout ancient history often brought about by drugs or being hit on the head with something heavy strapped to a handle. Both of which were frowned upon by ImHotep who preferred to talk and chant you into what could very well be the first recorded state of hypnosis. That is the state induced, which means to bring about, by another person.

okay so sometimes he would leave the hypnotee in there for days, or even weeks. Presumably bringing them out long enough to do what must be done to aid not passing over to the next world like filling the body at one end and emptying it at the other.

But the interesting thing was this, nothing else was done to remove, restore, change or in anyway therapy them.

I did do it once for a client who had enjoyed being under so much at a local corporate event I performed at that he came and saw me every month for what he called his “Battery Recharge”. Basically I zapped him and went and made myself a cup of tea for 20 minutes while the hypnosis did the job. I have also doe this more recently for some people on Skype with wonderful effect. It’s almost like a hypnotic holiday.

So Hypnosis gave us the idea of respite being an amazing healer. Maybe that’s where the old saying that “Sleep is great healer” comes from.

So can being just profoundly and regularly hypnotised make you happy? I think so.

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The Hypnotist Radio show

The first Hypnotist Radio show got amazing feed back from the listener and several ‘Cease and Desist’ orders. On one blog Anthony Jacquin called us the Pete and Dud of hypnosis. Reg and I are still arguing who is who. It’s now available as a podcast on iTunes – just search the iTunes store for “The Hypnotist” under podcasts. It’s free and plays on anything anywhere and any when.

Or you can get it by going to the homepage HERE and listen.

This week the show moves to Sunday 4th April at 7pm British Summer Time, that’s UTC/GMT +1 which will probably be it’s permanent place.

Celebrity guest co-host Reg Blackwood is under canvas, that’s canvas not Kansas, so won’t be with us live but he’s recorded a new section where he takes a close look at the world of hypnosis training and practice in ‘Reg’s Rant‘ – he may not be nice but he should be amusing.

I’ll be talking to Online Hypnosis Mentor from the USA Jeff Stephens about his hypnosis and won’t even mention his online Video Workshop in The Hypnotist Interview.

There’s “the BIG question“, this week I coach you how to hypnotically find your ideal prospect.

The “Sleep With Strangers” call in and live chat where you could earn a prize, a “Force Be With You” or a “Get a Life”.

And I”l be introducing the Section; “Dear Jon – Situations Sorted” – think of this as a ‘Hell’s Kitchen for Hypnotic Businesses. Tell me your situation and you could get £10,000 of free mentoring and coaching. If you’re interested drop me a line but remember I’m not called the “Gordon Ramsey” of hypnosis because I pull punches or tread softly. But I will change your mind and your business for Good!

Come along and Sleep With Strangers!

If you catch the show on demand on iTunes or BlogTalkRadio or from anywhere else, please rate and review!

See you soon

Smiles
JonChase