Business or Hobby?

How do you define a business?

If you have clients, then surely you are “in business”…. but is your Hypnotherapy practice a full-time business or do you supplement it with part-time work, or perhaps even work in a paid job full-time and have the occasional client after hours?

Working part-time (often in a job that is not terribly satisfying) and having hypnotherapy clients in the time remaining may seem like an attractive proposition. At least there is a regular wage coming in to put food on the table and many therapists live in hope that there will be a full appointment book that will allow them to transition to working full-time with clients.

So what is the reality if you are starting out full-time as a therapist?

Well, you are not going to be just a therapist, and unless you go into an established clinic, you will be the receptionist, the accountant, the marketing manager, the OH&S expert, the social media guru all rolled into one.

You need a plan…. preferably a business plan and if you can afford it a business coach or mentor who will keep you accountable to your actions. You need to schedule your time to do specific tasks, but before you do that, may I recommend that you read the E-Myth and do a SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) as well as a little market research?

All very well to think that you have done the training, had successful pro-bono cases whilst you were studying and the public will flock to you when you hang out your shingle…. quite often the pro-bono’s don’t convert to paid clients. Now, I’m not intending to sound negative with all of this, but is important to consider these points as they will contribute not only to your financial health but your emotional health if you are not earning.

What is your plan if you get sick? Do you have income protection insurance or a buffer set aside in the bank to tide you over? Clients are not going to appreciate you coughing and spluttering over them as you lead them into an induction…..

Keeping in touch with your supervisor, even when times are lean, is important. They may have some strategies or be able to refer you to the right people to help you manifest some clients. If you can’t afford a business coach, put the feelers out and see if you can exchange some of your time for some of theirs. Coaches have their own problems too and you may just create a mutually beneficial business relationship.

Be clear in your own mind whether this is something you can commit to …. having a foot in either camp is OK for a while but eventually the energy becomes depleted for both. Go with your passion….step outside your comfort zone for a moment and see what happens…….

Networking for Hypnotherapists

How many Hypnotherapists does it take to change a light globe?

The light globe must want to change first……

Maybe you have just graduated and are setting up your Hypnotherapy practice or maybe you have been doing it for a little while and would like to expand your client base…… either way, networking is a sound business activity.

There are three kinds of networking.

Networking within your profession, external networking and social media.

I see all of these as a form of conversation where you find out more about the other person. You can network purely to gain leads for more business or you can network to form longer term connections.

There are many networking organizations you can join, some are free, some cost. Belonging to a recognized Hypnotherapy association should be your first step. It’s not always all about you either. You may know just the right therapist for someone you are talking to – suggest that the person you are referring tells that therapist how they found out about them and follow up with an email or phone call to the therapist to let them know you are referring on.

As a therapist you can choose to be a generalist or a specialist. When you network amongst your peers, you need to set aside the notion that you are all competitors and gain the mindset of Universal Abundance. You might find that you have a particular skill with children, whilst a colleague wouldn’t dream of working with them and prefers to work on men’s issues.

When you network amongst peers, you find out who has the passion and expertise in Past Life Regression, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, School based anxieties etc. For most Hypnotherapists, weight issues and smoking cessation are the “bread and butter” of their clinic, but in my own practice, I don’t attract very many smokers as I deal mostly with stress management or weight. There are some issues I prefer to refer to colleagues with whom I have regular conversations.

Part of belonging to your Hypnotherapy association will mean there is the opportunity to have peer support sessions. In these semi formal gatherings, where the novice and experienced hypnotherapist both contribute, you can pick up valuable tips on what works and what doesn’t.

The second type of networking is to join a networking group. Usually there is a fee to join and you make the commitment to attend on a regular basis. This could be weekly, fortnightly or monthly. You can join one networking group or several – it all depends on how much time you are willing to commit.

Whilst I don’t endorse any of the following, you might want to check these out:

• BNI –weekly meetings,mixed gender,  joining fee, referrals expected, only one profession per meeting allowed
• Heartlink – women’s networking group , weekly meetings, joining fee, referrals expected, only one profession per meeting allowed
• Bouncehub – Melbourne based, mixed gender, educational

And of course the third form of networking is social media. This post will appear on my Facebook Business page, LinkedIn and Twitter simultaneously once I push the “Publish” button.

• Facebook – create a business page and build that up so as to keep your personal life separate from business.
• LinkedIn – this will help you to build a profile that people can search and refer their business to you.
• Twitter – short snippets – you are confined to 100 characters including URL’s to your website.
• Pinterest –more of a visual site, but if you are artistic, you can create some lovely word pictures using photos and quotes that will appear on your other social media sites.

Where will I find the time for all of this?

I choose my networking events carefully. Maintaining a balance between peers, the wider public and social media. I rarely introduce myself as a Hypnotherapist at bigger events, choosing to ask more questions of the person I am talking to and only giving out my card if they ask for it.

With social media, there are a number of scheduling tools that you can use such as Buffer, Tweet Deck and Hoot Suite. Set aside a couple of hours to manage your social media and schedule posts for up to 10 days ahead. Mix them up – a quote here and there, a link to one of your website pages, a comment on someone else’s blog or sharing an interesting article.

And if you do find a lot of interesting Hypnotherapy articles, you can count the reading of them towards your Continuing Professional Education! Bonus!

Marketing yourself and your Hypnotherapy Practice

If you have read the E Myth, you will be familiar with the different roles you might play in setting up a business.  And if you are a Hypnotherapist setting up your practice, you might find yourself having to wear many different hats.

Can you do it all on your own?

To an extent you can do some of it, but there might come a time when you need a fresh set of eyes or some help in areas where you don’t really have the expertise. You then have to make the choice between spending time … which if you are getting busy seeing clients will cost you money…. or spending the dollars on the services of an expert.

One way to keep the costs down is to create a group to engage an expert in a particular field and for Hypnotherapists based in Melbourne (Australia), I have a Marketing expert who is happy to work with a group of 8, meeting you every 3 months to mastermind your marketing strategies.

To express your interest in this, contact me via the form below and I will get back to you regarding venue and price.

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