Most Destructive Mindset for Hypnosis Practitioner

Nancy is a good hypnotherapist.  She has good training.  She’s competent.  And she loves what she does.  But she’s struggling to make a living.  The reason is simple.  Nancy only offers single sessions.

Nancy suffers from THE most destructive mindset for any healing practitioner - the Single-Session Mindset.  The Single Session Mindset is trying to get one client in for one session.  The problem with this approach is that it won’t help you to grow your healing practice.

The reason too many hypnosis practitioners make this mistake is because that’s how we learned to do things in the classroom.   We were taught single protocols and we learned by practising one-off sessions.  But, when it comes to making a living as a healer, the Single Session mentality will cost you.  Not only can it seriously reduce your income.  It also increases your expenses because you still have to promote yourself and your services.

Marketing costs money. 

The cost to acquire a new client is much higher when you’re dependent on one-off sessions. And if all you do is get the client in for one session, and then leave it up to them to decide whether or not they’re going to come back to see you . . . don’t hold your breath. Life happens, people get busy, and they forget about you.

If you can't resolve the problem in one session, it’s going to wreak havoc with your most valuable asset in the session room - your confidence.  That’s what happened to Nancy. She ended up feeling frustrated, inadequate, disheartened – and broke.  And it’s a shame because, here you have a well-trained, heart-centred healer who really cares about people. She takes pride in her craft.  She wants to make a difference in people’s lives.   She’s got good training.  

And she’s struggling financially.

It’s not her fault.   It’s just that Nancy was taught that all you need to do to grow a thriving hypnosis practice is to get good training.  That’s just not true.  The “build it and they will come” philosophy is a complete myth.  

To make a living as a healing practitioner you need to take care of both sides of your business. You need to get systems in place to support you.  That’s the business side.  And you need to be able to deliver on your promise of results. That’s the practice side.  

People don't pay for hypnosis - they pay for results. 

Limiting yourself to getting those results in just one session is simply not reasonable.  It puts too much pressure on you.  And some people are going to need more than a single session. This is because most people don’t turn to hypnosis as their first solution.  It’s usually not until a person has tried everything else that they decide to pick up the phone and call you.  By then, they’re stressed, depressed, they’re often medicated, and they’ve come to the end of their rope.  

To get a person like this untangled . . . you’ve got your work cut out for you. That can take time.  

If your goal is to get real and lasting results for your clients, the first step is to recognize that every client is going to be different.  Some will only need one, or two, or three sessions to get a complete resolution of the issue.  Some will need longer-term support. This is because it can take time to resolve all the contributing factors.  

It takes time to test the results. The only way to know for sure that an issue has been completely resolved is to test the results in the client’s daily life.  You just can’t do that with a one-off session approach.  

If all you’ve given yourself is a single session to work a miracle, you’re going to end up working much harder than you need to.

Here’s what Nancy failed to realize.

Her teacher does not depend on session-work to make a living.  Sessions merely supplement her income as a teacher.  The way she makes her living is by teaching classes.  While she may know her stuff, Nancy’s teacher is not in the same business as Nancy. She doesn’t have to go out and find clients.  She has a steady stream of clients coming to her through the classroom.

Her single-session, Field of Dreams philosophy, is based primarily on booking sessions with students. These are not the same clients that you’re going to have to deal with in actual practice.

To knock off a Single-Session Success you need clients who have a firm grounding in three factors: 

•  Belief
  
• Faith
  
• Trust
  

Clients need to believe in the power of their own Mind to create the kind of change they want.  They need to have faith in the hypnosis to help them to access that Power.  And they need to have absolute trust in your ability to guide them.  

This what makes Nancy’s teacher so successful.  Hypnosis students have this faith.  They believe in the power of the Mind.  They believe in the power of hypnosis.  And they have a considerable investment of trust in their teacher’s knowledge and skill.  So, she’s got prestige going for her.

If you’re just starting out, you probably don’t have any of these things, yet.  You have to work to earn them.  You have to establish them.  That’s the purpose of having an educational pre-talk.  It’s to establish a Therapeutic Contract that’s based in belief, faith and trust.  

To do this you need to educate your clients about how the mind works because your clients need to believe that it’s possible to create the kind of change they’re after. You need to educate them about how hypnosis works because your clients need to have faith in the power of their own Mind to create that change.You need to educate them about how you will work together because therapeutic hypnosis is an interactive process.  

All you can ever do is guide the process.  To do that your clients need to trust you enough to let you lead them where they need to go to get the healing.

If you’re just starting out, you’re still learning. You may have a theoretical understanding of how the Mind works.  But you won’t really “get” it until you start facilitating the healing process with actual clients.  You’re still developing your skill at guiding the process.  So, you probably don’t have confidence in your ability to deliver on your promise of results.  

You’re probably struggling to have faith in yourself.  All the Single Session Mindset does is put pressure on you to perform miracles on demand.  That won’t help you to grow your knowledge and skill.  And it won’t help you to develop the kind of confidence you need to be able to deliver the kind of results you’re capable of.  

Not only that, there’s also a simple matter of math.  If you want to make a living as a healing practitioner you need to ask yourself, “How many sessions do I need, just so I can pay the bills?” Seriously, if all you offer is a single session, most of the time, that’s all you’ll get.  Then, when that session ends, you have to go out and find the next client for the next session.

That’s just no way to make a living.

The thing to keep in mind is that most people are wary of hypnosis.  What they know about it usually comes from the entertainment industry.  So, they know you can control them and make them bark like a chicken.  That can generate fear – either consciously or unconsciously.  It will show up in your session as resistance.  And dealing with resistance can burn up a lot of session time.   Who needs that?

The solution is simple.

Deal with the fear before you begin the hypnosis.  You can do that by educating the client. People are going to come to you with fears and misconceptions.  Some will have unrealistic expectations.  Some will be expecting you to just wave your magic wand and make the problem go away (without any participation on their part).  That's just not reasonable.

We’d all love to “nail it” in the first session - every time. Sure, sometimes you get lucky.  Sometimes the client is ripe and ready.  The issue is relatively simple.  There aren’t a lot of contributing aspects and (snap) - presto-chango!

When that happens do a little Snoopy Dog dance. Just don’t rely on it because most people are going to need a process.  

It’s simply not reasonable to expect an entire lifetime of suffering to be completely resolved in an hour or two.  To get the best results, you need to educate your clients to prepare them for the process.  This is because therapeutic hypnosis requires a relationship that’s based in belief, and faith, and trust.  

So, ditch the Single Session Mindset. Take the pressure off yourself by taking the time to educate your clients.  Make sure they have the belief, and the faith, and the trust you need to be successful.