First you will need to figure out what type of hypnosis you want to do, and then you will need to figure out how to get started.
Here is a list of a few options in hypnotism/hypnotherapy.
These are just a few of the areas in which hypnotists may become involved.
Often, newly certified hypnotists don’t know how to get their practices started. Many seem to think that they will need to rent an office right away, furnish it, and spend a lot of money on newspaper advertising to begin their practices. There is nothing farther from the truth.
While some people may be able to begin that way, having large amounts of disposable income with which to work, or having a loving spouse to support them while they get started, many more of us must begin our practices on a shoestring. Most of the successful hypnotists I know began their practices while still working another job.
Some hypnotists are fortunate to begin their practices working in a hypnosis clinic, being paid by the hour by the owner of the clinic. That is very good for building experience and self-confidence, but it is not an option for most, in my experience.
The first and most important thing to have in one’s hypnosis practice is, of course, clients. How can you get them? Some hypnosis instructors will advise you to spend huge sums of money taking out large newspaper advertisements frequently. This is an option, if you have the money, however, if you do not, there are other ways to advertise, which involve much less money. The first thing to understand when doing advertising is that the response from advertising is very little, especially initially. If you get a 5% response from any advertising, you will be extremely lucky. Nevertheless, you must advertise or no one will know that you are there. Long-term advertising choices, such as the Yellow Pages, and alternative healing directories are optimum choices, however, if you do not open your practice right when they are publishing, you must typically wait for up to a year to be able to list. When the opportunity is available, this type of advertising will not be very cheap, yet, in the long run, it will not be very expensive either. The advantage is that your name will always be there when someone is looking for a hypnotherapist, even if it is there among all the other hypnotists. (I found my own hypnotist in the Yellow Pages, and she was not the first one in the listing. Hers was a simple one-line listing. It just seemed to be the right one at that time.)
Business cards are indispensable. If you are just starting out, the absolute minimum you should do in the way of publicity is to get some nice business cards made up and begin to distribute them everywhere. Carry them with you at all times, and anytime you meet someone new, make it a point to hand them a business card, telling them as you do that you are a hypnotist. Some hypnotists looking for business will offer a free hypnotherapy “evaluation” or a free session when they give away their cards, and I see nothing wrong with this. (however I do not think it is wise to announce that you are just getting started and you are trying to get experience. People who go to hypnotists generally want to feel confidence in their hypnotists, and, for some reason, announcing oneself as a beginner does not instill confidence.)
Flyers are one way to get one’s name out. When using flyers, however, it is wise to carefully choose where the flyers will be distributed, in order to maximize any return. Putting a flyer on every car in the parking lot at the shopping mall is not necessarily going to give you as strong a possible return as putting flyers in the local health food store (if you can), the local New Age bookstore, or wherever people hold New Age type classes. You can also consider, if you work with medical hypnosis and/or pain management, sending a flyer to doctors, dentists, chiropractors, osteopaths, naturopaths, nutritionists, and Reiki practitioners in your area. (It has been my experience that you might receive “interest” calls as long as two years after you send out flyers, so it is wise not to include any pricing or other information which might change over the course of time.)
Brochures work much the same as flyers, going into more depth of information than the typical flyer. With today’s word-processing and desk-top publishing software, it is not necessary to spend great sums of money on a flyer: you can design your own, print it on your printer, and then have it copied onto regular copy paper, perhaps in a color. Distribution of brochures is rather similar to that of flyers, although you can always carry them around with you and offer them along with your business card.
Many successful hypnotists offer free “introductory” group stress management (or other) sessions at their local library, bookstore, or other places where there is space for fifteen to twenty people to sit down together at one time. Other hypnotists will offer short low-fee group classes in stress management or pain management (or any other subject that is likely to draw a number of people who might, subsequently, be willing to pay for individual hypnosis sessions) through a local adult education center. Another option to becoming known is to volunteer your services at a facility for senior citizens. Why volunteer? Although the people you see on a no-fee basis might never become paying clients, they are likely to have families and friends who might be interested in your services after hearing about your work. Word of mouth is a very valuable and inexpensive form of publicity! It is also possible to get free publicity. There are numerous books on the market which go into great detail on how to get free publicity, from mention on radio shows and local television broadcasts, to articles in local newspapers. Check out your local library or bookstore.
Join a local business organization. These frequently have very inexpensive membership fees. Then go to their meetings and network. It doesn't matter that you are not a banker or insurance salesperson... you are a local businessperson. Networking is a very valuable way to get clients, and going to an event where people are supposed to meet people, and where, in all likelihood, the people who attend can afford your reasonably-priced services, can yield a number of leads and possible clients. While the person you chat with beside the refreshment table might not be a potential client, that person might very well carry your business card away and pass it along to a friend three to six months down the road.
So, if you are going to do all this publicity and advertising, you will need to know beforehand where you are going to practice. Although some people do begin their practices out of their own homes, I do not recommend this. If you check around, you may find in your area some place where space is rented on an hourly or daily basis for classes or for massage therapists, where you could meet your clients. Another option might be to offer your services to doctors or chiropractors, either offering to pay them a flat rental fee, or paying them a percentage of your received fees. Many successful hypnotherapists, particularly those working in smoking cessation, weight management, and pain management, have started out this way.
These are some of the ways that you can begin a practice on a very thin shoestring. The most important thing, regardless of how you go about getting started, is to have confidence in yourself and your abilities. Even if you don’t really think deep down inside that you are well-endowed in the confidence department, you need to radiate self-confidence to your potential clients (everyone you meet). It does no good for you to tell people that you are new, and still building confidence – have you ever tried to get a job with no experience? It is next to impossible! Imagine asking people to submit their subconscious minds to an inexperienced operator! (People even shy away from recent pschotherapy graduates, regardless of how many degrees and honors they may have.) Is this lying? No, it is not. It is having confidence in yourself and your ability to do the job, which you must have if you are to begin your practice. Most people will not ask you how much experience you have, anyway... at least, not unless you guide them into that kind of question by seeming unsure of yourself and what you say you can do.
The most important thing in getting started, however, is the sincere desire to do so. You must be able to figure out ways to do it, rather than expert in listing the ways in which you cannot do it yet. If you want to become a practicing hypnotist with a viable practice (even if only part-time), you must be positive and confident that, with persistence, you will be successful. If you try something and feel that it doesn’t work for you, you must be willing to try something else, until you find something which does work for you (and it might not be such a bad idea to revisit previously unsuccessful ideas -- things change.) You must understand that your persistence may have to stay strong for a year or longer. If you are persistent, and hang in there, you will eventually begin to get clients. You will, however, always need to keep at the publicity and/or advertising. Most small businesses (and a hypnosis practice is a small business) find it advisable to re- invest all, or at least a good portion, of initial income in the business. Once you have had a few clients, you will have enough money for a small advertisement in a weekly or monthly newspaper, for a several-month stretch (one-shot advertising is not as effective as advertising over a sustained period.) Meanwhile, you will still need to keep up the old advertising and publicity methods which worked for you. The more you keep at it, the more you will find that the amount of money you re-invest in advertising and publicity, while remaining the same as always, will begin to be a smaller and smaller percentage of your income
