I am stupid.

I asked one of my clients for feedback recently, she was very happy with the results of our work (naturally, I was pretty sure of that already, otherwise I would have been too cowardly to ask for feedback!).

However, the one bit of negative feedback she had was that she wished that I offered some sort of CDs for sale, so that she could listen to them at home.

Duh! Did you ever hear about how if you hear a complaint from one person, that means that there are 10 or 20 others who feel the same way, but don't speak up?

I had been carrying this belief that "gee, i don't want to seem like i'm pushing products to sell, what am i, a salesman? (though i love Zig Ziglar)". But really, if i was honest with myself, wasn't i really just worried that any CDs i made would be kind of lame? My rationalization about not being a salesman had resulted me letting down a client. I failed to provide an additional service that would have helped.

I realized this would be like me going to an auto shop to get a yearly inspection. Then if I also wanted an oil change while i was there, the mechanic were to tell me "Sorry... we don't like to up-sell our customers, we respect them too much. Maybe Joe's Garage across town can help you." What's that about???

My excuses and justifications were based on fear and cowardice. If i really don't think that i can produce quality CDs on my own, then i can always sell ones that have been produced by others already.

I ran into another self-limiting belief at the NGH convention. In a conversation with a recently certified hypnotist, i mentioned that i was seeing clients as soon as i got certified, and charging full price. The response was "Don't you feel like you were using those clients as your guinea pigs?" Huh? I was more than adequately trained. I was providing a useful service. No, i wasn't treating my first paying clients like guinea pigs.

If you goto Starbucks, occassionally there is a new cashier being trained. Does Starbucks have a policy that whenever it's a trainee's first day, that everything in the store is free or discounted? I hope not, because my head would explode from overdosing on Triple Venti Caramel Machiattos all day.

Maybe the new trainee is a little bit slower or uncertain, and if they are really horrible and botch the job then you'd probably be justified in getting a refund. But everyone has to start somewhere. But how do you start off?

The certified hypnotist i was having a conversation with (and if she's reading this, please understand this is written with due respect, it's just my two cents) mentioned that she charged $1 for a session. At the NGH convention hotel, a soda from a vending machine cost $1.75. Does the value of the service we provide really amount to less than a Mountain Dew?

At the convention i heard something that really sticks with me, i think it was from Tom Nicoli: if you goto a wedding and there's an open bar where you can drink for free (or just the cost of tipping), you will notice that there are half-drunk bottles of beer and half-full glasses of wine everywhere. Because it doesn't matter. People can take a sip or two and always just get another free drink. But in cash bars where people exchange money for product, people finish their drinks because it has value. Don't we want clients to place value on the work we do with them?

Ah well, just another ramble during a no-show.

PS. remember to join the new Referrals and Leads group on this site:
http://referrals.ourhypnospace.com/

Got a voicemail from a producer with the Comcast Network morning show... did you know that there was a "National Hypnosis Day" happening this week? I didn't... but she did, and she wanted to find someone quick to come in and do a demo and interview right away... "Can you do a demonstration within about 5 minutes?"

I let the producer know that I had never attempted an induction on live TV before, she asked "Do you think you can do it?" What are we as hypnotists trained to say? "Oh yeah, sure, I can do that, no problem, as long as the subject is willing."

Yikes! Well, after practicing my instant inductions like crazy, the session of reckoning arrived this morning. I should not have looked up their website the night before, where it says that they are piped into 9 million homes across the East Coast (altho surely the actual ratings are not anywhere near that)... oh noes. Sleepless night similar to eve of A Big Interview.

This is my first experience with behind-the-scenes live TV, it's pretty wild, especially on a sadly eventful news day. But Dalton from "Road House" trained me to "Expect the Unexpected!"

So I'm there wondering what the hecks going on, people in headsets (can't tell if they're speaking to control room or me), no script, no pre-talk, no warm-up, don't know what questions will be asked, having a bad hair day, then I see the script that will be read by the host and see it talking about how hypnosis is like "sleeping your problems away...", oh my, then the time for the segment's been cut down to 3.5 minutes ("Can you still do it?", "Uh..."), the screen graphics they've prepared don't include my practice name, the intern's nervous, the stools that have been setup are as comfortable as a church pew (but i can't stop myself from saying "you feel so relaxed in this comfortable relaxing chair..."), the demo is being done in a section of the studio that is part of the bar/restaurant of a hotel... holy spicoli...

All that, and the subject still gets to Eyelid Catalepsy and "passes the test"! Phew!

All in all it was a great experience! The staff and especially the volunteer intern were all very nice and professional. Actually the most nerve-wracking thing, even more than worrying about the "test", was that I did not want to discredit this profession somehow... I hope I've done right by professional hypnotists.



Here is direct link in case embed video doesn't work:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6751334779674807841&hl=en

I'm a Seth Godin groupie. This is a brief summary of his brief new book "The Dip". Just jotted down these notes while listening to audiobook.

a) This book is about learning how to quit successfully. How to use "strategic quitting" to your advantage.

b) "Never quit" is bad advice. Quit fast, quit often and quit without guilt.

c) The problem is, most people quit at the wrong time. They quit when times get tough ("the Dip").

d) The Dip is the barrier that exists in any system that is there to separate the wheat from the chaff.

e) The Dip is your greatest ally, and makes the journey worthwhile.

f) Because extraordinary benefits accrue to the tiny minority that gets thru the Dip (rewards are not linear).

g) Benefits also accrue to the ppl who quit and refocus on something else, because they stop paying the opportunity cost.

h) Cul-de-sac, a noncyclical dead-end, is worst place to stay (and that is where majority of population stays). Quit these ASAP, no matter how safe or comfortable you are.

i) "Working harder" or "plugging away" when you're in a cul-de-sac is waste of life and energy.

j) Define what will make you quit, before you start.

k) The decision to quit or not should be made when things are going well (not during low point or panic).

l) If, before starting, you determine that you can't make it thru the Dip, or that the rewards are not compelling enough for you, then DON'T START.

m) As long as you plan ahead for the Dip, you can get thru the hard times easier because you know that the hard times are what will cause most of the competition to quit.

n) Learn the systems that encourage quitting, so you can beat them.

o) The point at which most people quit, is the point that adds value/scarcity to your objective.

How do you identify an objective that is worth pursuing?

1. Every worthwhile goal has a Dip. Your goal should be to be "the best [whatever] in the world" - key is to define "the world" from the point of the view of the customer.

2. Example: "the best Swahili-speaking hypnotist in town." Swahili-speaking population is probably too small to matter from a marketing perspective. No Dip. Set a realistic, but difficult goal like "Best Spanish-speaking hypnotist in town", then that is achievable and has potential for a Dip.

3. If you do not set a goal like this, you will be average and according to Godin, "average is for losers" - time/energy/life too valuable to squander on just being average. Why bother?

Hope you've enjoyed this summary or at least found it thought-provoking.

You can read more about the book at Guy Kawasaki's blog.

Looking at my calendar and planning for the NGH convention in August, I was troubled by the obvious fact that I would not be able to take clients while at the convention. Essentially business would come to a standstill.

What kind of business shuts down when the owner goes on vacation or to a convention? Well, that's not really a business is it? What is it then?

I recently ran into a old friend. After telling him that I was now a professional hypnotist, he said something like "That's great, you're your own boss now."

That phrase "being your own boss" has always made me cringe. Why would i want to create a job for myself? No thanks! That's something that wage slaves fantasize about, as repulsive as the "Thank God It's Friday" mentality.

But wait a minute, aren't I also still a wage slave, even if I started my own "business"? As long as my hypnosis practice is based on trading my personal time for money, aren't I just fooling myself?

Listening to the E-Myth audiobook after reading the book, I was struck by what Michael Gerber had to say about the idea of "being your own boss":

People who start a business because they "want to be their own boss", think it's about being able to set your own schedule, set your own salary, being free of a know-nothing manager.  

Gerber points out that this mentality:
"being your own boss" - is greed!
"being your own boss" - is self-indulgence!

Another troubling thing is seeing some hypnosis training schools pushing this idea in their marketing material: "Be your own boss! You can join the growing health-care industry after becoming a certified master elite clinical hypnotherapist with our weekend course! Make over $100k a year working from the comfort of your own home, start your own clinic or join a medical practice!" Is this really a good way of building the profession over the long-term?

Ah well, just some thoughts that come up as i sit through a no-show. I'm thinking that i really need to get serious about building a business, not just getting more clients on the schedule.  

Scott Adams, the creator of "Dilbert", is also a trained hypnotist.  On his Dilbert blog he occasionally writes about hypnosis.  Today he wrote an article where he listed the most useful things he's ever learned:

1. Hypnosis
2. Dale Carnegie's techniques
3. Everything else I have ever learned

He also writes: 

There's no way to truly understand how irrational the human brain is just by reading about it; you need to see it in action. Once you get that, everything else in life makes sense. 

The rest of the article is mainly about his experience with the Dale Carnegie course.  Anyone here have experience with taking these courses? 

It's great to see a fairly high-profile person flying the hypnosis banner.  Especially since this increases penetration of hypnosis into the tech/engineering crowd, given Adams' audience.  I sent an email to Scott Adams inviting him to join this network.  I wonder if he works with clients on real issues?