Having many students each year and encountering many hypnotherapists as I do, I encounter lots of incredibly talented people who just don’t like having to promote themselves or do the marketing side of the business… As such, there is a huge amount of talent out there, a huge amount of people who make the world a far better place, but no-one knows they are there…
For some, they may simply be introverted, or uncomfortable with self-promotion which can sometimes seem like an all or nothing way forward… You don’t necessarily need expensive photo-shoots, TV appearances, Radio interviews and glossy magazines showing off your skills…
There are many hypnotherapists still procrastinating about that one activity they feel they should be doing, but just have not seemed to get around to… That thing that would shine a bit more of the spotlight on them and develop their business… maybe instead, they feel the need to vacuum, or make a cup of tea, or check the news headlines, or water the plants, or any other thing rather than sounding your own gong.
Here is a handful of ideas for promoting hypnotherapy, things you might think are way beyond you, others may think them far too easy and simple… Either way, you’ll notice those guilt twangs vanishing when you take some action and involve yourself in some subtle self-promotion.
Firstly, why not write about your area of expertise?
Maybe you find it easier to express yourself using the written word, many intriverted people do… heck, just look at JK Rowling. You can still market your personality by writing, you get to express yourself, show a little of who you are, all through the way you write… It’ll covertly be telling readers a great deal about who and how you are too.
I am biased of course, I’d recommend you blog, write a regular ezine, contribute to forums, or consider writing stuff in the places where you socially network. If you write something daily, weekly or just monthly for a year, you’ll be much more easier to discover online than if you did nothing.
Secondly, why not consider joining a local or national organisation or association, maybe even become a committee member of some kind and help within that group. You get to create and develop relationships with a relatively small group of people and you get to meet up regularly.
Thirdly, the public in general do get intrigued with the subject of hypnosis and hypnotherapy… So why not consider hosting, or even co-hosting an event of some kind?
That could be anything from a quiet peer supervision group, some kind of networking event for like-mided people or any other small gathering, maybe even a workshop where you bring in a speaker.
If you are uncomfortable with self-promotion, something like this means people come to you as the host and so you are not having to reach out so far to connect with them, you get contact without having to ask for it too much.
Finally, why not find a friend or another professional, maybe local to you, that has similar issues. Lots of hypnotherapists I encounter tell me that they find it easy promoting a friend or a respected colleague that they believe in… Yet, get unsure when it comes to promoting themselves. You may find it easier for someone else to talk about you (and vice versa) than doing it yourself.
So if you are getting yourself into a tizz, or feeling guilty about not doing that thing you believe you really ought to be doing, but aren’t… Ask yourself if it is really that important and if it actually is, maybe enlist the help of a cheerleader to urge you onwards and upwards, or even someone else to assist you in doing it… And remember that there are many gentler, simpler things we can all do to self-promote without having to behave like Richard Branson.
I thought that was a brilliant article Adam, full of shiny gems as per usual 🙂
One of my areas of thought is actually how do I get myself known by others and how do I keep myself going, I’m expecting these will be areas covered and it’s always good to collect information before one has started upon a business journey. As Elliot Ward wrote in The Hypnotherapy Associations newsletter(indirect quote): ‘…like a squirrel collect as many nuts as you need. How does a squirrel know when he’s collected enough? He doesn’t, he just collect as many as he gets then stores what he’s not currently needing for use at a later date.’
Speak to you soon Re: course payment, ie prob tonight 😉
Regards
Andy
I’ll look forward to hearing from you Andy… And well done for pointing out some great words from my pal Elliott, marvellous stuff.
Interesting post, I can relate to some of the content. I guess we all have a choice we can either sit on the fence or take some action. I can be a bit introverted and sometimes procrassinate when I am pushing myself out of my comfort zone. I am currently at the stage of recognising when it is happening and taking some time to get creative with my thinking. I am becoming aware of what my individual style is and am discovering ways to use it and achieve what I want in a way that feels natural. Gradually I am feeling new positive inspiration and ideas towards the things that use to feel difficult and uncomfortable. Things become easy and more comfortable because I am not going against the grain of who I am. Thank’s for being a great mentor Adam 🙂
Mel, that is great to hear that you are finding yourself moving into more unchartered territory, and doing it in the way that is best for you and who you are… As a pirate captains parrot might say “that’s the way to do it.”
In 2008, I had an idea whilst having a cup of tea: challenge myself to learn as many languages as possible and write about it in a blog. Since then, more than 46,000 people from more than fifty countries have visited the blog about the challenge, the challenge was featured in The Linguist magazine and other media and I’m now called on by friends who are journalists to comment whenever they talk about language learning in their articles.
Oh yeah, Marty doesn’t do things by halves. And it occurs to me there is potential for a “scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours” type of thing here. I’ve written for national magazines, BBC online, local newspapers, had my own newspaper column etc, etc. When I do things like The Join Martin Challenge, I know how to promote it and I know what the media wants.
I’m beginning my journey to becoming a therapist and, to be honest, I’m gonna need all the help I can get. Not because I lack the ability or passioin for the subject. It’s taken me 10 years to decide I’m in the right place in my life to actually do it. I need advice from therapists and I have the skills, ability and knowledge to help therapists promote themselves
Certainly something to think about there.
Marty Drury
martydrury@mail.com
Thanks for your contribution again Marty, very interesting as usual. I look forward to seeing you take the therapy world by storm my friend.
Best wishes, A.