Introduction and some novice questions.

Hi all. First, I would like to say that I can not remember the last time I have seen such a supportive group of people as I have seen my few days here. With that being said I feel that this will be a perfect place for me to begin my hypnosis journey, as I believe a strong support group only quickens the success of any endeavor.

Now just a quick introduction... My name is Curtis and I live in North Carolina.with my lovely wife of 13 years and our four wonderful children. I am a very lucky person indeed. About six months ago, the company I worked for had to cut back and I found myself unemployed. For a while I was lost but then I realized I had an opportunity to do something new with my life. I wasn't sure what I wanted but I knew I wanted to hace a positive impact on others and maybe have them feel some of the wonderful things that I have. I finally found hypnosis, what a wonderful set of tools! Through hypnosis I can help others to improve the quality of their lives AND entertain people while educating them about the wonderful benefits of hypnosis. Now I am hooked.

Now for the novice questions. I have no personal experience with hypnosis, none. The only thing I know is what I have seen and read on the internet, with that being said I am a little confused with where I should start. As I see it, I need to understand the process and why it works and then learn some basic inductions. Perhaps I should try some scripts for different things. I think though, that I would be more comfortable doing 'stage hypnosis' type work first as it would allow to get more comfortable with people and hypnosis before trying to tackle a life long phobia. Now in that last statement I am in no way saying stage hypnosis is easier than hypnotherapy. I would love to do stage hypnosis, what a rush and challenge to hold an audience's attention that way. If anyone has any ideas that they would care to share or maybe an experience from their beginning that they think I would find useful, I would appreciate it. Lastly, and sorry for the long post, I want you to know that if you take the time to respond and offer me advice that I will use it, it will not be in vain. Thanks everyone in advance.
Now you know who I am and what I am about so my future posts will not have to be so long :)

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Permalink Reply by John Cleesattel on July 27, 2009 at 11:28am

Welcome to the site Curtis, if I can answer any questions you may have, please feel free to ask. I just finished giving my Online Basic Hypnosis class and will be uploading video clips from the final exams on here in the next few days. The final exam consists of the students writing their own induction, then using it to hypnotize a subject, then breaking it apart and explaining what each piece of it did and why it was included in the induction. You may find it helpful.

John

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Permalink Reply by Curtis Burgess on July 27, 2009 at 11:36am

Thank you John. I am sure that will be very helpful indeed. I was wondering where I can find out more about your online classes? Thank you again for taking the time to reply, I appreciate that.

John Cleesattel said:

Welcome to the site Curtis, if I can answer any questions you may have, please feel free to ask. I just finished giving my Online Basic Hypnosis class and will be uploading video clips from the final exams on here in the next few days. The final exam consists of the students writing their own induction, then using it to hypnotize a subject, then breaking it apart and explaining what each piece of it did and why it was included in the induction. You may find it helpful.

John

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Permalink Reply by GIL BOYNE on July 27, 2009 at 11:56am

Find a hypnotherapy school of reputation and enroll.

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Permalink Reply by Kathleen Hanover on July 27, 2009 at 1:09pm

Hi Curtis,

Welcome aboard, and congratulations on turning lemons to lemonade. :)

I'm an enthusiastic hypnotherapy client and promoter...I am not a hypnotist. If you've never been hypnotized I'd strongly urge you to find a skilled hypnotherapist in your area and have a session in person. You might look in the Referral Directory here on HypnoThoughts to find someone. And tell them that you'd also like to talk to them about hypnotherapy or stage hypnosis as a career. Yes, you can get hypnotized by a CD, but you can't ask the CD questions afterwards. And yes, you could go to a stage hypnotist, but why not go to a hypnotherapist and get rid of a bad habit as part of your career research? (Best of all, find someone qualified who does both.)

My second suggestion is to think about registering for the HypnoSummit, coming Sept. 19th & 20th. (In general, there's a policy against advertising on this site, but since the founder of HypnoThoughts is the co-founder of the HypnoSummit, I hope he won't mind.)

The advantage of a ticket to the HypnoSummit is that it's an online convention with about 50 different hypnosis and NLP presentations that cover just about every possible hypnosis-related subject. It's a hypnotic buffet, essentially. You might find a topic or a speaker who really resonates with you, and that could set you off in a specific direction. And the whole event's online, so there's no travel.

Hope this helps!

Kathleen
Seeing the world through marketing-colored glasses

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Permalink Reply by the grumpy hypnotist on July 27, 2009 at 1:56pm

Hello Curtis,

Since you appear to expect to support your family with hypnotic work, I'd recommend you first analyze the local market to assess if there is any demand for the type of hypnotic service you intend to provide. Run numbers pessimistically to determine if it will be a possible to sustain such a business as it is ramping up. Make sure you study and practice marketing as much if not more than hypnosis. Zero experience with hypnosis is not a major impediment --- hypnotizing people and doing basic work is simple, compared to the process of building a business that will pay the bills.

I notice that in your post you are excited about the rush of stage hypnosis, and the joy of improving people's lives and educating them about hypnosis. That's all nice, but considering that you are looking to support your family via hypnotic work, it is troubling there doesn't seem to be any emphasis on how you will be able to earn a livable income with it. Aversion to thinking about how to get paid is a very bad thing for a self-employed person.

It is interesting that people often invest time and money into something and only later try to figure out how to make that investment profitable, or even if it is possible to do so, given resources and local market conditions. Of course, that is not a problem for someone who is just looking to dabble in it as a hobby or part-time interest, but that doesn't seem to be your situation?

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Permalink Reply by Marjorie Cameron (Poodle) on July 27, 2009 at 2:24pm

Hi Curtis -- The best place to start is at the beginning which means a live, in-person training with lots of practice on other students. This will provide you with immediate feedback from the Instructor and the other students. Forget about anything that goes into the history of hypnosis. That you can read in a book. Inductions are very easy when taught correctly. The hard work comes in forming suggestions or isomorphic metaphors. This will take practice. Stage hypnosis is a bit of a different creature and IMO much easier. I see two people here that are fantastic at stage hypnosis.

Please, please, please only use scripts to gain knowledge and never ever use one to read at a client. We operate totally differently from Western Medicine where everyone gets about the same. In hypnotherapy, each of our clients is a very unique individual with his/her own reason for doing or not doing any particular thing.

I am sure you will find it a very rewarding career -- both monitarily and the great satisfaction of helping people. You also need to understand right now that hypnosis is a BUSINESS and you will need business experience. Someone has to do the bookkeeping, formulate advertisements, clean the office and anything and everything associated with running a business.

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Permalink Reply by Curtis Burgess on July 27, 2009 at 2:51pm

Thank you all so much for your responses. I really appreciate your time.

James, experiencing self-hypnosis is an excellent idea, thank you. I have some things I would like to change about myself, I will give it a go!

Kathleen, the HypnoSummit sounds like an awesome opportunity to see many different styles and techniques, thank you for that.

Grumpy, very sound advice friend thank you. My idea was to learn hypnosis and then begin doing it on a part time basis so that I could judge the realism of supporting us on hypnotism alone. To be honest, I could see myself being very happy just entertaining and helping friends and family BUT I can’t help but think of all the good I could do on a larger scale. Sometimes when someone starts a new project or business they get caught up in the excitement or ‘newness’ and don’t think things through fully, you are absolutely correct. Thank you for reminding me how important it is to take everything into consideration, I appreciate it.

Marjorie, I would love an in-person class, I actually excel in a classroom environment. I am still researching the opportunities in my area. I noticed there is a group here for North Carolina residents but only 7 people have joined it. 1 beats a zero. Perhaps I can get some more info from one of the members. Thanks for taking time to help me.

I really appreciate everyone very much and I look forward to learning and growing with everyone. Thanks again.

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Permalink Reply by Donna Carter on July 27, 2009 at 3:58pm

Marjorie Cameron (Poodle) said:

The best place to start is at the beginning which means a live, in-person training with lots of practice on other students. This will provide you with immediate feedback from the Instructor and the other students. Please, please, please only use scripts to gain knowledge and never ever use one to read at a client. We operate totally differently from Western Medicine where everyone gets about the same. .

Or... you could totally do the opposite.
Go nutty.
Go crazy.
Sign up for online/dvd classes.
Plug in the DVD player and...dont' leave your house for a month (2/3/4/10/18 months).
Call for take-out.

Don't answer your friends phone calls,
Your not home!
Hang up the "do not disturb' sign.

Oh...and when you're done.... by all means, use a script.
Use two of them...

Heck, use three and combine them into the best one you have ever read!

And when the day comes, that you look across your desk as a client tells you what they came for,
you will realize...

It isn't all about how or where you learn your information.
What determines your success is your own personal motivation. Your own personal love for, not only hypnosis, but wanting to make a positive difference in someone's life. This will propel you to seek the information you'll need...

Keep all doors open.

Welcome to your new journey!
~D.

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Permalink Reply by Stephen Gruber - www. ask-the-hypnotist.com on July 27, 2009 at 4:24pm

Curtis,

Following up on James suggestion re self hypnosis CD - you may download a self hypnosis mp3 for free from my site if you would like. Members here and clients from around the world apparently find it very effective.

Go to www.ask-the-hypnotist.com to download it if you would like to.

Hope this helps you on your journey.

Stephen

James Szeles said:

Hi Curtis,

One of the first things I would do is get a good self hypnosis CD and feel what it is like to be hypnotized. Then try a few inductions on people you know and get a feel for putting people you know under. If you find it's something you like and are good at there are many online and hypnosis schools who will teach you the basics. I'm a stage hypnotist and I think it would be better to start with basic hypnosis before trying to do stage work. Here is a link to some good free inductions. Good luck
James
http://www.hypnosis.com/scripts.aspx?section=1