past PRESENT and future of HypnoThoughts

We only have a few more weeks in what has been a really exciting year.  Before we get too caught up in the holidays and new years rush, I want to take a minute for us all to appreciate what we've accomplished, get excited about where we are headed, and most of all, enjoy right now.

Past

It's so cool for me to watch this site grow.  To see that over the past few years this community has grown in international members to the point that a full 50% of our traffic is international.  To see the relationships that have been formed is really cool.  The easiest place for me to notice it is when everyone steps up to help out a member in need.  A few times this year we've had members need help and you guys stepped up.  The support you show for each other is really amazing.

Like I said a year ago, my goal for 2011 was to help support hypnotists financially.  We've launched the HypnoStore and have sold tens of thousands of dollars worth of hypnosis products without taking a commission.  We've had a dozen free teleseminars with Craig about marketing and put together a script book with some of our most popular and prolific members donating content at one low price (proceeds from that went toward building The Hypno Store).  

This year we had our first ever hypnosis census, in which over 1,200 practicing hypnotists shared information about their education, income, and opinions about the industry.  We had about 2,500 new members join the site and contribute thousands of new conversations.  Most of the biggest names in the industry are members of this site, and it's great to see how generous they are with their time and busy schedules.

All in all I'd say that was a pretty impressive year.

Future

2012 will be a new chapter in the story of this community, and we are going to be picking up right where we left off.  First, we will be upgrading The Hypno Store significantly with it's 2.0 interface with changes to the front and back ends of the site to help increase traffic, ease of use, and sales.  We will be putting out another hypnosis census, this time with more in depth questions.  We will continue to grow as a community.  

Next year HypnoThoughts is going to hit the 10,000 member mark, a number way larger than anyone expected.  I can't begin to tell you how much that means to me and how cool it is to be part of something that just keeps surpassing everyone's expectations.  You guys do such an amazing job of providing the reasons that the invisible visitors should start participating and communicating that I can't say thank you enough.  You are the reason this site will continue to be successful.

We will also be looking into a few new site features, like rebuilding a chat system that has integrated instant messaging (sort of like facebook has) and a few other tricks I've got up my sleeve.

Of course, the thing I'm most excited about is the new school, HPTI.  The Hypnosis Practitioner Training Institute is going to be a combination of online and in person education that we need more of, and a wider variety of topics and a diverse group of instructors that will hopefully help hypnotists to have a broader range of skills and be more successful in their goals and applications of hypnosis.   I'm sure that will grow in scope as we progress.

Present

and now is the moment between the giant past of history and the infinite and endless future.  A very manageable amount of time that is perfect for laughing with friends, helping a client, reading a good book, or creating a memory.

Now is a great time for me to be grateful.  Grateful to the people who come and read this site every day/week, thankful to the people who participate and contribute, thankful to the advertisers who support the site, and of course, grateful to Richard and Fable for helping me keep the wheels on the wagon around here.  They don't get anywhere near enough credit or thanks.

I hope you all enjoy this time of year, and find a moment or two between now and 2012 to enjoy where you've been and where you are headed.

As always,

Scott