The Transparent Hypnotist

Yesterday we talked a bit about licensing hypnotists and both Craig and Michael responded with not seeing a need for such action.

But Craig brought up an interesting point about having worthwhile testimonials. I think this goes hand in hand with word of mouth communication.  Both can be really helpful, but here’s the rub for me. Testimonials. If real, they are fabulous. Unfortunately, I have seen many hypnotists who have a ton of testimonials and they are not real.  Actually, let me make this broader.  I have seen many businesses that have tons of testimonials and wonder about the truth of those statements. I have known several businesses to make them up.  So, on a personal level, I never give much stock to them and I cannot believe I am the only one (Craig, I am not saying you cheat, I just know others who do).

So, is there some way to know if they are real?  Many of my clients, for instance, who have written testimonials, do not want me to put their full name because often what they say in the testimonial is not something they want the public to know.  Do you tell by the sincerity?  I know this is totally negative on my part, but it has always been a quandary to me.

Sometimes I could just scream (and maybe I will - primal scream therapy, kinda nice). Marketing, marketing, marketing. That is all there ever is or so it seems. Imagine that phrase said in a Jan Brady sort of way and you have my tone and my meaning. It really eats into time. What sort of world is this where rather than being good at what we do, we have to indulge in these things we do not do well. I know it comes with the territory, but it is really burning my energy until a client comes in and I remember why I go through it. But it would be nice to have more clients, less marketing.

With that said, I am always looking for some sort of marketing thing that will not zap me. The is one of the reason’s why I started The Unwinding Path- so I could try out various things in a way that I enjoy (being that I am an addicted blogger). So then comes along Guerrilla Multilevel Marketing, a book and strategy by Jay Levinson and James Dillehay, which may prove to be an inspiration. They have devised a system for Network Marketing Leads. On their web site they offer a free sample chapter, which was an easy read (not talking over or under my level) and the table of contents. Perhaps it is like most products of this sort in the sense that it is all common sense, but it looks like it would be a good direction to follow.

Has any one else tried the Guerrilla Marketing process? Any one interested in trying it with me in a month or so?

Sometime back this past summer, I blogged about a day when I was not up to my usual par in clothing and style. I received some very nice support from you all about it that made me feel much better. However, I have as yet to lapse into total casualness in my work practice.

Now another dilemma faces me. I recently was at a networking event and the subject of cars came up (I almost think this should be outlawed from polite conversation as are politics, religion and sex. LOL). There seems to be rampant opinion about what a car says about a person, especially a small business owner. It does not matter if you are frugal or not, apparently people believe that the niceness of a car tells more about you in your profession than does one’s actual work. I am being a bit sarcastic here, but may be not.

Well in my insecurities about this, I have been looking at the idea of getting a “business car.” Car Prices are not so bad these days, if one comparison shops. Carsblvd.com offers such a comparison where you can select the type of car you are interested in buying (plus various details like make, years, etc) and it gives you a couple of quotes. It seems fair enough. What happens is that dealers get to give competing quotes that may provide for an opportunity on a good deal.

The problem is that I have no idea about what sort of car I would like. It would have to have great gas mileage, but also a classic look. Do you think there are classic cars that are like the tailoring of classic clothes - they never really go out of style?

Last week on The Unwinding Path, a post or two dealt with the making lists of marketing ideas. This has to be the most stressful part of my business (probably yours as well), but it is never ending. That is marketing, not making lists.

One thing that has helped on the marketing front has been social networking. You meet all sorts of people and can gain an audience quickly. The only thing is, I suspect, you might want to be fairly swanky in advertising to these people - not over do it, but do not remain silent either.

Then there came Buzzfuse, which I have tried out to help get the word out about my free guided meditation I did earlier this month. Buzzfuse is a site to help one market their products, writing, audios, or anything cyber-real really. There is a free component, which I have signed up for and you can see the results on my free, guided meditation page. The goal of this marketing site is to expand the reach for your product, provide an interactive audience experience (a rating system), help you understand your market better, and maybe provide an opportunity to make money. On the free side, I signed up, put the widget on my page that I want promoted, and am at a stand still at the moment. It wants my Gmail friends’ email address to market my product to them. Before it goes any farther, it wants ten addresses. I really wish it would use my Stumble friends or those on Blogcatalog, rather than my contacts on Gmail.

Rather than just doing this, if you would like to be included in my Buzzfuse friend list, let me know and I will gladly add you. In fact, Entrecard people, if you provide your email in a comment on this posting or message me through Entrecard with your email, not only will I added you to my friends on Buzzfuse, I will give you 25 entrecard points for doing so. It would be good to move forward here.

Is there a perfect chair out there for doing hypnosis? I have begun to doubt it. What I think instead is that there is a perfect chair for each client, and it is luck of the draw if yours happens to be it. When it comes to my trsuty recliner, I have gotten everything from this recliner is perfect. This recliner is too big. This recliner is too soft. This recliner needs to recline more. And oh, I think I will just lie on the floor.

When I was going to school to learn hypnosis, we sat in hard uncomfortable chairs that did not recline in the slightest, and you know, the hypnosis worked as well as any done in the best recliners. (When I was in school, I had to walk fifty miles on bare feet, through snow…)

This had led me to remember my hypno massage I had back in May. It was pretty amazing. So, here is my latest thought - would one of those massage chairs like the Human Touch HT 7450 Zero Gravity Massage Chair be a good for hypnosis sessions? Might it provide a sense of comfort for some and could one time a session to coordinate with the chair’s various settings and cycles?

I know I could go to massage therapy school, but it is just not for me, but the chair could be an interesting addition to an office setting. Any thoughts?

While I am watching old movies on this fine Saturday, I am also trying to print out a newsletter for my weight loss hypnosis group. Normally I would send a newsletter to a printer, but I am doing less then ten copies. However, one page is full color (pictures from Halloween) and the other three are black and white. So, when this is done, I need to look at buying new ink cartridges. I use an Epsen Stylus CX5000, which means that several cartridges are needed.

So this time, I got industrious and found a few tips at www.inkjetdeals.info for ink conservation. I guess it is not an urban legend that turning off and on your printer uses ink. Interesting. It also recommends that when printing in black and white (three of my pages), that one should set the print settings to just black and white. This is just part of their Seven Steps to Saving Ink.

This site also explains in plain English the differences in generic print cartridges, refilling ink cartridges and why one might or might not want to use these products. This information can be found in their article on Generic and Remanufactured Cartridges. I have my own biases, but it is good to be a bit more educated.

Along with this information, inkjetdeals.info provides online sources for cheap inkjet cartridges and discount laser toner and coupons for these, up to 80% off retail prices. The company collects coupon codes for specific online sellers and makes them easily accessible.

So, another tool for finding the best deal for your printing needs.

Since I spent yesterday being an animator, today it is back to marketing tasks. The day away from it did me good. Social networking here I come. Internet marketing here I am.

Today I am looking at The Wright Place Business Directory. This is a member oriented directory (so, it does cost a little) based on the guests of Dr. Wright’s television show. The show is based for female entrepreneurs in Southern California, but the web is world wide, right? She offers a deal where you get membership, a listing, and are featured on her podcast. The web site also advertises events. She has several past guests that are related to the hypnosis modality. Mostly they would be what I call sister modalities, but it would mean that her audience might be more open minded towards hypnosis.

I have included her press release.

Press Release:

Dr. Letitia Wright
Wright Place TV Show
909-635-2040

info@wrightplacetv.com
http://tinyurl.com/376fo2
Wright Place Business Directory Offers Guest Spots on Podcast
Rancho Cucamonga, CA – November 9, 2007 - Finding Mentors and Business connections that can help you grow is important to all people in business. Without those connections 70% of businesses will fail. Now, The Wright Place TV Show has an online directory which can be accessed by anyone who needs to find a mentor or vendor for their business.

The Wright Place Business Directory has the contact information for guests seen on the Wright Place TV Show and can be searched by anyone who visits the site at no cost. Many of those listed in the directory are featured on the Wright Place Podcast which can be heard on ITUNES and online on any computer. “I want to help women create and grow businesses; the podcast is an extension of the Wright Place TV Show. Now we have a way to give people the information they need to grow the business they love.” Says, Dr. Wright, host of the Wright Place TV Show.

“No one can build it alone. My mentors and strategic partners have made all the difference in the world. Their direction and input has allowed me to grow personally and professionally. I want to make sure women everywhere have access to that kind of assistance.” remarks Dr Wright. The Wright Place TV Show Directory will book a podcast interview with those who list in the directory before December 15, 2007. Anyone can visit http://tinyurl.com/376fo2 for more information.

The Wright Place TV Show is a broadcast television show for women entrepreneurs seen in Southern California and hosted by Dr. Letitia Wright with guests like Mark Victor Hansen (Chicken Soup for the Soul), T. Harv Eker, DC Cordova, Robert G. Allen, John Assaraf (The Secret), and many others. You can find out more about the show at www.wrightplacetv.com
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The other day, when I wrote about the hypnotist Peter Powers, I found information on him all over the Web. There were press releases, articles, personal web sites, and other people’s opinions about him. But the search was completely random and I had to go to several sources. Then I found him on another site - www.spock.com.

Spock is a new concept in people or information finding on the Internet. Though it is not social networking, it has elements of it in that one can add to the information and vote on whether the keywords or tags are important. Basically it combines various sources about a particular person, such as biographical pages on other social networks, news releases, and web sites, thus adding several areas of information into one location. It is a little scary though since people can express their onions through voting. If someone has a vendetta against another, it could be annoying, though it does not look like one could corrupt the actual information itself. Again another potential psychology project to see what information people do consider important.

Here is Peter’s page:

This inspired me to look up “hypnosis” in general and I found many people on the site. It is a wonderful overview of all the people who practice hypnosis or are just interested in it. Literally, there is everyone from the founding fathers to vampire-like entertainers. There are the likes of Richard Bandler, Milton H. Erickson, Ormond McGill, Dave Elman, and me, Ellie Blunt. (I could not resist). I even looked up some of you, Michael, Paul, Kathryn, Lisa, Gloria and Lee. The only one I found there is Lee Darrow. Well, I am there now. How about you? It is free and it is another way to get yourself known to the public (by the way, Paul when are you going to start the blog, you have the site up…). Anyway, once you put yourself in there, we can all link together as friends, associates, or whatever under the “related” section. So, yes, if you do join, please consider listing me as a friend (makes me feel wanted and all. LOL).

Hmmm. The coffee is not cutting this one. Looking at yesterday’s mail, I notice that one my client’s checks bounced recently. Yikes. Sadly, this does happen, even to those of us with the best intentions. Many of us have been on both sides of this expensive fence and seen the domino effect it has in increasing bank charges to one and all.

And so, I breathe a heavy sigh. The bounced check is from a client who was recently laid off and is working on self-esteem to get back into the work force. We have been increasing his positivity about this situation and how it is a new beginning, a chance to do what he has always wanted to do (he has yet to figure this out). And now this. Well, guess it will be a test to see how well the hypnosis suggestions have worked to keeping him positive.

You know, though, it rather incenses me. Not the bounced check so much, but the banking fees that he will face. And I know, we can talk about responsibility all day long, but it will not change this that has come to pass.

And you know there is actually someone doing something about this in Britain. Soon their Office of Fair Trade will be doing an inquiry into this and have frozen all claims against banks regarding these fees. For those across the pond, they pay between 25 and 38 pounds for bouncing checks. According to a BBC money program, with the technology increasing efficiency with transactions, the cost should only be four pounds. Think how much banks make on all these Unfair Bank Charges. There is a company there that is now helping people with excessive charges called Keypoint, so that is a positive step.

I really think the US should consider looking into such fees, but I guess over here, we are a little side tracked.

It is a typical fall Saturday afternoon. I have been swamped with holiday catalogs and a partner who is into remodeling (yikes). I have never put much stock in the aesthetics of my office bathroom, instead focusing on creating a unique and comfortable environment for my session rooms. But I think maybe, the bathroom really is important, not just the cleanliness factor but how it makes one feel.

I am reminded of a recent expedition to a doctor’s office (I blogged about her acceptance of hypnosis a few weeks ago). She had just moved her office into a new building. It was well done, upscale doctor decor, but the bathroom - the bathroom was phenomenal. It was fabulously designed with an arty looking sink and faucet. It is actually nicer than my home bathroom.

So, I am also thinking faucet design now. I am totally drawn to the cleanliness of the Hansgrohe Stratos. It is completely simple, not daunting. It comes in a few finishes (brass underneath), but I am thinking along the lines of brushed Nickel for less finger prints. It seems quite affordable for the modern look. I found this one at faucets.com. Seems very straight forward, and I suspect my partner could even install it (since he is the one who got me into this mode).

If you cannot tell, I really hate sterile environments, but do crave professionalism. This is sometimes paradoxical.