Hypnosis Business Boot Camp by Jason Linett

Title: Hypnosis Business Boot Camp (HBBC)

Author: Jason Linett

Format: Online Course

Source: http://hypnosisbusinessbootcamp.com/

Price: $495 (read to the end of the review for a promo code)

Rating: Excellent

For you hypno-students and newer hypnos out there, let me tell you a harsh reality:

In a survey of over 1300 working hypnos, fewer than one in three were actually seeing as many clients as they wanted. Over 60% of respondents were earning less than $1500 per year seeing clients.  

    

That information speaks to a harsh realization all professional clinical hypnotists have to make:

Being a good hypnotist is not enough. Unless you’re one of the few who goes to work at hypnosis center where someone else handles all the marketing, promotion, and booking—you have to become a solo entrepreneur. You have to get excited about business. And you have to educate yourself on how to succeed.

Now, there are a lot of practice building courses out there. Some are good, and some were written by people who had spare time because they didn’t have enough clients.

And then there’s the Hypnosis Business Boot Camp by Jason Linett. It is truly exceptional. Not only is Linett a great presenter, but he’s been there. He’s built his practice (which is now a multi-practitioner center) from the ground up, and he remembers what it was like to be hungry. He understands that the new hypno doesn’t have a piles of advertising cash lying around, so he focuses on no-cost to low-cost methods that definitely work. He also knows that time is precious, so he shares fantastic techniques for automating your marketing. His empathy for the struggling hypnotist and generosity with his knowledge both shine in the HBBC.

So what is it exactly? Well, even though it’s called a boot camp, Linett doesn’t yell like a drill sergeant or try to tear you down, but he is out to make you into a whole new person when it comes to your marketing and business management. It isn’t personal coaching, and it’s also not a step in a sales funnel. It’s quite simply a series of talks and resources that reveal the best techniques and approaches Linett has used to build a very successful practice.

Joining the HBBC grants you access to the boot camp website, which is jam-packed full of information that is nonetheless compiled in very clean, easily accessible ways. There’s over 25 hours of video. Don’t have enough time to watch that much video? You can do what I did, and download the whole thing as mp3s. (I listen during my commute.) Want to search for that little bit you need to review, or do you simply respond better to written material? Linett gives you the entire course transcribed on a 300+ page PDF.

Hypnosis schools take note: That’s how you deliver content!

What does that content cover? Phone strategies, lead generation, website construction and optimizing, automation, networking, campaigning, video marketing . . . the list could keep going. There’s even a bonus section full of useful forms, documents, and articles, plus a complete email campaign for smoking cessation, ready to cut and paste right into your own system. It’s quite possibly everything you need to know to have a great start on building your practice.

And it keeps growing: The website is dynamic, so Linett can (and does) add new content. As if that weren’t enough, membership also gets you invited to Linett’s very active Facebook forum, where he answers student questions and shares new insights almost daily.

To be honest, I’ve been reluctant to write this review, because it’s unseemly for a reviewer to gush. But there’s no way around it. This is hands-down the best hypnosis business course I've ever taken.

Now, I always find something to criticize—otherwise, you wouldn’t believe this is a real review, right?—and I did find one little thing to niggle at in Linett’s video presentations. While he’s very comfortable in front of the camera and has high production values, he hasn’t learned the habit of repeating questions from the audience so that those of us listening to his mic feed will know what the question was. So that’s a little confusing as we guess the question based on his answer.

That’s literally the only thing I can complain about.

After getting good training as a hypnotist, Linett’s HBBC is the next and best investment any budding (or experienced but struggling) hypno should make.

Now, I know, for a new hypnotist, a price tag of $495 might seem daunting—but let me tell you that when Linett first allowed me to access the beta version of HBBC, he was planning to price it in the $700 range.  The truth is, he could have simply taken his phone strategy, just one small portion of this course, and sold it as a stand-alone for that price. Instead, he decided to bring the price for this course down to $495, even though I’d say it’s at least a $3000 value.

And at my request, he’s gone one better for the readers of my blog. When you sign up, enter the promo code REVIEWS (in all caps) for 10% off.

Seriously, if you’re a struggling hypno, and you don’t have the cash to purchase this course, get a credit card and pay it off in small chunks over the next year. It’s worth it.

Full Disclosure: Jason Linett was kind enough to give me access to HBBC to facilitate this review. We’d never met before when he did that, so I was ready to say, “I don’t know this guy, and here’s what I think of his product.” However, through taking his course and joining his forum, I’ve come to regard Linett as a friend and mentor. However, rather than thinking that has biased my review, I think it speaks to the reasons I’ve given HBBC my highest recommendation. 

The links to this course are NOT affiliate links. I do not gain any financial advantage if you take this course.

Not a Review: Update on the Sound System Project

Back in July, I had a small crowdfunding campaign to raise funds I used to purchase components for a very affordable hypnosis office sound system I designed. Here's an update on that project:

I purchased a number of components, always looking for the least expensive options. As a result, some of the components I purchased were indeed worth the price--In other words, they were junk. So I've returned certain components and purchased better equipment. (In one case, the seller told me they'd had so many complaints about the product that they did not want me to return it, nor would they offer a replacement; instead, they issued a refund.)

I'm now down to one cord that remains untested. When I find an affordable option for it, the system will be complete, and I'll be able to publish a guide to creating a hypnosis office sound system on a shoe-string budget.

Though I went into the project recognizing that I would be sacrificing some quality, I'm actually quite pleased with what I've been able to assemble on a budget. It's actually as good as the $800 system I use with my clients, and readers should be able to assemble it for around $100.

So, stay tuned.

Not a Review: Request for a Bit of Help

Have you ever done something because it helps other people?

Doesn't it feel great?

That's the main reason I review hypnosis-related products on my blog. Let's face it: Once I've read a book or found a helpful product, I really don't need to tell other people about it. 

But I love shining the spotlight on great products. (And I love exposing the truth about bad products.)

Fortunately, a lot of authors and companies support me in this: They send me their products to review. Other times, I buy or barter for a book that I really want, and then I review it because others need to know about it.

There are some products, though, that don't really fit that model--and here's where you come in.

A while back, I reviewed an $800 audio system that does a great job for what I need in my office. While it's an excellent product, and I am happy to recommend it, I was bothered that most bootstrapping hypnotists can't afford something like that.

So I've spent months researching a combination of products that I believe can do the same thing for about a quarter of the price (and even less in the scaled-down versions). The system is modular, so the growing hypnotist can upgrade piece-by-piece. I think it's the ideal solution for any hypnosis start-up.

But I can't recommend it without a field test.

That's why I'm asking those who enjoy my blog to contribute just a small amount to a special project that will be of great help to hundreds if not thousands of new hypnotists. It will be helpful to your students and possibly to you.

I've set up a GoFundMe page, and I'm asking for $250 to purchase components for a field test. Click here to support this blog.

To thank you for your help, I will include your name and links to your websites in the sponsorship portion of my review.

Now, $250 is a lot less than most people ask for in crowdfunding. The fact is, this system is designed to give a lot of bang for the buck. The only reason it's as high as it is, is that I may need to compare different components.

Note that I'm not devising a product to sell. I might include affiliate links for a few of the components, but I don't imagine this project will profit me as much as a Starbucks coffee each day. 

I'm doing this because I know how expensive it is to start a practice, so I want to do all I can to help those who are still starting out.

Won't it feel good to do the same?

Who Me?: How to Choose the Best Volunteers by Sean Michael Andrews

Title: Who Me?: How to Choose the Best Volunteers

Author: Sean Michael Andrews

Format: e-book (Amazon Kindle)

Price: $2.99 (I got it when the author was giving it away.)

Rating: Good

Readers of this blog will know that I’ve reviewed a number of Sean Michael Andrews’ videos, and I’m an avid reader of his Street Hypnosis Newsletter. So—full disclosure here—we are online friends if not bosom buddies, and he has sent me review copies of a lot of his work. In this case, though, I was able to nab his new kindle e-book for free before he raised the price to an exorbitant two dollars and ninety-nine cents!

So, here’s the low-down on this download:

Like a lot of e-books out there, it’s a quick read at low cost, but you shouldn’t be fooled by its “cheaper than food” price. Who Me?: How to Choose the Best Volunteers is packed with wisdom gained the hard way, through decades of trial and error, individual experimentation, and careful research.

I must admit that I’m often reluctant to work with an individual volunteer when I’m giving a presentation, and for the very reasons, SMA notes in his opening: You only get one shot to impress your audience or completely humiliate yourself in front of a room full of strangers. Indeed, I’ve often thought, “If only there were a sure-fire way to pick the right person to demonstrate with.”

Well, there is no 100% guaranteed way to get the right volunteer, but with the tips in this book, you’ll certainly stack the deck in your favor. And that’s a lot of what hypnosis is about—stacking the deck in your favor. So this book is the next best thing to a guarantee.

Now, fans of “hypnotizability scales” may be disappointed that SMA’s work is based only in part on clinical suggestibility trials. Most of his advice is based on personal observation. These are tricks of the trade, and the author is sharing them because they work.

Of course, it’s important not to fall in the trap of thinking that this book supports the idea that some people aren’t hypnotizable. In your office, you should presuppose that everyone is hypnotizable, because you have the time to give individual attention and find the right approach for each client.

But when you need to be sure you get the best responder for a public demonstration, Andrews’ advice is golden.

Now, very few works are perfect. I give SMA points for a readable text with clarity and good grammar (not to mention some humor). In fact I was a quarter of the way into the book before I stumbled over a typo.

I would love it if SMA had provided a summary checklist at the end of the book, just to make internalizing the material that much easier. I’ll probably re-read and create such a checklist myself.

My biggest concern with this book has to do with something the author mentions in passing. When noting that people with Dissociative Identity Disorder (formerly known as Multiple Personality Disorder) tend to be highly suggestible, SMA repeats a highly questionable theory that DID is caused by childhood trauma, specifically that it’s an extreme form of repression.

As it turns out, there’s considerable evidence that, like repressed memories, multiple personalities almost never present “in the wild” and appear to be overwhelmingly iatrogenic—that is they are far too often caused by suggestions from therapists (or popular culture). So of course, those with DID are highly suggestible: That’s why they were able to develop a syndrome at the suggestion of their therapist.

(For more information on this, check out Mark Pendergrast’s Victims of Memory, which I’ll feature in an upcoming review.)

That said, the advice that people with DID will make for highly suggestible volunteers is spot-on. It’s just the passing reference to discredited ideas about the syndrome’s origin that bother me.

My final complaint is hardly the author’s fault, though he might be able to remedy it. I’d appreciate it if the book were available in PDF format as well as Kindle e-book. The reason is simple: Despite the fact that the Internet has at least a dozen ways to get an Android device to read a Kindle book aloud, none of them have worked for me. For that reason, I can’t listen to SMA’s book during my commute, which is inconvenient, as I’d like to re-visit it periodically.

These few criticisms aside, I have to say I’m delighted with this book. And at less than three dollars, there’s absolutely no reason every hypnotist in the world shouldn’t buy it and read it today.

Building Blocks of a Better Attitude by Dave Berman

Title: Building Blocks of a Better Attitude

Author: Dave Berman

Format: e-book (PDF)

Source: http://manifestpositivity.com/product/e-books/building-blocks-better-attitude/

Price: $10

Rating: Excellent

The blurb for this book opens with these words:

“This book is for you if pessimism and cynicism aren’t working out so well . . . ”

Many years ago, I was rather pessimistic, and it didn’t work out. In fact, I became rather pessimistic that it would ever work for me, to the point that eventually my optimism about optimism crowded out my pessimism about pessimism.

In any case, I get the feeling that the author was probably a lot like me at one point, and he’s had to develop the skills necessary to maintain optimism. So on the drive out to an all-day hypnosis training, I had my smart phone read Building Blocks of a Better Attitude aloud to me. (BTW, if you’re not employing this trick or something similar to use your commute time to your advantage, you are missing out on a great continuing education opportunity.)

In this brief e-book, Berman spells out each of those skills necessary to build and maintain optimism, using the metaphor that each one is a building block that has allowed him to construct a healthier, more effective way to cope with the world. It’s like Pink Floyd’s The Wall in reverse.

Perhaps because Berman and I have studied in a lot of the same places—and as friends and colleagues, we’ve even traded books and influenced one another—I didn’t find a lot of material that was new to me. Your mileage may vary.

Even knowing a lot of the material, I had to admire the brilliance in Berman’s presentation. At first I noted that the book seemed a little short—then I realized that’s because of the utterly clear and concise way that Berman explains each building block, along with his logical progression from idea to idea. So, while the book draws from a number of different sources in disparate fields—and Berman is scrupulous about crediting his sources—it is an amazing work of synthesis, pulling all of these ideas and presenting them in a simple, easy-to-follow order. In many ways, it embodies the NLP principle of doing the very least to get the greatest effect.

Indeed, if I ever get the chance to work with a teen after-school group, I’d probably use Building Blocks of a Better Attitude as the text book, though I might have to re-frame the term better attitude if I do so.

It’s rare that I can’t find anything to complain about, so I hope that my readers will not take it as bias that I really can’t poke any holes in this book. If I were going raise any questions, it is perhaps that Berman doesn’t cite much in the way of peer-reviewed articles backing up his material, but that is a faint criticism at best.

In interests of full disclosure, I will say that the author and I were classmates at the Hypnosis Practitioner Training Institute (Go Turtles!), and we’ve developed a friendship as colleagues who trust and rely on each other’s judgment. Hopefully, my readers have seen me criticize enough of my good friends’ works to trust that I strive to avoid bias when reviewing. Also, while I’m certain that the author would have given me a review copy had I requested it, I opted to purchase this work—and I recommend that you do the same.

A Guide to Trance Land by Bill O'Hanlon

Title: A Guide to Trance Land: A Practical Handbook of Ericksonian and Solution-Oriented Hypnosis

Author: Bill O’Hanlon

Format: Book

Rating: Good

It's been a while since I posted a review--I've been busy editing several books and co-authoring one, so I haven't had a lot of time for leisure reading and reviewing. I am happy to dig back in with A Guide to Trance Land.

Bill O’Hanlon is a name you may know if you listen to any of the webinars that Ruth Buczynski hosts—at least that’s how I first heard his name. As the author himself explains, O’Hanlon was Milton Erickson’s gardener and student; the back-cover describes him as “a psychotherapist, professional speaker, and prolific author,” before mentioning that he has appeared on the Oprah Winfrey show.

Setting aside his reputation, I was eager to see if this small tome would hold up, and I have to say I was pleased with what I found.

For anyone familiar with conversational hypnosis or the Milton Model from NLP, the first section of the book is a concise review. Even so, as I read it, I thought to myself, “If I wanted a new hypnotist to grasp the basics of conversational hypnosis, this might be the book I would recommend.” The language is plain and clear, and each idea is presented in a short, easy to digest portion—something which O’Hanlon explains in his introduction he is doing on purpose.

Around page 68, though, the book went from being a good review or clear introduction into discussing something that is paradigm-shifting. You see, Erickson was known for having no unifying psychological theory, no single therapeutic approach; instead, it’s widely thought that he simply invented a new therapy for every client. In fact, Erickson is noted for having said that he wanted to fit his approach to each client, rather than fitting each client to the approach.

So, flying in the face of the conventional wisdom on Ericksonian hypnosis, O’Hanlon states that he has discerned a pattern in Erickson’s cases—a system, if you will.

Now, I’m not going to give away what that system is—if you want to know it, buy the book—and I can’t say whether O’Hanlon is right about the system he presents really being the essence of Erickson’s work. What I will say is that wherever it came from, the system O’Hanlon presents is brilliant, and perhaps it shouldn’t be buried in the middle of what seemed at first like a run-of-the-mill review of the Milton Model. It also needs a better name than the one O’Hanlon gives it: the “Class of Problems and Class of Solutions Model.” It’s got no zip; I just can’t dance to it.

In truth, O’Hanlon doesn’t prove his assertion; in fact, he doesn’t seem to be interested in making the case that the pattern he’s discerned is really there in Erickson’s case studies. Fair enough. I’ll still go out on a limb and say that his brief discussion starting on page 68 is something every hypnotist should take a look at. There’s a joke that Erickson once said of Bandler and Grinder (the inventors of NLP), “They think they have me in a nutshell, but all they have is the shell.” I think it’s possible that O’Hanlon got the nut.

As if that weren’t enough, O’Hanlon follows that brief passage with a really great discussion of the question “Should We Trust the Unconscious?” He really synthesizes alternate views on that topic in a plain-spoken, yet insightful, way.

Can I criticize A Guide to Trance Land? There are a few things that bother me, yes, but to tell the truth, they are really not important enough to even list.

My main criticism of this book is that I want more. I want more concrete examples of certain ideas, especially the “Good Trance/Bad Trance.” I want more discussion and examples of how to use the model he presents.

Overall, I have to say, it’s a good read with a number of valuable ideas for the hypnotist.