"In times of rapid change, experience could be your worst enemy."
-J. Paul Getty
Human beings love certainty. Our need for certainty is encoded within us. It's a survival instinct. The more we stick with what we know, what consistently works, the more likely we are to survive. Unfortunately, no survival instinct is perfect for all situations in which there is a threat.
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What I'm about to discuss is so simple, yet profoundly important for those who wish to learn hypnosis. Perhaps the simplicity of it is what makes it easy to overlook. In any case, if you take this blog post to heart, and truly raise your awareness afterward, it could save you thousands of dollars and countless wasted hours. It could propel your achievement in your personal health, wealth, and happiness.
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I recently had a stage hypnosis show at a boarding school. It was a gorgeous campus, made up of classic federal style buildings from the 1800's and newer contemporary buildings that glistened with glass that allowed the warm light of the interior to spill out into the cold January evening. The campus was nicer than many colleges I perform at, which is often the case when I do shows at private schools. They are places of great privilege and means.
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There has long been a division in the profession of hypnotism between consulting (or clinical) hypnotists and stage hypnotists. Many consulting hypnotists believe that stage hypnotists misrepresent the true value of hypnotism, and some would even say that stage hypnotists hurt the profession with their playful use of a skill set that can help people change their lives. As a hypnotist who keeps a foot in each circle of hypnotism, I believe that there is tremendous value in the work stage hypnotists do, when they do it well. In fact, I would argue that besides the internet, stage hypnotists are the greatest asset that the profession of hypnotism has today.
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Have you thought about getting into stage hypnotism? What would you leave behind in order to fulfill that desire? If you had told me when I was 18 years old that one day I would learn to hypnotize people and make a career of it, I would have laughed at you. Well, I'm not laughing now.
In this video, I tell my story of how I came to hypnotism as a career.
An important aspect of business for hypnotists is keeping track of emerging social media platforms. How do you know which ones to get involved with and which ones to stay away from? It's tricky.
Zach Pincince trained with us in 2018, and when he finished his training he immediately started working on his social media branding, primarily through Instagram and YouTube. But then, Zach heard about a lesser-known platform called Tik Tok, which was getting more attention with young people. He joined the platform, and in just months skyrocketed to the top hypnotist profile on the platform amassing over two MILLION followers. In this interview, Paul and Zach talk about what it's been like for Zach to become "Tik Tok famous," how he's leveraged that fame to help him on his other social platforms, and what it has meant for his business so far.
When asked to speak at a conference for stage hypnotists in 2018, I framed my presentation right away from a perspective that was bound to make some people in the room uncomfortable, but it's important that we be honest about what's going on in our profession: there's a serious lack of innovation.
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"Can I be hypnotized" is one of the most common questions that I get from people. It's a natural curiosity that many people have, but the reality is that I can't answer that question with certainty for every person. I can give you some guidelines, however, for getting a general sense of whether you can be hypnotized or not.
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Forgive the rawness of the video, but I wanted to show the real process I go through when I'm generating content for my show. No fancy lighting, no effects. This is me in my living room grinding through the creative process.
In this video, Paul briefly explains how some of the less popular, or less common, markets for stage hypnotists operate. Each market has different pay levels, buyers, and time commitments.