Dream Job - Hypnotherapist

Who do you work for? What is your job? Where do you work?

Myself, Hypnotherapist, West London

How did you start in this line of work? 

Was in Marketing got bored by soullessness & wanted a new career, looked at Life coaching (was a buzz thing at the time) – thought it looked like marketing but that clients would need hypnotherapy as a back up – did the course, loved it & dropped the idea of life coaching

How did you find out about the job? Or where did you get the idea?
Researched where to do the course on the web, idea – see above

How did you get the job?

Started the business 

What do you do on an average day?
There is no average day – perhaps 2 typical days would be -
Up excercise, breakfast, see clients; 3 ish clients thru day, then go do something fun in the evening
or
Up late, 3 ish clients, listen to training dvds or read training books/meet friend for lunch/coffee/network meeting or business development, do something fun in the evening 
or
I can be lazy & just watch an entertainment DVD if I'm feeling unmotivated

I always answer calls & emails on days off but very light work. Sun/Mon I have off (often do networking meetings on Mondays)

What hours do you work?

About 15 client hours per week, plus client prep, training – courses & home study 
I'm always doing training – I love it so it’s more like leisure activity 
I work Tues/wed am & pm, thurs, fri, sat (some evenings & weekends likely!)

What’s the best part of the job?
Seeing people in crisis get their lives back under control

And the worst?
Not much! – but it’s easy to be lazy re business development

What can you not do your job without - Qualifications, licences, insurance, comfy shoes, eye for detail, sense of humour? 

Qualificationss/Insurance/Empathy/self motivation/ability to focus entirely on someone else/have your baggage under control/life experience/be able to be taken seriously/humility/be unflappable/quiet professional room to work out of/means of burning CDs of sessions/being non-judgmental 

How much initial investment did you have to spend to get started in your career?
About £8K

How does the pay and career path compare to other people you know? Can you support yourself, a family, a house on the income from this work?

Pay is what you make it – it works well for me but lots of people struggle to make enough to work full time. It would be tougher outside big cities where there are fewer people & the hourly rate would be lower
Career path – again what I make it but flexible for the future – I think thats why ongoing training is so important to keep it fresh 

Does your organisation ever advertise for staff? Where?
No

Have you ever seen other jobs like yours advertised? Where?

No, self employed

What would you be doing if not in this line of work?
I’d probably still be being a marketing consultant & be really miserable