The average person quite understandably looks forward to Summer - there's holidays, and if it's a lucky year, long bright and warm evenings. If you have a fledgling business however, it can produce a most unwelcome dip in your income. Last year I was particularly badly hit. (See article Silly Season I !) This year it will be interesting to see how badly I get clobbered this time. This time though, my reputation has spread that little bit further (see "Catch me on BCB" article) and I'm now putting in two full days a week to my business.
Certainly right now I'm still pulling 'em in. One client who walked in head bowed five sessions ago walks out smiling with head held high only for a new head bowed client to walk in. That of course is the great thing about being a hypnotherapist worth his salt, seeing people who have been made miserable for years by their own behaviour liberated from it in a matter of weeks. The theory is that if enough happy people walk out, they will by word of mouth pull more unhappy ones in. The question is, does this work over a long hot Summer? (or a miserable wet one for that matter!)
As well as being that little bit more established, I now have somewhere to be firmly established in! I now have my own therapy room and from this week, a swanky purpose-built super-comfy black leather couch to hypnotize my clients in. (well O.K. it's a DFS armchair recliner but IS swanky!) This happens to be in a community centre, so if that attracts in more passers-by, that may offset the Summer dip. One thing's for sure, if I do get a lean patch, I will be taking the opportunity to be marketing my little butt off, so I'll be grafting regardless. The day will eventually come when Summer means I'll have a shorter waiting list. I have no doubt in my ability and every confidence in getting to where I want to be, and sooner rather than later!
