Welcome to my fourth post in my series on Mrs Mummypenny celebrating my small business friends. I am showcasing people who I have worked with in my previous corporate life who have set up their own businesses. Each person will share details about things like their light bulb moment, key learnings and proud moments. Each post will inspire you and maybe you might take that leap yourself. If you worked with me at HSBC, Tesco, Threshers or EE drop me a line on lynn@mrsmummypenny.co.uk and I can feature you too!
Today I welcome my good friend Heather Hall to my blog, and answer the question many people have on the Internet and whom I speak to – Does Hypnotherapy Work? I have had a few hypnotherapy sessions with Heather now. For weight loss, binge eating, to help me focus and to improve my confidence. So does Hypnotherapy work? Absolutely. Three stone lost three years ago and mostly kept off.
Heather and I worked together in the website part of EE. She left a while before me to set up her hypnotherapy business and I have watched her flourish and move to a life much better suited to her and her skill. Over to Heather to tell us all about her business.
1) How long were you in the employed world and what were you doing?
My working life started after training as a nursery nurse. I worked as a nanny for 11 years looking after children in their homes whilst their parent’s went out to work. I attended evening classes when I was nannying to learn how to touch-type and use a computer. When an opportunity came up to work in an office, I decided to give it a go for a change. I worked as a secretary/PA for various big companies for 14 years. Next on the agenda was thinking about working for myself but didn’t know what exactly.
I knew I was interested in alternative health and how the brain works. I did some evening classes again, this time in Anatomy & Physiology, but still didn’t know what I wanted to do. One day a friend of mine told me he had been to hypnotherapy to stop smoking. I felt intrigued, so I had some sessions myself for self-confidence. I found it very beneficial. There was a strong calling to hypnotherapy and looked into doing some courses straight away. I ended up training on two courses in 2013. One was more traditional based hypnotherapy and the other one has an evidence based approach, where a study of it’s effectiveness was published in the Mental Health Review Journal.
2) At what point did you think, it’s time to leave and go self-employed? Was there a trigger moment?
It always was the plan to leave EE and become self-employed once I’d finished my training, but it was just a matter of feeling the right time. When it did feel right for me, I remember giving plenty of notice.
3) What plans did you put in place before leaving, e.g. training, saving money, building customer base?
Once I had qualified in hypnotherapy, I employed someone to build my website, printed some business cards and was treating people for free to gain practice. I had a little bit of savings but not much. I had worked out how many clients I needed to see a week to pay the bills, so I took a leap of faith and just went for it. Determination made me make it work.
4) When did you leave EE and become self-employed?
I left EE at the end of March 2014.
5) Tell us about your business?
I help people to change things about themselves that are holding them back in life. Alongside hypnotherapy I use Neuro-linguistic Programming (NLP), Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT), Gestalt Therapy, Positive Psychology, Eye Movement Integration (EMI), Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT/Tapping).
The most common things I have treated people for in the last 6 years have been:
- Anxiety
- Weight loss
- Nicotine addiction
- Fears & Phobias
- Confidence/Performance
- Addiction
- Depression
- Insomnia/Sleeping issues
- Habits
- Stress
- OCD
- Panic Attacks
- IBS
- Public Speaking
6) How is your business progressing?
My business is going well. The main way clients find me are from people recommending me and my website. Within a year of starting up, as well as working from home I also took on a room in Berkhamsted and Harley Street on Tuesdays and Saturdays. At the moment I am concentrating more on working from home in Hemel Hempstead and gaining more clients online via zoom/skype. Enabling me to treat people anywhere in the UK or even world. I have employed a PA who helps with my enquiries, an accountant, a website expert and would be lost without their help.
7) Can you share three business successes?
– Seeing my clients lives changing before my eyes – Does Hypnotherapy work? Absolutely.
– I was nominated as a finalist in the Health & Wellness category at the Best Business Women Awards in 2015
– I took the leap of faith and made it work! (Lynn here, LOVE this one!)
8) Can you share three learnings
Attend network meetings. Although I am more on the introverted side, I found it was helpful to connect with people who are usually in the same position as you, starting up or running their own business. Some groups run trainings on particular subjects and you can pick up some great tips, also gain new clients too!
Get some systems set up as soon as possible and before things get busy, to keep a log of clients or purchases etc. It’s a great way to keep a tally of how you are doing. Also great to look back at statistics and trends.
Practice your skill. Once I qualified in hypnotherapy, for 6 months I treated people free of charge in the evenings and at weekends while still in full employment, which really helped build my confidence at what I had learnt and put my training into practice. Because of this I was more than ready to charge for my services the day I started self-employment.
9) What things do you miss about the corporate world
Nothing really;-)
10) What things are you grateful for now that you didn’t have whilst employed?
I’m grateful for being able to help people become a happier version of themselves. I enjoy being my own boss, and can choose my working hours.
11) What piece of advice would you give to someone thinking of leaving the employed world and setting up their own business
– Be prepared and get ready, set up websites, social media pages, systems etc beforehand.
– Work at your new business alongside your day job to build your client base.
– Take that leap and be ready to work your socks off!
12) How do people find your business website, social media links?
Website: http://heatherhallhypnotherapy.co.uk/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HeatherHallHypnotherapy.co.uk/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/HH_Hypnotherapy
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/heatherhallhypnotherapylondon/
You can also read more about my experience with Heather, in particular with weight loss in this post.
2 Responses
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