NOTE: This transcript has not yet been proofed read and may contain typos. It will be updated as soon as proof reading is complete.
Cal: Hello, everybody. Cal Banyan here. Cal Banyan's Hypnosis Etc. If you're watching this video anywhere except calbanyan.com, you want to go there right now because on that site, with this video, is 400 plus other videos that are each have a nugget or two that you can use in your hypnosis session the next day and more text that supports this, more information, links and all that kind of good stuff.
All right, today, we're going to talk about how you, right there, it says the gift you give yourself by being a model of success. Brenda came up with this idea for this, as she does most of the podcasts we do together. Let me introduce you to Brenda.
Brenda, I'm so excited to have her with me. I just flourish in the warmth and joy of her ongoing bubbly personality and optimism. She is an inspiration to hypnotists, her clients, and it's just from this universal sense of giving and the joy that comes from helping others that makes up who she is. She's not just all bubbly effervescence; she is smart. She's got a bachelor's degree in sociology, a master's degree in criminology. It's so weird, criminology. I keep thinking like how does that work into this, but I'm sure it does somehow. Because, you know, a lot of times I talk about in class that as a hypnotherapist we're like the detective, trying to find the cause of a problem and fixing it. How are you doing, Brenda?
Brenda: I am doing great, Cal. Thank you for that very nice introduction. I am thrilled to be here to talk to everybody about the gifts that we give not just ourselves but actually we give our clients through our success. Let me talk to you all about the model of success that I have learned everything from, which is Cal Banyan. Cal is the hypnosis celebrity. He has his fame in the profession of hypnotism 17 years or so. He has received most of the awards available in the field of hypnotism. He comes to us and brings us the approach of 5-PATH hypnotherapy, which truly is hypnosis that works. I see it every day here in my office. I also really honor and value his work that he has done, in addition to 5-PATH hypnotherapy, also the secret language of feelings, which I know almost every time I give it to somebody, they come back the next week and they say, "Wow. It wasn't just the two hours I spent with you last week. It was reading this book that started to change my life already."
I'm thrilled to be here today to talk a little bit about being the model of success. A little bit of background for everybody and Cal about this episode, I recently had a couple of clients who were very frank about their personal feedback to me, face to face; not even on my feedback form. Just some things that they said to me as part of very personal feedback about how I approached my work with them and how it then impacted their sessions. So, what do you think about that, Cal?
Cal: Absolutely. You know, when you are a success and you believe in someone else, that is such a gift to them because they're thinking about, "Well, here's this guy or this gal who is obviously a success," you know, mind, body, spirit, financially. Whatever area that your client picks up that you're a success in, it validates the work you do and it validates their efforts, and it's very inspiring. Proceed.
Brenda: Exactly. So the first part that I wanted to talk about kind of goes along the strand of weight loss, and this was very interesting to me. I had a client come and it was her final session with me actually. She mentioned as we were just kind of finishing up, she said, "You know, you're website picture, I think that you look so much thinner now than in that picture. You really should take a look at that picture." I was kind of surprised and taken aback because I'm really proud of my website pictures. I think they look great. In fact, I am the same weight now as I was two and a half years ago when those pictures were taken. I thought that's interesting but it wasn't just in the moment of her saying that. She admitted that she actually stopped and thought, "Can Brenda really help me when I'm looking at her?" She was looking at my picture on my website.
Thankfully, she did decide that yes, I could help her based on talking to her and what have you. But isn't that interesting, Cal? She really thought about that as she was looking at my picture and thinking about how I looked when she was thinking about coming to me for weight loss. What do you think about that?
Cal: There are so many lessons to be learned from that. One of the things is it's famous. That's why all those models are so skinny. The camera always puts on a few pounds. When I go to the convention, people often say to me, "Oh, you look like you’ve lost some weight." The camera puts on weight, but the other thing is why is it that people in our profession don't go out and get professional pictures? So much of the decision we make about people is in their appearance. You need to go out and get yourself a very well-lit, very sharp professional picture, not one of these glam shots. We're not supposed to look super sexy hunks or super sexy babes. We're supposed to look approachable and successful. Because when we look successful, then our clients become more confident. Proceed.
Brenda: Exactly. Now in this situation with this client, I've been meeting with her for over a month and felt pretty comfortable, and so I had a couple of opportunities to model success and confidence in hearing what she had to say. The first was in this very blunt, very frank feedback, that I didn't necessarily… well I'll get into that later.
First, this client, obviously I realized I had known from her sessions, was extremely image conscious. It wasn't terribly surprising that she would say something like this. Actually I was so calm about it; just kind of like, "Oh, that's very interesting feedback. Thank you so much." I didn't get distracted by it, didn't get upset. I think that really what I was able to show her was that I could love myself and feel good about myself and confident about myself just the way that I was. I really believe that some of my strength in how I received that feedback actually was helpful for her and just realizing that she didn't have to be so image conscious herself. I could see that as I was responding to her.
Of course there is the other really important part of this, which is that another way to model success in a situation like this is very obvious, which is to be the success. Let's say I had lost weight using hypnosis. I want to be sure that my clients are very aware of that. I would want some sort of my hypnosis story on my website, maybe some before and after possibly, maybe even just part of my bio that I had lost weight through hypnosis. Now that is not a part of my personal story, but it was something that I wanted to share for anybody out there that is. How about that, Cal?
Cal: Absolutely. Anything that you can do that says, “I'm not just not talking the talk, I'm walking the walk,†is very important. I remember when I first got into this profession, I was almost 300 pounds. I just hadn't really focused on it and I'd let my weight blow up, but once I got into the profession, it dawned on me. This is the greatest thing that could be because as I start to lose the weight using hypnosis, affirmation, all the tools of the hypnotist, people are going to say, "Gosh, you're really losing weight. What are you doing?" It gave me a chance to talk about what I do.
I started working with weight loss clients as soon as I had lost about 15 pounds because then I had a story to tell. So there I was, still very heavy, but I had a story. I said, "I've discovered some stuff with hypnosis. It's really working for me. It's working for my clients. And you know what? I'm down 15 pounds and I know I'm going to be able to drop a lot more weight." There it is, being the model of success. Cool.
Brenda: Exactly. That's a gift that you get to give to yourself and to your clients. Before we move onto the next part and Cal mentioned this a little bit about having those professional pictures, but I would say that it's also important to take note. Take a look every once in a while at the image that you are putting out publicly and to prospective clients and to the profession. Does your photo need updating or is it possible do you need updating to match your photo? So be thinking about that.
As we move onto the second part, I got through the weight loss part. But the next part that I wanted to talk about that came up recently with a client, like I said just that blunt right-in-my-face feedback, thankfully was a very positive thing. It had to do with organizational skills. Now, Cal, I know sometimes you walk past my office and you'll see me on an accounting day or a paperwork day and there is paperwork everywhere. I just spread it. I have a huge desk and I've got stuff everywhere. But the truth is that when I've got a client coming in, there is nothing on my desk, or if it is, it's very carefully placed. All that the client really sees that is between me and them is a clipboard that I have my notes that I'm taking for meeting with them. Because, truthfully, when a client comes in to see me, I want to be 100% engaged with them, organized and prepared. That really makes a difference to your clients, doesn't it, Cal?
Cal: One of the things that goes with just being professional is being organized and prepared. Now, when you're new, it takes longer to get organized and prepared. During our classes, we do a tour of our center, and I really say okay, we start outside and say this is why we're located here. This is why we chose this property, and then we go into the reception area and say this is why this reception area is set up the way it is. And then I take them into my hypnotherapy office, which is where Brenda is. She's actually sitting in my hypnotherapy office as we record this. I talk about why everything is set up the way it's set up because I understand that my office is where I perform. My office is my stage. It sets the mental attitude. It sets the emotional state, and so everything in there is always clean, cleared, meticulous, smells good so that I'll always be getting off on the right foot with my clients. Brenda, obviously she does that with her office, too.
Brenda: Exactly. This client that I had here recently, he was here for golf. By the time we were through, as you can imagine, we talk all the time about ways that our clients’ lives are impacted beyond what they came to see us for, but for him, it was those organizational skills. I never even talked about it in session. We never talked about these organizational skills, but it made enough of an impression on him how prepared I was to see him every day, how everything was cleared and ready to go, 100% focused on him. That was how he began his testimonial. “Brenda is prepared and organized.†I thought, "Wow. That wasn't even something we talked about," but how about that for unintended results, Cal?
Cal: Perfect. That goes to show that there are things going on. Your clients are observing stuff that you're not talking about, and so you need to have everything laid out. You need to be clean. You need to be organized. You need to be prepared. What happens is that says, "I am successful. I expect to be successful. Most importantly, I expect you to be successful." That meta-message, that unspoken message, can shout louder than anything you could shout with your two lips.
Brenda: Exactly. I just wanted to bring up a couple of examples here today to share about how, like I said, that gift that you give your clients you give them the gift of your presence literally. Your success then does become an ability to show them how they can be successful, too. I brought a couple of specific examples that I mentioned earlier. Of course, you want to be thinking about your self-care, your personal health, energy. Are you stressed? Are you tired? You are always teaching your clients by what you're putting out there. Be aware of that. You're always modeling. You're always teaching. So model success, model confidence, model health and wellness, and that will show out for prospective clients as well as for your clients that you're working with every day.
You can help your clients be their best by you being your best. That is, like I said, the incredible gift that you give to yourself and to your clients, and quite frankly to the people around you. Hopefully, I try to be that gift here in the office to the other people that I work with. That's what I wanted to share today. Cal, anything else before we wrap it up?
Cal: Just one thing. There might be some hypnotists that are listening or watching and saying, “But I am not yet that model.†What do you do? You want to learn self-hypnosis. Of course I recommend 7th Path Self-Hypnosis, the most powerful mind, body, spirit form of self-hypnosis on the planet bar none. Find a hypnotist that you trust; great credentials, great experience. And then let that individual, that professional hypnotist, help you transform into the model that you want to be, and then you become the success story. You become the before and after picture. Then you say, "And now I'm presenting to you." All right. Wrap it up.
Brenda: All right. Well, thank you all so much for joining us today. I look forward to seeing you next week as we continue to explore great topics. Check me out on Our Hypno Space. Brenda Titus. I'm right there. You can also find me at ochypnotherapy.com. I'm on Facebook as Healing Path Hypnosis as well. Have a great week everyone and we will see you next time.
Cal: Awesome, Brenda. Thank you for being here. You come up with such great ideas for these episodes. I want to see you folks in class. We've got one coming up in March, March 2nd through the 13th; got the weekend off in the middle. That's our NGH Approved Banyan Hypnosis Certification Supercourse. Come to our school here in California for that or you can get it live online from anywhere in the world that has a good internet connection. You can jack right into our class.
Also, we have the Week of Power Advanced Hypnosis Hypnotherapy Certification. These are your folks who are already certified but you want to bump up your skills; more confidence; ore competence, 5-Path, 7-Path. You want to make that leap? You want to do hypnosis that works? I want to see you in class. With that, we want to see you on Our Hypno Space. Create your own group. Let's get together and be hypnocollegial. All right, bye for now. Cal Banyan, over and out.