Multiple Hypnosis Certifications But No Hypnosis Clients (Do This)

(Video transcribed)

So today’s question is, “Scott, I’ve just finished my master’s in NLP.” So congratulations. That’s awesome. Oh, I lost the question. Hang on, guys. So, “I just finished my master’s in NLP, but I’m still struggling to get clients. I’ve done four certifications and spent over $30,000 in certification fees. What is your advice? Does this mean I’m still not certified enough? My mentor is telling me that I must have a master’s in coaching as NLP is not enough. What are your thoughts? I don’t want to spend any more money if it means I’m not going to get clients. Your advice would be most helpful.” Yeah. So just to clarify what you asked there, what the question actually was. Okay, yeah. So certifications have nothing to do with getting clients. Certifications only have a parallel to actually achieving the result, which is important.

But here’s the thing, certifications do not matter. I think therapists and coaches get far too certified, overcertified, end up learning the same certification over and over and over and over again just with a new name or another fancy name, and it really has no relevance to building a business. And I tell this to people all the time, you should only get certified enough to help your client with their problem. But the only way to know what problem you’re going to solve is to actually start building the business. And then obviously, you find your niche. So I was always under the assumption that I’m only going to learn what I need to learn based on the problem that I’m solving. And if I can solve that problem with just one certification, so be it. If I need two certifications, so be it. Three, four, I go down the line that way.

But here’s the reason again, why certifications don’t matter. Let’s say someone has the cure for cancer. And unfortunately, you suffer from cancer. And the person that found the cure was a year 10 dropout of high school, worked collecting trolleys during the day, had no certifications, no qualifications, nothing to speak of other than the cure for cancer. If you were suffering from cancer, would you ask to see this person’s certification before you took the cure? Probably not. So I think certifications, what they do, they put us into a position that I’m certified and that’s all I need for clients to come and see me, and that’s all I need to have the results. Now, yes, you need to be certified in order to get the results, and you have to maintain insurance and stuff like that and make sure you’re sticking to the rules as a therapist and coach where your business is from. But don’t get lost in the more certifications is going to equal more of a business later because that’s not the case.

Clients do not care. Therapy, coaching, NLP. Now, my background’s in therapy as well. And I had to learn this early on. They don’t care. I have never, ever, ever had a smoking client ask to see my certification. All they usually asked to see was some sort of proof that I knew what I was doing and wanted to make sure they could get the same results. That’s it. Now, if I had a wall full of certification, let’s say I had NLP master’s coaching, therapy, Ericksonian conversation hypnosis, RTT, all of those sort of stuff, it’s going to look great. Doesn’t necessarily mean I’m going to have the confidence to do anything. And it’s going to look good. But if my client was to look at all those things, they just look at that as, “Wow. There’s a lot of pieces of paper on the wall. All I care about is, can I get a result with you?”

So certification, I think, puts us in the wrong position where it gives us a false sense of I can help you. The only thing that matters is results. Just like if you had cancer, that year 10 dropout with no qualification or no certification, I’m sure you wouldn’t care if it was guaranteed to solve your problem. So I’m not saying your mentor is wrong, but just be very, very careful about the advice that you get. More than likely, the mentor sure has probably got a certification company, just wants to sell you another certification because they’ve got a business to run, which I understand. However, look where you are in your business. If you are not getting clients from the four or five certifications that you have, how is one more going to equal your first paying client? You don’t become a business owner by getting more certifications. You become a great business owner by learning business, and another certification is just that.

But you’ve also got to look at the interesting thing I see as well is most of the certifications that you’re going to learn, you’ve probably already learned them. So just look at that. What’s the curriculum? What are you actually learning? Is it the same thing over and over with just a different name attached to it? Because if so, what do you want to learn it again for? If your goal right now is you’ve got enough certifications to run the business legally, you’ve got enough certifications to have insurance and all the things that you cannot escape, they’re mandated, you definitely want to follow those things. And if you have enough of those things to start a business and a practice, start working on the business, start getting clients, start paying back those cost fees. That’s ridiculous. That’s a lot of money. Start getting clients to pay that back.

Now, as you evolve through your niche and you pick a certain niche that requires you to have a very specific certification, then go do it because now it has a purpose. But don’t just get certified for the sake of it. Okay? If I had a problem I wanted a therapist to help me with, and this is just being honest, I don’t care how many they have. They could have 1 or they could have 10. As long as they get me a result, that’s all I care about. And I know there’s therapists and coaches who have 10 odd certifications that still can’t get results. So you just got to be very, very careful about your thinking around this. Way up where you are in the business, don’t listen to advice. Look at it logically. And don’t go certification hunting just for the sake of it because it does not equal clients. Business equals clients. Finding a niche, creating an office, service, understanding marketing, understanding sales, those things turn you into a business owner.

The certification, once you’re certified enough, that’s all you need. Don’t postpone, don’t procrastinate by thinking you need another one. Don’t go further into debt if you don’t need it because it’s going to get harder and harder to get out of. Because based on your thinking as well, let’s say you get your fifth or how many you said you had, probably at the end of that fifth one, you’re going to think, “Wow. I should get another one because another person said I need one.” Now, you’re going to get a sixth one, then a seventh, then an eighth. And before long, you are three years into your career with 15 certifications and not one client to show for it. So just be very, very careful where you put your time and what it sounds like your limited resources with your income. Start looking at the business and only get more certified if the niche requires you to. So that would be my advice.