Successful Women – What It Takes

Blog post by Louise Squires HPD, DSFH, MNCH (Reg.) AfSFH (Reg.), MHS (Reg.) Clinical Hypnotherapist and creator of the Limitless Hypnotherapy App

The definition of success can be different from person to person. For me, yes financial success has always been important, as it has given me choices, but when I reflected on what I wanted to do with my life at the age of 40 did it give me freedom?

I spent 20 years working in sales, I immersed myself in an environment in which I was highly successful. My target-driven mindset enabled me to thrive in this competitive landscape, consistently achieving and surpassing my goals. However, this relentless pursuit of success began to take a significant toll on my mental wellbeing. The high-pressure nature of the industry meant that I was constantly judged based on my most recent performance, with monthly appraisals often highlighting areas for improvement rather than acknowledging my accomplishments. As I navigated this male-dominated field, I found myself stretched thin, traveling from one end of the country to the other, constantly striving to meet and exceed expectations. Meanwhile, the demands of my career encroached upon my personal life, leaving me wracked with guilt for missing time with my children, such as putting them to bed at night or attending their school assemblies. This constant tug-of-war between professional success and personal happiness gradually became unsustainable, ultimately leading me to reassess my priorities and redefine my path to fulfilment.

When I re-evaluated where I wanted to be in life, I knew my passion was helping people. Certain elements of my sales role aligned with that, which I believe contributed to my success, however many elements of the industry did not. I always worked at my best when I was providing customers with a solution to a problem. Often, as is commonplace in the sales industry, there is a requirement to focus on a particular product or service, even if it’s not the right fit for the customer’s needs. This was something I struggled with, as it did not align with my values.

I had experienced hypnotherapy in the past, when I was suffering with sever anxiety and regular panic attacks. It had such a profound effect on my mental health and changed my outlook and mindset.

It was at this point that I enrolled on my Hypnotherapy Diploma course. I spent ten months studying and attending my classes at weekends, to fit around my full time job. It was hard and required a lot of juggling with childcare, but I persevered and ensured I had enough volunteer clients for my case study work and that all of my assignments were completed.

When I completed my Hypnotherapy Diploma, I was determined not to let it become just another certificate gathering dust on my shelf. Instead, I resolved to actively pursue my newfound passion by working evenings and weekends around my full-time job. I quickly found immense satisfaction in helping people overcome a wide range of issues, from anxiety and phobias to habit change, smoking cessation, emotional eating, and even irritable bowel syndrome. These successes reaffirmed my belief that hypnotherapy was not only my true calling but also something I could excel at professionally.

However, the decision to leave behind my six-figure salary and dive headfirst into a full-time hypnotherapy career was far from easy. The stakes were high, and I had to muster immense faith in my abilities to make it work. In the end, it was a classic case of "all or nothing," and I knew I couldn't let fear hold me back from pursuing my passion. Embracing this mindset, I took the leap, confident that my dedication, skill, and unwavering belief in the power of hypnotherapy would guide me toward success in this new chapter of my life.

I used the tools that I had introduced to my clients to identify my own limiting beliefs, how to work with those limiting beliefs and understand that they were trying to protect me in some way. I needed to conquer any lingering doubts or fears that were urging me to remain in the safety of my current job, thereby preventing me from fully embracing my new path. I focused on why I wanted to launch a full time hypnotherapy practice, what did I have to gain as a result? I started to write all of these thoughts down into a mind map. 

The freedom to work the hours that I want to work

Setting my own targets

Helping my clients to achieve lifechanging goals

Being able to do the school run

Being home every evening

Setting boundaries when and how people can contact me

Not having to ask permission to have a holiday

The list went on and on and writing it all out, helped me to remain focused.

Although I had been seeing some clients, I was pretty much starting from scratch, I had been seeing around 5 clients a week at this point, as that’s all I could fit in to the hours I had available. In order for the business to be financially viable for me, I needed to be seeing around 30-35 clients each week. The type of therapy that I offer is very fast, so I have a high turnover of clients, as they don’t need to keep coming back for months on end, so I also had to consider where my new clients would come from.

The first step was bringing my hypnotherapy practice into existence. Up until this point, I was renting a room on an hourly basis in my local GP surgery. It was clean and accessible, but very clinical and I didn’t feel that it was my permanent ‘home’. I found a lovely office in the same town, a beautiful relaxing space, I bought a reclining chair, relaxing lighting, plants and put all of my certificates on the wall. This truly felt like it changed everything for me, it was a defining moment in which I felt that I was now ready to welcome as many clients as possible into my space.

The next step was to ensure as many people knew who I was and how I could help them. I contacted the local newspapers with a press release I had written about how I had started a new hypnotherapy practice and this led to being featured in the local press and was priceless free publicity, I gained 10 new clients from that exercise.

I ensured that I was listed with every directory I could find on Google, for local businesses, but also the industry specific ones. I created a Google My Business Page, which generated lots of traffic to my website, as well as profiles on Facebook and Instagram.

Networking was another valuable marketing tool for me, I started attending local networking groups, as well as International groups, such as Mums In Business. Soon, I was speaking as a guest speaker at meetings, talking about mental health, resilience and various topics. This boosted my profile and visibility massively. Within 4 weeks my hypnotherapy practice was fully booked and it has been every week since then, I have not looked back in 3 years.

I have often spoken to women in the same position that I was in, stuck in the perceived security of a unfulfilling job, with a passion to do something else. The advice that I give, based on my own personal experience is as follows

·      Trust in yourself and your abilities

·      Examine those limiting beliefs, are they truths or beliefs? Beliefs can change

·      Embrace the change and uncertainty, it requires you to think outside the box and find novel solutions to problems. This cultivates creativity and innovation, which can lead to exciting breakthroughs and discoveries.

·      List your personal values – Our values are what is most important us, they remind us of who we are on a deep level. When you are living your life in alignment with your personal values, this causes stress and uncertainty.

·      Prioritise your personal fulfilment and wellbeing. If what you are doing now is not serving you and not aligned with your values, what needs to change?

·      Stay in lane – Don’t worry about what everyone else is doing, it’s your business and you’re doing things your way.

Louise Squires HPD, DSFH, MNCH (Reg.) AfSFH (Reg.), MHS (Reg.) is a Clinical Hypnotherapist based in Worcestershire. She works with clients face to face at her practice and also online.

She has launched an online resource, Limitless Hypnotherapy which has a collection of Hypnotherapy Sessions, Guided Meditation and self help eBooks, all available from her website www.limitlesshypnotherapy.co.uk