You can make money with hypnosis after the recession

You can make money with hypnosis after the recession (Corrected version)
The math went a bit awol so I have corrected the numbers
Well that was the headline that took my attention yesterday morning. A web site is promoting the idea of getting your hypnosis and hypnotherapy training in now, so that when the recession turns around, you'll be fully equipped to earn lots of money as a therapist.

It's worth taking a look at this in more detail as I think there are often unrealistic expectations about becoming a therapist in terms of the earning potential.

How much can you earn?
There are adverts that promote the idea that you can earn £45 per hour as a therapist and that must look very enticing if you are on less that £7 per hour as a shelf stacker at Asda. As ever though, the devil is in the detail.

So what could you earn? Let me make it plain here that I am not talking about the Paul McKennas of hypnosis but the thousands who practice day in and day out across the UK (and the rest of the world for that matter).

Working hours
You may think that a 40 hour week at £45 means you're going to be very rich, very soon; but no, not really.

Doing 40 hours of therapy per week is likely to be challenging to your own mental health and so most therapists work 25 hours or less per week with clients.

So maximum income is likely to be 25 * £45 = £1125 (indeed it may be much less)
That's still not too shabby and many people would be very happy with around £54,000 per year.

However there are costs involved that are hard to escape if you want to promote your business. These of course will vary but the annual costs might look like this.

Yellow Pages/Yell.com £600
Professional insurance £100
Professional society membership £100
Room rental for sessions (25 hours*48 weeks*£7.50) = £9,000 ( this can vary tremendously and it assumes you rent a room in a health centre or similar)
Advertising in newspapers £2000
National insurance contribution (self employed) £125
Web hosting for your site £100 (assumes you build your own web site)
Business cards/Fliers £250
Travel costs £200 (obviously this is hugely variable and depends on where you work)
Phone line / Mobile £250 (again hugely variable)
Supervision costs £700 (based on one supervisor meeting per month)

Total basic costs = £13,425

Your actual income is then £54,000 - £13,425 = £40575
After making an allowance for income tax this will be around £33360

So based on working with clients 25 hours per week that's an after tax income of about £27.80 per hour. Not bad but very considerably different to £45 per hour.

All of which helps to explain why most therapists have portfolio careers. They have a variety of income sources that enable them to do what they love and care about...and still pay the mortgage.

So the next time you see one of those adverts promising a career that pays £45 per hour, look a little closer and see who is really making most of the money; it's almost certain to be the training organisation.

I have no problem with training companies, indeed I have worked for one, I just wish they would be a bit more realistic about what their trainees could actually earn.