The Hypno Coach

22/10/2026

“So what am I actually allowed to say?”

If you’ve followed this week, you’ve probably asked it. Three days of what not to put on your website is a lot.

Here’s the good news. Quite a lot, and most of it works better than what it replaces.

The idea that holds it together: promise the process, not the outcome. You can’t guarantee what happens inside another person. But you can describe exactly what you do. To someone nervous, reading your page at night, that’s often the more reassuring message.

Today’s piece has four simple swaps, with before-and-after examples you can borrow, including how I now describe my own stop-smoking program. “Cure your anxiety for good” becomes something you can actually stand behind.

Link in first comment.

20/10/2026

17,000 patient reviews never published. 3,000 more quietly softened.

That was HealthEngine, an Australian health booking site, between 2015 and 2018. The Federal Court ordered it to pay $2.9 million in penalties, for this and other conduct.

You’d never do that. But the small version is very human. Trimming a review to its best line. Fixing the wording so it reads better. Asking a family member to leave one while you’re starting out.

Here’s what I keep coming back to this week: a testimonial on your website is your claim, in someone else’s voice. If it says you cured someone in one session, you’re the one saying it.

Today’s piece covers the rules across Australia, the UK and the US, and three quick checks for every testimonial you display.

Read it here: https://hypnotherapistsbusinesspulse.substack.com/p/their-words-your-claim?r=1eufvm&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true

A health booking site quietly altered 3,000 patient reviews. Here are 3 checks for every testimonial on your website.

19/10/2026

“I’m not registered, so those rules don’t apply to me.”

I hear a version of this a lot. And for a long time, it was close enough to true.

Not anymore. On 24 June this year, Tasmania switched on a code of conduct for unregistered health care workers. Every Australian state now has one, and it was written for practitioners exactly like us: hypnotherapists, counsellors, naturopaths, massage therapists.

One sentence in it is about your website. Don’t claim how well your treatment works, in the room or in your advertising, unless you can back it up.

Add the Australian Consumer Law on top, where it makes no difference whether you meant to mislead or not.

None of this asks you to stop marketing. It asks one thing. Tuesday’s piece shows you how to check your busiest service page against it, one sentence at a time.

Read it here: https://hypnotherapistsbusinesspulse.substack.com/p/not-registered-still-responsible?r=1eufvm&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true

18/10/2026

“95% Success Rate.” “3 weeks is all we need.”

That was a hypnotherapy business’s Facebook ad for a virtual gastric band program. One person complained to the UK’s advertising regulator. In May 2023 the complaint was upheld.

What stopped me was the evidence the business sent in its defence. Posts from its support group. A Trustpilot review. Real feedback from real people, exactly what most of us have in a folder somewhere.

The regulator said that isn’t evidence. Then it told the business three things it couldn’t say.

Those same three things might be on your homepage right now. Not because you made anything up, but because of how your words add up when someone reads them together.

Ten minutes, one page, three things to look for.

Read it here: https://hypnotherapistsbusinesspulse.substack.com/p/your-success-rate-is-a-claim?r=1eufvm&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true

In 2023 a UK regulator told a hypnotherapy business 3 things it couldn’t say. Check your own website for them tonight.

15/10/2026

It’s time for another Weekend Challenge. 🌊

One sentence for the hardest moment on the phone.
Written once, so you never have to work it out live again.

All week we’ve been building an answer to “I can’t afford it”. What you’ll say, the door you’ll open that doesn’t need a smaller price, and where you’d point someone when nothing else fits.
This weekend, turn it into one sentence.

How to:
1. Start with an opening that puts the person first: “I don’t want money to be the thing that stops you.”
2. Add the one door you’ll open.
3. Add where you’d point them if that still isn’t possible.
4. Say it out loud once.
5. Share it in the comments.

P.S. There are no wrong answers. Short and a little clumsy is perfect. The point is that it’s decided.

Choose one door:
- Spread it - The same fee, paid over a few weeks.
- A smaller first step - One session, then decide together.
- A reduced place - One of a few capped in advance.
- Somewhere free - A free service that genuinely helps.

Template:
“I don’t want money to be the thing that stops you. [the door you’ll open]. And if that’s still not possible, [where you’d point them].”

Example:
“I don’t want money to be the thing that stops you. You can pay for the program over a few weeks so it isn’t all at once. And if that’s still too much right now, Quitline on 13 7848 is free, and I’m here when things change.”

Have fun!
Ernest

14/10/2026

This month I put my prices up. A single session went from $250 to $300. Sessions within a program went from $200 to $250.

It wasn’t an easy call. At the old prices I was getting very little pushback, which is usually a sign. But I kept turning over the other side of the sum. What if clients pushed back? What if enquiries went somewhere cheaper?

So I researched how pricing works, and compared what people pay for other kinds of help with the same problems. Only then did the new number stop feeling like a guess.

I’ve been practising since 2012, and I still needed to look at my own fee from the outside before I trusted it. It’s the hardest number in the business to see clearly, because it’s yours.

Today’s piece brings this week’s work on “I can’t afford it” together, and it’s where I explain the CONSULT: one conversation about your numbers, with a written summary afterwards.

Read it here: https://hypnotherapistsbusinesspulse.substack.com/p/the-hardest-fee-to-price-is-your?r=1eufvm&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true

This month I took my sessions from $250 to $300. Here’s what made it hard, and why a second pair of eyes is worth more than a formula.

13/10/2026

Sometimes none of the options work. You can’t spread a fee that isn’t there. A single session would still mean not paying a bill. And your reduced-fee places are already taken this month.

That’s the moment the kindest answer might be somewhere else.

It can feel like losing the client. I’d see it differently. They didn’t ring to buy hypnotherapy. They rang to stop smoking, or to stop waking at 3am with their heart racing. You can still point them to a way that costs them nothing.

Quitline in Australia and New Zealand. NHS Stop Smoking Services and Talking Therapies in England. 1-800-QUIT-NOW in the US. 1737 in New Zealand.

Today’s piece has the numbers for each country, checked this week, and the one sentence that keeps the door open without any pressure.

Read it here: https://hypnotherapistsbusinesspulse.substack.com/p/sometimes-the-kindest-answer-is-somewhere?r=1eufvm&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true

Australia, the UK, New Zealand and the US all have free help for smoking and anxiety. Write two numbers down before your next call.

12/10/2026

When someone says “I can’t afford it”, the simple answer would be a lower number. It’s the option that comes to mind fastest. It’s also the one that quietly says your work was worth less all along.

There are other doors.

You can spread the payment across the sessions. Same fee, different timing. Sometimes “I can’t afford it” really means “I can’t afford it all at once.”

You can offer a smaller first step: one session, then a decision about what comes next.

Or you can keep a small, capped number of reduced-fee places. Capped matters. A reduced fee without a limit isn’t a kindness. It’s your new price.

Two of those three don’t touch your fee at all. Today’s piece walks through what each one honestly costs you, and the one sentence to write down before your next call.

Read it here: https://hypnotherapistsbusinesspulse.substack.com/p/change-when-they-pay-not-what-its?r=1eufvm&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true

Two of the three options for someone who can’t afford you don’t touch your fee at all. Here’s what each one honestly costs you.

11/10/2026

“I really want to do this. I just can’t afford it.”

If you’ve been in practice a while, you’ll know the pause that follows that sentence. And what goes through your head in it is rarely about business. It’s about the person who finally found the courage to ring.

So the kind thing would be to drop the price, right there on the call.

Here’s the problem. Hypnotherapy resolves fast. A counsellor who sees someone weekly for a year can spread a discount across fifty sessions. When your work is done in four, those four sessions are the whole relationship. Take a third off and you’ve given away more than a full session.

Kindness isn’t a pricing policy. But you can have a kind one, and it only works if you decide it before the phone rings.

Read it here: https://hypnotherapistsbusinesspulse.substack.com/p/kindness-isnt-a-pricing-policy?r=1eufvm&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true

When the work is done in four sessions, there’s no year of appointments to absorb a discount. One thing to decide before your next call.

08/10/2026

It's time for another Weekend Challenge. 🌊

The Permission Line
One sentence that makes the honest answer safe to give.

This week we've talked about silence after a session, how we all rate ourselves above average, asking questions that get the truth, and who we bring our hardest clients to.
But there's one thing that has to happen before any of that works. Your client has to believe you actually want the bad news.

Most won't, unless you tell them.

This one is simple. One sentence. No new system, no software. Just a line you can add to any follow-up you already send, whether that's a text, an email or a phone call.

How to:
1 Think of the client you'd most like an honest answer from.
2 Imagine them reading your follow-up message and quietly deciding whether to tell you the truth.
3 Write one sentence that makes the truth the easy option for them.
4 Read it out loud. If it sounds like a form letter, rewrite it until it sounds like you.
5 Share your line in the comments.

P.S. There are no wrong answers here. A clumsy line you actually use beats a perfect one you never send.

Choose one:

The Reassurance: Tell them that a "not yet" won't upset you. Many clients stay quiet to protect your feelings.
The Reason: Tell them why you want to know. Helping you improve, or helping the next person, gives them a reason to speak up.
The Normaliser: Let them know that setbacks are common and expected. It turns "I failed" into "this is part of the process."
The Open Door: Make it clear that telling you won't trigger a sales pitch. It's a conversation, not a rebooking.

Template:
"If [it hasn't held / something's been harder than expected], I'd really like to know, because [your reason]."

Examples:

The Reassurance: "If things haven't gone the way you hoped, please tell me. You won't hurt my feelings, and I'd much rather know."
The Reason: "If it hasn't held, I'd really like to know. Every honest answer helps me do better for the next person who walks in."
The Normaliser: "Lots of people have a wobble in the first few weeks. If that's been you, I'd love to hear what happened."
The Open Door: "If something's been harder than expected, just reply and tell me. No sales pitch, I'd just like to understand."

Have fun!
Ernest