Stage Hypnosis - Oversaturated?

[Matt Davis]

Are there many more stage hypnotists working now than there were 10 years ago or 20 years ago or 30 years ago? Does it seem like everyone that is able to put up a web site is calling themselves a stage hypnotist now? Does it make it harder to make a living as a stage hypnotist with oversaturation?
I've heard people say that a lot of new stage hypnotists in the market is a good thing. I've also heard people say that it's becoming like karaoke now and that it's a bad thing. I'm curious to know what you think...

[Alexander Duvall - HypnotizedTV.]

The market for stage hypnotist is oversaturated thats why street hypnosis is becoming more and more popular becuase more and more people believe they can do it anywhere,the problem is with street hypnosis is how do you make your money.

I would hypnotize a person to go around with a hat and ask for tips for the show in a froreign language,I used to do that when i worked in a workers bar in spain that could not aford to pay for the show.

A good stage hypnotist will find his venues and stick to them,venue owners always like to know that everything is going to be ok and that the people will enjoy the shows.

I have worked in the same 7 venues for the last 13 years

Alot of stage hypnotist will drop out of the market becuase they cant find venues,some will get lucky and some will loose thieer nerve after a string of bad shows.

I do not want anybody to not succeed becuase I know what its like to have a carear as a stage hypnotist.

[Richard Nongard - HypnosisGurus.com]

It is only oversaturated if you not the best, and if you aren't wiling to take risk to succeed, and if you lack creativity.

There is always demand for well thought out shows with modern music, hip themes, and astonishing hypnosis.
Add good marketing to it and a person will have no problems.

Now, if you are an average performing, using elevator music as your induction , and doing the same bits in the same manor as everyone has been taught for the past 30 years..... and do esentially the show from the outdated Ormand McGill book.... then yes, you will find the market is overstaturated.

[Dr. Jonathan Royle aka Alex Smith]

Hi Richard I TOTALLY AGREE...

Speaking as a 33 and a hal year old UK Male born into a showbiz family my comments which follow are based on:

*Over 30+ Years Perfroming Experience in various areas of Showbiz from Circus Clown (Aged 3) to Magician (aged 8) to Psychic (ages 12) etc....

*As a Hypnotherapist have been earning money since age of 14 - Over 19+ Years to date

*And regards this subject matter as a STAGE HYPNOTIST I've been performing and earning ood money since the age of 15 - Over 18+ years to date.

*Oh and just to end have been teaching others since late 1993 with Live events & seminars (aged 18) - over 15+ years to date!

*And have shipped over One Million training DVDS and Courses to all corners of the world since December 2000.

IN short What I am about to say is based on experience - real world experience.

a) I totally agree with every word that Richard Noingard has stated

b) Especially the fact that those who follow the McGll Outdated book are more than likely doomed to failure and to bore their audineces to death (far better get my BOOK 100% FREE from hypnotherapycourse.net or search the messages on this forum and the book is attached ot one of them for you to study and is TOTALLY MODERN and contains whar really works and what has truly worked for me (and my many students) in the real world of profitable Stage Hypnosis.

c) The most important thing is that when your in the big money leauge (having done 100's of TV Shows and appeared in Magazines and Papers all over the world as I have for example) then its YOU they are booking and not just a Stage Hypnotist and as such you have ZERO competition as there is only one you!

d) Being NEW - Unique - Modern - Fast - Funny and a True showman and entertainer with a taregeted niche market image and te effective use of profitable advertising is what the true key to success is!

There will never be a saturation of Stage Hypnotists (well not good ones at least) and the number of venues is limited only by your marketing skills and imagination.

As for Street Hypnosis - bloody hell the way tomake money is merhcadising and having a good pitch to selll wares after your demo - look at busker sin Convent Garden (London) and learn the art of drawing a crowd, performing and then getting the coin (money) in!

[Matt Davis]

I agree that "the cream always rises to the top!" The people who are great performers, study and learn their craft, and strive to be original will always have work. I think the performers who respect their audiences and clients will also leave a great impression and continue to get repeat work.
It's unfortunate that some new/less experienced performers are charging very low prices and leaving a bad impression on people as to what stage hpnosis is by doing a bad show or disrespecting volunteers.

Do you believe we have more stage hypnotists now than 10 years ago? 20 years ago? 30 years ago?

[Rusty Z - The HypnotiComic]

It's only oversaturated with bad acts. Your act has so little to do with hypnosis per se, and everything to do with personality.
Unfortunately, it seems that a lot of people (and their attached personalities) who shouldn't be on a stage anywhere ever, are plunking down a couple of thousand bucks so that they can be "certified" show business professionals.
p.s. At least people who do karaoke know that they're amateurs. If they'd paid someone to teach them to sing and given them a "Certified Singer" certificate, I bet they'd refer to themselves as professionals.

[Richard Nongard - HypnosisGurus.com]

I met a busker in Ontario last summer making over 100K (in cash) working only weekends

[Jerry Bolduc aka Zoto!]

Over saturated?

I don't think Hypnosis becoming like Karaoke is a bad thing, it would make people less afraid and open the door to more experienced volunteers. How ever I don't think this is true in my area of Mid Michigan.

I am really still just small time. I have done four shows, two of them paying (both referrals from the charity shows) and what a fun way to supplement my therapy work! Eventually as I become tighter and gather all the equipment I want/need I'd like to see my therapy supplementing my stage craft or being to busy to do therapy.

Over saturation? Man there are a ton of good musicians in New Orleans but the best still find work as musicians. The best will always find work. I want to be the best so I guess I will continue to work and train..

Jerry

[Alexander Duvall - HypnotizedTV.]

He or she must be robbing banks on the side LOL

[Marc Savard]

Every business will have people coming in to make a quick buck. It seems that stage hypnosis has more than it's fair share. That might very well be due to the fact that hypnotizing someone is the easy part. Putting on a performance and entertaining are the harder parts.

Same goes with hypnotherapy I guess. I had someone ask me about hypnotherapy as a career and how it is fairing in this poor economy as they are interested in taking my hypnotherapy training at my school. My answer was, talented, dedicated and resourceful hypnotherapist/entreprenuers will do just fine. It is like ANY other business. My dentist has to advertise and be creative. He has a referral program he just launched. My hair stylist, is in the same boat. I go to her because she does a great job and has great customer service. My chiropractor is booming and it is hard to get an appointment, whereas there is one 3 blocks away from him that just put up a going out of business sign.

With any business and the successes that go with it, if you have desire, heart, some talent and hard work for what you lack in talent, and if you can put your ego aside and learn from your mistakes and the mistakes of others to improve your craft, you will do fine and survive. Those who cannot will blame the rest of the world for their misfortune. And so then the world continues to go 'round.

That's just my two cents.

Marc

P.S. Remember... the greater the want, the easier the how!

[John Cerbone - The Trance-Master]

Yes, I agree, cream will rise to the top.
What however,seems to be doing a number on the market in this area, NYC, are some of the Stage Hypnotists who will do any show, anyplace, for $1.25. (metaphorically speaking). Not only is that seem to me to be an act of desperation, as I am being blunt here, (many of you have told me you respect me for that) but it is sometimes taken to extremes and kills the market completely.

For example, I know of a stage Hypnotist who drove over 4 hours north and slept in his car, for $300 in winter, shivering in his car trying not to freeze to death post show; I know of the job, as I had passed on it earlier.

I had also once seen a Clinical Hypnotist who bought a DVD of someone else's show, watched it a few times, with zero clues on how a show works, do what looked to me to be something less of a Hypnotism show, but rather something between a train wreck and a plane crash. He then called me the next day to tell me that I saw the good show on Saturday, his Sunday show really sucked. My stomach was in knots watching him work. I have had perspective client who call me back and tell me some other Hypnotist will do their show for $250, and I'd drop my price to that number, when we had been talking 4 figures, I could have the gig, after it would take me 2.5 hours to get there.

I realize what the clients sometimes fail to see, there is a difference between hiring Van Halen vs little Jimmy's garage band from around the corner, but the clients don't at times don't get that. There's a new guy around these parts, maybe he's great, who has billed himself as a true entertainer, he's a chiropractor, doing yet something else, with all due respect meant here.

As Lee Darrow mentioned someplace around here, there's a lot of skill and a wide variety of things going on in a Hypnotism show, the best and better of us, make it look easy, as it flows seamlessly, and that comes along with experience gained over time and travel, and skill, both innate and learned, showmanship / showwomanship, and the ability to be a master entertainer, with all the attributes that term entails: being bigger than the audience energetically, playing off the Hypnotized and their responses as well as the audience and their vibes, being OK with yourself in front of an audience, mixing it up routine wise, aiming the show toward entertainment, thinking outide the box, and all attendence are in on the jokes, handling the people in your care with care, being a force of nature on stage, working until you and all that you are, inside and out knows you've done a show.

If you want to relate this to singers, think of old Tom Jones performances, where he was soaked with sweat by shows end, Mick Jagger running up and down a stage in his prime, David Lee Roth jumping around and belting out a song, or your favorite rock band ripping it up!!!

Whatever the budget I am working with, I rip it up with all I have as well as what I can borrow from next week and make the show a powerful experience, and I am not really happy until I am squishy and sweaty by shows end.
I can only remember one show where I wasn't overheated, it was outdoors in Massachusetts in later Winter / early Spring, we started out with 50 degree F temperatures and ended up in the 30 F area, I remember having to put on gloves to hold the mic and kept telling those High School kids they were in Florida, and as I counted them out, the screamed and ran for Hot Chocolate in the warmer in door areas there, LOL.

Anyone can take a class, get a certificate from someone, and call themselves anything they want, BUT a true entertainer and master showman/woman is what is required to bring off a powerful performance, worthy of rightfully being called a Hypnosis Stage Show.

I have met, and spoken to a great many Clinical Hypnotists who tell me they've gotten certified as a Stage Hypnotist, and want to get to a place of working up their nerve to do it someday.
My questions to them usually follow: is there an Entertainer lurking deep within you who is ready to come out and play, and powerfully blow and audience's mind? How hard are you willing to work and what will you put into this?

[James Szeles]

I have been making a living for thirty years performing stage hypnosis and I have to compete with the "three day wonder" that some hypnotist crank out. I posted this on the main page of m web site.
"Please read this before booking any hypnotist!

As with magicians, not all stage hypnosis shows are alike. There is the caliber of magician who performs for kids at birthday parties and then there are the 'David Copperfields' of magic whose talent and expertise give a memorable performance. Today's tools make it simple for us to travel across vast resources of information and knowledge; but just how do you know from a web page that what you see is actually what you'll get? Anyone can make claims and a little creative writing can make anyone sound great! Any individual with a computer can claim they are the world's best, fastest, funniest, etc. hypnotist, but in reality they could have as little as three days of training and yours could be their very first performance! So how do you know you are getting a professional to perform for your company? Book SZELES and take the guess work out of the equation. Below you can view videos and photos from some of the hundreds of shows SZELES has performed in the last twenty years. Booking a seasoned, professional stage hypnotist will make you shine in the eyes of your peers for there is nothing funnier than a tastefully executed stage hypnosis show, while your co-workers will be thrilled and delighted you receive the accolade of having the forethought of booking such a unique and memorable entertainment. The entertainment for a any event can be a great career booster for the entertainment director, or it can turn out to be a disaster with your name written across it like a cheap suit on a wet day."

[Josh Tolley]

Perhaps it is oversaturated from the viewpoint of someone in the industry. That would be like being one of three fish in a fish bowl at a pet store in the mall. You would be thinking "man, we are getting yet another fish, that's four fish, it's getting croweded" but if you were a cat walking around in sears on the other end of the mall it would seem like there are no fish anywhere.

In 31 years of life I have never seen a hypnotist at a nightclub, bar, corporate event, school presentation or anything and I have lived or frequent most of the big cities in the country.

Until I started looking into hypnotism I didn't even know stage hypnotists were around anymore and I have managed restaurants, hotels, nightclubs. So now that I know they are out there they should really look at marketing themselves better.

I find the same sort of belief from some magicians. On their blogs they all talk about making money with their magic and everyone of them has a website claiming they are paid magicians. The biggest segment is "restaurant magic", performing for people while they wait for their meal or to be seated.

The same is true with them, I have eaten at probably over 100 restaurants per year for the past ten years, attend dozens of professional conferences and still to this day, with the exception of going to pay to see David Copperfield, I have never seen a "professional" magician out in the market place.

So, to all those who are aspiring stage hypnotists, you can make a fortune in 2009!! If you need some advice or guidence on how to do it, feel free to contact me.

Great topic though Matt!