I have often blogged about the hype associated with NLP and personal development trainings and services. Courses and products are often sold as “get rich quick” schemes and increasingly trainings which are mostly “entertainment” are sold as courses and “certifications” are seen as “qualifications” The reality of course is that even many well-known and established trainers are not as wealthy as one might imagine. This of course does not mean that it’s possible to make a good living from being an NLP trainer, practitioner or hypnotherapist, but like any business it takes time an application. Also let me make it clear that financial wealth is only one way of describing “wealth”, but for the purpose of this blog I am going to focus specifically on income generation. These are my observations from working in the personal development sector since 1980.

Robert Anton Wilson, Amazon and product income from products
The last decade has seen the passing of a number of notable figures in the world of personal change. This included Robert Anton Wilson among others. Robert Anton Wilson is a very established author and has co presented with Richard Bandler. In his last few months there was a public appeal for donations to help him as he was apparently in financial dire straits. I was happy to contribute as I had enjoyed his material, but it did make me wonder about how such an established figure could be apparently so financially disadvantaged.
Years ago I had lunch with a respected writer who had two published books. During the conversation he told me about the total income for the writing which I thought was the royalties for each quarter. I was quite shocked when he told me that this was for a five year period! My point is that authors as well as presenters often don’t make the kind of income many of us might imagine. Paul McKenna has written some bestselling books, but he is the exception to the rule and of course he had an extensive career prior to being involved in the world of NLP. Others who have tried to emulate his style almost to the point of blatant plagiarism have not had such success in the marketplace.
Online major stores like Amazon will frequently carry literally just a couple of copies of a DVD or CD from a trainer or practitioner. This is far less than many people might imagine. In 2007 I told a well-known USA NLP trainer that to date I had sold over 2000 copies of my “Adventures of Well Being Now” CD and he was amazed by this sales figure. That particular CD was a good income generator sold at full price at £18, but of course the trade figure is far less. I ran an initial pressing of 1000 glass mastered CDs of this title which at that time cost me around one pound sterling per CD. Of course this kind of volume pressing is always a gamble. Some titles just don’t sell in the anticipated quantities and I know of one NLPer who had an attic full of his “instant confidence products” that he couldn’t shift. Even though he couldn’t sell them he actually then thought he could set up an affiliate sales programme for others to sell this product! Needless to say there were no takers for his offer! Of course if you produce products of real quality that people want then the margin even to trade can be great and products sell well at events. I know of one training where they sold £70,000 worth of products in just a few days…

Building a private practice
I regularly get asked about how to build a private therapy practice. NLP and personal development training courses don’t in my experience teach the business skills needed for this. Some people have noticed this gap and have set up businesses offering “business and marketing coaching” The problem with many such offerings is that these self-proclaimed “gurus” have very little or no experience themselves. Often the subsequent boot camps and super conferences don’t equip the practitioner with the necessary skills to build and generate a client base to provide regular income. It takes time to build any kind of holistic or therapeutic practice. It’s also important to build a reputation that consistently generates client interest. A great deal of building a successful business is being aware of customer needs and paying attention to potential opportunities. It’s also important to have multiple sources of income and the most successful people I know who see private clients, also have products and/or run trainings. They also don’t over promise what they can deliver and behave ethically in business when working with others.

Training scenarios and feeling like a penguin
Some people think that running trainings is a great way to become wealthy. One NLP student from Sheffield decided that he was going to become an NLP trainer after doing his practitioner and master practitioner courses. He was financially stretched but thought he could put the whole cost of the training (around 4.5k with travel and accommodation) on his visa card. I strongly suggested he wait until he was in a more financially secure position and that IMO the market was changing with a decline in interest. He went ahead and travelled to the USA to get his certificate, but never ran a single course. Often when people attend courses they see a room full of delegates and think “Wow, I could earn a great living doing this.” What they don’t always appreciate is that there can be a big marketing cost to generating an audience and there are many hidden costs in putting on an event. To quote a famous line from Blackadder “I feel like a penguin, everywhere I look there’s a bill in front of me!” Some promoters of events can be wildly optimistic in their business expectations and many in NLP will know that in recent years one of the biggest London based companies went into liquidation. The company was quickly phoenixed and is still running events with new terms and conditions, which I always advise people to read before booking. When I ran NLP courses a reasonable hotel would typically cost £500 a day and then of course there were marketing costs, refreshments and of course in the case of some NLP events, the certificate cost of $200 per delegate. This is no small sum as a percentage of the overall seminar price. Many trainers realise that if they worked out the actual costs the hourly rate they were paying themselves would be quite a shock.

It’s all about timing…
Many who attend large NLP training events don’t realise that in many cases assistants are only paid lunch expenses. This is a great way to gain experience of NLP, but some individuals spend literally months assisting on other’s courses and find themselves financially in a pretty vulnerable state. There are only certain times of year in the UK which works for running events and if you are helping out on other’s events you can’t run your own events at the same time. I have talked about this before and of course if someone becomes known primarily as “an assistant” to other trainers then they are essentially always “the magician’s assistant, never the magician” When I ran trainings in Leeds I often brought in some established trainers including Frank Farrelly, Doug O Brien, Andrew T Austin and John LaValle (Richard Bandler’s co trainer) This meant a big financial commitment and to my surprise many NLP assistants in London would not be able to afford attending some of these events even at a heavily discounted rate. All of this shows that there is a big difference between the myth of what is presented online and in many trainings and the reality of what mostly occurs. Of course there are exceptions and those who make a reasonable living from personal development and/or NLP tend to see private clients as well as running trainings. The successful ones value their time and focus on building their own reputation rather than simply become solely affiliate salespeople for other trainers. Making this transition is all about timing…

All you need is Facebook, Facebook is all you need? Eh, no it's not!
Some in the world of NLP have become champions for Facebook and market relentlessly online on Facebook. Yes FB is a great social medium, BUT it’s not the sole solution for marketing a business and of course the customers for FB are the advertisers, NOT the users. Also let’s remember that the content posted is then owned by FB, even if you close the account. It seems that many in the world of personal development are constantly looking for a quick fix and every month I receive endless e-mails about boot camps, 6 figure income courses and the dreadful “free reports” which are used to build lists of clients. The problem is that in many cases the courses and products are the same material recycled over and over and often not done in a very good way. Some NLPers have endless FB pages blasting out the same message and the ad copy gets ever more desperate and exaggerated. The reality is that social networks like FB and Twitter are useful, BUT building a business requires work and application.

Advertising, academic associations and other matters
Just as with every business the people with the original creative ideas coupled with successful marketing are the ones that do best. The “tribute bands” are imitations of the real thing and when the market is flooded with these then the potential customer base is massively reduced. Also in many instances if a person does not invest in good quality training venues, materials and brand image, customers will stay away. I have often blogged about this lazy attitude to business and in these times such folks are finding that the public vote with their feet. Many established NLP presenters still draw attendees to events, but from what I can see the demand is not what it once was. The biggest numbers in the UK for NLP events were when Paul McKenna was presenting in London and it’s hard to know how many came to those events for “NLP” and how many came for “the nice guy off the TV” I remember talking to one very well know NLP author in recent times who commented that in the 1980s she had to “drag people along to seminars” as many were not really that interested! Speakers like Tony Robbins have done well, and continue to be held in high regard by followers. Years ago I stayed with a couple in Silicon Valley who had spent tens of thousands on such seminars, but were themselves financially broke and unable to make their business profitable. They could repeat inspirational quotes, get into “peak states” BUT couldn’t generate income or customers.
A recent TV programme on money came to the same conclusion. Many people regularly attend motivational events with the hope that just like buying a lottery ticket they will end up transforming their financial situation, but few achieve making this happen in real life. Of course in the world of NLP and personal development people will pay all kinds of prices for events and products. When a group of people each pay £12,000 or more for a 3 -4 day event then that’s great income for a trainer. When workshops are framed as “educational” and “academic”, they create the impression of being learning opportunities in an academic sense. Here’s an example of advertising copy – “The mastery university is two weeks of total immersion to create life experienced on your terms.” Certificates are inevitably presented as “qualifications” and sometimes described in the following way – “This is an internationally recognised certificate for the advanced use of NLP” Of course the actual “recognition” is by the issuing body! Of course good luck to those who can get such income. It’s not what I would choose to do but people spend money on all manner of pursuits. Sometimes these big ticket prices backfire and I heard of one trainer who was sued for a six figure sum having “guaranteed coaching success”, ouch!

Final thoughts
The world of NLP and personal development is no different to other businesses. Having a great product or idea is not enough; you have to have a delivery mechanism to create a customer base. The secret is to then maintain and build this base. My observations are that in these tougher economic times customers are looking for more for their money and are more discriminating in their purchases. Business owners who have not built a clear and recognizable identity will my view have a hard time surviving. Even though some trainings and products may not always be to my personal taste, I salute anyone who has creative ideas, professional standards and a good work ethic.

I have now had a chance to reflect on the two days of presenting my PCW work at the Valencia NLP Conference. This was the first time I had come to Spain and Valencia is a fascinating city. On the first morning I had the chance to visit the old city which had some fascinating street art. Spain currently has a real problem with unemployment reaching 25% which of course is a disaster for the economy. Despite these tougher economic times Mayca Pérez, the AEPNL president managed to attract 200+ people to the conference and every one of them attended my Provocative Change Works events. This was a larger group than usual and I was very fortunate to have Patrick an excellent translator from Barcelona who is originally from Texas. When running events overseas with a non-English audience, a good translator is essential. Presenting to 200+ people is very different to presenting to a group of fifty. The lighting and PA system were so good that the video camera I set up at the back of the room captured some excellent footage.

Michael Grinder sat in on my first session and this sparked a few wonderful animated conversations over the next 48 hours. Michael (brother of John Grinder) has an extensive background of working in both the educational and corporate sectors. His observations and feedback were so useful that I audio recorded our second conversation! Michael has literally decades of training and teaching experience and it’s rare for me to enjoy discussions as much as I did. I’m always on the lookout for specialists in communication and very often the most casual of conversations can spark a whole new way of thinking.

I really enjoyed meeting Mayca and Eduardo and everyone who attended the conference. On the second evening the organizers hired a bus and transported 60 people to a hotel dinner. In Spain eating times can be very different to the UK and we didn’t begin eating until almost 11pm! By 12.30 am the group was on the dance floor, but I had to retire to bed knowing that I had a breakfast meeting with Michael and a plane to catch soon after. I would love to return to Spain to run some longer more in depth PCW events.

Today I am presenting the second part of the workshop on Provocative Change Works to a larger group than usual. I usually cap numbers at around 50 for these kind of workshops, so it's fascinating to be presenting to 200+ people. This requires a different way of working and constructing some new exercises so everybody is involved. I'm enjoying being here in Valencia and meeting all kinds of people including Michael Grinder who we had lunch with yesterday. A good PA, lighting and excellent translator are essential for such events and I'm delighted that I have all three in place here!

 Today I'm going to do a series of exercises I have never done before, so we'll see what happens...

I just heard on Sky News what many of us suspected which is that UK GDP dropped  by 0.2% in the first 3 months of 2012 which means that the UK is officially back in recession. This of course is not a great surprise when jobs are being cut at an alarming rate and salaries are either frozen or reduced. I had one client who was told her salary was being cut to the level she had a decade ago…

Also let’s remember that VAT is now 20% and VAT of course is one of those subliminal taxes that increase monthly overheads. I am constantly amazed at the cost of living and now spend almost £80 in filling up my car and supermarket shops seem far higher than before. In Leeds city centre it’s clear that some businesses are thriving and some are in serious decline.  So before you think “Blimey why am I reading this depressing blog” let’s remember that  it’s not all doom and gloom, niche brands and services are doing extremely well and Apple among many other companies are recording record profits. In contrast Sony is recording record losses and massive job cuts.

This is certainly a time for smart strategic thinking in business and brand positioning. Companies who have built a good brand image over a period of time continue to do well, while others struggle in these tougher economic times. A few years ago I gave some consultancy advice to two retail operations in Leeds. Both were facing some real financial challenges. One is now doing amazingly well with great online sales and opening more stores while the other has not paid attention to its online business and despite talking a good game has failed to attract new customers. In retail the physical location of a store is crucial and while the former is in the heart of the busy part of Leeds where people are used to spending money, the latter is in a declining part of the city. Instead of offsetting this disadvantage by growing their online business, they literally abandoned this medium not realizing that it could have been a key ingredient in regenerating their fortunes. The first company sought out and took on good advice, the second company insisted they knew best and refused to hear any advice that did not fit with their preconceptions!

Smart businesses realise that they need to work harder and smarter in these times and the ones who adopt this work ethic will survive. In contrast the ones that lack creativity and don’t explore how to adapt to these changing times will inevitably fail. In the centre of Leeds, well known stores like Virgin, Woolworths and Borders have already gone and I suspect others like HMV will follow in due course. It’s not enough to have a physical store; online delivery systems to reach a more global audience provide a much better chance of building a business. I have purposefully moved my own business interests from local to national to international, which means a great deal more travel. The interest is wholly in the Provocative Change Works material which I have been developing since 2006.  Part of the reason for this interest is that PCW is extremely well road tested and works equally well in different countries and demographic groups. I suspect some people would be surprised at how many hours I work in building and maintaining my training and therapy businesses. For every hour of training and therapy there is a great deal  of preparation and of course with running ten websites these also all need attention. This is also why I hire in the best web guys and technical support, in these ventures.

I have often blogged about the myth of “instant success” and “single fix solutions” for business. I have especially been critical of ad copy that over promises and sometimes appears to be misleading and at times a total fabrication!  It seems that some people’s idea of marketing is to make ever more desperate claims often without any supporting evidence. Recently online I saw the extraordinary claim that “Bill Gates was raving about NLP” I thought “Blimey I have never heard anything about Bill even being aware of NLP, never mind raving about it” and started to ask around if anyone could cite any evidence for this. Despite asking online in a number of different places and in talking to a number of very well-known people in the field, not a single person can cite any evidence for this claim…My point is that when businesses make claims without foundation (I remain open minded about the Gates claim at this point in time) then these businesses run the danger of not being taken seriously by potential customers.  For all the talk of excellence, amazingly some NLP businesses pay scant attention to their online presence. As well as making unsubstantiated claims many don’t update site information and content. At least one company has not changed a “news item” for over 3 years! This IMO shows that many such businesses although talking about flexibility and business strategy, often demonstrate the exact opposite in real like! In NLP there is a lot of talk about modeling, which some may think of as simply copying others. Often existing ideas are hijacked and dressed up as new opportunities and those in the world of NLP will testify to this happening on a regular basis despite the claim that this field promotes creativity.

Smart business owners pay careful attention to business trends and especially the buying habits of their customers. My observations are that in all areas of life customers are more discriminating with their spending choices. This means that business owners need to be more competitive and offer great value for money. When people have less disposable income they think more about what they are getting for the money they spend. Interestingly many niche high end brands are doing extremely well.  These business concerns appreciate the importance of long term business strategy and maintaining a consistent business message that meets with public approval. I often blog about the nonsense proclaimed online by “marketing gurus” who talk about instant results, without any real work and endless suggestions of “buy my secrets of success product and watch sales soar” style nonsense. The reason for this is that it’s delusional and lazy thinking and doesn’t translate into business success either financial or creative.  As someone whose background is in sales and marketing where I was paid on results I find this kind of behaviour little more than attempts to scam the public. My business background included negotiating a number of million pound sales agreements and running some substantial companies.  I would start work at 7am and often not get home until 7pm as that’s what was needed in that particular business.

Successful business owners are relentless in their business pursuits and have a very strong work ethic.  UK business went into serious decline since 2008 and the politicians don’t seem to be helping rectify this in recent times. Amazingly George Osbourne has been chancellor now for seven full economic quarters and in four of them the British economy has actually shrunk! That having said my belief is that those with creative skills, genuine marketing awareness and a dedication to quality will continue to thrive. There has never been a more important time to pay careful attention to how you conduct your business and how you do business with others. Good and mutually productive business partnerships are also more important now than ever.  I have learned to seek out smart partners who share similar business values. These kinds of relationships are both financially and creatively rewarding and it’s a real pleasure to know and work with such people. It’s also equally smart to disassociate from concerns that don’t hold the same values or have the same work ethic. I have done this a few times over the years and never regretted such departures. My belief is that these tougher times will raise quality standards and I for one welcome such an outcome.

There are lots of common misconceptions about Frank Farrelly’s “Provocative Therapy” and now my own “Provocative Change Works” approaches. The most common mistake is to equate “provocative” as being “aggressive” which I have blogged about previously. Any idiot can be aggressive, but it takes some real skill to provoke or stimulate client responses when working conversationally.

Another mistake is to think of “provocative” as “comedic” or “humorous” Yes there can be a lot of humour in Provocative Therapy and Provocative Change Works, BUT the intention of both approaches is not to be “comedic” or funny.  Both approaches use a great deal of improvisation and one of the golden rules of improvisation is “Don’t try to be funny”  Just as there are literally thousands of individuals trying to earn a living as therapists and practitioners, there are equal numbers trying to be stand-up comedians. In both instances few manage to realise their intended professions. Both professions also require a great deal of skill and application. Stand-up comedians spend years developing their craft and the best presenters have great observational skills, creative thinking and excellent timing. I recommend studying comics such as Stephen Wright, Steve Martin and Eddie Izzard, for lessons in timing and observational skills. A Provocative Therapist and a PCW practitioner have many of skills these stand-up comedians have, but their role is not simply to entertain, even if the client finds the sessions engaging and entertaining.

I developed the Provocative Icon system to teach many of the provocative stances I detail in Provocative Change Works. The icons teach the practitioner a great deal of flexibility in their communications. This is a far cry from the stereotypical “logical, digital, sequential” way of working found in my talk therapy and psychological approaches. Frank Farrelly was in my view light years ahead of his time in creating Provocative Therapy in the 1960s and interestingly I have only seen a few people who understand and can use Provocative Therapy, all of which are women and either in Germany or Austria. In each case they are very quick witted, have excellent timing and great observational skills. The manner of the therapist or practitioner is as important as what they say or do. The side product of humour often occurs when the client makes outrageous exaggerations while remaining in a quite neutral state, but crucially is not trying “to be outrageous” The practitioner’s role is to provoke new ways of thinking and feeling by adopting very specific stances during the interactions. The skill is knowing how to work in the here and now and only responding to what the client feeds back verbally and non-verbally.

Next month I am teaching a PCW skills development day for those who have some PCW or AFPT approved training. This will be a great opportunity to work in a small group setting and discover more about the real potential with “provocative” style communications. See http://www.nickkemp.com/spartcart/product/provocative-change-works-skills-development-day-may-27th.htm