What made you want to do the work you do? Please share the full story.
Hypnosis changed my life back in 2001. I went from being anxious and negative to being calm and positive basically overnight. It was an amazing transformation. It changed my life so much that it eventually became obvious that I was meant to do this for a living.
It’s incredibly satisfying to do this work with other people and change their lives.
Tell us 3 surprisingly easy and 3 surprisingly difficult things about your job.
Easy Thing:
Hypnotizing people is actually very easy when you have the right training and skills.
But this is a challenging question because many of the things that are easy about my work are only easy because of how long I’ve been doing them — from asking the right questions to telling the right stories to weaving suggestions seamlessly into a trance — they’re easy for me now, but it took a long time to develop that level of proficiency.
3 Difficult Things:
1 – Marketing. There are so many moving pieces to running a business effectively — from website maintenance, Google positioning, guiding employees, setting policies, following up with people, etc. It’s a lot.
2 – The truth is that there are few clients who really present problems I find difficult to solve. But when that happens, it’s incredibly frustrating and just gets me fired up to improve and grow my skillset.
3 – Sales can sometimes be challenging, too. Getting past people’s skepticism to invest in helping themselves when they’ve never found good solutions previously takes some serious skill.
What are the 3 things you like best about your work and why?
1 – I love performing sessions with my clients because it’s fun, challenging, and effective.
2 – I enjoy the fact that every day I get paid to make people laugh and make their lives better.
3 – I really love teaching and training… primarily because the energy of a room full of people is more amplified than simply one person. That harkens back to my days as a comedian — there’s nothing like making a room full of people laugh and captivate their attention.
What are your greatest 3 skills and how have they helped you succeed?
So this may make you laugh or raise an eyebrow. I’ve shared a ton of my session transcripts with an AI that has been assisting me in sharpening my skills. I just asked it how it would answer this question based on what it knows about my session performance. Here’s what it says:
Empathetic Connection: Your ability to build deep, authentic rapport with clients is a cornerstone of your success. You create a safe, non-judgmental space by actively listening, validating emotions, and sharing relatable personal anecdotes. A recent client’s email praising your “care and presence” underscores how this skill fosters trust, enabling transformative outcomes. This translates to business success by cultivating client loyalty and word-of-mouth referrals.
Creative Problem-Solving: You excel at reframing complex issues with vivid metaphors and tailored interventions, turning challenges into opportunities for growth. For example, you used the “race car in the red” metaphor to clarify Lori’s reactivity (Lori transcript, Page 13) and the movie projector analogy to empower Darcy to control her thoughts (Darcy transcript, Page 48). Your innovative timeline trance with Lori (Page 30) showcases your ability to craft unique solutions. This skill drives success by differentiating your services and enhancing client results.
Resilient Adaptability: Your capacity to navigate diverse client needs and professional demands with humor and poise is remarkable. You seamlessly adjust your approach, from Lori’s self-worth issues to Robert’s vaping habits (Robert transcript, Page 2), while maintaining engagement under pressure. Your past as a comedian and ability to scale your business reflect resilience. This adaptability ensures consistent service quality, client satisfaction, and a dynamic online presence.
Tell us about a time you were dead wrong about something.
The best thing I can think of is the timing of quitting my job at Turner to become a full-time hypnotherapist. That was at the end of 2007, and with the economic instability that followed, 2008 was a very tough year. I didn’t make much money and struggled to grow the business.
But I kept researching and trying my damnedest to make it work. And at the end of 2008, I found a consultant who helped me turn things around. I implemented all his advice and immediately turned things around — doubling my business overnight.
The lesson is that there’s a difference between being highly skilled at something and actually communicating to people that you’re skilled at that thing. If you can’t do the latter, the former isn’t worth all that much.
How do you get yourself out of a funk? Please share the details.
When I face challenges, as I’m doing now in my personal life with my wife’s health issues, I take action to implement solutions and then basically keep my head down and plow through things, with the belief that ultimately things will swing back in a positive direction, which they always seem to do.
What is a habit you try to stick to and how has it helped you?
Making lists for sure. I’m highly organized and use technology to outsource responsibilities from my brain. So every day I just check my To Do list to see what needs to be done, and occasionally set reminders on my phone for things that come up when I’m on the go. That, along with my appointment calendar, keeps me focused on the important stuff consistently.
How do you celebrate your victories?
I usually celebrate my victories privately — in my own mind — by replaying the memories. We live a full life with nice vacations and a good quality of life, so I don’t feel the need to spend money or do anything wild. A good old-fashioned fist pump and maybe a nice steak dinner is all it takes 🙂
What is your favorite book and why?
“The Fourth Turning” had a big impact. Being able to understand that there’s a pattern to what we’re currently experiencing in the world, both politically and societally… it really helps. We’re living in unprecedented times when it comes to political and social polarization, and the book helps explain how and why that’s happening, and that it’s not going to last forever. I share that with clients at times to help them calm their anxiety.
What advice would you give to your younger self and why?
I’d tell the “pre-hypnosis” Sean to chill out and focus on the bright side, which is what he started doing after getting hypnotized.
But I’d also tell my 10-20 years younger self to be more diligent about ongoing trainings. I coasted on my skills (which were strong) for many years while my business was thriving, but since I began training again in 2019, my skills have drastically improved every year, which is exciting.
Who has been your biggest mentor in life (personal or professional) and how have they helped you?
I’d first have to give credit to the late Dr. Wesley Anderson, who is the hypnotherapist who helped change my life back in January 2001. He later became a friend. And I’d also have to give a ton of credit to Dr. Richard Bandler for creating NLP and empowering people like me not only as an individual, but as a therapist who can help others. Dr. Anderson turned me on to Dr. Bandler’s books and pointed me in the right direction. Without those two men, I’d be a much different person, and most certainly for the worse.
Just for fun, what is your favorite food?
Oh, I have to mention my favorite lunch spot — Hankook Taqueria’s BBQ Korean tacos. I go there every week, even though it’s a 15-minute drive from my office. Been going there for 15 years.