I know that this is a subject many people want to know about, so let’s discuss – in a realistic way – what kind of rewards, financial and otherwise, your recordings might bring your way.

Cary (not her real name) is a hypnotherapist who created her first recording in 2008 – a hypnosis session for anxiety relief. At first she released the recording on her website as a digital download and sent an email to all her clients to let them know about it. 

In the wake of that email she sold 22 copies in the first month. In the second, 5 copies. In the third, none at all. 

Not the most compelling story so far is it? Stay with me, it does get better. 

Cary then released her recording on iTunes and Amazon (the cost to do this was close to nothing). She also put quite a bit of time into writing articles about anxiety and stress relief for her website, and she also posted inspirational content on her Facebook page on a regular basis. 

Now let’s jump six months ahead. Slowly but surely there was a little momentum building. The articles Cary wrote began to attract extra visitors to her website, leading to a few extra online sales and even a few new clients. Her presence on iTunes also boosted sales. By the end of the year she was selling an average of 15 downloads per month at an average price of $10. 

That might not seem like a lot of income at first glance, but Cary had already increased her annual income by around $1,800. Once she reached this point she found that it took almost no effort to maintain that level of sales. 

Over the next 2 years, Cary released another 5 recordings. She also made two of her most popular recordings available as CDs so that her patients could buy them while visiting her clinic. At that stage Cary was selling a total of 60 downloads and 15 CDs per month which amounted to about $700 of additional income per month or $8,400 per annum. 

Your recordings can lead to all sorts of exciting opportunities and publicity. Here are three great examples:

1. Linda is a life coach. She offered one of her guided meditations for free on her website. This particular meditation made its way into the hands of a radio station host, who then invited Linda to a live interview to discuss the benefits of meditation. This exposed her services and her recording to a very large audience of people.
2. Derek is a hypnotherapist who created a range of more than 20 hypnosis recordings over a two year period. A media production company discovered Derek’s website and hired him to write hypnosis scripts for them.
3. Jocelyne is a stress management consultant who often uses guided imagery in her meditations. She was contacted by a domestic airline that wanted to offer her recordings to airline passengers as part of their in-flight entertainment menu. She licensed her recordings to the airline in exchange for an ongoing fee, and now millions of people enjoy listening to Jocelyne’s recordings while flying. Jocelyne has no other obligation to the airline whatsoever; she simply receives a royalty payment four times a year. 

It’s worth mentioning that, more often than not, it is the internet that paves the way for these kinds of unexpected opportunities. The internet will take you to every corner of the globe, to billions of people and it will do so in an interactive way that allows people to see and hear your work from the comfort of their own home or office. Good reasons to have a website of your own don’t you think? This is something to contemplate if you don’t already have one.

It should come as no surprise to you that professionals who are published, whether in print, audio or video format, instantly gain additional credibility and status as an expert in their field. Our media hungry world is increasingly appreciative of, nay, expecting of media productions. They are the mark of a professional and they garner both loyalty and respect.

Much of what we have talked about in this lesson has been focussed on “what’s in it for YOU”. What are you going to gain from creating recordings? How much money will you make? How will your professional status be improved and what new opportunities will arise?

But we should pause for a moment (a big moment) to consider the positive effect that your recordings are going to have on others and how you might use your recordings to improve the services you offer to your clients. Let me give you one example of how this can happen. 

Some therapists provide each of their clients with a recording as part of their overall patient care package. Some include this recording in the price of their patient’s first consultation, whereas others make it an optional extra that the patient can choose to buy. Your recording might be one to help alleviate depression or anxiety. It might be a general relaxation exercise, or perhaps a hypnosis recording to help people with sleep disorders. Whatever the case, audio recordings can be an extremely beneficial adjunct to your clients’ treatment.

The beauty of recordings such as these is that they extend the contact between you and your client long after they leave your presence. This can really help to keep your clients motivated and will help them to establish new behaviours and thought patterns even in your absence. And because your recording includes your voice, the patient benefits from a much more personal and memorable experience each time they listen to your recording, more so than if they had purchased a recording that was created by someone whom they’ve never met.

OK, we’ve talked quite a bit about why you should create an audio recording and what you and your customers stand to gain by doing so. Now it’s time to take our first step into the how. All recordings begin life as a written script, so that’s exactly where we’ll begin…