How to Build a Brand in Line with your Bigger Vision
The award-winning hypnotherapist and business owner Jessica Boston talks with Real Business Emma Ames about prioritising her vision, building a brand under her terms, and how her love for music has presented new ventures.
Jessica Boston is an award-winning hypnotherapist and life coach. As a unique well-being specialist and business owner, Boston has over ten years of experience in the industry. Boston had sought out hypnotherapy in her early 20s as a way to cope with her extreme anxiety. Cognitive hypnotherapy is a psychodynamic therapy that focuses on unconscious and implicit thoughts and actions that a person may not be consciously aware of. “It engages with the imagination, which is the part that’s responsible for most of your anxieties. What I benefitted from was realising that I wasn’t going through the treatment because I’m crazy or losing my mind but to learn how I engage my mind so that I now know how to use it. It has gone from being a weapon to being a tool.”
After discovering hypnotherapy in the effort to manage and treat her own mental health and self-esteem issues, Boston went on to study and train under Trevor Silvester, the founder of Cognitive Hypnotherapy treatment, at Regents University. Working with Silvester and several other top mentors, Boston now holds a range of qualifications and is an active member of the NCP and QHCPA. “Having a core mentor, which for me is Trevor, is really important, but I would always try to learn from many different people with different backgrounds and opinions.”
“It’s so important to speak to other women in business about their experiences and challenges because it is a totally different ball game, it is not the same for men in business as it is for women in business.” Boston is a huge advocate for women entrepreneurs and works with many women in creative industries. A lot of her teachings and sessions are focused on helping women find their voices, challenge expectations or restrictions and realise their full potential. So, what is her top piece of advice? Prioritise your vision and your mission and don’t try to please everyone. “Building a business and a brand takes time, especially if you want to be in it for the long haul. My business is based on delivering really good work and making sure my clients are happy and they are getting the results they want. Everyone thinks they’ve got the correct formula about what businesses should look like, but I think staying true to your vision is essential.”
Music is the medicine of the mind
As a creator herself, Boston is uniquely placed to help other creatives deal with the fear of rejection and to be confident in pursuing and presenting the most authentic version of their work. Boston has always had a passion for music and using it was a platform for learning and absorbing information. During her time in Barcelona, she developed the idea of producing a hypnosis music album, an idea she pursued with two musician friends. She released This Feeling Is You in 2020. Mental health awareness has become significantly more prevalent during the COVID-19 pandemic and with the coaching industry bring worth an estimated $11.6 billion worldwide (2019), the market for therapists and lifestyle coaches is highly competitive. Working in such a saturated market, Boston highlights how important it is to create a supportive network.
“I’m a big believer in community in your industry. I think when people start in business, they easily view everyone else as a competitor, when actually one of the best things you can do is surround yourself with like-minded individuals.” The pandemic has struck a blow to how therapy and mental health services operate. Boston has diversified and adapted to the new challenges in the well-being industry. With many international clients, especially in the US and Australia, adjusting her business to online sessions has worked well and opened up a lot of opportunities. “Often people are at first uncomfortable with Zoom and then when in-person therapy wasn’t an option anymore, people has seen there’s very little difference to doing it all virtually.” The biggest challenge for working virtually is taking care of your well-being and pacing yourself. Boston acknowledges that one of the toughest things about starting a business or working from home is that it can feel very isolated and the temptation to be constantly working is tough to manage. Pacing yourself is critical and making sure you have down time means that you are putting your best foot forward at work.
What’s next on the cards?
Another album, of course! “I want to make another meditation album. That is something I really enjoy doing because it kind of explores my creative side as well and I just want to carry on doing things that excite me. Additionally, I want to try more online courses and hopefully, when we can, there is a lot more of the world I have to see, so more travelling!”
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