From the author: Many future psychologists, even from their student days, do not believe that they can become in-demand specialists with decent wages. Practicing specialists may be disappointed later, against the backdrop of high competition and low psychological culture of the population. This article is intended to help both beginners and experienced psychologists in professional realization, getting more pleasure from their work. Author: Gleb Egorovich Kulikov - Director of the Stalker Center, Business Trainer, Coach, Doctor, Psychologist, Specialist in Ericksonian Hypnosis. Get The education of a psychologist is now not difficult, BEING a psychologist is already more difficult (to be, and not to seem/be called), and becoming a highly paid psychologist is a whole “Zen task”! I will deliberately not introduce the exact characteristics of the concept of “highly paid”, so as not to limit the healthy ambitions of some colleagues or not to embarrass others. Let’s limit ourselves to one important criterion: highly paid labor is the level of professional income that is at the upper limit of the earnings range in your region in a specific professional niche per unit of time (hour, session, training day, month, year). Ideally, your earnings determine the upper limit of earnings for the entire field. Currently, you can earn money as a psychologist in many ways: personal consulting/coaching, group (team) consulting/business coaching, teaching: trainings, seminars, master classes, webinars, information products, supervision of aspiring psychologists, writing a book, etc. d. You can choose one path, you can be multifaceted and fruitful and combine everything, but before that it is important to determine: can you even BE a psychologist? The ethical side of the issue The work of a psychologist/trainer/coach involves close work with the inner world of another person, therefore this interaction should be as ethical, environmentally friendly and effective as possible (the so-called financial ethics - fulfilling contractual obligations with the client). It happens that you meet psychologists who do not experience any deep interest in other people in general, there are personal growth coaches who call their students “pigs” behind their backs, etc. Such people come into the profession for any motive, just not for the sake of helping others. Illustration from life: A girl came to an appointment with complaints of sexual harassment from another psychologist (not some self-taught person, but a certified gestalt therapist, trainer of training groups in gestalt therapy). It turned out that when this pretty client came to him because her fiancé had abandoned her on her wedding day, the “psychologist” couldn’t find anything better than to ask her to lie down on the sofa, lie down next to her and start stroking her breasts with the words: “It’s okay.” , we’ll just work on your sexuality now.”... The client immediately ran away from him, but this was enough to get into a state of shock. Just the motto: “Come to a bad psychologist with one problem and get a second one for free!” Check yourself for “lice” : - why do I want to be a psychologist? - in what direction of psychology do I want to work, why? - how long can I work for free? It is important to decide on these questions at the very beginning for three reasons: 1. The sooner a pseudopsychologist realizes that this is not his thing, the less harm he will do to other people2. The sooner any person, regardless of the chosen profession, determines his true intentions, the easier it will be for him to choose a truly suitable business for himself, which means he will have time to more deeply realize his potential, which, of course, exists in everyone.3. People feel very well what kind of “specialist” is in front of them, and therefore there are very rare cases when pseudo-psychologists manage to earn a lot of money from people. I am sure that for many psychologists their profession is a calling. While living “helping others” it is very important not to forget about yourself. Decent payment for your work is one of the ways to maintain internal ecology. At the moment when you work with a client, you:you don’t see your family, you don’t help your loved ones, you don’t pay attention to your health, you waste another hour of your life. In order to overcome the barrier of “paid work” that many beginning consultants face, answer yourself honestly the question: “How much is an hour of my life worth?” At the same time The level of your payment should be determined not so much by your life needs, self-esteem or duration of work as a psychologist, but by the level of trust of your clients. How much money your client is willing to give you for the efficiency (depth and speed) of your work is how much you are worth. For this figure to be adequate, it is important to compare it with the level of your education and professional competence. Education Education in psychology can vary. There is no correct model and direction. Personally, I adhere to the harmonious option: a combination of fundamental classical education and applied practical education. A lot of smart thoughts, knowledge and theories without practice are useless, A lot of working tools without a deep understanding of the psyche are dangerous! From the point of view of basic education, medical or psychological school is considered optimal throughout the world. It is there that systematic, clinical thinking is formed, which allows one to be a more effective consultant. That is why even “seasoned” business coaches often come to a psychological university for a second education. And of course, gigabytes of psychological knowledge are in books that will never cease to be relevant. Also, in my opinion, it is important to integrate in your work the most effective tools from a wide variety of psychological areas. Your client most often cares about the result, and not about the tools you use. Every person is different, every case is unique, and the more methods you have in your arsenal, the more versatile you are. And last but not least, the client is interested in what kind of “fanatic” you are, why and what incredible level you have reached in this direction. But some psychological schools just like to maintain “purity of blood” and even prohibit students from attending other schools, and then they are surprised that they are compared to sects! Any limitation in the development of the knowledge and skills of a consultant can turn him from a psychologist into a psycholoha... conclusions do it yourself! You can choose any modern direction of psychological counseling as an applied practical school. It is advisable to focus on leading, officially recognized schools. You can choose 1 of 22 EAP (European Association for Psychotherapy) modalities. In Russia and Belarus, the most developing modern method of counseling, combining scientific activity, a high degree of applied effectiveness, a wide range of tools and indications for use, is Neuro-linguistic psychotherapy (NLPt). Any serious psychological school, be it NLPt, Coaching, Psychosynthesis, Hypnotherapy and etc. defines its own internal criteria for a consultant’s readiness for professional activity, they all boil down to the following principles: completion of all stages of training, certification of activities, personal therapy/coaching, supervision of client work, internship. All this will allow you, in principle, to earn money in the field of psychology, but how to become one of the highest paid in your field? Authorship and uniqueness Nowadays it is not easy to surprise anyone, even with the most advanced knowledge. People are gradually developing “information toxicosis” and simply promising headlines like: “Only with us...”, Exclusive author’s program...”, “We just have the solution...” are not enough to sell your services! to become a highly paid psychologist, you need to sell the most expensive product - this is a unique personal experience and an expert opinion. People rightly look for the best specialists and they want to give their money to them... for the result, of course, the client is ready to overpay for greater guarantees, which implies NAME and FAME. !It would seem that everything is simple: forYou need to practice a lot of experience; to become an expert, it is enough to deeply understand at least one issue or a typical problem... but this takes TIME. In order to speed up the formation of professional uniqueness, I suggest answering simple questions: My niche - What is most in demand now in my field , which of this would I personally like to do? - Where is this area heading, what will happen in it in 5 years? - For the implementation of which of this future are you ready to take responsibility? My goals: - What are the main goals of your activities? - What are you willing to do to implement them? My uniqueness: - Who am I? - What issues do I want to be an expert in? - What do I want to help best? My image: - How should I look, position myself? - How and in what do you need to meet the client's expectations? My clients: - Who are your clients? - Make a portrait of the client: gender, age, field of activity, level of earnings, hobbies, interests, problems. - Where can you find such a client? - How will clients find out about you? My rules :- What kind of agreement will you conclude with the client, what are its main and most important points, and why? My capabilities: - What do you sell? - What do they buy from you? - What will be the range of services and goods, what is the price? - Where will you sell? Working environment: - In what conditions should my interaction with the client take place? - What conditions will help my work, what will be different and new? Based on the answers to these questions, you can accelerate the formation of your uniqueness and relevance in the field of psychological services. All that remains is to increase your experience. It is from this fertilized soil that the sprouts of the author’s style and new methods of work should emerge: new “smart” technologies, new useful niches, new concepts for understanding and working with certain human tasks or problems, unique articles and books and a whole school of authors. To do this, of course, you need to constantly make a lot of effort, continue to learn and develop, only gaining momentum. This is exactly what will be valued always and everywhere, and therefore highly paid! Obstacles Any career path can have many obstacles, psychology is no exception. We will focus on the most important obstacles that may arise at the very beginning of a career. 1. Although the level of development of “helping professions” is growing, it still remains at a fairly low level. It is much easier to listen to a friend’s advice, albeit bad, but free, or to communicate one-on-one with a vessel of intoxicating 40-degree liquid, or even not to see the need at all for active actions: “Why? This is normal, everyone lives like this!” Exit: The psychologist himself should engage in active educational activities about the importance of receiving professional help. It doesn’t occur to anyone to get expensive dental implants in Petka’s neighbor’s basement or to give birth on their own in a field... 2. It is impossible to 100% guarantee the client the result. On the one hand, the client is right in wanting to receive exact guarantees, because the amount is usually significant and we are not talking about basic needs for which there will always be money. In addition, many beginning consultants and trainers forget what they are working for and sell their knowledge and technologies to the client, and not the result. Then the situation turns out that a novice business coach calls companies with one single desire - to sell his training (for example, Sales training) and preferably at a higher price, without thinking about whether the client needs it in the first place and whether it will at least help partially solve a complex business problem. On the other hand, it is important to understand that guarantees can be given for what you, as a psychologist, will definitely teach or help with. For example, you came to a new restaurant and ordered an unknown dish. The restaurant can guarantee that this dish will be prepared for you in the form stated and in the appropriate quality. But whether you like this dish or not, that’s a completely different story - you will have to pay in any case. Output: any interaction with the client is determined in writinga contract or an oral agreement, the purpose of which is to explain the rules of work that you consider the most useful and convenient for both yourself and the client and at the same time establish mutual guarantees and distribute responsibility for the result. 3. Anti-advertising from low-qualified specialists and “would-be psychologists.” The reputation of practical psychology not only in the CIS countries and throughout the world is quite ambiguous. Indeed, many people for whom psychology is “crying”, only after hearing about training or coaching, rush to say goodbye to you forever. But if you think deeply, this happens in any field - this is just an additional need to think about your presentation, in which you can immediately identify your competitive advantages. Exit: Meet the honorary title of psychologist at the level of professional competence and personal life congruence. In other words, it should be obvious to the naked eye that you yourself can be an example and know exactly what you are going to teach. Your personal achievements, merits and awards can help build partnership trust with the client. Well, as you know, word of mouth often precedes your actions: the more talented you are in your field, the less you have to prove it. Promotion tools Self-development and self-promotion often help each other, if only because: The more famous you are, the more you earn. The more you earn, the more you do what you love and develop. The more you develop, the more effectively you help. The more effectively you help, the more famous... Here the circle closes. : The law of mutual reinforcement of positive feedback in action! I’ll give you a few basic tools for my promotion. The tools are quite well known, but no less effective: 1. Personal Website/BlogSite is a business card in the virtual world that introduces a potential client to your services, and also directly allows you to make money on an information product.2. Social networks Social networks are the habitat of potential clients, which means you should be there too. Social networks will allow you to directly and preferably regularly communicate with clients, as well as keep them informed of your activities. An important condition: you should only be on those social networks that are most effective in finding clients and in as many of them as you can support high activity.3. WebinarsWebinars are a modern way to work at home or on the ocean beach. Holding a webinar helps not only to gather people and perhaps later (and sometimes immediately) earn money, but also to use it in the future for self-promotion.4. Newsletter If you have achievements and unique content (author's work, useful articles and reviews on your topic), then there should be a mailing list. This method helps customers remember you, which allows you to keep them close, increasing your sales. There is no unique content - work on it, but do not blindly copy the interesting features of your colleagues, otherwise you will advertise them, not yourself.5. Information products Information products of your activity should naturally accumulate as a result of your work (a collection of articles, audio recordings of your interviews, therapeutic sessions and meditations, educational videos from trainings and seminars, etc.). The only thing is that you need to package it competently and beautifully and sell it. A huge advantage of this tool is that once you have done something good and of high quality, you can sell it for a long time without your active participation. This frees up time in your schedule for new projects and developments without having to do the same thing over and over again.6. Public speaking: conferences, presentations, etc. Good people and specialists should go to the masses, and not sit at home. If you are so good, let the world around you know about it before someone less competent but more active does it.7. Media: TV/radio broadcasts, articles, reviews, interviews, etc. publications Be relevant,!