About Me

John Strasser

Let me take you back to 1993. I had just finished my MBA and was working at Brookhaven National Laboratory in Upton, NY (on Long Island, right off the William Floyd Parkway).

At the time, I was doing research on fuel oil chemistry, environmental control and HVAC systems, district heating and cooling, residential oil fired heating systems, and computer controlled combustion systems.

I was working on the project that would consume the next several years and result in changes to the national fire codes (NFPA Standard 31: Venting of Oil Fired Appliances). On top of that, I was just starting to study up for the New York State Professional Engineering Exam (I received my P.E. for chemical engineering in 1994).

And if you had told me back then, what I'd be doing now, I would have fallen off my chair from laughing.

I'd still be laughing.

Self-improvement? Hypnotherapy? Coaching? Get real! And I never even heard of Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP). I was a professional chemical engineer. With a Master's Degree in Industrial Chemistry no less! Who needed all that mental/people crap? Blech!

Apparently. . .

A funny thing happens when you leave the corporate (or in my case, quasi-corporate) world. After you start your own company it becomes quite apparent (and painfully quickly I might add) that your level of expertise in any technical discipline starts to mean less and less beyond a certain point.

On the other hand, your ability to sell the expertise you do have, is very important!

Despite how much fun they were, the education budget needed to shift from classes on the "rheology of polymers" and the latest version of "Borland C++" to learning sales and (gasp) people skills!

So I took some sales training. And that is where I first learned the tiniest sliver of NLP. After seeing what a difference that made to my bottom line I wanted to learn more. When I started teaching I used the same sales techniques. So I "sold" physics and math and business and management theory. And they had an easier time learning from me than anyone else.

Then I started schlepping to California 2 or 3 times a month for over a year. Eventually I realized I had more certifications as a hypnotherapist and coach than most hypnotherapists and coaches I knew. So I started doing just that.

Next thing I knew, I didn't have time to teach.

Now, in addition to working one on one with people as a performance coach, I teach other people how to do what I do.

And the coolest part – is that I get to combine it all. Engineering, business strategy and marketing, sales, psychology, language, computer control systems, and process analysis. I get to teach classes like "People Skills For Engineers".

I get to do things the people I went to school with – graduate and undergraduate – just shake their collective heads in wonder about. I get to combine a discussion about macro-economic theory with hypnotic language and metaphor and watch my executive coaching client suddenly figure out and realize how he can implement the changes he wanted now that the blocks weren't there.

The most amazing thing is, I actually get paid to do this.

See you soon,


Hypnotherapist Extraordinaire, NLP Trainer