Turn Your Book or e-Book Into a Coaching System

Why is it important to have your very own life or business coaching system? Wow, where do I start! First of all, you immediately break away from the “crowd” in your field, when you have your own system.

You also become perceived as one of the leaders, movers & shakers in your niche. You have a proven formula or a process people can follow to get results they want.

Most importantly, it takes your company to a whole new level.  Every successful entrepreneur has a system!

You can also hire or certify other coaches to deliver your coaching system and create a multiple-income-stream business around it (with workshops, retreats, live events, home-study courses, virtual university, and so much more!).

Finally, your confidence level (and your fees) can go up significantly when you develop your own system or method for coaching or helping your clients.

If you already have written a book or an e-book, putting your own coaching system together is really about expanding it and supplementing it with actionable items. Here are just a few tips for getting started:

1. Many books are conceptual – a collection of thoughts, ideas, discussions, and ramblings. If that’s your book, you may want to first organize the content into a step-by-step process. Each step doesn’t have to be actionable. It can be a mind shift, a principle, or anything else designed to create some kind of transformation by the time your client completes your system.

2. Engage your customers – create ways to make your clients think, explore, change their habits, fill-in-the-blank, write down their thoughts and ideas, and other activities (mental or physical) that allows them to interact with your coaching system.

3. Track their progress – find a way to help them track and measure their progress. Are there any tangible milestones they can identify and celebrate? Did they lose 3 lbs? Did they create a blog? Did they have fewer fights with their teenager this week? Did their list reach 500 names? Worksheets, tracking sheets, or even online progress tools can help them stay on track and clearly see the benefits of using your system.

4. Keep the structure simple – complex systems are not only overwhelming to use and implement, but also hard to train your team in. Keep it simple. For example, you may have 7 modules with 3 topics in each one. Each topic could be an audio lesson and a worksheet.

5. Get creative – find ways to make your system unique and be authentic to you. For example, you could add a visual to each of your topic, or you could create a graphic map of your entire system showing the flow of steps.

6. Turn it into a multi-delivery program – your coaching system can be delivered as a stand-alone home-study course, or become a component of a bigger program. For example, you may have a coaching retreat and send your system to each of your participants as a way to prepare. You could also use your system to deliver a live workshop. Or, make your coaching system a part of your year-long coaching program and guide your clients through using it.

You can expand your book or e-book into a coaching system many different ways. Sometimes it can be as simple as adding a few audio CDs, a workbook, and a list of recommended resources will be enough. The questions I like to use to help me expand into a great coaching program or system are these:

After reading my book, why wouldn’t they implement?

• What is missing?
• What’s holding them back?
• What tool could I suggest or create to push them into taking action?
• What preconceived notions do they come with?
• What mind shift do I need for them to experience before they can take action and succeed?

If you have any other ideas or suggestions, please post them below