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

My very first coach was a former police officer whose name was Rob. That’s the only thing I remember about him, because we had three free sessions back in 2000, and I’ve never heard from him again.

On the very first call, which I later learned was a “complimentary coaching session,” he asked me a very uncomfortable question: “What does success mean to Milana?”

“What a stupid question!” I remember thinking to myself.

I had a job as a web designer at $33K a year, one child and another on the way, I was 27 years old, in good health, and the only problem in my life was that my job was a bit boring.

The question seemed stupid because I never thought about success. And I think that is how most people walk through life – never giving a second thought to whether their life reflects their idea of success. They do it because everyone does it – wake up, go to work, wait for weekends, hang out with family and friends, then go back to work on Monday.

When I started my business to stay home with my 1-year old, my definition of success started shaping up. I became much more aware of this thing that drives our actions and decisions.

Eight years later I have updated my definition of success and I use it as the “filter” for making all of my decisions.

Want to know what my definition of success is today?

Here it is: “To be able to do what I want, whenever I want, and for money not to be an issue.” In other words, if I have complete freedom of time and space, and can afford anything I need or want (for me or my family), then I have achieved success.

Have you ever really given this a lot of thought?

I mean, everybody wants to make a lot of money, be in good  health, etc.

But what do YOU REALLY want?

I hate exercise…I get bored, I feel like it’s a waste of time; I used to look for a jogging buddy, but quickly realized we have nothing to talk about. Then I found a way to LOVE exercise, look forward to it every day, not need to look for a buddy, and do this in any weather, rain or snow – you won’t stop me! Watch the video above to learn how I get all my great ideas while getting LOTS of oxygen at the same time!