My Business Model

People often want to take me to lunch to ask how I run my business. I understand why. They want to know what I’m doing, how it works, and what they can learn from it.

But if I spent every day answering that question over breakfast, lunch, and dinner, I wouldn’t have time to run the business.

In Episode 310, I put that conversation into one place. I described The Life Coach School through four components: marketing, Self-Coaching Scholars, coach certification, and overdelivering.

The mechanics matter. But underneath them is something more important: a mission to help specific people, products that work, and a commitment to making the value greater than what the customer pays.

Marketing is letting your people know you can help

Somewhere, there is a person suffering emotionally who doesn’t know about my work yet. She doesn’t know about the Model or the podcast. I want to find her and let her know I can help.

That is what marketing means to me. I’m not trying to interest everyone. I’m looking for the people who want what I teach and haven’t found it yet.

My approach is influenced by direct-response marketing. I want a response I can measure so I can understand whether the message is reaching the right people and prompting action.

The message needs to matter to your particular person. To someone else, it may just be noise. That is fine. You don’t need everyone to be your customer.

Give people results ahead of time

One way I market is through the podcast. I put time and energy into creating teaching people can use without paying me anything.

I want someone to listen, apply the work, and experience a result in their own life. They can know the value because they have used it.

Sharing my own work and experiences also lets me be an example of what is possible when you apply the Model.

Results ahead of time are different from simply telling someone how valuable your product is. You give them something useful enough that they can experience the effect.

Speak differently to people who know you and people who don’t

Someone who has listened for years needs a different introduction than someone who has never heard of coaching.

In marketing, we often describe cold, warm, and hot audiences. Cold people don’t know you yet. Warm people are familiar with your work. Hot people have experienced its value and are enthusiastic about it.

If you use the same message with all three groups, you can miss what they need to understand.

I learned this when I sent an email about the T line in the Model. A woman on my list thought I meant a subway line. She didn’t know the Self-Coaching Model yet, so my familiar language made no sense to her.

Someone new needs the basic explanation. Someone already applying your work may need to understand how a deeper experience helps them next. Respect where the person is starting.

Acquisition depends on what happens after someone joins

I described being willing to spend money to help the right customer find me, even when that meant breaking even on the first transaction.

That approach depended on confidence in the product. If people joined and experienced extraordinary value, many would choose to stay.

You are betting on your ability to help them. The front end can’t compensate for a product that doesn’t work.

The most powerful referral isn’t only a customer mentioning you to a friend. It’s a customer changing so much that people ask what they are doing. Their life becomes evidence of the work.

Marketing and delivery are connected. The better the result you help create, the more confidently you can introduce the work to someone new.

More value means effective work, not just more stuff

When I built Self-Coaching Scholars, I brought together courses I had developed over years, along with teaching, practice materials, and coaching.

The point wasn’t simply the quantity of videos or worksheets. The point was that the material worked and people could use it to change their lives.

You can’t fill a program with ideas people already know, exercises you haven’t tested, or content that doesn’t help them produce results. Your students will know the difference.

My courses came from work I had done on myself and with clients. I learned to stop overeating, stop drinking, build a business, manage anxiety, and improve relationships. Then I taught the processes I had used and tested.

Keep working with your clients. Notice the problems they encounter. Help them solve those problems, and use what you learn to develop valuable teaching.

A strong program is developed through that work. It isn’t something you reproduce in a weekend by copying its surface structure.

Certification requires responsibility for the people being taught

Teaching someone to coach is different from offering a class they can watch.

In describing our certification, I emphasized practice, observation, feedback, and demonstrating the skill before certification. Paying attention in class wasn’t enough.

When you certify someone, you are responsible not only for the person learning but also for the clients they will work with. They need to know how to use the tools and how to hold space with love and respect.

If you want to certify people in an original process you have developed, first ask whether you have taught it enough and proven it enough to teach someone else to do it.

Being good at doing something doesn’t automatically make you good at teaching it. The website or video platform isn’t the most important question. The quality and integrity of the teaching are.

Overdeliver throughout the experience

Overdelivering means giving value beyond what you ask the customer to pay. That makes selling easier because you believe in what they are receiving.

It also belongs in customer service. Respond promptly. Understand the problem. Don’t make customers jump through hoops to get what they need.

Test your own customer experience. Send an email through your process. See what the response is like. Work in customer service and notice what you can improve.

Ask how to make the work more useful and accessible. The question isn’t how to give more stuff. It’s how to help your clients get the results they want more easily.

Keep the mission and the choices clear

I love money and want coaches to make money. But money can’t be the only reason you do this work. A genuine mission is what keeps you going through the challenges.

Be clear about who you serve and what you offer. In the business model I described, the core choice was simple: get coaching, or train to become a coach. Additional programs weren’t allowed to interfere with that clarity.

Too many overlapping offers make decisions harder for customers and the business harder to run.

Find your people. Give them effective work. Make the choice clear. Keep asking how you can help them get the result they want.