How to Create Coaching Program Lessons

How to Create Coaching Program Lessons

There are 2 primary ways to create coaching program lessons. One way is to create them ahead of time, much as you would create an information product to sell. For example, if you are going to launch a 13 week coaching program you would create 13 coaching lessons ahead of time. Another way is to create the lessons as your clients will require them. For example, if you have a 13 week coaching program, you create the first lesson the first week, the second lesson the second week, and so on. If you create lessons as you need them in this way, the first time you offer coaching, you can use the now-created lessons for future classes in your coaching program.

I recommend that first – time coaches create their lessons in this way. Here’s why: if you try to create all 13 lessons before you enroll any clients, 2 things happen: 1) Most people never finish creating the lessons. It’s not easy to create any information products, let alone coaching lessons, and without knowing that a client is waiting for the next lesson, there is rarely enough motivation to finish the lessons. And because you have decided you have to finish the lessons before offering coaching, you subsequently never finish the lessons. And then you never launch a coaching program.

On the other hand, if you sign up even one client, then each week you have a deadline to create the next lesson. And deadlines usually inspire action. Remember when you were in college and you had 13 weeks to complete a term paper or thesis? If you are like me, you started on your term paper the 13th week and completed it the night before it was due. Not because you are lazy, not because it was easier to do that way, but simply because that’s when the deadline was. And if you have a paying client that is going to stop paying if you don’t produce a lesson, there is considerable incentive to produce the lesson. So as soon as you enroll a single client, you find your lesson creation goes much faster. It is simply a matter of deadlines.

Another advantage to creating the coaching lessons as you go is that you know what your clients want and can create the most effective lesson. When you are trying to create lessons ahead of time without any active clients, you may be simply guessing what your future clients are going to want or need to learn. But if you have a client or several clients, those clients can tell you what they need or want, and you can create training that meets those needs. And for future clients, I have found that as long as you don’t change the enrollment procedure or what you are telling clients you are going to help them with, future clients tend to need or want approximately the same thing as prior clients. And if you find that in the future there are additional needs, you can simply add lessons that meet the additional needs. Over time, you will find that you have a highly effective and comprehensive coaching program that meets many clients’ needs. And because you have a feedback element, a client can always ask additional questions in the feedback element.

To create the lessons, simply determine what you are going to teach and . . . teach it. That means if you are writing out the lesson, simply write out the steps to doing whatever it is you are teaching. Imagine that this pdf were actually a coaching lesson. Notice in this pdf I explained why this element (coaching) is necessary and how to do it. That is what you will do in each lesson: explain why the element is necessary, and how to do it.

If you are recording lessons, the only difference from writing the lesson is that you are recording it. Write an outline of what you are going to teach, the points you intend to cover, and turn on the recorder! You can use a mp3 recorder for audio, or a screen recording software or video recorder for video.

Once the lesson has been recorded, convert it to a deliverable format. For example, if you write out the lesson, convert the lesson to a pdf, then upload it to your web server. Use your autoresponder service to deliver it.

If you record a lesson, upload the recording to your web server, create a link to it, and use your autoresponder to deliver the lesson.

For future lessons, you can automate the delivery of the lessons in your autoresponder. For example, if you have a 13 week coaching program with one lesson per week, you simply queue your autoresponder to deliver one lesson per week for 13 weeks. This makes delivery of the lessons automatic and super-easy for you.