I'm thrilled to share with you one of the most meaningful stories of my life. My newest article in the July 2026 issue of FORCE Magazine tells how an unexpected phone call from Dr. Maya Angelou confirmed my life mission and reinforced the words that continue to guide me every day: "Never Give Up."

Every coach begins with a dream. A dream of changing lives, accomplishing an important mission, creating extraordinary results, and building a lasting legacy.

Few dreams remain dreams. They either become a mission to transform the lives of people who are suffering, struggling, and searching for answers.

OR they fail!

Yet somewhere between your dream and success, or thinking that you must quit, most coaches discover that coaching skills alone rarely create an extraordinary coaching career.

Over the last 27 years, I have delivered 75,000 coaching hours throughout the United States, Canada, and worldwide. I have searched for the answer to the #1 question that affects every coach, consultant, trainer, and advisor.

“Few dreams remain unfulfilled because of lack of talent. Most disappear because people lack the skills to build success.” Susan Allan

Why do some extraordinarily talented coaches build legacies while others return to a day job?

It isn’t IQ.

It isn’t even EQ.

It isn’t experience.

It isn’t your coaching skills.

It’s all of these plus the most important skill of all:

Business-building!

“True success is the speed with which you avoid or solve problems.”
Susan Allan

When you own a coaching practice, your success depends upon two things.

1. The speed with which you learn to build a successful coaching business.

2. The speed with which you solve your clients’ problems.

Everything else supports those essential goals.

When I began coaching in 1999, coaching was unknown.

People told me,

“OH! So you’re a therapist!”

“No, I’m a coach.”

“OH! Like in the Olympics!”

“No. I’ll teach you tools and skills and show you how to turn your life around so that you finally enjoy the success you’ve dreamed of!”

“OH! GREAT!”

They finally understood what is possible with a highly skilled coach.

I explained that I offered two kinds of coaching: for their business/career or for personal relationships. Some clients worked on both areas with me to create extraordinary results in every area of their lives.

The real reason I’m successful is that before I became a coach 27 years ago I already had a successful fashion career. The skills I acquired during those years allowed me to design 10,000 products and sell $750M at wholesale with my sales teams.

I ate and slept customer service and consumer branding for a long time and I hope you are doing that yourself to support your coaching business.

I have 3 trademarks, I have countless copyrights and I hope you do, too.

Years ago, I turned down my own reality show because they wanted to own my intellectual property as trademarks and copyrights are called. NO Way! Your unique marks, brands and logos are your business so respect them and nurture them.

Today, coaching has become one of the fastest-growing professions in the world.

You don’t have to explain it to potential clients as I did in 1999.

That is the wonderful news; however, it is not all rainbows and moonbeams, is it?

According to the International Coaching Federation’s 2025 Global Coaching Study, there are now more than 122,000 professional coaches worldwide, a 54% increase since 2019.

Every month, thousands of talented coaches enter the marketplace.

Every month, it becomes more important to promote yourself as unique and worth your clients’ time and money.

Many coaches make the GIGANTIC MISTAKE of promoting their coaching process, niche, or credentials instead of demonstrating the important problems they solve.

But that isn’t what millions of people need.

People in pain search for someone who understands.

People who are suffering need someone who can solve their problems with authentic tools, skills, and support.

Because I have been studying for many more decades than my 27 years as a coach, I have skills my clients didn’t have until they learned them from me.

I have an “outside the box” viewpoint that sees SOLUTIONS others often miss.

I do a lot more RESEARCH for my clients than they may do themselves.

I look at every problem as the QUESTION that is the starting point to the ANSWER.

Many clients come to me with problems they believe are HOPELESS, but to me it’s an exciting challenge:

1. A CEO intent on selling a business except his partners refused to speak to each another. In 4 months he had a deal ready for signatures and got them.

2. A billion-dollar international project that had been stalled for eight years, and in 4 months all 28 signatures were acquired on the proper paperwork for Phase 2 to continue.

3. Wives or husbands determined to divorce, who chose reconciliation instead.

4. An executive whose leadership team had stopped functioning as a team.

5. Family members drowning in their loved ones’ addiction who suddenly entered rehab and now live with lifelong sobriety.

6. And countless business owners who needed my scripts and communication training to get paid by their own clients and they were paid!

Those experiences taught me the single most important lesson of my coaching career:

Your brand is built by solving big problems.

That is the foundation of a lasting brand.

A lasting brand creates referrals.

A lasting brand develops your financial future one client at a time.

A lasting brand allows you to accomplish the mission that inspired you to become a coach in the first place.

The coaches who create the greatest impact become the first people others think of when an important problem must be solved because they have already proven they can do it.

If that’s your brand and if this aligns with your mission, please ask me for my

COACHING BRAND MISSION PDF

I'd love to hear from you. Has there been one conversation, one mentor, or one unexpected moment that changed the direction of your life? Please leave a comment below. I read every response personally.