In the most recent post in this series, A Writer’s Guide to Launching a Successful Coaching Program, we talked about how to turn your book into a coaching program. This week, we’d love to show you how creating a certification program can help you increase your impact, influence, and income. I’ve done this with my books, and you can do it too!
One of the smartest ways to increase your influence, impact, and income is to certify other people to speak, coach, and train on your content. Igniting Souls began this process in 2011, and today, we have over 300 team members in over a dozen countries. It’s been a wonderful process for everyone involved.
My newest coaching certification program is based on my latest book, Unhackable. We are creating a tidal wave of coaches, speakers, and authors who are ignited to make a difference in the world. And it all started with an idea for a book that I spent years researching because I knew it would transform so many readers’ lives.
If you’re still with me, here’s my story about how creating a certification program changed my life:
Kary, I’m in! How can I increase my impact, influence, and income with my own certification program?
It all starts with the CERTIFY acronym.
1—C stands for coaches.
Because you don’t have enough hours in the day to help everyone who needs your help, part of the program you create will focus on certifying others on how to coach individuals and businesses using your content. This can have so many different applications in different industries and social circles.
Example: Let’s say you’ve written a book that teaches high school students how to write an attention-grabbing essay for their college applications. You could go out into the world and provide a one-on-one essay-coaching service. But think about this statistic: There are over 15 million high school students in the United States today. You’d never be able to do all that work by yourself. The answer is to create a team of coaches. Maybe one of your new certified coaches is a writing instructor who works with high school and college students. They can help their clients write an amazing essay with your unique content.
2—E stands for empowerment.
If you’ve got a message to deliver that’s important to you, you’ll do everything you can to reach as many people as possible who need to hear it. But you’re only one person, and you only have so many hours each day you can dedicate to reaching the people who truly need to be a part of your mission. You can increase the volume of your message by certifying people who also believe in your message.
Example: I recently published a book that I researched for years: Unhackable. I’ve been successful at amplifying the Unhackable message by certifying other coaches on my content, allowing my message to travel as far as Australia, giving it a global reach that I might not have accomplished without my certification program. Every day, we receive more requests from potential Unhackable coaches who want to implement my message in their own businesses.
3—R stands for return on investment (ROI).
When you choose to certify others on your content, the ROI happens on both sides of the coin. First, you receive an ROI from creating your content by earning income through certifying others on your content. Then, your certified clients earn money selling your programs, which also earns you more income. From there, you can set any other fees you like if you feel that’s necessary, such as a yearly maintenance/membership fee or affiliate fees on booked speaking engagements. I don’t do this with my certification programs, but those are still other ways you can keep earning from your certifications.
4—T stands for trainers.
If you’ve written a great book and created amazing courses you feel could have a global impact, there is simply not enough time in the day to train everyone on your content who wants to learn from you. By certifying others on your content, you can increase the potential impact exponentially because they are able to go to locations and communities you might not have access to.
5—I stands for influence.
Those people you train through your certification program will use your content to influence people all around the world in many different industries you might not already have influence in. Again, this allows your impact and influence to increase exponentially when you certify others who are ignited to spread your message. Through my certification programs, I’ve been blessed enough to impact and influence others all around the world because my team reaches far beyond the local and national level; this gives me and my message global influence.
6—F stands for focus.
Could you do all of the work yourself to reach a global community? Of course you could! But do you have time for it? Absolutely not, especially if you want to help as many people as you possibly can. When you certify others on your content, this allows you to focus on the few things you are good at, and one of those things should be to create more content for your team! Because if you want to continue doing good for the global community with your message, your message is going to evolve and grow as time goes on.
7—Y stands for yawp.
You need barbaric yawpers who add even more value to your content. (In Leaves of Grass, Walt Whitman wrote the line, “I sound my barbaric yawp over the roofs of the world.” This is essentially an emotional loud cry or yell.) And the more people yawping, the farther your message will reach. This will impact people all around the world from different cultures, lifestyles, industries, and backgrounds when you engage team members who represent a diverse set of skills, beliefs, and ways of living. They are essentially inviting you into another level of impact and influence by allowing your message to sound from the rooftops you might not have access to.
This can only help make your content better because they will be able to identify other applications for your message you might not have seen an opportunity for. In our expanding world where diversity is the key to bringing all walks of life together, we need this sort of teamwork now more than ever before. Embracing the uniqueness all your team members bring to your content will amplify your influence and impact tremendously.
Creating a certification program is one of the most powerful parts of the 18 streams of income I designed to help new authors become more successful. Not only will it help you impact a broader audience, but it will also connect you with a growing team who is as passionate about your content as you are. And when you combine these two elements together, you will start to build more income as an author.
If you are a part of one of my certification teams, what have you learned during the process that can help you with building your own certification program?
Kary Oberbrunner, CEO of Igniting Souls, is an author, coach, and speaker who helps individuals and organizations clarify who they are, why they’re here, and where they’re going so they can become souls on fire, experience unhackability, and share their message with the world. Connect at KaryOberbrunner.com.