I was in Tulum Mexico in 2024 — not for work, just taking in the laid-back vibe, the turquoise water, and the endless flow of people chasing a version of their best life.

That’s where I met Jane.

Jane was a weight loss life coach, and from the moment you met her, you could tell she radiated confidence, joy, and purpose. She’d tried every diet, every fitness routine, and every so-called “system” out there — until she discovered her own formula for transformation.

And it worked.

Her results were so remarkable that friends and family started asking the inevitable questions:
“Hey! How did you do it?”
“Can I try it too?”

So Jane started teaching.

And before long, one of her students asked her:
“Hey! Can I teach others?”

That’s when Jane became something new — a coach’s coach.

By the time I met her in Tulum, she was hosting daily Zoom calls with her team of coaches. She mentored them, encouraged them, and helped them launch their own coaching practices.

She was making great money. She was traveling the world. From the outside, it looked like freedom.

But behind the scenes, Jane was working 10–12 hour days. Every conversation, every sale, every system ran through her. She wasn’t free — she was just busy in a prettier location.


The Coffee Conversation

One morning, over coffee, Jane leaned in and asked me the question I’ve heard from hundreds of entrepreneurs over the years:
“What would you do if you were me?”

My answer was simple. “Stop.”

She looked at me like I’d just told her to burn down her business.

But here’s what I meant.

Jane believed her “secret sauce” was coaching coaches. That her personal touch — her ability to mentor others — was the engine of her success.

But that wasn’t her real magic.

Her true “secret sauce” was her formula — the system she’d discovered that worked for her and for her clients.

She didn’t need to coach every coach. She needed to build a system that allowed every coach to succeed without her constant presence.


The Blind Spot

I asking Jane these questions:

“Who’s building your coaches’ websites?”

“Who’s setting up their courses?”

“Who’s creating their branded materials?”

“And who’s managing their payments?”


Her answer? Each coach was doing it on their own.

Jane was teaching the system verbally, then hoping her coaches could translate it into something professional — a website, a program, a brand — all while she made money only from the ongoing coaching.

That’s not scalable. That’s survival.


Turning Customers into Marketers

Here’s what I told her — and what I tell a lot of founders and creators who get stuck in the “doing” trap:
“You’re not building a business — you’re performing one.”

Jane had something powerful: a proven formula that produced visible results.

But instead of packaging her formula, she was performing it — over and over, one client at a time.

So, I walked her through a new approach.

What if she built a platform instead of a program?

A system where:
✓ Clients could join her program online
✓ Complete the course using automated tools and trackers
✓ Generate a visual case study of their results

And then — immediately — turn that case study into a micro-coaching page on Jane’s website


Each “coach” would have a branded microsite with Jane’s logo, her tools, her structure — and their personal story.

They could sell access to Jane’s program directly from their page, earning commission on each sale.

Jane’s site would manage the content, handle the payments, and automate the back-end operations.

All the coaches had to do was promote their microsite.


The Magic of Scale

With this structure, Jane’s business would transform overnight:
✅ Her revenue would scale exponentially. Every new coach becomes a revenue stream.

✅ Her coaches would succeed faster. They’d focus on relationships, not tech.

✅ Her formula would grow without her. She’d stop being the bottleneck.

✅ Her brand would expand organically. Every coach becomes a micro-influencer for her system.

And best of all — Jane’s success would now be locked in with her coaches’. Their wins would literally become her wins.

That’s Customer-Centric Marketing — designing a system where your customer’s success directly drives your growth.


The Real Lesson

Most small and medium-sized business owners are like Jane when I met her.

They believe their value is in being hands-on. In working harder. In showing up every day to “do the work.”

But your true value isn’t in doing the work — it’s in creating the system that allows others to succeed because of your work.

If your business depends on your daily presence, you don’t own a business — you own a job.

Customer-Centric Marketing flips that model. It transforms your customers into marketers, and your formula into freedom.

When you build a system that others can sell, promote, and benefit from, you move from being a worker in your business to the architect of an ecosystem.


If you’re like Jane — working long hours, living a “pretty good” life but knowing it could be more on your terms — then it’s time to rethink your model.

📩 Visit my Open To Work profile and set up a call.

Let’s design a Customer-Centric Marketing system that helps you scale your success — and finally step out of the day-to-day grind.

Because freedom isn’t found in doing more.

It’s found in building systems that work when you don’t.