Welcome to Making It! This weekly show explores the lives and stories of entrepreneurs as they share their unique perspectives on their success and the path to making it. 

•Episode summary: The world-renowned business coach Melinda Cohan has a natural gift for organization. She’s a master of building workflows, processes, and procedures, and loves efficiency and systems. But she also knows that it takes a village to run a successful business. Together with her then-coach, Melinda started what was to become The Coaches Console, a practice management system developed by coaches for coaches. 

•Since 2012, Melinda and her company have become one of the highest regarded and sought-after experts and ecosystem to organize and automate professional coaching businesses. But success didn’t come easy, and Melinda had to overcome various personal and professional challenges to get to where she is today. In this episode, Melinda shares her uplifting and inspirational rags-to-riches story about what making it means to her.

• “Making it means that I'm simultaneously living my values, that I am practicing my own self-care, so I can give the overflow.” 

 • “I don't think making it is one-and-done. I think it's an ebb and flow spiral type of pattern where you experience it on one level. And so the definition of making it evolves with you as well.”

– Melinda Cohan

• Melinda Cohan is the CEO and Founder of The Coaches Console. After being fired from her corporate job back in 2004 and going through a divorce, Melinda needed to start a business that would make money fast. What did she do? She hired a coach who showed her how to start a coaching business. Then, following her highly developed intuition, Melinda showed scribbles on a napkin to her coach, which is now known as The Napkin Story.That coach later became a co-founder of The Coaches Console.

• “Taking care of hearts while taking care of business” is at the core of everything The Coaches Console does. The company is in the business of helping entrepreneurs create their business, from a heart-centered place. The Coaches Console has supported more than 50,000 entrepreneurs in creating their own profitable coaching businesses. 

• The Coaches Console is a practice management system developed by coaches for coaches. It allows Melinda and her team to interact with thousands of business owners globally. The software helps coaches structure their coaching business for client results and effectively organize the client management in one place. It’s an entire ecosystem to organize and automate your professional coaching business.

• “One of my greatest gifts in the world is my passion for business systems and processes. I absolutely love organization and the well-oiled machine aspect of helping a business to be successful”, says Melinda. With her high-spirited personality, she serves as a catalyst for business owners that want to transform their business and lives. And is successful doing it.

• Resources or websites mentioned in this episode:

1. Mirasee
2. The Coaches Console
3. Melinda’s LinkedIn
4. The Napkin Story - the beginning of Coaches Console.

• Credits:

• Guest – Melinda Cohan
• Associate producer: Danny Bermant
• Producer: Cynthia Lamb
• Assembled by: Geoff Govertsen
• Executive producer: Danny Iny 
• Audio Post Supervisor: Evan Miles, Christopher Martin 
• Audio Post Production by Post Office Sound
• Music soundscape: Chad Melinda Snavely 

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• Music and SFX credits: 

• Track Title: Sweet Loving Waltz

Artist Name(s): Sounds Like Sander

Writer Name: S.L.J. Kalmeijer

Publisher Name: A SOUNDSTRIPE PRODUCTION

• Track Title: The Sunniest Kids

Artist Name(s): Rhythm Scott

Writer Name: Scott Roush

Publisher Name: A SOUNDSTRIPE PRODUCTION

• Track Title: Edge of the Sea

Artist Name(s): Cody Martin

Writer Name: Cody Kurtz Martin

Publisher Name: SOUNDSTRIPE PRODUCTIONS

• Track Title: Good Days

Artist Name(s): Brent Wood

Writer Name: Philip Barnes

Publisher Name: BOSS SOUNDSTRIPE PRODUCTION

• Track Title: Travel to the Mountains

Artist name (s): Dylan Darby

Write Name: Dylan Darby

Publisher Name: under Pixabay License

• Track Title: Funkeriffic

Artist Name: Kevin MacLeod

Write Name: Kevin MacLeod

Publisher Name: under Creative Commons attribution at FreePD

• Track Title: Driving Concern

Artist Name: Kevin MacLeod

Write Name: Kevin MacLeod

Publisher Name: under Creative Commons attribution at FreePD

• Episode transcript: 

     I'm Melinda Cohen and you're listening to Making It! I run a business called Coaches Console. We serve and support coaches in feeling confident about their business, creating a strong foundation to their business so that they can serve their clients and make an impact in this world right out of the gate. 

     I created a lot of success fast. I made very few mistakes because I was a perfectionist and because I was a control freak. Those two things did not slow me down. They raised the bar and motivated me to get my act together really quickly. I made sure I did t...