Coach Van Bio

Cutting-Edge Strategies & Solutions

Coach Van is personally sought after by many of today's global online leaders!

Corporate Online Internet Trainer
Host of the Coach Van Radio Podcast Show
Chief Editor of Coach Van's "Inner Circle" Update List

Coach Van was born in Salt Lake City, Utah on November 26th of 1962. His parents, Edward and Patricia, named him Michael Edward Van Leeuwen but he's gone by nicknames or Van for most of his life.

Van is the oldest of 7 children. He has four wild and fun sisters who are all married and 2 younger brothers, one has passed away and the other lives by himself in Washington.

Van's family moved to Seattle right before he started school since his father got a job on the Seattle Police Department. Van did very well in school right away, especially in math.

When Van was very young, his grandfather would give him and his cousins 25 pennies and then deal blackjack. If you started counting on your fingers, grandpa would just go to the next cousin and you may be sitting on a 7 or something. Grandpa almost always won all his pennies back, but Van and all of his cousins become very good in math later.

Van started in sales from a very early age. When he was only 7 and neighborhoods were safer, he'd go door to door selling Christmas cards in the summer, seeds in the winter, pens all year round and anything else that would get him some extra movie and spending money. He'd be miles from home knocking on doors for hours at a time earning extra money or toys he wanted from the back's of Boy's Life Magazine.

Van also got started in Cub Scouts when he was 8 and raced through the Wolf and Bear books before becoming a Webelo and Boy Scout. He did so well with the Boy Scouts, he attained the highest rank in Scouting and earned his Eagle Scout at the very young age of 13. Most Scouts never make Eagle, and those who do usually don't complete the requirements until right before their 18th birthday.

Not too long after Van earned his Eagle Scout, Seattle started forced busing. Van's father wasn't too worried about Van going to any school since he was such a large kid at a very young age. Van was already over 6 foot in elementary school. The problem was, the school Van and his siblings were supposed to be sent had a few rapes in the school that year and his father wasn't about to let his 4 daughters attend that school. So his family moved to a city outside of the busing area called Renton while his father remained a cop in Seattle.

Van went from being a 9th grader in a Junior High to being a freshman in a high school over a weekend. It was a bit rough going from the top of the hill to the bottom just over a weekend but Van immersed himself in the gym and started to train for making the high school football team and creating a whole new circle of friends.

During his high school years, Van was Captain of the football team, 2nd team all-conference as an offensive lineman, the lead in Drama, President of the Student Bodyr, Most Inspirational on the soccer team that only won one game the whole year, Honor Student, lettered in wrestling after never doing it until his senior year and was the voice of the high school basketball games doing all the comentary live from courtside. Needless to say, Van has never been afraid of public speaking or being out in front of others no matter what the reason.

Van went onto college on a football scholarship but didn't stay very long after the season was over. Van decided to join the Army.

While in the Army, Van got married, had two wonderful children (currently 15 and 17 and living with their mother) and traveled all over the United States and parts of the world. Van spent 4 years in Korea and had stateside assignments in Washington, North Carolina, Kansas, and some other states for schooling. Van did both sides by starting off as an enlisted man and making the rank of Sergeant First Class (E-7) in less than 10 years as a Military Policeman and Army Recruiter, and then going to Officer Candidate School to become an officer and commissioned as an Engineering Officer.

The Army was a great fit for Van and he continued to excel and set himself apart. He made rank fast as an enlisted man and was actually a platoon sergeant in Korea at the very young age or 23. Most everyone under his charge were all older than him. The Army sent him to many schools where Van would earn the top or top two students and often the leadership awards if there was one offered. Van was a Master Parachutist, Pathfinder, Air Assault and Army Ring Recruiter.

FYI on the Ring. The Army selects people to be recuiters from the top 10% of each area. Van was selected while being a Military Policeman in Korea. Of the top 10%, only about 10% of them earn the coveted Ring. From that 10%, the average time to earn this ring is 5-8 years for soldiers who convert to recruiting full time. Van didn't convert to full time recruiter and still earned the Ring in just under 3 years. That was a record for that time. Van was often the top female and high school senior recruiter for the whole state of Washington and sometimes for the entire West Coast. While recruiting, Van was able to manage his time and energy so well, he was also coaching the high school football varsity and junior varsity linemen, played semi-pro football and started for the Northwest Football Champions Seattle Express who went undefeated at 17-0 and giving Van another ring. This was all at the same time. He'd do his recruiting around coaching high school after school was out, then leaving the high school practice to go to his own practice. High school played on Friday night and he played on Saturday night. Time management for Van has never been a problem.

After nearly 15 years in the Army, Van decided to leave and work for himself as a full time network marketer. Since 1997, Van has been in more programs than he'd like to admit. He's learned something good and bad from all of them. Most of the programs he was in are no longer here or they have changed so much, they aren't what they were in the beginning.

In many of the programs Van was in, he was the leader of his team and even the corporate trainer. He was often the top recruiter for the company just like he was the top in the Army. He's also been the top earner in a few. Van has had months where he'd make more money in a month than he did in 2-3 years in the Army, it's no wonder he left something he loved as much as the Army. He's been featured in many networking magazines on the inside with articles or even on the back cover of a few. (Please see below.)

Coach Van

Coach Van has gone into helping anyone, from anywhere in any program. He just wants to help no matter what you're promoting or selling. He's doing all he can to automate the online building process to attract those with less time and/or abilities. His subscribers get FREE coaching and assistance with network marketing, financial education and even what Van has started to call NOTwork marketing.

"Get whatever you want out of life, by simply helping enough others
get what they want."

- Zig Ziglar

In 2008 Coach Van now has his own online radio podcast show. Learn all you can by simply getting onto Van's "Inner Circle" mailing list available at CoachVan.com. This list is ABSOLUTELY FREE and is fun, lucrative and your input is both welcome and encouraged.

One of Coach Van's favorite quotes or saying is, "If you want something you've never had, then be prepared to do something you've never done." Align yourself with Coach Van and go after everything you want by doing something you haven't done before. Follow someone who's made the mistakes already and wants to share his vast knowledge with you so you can shorten your time to the level of success you desire and more importantly, the level of success you DESERVE!

This is the photograph featured in all the magazines listed below in 2006 & 2007.

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