There’s no doubt that your coaching skills are the key element to building a world-class reputation and a successful online coaching business, but there’s something you need to keep in mind…
You could be the most effective coach in the world, but if your business is disorganized, if your invoices are in disarray, and you can’t find the notes from your last client call in the mountain of papers on your desk…
You could end up running your business into the ground.
The good news is there are a TON of foundational tools and systems you can use to run your business smoothly and efficiently.
The even better news? Most of these tools are:
Free or incredibly affordable
Easily available
User-friendly
This means you don’t have to invest a large amount of your hard-earned income to get your hands on the right tools, and you definitely don’t have to be a tech whiz to work with them.
So, let’s look at some of the critical foundational online coaching tools that will save you time, money, and energy so you can focus on doing what you love to do the most –coach!
For Email Lists: Mailchimp
You need an email list of subscribers, and you need a tool to collect, organize and connect with the people who want to hear from you. Mailchimp is one of the most reliable email service providers out there. It’s absolutely free for up to 2000 email subscribers, and there are also robust paid versions. This platform does more than just collect email addresses that help you connect with your subscribers. It also provides all the data you need to analyze what’s working and what’s not in each of your emails.
For instance, you can easily access important information like how many people are opening your emails, how many are reading them, how many are actually clicking on the links, and so on. This is valuable insight to focus on what your audience resonates with most so you can double down your marketing efforts on what works best – fast and effectively!
For Communication: Voxer
Voxer is basically a real-time communication app with a push-to-talk button. In other words, it’s like a fun digital walkie-talkie. Lots of coaches count Voxer as their #1 tool for on-the-go coaching. This app is highly versatile and comes with a long list of features, including large group chats for up to 500 people, text, photos, and video sharing, live and recorded voice messages, and a whole lot more. There’s a free version and paid versions that offer message recalling options, premium Customer Support, and Dropbox integration.
For File-Sharing: Dropbox
Speaking of Dropbox… this is an amazing tool that offers massive sharing, file transfer, and storage capabilities (storage space starts at 5 Terabytes!) This tool also lets you give file download options to anyone, anywhere in the world, and it’s a secure, reliable way to share a PDF, workbook, e-book, audio, or video file with one-on-one coaching clients or students in your group coaching courses and online programs. There are 3 different paid versions to choose from, depending on your needs.
For Notes: Evernote
This is an incredibly useful online “notebook” where you can store notes, and ideas and even record audio messages. You can sync your notes across devices, which means you can access Evernote on your tablet, phone, or laptop. It also comes with a built-in “web clipper” that lets you pull articles and other web-based content from the internet for reference. There’s a free version that allows limited storage space and paid versions with a lot more storage plus other extras like the ability to collaborate with team members inside Evernote.
For Payments: PayPal.Me
You might have heard of PayPal as a safe online payment service, but have you heard of PayPal.Me? This is essentially PayPal “light,” where you just need to create a free PayPal account and then create a custom link that also works as a direct payment link. Then all you have to do is insert the amount your client needs to pay and send them the link… it works like magic!
For Scheduling Sessions: Calendly
Calendly is a life-saver for most coaches. It’s a powerful 24-hour scheduling tool that allows clients to book their coaching calls with you. No more chasing clients, check-ins, and confusion around time zones! All you need to do is mark the coaching slots you’d like to have available each day on Calendly — for instance; you might be available anytime between 9 am to 2 pm. You can also customize your Calendly to only be available on Tuesdays and Fridays, or you could opt for not having more than 3 bookings per day. You can do all this and more!
Once you create your ideal calendar, you can share your Calendly link on your website or send it directly to your clients or any potential client, so they can book their call based on a suitable time that’s available (times are shown based on location, so there’s no danger of a mix-up!). There’s a great free version you can try and also paid versions if you would like extras like integration with your chosen meeting platform (for example, Zoom)
For Delivering Sessions: Zoom
Talking about Zoom, this platform is a meeting, and video webinar platform, conference room, chat, and phone system rolled into the. It’s a great tool for “face-to-face” coaching calls with clients, and it can also support group chats. This extraordinarily versatile platform even gives you a recording option which means you can record your coaching calls and send them along to your clients just in case they want to go over something that you shared in the call.
The best part? You can get a lot of these features absolutely free, or you can choose paid versions that offer even more features, such as a custom meeting ID and branded email meeting invites. There’s no time limit if you’re on a one-on-one call using the free platform, but if you’re planning to have workshops or group coaching calls, we suggest trying the paid version – it won’t restrict you to a time limit, and it has great tools for virtual engagement!
For Task Management: Asana
This is a user-friendly project management tool that lets you share and manage all of your projects with team members. Individual and team tasks and timelines are clearly categorized and quick to track within each project. Asana also has a chat function that lets you connect and collaborate with others in real time. This tool is also perfect if it’s just for you and you want a reliable and easy-to-use space to organize all your projects. There are free and paid versions available.