Top 5 Resources for Your Coaching Business
Coaches often ask us about online business tools and resources that are also budget friendly, so we thought it would be helpful to do a podcast episode about it in case you are looking for some recommendations too. Today, we are sharing 5 of our top online resources for your coaching business.
We have free and budget-friendly recommendations in the following categories:
- Hosting and Running your Coaching Programs
- Email marketing software
- Recipes and Meal Plans
- Online scheduling
- Graphics, PDF’s and slide decks
Tune in (or read the full post below) to find out about some of the most popular tools other health coaches are using.
Sometimes having too many options can stop us in our tracks because we feel overwhelmed and even a little afraid of making the “wrong” choice. The truth is that you won’t know until you test it out to see if it’s right for you. If you’re feeling stuck about making the perfect choice, just know that making a decision to just choose one and get started is the best way to go, so you can start making progress.
Let’s start with recommendation #1
1. Hosting and Running your Coaching Programs: Practice Better – We love this platform because it gives you everything you need to run your coaching practice whether you work with clients 1-on-1, online or both. You can host and run your coaching programs, schedule client sessions, collect and process payment and so much more. I did a poll recently in my customer support Facebook group to see which platform coaches were using to run the programs they purchased from me, and most of them said Practice Better.
We know one of the biggest hurdles to getting started with your business and all of the tech, so we like that Practice Better gives you everything you need to run your programs. You will still want to have your own website and email marketing software which we will talk about in just a minute, but Practice Better has everything else all in one neat little package and it’s very affordable, especially when you compare it to something like Kajabi. We like and use Kajabi but it’s a little more cost prohibitive for a lot of coaches who are just starting out. You can sign up for a free account with Practice Better and that is good for your first three 1-on-1 clients. Paid plans start at just $25 which is very budget friendly compared to a lot of other options out there.
2. Email marketing software: MailerLite – Since we just mentioned email, let’s talk about the software we recommend the most. MailerLite is a favorite of ours for a few reasons. #1 their free version is good for up to 1,000 subscribers and it will take you a while to reach that. #2 – they have great landing page and sales page templates which means you can put together a very polished and professional-looking page pretty quickly because you don’t have to try and format it on your own. This is awesome because most of us don’t have web page design skills or we aren’t sure what to include on the page to make it convert well. #3 – their free version includes automation which some email software does not. That means when you have a new subscriber join your email list, they can get a series of follow-up emails that are sent automatically. This is an important feature and it’s included in the free version, so what’s not to love.
3. Recipes and Meal Plans: Meal Garden – When you want to provide meal plans or recipes for your clients, Meal Garden makes it really easy. You can put together a collection of recipes to add value to your coaching programs and you can even use them for creating PDF guides to grow your email list. Whether you are working with clients 1-on-1 or you have an online group program, people appreciate new recipes, and this is the easiest way to do it and brand it as your very own. If you are trying to figure out what type of bonus to add to one of your programs, this can be a great way to go. If you live in a state that does not allow you to provide individualized meal plans, you can still provide recipes. Meal Garden has a free 7-day trial, and the paid plan starts at only $30 per month.
4. Online scheduling: Calendly – To make it quick and easy for clients and prospects to schedule their discovery calls, consultations or sessions having an online scheduler is important. You can include a button on your website that links to your online scheduler, and you can also send the link to prospects and clients, so they book at their convenience. The paid version starts at $8 per month and that includes email reminders, which is important to reduce no-shows. The free version does not include reminders, but you can start there if you want to play around and test it out before committing to the paid version.
5. Graphics, PDF’s, slide decks: Canva – You’ve probably heard of Canva. It’s great for creating graphics, slide deck presentations, PDF’s and more. If you don’t have a VA on your team yet who creates graphics for your social media, definitely check it out. The free version may be all you need for quite a while, but the paid plan is only $12.99 a month if and when you need to graduate to that. You have more image and stock photo options with the paid plan, but the free plan gives you plenty for starters.
If you have any recommendations that you love, let us know!
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