8 Coaches Share Their Favorite Tools For Success

Finding the best software to support your coaching business can take a lot of trial and error. These days, there seems to be an app, program, or website for everything. Though this is totally to our advantage, finding what truly works specifically for a coach can be overwhelming.

Here at Lovely Impact, we love trying out all the latest coaching tools & software so that you don’t have to. Today, we decided we’d talk to real coaches and get their insight on their favorite tools that have been driving their coaching businesses.

We asked 8 successful coaches that coach full time a powerful question: “what is one software that you simply can’t live without in your coaching business?”

Keep reading to see what they had to say!

8 Online Tools That Coaches Can’t Live Without

Here are our top picks for the best software that today’s coaches love to work with.

1. Thinkific for sharing digital coaching offers.

“As a mindset coach, I rely on Thinkific to deliver my coaching to a global online audience. Thinkfic houses all my digital workshops. It has a really easy-to-use platform to upload my digital video lessons as well as create quizzes, surveys, and workbooks to give a full experience to my clients who choose to work with me digitally instead of live online.

Additionally, it has a user-friendly technology to create landing pages for each of my digital workshops. It accepts payments, creates coupons, manages my affiliates (my top followers who get a cut for every paying client they bring in)

The digital workshop platform has really allowed me to grow my coaching business because it allows my clients to take workshops at their own pace, at a time that works for them, and at a lower price point than my live offerings. And as a coach it allows me to earn ongoing residual income.”

– Parizad Srivastava, Abundance Manifestation Coach

2. Calendly for scheduling coaching sessions.

“I can’t live without Calendly. The system is so easy to use, and it’s indispensable for my business! Calendly empowers my clients to find a time for our coaching sessions that work well for both of us, adjusting seamlessly for time zones, and then takes the guesswork out by integrating automagically with Zoom. All the scheduling is done asynchronously so we don’t waste precious coaching time on it.

Reminders? Calendly has them. I send every client a reminder 24 hours in advance and 15 minutes in advance of our sessions. Rescheduling? No problem – clients can do that in one click.

For prospective clients, I use Calendly for Intro Calls, and I’m able to quickly get a sense of what’s on their minds with the short intake questions.

What I love most of all is that Calendly takes into account my boundaries. I give myself a lunch break every day, and I set my working hours to expand and contract based on what I’m prioritizing in my work.

To top it off, I recently read about Calendly CEO Tope Awotona’s story about the founding and growing his company (with his life savings!) and found it very inspiring.”

– Jessica Wan, Jessica Wan Coaching

3. Loom for sharing coaching videos & feedback.

“In the early days of my coaching practice, I struggled with managing large-size client files from video practice sessions. I tried many file management platforms. Some had restrictions on their file size or I outgrew the platform’s allotted bandwidth. Then I found Loom, which solved my client management problem.

Loom not only records public speaking practice sessions (bonus!). Loom also hosts the files which mean no downloading. My clients love Loom. It’s user-friendly.

Once my client is happy with their practice recording, the platform has a function to ping me, which alerts me to provide feedback. I can provide feedback right on the Loom platform.

Loom saves me time from having to wrangle with large video files. The software has another advantage. It provides an opportunity for my clients to practice in a similar setting where they would deliver their presentations and a streamlined way for me to provide feedback.”

– Janice Tomich, Calculated Presentations 

4. Paperbell for managing coaching clients.

“With the steady increase of my online client base, I use several software that helps me manage various aspects of my business like managing social media accounts, measuring key metrics, and automating different business functions. If I have to choose one essential software for my coaching business, it would be Paperbell. 

It helps me manage contracts, payments, scheduling, and admin through a single platform. The software offers work efficiency with automated emails, central storing of client notes, and the ability to organize group life coaching sessions. 

I can focus on the actual task of coaching while the software helps me organize, schedule, and carry out coaching business functions smoothly. Also, the intake surveys by the software serve as an introductory note before a client meeting. The bottom line is that it helps me save money and time while enhancing efficiency.”

– Rakhi Oswal, Edrio

5. Slack for communicating with a coaching team.

“My favorite app is Slack. It does not seem like much but it helps keep communication in one place and in real-time. Emails get lost here and there but with Slack, the instant notification is hard to ignore hence prompt feedback.

With Slack, I can coordinate every team I work with within one place. Both internal and external. I handle accounts, billing, agencies, clients, and other needs from the same platform. The tabs are easy to navigate and you cannot easily miss communication. Try Slack to keep things

in order and communication easy.”

– Melissa Bauknight, The Ripple Connection

6. Trello for organizing coaching ideas & projects.

“As a business coach with several clients on the go at any one time, it’s imperative that I’m organized, with access to exactly what I need – quickly.

I’m a very visual person, so you can imagine that my desk and walls are often covered with post-it notes, particularly when I’m launching. I also find that I use things more when they look great!

Trello covers all these bases, with the added bonus that my team has access to everything.

I’m able to customise my Trello boards so that they are aesthetically pleasing and inviting to work on. I love the simplicity of how Trello is structured yet complex enough to be able to run projects through it within a team if you need to.

My entire business is built on Trello – from my research to launch strategy and client records too.”

– Diane Lindemann, Girl Boss Hustle

7. Active Campaign for email marketing.

“I recently migrated to Active Campaign for both my client management system and my email campaign system. I love this system because it does allow me to nurture my potential clients throughout the entire lead lifecycle. The system also allows me to add tags to each lead to be able to market and cater to them based on their specific needs.

The best feature about Active Campaign is that it’s really allowed me to automate my business. It integrates with scheduling and payment systems so that all my teams are automatically moved into one place to track.

Another reason I love this system is because it’s wonderful for growing a team. I previously used 17Hats, which worked very well for me as a solopreneur, but was very manual once I got a team under me.”

– Kaley Medina, Live Love Sleep

8. WaveApps for bookkeeping & receiving payments.

“The app I can’t live without may not be the sexiest but it’s easy, FREE, and necessary to running my business: the bookkeeping software WaveApps. It helps me track and understand my income and expenses. It allows me to keep my finances nice and neat so I don’t panic at tax time. In fact, my CPA complimented me on my exceptionally organized records!

Additionally, it provides everything my biz needs for invoicing and online payments with transaction fees similar to other major payment services. I use it to collect payments from 1:1 clients up-front and recurring monthly, as well to create specialized invoices for corporate clients and groups.”

– Vanessa Hagerbaumer, V & CO Coaching

Final Thoughts

Thank you to our wonderful coaches for sharing their favorite tools for success. We appreciate your insights and tips!

Now that you’ve heard from real coaches, you can choose any of the tools they recommended above and try them yourself. 

As you saw in the post, software that benefits coaches is a must-have on your coaching tool belt. Finding the right ones can help you automate your processes and get your coaching business running smoothly & efficiently. 

When there isn’t a recommendation for a proven coaching app to utilize, it can feel like you’re throwing spaghetti against the wall by trying everything! We hope that these suggestions helped inspire you.

But, before you get started, please make sure you leave a quick comment and let me know – do you have a favorite coaching software that you can’t live without in your business? If so, please share with us below!