Technology can make just about any aspect of a coaching business easier, you just have to use the right technology! After all, if you judge a fish on its ability to climb a tree… I forget the rest of the saying. But, picking the right time saving business tools to use in your coaching business is one of the most important things you can do today to save time, money, and effort.
There’s an array of different things you need to accomplish in a successful coaching business and finding the right tools for the right job is a daunting task. Between the limitless options available and every software touting itself as the be-all-end-all solution to all of your self-employed woes there’s little room to get the real scoop on what platforms you should be using and why.
So, today I want to talk about 5 time saving business tools I use to organize my coaching business, automate repetitive tasks, collaborate, and develop my brand.
One of the most important functions you need to perform as a business owner is branding your image and putting yourself out there. Social media, your website, blogs, podcasts… Pretty much anything you put out as a coach will require designing and developing something pretty and sleek to catch your audience’s attention. Canva is a platform that makes designing eye catching graphics as easy as clicking a few buttons. It’s preloaded with stock images, shapes, effects, fonts, and templates to quickly and easily build graphics that will captivate your leads. Additionally, you can create graphics for all of the different social media platforms you use and canva will give you recommended sizes and resolutions to get the most out of your posts.
Canva is free to use, however the library of free images, templates, and shapes is limited. If you’re looking to create more unique graphics and want a broader selection then upgrading to Canva Pro will run you $119.99 per year for a single user. If you do a lot of social media then this tool is a must for you!
Tailwind is similar to Canva in theory, but it’s a bit more specialized. In tailwind you can work specifically with Pinterest, Instagram, and Facebook to easily create and post content. When I say “easily” I mean EASILY! Here’s the rundown… When you click create on Tailwind, you upload/search for 5 stock images and Tailwind will automatically generate a limitless option of different content for you to select, edit, fill in, and post. For example, say you want to post a pin to your pinterest boards for a new blog you just wrote. Go into tailwind and upload an image and you will be given all sorts of different designs to choose from. You don’t have to do ANY of the design work! Scroll until you find content that catches your eye, select it and fill out the post details, and BOOM! It’s scheduled to post and will even repost it for you! This tool makes managing your posts on Pinterest, Instagram, and Facebook the easiest part of your day.
Tailwind offers a free-forever subscription but it definitely limits your posts. The entry level subscription is $9.99/month billed annually for $119.88. The entry level gives you the ability to connect to one set of social media accounts, 100 posts/month, and 1 user. I personally think that the advanced subscription is the best option giving you 2 sets of social media accounts, 1,000 posts/month, and 2 user accounts. The advanced subscription will run you $19.99/month billed annually for $239.88
3) FloDesk
Email marketing is one of the most important parts of any coaching funnel (haven’t heard that term before? Check out this blog!). However you get people on to your email list, it’s critical to get them the right emails at the right time. Quick responses, customizable messages, and captivating designs will keep your subscribers engaged and reading your emails. Flodesk is quickly becoming an all-in-one platform for designing and scheduling email campaigns, taking payments, and delivering content to your email subscribers.
If you’re interested in using flodesk to automate your emails and checkouts then it’ll run you $64/month or billed annually with one free month for $649. If you’re only interested in emails OR checkouts, you can pay for them individually and they are $38/month or billed annually for $385.
4) G Suite
We have all used Microsoft Office Suite at some point or other. It’s pretty ubiquitous as far as document editing software goes. Google built upon this idea while providing a cloud based space to work in. This provides limitless opportunities for collaboration on documents, slide shows, spreadsheets, anything Google offers. Utilizing Google Drive for your business documents and files allows you to have access to anything you need wherever you are as long as you have internet access. Sheets, Docs, and Slides all allow you to create, read, and edit most types of documents in a cloud space with tools for collaborating.The best part? This is TOTALLY free! You can build just about any form, document, or presentation you can imagine in this software and use it free of charge.
5) Miro
Finally, planning out your business and mapping your strategy has never been easier than now with Miro. Miro is a platform for developing charts using shapes, labels, and text. It specializes in flow charts, mind maps (Learn more about mind maps here!), organizational structures, and visualization of systems. When I’m planning out anything for my business I do mind maps and structure charts in Miro.
Miro has a paid subscription but… here’s an inside hint. When you create a board in miro it doesn’t have a maximum size. With a free account on Miro you get to create 2 separate boards. If you don’t want to pay you can just as easily use one board and keep scrolling forever. If that sort of organization doesn’t work for you then $20/month or billed annually for $192.
Learn more about time saving business tools
If you’re interested in talking with me about these time saving business tools or my recommendations for any platform you could need, book a free call with me today! You can also message me on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, or at my email Coaching@JenesisRose.com.
