Tools aren’t merely things construction workers wear on their belts. They’re also the resources that build successful businesses, including health coaching practices. Health coaching tools help optimize your coaching process and streamline the administrative tasks that can bog you down. Read on to discover how coaching tools can help you.
Why Use Tools for Your Health Coaching Business?
Like doctors have scalpels, architects have blueprints, and carpenters have circular saws, health coaches have their own specialized tools. If you’re lost in a wasteland of clunky spreadsheets, old-school appointment books, and reams of sticky notes, it’s time for a change.
Health coaching tools help streamline the administrative tasks that siphon time from your coaching. They also prevent disorganization that can undermine your business and even drive away clients.
These tools help you stay relevant in a field that’s increasingly become more techie. You can find lots of useful software-based tools in the health coach tool shed, some of which include:
- Scheduling
- Note-taking
- File sharing
- Video conferencing
- Social media automation
- Metrics tracking
Besides software programs, you can also find items that boost productivity and even fortify your health, including:
- Chairs
- Desks
- Computer monitors
- Headsets
- Microphones
Put simply, the number of coaching-related tools available are limitless. So how do you choose? Here’s a collection of our top tools to serve your health coaching business…
Top 20 Tools for Your Health Coaching Business
1. Coaches Console
Coaches Console, as its name suggests, is software created specifically for professional coaches to help organize tasks. It consolidates scheduling, marketing, client management, forms, and billing into one application.
The software is perfect for newbies because it lays everything out logically and can be accessed in one easy-to-use client portal. Coaches Console eliminates the hassle associated with trying to run a business with multiple software programs.
Coaches Console has exceptional training, including webinars, documentation, and live online instruction to keep you up to speed. They also have a super responsive, helpful support team that guides you through any issue, large or small.
You can set up a private client website in minutes with customizable forms, autoresponders, and tweakable newsletter articles. The software even allows you to establish your own unique brand, complete with colors, images, content, and logo.
The company’s co-founder, herself, Kate Steinbacher, even hosts free, bi-monthly webinars on marketing and coaching skills.
Visit Coaches Console here, read our detailed Coaches Console review here or check out other cloud-based task/managerial software programs for health coaches here.
2. Bookly Pro
One of the biggest challenges health coaches face is keeping track of appointments so they don’t accidentally get overlooked or overbooked. Bookly Pro is a plugin dedicated solely to booking appointments, which helps resolves these issues.
Bookly Pro is like a personal assistant in that it automates the booking process. Clients check out your availabilities and directly schedule their own appointments online. Conveniently, the client’s calendar can be easily integrated with payment collection.
The program is outfitted with a customizable online form that’s compatible with any device. It features an importable and exportable customer base with unlimited clients and provides payment stats. Bookly Pro also has built-in analytics and booking statistics.
Bookly Pro is highly customizable and flexible, and you can painlessly set it up even if you don’t know a line of coding. Bookly is compatible with the WordPress Multilingual Plugin (WPML), which supports 12 languages and may help extend your reach globally.
3. GetResponse
Building an email list is one of the best ways for a health coach to develop a client base and an email autoresponder such as GetResponse streamlines the process considerably.
Essentially, GetResponse is a tool designed to help you capture and convert leads via emails. The software helps you analyze the success of your emails via sophisticated automation for lead scoring, web event tracking, and abandoned cart campaigns. This way, you can tweak your emails to get the response you want.
GetResponse is jam-packed with more than 500 email templates, which are easy to customize with its drag-and-drop editor. Emails have a deliverability rate of 99.5%, meaning that emails sent are pretty much guaranteed to reach your readers’ inboxes.
Besides great features, GetResponse is also more cost-effective than competitors like AWeber.
4. Zoom
Zoom is a webinar and video conferencing tool that can expand the reach of your health coaching practice via webinar hosting, virtual meetings, video demonstrations, and online training.
Zoom is the perfect software for you to conduct one-on-one meetings with your coaching clients, which is crucial as an online business owner. You can host an unlimited amount of meetings, and you’re allotted 40 minutes of screen time per session. Zoom’s software can be accessed from mobile and desktop apps.
Video conferencing can be frustrating if the audio and video are bad, but Zoom has superior HD video and sharp sound quality. Speech doesn’t sound fuzzy or muffled.
To personalize your clients’ Zoom experience, you can share your screen with them while they share theirs with you. You can conveniently record meetings as MP4 or M4A files, enabling you to easily store and retrieve them from your computer. Zoom also includes automatic mute features when extra discretion is necessary.
5. GSuite
GSuite is a collection of Google web apps designed for file sharing, scheduling, and web conferencing. It’s a one-stop-shop for working with Gmail, Calendar, and Google Hangouts (for communication), Drive (for storage) and Docs, Sites, Sheets, Forms, and Slides (for collaboration).
Having productivity tools in one place can be a game-changer for your coaching business. It helps you smoothly switch back and forth between various functions, instead of wasting time jumping from app to app in separate locations. Meetings and Chat are housed in Gmail, so you can see them directly in your email without having to access several different apps.
One of GSuite’s main strengths is its effortless collaboration. You can share documents with anyone, even on the web. Several people can work on a doc at the same time, and files can be simply shared. For your peace of mind, document edits autosave in real-time, and you can easily access previous versions.
6. Airtable
Airtable is a combination spreadsheet/database that’s powerful enough to organize almost anything. It has all the features of a database, applied to fields similar to an Excel spreadsheet.
The tool allows you to add records, set up column types, collaborate, link tables, sort records, and more. If you run your health coaching business with data stuffed in a bunch of binders, Airtable may be a viable alternative.
You can manage just about anything in Airtable’s spreadsheet-like tables, but it’s far more powerful than typical spreadsheets. For one thing, you can upload attachments to each row and group by specific fields.
Even better, Airtable offers several ways to view data such as grid, form, gallery, calendar, Gantt, and Kanban. You can easily customize the view according to the data you’d like to see.
Among many other functions, you can also use Airtable for surveys. These can be as uncomplicated as a fun quiz or as in-depth as a market research survey.
7. TypeForm
Let’s face it. Online forms are a big y-a-w-n. TypeForm, an intuitive, lead-generation tool, changes all that. It can capture all sorts of information, including surveys, questionnaires, forms, quizzes, polls, and multiple-choice questions. Moreover, you can spruce them up with GIFs, video, and audio.
We love TypeForm’s many options for asking questions. When participants enter their answers into TypeForm, it’s fast and enjoyable, rather than something to merely endure.
Once you’ve collected answers, you can then download the data as an Excel spreadsheet. You also have the option of sending the information to MailChimp to build your list, SalesForce to individualize your customer experience or Google Sheets for review.
The goodies don’t stop there. TypeForm also includes feedback collection, live results tracking, predictive modeling, rules-based workflow, text editing, conditional branching, and logic jumps (refer to the sources at the end of this article for explanations of these terms).
As a health coach, your business will likely benefit from TypeForm since lead generation is key to drawing new clients.
8. Basecamp
Basecamp is a collaborating/organizational tool that centralizes conversations, to-do lists, files, message boards, and schedules so they’re readily accessible. It will help you create projects, measure progress, and manage tasks that would otherwise overburden your coaching business if they weren’t consolidated.
Projects pare down to three levels: To-Do (things that must be done), Message Thread (ongoing dialog/questions) and “Campfire” Thread (general thoughts/conversation). A message’s urgency is immediately ranked (“Is this a general question?” “Is it critical?”) so that alarm bells don’t sound with every communication.
Basecamp allows everyone to follow the conversation. It’s a logical alternative to email’s unreliable cc’ing and forwarding. Each time you take an action, Basecamp will notify the appropriate parties so that nothing falls through the cracks.
Also, Basecamp has many text editing options, including bolding, coloring, and bullet points to add clarity to the information presented.
9. Dropbox
Dropbox is an easy-to-use file-sharing program that blazed the trail for cloud storage. Simple and dependable, Dropbox allows you to share files and send file requests, even if the recipient doesn’t have a Dropbox account.
The immediacy and accuracy of Dropbox outshines email as a reliable means of sharing your health coaching files via the program’s ShareLink tool. Also, there’s no need to download files shared with you. Instead, you can use Dropbox’s slick Add to My Dropbox tool whereby files of any size can be shifted to your account with one simple click.
Mercifully, Dropbox can recover deleted files and keeps a version history. You can view or retrieve various versions of your file for the last 120 days. Dropbox also tallies all actions performed on specific files.
10. HelloSign
My condolences to overnight delivery services, there’s a new kid in town. It’s HelloSign, a cloud-based solution for digital signatures.
Rather than sending physical copies of documents for signature, HelloSign helps you create one digital document that can be signed electronically. All it involves is inserting fields that need to be completed and sending it out. You can request up to 20 signatures, in any order.
When the document has been executed, all signees will automatically receive a copy in their inboxes. Conveniently, you can sign documents from your phone to move the process along.
You’ll be notified when someone signs your document, so you don’t have to waste time with follow-up. This automation is a godsend for busy health coaches who don’t have time to babysit a document through the signature process. The whole procedure can take minutes, rather than the days or weeks that hard copies can take.
HelloSign is legally binding, compliant with ESIGN, UETA, and eIDAS e-signature laws.
11. PicMonkey
PicMonkey is an exceptional image editor that rivals the pricier Photoshop. It can add a touch of professionalism to your business’s social media, blog, logo, and banner images. More than anything else, visuals can make or break visitors’ interest, so it pays to have slick images on all your coaching-related platforms.
PicMonkey’s software is online-based, thus saving you computer space. It’s packed with more than 3,000 graphics, 100 textures, 2,400 template designs, 70 preset canvases, and 200 fonts (you can also add your own fonts).
The software also includes many backgrounds, blank collage layouts, and collage templates, as well as many advanced photo effects such as masking, mirroring, and double exposure. Another noteworthy feature is that you don’t have to commit yourself to a design. You can simply save images in progress and return to them later.
PicMonkey’s user interface is simple enough to easily master its powerful features in no time at all.
12. Canva
Canva is a browser-based drag-and-drop graphic design tool that allows you to create beautiful images with minimal effort and zero design experience.
Canva has a robust selection of designs that are particularly useful for health coaches, including logos, ebook covers, social media graphics, recipe cards, lesson plans, and reports. In fact, the program includes a whopping 65-thousand editable design templates, which you can customize any way you’d like.
Moreover, each layout is optimized for the ideal dimensions, so you can be assured they’ll display correctly in social media channels like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.
Coaches can also benefit from Canva’s sizable library of stock photos, including yoga, massage, and gym. These can be manipulated with the image cropper, image transparency, photo enhancer, and other features you’d normally only find in advanced design software.
13. Buzzsumo
Buzzsumo is a research and monitoring tool that helps you strategically create articles based on internet statistics. This way, you can write content that accurately influences traffic, links, and shares.
The program works by analyzing and charting your competitor’s average social media shares, shares by network (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Pinterest), content format, content length, and shared domains. With this information, you’re able to identify the most popular and least popular content and platforms so you can adjust your content strategy accordingly.
For health coaches, Buzzsumo is a useful tool to come up with great topic ideas for articles and determine which social media platforms work best for your niche. It’s also a great secret weapon for tracking your competitors’ social media strategies.
14. Buffer
Buffer is an intuitive, user-friendly social media management tool that automates unlimited posts and social media tasks. It operates on the same principle as an email autoresponder (see GetResponse above). If you have a startup health coaching business, you don’t have to interrupt your workflow to share a post.
With one simple click, you can arrange all your posts in a queue and manage or rearrange the sequence of your scheduled posts. Buffer gives you the freedom to schedule your posts as far into the future as you’d like, and you can run them on multiple social media profiles.
Buffer has an impressive feature called, appropriately enough, Buffer. If you find something you’d like to share, you simply click the Buffer icon and include the item in your queue. It’s great for quickly posting material that catches your eye.
Buffer’s analytics give you insight into who your followers are, who they follow, and what they enjoy sharing.
15. Todoist
Todoist is an amazing task manager that helps you organize and prioritize tasks. Todoist is superior to typical to-do lists because of its ability to filter, categorize, and group. You can use it for everything from shopping lists to corporate projects.
Todoist has curated templates, such as Meeting Agenda, which includes specific Meeting Date and Time, Review of Action Items from Previous Meeting, and Next Steps for Current Project. You can capture and organize tasks, remember deadlines, and build habits.
Todoist also helps you schedule daily, weekly, monthly, and even yearly activities to identify what needs to be done immediately and what can be chunked out over time. It permits a maximum of 80 active projects. Todoist can be an asset to any health coach seeking a state-of-the-art substitute for unreliable handwritten to-do’s.
Todoist is compatible with Chrome, Firefox, Safari, mobile devices, smart watches, Outlook, Gmail, and hundreds of applications, including Google Drive, and Dropbox.
16. Evernote
Evernote is a clever software program for consolidating your notes, reminders, lists, and ideas. It’s also a great repository for links, photos, articles, and voice memos.
The program has everything in one place, allowing you to easily tap into what you need for your health coaching business. For example, notes for an out-of-town conference can include text, car rental documents, and pictures of the destination.
Evernote is handy if you don’t have anything to write on since it lets you take notes on your computer or smartphone. This surpasses pen-and-paper notes because there’s no risk losing them, spilling coffee on them or… having the dog eat them.
Evernote also has a terrific feature called a Web Clipper that allows you to capture web pages, headings, summaries or links directly into the program (think of it as a pocket-sized scanner).
17. Jarvis Bamboo Standing Desk
You’ve probably heard the expression, “Sitting is the new smoking.” The Jarvis bamboo standing desk helps you work in a more health-conscious way by allowing you to alternate between sitting and standing. Not only will this positively affect your health, but it will show clients you walk your talk.
The desk smoothly adjusts from 23.25 inches to an ample 49.24 inches. Tall people can use it without hunching over. The frame has a hefty 350-pound lifting capacity and travels from sit to stand in 1.3 inches per second.
To say this desk is sturdy would be a huge understatement. Weighing in at 92 pounds, it’s made of gorgeous, high-quality bamboo that doesn’t bow, and has discreetly placed hardware. The frame is constructed with heavy steel feet, rather than aluminum, and the lifting section is wider at the bottom to keep it stable.
Check out the Jarvis Bamboo Standing Desk.
18. Jabra Evolve 40 Headphones
A good pair of headphones is a necessity if you’re often on the phone coaching clients. It’s a great convenience that frees your hands so you can do other things while chatting.
Made for extended use, the Jabra Evolve 40 on-the-ear style headphones are a good choice for functionality as well as comfort. They’re designed to block out distracting sounds with passive noise cancellation and also include a red busy light for privacy. Mute, volume, and answer/end buttons are conveniently part of the device too.
The leather-soft headphones are light and don’t weigh your head down. The microphone has a boom arm that swings to the left or the right – whichever is more comfortable. Audio at both ends of the call are equally clear, thanks to the Evolve 40’s directional microphone that filters ambient noise and only picks up what you’re saying.
Check out the Jabra Evolve 40 Headphones.
19. Logitech HD Pro Webcam C920S
A webcam is a small two-way camera that attaches to a desktop computer, laptop or tripod for live video chats between users. It’s a great device to help you interact with coaching clients on a more personal level.
The Logitech HD Pro Webcam C920 is a very well-thought-out camera. It seats itself snugly onto your monitor and also has a tripod screw mount. It includes built-in stereo mics that capture natural stereo audio, complete with noise reduction.
The video has superb clarity and retains its detail even at full HD 1080p. The C920 features well-designed automatic low-light correction, ensuring video is clear even in murky lighting. It zooms in tightly, and you can also set manual zoom and face detection. The white balance can be easily tweaked so you don’t look orange or blue (unless, of course, that’s your thing).
Check out the Logitech HD Pro Webcam C920S.
20. iPad Pro & Apple Pencil
iPad Pro
The iPad Pro is a multitasking dynamo. You can incorporate it into your coaching business for myriad activities, including note-taking, video conferencing, and presentations. Its ample, stunning screen smoothly adapts to portrait or landscape display without compromising image quality.
The iPad Pro contains the most powerful chip Apple has ever made, a speed that outstrips most PC laptops. Moreover, the sound system is mind-blowing, with exceptional depth and clarity and the audio even pans authentically from left to right.
Apple Pencil
Best coupled with the iPad Pro, the Apple Pencil replicates the natural flow and precision of typical writing tools and a whole lot more. For example, by double-tapping the pencil’s side, you can change brush tips and colors, which helps maintain an uninterrupted flow while working.
The Pencil magnetically attaches to the iPad for wireless charging. You can even indulge your ego and get the Pencil engraved, courtesy of Apple!
Check out the Apple Pencil here.
Conclusion
Whether it’s software programs or office supplies, health coaching tools like these make it easier to build a thriving health coaching business on a solid foundation.
What are your thoughts about our choices for the best health coaching tools? Leave your comments below!
Sources
Not being in the health coaching industry, I had no idea of the tools that might be beneficial to such people. You’ve done a wonderful job of putting them all together here in one place and in your descriptions. Frankly, I can see the benefit of many of these tools for other business applications as well (although some are quite specific to this field).
I especially liked the tools so that health coaches could better interact with their clients at a distance. Imagine not even having to leave your home or office to help out your clients with the use of headphones and a web cam! This would add so much value to personal health coaching today when people are so busy, they may not be able to come to you. Being able to book on-line would be another huge benefit, in my mind.
This article is so well written that all health coaches should give it a read in order to streamline their work to give more time to their actual clients than to the mundane chores of the business.
Thank you!
Very interesting article ! I haven’t heard of most of these! Thank you for sharing them with me. I’m currently using an iPad Pro for note taking, logo designing… And it is really great with the pencil, Notability is a really great app for taking notes. The best is that everything is at the same place, instead of having papers everywhere.
For every health coach, planning is key, so a tool for taking notes and planning is really important.
Thank you 🙂
I was looking for online tools I could use for my home coaching business when I stumbled upon your blog post in Google. While some of these are not applicable to my work, I find most of them helpful. Thank you!
Among the tools that you’ve mentioned here, there’s one that really caught my eye. It’s Airtable. I am currently trying to learn this program and it’s taking a bit of time. Is there a tutorial you could point me too?
Hi Gomer, you may find these guides helpful. All the best!
I’m just getting started in coaching grad and undergrad students on how to make extra money through freelance writing. And I already run four websites that require a lot of my attention. The tools that attracted me most were GetResponse and Buzzsumo. I’m currently using a tool called Jaaxy for keyword research and I have been dragging my feet on building email lists for my site. I know that this is going to be vital to my continued success as a digital entrepreneur, so thank you for providing me with a resource to help me take the next step in the journey!
Thanks Tucker 🙂