Have you found it surprisingly hard to fit in time for actual coaching in your coaching business? In this post we discuss how tech innovations can help you trim down admin and management time and get back to coaching.

On average, small business owners spend 16 hours on admin every week. From responding to emails to posting on social media, all of those little tasks to keep your coaching company running smoothly add up. You’re not alone, then, if you struggle to find the hours in the day to coach, but just because this is a common problem doesn’t mean it’s something you have to live with.

Digital coaching technology has shaken up the industry, providing small business owners with an alternative to drowning in admin. From automating processes to speeding up laborious tasks, it’s leveled the business playing field and given one-man bands and tiny teams the resources to scale like a big-name brand. 

Ready to learn more? Here are some of the tech solutions to help you get back to coaching.

Speed Up Payments

Dealing with payments is an inevitable part of running a coaching business. From receiving money from paying clients (hooray!) to dealing with expenses, this can be a time-consuming task that holds you back. Sending out bank details, writing up invoices, and taking cash to the bank: it’s all time that could be spent coaching. 

This is where payment tech is a valuable addition to your company. By investing in a contactless payment device, you can take secure payments directly from your clients, adding to your professional image and reducing time spent chasing invoices. 

You’ll be ready for payments 24/7 and receive the money straight to your bank account. Link your card reader to your free business account, too, for easier cash flow management and create payment links for your customers, skipping the fiddly exchange of card details.

Automate the Booking Process

When you’re busy planning your next coaching session, you don’t want to be interrupted by booking requests. That’s why automated booking software is so handy, taking bookings without the need for any back-and-forth with the client so that you can stay focused on your to-do list. 

A system like Calendly, for example, can be integrated with your existing website and calendars to provide a cohesive online booking system.

Rather than having to call or message you directly, customers can use a well-designed interface to select a coaching session from your available slots. You can either use an auto-confirm system to finalize the booked session or confirm the booking yourself, in your own time.

This is a stress-free way to maintain a steady flow of sessions. It’s simpler for the client and simpler for you, making it a must when looking into digital coaching technology.

Create a Custom Coaching App

In 2022, nearly 50% of all small businesses in the US had their own app. If you haven’t got one yet, maybe it’s time to change that.

As a coaching company, an app can automate tasks and make it easier to communicate with clients, enhancing the coaching experience for everyone involved. At Nudge, we see a lot of coaches building apps to supplement their sessions. These become spaces to share useful content with clients, check in on progress via in-app chats and create user-friendly courses to work alongside in-person sessions. 

They’re also a useful time-saver for coaches. Stop switching between emails, texts, and social media, for example, and keep all of your communication in one, easy-to-view place. Quickly create progress trackers and automated courses from our range of features, too, and group together similar clients for content distribution.

Apps take your business to the next level without using up all of your time. It’s a simple way to scale that sees big results. 

Financial Digital Coaching Technology

We’ve already discussed speeding up the payment process, but what about your overall finance management?

When you’re not a trained accountant, keeping tabs on your money is a task that can get frequently pushed to the back of your to-do list. But when tax return time comes around, you suddenly have so much to do you can’t spare a second for coaching. It’s a hard act to balance!

This is where finance technology for coaching comes in. Specialized software helps you stay on top of your money throughout the year, giving you more time to focus on growing the business you love and the peace of mind that your finances are taken care of.

Some great finance tools to check out include:

• FreshBooks - Monitor expenses, calculate VAT, stay tax compliant, and more

• Xero - Complete online accounting for small businesses

• MinuteDock - Track your billable hours and auto-generate invoices

You can also outsource your financing to a remote accountant. Simple to arrange and with a wide pool of talent at your fingertips, technology has made it easier than ever to access one-on-one money management help and hand your accounts over to a qualified expert. 

Make Marketing a Breeze

The arrival of tech makes huge waves in the marketing world, both for large and small businesses. Now, everyone has access to a fleet of tools and software that allows you to reach a global audience at very little cost. A lot of the tech works to speed up your marketing, too, helping you reach more leads in less time.

Social media scheduling software, for example, makes it easier to post regular content to your accounts. Create posts, schedule them in advance, and then get on with your work knowing your social media marketing is taken care of. 

When working with graphics, Canva is a small business essential, giving you a fleet of tools for logos, social media posts, and other branded content. 

It’s also worth looking into customer relationship management (CRM) software. A platform like Less Annoying CRM that caters to small businesses could help you better manage client information, keep tabs on your leads, and organize your client sessions. 

Don’t forget to monitor your marketing results, too, with Google Analytics. Publishing a variety of interesting insights from your online presence - including where most of your website traffic comes from - it’s a smart way to ensure your marketing strategy is working. Google also offers free analytics courses, helping you get the most out of your data. 

All of these tools not only speed up your marketing methods but they make them better, too. In terms of scaling innovation, it’s a no-brainer.

Final Thoughts

There’s an endless stream of digital coaching technology out there, making it a breeze to automate tasks, cut down on repetitive admin, and focus more on your clients. When you’re looking to scale, the right software can take the stress out of the process, too, keeping you calm while your business grows.

For more coaching tech and app news, be sure to join the Nudge community.