The Health Coach Sales Lab
Welcome to the Health Coach Sales Lab -- the place where health coaches and wellness pros go from learning to earning. I’m Jamie Jones, and in each episode, I’ll break down simple, actionable strategies to help you sign more clients and grow a thriving wellness business.
The Health Coach Sales Lab
The Essential Tools You Need to Run a Health Coaching Business
Health coaching doesn't need complex technology to be successful and sustainable. Simple, manageable systems create longevity and keep your business running smoothly without unnecessary stress.
- Four essential tools for health coaches: booking, payment, client notes, and communication systems
- Tech overwhelm often comes from external pressure, not actual business requirements
- You're allowed to build slow and choose systems that match your brain, bandwidth, and budget
- Your business is legitimate regardless of which tools you use
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Hello friends, welcome back to the show. This is Jamie here, and this week we are going to be talking about the essential tools you need to run a health coaching business, especially if you are not tech savvy. So if you know anything about me, you know that I don't like to overcomplicate things. I do not like any fluff. I don't like any of that stuff. I like what's simple, I like routines, I like rhythms and I like to just keep things as simple as possible. So if we've never met, I've been in this space for, let's see, since 2011. So you can do the math. I was an English major. I don't do math. So a long time, though, and I have practiced what I preach in this way for this long, and I've had a sustainable business for this long, grown every year, and so it works. I promise you can just be simple and we don't have to live super complicated lives. I think that we're tugged in that direction plenty enough and we don't need to live super complicated lives. I think that we're tugged in that direction plenty enough and we don't need to bring that into our business. So today's episode is for the coach, who just desires that simple and grounded business and that business that feels manageable and not overwhelming. We don't want our business to overwhelm us. That is not what we want. So we want a business that supports your work and not systems that take hours to manage. We don't want any of that. We don't want confusing tools. We just want a solid structure, and that's what we're going to chat about today.
Speaker 1:We uh, you know a lot of people come to me and say I'm not really good with tech, and that holds you back. Understandably, a lot of times, health coaches are people later in their lives, like maybe they're retired and they just wanted to do something they really care about, and I see that a lot. Maybe most of my audience is in that age group, and so I totally understand when you didn't spend your whole life Like I was 10 years old building websites. I'm not super young I'm 40, but I've spent my adult life with computers and with these tools, so it comes more naturally for me. But a lot of times, health coaches are further in age and it's not that simple. So I really love to offer these suggestions and these tools that don't take tons of tutorials to figure out and it's just easy.
Speaker 1:So what we're going to talk about is what we actually need, and if you are a health coach working with private clients, then your baseline is just a way for people to book sessions with you, a way for you to collect payments, a place to keep track of your client notes and then just a way for basic follow-up communication and that's it. That's the foundation. Everything else is optional, and the reason that matters isn't because those other tools aren't valuable. A lot of times, those tools help, and that's what they're made to do, but if they don't help you, then they aren't helpful. And because too many people, I see, are stalling their momentum by trying to set up these systems that they don't actually need yet or systems they won't ever use, because they're confusing and they're not actually the things that you need in the day-to-day running your business. So let's break it down a little further and I'll give you some actual names of tools that you can use as well.
Speaker 1:So, number one booking. Don't overcomplicate this. You don't need to integrate with like six different apps or send clients through a tech maze, because you can think about it on their end too. If you have confusing systems, that means you're putting them through the confusing systems too, and we don't need to send our clients through a tech maze. We don't need to, so you need a link that they can click. They just need to click it and it takes them to your calendar. They just need a way to get on your calendar and that's it.
Speaker 1:So Calendly is one that you know. That's a really straightforward, really popular one. It connects to your Google calendar or your iCal If you're on Apple. It lets you create buffers between appointments, which is helpful so that you're not late, and it lets you set your hours or sends reminder emails. Like done, that's all you need. So if you don't have one yet, go to calendlycom and sign up for an account it is that simple and set it all up, and if you're already using something like practice better or something else, then stick with it. This isn't for someone who already has a system set up. So if you already have a system that is working, or maybe you have something set up that you're not using because it's confusing, then please keep listening. But if you have something that like practice better or something like that, then you can just stay there. But if it's slowing you down or you haven't picked anything yet, calendly is just a clean place to begin and you can begin there. So a pro tip is start with just one appointment type. Don't set up like discovery calls and consultations and audits and 15 minute clarity sessions, like we don't need all of that yet. Just start with one, just one type, and so when people click on your link to make an appointment with you, they have one option and that's it. It just serves a clear purpose and it's simple for everybody.
Speaker 1:Number two is payment. So we do not need like a fancy built-in payment processor to be legit. You just need to be able to for people to pay you right? You need to be able to send someone an invoice or a link and have them pay it without asking how to do it, because it's confusing. So Stripe is a great place to start if you want that professional feel and you want to scale later. That's personally what I use.
Speaker 1:Square is one if you are meeting in person, because they can, like you know, tap their card on the little thing that they send you. But Stripe is great. Square is fine. Paypal is widely recognized and very straightforward. Just use one that feels familiar and use the one that doesn't make you procrastinate. It's a simple thing. Again, we don't need to overthink it. People just need a way to pay. You Choose Stripe PayPal Square, just pick one and go with it. You choose Stripe PayPal Square, just pick one and go with it. And um, yeah, it's that simple.
Speaker 1:Number three is notes. So we need a place to keep your client notes and this is where we can get stuck again, because a lot of people don't realize that you're not legally required to use a HIPAA compliant EMR, which is electronic electronic medical records. You know system, unless you're working in a licensed medical setting, you can use one, and I'm not saying it's just don't even care about that, but I'm I am saying you're not legally required, so you don't have to. We need to be smart and we need to be um use discretion, all of that, but you don't have to look for need to be smart and we need to be um use discretion and all of that, but you don't have to look for one of those systems is what I'm saying. So you can use Google drive, you can have a folder per client. You can use Google document per session or per client and just keep building in there. And that one document, we can make it password protected. You can keep it off shared devices. We can do all the things to make it safe.
Speaker 1:Um, if you want something different, notion is something that I use a lot. I think I'm going to do an entire episode on Notion because it requires an entire episode and all we can do. If you're in the content club, you hopefully have watched my short workshop on how I have set up your content club stuff in Notion and so that then you can just kind of see it live and in action of how it is just so amazing that it organizes everything in a really beautiful way and, um, you can have it on your phone, on your app and your iPad anywhere you go. I love it for everything. Like my meal plans are there, my finance stuff is there. Like everything in my life is a notion and I'll stop there because I will probably turn this episode into one about notion on accident. But I thinkion is a great and I'm saying Notion with an N Notioncom is a great place to have all your client notes. Also, if you are in the content club, I've set up client boards for you, like for free. You can just go, click them and import them straight into your Notion account. It is a full system that I'm talking about right now of your client notes and your sessions and all of that.
Speaker 1:So, okay, I'll move on from Notion now but, if you prefer, like an all-in-one client management, practice Better is really popular. It's a strong platform. It does have a learning curve, but I'm sure that they have tons of tutorials on their website. I say this to people all the time when you are having a hard time learning like a platform, go to them and ask for help, because their client representatives are trained in the platform to teach you and answer those questions right, and there's also probably tons of tutorials already on their website that show you everything. Because they want those answers already there so that they don't get I mean, think about how many clients. Practice better has probably tens of thousands right. They don't want the same question tens of thousands of times in their inbox. Like they've already answered these questions for you. We just have to look for them. So I really like preach that mindset a lot. Like I promise the answers are out there and they're really simple to find too. Like they don't make these platforms to be complicated because they don't want to confuse you. So I do get that some people just don't do well with tech and that does take more of a learning curve to figure out. But all those tutorials, step-by-step, like you can see someone screen doing it, now you know it's not just someone on the phone. You don't have to call customer service and then tell you over the phone, like we can see it. It's. It's a great time to be alive, but I do want you to, um, just pick one of these, pick a place where you can do notes and keep them safe and move on.
Speaker 1:Number four is communication. So this is a big one. Many coaches hear like an email list and they start thinking they need like a full system with automated workflows and all that. We don't need that yet at the beginning. We don't need that. We just need to have a simple way to send an email, which you probably already have. That right, it's just um. We also need a way to support clients between sessions.
Speaker 1:So first of all, you have to decide how you want them to reach you. Do you want Voxer, which is a, a free app that is like a voice memo, but you can also text in there, send, you know, pictures, messages, whatever? You don't have to do it voice to voice, but that's just a great place to keep it away from your text messages if you want and you know be able to like just go in there when you need it and not have people calling or texting your normal phone um, because they'll do that around the clock, I promise. So we need to just figure out do we want boxer? Do you want email? Do you want them to text you? Do you want a WhatsApp account? So where they're texting you there and it's not going to your phone? You know you just have to figure out where you want to support clients between sessions and then stick with it. So it's not. You know we're not constantly available, so that's something to consider.
Speaker 1:I don't think that I would give out my personal cell phone number for people to text whenever they want. So I would choose one of those other options, but it's up to you. So later, when you're ready to grow your audience or automate you know, those nurture sequences or more stuff like that. There's other platforms like HoneyBook is a really cool one. Or more email systems are like ConvertKit I think it's called Kit now I'm stuck in the old days. Flowdesk that's what I use and have used for many years. I love it. Mailerlite you know there's all kinds of ones, so it's just about picking one. Like they're all pretty much the same, right, but until you're regularly sending messages or need like a more sophisticated onboarding system because you're getting more and more clients, I would just stick with the simple email inbox that you use every day. Number five is a simple system is a confident one.
Speaker 1:So most of this tech overwhelm isn't about skill. It is just about the pressure you're under. Like you're told that you need funnels and workflows and analytics and SEO, and blah, blah, blah the client dashboards, analytics and SEO, and blah, blah, blah the client dashboards and you haven't even signed clients yet and you're. It's just noise that creates this urgency where there doesn't need to be any. So I just want to tell you that you are allowed to build slow. You are allowed to do this in a way that makes sense for your brain and your bandwidth and your budget, because all those things are super important. And you are no less legitimate because your business is inside of Google workspace with one scheduling link. That's just silly and it's not true. The most important thing is that you're doing it. Your business is in motion, and that matters more than the tool you use.
Speaker 1:You know to send an invoice. So if you're feeling stuck, I want you to ask yourself number one can someone book a session with me without emailing me first, like for a how-to tutorial? Like, is it simple to book a session with you? Can someone pay you without going through a million clicks? Like, is it as simple? Someone can pay me, click this, they pay me and we're done. Can I find my notes when I need them? Like is or am I organized? Do I have a place where client notes go? Can I check in with clients or send follow-up? Do I know where to do that, or is that disorganized?
Speaker 1:So if the answer to all of those is yes, then you're operational and you do not need a software overhaul. You don't need a $2,000 business coach to tell you what platform to use. You just need to keep going with what you're doing and grow your systems when you're ready, because if it's working, then that means it's working. It doesn't matter what anyone else thinks. It doesn't matter if that software is super cool, it's not going to improve your business. Most likely. If it is, then great, but most likely it is not going to get you more clients. It is not going to make you more money, but once you get to the point where it doesn't feel like pressure to upgrade into these softwares or whatever else, then it's time. But right now, if it feels like pressure, it's not time.
Speaker 1:If things are working, you're good to go, and if these systems are already set up, then now is like if you just said yes to all these things and you're operational is what I mean. Then now you put all of your focus into client generation, the real steps that get you clients, and that is your full time job until you have a practice, like a full practice and a wait list, and then it becomes your part-time job because your time will now be spent coaching your clients. But we never stopped doing that stuff, right? So I just want to let this be your permission slip use the tools that keep you moving, use the ones that you can use with ease, that don't stress you out, and build a business that runs quietly in the background, like it needs to be simple to run your business, not like if the internet goes out, everything crashes or if the software is down, that day you can't run your business Like.
Speaker 1:We don't want that. We want it to be simple, and that's because your real work is coaching clients, and we don't want to have to manage. I tell my kids this all the time If we have a million things in our house, then we're just managing this stuff every day. It takes so much time to manage stuff, and so we want to bring that thought into our business as well. If we have so much to manage, then we can't have time to do the stuff that we need to do. So that's just where the sustainability begins. That's how your business gets to support you back Like we don't. We just want to do the important stuff. So I hope that is helpful. If you need any further support, hop into our Facebook group and let's chat more. Let us know what you're struggling with, what you're doing well with. We love to hear all those things. So the link is in the show notes here, or you can go to jamiesgroupcom and it'll direct you straight to our facebook group and we will see you in there and I will see you next week.