Coaching/Mentoring... software advice?

25 replies
G'day guys,

I'm putting together a coaching/mentoring program and am wondering what software options are available to streamline the whole process.

Essentially I need a membership site (that can handle video/audio content and recurring payments) with a private message board for each member.

I've got plenty of membership software options to choose from, but none of them have an integrated private message board. And I know Jimmy D Brown has coaching software... but as far as I know it doesn't integrate with any membership software, so I'd have to manually setup/remove members.

Any ideas?

Cheers
Kyle
#advice #coaching #software
  • Profile picture of the author Kyle Tully
    Originally Posted by Craig Desorcy View Post

    Kyle,

    Amember has an integrated message board plugin that I use.

    For privates, I setup an invisible forum within the main message board.

    It's working out well.

    Good luck with your new project.

    Craig
    Thanks Craig, is that an automated process or do you have to manually setup each invisible forum?

    I'm using SMF + Amember on another site and I can setup different levels of membership, but I don't think there is a way to setup an individual private board for each member.
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  • Profile picture of the author Kyle Tully
    Thanks mate, looks like I'll just have to do it manually.
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    • Profile picture of the author marciayudkin
      Hi Kyle,

      Do you mind sharing how you plan to use the one-on-one message boards for coaching?

      And is this something that you've seen in other coaching programs? It's an interesting idea.

      Thanks,
      Marcia Yudkin
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      • Profile picture of the author Kyle Tully
        Originally Posted by marciayudkin View Post

        Hi Kyle,

        Do you mind sharing how you plan to use the one-on-one message boards for coaching?

        And is this something that you've seen in other coaching programs? It's an interesting idea.

        Thanks,
        Marcia Yudkin
        Hi Marcia

        Essentially the message board would replace email and be a central resource to communicate with students.

        Now that I think of it (thanks for asking the question and forcing me to think) Michel Fortin uses basecamp in exactly this manner for his coaching program.

        Basecamp has to-do lists and whiteboards etc which would be very useful... still have to set everyone up manually but it's a small price to pay.

        Cheers
        Kyle
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  • Profile picture of the author Waterways2k8
    Hi

    I like your idea about membership with a message board, perhaps you could use a private forum as an alternative. Or have a .ning site where members would register and once they have signed up, they could exchange message, photos, upload free ebooks, share resources etc...

    Just a thought really

    Best Wishes
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    • Profile picture of the author marciayudkin
      Essentially the message board would replace email and be a central resource to communicate with students.
      Kyle,

      Wouldn't you have to keep checking a zillion separate message boards to see which ones had messages?

      If you had, let's say, 20 students, how would you manage keeping up to date on each private message board?

      With email, it can get lost but at least when it goes through it all goes to one place.

      I'm intrigued by this idea but having a hard time imagining the logistics.

      Thanks!

      Marcia
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      Check out Marcia Yudkin's No-Hype Marketing Academy for courses on copywriting, publicity, infomarketing, marketing plans, naming, and branding - not to mention the popular "Marketing for Introverts" course.
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      • Profile picture of the author Kyle Tully
        Originally Posted by marciayudkin View Post

        Kyle,

        Wouldn't you have to keep checking a zillion separate message boards to see which ones had messages?

        If you had, let's say, 20 students, how would you manage keeping up to date on each private message board?

        With email, it can get lost but at least when it goes through it all goes to one place.

        I'm intrigued by this idea but having a hard time imagining the logistics.

        Thanks!

        Marcia
        Both Basecamp and Jimmy's software have a central admin area where you can see all activity on all your projects.

        From a students point of view they can only see their board/project, but I would be able to see everything from a single screen.

        I think I will go with Basecamp -- will let you know how it turns out.
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        • Profile picture of the author Shannon Herod
          I'm working on the exact same thing right now.

          I actually bought Jimmy D. Brown's software.

          But, I don't think I'm going to use it. How do you plan on using base camp?

          I think I need to go investigate that. It might be a very good option for me.

          Talk soon,

          Shannon Herod
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          • Profile picture of the author Kyle Tully
            Originally Posted by Shannon Herod View Post

            How do you plan on using base camp?
            I'll have to play around with it and see exactly how I can configure it, but I'm thinking I'll just setup one "project" per member, which only they and I have access to.

            And I'll have my admin dashboard showing everything that's going on with every project -- questions, tasks completed, files posted etc.

            I'm pretty sure that's how Fortin did it a few years ago when I was in his coaching group.

            My main concern is not turning this into a technical project. I just want something off the shelf I can plug into my business. Manually setting people up isn't an issue, I can outsource that for 13 cents.
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          • Profile picture of the author ProEFI
            Originally Posted by Shannon Herod View Post

            I'm working on the exact same thing right now.

            I actually bought Jimmy D. Brown's software.

            But, I don't think I'm going to use it. How do you plan on using base camp?

            I think I need to go investigate that. It might be a very good option for me.

            Talk soon,

            Shannon Herod
            Hey Shannon,
            I'm curious why you are not going to use Jimmy's software?
            Andrew
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        • Profile picture of the author BrianMcLeod
          Originally Posted by Kyle Tully View Post

          Both Basecamp and Jimmy's software have a central admin area where you can see all activity on all your projects.

          From a students point of view they can only see their board/project, but I would be able to see everything from a single screen.

          I think I will go with Basecamp -- will let you know how it turns out.
          Thanks for "thinking that out", Kyle... : )

          I wonder if a WordPress MU installation could be configured to do something similar? Each user gets a private blog that the admin can see and interact with through the main WPMU dashboard but the user can only see their own private blog and the admin's (where everyone might participate and comment). Just a thought.

          Will look forward to letting you figure everything out (again).

          Best,

          Brian
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  • Profile picture of the author whseo99
    you could easily set that up in vbull although it would be manually, you can setup a new user group for each member, and allow forum permission per usergroup only to see their particular forum, and you as admin or any mods you assign could see all forums and posts. for example user a logs in, sees user a's forum and no one elses, user b logs in see's user b's forum but no one elses and you could see them all. So each new member wouldnt need their own forum. I am sure fireboard, smf or phpbb has some similar function and can be combined if you find an advanced user..

    or another thought, i have a joomla installation combined with vbulletin, i had it done by a company, they are offering Joomla 1.0.15/1.5.7 and IP.Board 2.3.6 script with combined db 1 login accross the full site, but i dont know if joomla would have enough facilities or add ons to get your site to the state you want it
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  • Profile picture of the author Steven W Johnson
    Formula (or as Kev Riley likes to say) RECIPE for integrated private message board:

    1. Pick a CMS / Web Dev Platform (Drupal / Joomla / Xaraya would do nicely)

    2. Build your STORIES (logic flow) - testing methodology works great here (I use XP - xtreme programming tactics - Extreme Programming: A Gentle Introduction. )

    3. Commit to "paper" (ok, digital paper - Microsoft Visio or Gliffy fit the bill - Gliffy Online Diagram Software ) or go the OSS route: eg. Freemind FreeMind - free mind mapping software

    4. Call up your fav PHP/MySql developer (you DO have a PHP developer by now, right?) preferably one comfortable with the platform you chose in Step 1.

    5. Try to break the resulting prototype codebase and solicit feedback from team members, associates, even guinea pig clients.

    6. Back to the drawing board for enhancements (but be care of that evil one: FEATURE CREEP) hehe that dude will cost you a YEAR if your not careful!

    7. Rinse. Repeat and you may even have a highly-marketable software product!
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  • Profile picture of the author John Taylor
    Have you considered using Moodle, an open
    source Learning Management System?

    John
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    • Profile picture of the author Peter Bestel
      Originally Posted by John Taylor View Post

      Have you considered using Moodle, an open
      source Learning Management System?

      John
      Now, this is why I just come in here to browse every now and then. I've looked at Moogle and it's given me ideas for things that I didn't know I needed ideas for!

      It's bookmarked, logged in brain and will be acted upon once I allocate some time to it.

      Thanks John.

      Peter
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    • Profile picture of the author learnmore
      Hi John,
      I'm curious as to if moodle is commonly used in IM or niche related membership sites? I used to work for department of education for one of the states and it was being used by teachers to design their course outlines and also provide course materials to their students.

      The messaging board/forum feature that comes bundled with moddle is not as fancy as vBulletin or even aMember but it does the job.

      Being open sourse, it has a huge support community but I have heard from the tech department that used to suppor it that its releases were volatile in terms of stability or backward compatability.

      Also if you are a member of WR, you will see that one of the members there is also using it. (HINT: The bonus material for his generous video offer is hosted on moodle)


      Originally Posted by John Taylor View Post

      Have you considered using Moodle, an open
      source Learning Management System?

      John
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  • Profile picture of the author PPC-Coach
    Vbulletin can have users create threads in a specific forum where only they can see the thread and respond to only their thread.
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  • Profile picture of the author MichaelHiles
    Why a forum? If it's private, just use a private messaging module?
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  • Profile picture of the author Steven W Johnson
    there's a bridge for moodle to Joomla (or you can write one to work with ANY CMS easily enough)
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  • Profile picture of the author Rezbi
    I'm looking for something similar and was thinking of going with Memberspeed... would appreciate any thoughts on that.
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    • Profile picture of the author Steven W Johnson
      rezbi - if u want to try Memberspeed, i'd recommend hosting it first (I'll toss you a lic. AND hosting - no charge) MS is UBER-powerful for many classic marketing tactics and processes but falls down it two huge ways: 1. templating is html-only - easy, but horribly limiting in an era of almost 100% php-based templating solutions 2. lack of a 3PD (3rd party developer) API - you can't easily extend it - only ask for new functions to be added in the next version (unless things have changed since i last peeked)

      If your needs are more STATIC - ie, the admin does all the content creation and delivery and the members are more consumers than intimately involved, then it could be perfect. if you expect to build a 24/7 hangout where members mix it up with each other in a wide variety of venues and with many different tools (forums, priv messaging, interactive masterminds, etc) then MS is probably not going to fill the bill - at least not yet - software tends to EVOLVE and MS has come a LONG way since v. 1.0
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      • Profile picture of the author Rezbi
        Hey Steve,

        Thanks for the advice. It helps make the decision easier.
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