Coaching/Mentoring... software advice?

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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
#main internet marketing discussion forum #advice #coaching #software
  • 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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  • Thanks mate, looks like I'll just have to do it manually.
    • [1] reply
    • 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
      • [1] reply
  • 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
    • [1] reply
    • 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
      • [1] reply
  • 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
  • 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!
  • Have you considered using Moodle, an open
    source Learning Management System?

    John
    • [ 1 ] Thanks
    • [2] replies
    • 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
    • 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)


  • Vbulletin can have users create threads in a specific forum where only they can see the thread and respond to only their thread.
  • Why a forum? If it's private, just use a private messaging module?
  • there's a bridge for moodle to Joomla (or you can write one to work with ANY CMS easily enough)
  • I'm looking for something similar and was thinking of going with Memberspeed... would appreciate any thoughts on that.
    • [1] reply
    • 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
      • [1] reply
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