The Must-Have Tools for Coaches & Course Creators to Scale Without Burnout

Running an online business means wearing a lot of hats—coaching, marketing, admin, tech support, and everything in between. Whether you're just starting out or already established, keeping up with all the moving parts can feel overwhelming. But as your business grows, so does the workload—emails, scheduling, content creation, marketing, and sales. Before you know it, you’re spending more time managing your business than actually doing what you love.

The good news? Scaling doesn’t have to mean working more hours; it means setting up smarter systems. The right tools will free up your time, automate repetitive tasks, and create a streamlined, scalable business that supports your income goals without burning you out.

I’ve put together a list of my 10 essential tools that have helped me (and my clients) grow with ease—so you can ditch the tech overwhelm and focus on what actually moves the needle.

Work Smarter, Not Harder: The Essential Tech Stack for Scaling Your Business

(For the full list of recommended tools, exclusive discounts, and bonuses, visit my Recommended Tools & Resources page!)

AFFILIATE DISCLAIMER AND BONUSES

Please note that some of the links on this page are affiliate links*, if you proceed to purchase via these links I may earn a commission at no additional cost to you.  As a thank you for supporting my business, I offer exclusive bonuses** when you purchase certain tools through my affiliate links. I only share links for tools that I actively use and love.

1. All-in-One Business Platform: Kajabi*

In 2024, I made the decision to consolidate my tech stack and go all-in on Kajabi—and honestly, I wish I had done it sooner. While I love geeking out on bootstrapping solutions and automation, constantly juggling multiple platforms was draining my time and energy. Having everything in one place has been an absolute game-changer. My entire website, landing pages, blog, emails, podcast, courses, template shop, shopping cart, and more now live under one roof.

The biggest shift? Simplicity and speed. Want to launch a new offer? Set up a webinar? Create a new lead magnet? With Kajabi, it’s all seamless and efficient—no more duct-taping different tools together. When I actually sat down and added up the costs of my website hosting, video and podcast hosting, my ever-increasing email provider fees, and the extra hours spent trying to make everything work together, investing in Kajabi became a financial no-brainer. Smart investments aren’t just about the lowest price—they’re about maximizing efficiency, reducing headaches, and freeing up time to focus on revenue-generating activities.

**Bonus: Use my link for a 30-day free trial and get a free Tech SOS call with me ($500 value) when you upgrade to a paid plan.

2. Project & Task Management: ClickUp*

When I first started out, Trello was my go-to. It was free, pretty, and easy to navigate—perfect when it was just me. But as soon as I started collaborating with a team, I ran into issues. The ease with which things could be deleted (with no way to retrieve them!) was a huge red flag, and I knew I needed a more robust system.

I looked into Monday and Asana—both solid options—but ClickUp won me over with both its range of features and an awesome price. I have been able to tailor it so easily to my coaching, therapy, and course creation business, and as my team grows, I don’t have to worry about data being "lost" or that I will outgrow it.

One of my favorite things? Their free plan is incredibly generous. If you're just starting out, you get access to a ton of features without spending a cent, and when you’re ready to scale, the pricing is totally reasonable. ClickUp is the tool that grows with you, without the stress of outgrowing your system.

3. Design & Branding: Canva

OMG, I love Canva, and honestly, I could lose days just playing around in there. It’s the ultimate creative playground, and I even used it to design everything for our wedding—invites, signage, and all the little details. Same for the kids’ birthday invitations! But back to business…

There is virtually nothing I can’t create for my business inside Canva. Social media posts, workbooks, shareable PDFs, banners, branding, images for the website—the list goes on. It’s my go-to for keeping everything looking polished and professional without needing to hire a designer.

And the best part? You don’t need a degree in graphic design to use it! The drag-and-drop interface, endless templates, and intuitive design features mean anyone can create stunning visuals in minutes.

4. Scheduling & Payments: TidyCal

Now, while it might lack some of the bells and whistles of Acuity Scheduling, the teeny tiny one-time price tag ($39 at the time of writing this post) of TidyCal was another no-brainer switch for me. I was also previously an avid Calendly fan, but honestly, there weren’t enough features in either Acuity or Calendly to justify paying a much higher monthly rate.

TidyCal is constantly adding new features, so it’s a big thumbs-up from me. With my clients based all over the world (I think we were up to 37 countries last count!), having a digital booking system that seamlessly syncs with my calendar and Zoom is an absolute must-have. Simple, effective, and budget-friendly—what’s not to love?

5. Checkout & Course Delivery: ThriveCart

So 2024 saw ThriveCart take a bit of a beating in terms of loveability! They made a tonne of updates that had a tonne of glitches (to put it nicely), but I am glad I stuck it out. ThriveCart is so much more than a payment processor. The fact that it is (currently) a one-time price is another huge plus for me as it means that I can keep a handle on costs.

The Pro version has been great for tracking and charging relevant taxes worldwide (essential for an international business like mine), and then they also introduced ThriveCart Learn in the one-time price, which is a fully functioning course delivery platform.

This is a strong contender for me when it comes to creating high-converting payment pages. The only downside is that they don't have an "add to cart" feature. While that’s not essential for those selling single coaching packages or course subscriptions, it’s a big bonus for digital product creators! (Hello Kajabi "add-to-cart" feature, which I have early access to!).

**Bonus: Receive my beautifully designed checkout templates for free when you purchase through my affiliate link!

6. List Growth & Engagement: ConvertBox

ConvertBox is another great tool in the ThriveCart family that I absolutely love. I actually found it a couple of years ago by accident, and it has been a game-changer ever since.

Basically, all those pop-up boxes you see on my site—whether they appear in the corner, as you leave a page, or when you click into a specific section—are powered by ConvertBox. And let me tell you, they have been responsible for a huge increase in sales, email subscribers, and keeping people on my site longer.

If you want a simple but powerful way to boost engagement and conversions, ConvertBox is an easy win!

7. Data Organization & Client Management: Airtable

Airtable started out as my place of storing all my content and quickly became super awesome for managing clients, tracking data, organizing forms, etc.

Whilst I don't use it as much as I used to—mainly because ClickUp does virtually everything that Airtable does (with a few small exceptions)—I still love how awesome Airtable is and can't bring myself to give it up just yet!

Now, I won't lie, the initial setup can feel a bit daunting if you struggle with techphobia (yep, that is a real thing—I’m a self-confessed tech geek, but I know that makes me a bit of a unicorn!), but once you have it up and running, boy does it make tracking your data sexy! 

Whether it’s client onboarding, feedback forms, content banks, or sales tracking, Airtable keeps everything neatly organized and easy to access. If you love a good spreadsheet but wish it could do more, Airtable is a fantastic choice!

8. Content Repurposing: Castmagic

Castmagic is one of those tools that you don't even know you need until you get it, and then you wonder how on earth you ever lived without it. Before Castmagic, I would record my content (audio and video), then need to load it into another tool to create a transcript, and from there, either myself or my VA would manually go through and chop it up or extract great snippets. Castmagic does it all for me now.

Podcast episodes, coaching sessions, webinars, course content, interviews, testimonials—you name it. I just upload it into Castmagic, and it automagically generates a transcript, show notes, summary, time-stamped bullet lists, key talking points, suggested snippets, and even social media copy. The list goes on!

I have literally saved myself hours (and a tonne in unnecessary wages), because my VA can now process everything with the click of a button. If repurposing content has ever felt like a chore, Castmagic will change your life!

9. Lead Generation: Group Collector

You know how annoying it is to manually go through all the joining questions that people respond to when they request to join your Facebook group? And then, if they give permission to be added to your email list, you have to copy, paste, and manually add them? Well, not with Group Collector!

This Chrome extension has been a massive time-saver for me. (It doesn’t work on my phone, so I just make sure to approve all new group members from my laptop or desktop.) But at the click of a button, I can collect all responses into a spreadsheet and automagically add those who have consented directly to my email software.

They even have settings that allow for fully automated approvals, but I still prefer to review each request manually. This ensures that my Success Simplified Facebook group remains a safe, high-quality space for all our members, keeping bots and fake profiles out while maintaining the integrity of the community.

Now, I have a complete record of everyone’s question responses that I can refer back to, and I haven’t wasted countless hours doing this manually. If you run a Facebook group and want to turn it into a proper lead-generation tool, Group Collector is a must-have!

10. Video Communication: Loom

Loom is my go-to for screen recording—whether it’s walkthrough training content where I need to share my screen, demos for clients, creating visual explanations for my team, drafting SOPs, or anything else that requires me to show and tell. If I need to record my screen and my voice (or even my face), I jump straight into Loom.

The editing features are next level—hello, editing a video from the transcript! No more having to stop and start the recording, spending hours figuring out which bits to cut or move. Loom makes it easy to trim content, remove filler words, and even slice together other videos.

I also love that I can host all my videos in one place - no need to download to the cloud or upload to a hosting services, you can share and embed Loom videos directly. I personally use the paid version because it’s a core part of my business, but they also have a limited free version, which is perfect if you want to try it out or just need to create the odd super short clip. If you communicate a lot via video, Loom is an absolute game-changer!

Final Thoughts

There you have it—my absolute must-have tools for coaches, course creators, and online business owners who want to scale without burnout. Each of these tools has helped me streamline my processes, automate the repetitive stuff, and free up time to focus on what actually moves the needle in my business.

The key to scaling isn’t doing more—it’s about doing less of what doesn’t serve you and leaning into smart systems that work for you. Whether you're just starting out or looking to refine your current setup, I highly recommend checking out these tools and seeing which ones fit your business needs.

If you want a full breakdown of all my favorite tools (plus exclusive bonuses and discounts), head over to my Recommended Tools & Resources page. 🚀