It feels nice to accomplish goals before the year ends, but it doesn’t always work out that way.
I’m writing this in mid-January, and there’s still plenty more to do before we’re setup for 2025. There’s a part of me that wants to just keep my head down and plow forward. There’s also a wiser part of me remembering that pausing to reflect and adjust is necessary too.
So I’m calling a time-out during what feels like overtime. I’m tired and feeling winded from the lasting intensity, but this game isn’t over yet. There is still more work to do before we can claim a victory over the challenges of 2024.
My goal is to share a two-part update this week – this one related to Coach.me, and a second for the CPA firm.
Catching Up
First, a bit of background. I bought the Coach.me platform in December 2023, merging it into the coaching company that I’d started in 2017. The opportunity required a quick decision, and I couldn’t imagine a future where it didn’t exist. I knew firsthand how impactful the combination of habit science, personal coaching, and digital nudges could be. I’d personally witnessed hundreds of clients make meaningful progress, and reviewed thousands of life-changing transcripts from my fellow habit coaches.
So, we made the leap. It was jarring and deep into unknown territory in several areas. Within a few weeks, we realized that the technical aspects of the platform would need massive attention. Several team members decided that the journey ahead didn’t align with their personal goals and preferences, and rebuilding would require that we narrowed our focus. Thankfully, Lidia Chmel agreed to step into the COO role and lead our daily operations (despite enduring the constant stress of warning sirens at her home in Israel).
Right Now vs Long Term
In a recent podcast interview, I heard Reid Hoffman say that startups must plan and think on two horizons – right now and long-term. That feels spot-on for us.
Our long-term vision is clear:
We believe in the “magical” combination of habit science, supportive technology, and aligned coaches. We believe that lasting impacts are achieved through integrated experiences: educational media, events, coaching, and community. We believe that technology can provide helpful scaffolding and facilitate meaningful connections. We commit to providing coaching and resources that package insights and support in easily accessible formats, especially for leaders and teams.
One of our community members, Dr. Donita Brown, has even published academic research demonstrating the positive impact on chat coaching and hybrid coaching. This interview has all the details on their studies and findings – and why habits work.
In short, we know habit coaching helps us make lasting positive changes that improve our lives.
But we also have to survive the “right now.” For us, that means working through the myriad of technical upgrades that the platform requires.
Some projects went reasonably smooth – updating the database and Ruby versions. Others turned out to be insidiously complex – updating our integration with Stripe (our payment processor). The first phase of the upgrade was completed in May, and we’ve been cleaning up the spiderweb of related processes ever since:
- Adjusting for pauses (for both clients and coaches)
- Double-checking revenue-split calculations
- Facilitating subscription changes
- Ensuring renewals process on schedule
It’s been an incredibly frustrating several months for the entire team, and for our coaches and clients. It also means that lots of processes that were previously automated now need to be calculated by hand. As you can imagine, those aren’t particularly fun assignments. While these glitches have certainly slowed our momentum, we’re embracing the opportunity to examine every nook and cranny of our platform and create a roadmap for the future of our platform.
Through this adventure, we’ve also developed a robust testing checklist, and added Vickie Alaniz to the team. Her keen eye for detail ensures our pre-release testing identifies any new “bugs” so they can be addressed before being pushed to our production server.
Calling in Reinforcements
By late summer, I knew the mountains were steeper than we could climb alone and began thinking about the team we’d need to assemble to keep moving forward. Fortuitously, I had a mid-year check-in already scheduled with friend and founder of College Essay Guy, Ethan Sawyer. Through our conversation, we agreed that his experience would be a welcome addition, and our commitment to providing accessible resources for navigating an increasingly volatile world was wholly aligned with his life’s mission. Listen in to learn more about why Ethan joined our team.
I also knew I needed serious backup on the technical side of the house. My first call was to Eugene Woo, good friend and founder of Venngage. He helped us define the key developer role and design a hiring process. We narrowed dozens of candidates to just a few, and used a challenge on CodeSubmit to confirm skill alignment. Thankfully, we connected with Pedro Padron in Sao Carlos, Brazil, and we’re delighted that he’s already plugged in and solving bugs.
Next up will be our long-awaited design update. Stephan Noack, founder of Best Marketing, is queued up and at-the-ready with fresh looks for our website and apps. As soon as the technical infrastructure is sorted, we’ll have an equally spiffy look and feel to interact with.
Unexpected Mastery – Coach Training
While there may have been many technical limitations last year, we didn’t spend much time fretting and frustrated. We doubled down on the areas where our efforts would make a difference. We realized there was one thing that we’d mastered – helping coaches build their businesses.
Last January, we launched the beta of CoachLaunch – our annual training program that supports coaches through each phase of building a thriving business. From honing their coaching skills, designing client programs and experiences, and fueling their marketing engines, we provide support each step of the way. It kicks off with our world-class Habit Coaching Certification (HCC) program. (This next cohort will be our 17th – adding to our incredible community of alumni!) In addition to the group training, CoachLaunch provides one-on-one mentoring and customized support to ensure each coach gets focused attention.
We also developed Weekly Masterminds to support coaches in sustaining their momentum – creating community and connection to combat the solo nature of our work, providing proactive marketing guidance, and facilitating weekly rhythms and accountability. These are a featured benefit of our Accelerator Membership, and often the highlight of our feedback from coaches.
Looking Ahead
This would typically be the part where I outline our grand plans for 2025, but we can’t do that yet. We’re still triaging the fallout from the updated Stripe integration, and it’s at the top of Pedro’s list. We’re optimistic that all of the bugs are related and somewhat quick to resolve, but we need to give Pedro time to familiarize himself with the platform.
So while we’ve certainly still got plenty of work to do on the technical front, that means our Operations folks can pour everything else into supporting our coaches. If you’d like to stay updated, you can become a Coach.me Insider here. You’ll get new podcast episodes, articles about habit science, and invitations to Insider events.
If you’re interested in learning more about our coach training programs, let’s schedule a call. We’d love to connect!
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