37 - 5 things to consider when building your tech stack

Hello and welcome to the business of executive Coaching Podcast. So the topic for Today's episode is 5 Things to Think about when you are building your tech stack. A tech stack being your collection of software systems, subscriptions that you use that make your business function. And certainly my take is not that we need a lot in our tech stack, but I'll get into that in a moment. Before I start, I wanted to share a really exciting opportunity that I am only sharing with my community at this stage. So I'm just sharing with podcast listeners and my newsletter subscribers. So the context is that the bulk of the programs that I currently offer being the Impact Coach Collective, which is a group coaching program with lots of curriculum, lots of calls, masterclasses, et cetera, and the Corporate to coach Blueprint, which is a self paced digital course. They are targeted at coaches that sit in, in the sort of the minus one to plus three years of, of business. Right. And for those people they are perfect. But I also really love working with coaches who have been doing this for a bit longer and typically all I've been able to offer in that space has been one on one coaching, which, which is great. But I have had a few people I been speaking to recently and they didn't quite, they weren't quite suited for one on one coaching. They were probably too experienced for the Impact Coach Collective. And someone I was spoken to speak, someone I was speaking to mentioned that they would be really keen on being part of my programs, but ideally with a small group of people who were at similar stage in business to them. And when we discussed it, really what that looks like is a small group mastermind. So I felt quite excited by that because I have informally run masterminds over the years and I thought that this could be an opportunity to create one very small group mastermind. And so I'm opening up expressions of interest. What is a mastermind, you may ask? Good question. So a mastermind can be many things, but at its core it is a curated group of business owners at not necessarily similar stages, but certainly with similar types of goals or challenges. But the group comes together on a regular basis and each member brings their expertise, their insight, their ideas to support each other's business goals and challenges. So each month in the mastermind session you would come with a challenge that you would like to mastermind and you will have an opportunity to sort of be in the hot seat while and seek support from everyone else in the room and that that would include me. So the group supports each other, they challenge each other, they share ideas and it's also a great way to stay accountable for these, these big things that you're working on. My job as the mastermind facilitator is to hold the space to contribute insights and ideas also and to make sure that there is a really good balance in the group. It is ideally suited for experienced coaches who are exploring what their next step is. They might have a big growth agenda, they might be looking at a big change. It would be suited for people who want to change their business model. They may want to work differently, they may want to work less even. It could be suited for people who want to look seriously at non coaching offers or new ways. Or it could even be well suited to people who are embarking on a new challenge, something like forming a partnership or running, you know, completing a PhD or writing a book or bringing on associate coaches for the first time. So if you are interested in this sort of group or want to know more, please head over to the Show Notes and just book a call with me and we can discuss whether it would be a good fit for you. I hope you know this is not a high sales environment. I want to make sure that this is a group of people who will really get the most out of this. This group. The group will be capped sort of between five and 10 people. We want to make sure there's enough people that there is always a lot of contribution. But we also don't want it to be too big that everyone can't have a meaningful experience. Masterminds, you know, the big question about masterminds is what does it cost? And typically masterminds have a very high level of investment. So I've seen them anywhere from 15,000 USD up to the hundreds of thousands of USD. My hope is that this one would be kept below about 5000 USD as we start off and would do that by not necessarily including things, things like retreats and those sorts of activities. But I can give you more information on that when we have a chat. Okay. So please head over to the Show Notes, book a call with me or drop me a message and I will get back to you about, about this opportunity. I'm hoping that we will, yeah, we'll form this group pretty quickly and we will, we'll, we'll iterate and if we get lots of interest, we will look at forming a second group. Okay, onto today's topic. So today is all about five things to consider when you're building your tech stack. Now the this episode was inspired by the masterclass that I ran in the Impact Coach Collective this month, which is all about the tech stack, and I went into the categories of tools that that are used and the examples of the specific software or subscriptions that I use that I've seen used that I think are interesting. I'm not going to go into the tools in detail today because we would be for a very long time, but I want to share some ideas and some themes that I think are important. Now again, I'm conscious that you might have questions about specific tools and how they would apply to your business. There are so many options. So in the show Notes, as mentioned, there are a few different ways you could ask me your specific questions. One is a form where you can send through questions for me to cover in future episodes. You can also book a quick call with me if you'd like to chat about your tech stack and figure out if you'd be a good fit for any of my programs. Or you can head on over to LinkedIn or even Instagram or Facebook and send me a message with your question and I will get back to you the sorts of before we dive into my five things, I just wanted to share, you know, the categories that I think of when I'm thinking about the tools in our business. And that includes our document management systems, our task and process management systems, our financial systems, our CRM systems, our client engagement tools, our delivery tools, the tools we use to create and maintain our websites, our email marketing tools, and then there's a whole bunch of others that go everywhere from, you know, form management to surveys to graphic design to password protection and security. And then, you know, I also think that there is a category that is AI tools. And you know, I think these are all really nice to have, but I think they're becoming more and more necessary part of doing business. So I, I think some of the tools under the AI category are also very important. So okay, what should you consider when you are building your tech stack? My five things to think about. The first one is I think that you have to start conservatively and this is very not like me. I'm like an all in, go for it, subscribe for everything, give it a go kind of person. And because I am that kind of person, I can tell you that that sort costs a lot of money and it doesn't always work. So starting conservatively really means not investing in a tool until you have a reason to do so. Now you might say, well I really want to use it. It looks really shiny and new. I think it would make me more organized and transform my Life and business. And that is a reason why. But in my experience, I would say invest in a tool once you have enough volume of that particular task that you really need to manage it, right? That, you know, you can't keep up with all the details or you are missing things or there's something that you need to get out or get off your plate. So, yeah, definitely start conservatively. Now, my one exception to that is I do recommend investing in good financial systems, you know, pretty early on, pretty much from the start. And that is because we want to make sure you have really good financial data. And financial data is important from a compliance perspective, right? So that when it comes to tax time, you don't have huge amounts of problems. But it's also important because we want to be tracking our progress and we want to be looking at our financial metrics. And if we're just working off spreadsheets, which, look, there's nothing wrong with working off spreadsheets. And I recommend spreadsheets as the starting point for almost all of the tools we use in our coaching business. But with your financial systems, the reporting matters, as does, you know, being able to look at trends over time. So if you're going to prioritise anything, it would be a financial system. I use Xero, but people use all sorts of different tools for that. Okay, so start conservatively. Don't invest in something until you know you actually need to do it. The second tip I have, and maybe these are all related to be honest, and what that means is that you could have all of the tools in the world, but if you don't have a good process to support the use of that tool, one that is really about the outcome you are seeking, which is why you're using the tool. If you don't have a good process, then the tool is not necessarily going to help you achieve your outcome. And I think that this particularly applies in things like CRMs or engagement tracking tools. Because if you don't have, for example, if you are using a CRM, and I'll use a live example. So I had A CRM called ActiveCampaign recently, not recently, but a couple of years ago, I used this tool and it actually tracked our clients and our prospects. And we had a sales, a sales process lined up. And you know, in theory what we would do is as a client, move from one stage of the sales process to the next. I would move them across on the tool and eventually, you know, we would be able to track all of that information. Now, firstly, there wasn't the Problem with it was that I hadn't defined the sales process properly. So I had defined the sales process for the purpose of using the tool not based on what the actual sales cycle looked like. And so what that meant was that it wasn't actually the tool wasn't helping me to navigate a sales cycle. It was something that I would go back to and update retrospectively. Whereas if I think I had done the thinking a little bit better and had, had defined the, the, the sales process maybe a little bit more accurately or realistically, then perhaps it could have been more helpful. But the tool on its own, if it isn't the right process, isn't going to, to work. So I would, you know, I would have been better using a spreadsheet or just like a Kanban board on my task management tool and just moving names across, across the, the sheets rather than this very big and complex tool because I didn' process and, and perhaps I didn't need it. And you know, actually I'm going to move on to the next tip because I was about to talk about why I think that matters. But the third tip I have is you have to manage yourself before you can manage a tool. And, and I speak from, from experience here. So if you are you, you might be a great optimist and I consider myself one of those. And so you see all of the great marketing around some of these tools and you think, oh yes, I, that will change my business. It's very exciting. God, I sound like I am the demographic for people selling software. Please, please don't. That doesn't mean I want to get a whole bunch of marketing messages if people are listening to this. But you know, I get excited by those things. I'm like, wow, that tool will change my business. That is exciting. It's pretty, it's going to make me feel organized. But the truth is, you know, if you don't have the right behaviors around and the disciplines around using a tool, then the tool you invest in isn't going to work any better than a spreadsheet or a, you know, a piece of paper. And so I guess my, my tip there and the thing to consider when you build your tech stack is before you make a big investment, build a low res version of it and build the muscle that you need to have. So if the muscle you need to have is that you need to get in the habit of updating a system when things happen so you know that a CRM is a good example, like you need to update where your clients are at in the Sales process as and when it happens, you need to link the sales emails that you are sending to the CRM or you know, you need to, I don't know, you get, you get the gist. If there is a muscle that requires you to input data or to take particular steps, practice doing it for a while and do it, you know, simply on a spreadsheet or on your task management software before you make the investment. Because there's a few things you might discover. Firstly, you might discover that it was a nice idea, but in reality you aren't going to, you are not going to use it, right? In which case saved yourself some money. Great. You might discover through doing this manual version that it's not the right tool. That you know, you want something more simple or you want something that is part of a tool you already use. You might discover that your low res version is absolutely all you need. Or what you do through practicing for a while is you train yourself, you build the muscle and then you can invest in the tool and know that you're going to use it. So yeah, number three, manage yourself before you manage a tool. The fourth thing to consider when you build your tech stack is that multifunctional tools are fantastic and they are also terrible. What do I mean by that? Multifunctional tools are those, those softwares that have lots of purposes. So the, the all in ones they might do, for example task management and CRM and sales process or they to website and email hosting. Those are the examples I can think of. I'll share a few examples. And the pros of these multifunctional tools are good. Sometimes they keep the investment down because you know, all of the little tools can really add up because they're all monthly subscriptions. So it can keep your investment down. I think that that can be good, although sometimes they charge a premium for it. And I can kind of see why. Because another pro of a multifunctional tool is that there is one learning curve, right? Learn one thing, you have to integrate one tool and it all makes sense. You don't have to like learn, you know, five different ways of doing something. So sometimes lower investment, one learning curve. If you really like it, that's great. That's the pros, the cons are just, just like in, in anything really. If you are trying to be everything to everyone, you often can't do it as well. And with tools that means, you know, they might do one thing really well, but the other stuff is kind of like a bolt on and it may not be quite as, as wonderful. And sometimes that matters and sometimes it doesn't because sometimes it's okay. Your, your needs for those additional pieces are just that they function. It doesn't matter if they're, you know, the best in the market. So sometimes that doesn't matter, but sometimes it does. And sometimes it can be frustrating when you have a tool that doesn't quite do what you want it to do. But, you know, you may not be paying for it. So you might say, well, the cost of this, you know, not having to pay for it makes it worth it it. So some examples of multifunctional tools that I use that I like. Monday.com and I'll put a link to all the systems that I mentioned in the show notes. Some of those are affiliate links. But Monday.com I use it in a couple of ways. I use it as a task management tool. So it is, you know, it's a typical task management tool. We've got it set up with the categories of tasks and projects that we're working on. We can use those as templates template. So it's also a process management tool. I guess it is a great tool because my EA and I can use it to communicate who's doing what by when and send feedback on those things. It also hosts. Holds our agendas for all of the meetings that we have. But how I also use it is I also use it as a client coaching engagement tracker. And I think this is a great idea for coaches. Like, unless you have got like an extremely large number of, of coaches which, which you may well have, which of which is great. And you might then start to look at specific coaching engagement trackers and tools. But the way I have it set up is that for each coachee that I have or that we have in our business, whether I'm doing the coaching or not. And then underneath that it has a series of tasks and steps that we need to tick off. So we have the internal stuff, things around invoicing, client management, you know, client check in, coach management, you know, so have we set our coaches the statement of works, for example. And then what I think, you know, I really wish I had done sooner in my business is then a really simple process of all of the inclusions in that coaching program, when they're scheduled, when they're completed, and notes. So, you know, it might be okay. Well, we have two alignment sessions with the manager and we are thinking that they'll happen one early on and one at the end. There'll be, let's say six coaching sessions There'll be an assessment and a debrief that we'll do. There might be stakeholder interviews, but I'll have those all there so that at any point either me or my assistant can go in and look at it and say, this is where we're at. We've got everything scheduled. And that's really relevant when you're working for corporate clients, because often they will get in touch and they will want to know, you know, what's the progress? Where are you at? Has everything been happening? And, you know, sometimes I can't remember that off the top of my head, so I need to look it up. And I say, okay, yep, it's all progressing. Three of the sessions, though, have been delayed or rescheduled. So, you know, then we have to talk about what is there. Is there an issue with engagement? Is there, What's. What's happening there? So Monday.com is one example of a multifunctional tool, and I really like it for that. Another example of a tool that is very integral to my business now is Kajabi. And the way I use Kajabi, and, you know, the ways I use Kajabi is that it is where we host, we design our website, all of our landing pages, we host our digital course and our. The. The community portal for the Impact Coach Collective. It is also our email. Our email marketing provider. So it's where I host my newsletter, but it doesn't have, you know, sort of CRM functionality if you like. But it is, for me, it is very simple to use so that. That. Well, me and wonderful Gillian, who helps me do most of this, it is a fairly simple system, but. And we've had to only have like one learning curve on that now for it is. It is an example of a multifunctional one that is perhaps more expensive. But if you're a coach and you think you might one day like to host digital courses or you have content that you want to host and you want to build a website, and you can do that quite simply using templates or. And you want to host an email newsletter, I think it's a really good tool. So I've got that link if you like, as well, in the show notes. Another example of a multifunctional tool might be something like Canva, which you might not think of, but Canva, yes, you can use it for all of your graphic design. I use it for not just graphics, for things like social media, tiles, all of that sort of stuff. But I also, I develop all of my PowerPoints now in Canva, because there's a lot more I can do with the, with the graphics and the look of it. I design a lot of, a lot of documents on there. And you can in fact host very simple web pages on Canva, which I think is really interesting. And I haven't done that, but I like the sound of it. And Canva, if you haven't used it before, you can, you know, build in all of your brand or your colors, your fonts, your logos, can upload all your photos. And it's just a really easy place to, to do that sort of work from. So, so, yeah, multifunctional tools are good and they have their downsides, so keep, keep that in mind. And the fifth thing I think you needed to consider when you're building your tech stack is the role of AI. Now, I am, I would say I am AI curious. So I'm always interested in hearing about practical tools that people are using and how they're using it. And, you know, I'm not, I'm not a huge fan of purely AI generated content. I don't find it to be compelling yet. But the systems and the tools that are available to us now are so much more sophisticated even than they were last year. And so I think when we're thinking about, you know, this, the set of tools that we have in our business to help us do what we do easier, more efficiently, more quickly, I think we have to consider AI as part of that. And the way that I like to think of it is thinking of AI as an assistant, right? And it can save you, you know, it can save you time, it can save you money by replacing certain things in your business. So either either things you would have to hire people for or tools you would have to buy. And so I find it as an assistant in a few key categories. So it can help with idea generation. It can help as a writing assistant. So there's a, there's a, you know, I'm really clear in expressing it as a writing assistant rather than doing the writing because it's really valuable for editing, for, you know, writing standard emails, for coming up with messaging over difficult things that you might need to say, making your content sales enabled, for example. It can help with, you know, summarizing or reducing the length of something that you've written. It can also develop agendas and outlines and frameworks. Look, it can even, you know, help you create a draft of a work workshop. It could help you to build a system or a process. You know, really, the sky's the limit with AI. And it also really depends on, you know, your willingness to take the time to train the AI and to teach it your voice and to teach it about your business. And of course that requires, you know, sort of spending some money on some of the, the, the proprietary tools rather than just using the open AI of ChatGPT. But the ChatGPT that you pay for, for example, example, you may want to do that to get access to a lot of those tools, but you know, keep an eye on, you know, listen to what other people are doing. I think it's really important to keep up to date. Not necessarily so. I have not yet jumped into using AI in my coaching, but I think using AI in our businesses as executive coaches is really powerful. So do think about, you know, any, any system or process that you have that is very repetitive or that is taking you a lot of time. Think about how AI can help. Listen to podcast episodes about AI. There's a lot out there and, and see how you go with that. Okay, I hope those five things have been helpful. As I mentioned, if you would like to talk about specific tools and I'm conscious of not sharing too many specific tools because they will go out of date quickly. But please, please set up a call with me or drop me a line and I'd be really happy to talk about your business. And and don't forget, if you are interested in that, that mast mind that I mentioned, very small group that we are starting with, please just drop me a line or book a call directly with me and I would love to speak to you about that. Have a wonderful week and I look forward to speaking to you again next week. Thanks for listening to this episode of the Business of Executive Coaching. If you found it helpful, please share it with a colleague or friend on LinkedIn. And don't forget to tag me so I can say thanks. I would be tremendously grateful also if you would leave a review on Apple Podcasts. More reviews means more people can find us. This episode was brought to you by the Impact Coach Collective where executive coaches grow their businesses in a community of peers with business education, mentoring, deal clinics and more. If you'd like to contact me or work with me further or more, my free resources, courses and more info on the Impact Coach Collective can be found at elliscarf. Com. Have a brilliant week and I look forward to talking to you again soon.