COLO gives business, life, and career coaches a single workspace for booking sessions, selling packages, running 1:1 and group programmes, and invoicing — without spreading work across Calendly, a separate proposal tool, Stripe, and a spreadsheet.
TL;DR
Business, life and career coaches use COLO as one workspace for booking sessions, selling packages and invoicing, instead of splitting the work across Calendly, a proposal tool, Stripe and a spreadsheet. The calendar handles both 1:1 and group sessions, invoicing covers packages, retainers and group cohorts, and proposals frame the programme — so package balances stop being a guess.
Who this is for
You are a solo coach or a small coaching practice selling six-, ten-, or twelve-session packages, monthly retainers, and the occasional group cohort. Most weeks look like ten to twenty 1:1 sessions, a small group call, and the constant background admin of booking, rescheduling, taking deposits, and remembering who has used how many sessions of their package.
The friction tends to be the same shape:
- Session admin is a job in itself. Booking, rescheduling, sending the call link, sending the reminder, logging the session — all on different tools.
- Package balances are a guess. A client bought ten sessions in February; you and the client both think they have used six or seven; nobody is sure.
- Group programmes need a different shape. Eight clients in a cohort, four group calls, individual 1:1s in between — and nothing tracks them as a single programme.
Three features coaches use every week
Calendar that handles 1:1 and group sessions
Run your booking calendar with availability windows per session type — discovery call, 1:1 coaching, group cohort call. The calendar feature offers a host of benefits, enhancing scheduling, productivity, and coordination for both users and clients. By integrating a robust calendar, users can improve organizational efficiency and facilitate better time management and coordination. Clients book from the portal, the call link goes out automatically, and the reminder fires the day before.
Invoicing that handles packages, retainers, and group cohorts
Sell a six-session package as one invoice, a monthly retainer as a recurring invoice, and a cohort enrolment as a one-off invoice. Integrating invoice functionality into our application streamlines the billing process, enhances accuracy, improves cash flow management, and provides a better overall experience for both businesses and clients. Clients pay by card from the portal; you stop chasing payment in the middle of a session.
Proposals that frame the programme
For discovery calls that convert into programmes, send a branded proposal that lists the programme objectives, the session schedule, the outcomes, and the fee. Win more clients with branded proposals and a modern way to collaborate. The client signs and pays; the programme becomes a project in the workspace with session count, notes, and homework tracked against it.
For more, see calendar and invoicing and payments.
A typical programme in COLO for a coach
- Enquiry — a prospect books a free discovery call from your portal; the lead becomes a client record automatically.
- Onboarding — after the discovery call you send a branded proposal for a ten-session package with the schedule and the fee; the client signs and pays from the portal; the programme opens as a project with ten sessions pre-loaded.
- Delivery — each session books from the calendar, the session note logs against the project, and homework or worksheets attach to the session so the client can find them in the portal.
- Payment — packages are paid up-front or on a payment plan; retainers are recurring; the finance dashboard shows package balance remaining per client.
How coaches use COLO today
Monday morning, a prospect books a free discovery call from your portal — the lead becomes a client record the moment they pick a slot. By Wednesday the call has happened; by Thursday morning you have sent a branded proposal for a ten-session package with the schedule, the outcomes, and the fee. The client signs and pays from the portal Thursday afternoon; the programme opens as a project with ten sessions pre-loaded and the first session already on the calendar.
Through the next ten weeks the sessions run against the programme, not against a Calendly link. Each session books from the client's portal in their local time zone; reminders fire the day before; session notes log privately against the client record. Homework and worksheets attach where the client can find them under their portal login. When a client mid-package asks how many sessions they have used, the answer is on the screen — not "let me check and get back to you."
By session ten the programme closes; the renewal prompt fires automatically; the client either renews into a new package or transitions to a monthly retainer. Either path is one click. The finance dashboard shows revenue per package, retainer revenue per client, and the slow drift between "I think I billed about $9k last month" and what actually cleared. The end-of-quarter review, which used to take an evening of spreadsheet wrangling, takes about ten minutes.
What it costs vs your current stack
Most working coaches carry a four-tool stack — a scheduler, a separate payment processor, a CRM or notes tool, and a spreadsheet for package balances. The monthly bill comes to roughly $60–80 before the first session of the month is booked. COLO replaces the four with one workspace, and the Solo plan covers the cycle end-to-end at zero.
| Tool | Plan | Cost/month |
|---|---|---|
| Current 4-tool stack | Calendly + Stripe + Notion + Sheets | ~$70 |
| COLO Solo | Free | $0 |
| COLO Pro | Per user/mo | $18 |
| COLO Grow | Per user/mo | $24 |
You swap a $70/month stack for one tool that already does this work. Pro adds an associate coach or programme manager; Grow adds the white-label client portal on your practice's custom domain.
FAQ
Q: Can I sell a package and let the client book each session from a remaining balance?
Yes. Set up the package as a project with the session count; the client books each session from the portal calendar and the remaining balance updates automatically.
Q: Can I run a group cohort with shared calls and individual 1:1s?
Yes. Run the cohort as a project with the cohort members as clients on it; group calls book against the cohort, 1:1s book against the individual client, and everyone sees only what is shared with them.
Q: How do I take a deposit and the balance for a high-ticket package?
Use a payment plan on the invoice — deposit on signing, balance on a future date — or split into two invoices with clear due dates. Clients pay both from the portal.
Q: Can clients reschedule a session themselves without emailing me?
Yes — clients reschedule from the portal within your reschedule window; outside the window, the request comes to you for approval.
Q: How does COLO compare with running Calendly plus Stripe plus a separate CRM?
For most solo coaches, the all-in-one is cheaper, replaces the three tools, and lets the client see programme progress in one place. See the Calendly comparison and our post on client management systems for freelancers.
Q: Can I take a deposit on a high-ticket programme and split the balance into monthly payments?
Yes. Use a payment plan on the invoice — deposit on signing, balance in monthly instalments — or split into multiple invoices with clear due dates. Clients pay each one from the portal.
Q: Can I run a coaching practice in multiple currencies for international clients?
Yes. Each client record holds the invoicing currency; the package or recurring invoice issues in that currency. The finance dashboard converts to your reporting currency on the day the payment cleared.
Q: How do I keep session notes confidential while the client sees their progress?
Session notes are private to you by default; the client portal shows what you choose to share — package balance, upcoming sessions, homework, paid invoices. Notes never leak to the client without you marking them visible.
Q: Can I run a group cohort with a shared welcome session and individual 1:1s?
Yes. The cohort is a single project with shared materials and the group calls; each cohort member also has their own 1:1 project for individual sessions and homework. Everyone sees only what is shared with them.
Q: How do I sell a discovery call as a free booking but a follow-up call as a paid session?
Set the discovery call as a free booking type with its own availability window; set the paid follow-up as its own session type with the fee attached. The portal routes each one through the right flow.
Pricing
Solo plan is free forever for one coach. See our pricing when you bring on an associate coach or a programme manager.