Most coaches start their practice from their profession: coaching. The administration surrounding it comes afterwards, and that's precisely where it often becomes difficult. Notes in a notebook, assignments via email, a result in a separate attachment: before you know it, a client's file is spread across three locations and you no longer know what is where. That is inconvenient, and as soon as it concerns personal data, it is also a legal risk.
What belongs in a client file?
For a coaching practice, a file is usually a combination of: the agreements about the trajectory (goal, number of sessions, fee), your own work notes, assignments and reflections from the client, and the communication surrounding it. There is no legal obligation to keep files as in healthcare, but as soon as you record personal data, which you almost always do in coaching, the GDPR simply applies: you must be able to state what you store, why, for how long, and your client can request access or deletion.
What many coaches encounter
Email and loose files are the habit, and at the same time the weakest point. A mailbox is not designed for confidential trajectories: everything is mixed up, deleting per client is difficult, and sending to the wrong recipient happens easily. Anyone who takes their administration seriously wants one secure place per client where the entire trajectory is together and which you can also neatly close off again.
How Coachloket solves this
On Coachloket, you work per client in a private coaching space, built according to the GDPR: only you and your client have access. Chat, email, assignments, and material from the trajectory are together there, separated from your other clients. This way, your file is no longer a loose collection of files, but a place you open and close per trajectory. Additionally, the platform brings you to the attention of people actively seeking a coach; your profile is pre-verified, which instills trust in your future clients.
Getting started yourself
Start with three questions: what do I currently record, where is it located, and can I find and tidy it up per client? If you don't want to build that yourself, then see how Coachloket works for coaches: you create a profile that we first verify, and for your place on the platform, you pay a monthly subscription that can be canceled monthly.