This short document answers the most common questions we’ve received from hundreds of coaches who joined upcoach before you. Spending just 5 to 10 minutes here can save you hours later — especially in your early days. You might be surprised how quickly you’ll feel like an upcoach pro. 😊
Key Concepts: Program, Course, and Smart Document
Learn the 3 core concepts of upcoach: Programs, Courses, and Smart Docs.
Understanding these will help you move faster from day one.
What is a Program?
This is what a program looks like — a dedicated space where clients meet their coach, track progress, and access everything they need.
A program is where your coaching happens. You bring together everything your clients need — tasks, courses, forms, events, and community — in one organized space.
This is also where you invite your clients, communicate with them, assign work, and track progress. In short, everything happens inside a program.
If you do private 1-on-1 coaching, you'll typically create one program per client.
If you run group coaching, you'll create one program per group.
And yes — a client can be a member of multiple programs at the same time.
💡 Do I need to design a program each time?
💡 Do I need to design a program each time?
No. Programs are reusable by design. You can simply duplicate a program you've created before and start using it with a new client or group.
What is a Course?
This is what a course looks like — structured into modules and lessons, enriched with videos and interactive questions. Clients learn, reflect, and track their progress step by step.
A course is a structured learning experience you build using the course editor.
You organize your materials — videos, audio, text, files — and add activities like tasks, worksheets, and habits.
Courses are made up of modules and lessons, and they always live inside a program. You can include multiple courses in a single program — for different topics, skill levels, or coaching goals.
You can design them anytime in the Admin Panel — but to deliver them to clients, you’ll need a program.
💡 Can I reuse a course?
💡 Can I reuse a course?
Yes. Once created, you can use the same course across multiple programs, just like a training asset in your coaching library.
When to use a Program vs. a Course?
What’s the difference?
Some users confuse these two — here's the simple breakdown:
Programs are your client portals. You always need one, even if you don’t teach.
Courses are for coaches who include training in their practice — and many do.
🧩 First, create a program. Then, if needed, bring your courses into it.
What is a Smart Document?
A Smart Document in action — like this intake form inside a program.
Use them to collect goals, reflections, or progress — again and again, with any client.
Smart Documents are interactive forms you can use inside your programs or courses.
You create them with the Smart Document editor. They’re great for things like:
goal-setting forms, intake forms, reflections, exercises — and more.
💡 Can I use the same Smart Document in more than one place?
💡 Can I use the same Smart Document in more than one place?
Absolutely. Smart Documents are built to be reused across programs, lessons, and clients — no need to duplicate content.
Where should I start?
The best place to start? Create a program.
Use a ready-made template or build one from scratch — then customize it for your coaching style.
That depends on your coaching style:
If training is a big part of what you do → start by building your courses and smart documents.
If not → you can start directly with a program and invite clients right away.
📌 Either way, we recommend beginning with a program — the space where your clients will log in and work with you. It gives you the big picture of what the experience looks like — then you can enrich it with courses or interactive forms.
💡 Bonus: upcoach includes ready-made program templates to help you get started faster.
What's a client?
In upcoach, a client is the person you're working with — whether you call them a client, student, participant, or member.
You invite them into a program, where they interact with the content and tools you’ve prepared for them — lessons, tasks, forms, events, and more.
They do not have access to your Admin Panel or other clients’ information. Clients only see the content and activity of the programs they’ve been added to.
If you're running 1-on-1 coaching, each client typically has their own program.
If you’re running group coaching, clients in the same program may also see and engage with each other — depending on how you set up community features.
What do clients see and do?
What do clients see and do?
Once invited to a program, a client can:
View and complete tasks and habits, access and progress through courses, fill out Smart Documents (like goal-setting forms or reflections), join scheduled calls or events, send and receive notes or messages, and more.
Everything is structured — so they know exactly where to go and what to do next.
Can a client be in more than one program?
Can a client be in more than one program?
Yes. A single client can be part of multiple programs — for different goals or phases.
For example:
One for onboarding
One for weekly coaching
Another for a special topic or cohort group
You decide how to organize your programs — and which clients belong to which ones.
Navigating in upcoach
upcoach has three main sections that you'll navigate between: Admin Panel, Programs, and (optionally) the Homepage.
Admin Panel:
The Admin Panel is your central workspace — where you set everything up and manage your coaching business behind the scenes.
Here are some of the key things you can do in the Admin Panel:
Create and manage clients, programs, and assets like courses, smart documents, agendas and offers
Customize your organization: upload a logo, change your subdomain, or set up a custom domain
Visit each client’s CRM page to track their activity
Monitor progress and keep everything organized
In short, the Admin Panel is where you prepare, organize, and manage your coaching environment.
Programs:
Programs are where the coaching actually happens. You’ll go here to run, customize, and interact with your clients inside each program.
This is the space where lessons are taken, tasks are completed, forms are submitted, and real coaching takes place.
As a coach or admin, you’ll move back and forth between the Admin Panel and Programs:
On any program page, you can click “Admin Panel” to jump back
In the Admin Panel, you have access to a full Programs list — just click to open any program
💡 Tip: Click the Search bar in the Programs list to see every program you have access to. It’s the fastest way to jump into any program — especially if you work with multiple groups or clients.
Homepage:
Homepage from the client’s perspective.
It’s the first thing they see after logging in — a clean, organized hub with direct links to their programs and activities.
The Homepage is a simple, customizable landing page for your clients.
It’s turned on by default and becomes the first thing your clients see when they log in.
It gives them a clean overview of all their activities — across one or more programs.
This is especially helpful if a client is part of multiple programs.
Optional: You can toggle the homepage on or off anytime in Admin Panel > Settings
Customizable: Reorder, rename, or hide sections to match your workflow