Introduction

It all began with a casual conversation. A friend of mine had recently embarked on a new career as a life coach, and as we chatted about his experiences, a lightbulb went off in my head. What if there was a tool that could make a coach's life easier? And just like that, Coachdesk was born.

No-Code Beginnings

Armed with enthusiasm and a no-code tool called Bubble, I dove headfirst into creating Coachdesk. The beauty of Bubble was its flexibility - I could iterate quickly and implement essential features without getting bogged down in complex coding.

First Features

• Basic client tracking

• Session scheduling

It wasn't fancy, but it got the job done. And more importantly, my friend was finding it useful in his coaching practice.

Expanding Horizons

As my friend's success with Coachdesk grew, so did our ambitions. We began to expand the feature set, adding:

• Resource sharing capabilities

• Questionnaires for tracking client progress

But with great features come great challenges...

As Coachdesk evolved, we started to hit the limitations of our no-code solution. Bubble struggled to handle the complex workflows and tasks we were implementing. Performance issues became a daily headache.

Starting over with code

My friend attended some networking events and spoke about Coachdesk with many of the coaches he met. There were quite a few of them interested in using Coachdesk as well. After onboarding just two more coaches, it became clear that Bubble couldn't keep up without upgrading to a premium plan. The cost? More than Coachdesk was earning.

Faced with these challenges, I made a bold decision: to rebuild Coachdesk from the ground up. This time, I went all-in with code:

• Frontend: VueJS

• Backend: Supabase

• Marketing site: WordPress

This rebuild was a learning experience like no other. Not only did I sharpen my programming and web development skills, but I also gained invaluable insights into the coaching industry.

Lessons learned

As I delved deeper into the world of coaching, some surprising truths emerged:

• The coaching industry is vast

• Many coaches struggle to make a living

• Finding clients is a major challenge for most

These revelations would ultimately play a crucial role in Coachdesk's fate.

Despite the rebuild and the growing potential of the coaching market, Coachdesk faced an unexpected hurdle: onboarding. As time went on, getting new coaches to adopt and use the platform became increasingly frustrating and difficult.In the end, I had to make a tough call. The effort required to continue building and maintaining Coachdesk outweighed the benefits. It was time to say goodbye.

While Coachdesk may not have become the next big thing in coaching software, it taught me invaluable lessons:

• The power (and limitations) of no-code tools

• The importance of understanding your target market

• The challenges of user onboarding and adoption

• The realities of running a side project alongside other commitments

Conclusion

Coachdesk may have been sunset, but the experience of building it continues to shine brightly. It's a reminder that not every project needs to be a runaway success to be worthwhile. Sometimes, the journey itself with all its twists, turns, and lessons is the real reward.