If you’ve ever felt like your coaching business runs you, instead of the other way around, you’re not alone.
Most fitness professionals start out doing it all manually: onboarding clients, sending check-ins, updating programs, chasing renewals… and somehow trying to fit in time to actually coach.
Everfit Academy recently hosted Kara Carnegie-Harding, founder of Outward In Virtual Assistance, for the session How to Automate Your 8-Week Challenge in Everfit. The focus: Help coaches build a repeatable, scalable system that delivers a great client experience from start to finish, without the manual chaos.
Here’s a breakdown of what you missed and why automating smarter, not harder.
Meet the Expert
Kara Carnegie-Harding
Founder, Outward In Virtual Assistance
Kara helps fitness coaches systemize their business operations and build automation strategies that feel authentic, organized, and stress-free. She’s supported hundreds of coaches globally to create more impact without adding more hours.
Step 1: The 8-Week Challenge Framework 💡
Kara started by outlining her signature 8-week automation structure inside Everfit:
- Week 1: Onboarding and setup
- Weeks 2–9 (8 weeks): Challenge content and coaching delivery for your clients
- Week 10: Upsell, wrap-up, and feedback
This design keeps engagement consistent over the full program cycle, ensuring that clients never feel lost or forgotten. Every message, task, and check-in is scheduled in advance, freeing coaches from the stress of daily management.
Step 2: Personalized Onboarding
Automatically assign suitable training programs, meal plans, and habits that align with the client’s personality, based on their form responses, using Everfit’s trigger forms. This could also include access to resources, a community forum, or recipe books.
The result? Every client gets a custom experience that feels personal from day one, while coaches save hours on admin.
Step 3: Segment Clients
Once clients are onboarded, segmentation becomes the secret to staying organized. Kara demonstrated how to use Everfit’s Groups and Tags to keep communication clear and marketing targeted.
By tagging clients based on their package or channel, coaches can:
- Separate challenge participants from long-term clients
- Send tailored updates or upsell offers automatically
- Track metrics like Revenue, Client Growth, and so on
This kind of data-driven organization helps you deliver a smoother experience while increasing conversions effortlessly.
Step 4: Link Packages & Payments
Offer flexible plans (e.g., $560 pay-in-full or $55/week) linked directly to automation sequences and start dates.
Once a client purchases a package, Everfit automatically:
- Triggers onboarding and challenge autoflows
- Grants community and resource access
- Starts their program on the correct date
This system eliminates manual steps while providing a polished, professional experience from payment to program delivery.
Step 5: Keep Engagement High
Integrate community groups and leaderboards to spark motivation and friendly competition throughout the challenge.
- Post weekly challenges
- Celebrate wins and give shout-outs
- Foster friendly competition that keeps energy high
These small touches turn a simple challenge into a thriving, supportive community that your clients can’t wait to join again.
Step 6: Launch, Test, Refine
Map your workflow, connect sequences, test before launch, and improve based on client feedback.
Her pro tip? “Start with Week 1 and Week 5 – build the rest as you go.” This helps you get moving faster and adapt based on client feedback.
What Coaches Took Away
By the end of the series, one message stood out loud and clear:
Automation isn’t about doing less. It’s about doing the right things better.
By establishing the right systems, coaches can achieve several benefits:
- Deliver a more cohesive and predictable client experience.
- Maintain client accountability with reduced manual oversight.
- Naturally boost client renewals and referrals.
- Scale their business sustainably without compromising their unique value.
Ready to implement these strategies? Access the webinar replays, including FREE downloadable resources like:
👉 A Challenge Set-up Checklist
👉 An 8-Week Challenge Planner Template
👉 A Challenge Launch Template
Ready to Streamline Your Coaching Business?
Everfit gives you everything you need to manage clients, programs, check-ins, and payments – all in one place. From automation to engagement tools, Everfit helps you work smarter and coach better.
