Meet Michelle: Your AI Co-Pilot Inside Coachful
Running a coaching business means wearing a dozen hats at once — program designer, scheduler, content creator, billing manager, and actual coach. Michelle is Coachful's built-in AI assistant, designed to take the administrative and operational weight off your shoulders so you can focus on what you do best: coaching people.
Michelle lives inside your Coachful coach dashboard and understands your entire workspace. She doesn't just answer general questions — she can read your programs, your client roster, your schedule, and your platform settings, then take real action on your behalf. Think of her as a knowledgeable team member who's always available, never needs onboarding, and already knows how Coachful works.
TL;DR: What Michelle Does
- Answers questions about how Coachful works, right in context — no need to leave the dashboard.
- Executes actions across the platform: creating programs, drafting content, updating settings, and more.
- Saves time by replacing repetitive admin tasks with a single natural-language prompt.
- Learns your workspace so her answers are specific to your setup, not generic documentation.
Where to Find Michelle
Michelle is accessible from any screen in the Coachful coach dashboard. Look for the Michelle icon — typically a chat bubble or AI indicator — in the bottom corner or navigation bar of your workspace. Clicking it opens a conversational panel where you can type requests or questions in plain English.
She is available to users with the coach, admin, and super_admin roles, as well as editors. If you're a super_coach (the organization owner), you have full access to everything Michelle can do. If you're a virtual_assistant or member org role, your access to Michelle may be limited depending on the permissions your organization owner has configured.
Michelle is not visible to clients or end-users — she's a coach-side tool built for the people running the business.
What Can Michelle Actually Do?
This is where Michelle goes far beyond a standard chatbot. She's wired into Coachful's platform so she can both inform and act. Here's a breakdown of her core capabilities:
Answer Platform Questions in Context
Instead of hunting through documentation, you can ask Michelle things like:
- "How do I add a habit to a program week?"
- "What's the difference between a cohort squad and a community squad?"
- "How does Stripe Connect payout timing work?"
Michelle answers using knowledge of how Coachful is built, so her responses are specific and accurate — not a Google search result. She references real UI paths and workflows so you can act immediately.
Execute Actions Across the Platform
Michelle can go beyond answering questions and actually perform tasks for you. Examples of action-oriented prompts that work well:
- "Create a new 12-week program called 'High Performance Blueprint' with 3 tasks per week."
- "Draft a welcome message for my new cohort squad."
- "Set up a coupon for 20% off my Scale offer."
- "Summarize the progress notes from my last session with [client name]."
The ability to trigger platform actions through natural language is what sets Michelle apart from a simple help widget. You describe the outcome you want, and she maps it to the correct platform workflow.
Help You Build Programs Faster
Designing a structured coaching curriculum from scratch is one of the most time-consuming parts of launching a coaching offer. Michelle can help you draft a program outline — weeks, days, tasks, goals, and habits — based on a simple brief. Tell her your coaching methodology, your ideal client, and your program length, and she'll generate a structured starting point you can refine inside the Programs builder.
For example: "Help me outline a 10-week executive coaching program focused on leadership presence, with 2 tasks per week and a weekly reflection habit." Michelle will produce a draft you can import directly into your program structure.
Support Your Content and Communication
Michelle can draft copy for your Coachful website pages, blog posts, landing pages, lead magnets, and program descriptions. She understands the context of what you're building — so if you're creating a sales page for a new group coaching offer, she can write persuasive copy that reflects your positioning without you starting from a blank page.
She can also help with client-facing messaging: welcome emails, check-in prompts, session prep instructions, or squad announcements. Paste a rough idea and ask her to refine it, or give her a persona and let her write from scratch.
Navigate Settings and Billing Configuration
Coachful has deep settings across scheduling, billing, domains, and integrations. Michelle can walk you through any configuration step-by-step. Ask things like:
- "How do I connect my custom domain with SSL?"
- "Where do I set up a payment plan for a multi-tier offer?"
- "How do I enable calendar sync for my booking availability?"
For more complex setups — like configuring Stripe Connect or enabling Google Calendar sync — Michelle can guide you through each click so nothing gets missed.
Pro tip: Coaches on Coachful who use Michelle regularly report cutting their platform setup time significantly. Instead of learning a new tool from scratch, they just ask Michelle what to do next — and she tells them, or does it for them.
How to Get the Most Out of Michelle
Like any AI tool, Michelle performs better when you give her clear, specific prompts. Here are the habits that get the best results:
Be Specific About What You Want
Vague prompts get vague answers. Instead of "help me with my program," try "add a 5-minute journaling task to Day 3 of Week 2 in my 'Mindset Reset' program." The more context you give — names, numbers, goals, formats — the more useful her response will be.
Tell Her Your Role and Goal
Michelle adapts her tone and depth based on context. If you're a new coach setting up your first offer, say so. If you're an experienced coach who just needs a quick answer, ask for the short version. You can even say "explain this like I've never used Coachful before" or "give me the advanced setup steps."
Use Her for Iterative Refinement
Michelle remembers the context of your current conversation. If she drafts a program outline and you want to adjust the structure, just say "make Week 1 lighter and Week 8 more intensive." You don't have to re-explain the whole thing — she works iteratively, like a real collaborator.
Ask Follow-Up Questions
If her first answer isn't quite right, push back. "That's helpful — but how does that work if I have two coaches on my team?" or "What happens if the client misses a payment?" She can go deeper on any topic without losing context.
Michelle vs. the Help Center
Both Michelle and this help center (help.coachful.co) are here to support you — but they serve different purposes:
- Help center articles (like this one) are great for in-depth, step-by-step guides you want to read at your own pace, bookmark, or share with a team member.
- Michelle is best for in-the-moment questions, quick actions, and tasks you want done without leaving your workflow.
You don't have to choose between them. Many coaches use Michelle to get unstuck fast, then come to the help center for deeper context on a topic. They're complementary.
Common Mistakes When Using Michelle
Asking questions that are too broad
Prompts like "how does Coachful work?" will produce a broad overview when you probably need something specific. Narrow your question to the exact task or feature you're dealing with right now. The more specific, the more actionable the answer.
Expecting Michelle to have client-facing access
Michelle operates in the coach dashboard only. She can't message your clients directly on your behalf, access client-side views, or interact with your clients' app experience. She's a back-office assistant, not a client-facing chatbot.
Not verifying critical settings she configures
When Michelle executes an action — like creating a program or setting up an offer — always review the result before publishing or sharing it with clients. She's highly accurate, but anything involving pricing, billing, or public-facing content deserves a human review step.
Using Michelle for real-time client support
Michelle is an AI assistant for coaches managing their Coachful workspace. She's not a coaching AI for your clients. If you're looking to build AI-enhanced client experiences, that's a different conversation — Michelle helps you build and manage the platform that delivers those experiences.
Forgetting she can take actions, not just answer questions
A lot of coaches initially treat Michelle like a search engine and stop at reading her answers. Remember that she can often do the thing you're asking about, not just explain it. If you ask "how do I create a new squad?" try following up with "go ahead and create one called 'Q3 Cohort' as a community squad." You might be surprised how much she can handle.
Not using Michelle to onboard new team members
If you've added an editor, virtual assistant, or additional coach to your Coachful org, point them to Michelle first. She can answer their platform questions without pulling you into every onboarding conversation. This is especially useful for virtual_assistant role users who need to learn the platform quickly.
Michelle and Your Data: What to Know
Michelle has access to your workspace data — your programs, clients, offers, settings — in order to give you accurate, contextual answers. This data is scoped to your organization only. Michelle does not share information between different coaches' workspaces, and she operates within Coachful's standard data privacy policies.
For questions about data handling, encryption, or compliance, see the privacy and data guide or contact Coachful support directly.
Ready to Put Michelle to Work?
Michelle is available right now inside your Coachful dashboard — no setup required, no prompts to configure. The fastest way to experience what she can do is to open her panel and ask something you've been putting off: a program you haven't built yet, a setting you've been unsure about, or a piece of content you've been meaning to write.
If you're not yet on Coachful, you can start a free trial and have access to Michelle from day one. There's no better way to explore a coaching platform than with an AI assistant who already knows how it works. Start your free trial at Coachful and meet Michelle for yourself — or if you're already a member, sign in to your workspace and open the Michelle panel now.