Dr. Tonya,
The pipeline is where your contacts become clients. This module is about using it every day, not just setting it up. By the end, you will know how to read the board at a glance, move contacts forward when real-world steps happen, and use both pipelines with intention.
One principle runs through all of it: the board only works if it reflects reality. Keeping it current is a two-minute habit. Everything else follows from that.
Each morning, before anything else, open the pipeline board and ask one question: does this still match what is actually happening?
Look for two things. First, any card that should have moved and has not. Second, any card that has been sitting in a stage longer than makes sense. Both are signals that something needs your attention or a decision.
This check takes about two minutes when the board is current. It takes longer when it has been neglected. The habit protects your time.
When a real-world step happens, the card moves the same day. Not next week. Not when you get to it. The board should always reflect where things actually stand. That is the contract you make with yourself when you use a pipeline system.
This pipeline tracks your leadership coaching and design research work. It is national in scope. Design research contacts live in this same pipeline - they carry a design-research tag so you can tell them apart when you filter the board.
| Stage | What it means in practice |
|---|---|
| New Contact | Someone is in your world and you have made initial contact. Nothing is scheduled yet. |
| Discovery Call Booked | A date and time is confirmed on the calendar. Move the card when the call is booked - not when you are thinking about booking it. |
| Discovery Call Completed | The call happened. Move the card immediately after. Do not wait to see how it goes. |
| Proposal Sent | A written proposal or scope of work has been sent. Not "I plan to send one." Sent. |
| Signed - Active | They said yes. An agreement is in place and the engagement has begun. |
| Completed | The engagement is finished. You delivered what you committed to. |
| Not a Fit | This person is not becoming a client in this silo. See Section 4 for how to use this stage well. |
This pipeline is for individual virtual therapy only. It is Illinois contacts only - that boundary is set by your state licensure. If someone outside Illinois reaches out about therapy, they go to Not a Fit. That is not a judgment about them. It is a legal boundary you have to hold.
| Stage | What it means in practice |
|---|---|
| New Inquiry | Someone has reached out or expressed interest. First contact has been made. |
| Consult Booked | A consultation is on the calendar. Moving the card here also triggers an automated confirmation email to the contact. |
| Consult Completed | The consultation happened. Move the card the same day. |
| Active Client | They have started therapy with you. Sessions are underway. |
| Graduated | They completed their work with you successfully. This is the positive end state. |
| Not a Fit | Not the right match - geography, clinical scope, or any other reason. |
That is the whole action. It takes about five seconds.
The mechanics are easy. The harder part is building the reflex to do it immediately when a real-world step happens. A call gets booked. A proposal goes out. A client signs. Each of those is a card move. Do it the same day, not later.
Not a Fit is a clarity stage, not a failure stage. Moving someone there means you have made a decision. This person is not becoming a client in this pipeline right now. That decision has value. It frees you from carrying the uncertainty.
Use it when you know. A contact who has been sitting in New Contact for a year because you are not sure what to do with them is not a pipeline. It is clutter. Make the call and move them.
You can also use it for geography (therapy contacts outside Illinois), scope (work that is not a match for your current practice), or any conversation that has clearly gone cold with no path forward.
Moving someone to Not a Fit does not delete them from your Contacts. They stay in your database. Their record is intact. You can create a new opportunity for them later if something changes. The pipeline just stops treating them as an active prospect.
Module 4 covers the Conversations Hub and the daily follow-up rhythm. You will learn how to use communication history to make every contact feel like the thread was never dropped - and how to build a morning routine that keeps the whole system current without taking more than a few minutes.
Emile