Tutorials & playbooks

Three guides that take a brand-new workspace to a published, paid, and populated academy. Every screenshot is of the real trainer portal, so what you read is what you will see.

Watch first

Two minutes inside the trainer portal

A silent tour of the five screens the guides below spend the most time in: the Overview dashboard, your course catalog, the site editor, the student roster, and the public page students land on.

Recorded against a live workspace — no mockups, no sped-up cuts.

Quick start

Your first hour, in order

If you only have one sitting, do these six things. Each links to the step that explains it in full, and the times are what an unhurried first pass actually takes.

About 60 minutes end to end

  1. Create the workspace and sign in5 minPick the slug students will see in your address, then sign in with a one-time code.
  2. Put your brand on it10 minLogo, two colours, a font. This is what makes the portal stop looking like a template.
  3. Build one course, start to finish20 minOne course with three or four lessons beats four half-finished ones.
  4. Write the landing page12 minHero, what you offer, proof, FAQ. Publish it — a draft helps nobody.
  5. Connect Stripe8 minNothing can be sold until this is done, so do it before you announce anything.
  6. Invite your first students5 minShare the link, then watch the Overview dashboard for the first completed lesson.

Guide 1

Launch your workspace

Create the workspace, learn where everything lives, and get it looking like your business before anyone else sees it.

Time: 20 minutes

Level: No prior setup needed

Before you start

  • An email address you can read right now — every sign-in is a code sent to it.
  • Your logo as a PNG or SVG, ideally on a transparent background.
  • Your brand colour as a hex value (something like #0f766e). Your website or logo file has one.

When you finish

  • A workspace live at your-slug.nexx.page that you can sign in to from any device.
  • Your logo, colours and font applied to both the trainer portal and the public site.
  • Any co-trainers invited, each seeing only the parts of the portal they should.

  1. Step 1: Create your workspace

    A workspace is one academy: its own students, catalog, branding and address. You will not need a password at any point — Nexx signs you in with a one-time code instead.

    1. 1.1On nexx.page, fill in the sign-up form with your academy name, the slug you want, and your email.
    2. 1.2Choose the slug carefully. It becomes your address — a slug of northside serves students at northside.nexx.page — and changing it later breaks every link you have shared. Lowercase letters, numbers and hyphens only.
    3. 1.3Submit, then check your inbox for a six-digit code and enter it. That is the whole sign-up.
    4. 1.4To come back later, go to /login, enter the same slug and email, and request a fresh code.

    Tip

    Codes expire, and only the newest one works. If you request a second code because the first was slow, the first one stops working — use the newest email in the thread, not the first.

    Watch out

    The email you sign up with becomes the workspace owner and is the only account that starts with every permission. Use an address you will still control in two years, not a personal one you plan to retire.

  2. Step 2: Learn the layout

    Where: Overview

    Everything in the trainer portal is one click from the left sidebar, and the sidebar is the same on every screen. Two minutes here saves an hour of hunting.

    1. 2.1Overview is your dashboard: active students, lessons completed, and how much of your plan you are using.
    2. 2.2Courses, Media Library and Bookings are where you build things. Website, Theme and Domains are how they look. Monetization, Subscription Plan and Team Management are the business side.
    3. 2.3Press ⌘K (Ctrl-K on Windows) anywhere in the portal to jump straight to a section by name instead of clicking through tabs.
    4. 2.4Preview site opens the public page exactly as a visitor sees it. Switch to Student Console shows you the logged-in student experience.
    The Overview dashboard. The numbers here are the fastest signal that something you published is actually being used.

    The Overview dashboard. The numbers here are the fastest signal that something you published is actually being used.

    Tip

    Preview site and Switch to Student Console are the two buttons worth learning first. Almost every "did that work?" question is answered by one of them in five seconds.

  3. Step 3: Apply your brand

    Where: Theme

    Theme drives both surfaces at once: the portal your team works in and the public site your students see. There is no second place to set this.

    1. 3.1Open Theme in the sidebar.
    2. 3.2Set your primary colour first — it is used for the main buttons and links. Pick something dark enough that white text on it stays readable.
    3. 3.3Set the accent colour for secondary actions, then choose a font and a corner radius. Rounded corners read friendlier; square reads more formal.
    4. 3.4Upload your logo, then save. Open Preview site to check the result against a real page rather than the swatches.
    The Theme editor. Every change here reaches the public site and the trainer portal together.

    The Theme editor. Every change here reaches the public site and the trainer portal together.

    Watch out

    A pale primary colour looks good in the picker and unreadable on a button. If you cannot read the label in Preview site at arm's length, it is too light.

  4. Step 4: Invite your team

    Where: Team Management

    Extra trainers get their own sign-in and only the permissions you grant. Nobody has to share the owner login.

    1. 4.1Open Team Management and invite each teammate by email address.
    2. 4.2Grant only what they need. A teaching assistant usually needs courses and students; they rarely need payouts or billing.
    3. 4.3They sign in the same way you do — their slug and their email, then a one-time code. Nothing to install.
    4. 4.4How many seats you get depends on your plan; Subscription Plan shows the current limit.
    Team Management, with the workspace owner and a second seat.

    Team Management, with the workspace owner and a second seat.

    Tip

    Permissions decide which sidebar tabs a teammate sees at all. If someone reports a missing tab, that is the first place to look — the tab is hidden, not broken.

If something goes wrong

The sign-in code never arrived.

Check spam first — it is almost always there. If not, confirm you typed the workspace slug exactly, since a code for a workspace that does not exist is never sent. Then request one more and use the newest email only.

I forgot my workspace slug.

It is in the address of any link you have shared, and in the welcome email from sign-up. If neither is to hand, contact us with the email you signed up with.

Can I change the slug later?

Not from the portal, because every shared link and every student bookmark points at it. If you truly need to move, connect a custom domain instead — that gives you a new address without breaking the old one.

Guide 2

Build a program and sell it

Turn an outline into a published course, put a landing page in front of it, and take the payment. This is the guide that ends with money.

Time: 45 minutes

Level: Assumes a workspace exists

Before you start

  • A rough outline of one course — four to six lesson titles is plenty to start.
  • Your lesson media: video links, PDFs, or just written text if that is how you teach.
  • Access to a Stripe account, or the details to open one (business name, bank account).
  • For a custom domain: the ability to add DNS records at your registrar.

When you finish

  • A published course with ordered lessons that students can work through.
  • A landing page that describes your offer and is live on the internet.
  • Stripe connected, so course and membership payments reach your bank.

  1. Step 1: Create the course

    Where: Courses

    A course is the container: title, description, price, and whether a membership includes it. Nothing about it is visible to students until you publish it, so build it in the open without worrying.

    1. 1.1Open Courses and choose New course.
    2. 1.2Give it a title students would recognise, and a slug — the slug becomes part of the course link, so keep it short.
    3. 1.3Set the price. Zero makes it free, which is the right choice for a lead magnet. Tick Included in membership if members should get it without paying again, and set a member price if members pay less rather than nothing.
    4. 1.4Write a description that says what the student will be able to do at the end, not what the course contains.
    5. 1.5Save. It stays a draft — the catalog shows it as Draft, and no student can see it.
    The course editor. Price, membership inclusion and member price are the three fields that decide who can open it.

    The course editor. Price, membership inclusion and member price are the three fields that decide who can open it.

    Tip

    Free and membership-included are not the same thing. Free means anyone with the link; membership-included means it unlocks for paying members and stays shut for everyone else.

  2. Step 2: Add the lessons

    Where: Courses

    Lessons are ordered, and the order is what students follow. Getting five short lessons live beats one perfect one nobody can start.

    1. 2.1In the course, choose New lesson and give it a title.
    2. 2.2Set its order number. Lessons are shown lowest first, so leaving gaps (10, 20, 30) makes it painless to slot one in later.
    3. 2.3Add the content: a video URL, written notes, or files. Anything you upload also lands in Media Library, so you can reuse it in another course.
    4. 2.4Repeat for each lesson, then use the preview control on a lesson to check it the way a student will read it.
    The lesson list. Order drives what students see first; the Quiz button is covered in Guide 3.

    The lesson list. Order drives what students see first; the Quiz button is covered in Guide 3.

    Watch out

    A course cannot be published with no lessons, and publishing is what makes it purchasable. If Publish refuses, an empty lesson list is the usual reason.

  3. Step 3: Publish the course

    Where: Courses

    Publishing is what makes a course eligible to be seen and bought. It is one click, and it is reversible — Unpublish pulls it back out of the catalog without deleting anything.

    1. 3.1Back in Courses, press Publish on the course row. The badge flips from Draft to Published.
    2. 3.2Use the preview control on the row to open it the way a student sees it, before you send anyone the link.
    3. 3.3Unpublish whenever you want it out of circulation. Student progress and purchases are kept.
    4. 3.4The broadcast and duplicate controls on the same row announce a course to your students, and clone it as a starting point for the next one.
    The catalog: Draft courses are invisible to students, Published ones are eligible to be shown.

    The catalog: Draft courses are invisible to students, Published ones are eligible to be shown.

    Watch out

    A course cannot be published with no lessons, and how many courses can be live at once depends on your plan. If Publish refuses, it is one of those two.

  4. Step 4: Decide where it appears

    Where: Courses

    Published and visible are two different settings, and this split is the single thing new workspaces trip over. Publishing says a course may be shown; display settings say where.

    1. 4.1Open Course display settings, on the same Courses page.
    2. 4.2It controls two surfaces separately: your public landing page, and the console students see once signed in.
    3. 4.3Pick Featured to show a hand-selected set, or All to list everything published. Then choose the layout and how many columns the grid uses.
    4. 4.4Use Collections to group courses into a track — a "new puppy" path, say — and feature the collection instead of listing courses one by one.
    5. 4.5Save, and give it a moment: saving display settings rebuilds your site draft, and that rebuild has to finish before a publish can copy it live.
    Course display settings, and collections grouping courses into a track students can follow in order.
    Course display settings, and collections grouping courses into a track students can follow in order.

    Course display settings, and collections grouping courses into a track students can follow in order.

    Tip

    Published but nowhere to be seen? The course is published and simply not selected in the display settings for that surface. That is the answer nine times out of ten.

  5. Step 5: Write the landing page

    Where: Website

    The public page is assembled from blocks you turn on, reorder and fill in. You are editing a draft the whole time; nothing changes for visitors until you publish it.

    1. 5.1Open Website. The publish panel at the top shows your draft version alongside the published one, so you always know whether visitors are seeing your latest edit.
    2. 5.2Edit the hero first — a headline that names who you help, and one line on how. It is the only part most visitors read.
    3. 5.3Turn on the blocks that carry your case: highlights for numbers, services for what you offer, testimonials for proof, FAQs for objections, and the membership call to action if you sell one.
    4. 5.4Reorder blocks so the strongest proof sits directly under the hero. Hide anything you have nothing real to put in — an empty testimonials block costs you more than no testimonials block.
    5. 5.5Save the draft, check it with Preview site, then press Publish. Only now do visitors see it.
    The Website publish panel: draft on the left, live on the right.

    The Website publish panel: draft on the left, live on the right.

    Watch out

    Saving is not publishing. A saved draft looks correct in preview and is still invisible to the public — the publish panel is where you confirm which version is live.

  6. Step 6: Connect Stripe

    Where: Monetization

    Payments run through your own Stripe account, so money reaches your bank on Stripe's schedule and Nexx never holds it. Until this is connected, a paid course cannot be bought at all.

    1. 6.1Open Monetization and start the Stripe Connect setup.
    2. 6.2Complete Stripe's onboarding: business details, identity, and the bank account payouts should land in. Stripe may ask for documents.
    3. 6.3Come back to Monetization and confirm the account reads as connected.
    4. 6.4Set your membership pricing — monthly and yearly — in the same place, plus any discount codes you want to run.
    5. 6.5Test with a real card on a cheap course before you announce anything. It is the only way to see the whole flow the way a student does.
    The Stripe Connect panel in Monetization, before an account is connected.

    The Stripe Connect panel in Monetization, before an account is connected.

    Watch out

    Stripe onboarding can pause pending verification, and while it is paused checkout stays closed. Connect Stripe days before your launch, not the morning of it.

  7. Step 7: Use your own domain

    Where: Domains

    Optional, and the only step that involves anything outside Nexx. Your workspace keeps working at your-slug.nexx.page throughout, so there is no cutover moment to fear.

    1. 7.1Open Domains and add the domain or subdomain you want to use, such as learn.yourbrand.com.
    2. 7.2Add the DNS records it shows you at your registrar: a TXT record proving you own the domain, and a CNAME pointing the hostname at Nexx.
    3. 7.3Come back and refresh the status. DNS usually propagates in minutes, but registrars are allowed to take up to 24 hours.
    4. 7.4That is the whole job — DNS records only. There is nothing to configure at your registrar beyond them, and no certificate to buy.
    Domains, showing the DNS records to add at your registrar.

    Domains, showing the DNS records to add at your registrar.

    Tip

    A subdomain like learn.yourbrand.com is easier than a root domain: it leaves your existing website untouched and needs one CNAME.

  8. Step 8: What that adds up to

    Six steps in, this is what a visitor sees — hero, proof, what you offer, and a way in for students who already have an account.

    1. 8.1Everything on this page came from the blocks in step 4 and the courses from steps 1 to 3.
    2. 8.2Reread it as a stranger. If the first screen does not say who you help and what changes, fix the hero before you fix anything else.
    A published landing page, assembled entirely from blocks in the Website editor.

    A published landing page, assembled entirely from blocks in the Website editor.

If something goes wrong

A student says they paid but cannot open the course.

Check the course is still Published, then open the student from Students and confirm the purchase or membership is recorded against their account. A membership that lapsed closes membership-included courses immediately.

My course is published but not on the landing page.

Course display settings for the landing surface is set to Featured and this course is not featured. Either feature it or switch that surface to All.

I published, but the site still shows the old version.

A save rebuilds the draft, and publishing copies that draft live — so publishing immediately after a big edit can copy a rebuild that has not finished. Reload the Website panel, confirm the draft version has caught up, and publish again.

Can I charge in a currency other than USD?

Yes — your workspace currency is set with your plan, and Stripe settles in it. Change it before you publish prices, since existing purchases keep the currency they were made in.

Guide 3

Keep students moving

Selling a course is the easy half. This guide is about the students who bought one and stopped at lesson two — how to see them, and what to do about it.

Time: 30 minutes

Level: Assumes a workspace exists

Before you start

  • At least one published course with lessons, from Guide 2.
  • A handful of enrolled students — even two is enough to make the roster useful.

When you finish

  • A roster you can read at a glance: who is active, who has stalled, and who has paid.
  • Quizzes checking understanding, and certificates arriving automatically on completion.
  • Discussions moderated, bookings open, and a first campaign sent to the right people.

  1. Step 1: Read the roster

    Where: Students

    Students is the one screen that answers "is this working?". Sort it by last activity and the answer is usually obvious within seconds.

    1. 1.1Open Students. Each row shows the membership badge, what that student has spent, and when they were last active.
    2. 1.2Filter by membership to separate paying members from free sign-ups, and sort to bring the recently active — or long inactive — to the top.
    3. 1.3Open a student to see their per-course progress, purchases and certificates.
    4. 1.4Make a habit of it weekly. A student who has not opened a lesson in three weeks is the one worth an email.
    The student roster: membership, spend and last activity in one line each.

    The student roster: membership, spend and last activity in one line each.

    Tip

    Last active tells you more than completion percentage. Someone at 20% who was here yesterday is doing fine; someone at 80% who vanished a month ago has quietly quit.

  2. Step 2: Add a quiz

    Where: Courses

    A quiz sits on a lesson, not on the course, so you can put a check exactly where students usually go wrong rather than only at the end.

    1. 2.1Open the course, find the lesson, and choose Quiz on that lesson.
    2. 2.2Give the quiz a title and a passing score — the percentage a student needs to pass.
    3. 2.3Add questions, each with its answer choices, and mark the correct one.
    4. 2.4Save, then use View Results on the lesson to see how students answered.
    The quiz editor, opened from a lesson.

    The quiz editor, opened from a lesson.

    Tip

    Read the wrong answers rather than the pass rate. A question most students miss usually means the lesson before it was unclear, not that the students were.

  3. Step 3: Issue certificates

    Where: Courses

    A certificate is defined once per course and awarded automatically when a student finishes it. Nothing to send by hand.

    1. 3.1Open the course from Courses, and scroll to its Certificates section.
    2. 3.2Create a certificate with a title students would be glad to show, and a description saying what it certifies — what the handler can now do.
    3. 3.3It is awarded on completion of that course. Issued certificates show on the student's record and on your Overview dashboard.
    4. 3.4Students can share the certificate from their console, which is quietly some of the best marketing you will get.
    Certificates are defined on the course and awarded automatically.

    Certificates are defined on the course and awarded automatically.

    Tip

    Name the certificate after the skill, not the product. "Loose-Leash Walking Graduate" gets shared; "Course 2 Certificate" does not.

  4. Step 4: Moderate the discussion

    Where: Courses

    Discussions live under each course, and the moderation queue collects everything across all of them in one place so nothing waits three weeks for a reply.

    1. 4.1Open Courses and go to the moderation section.
    2. 4.2Work through comments and discussion posts across every course from that one list.
    3. 4.3Reply, or remove anything that does not belong. Each item links back to the lesson it came from.
    4. 4.4Discussions can be turned off per course if a program is better run privately.
    The moderation queue, gathering comments from every course.

    The moderation queue, gathering comments from every course.

    Tip

    Answer publicly in the thread rather than by email. One good answer in the discussion saves the same question being asked ten more times.

  5. Step 5: Open your calendar

    Where: Bookings

    Bookings turns your availability into a link students can book against, and it can be embedded in your own site if you have one.

    1. 5.1Open Bookings and set the hours you are actually available, in your own timezone.
    2. 5.2Define your services — a 60-minute private, an assessment — with the length of each.
    3. 5.3Share the booking link, or paste the embed snippet into your site. It resizes itself to fit.
    4. 5.4Booked sessions appear on the same calendar, so you never need to reconcile two of them.
    The booking calendar and the link you share with students.

    The booking calendar and the link you share with students.

    Watch out

    Set your timezone before you share the link. Availability is stored against it, and fixing it afterwards moves every session already booked.

  6. Step 6: Send a campaign

    Where: Email Campaigns

    Email Campaigns reaches your students without exporting anything to another tool — which also means the list is never stale.

    1. 6.1Open Email Campaigns and start a group email.
    2. 6.2Choose who receives it: everyone, or a narrower group such as members only.
    3. 6.3Write it, and send yourself a test first. Every mistake you will make is visible in the test.
    4. 6.4Send, then check back for opens and engagement. Lead capture from your landing page collects into the same place.
    Composing a group email in Email Campaigns.

    Composing a group email in Email Campaigns.

    Tip

    The highest-return campaign is the least glamorous one: everyone who stopped at lesson two, one paragraph, one link back to lesson three.

If something goes wrong

A student is not receiving anything I send.

Check the address on their record first, then ask them to look in spam. Their sign-in codes take the same path, so if those arrive and campaigns do not, the problem is filtering rather than the address.

Progress looks wrong for one student.

Progress is recorded per lesson as it is completed. If you added or reordered lessons after they started, their percentage moves — the lessons they already finished still count.

Can I award a certificate manually?

Certificates are tied to finishing the course, so the reliable route is to confirm the remaining lessons are complete for that student. If someone did the work offline, contact us rather than adding a duplicate course.

Still stuck

Ask us — we answer with your workspace open

Include your workspace slug and roughly when the problem happened, and we can read the logs for that request instead of guessing. Every plan gets a reply; paid plans get a faster one.

There is also a Help Center inside the portal, with the same guidance next to the screens it describes.

Contact support
© 2026 Nexx — Training portals for coaches and educators.