Would you pay $10 to book a 30 min call where to practice a second language?
I want to help my brother bootstrap his Italian lessons business he started some months ago after he moved from the US to France.
I was thinking of a very simple website where people can book 30 minutes' call where to practice Italian — I'm thinking of all those who studied it but can't practice.
The website could be structured so there are 4 or 5 Italians (friends of us for now) with different interests, and a solid understanding of English.
Francesco likes photography and design, Filippo like music and hamburgers, and so on. Customers can pick the person with common interests and have calls were to practice their Italian.
This wouldn't be a full grammar Italian lesson, it's just easy and fun conversation to maintain the language.
Booking with Calendly
Paywall with Gumroad
Call in Google Meet
Website in Dorik, because I love it
Thoughts?
I think it's a great idea. What I'd recommend is making a few recordings of the chat sessions and publishing them on YouTube. Do different scenarios, tourist, B2B interaction, talking to Italian in-laws who don't speak English, etc.
Use that as your marketing. People may not get the benefits of the service right away but seeing these examples would be enticing.
ALl the best!
That's a great idea! Thanks
I like it.
But wonder how much traction you'd make due to the competition.
Yea, I see what you mean. I believe it's all about word of mouth between friends at first. The goal, for now, is to get some new leads for my brother. But might be interesting to involve more and more friends to participate as "speakers"
Maybe try using a referral program? Refer a friend, and if they book a paid session, the referrer gets a free session. Or, they get $5 off their next session.
Something trackable so the referrers can see how many people they've referred. If people have a great experience, and there's an incentive, they're more likely to spread the word.
I may book some time with you in Feb and also try iTalki to compare. I'm Italian, but don't speak the language 😢
The referral is a great idea, and sure for some practice! Just let me know =)
It was faster to build than explain 😆
https://speakitaliano.dorik.io/
I currently use iTalki to fulfill this need - it’s pretty established for most language learners.
Will you be competing mainly on price then?
The landing page looks really nice :) just took a look. Looks really polished / credible!
Truth be told, I didn't know about iTalki, but you're the second person who tell me about it, so that's well established.
Is there any painpoint you're having using it?
Yes ideally the price would something to compete, or maybe we can look at a flat fee, while on iTalk everyone have a different price — but from what it vary?
Yeah, iTalki is a really established platform. I use it myself. You’d essentially be competing for the same supply.
The thing is prices can range from like $10-60 or something. It’s an open market so people can ask for whatever price they want depending on how good they are. So not sure if competing on price would be helpful. I believe they take a 20% fee.
Yeah I mean a flat fee business model could be an interesting approach. What would be helpful would be finding people who are learning partners who are trying to learn the opposite language - unfortunately there’s not much money to be made here.
I like how your site positioned teachers based on the subjects they like to talk about though!