ST20 | The Transition From An Offline To An Online Model Of Business

Solopreneurs often feel that they are limited by their business model with respect to their resources- being the sole employee with a fixed geographical presence. But with the advent of technology, transitioning from offline to online has made it seamless for these solopreneurs to make the most of their skills and resources. We have one such businesswoman with us who transitioned her teaching skills to the online model, making her offer her services to a wider audience. If you’re a solopreneur thinking of making the move from offline to online, then this ShopTok Episode is for you!

Siti Nurmaisyah is a certified Indonesian teacher, with more than 20 years of teaching experience. She uses innovative methods to teach her students, online and offline. Her clients include people belonging to various demographics like expatriates, workers, school students (teenagers and children), etc. Siti is a great example of a solopreneur who successfully transitioned from an offline to an online model of teaching. With her skills and support from her family, she was able to beat the difficult times of COVID, where she lost a lot of her students and has moved to teach students across the globe from the comfort of her home.

Discussion Topics: The transition from an offline to an online model of business

• Teaching- going offline to online
• How Covid affected the business
• Benefits of offline – like selling resources along with the classes
• Difficulty of transitioning
• Choosing the online platform that suits your skills
• Getting your first few students
• Online profile- videos, documentation
• Challenges of having sessions online- internet, connection failures, platform bugs/issues, background noise
• Scheduling your sessions
• Service support- prompt response, being adjusting
• Family support
• Motivation from students to keep going

Transcript: The transition from an offline to an online model of business

Amit Ray: Are you a solopreneur like a freelancer, a tutor, workout instructor maybe? And perhaps you’re struggling to grow your offline business. And yet, it might feel really hard to try and offer your service online. And maybe you might feel like you’re very outdated, and you won’t be able to make that kind of a change.

Or perhaps you feel like you’re too old maybe this is not for you, it’s for the younger generation to do all of this online stuff. Well, today we are chatting with Siti Nurmaisyah, who’s an Indonesian language tutor with, I think, over maybe 20 years of teaching experience. And she saw her entire livelihood disappear when COVID struck.

So we’re going to chat about how she made the transition to online education. And she did struggle at first, but then she’s been able to grow it to a point over the last two years, where she is now struggling to keep up with demand. And before we begin I mean, we will get into a lot more about this. So Ibu Siti, thank you so much for joining us today. Maybe before we start would you like to introduce yourself and perhaps what kind of classes you do, what your business is all about?

Siti Nurmaisyah: Yes, thank you so much for giving me a chance to join your podcast, it is really good for your podcast. Your podcast is like ShopTok and then MoneyTok and JobTok. All your guests are amazing guests. I am just a Teacher. I’m just a normal person.

Amit Ray: Not so normal Ibu Siti, the reason why I wanted to have this conversation with you is because you’ve done something quite impressive, which is you have transitioned your business from offline to online. And I know a lot of people struggle to do that. In my earlier company, I used to work with restaurants that were trying to do online delivery. And it’s actually quite difficult for people who follow a traditional path to make this change.

So the fact that you made this change, and you’ve done it so successfully, makes you actually not that normal. And I think that’s what people will learn from this conversation: that when you think you’re a regular person, you can actually do a lot just by being proactive with your business.

Siti Nurmaisyah: Really, okay, let me just be myself. My name is Siti Nurmaisyah, but mostly my students just call me Ibu Siti. And I’m Indonesian, of course, and I live in Jakarta, the capital of Indonesia. And I’m married. I have two children, a son and a daughter. My son is in college. And he is in grade two in University.

And now he’s running geography like studying about the earth or something like oceans, rivers and maybe some earthquakes or maybe flooding or something. And he learns about natural environments, ecology, and so on, and I hope he will make a contribution to save the world in the future. And about my daughter she is the cute one.

She is now in first grade in high school. She joins science class, even though she doesn’t want to join the class. Because she wants to follow me as an Indonesian teacher because I told her to just follow her mother. I influenced her. And then actually, she wanted to join social and literacy classes, but her teacher insisted her on joining science class. But until now, almost one year.

Amit Ray: You’re already showing that you’re not normal. Nobody’s children ever want to do what their parents do. And she actually wants to so that’s impressive.

Siti Nurmaisyah: Yeah, maybe, almost every day she watches me or sees me have a lesson. And maybe she thinks oh Mom, you really enjoy your lesson. And so maybe someday I want to be like you. Good, and I will train you. And then talking about me, I do it from Japanese and English literature. Because I like languages. And I also studied for a diploma, one in Business and Management.

And I thought, when I entered that diploma, oh, this is not my passion. But now I can feel that the experience of studying business management has really helped me to manage my lesson or maybe to make some documents, manage my time, and how face my new client as a student. Yeah, it’s really helpful.

Amit Ray: Yeah, because ultimately, I think, especially in today’s world, where even things like teaching are more than a profession now. Like, you have to think about it in a broader sort of sense. So maybe the management training perhaps helped you also in what you’re doing today.

Siti Nurmaisyah: Yes, of course, I agree with you. And then I like to know many things. So my hobbies are reading books. Yes, it was my hobby. And now because I don’t have any time to read books I just read textbooks, all textbooks, but sometimes it makes me bored. Sorry, just kidding. And then I like watching movies and listening to music. I really enjoy doing my job while listening to some songs. And actually, my dream was to become a reporter. But I couldn’t and now eventually became a Teacher. But I’m very grateful for my destiny.

And talking about my business, I think I don’t have any business. I just work as a private teacher. But almost every day I’m busy with my lessons. Sometimes I have another job like translating Japanese to Indonesian for some documents. Once I had a special program for my students who live in Jakarta. I call this program like learning in real life or learning on the job like that. And this program’s purpose was to practise the Indonesian language in daily activities.

For example, shopping in the market, going to a salon for some ladies to have some treatments, or maybe lunch together at a local restaurant or maybe some talk. And I think it’s quite busy for me, but I really enjoy it. And I’m really happy to have these kinds of activities. But sometimes I don’t have enough time for my family or even myself.

Amit Ray: So almost like a good problem to have maybe.

Siti Nurmaisyah: Yeah, this is my problem, but I don’t realise it.

Amit Ray: So Ibu Siti, you said that your dream earlier was to be a journalist, but then you somehow moved into teaching. So how did you get started as a language teacher?

Siti Nurmaisyah: Oh, it’s a long, long story. When I joined Japanese classes, after one year I learned Japanese. My teacher asked me to help her to teach a small class. And I said, No, I cannot. Because I just started learning Japanese. My teacher said no, you can I know, you can do it just try. And then after some training, about three months of training, and finally, started to teach the I forget, I don’t know, who was my first student I forget.

But I still remember if he or she was Indonesian, not Japanese.  So after some teaching I finally enjoyed it. Because I don’t know, maybe it’s genetic from my mother. Genetic I don’t know how to say this because my mother was a teacher also as well. And my elder sister also, she is a kindergarten teacher. I think I have some genetics from my family, I like teaching. And until now, I really enjoy teaching Indonesian to Japanese or other foreigners and teaching Japanese to Indonesian people.

Amit Ray: Wow, that is a very niche expertise in language.

Siti Nurmaisyah: Yeah. I remember I have both Japanese in high school in Jakarta. But not for long, just three months. Because since then, I lost my voice and have taken a rest for one week. So I thought I couldn’t teach in the class. And many students because high school student in one class it is about 40 students. And we have quite a big room and I have to speak loudly. It’s hard for me. And then finally, I decided to have private lessons until now.

Amit Ray: So that’s how you decided to go solo. Essentially, you didn’t want to be a teacher in a classroom kind of setup.

Siti Nurmaisyah: Yeah. Not so big a classroom but when I work at the language school, I have also called Indonesian classes for Japanese women. But not too many, just five students, so I think it is not too hard for me. And this is a little different from teaching adults and teaching teenagers. Oh, my God, teenagers, they have so much energy, so I couldn’t control them, but I enjoyed it.

Amit Ray: So when you first started by yourself, how did you get your first few students, and how did you grow from there?

Siti Nurmaisyah: Since I delivered my second child, it’s about 16 years ago, maybe. I quit teaching at the school because I needed more time to raise my children by myself even though I had a maid and a babysitter. And I decided to have my own student just to inform when I say to my students I want to quit this school and my students are shocked why Ibu Siti you quit? Please don’t quit. Because now I am pregnant, it is about eight months, I was still teaching when I was 8 months pregnant.

So that’s why I need a break or I need to quit teaching in the school. And my students said to me, okay, I want to follow you Ibu Siti. What do you mean I want to follow? Yeah, I want to have your lesson at your house, if you don’t mind. They asked me to have a lesson at my household. Okay, I set up my son’s room, and it was my son still, maybe five years old so he didn’t use his room yet. Just sleeping with me. And then I said that class in that room as a class. And I still remember the eight students who have lessons at my house. All Japanese.

Amit Ray: Yeah, your neighbours must have been surprised.

Siti Nurmaisyah: Yeah, because there are many cars in front of my yard.

Amit Ray: So when you first started your students from your school transferred over to you, and then that’s how you started your solo tutoring sort of career. So this was all in person like people sitting in your house and doing these lessons. But obviously two and a half years back COVID started and then nobody anywhere could meet people. So how did you keep your lessons going given that people weren’t allowed to meet in person anymore? Or did you manage to keep it going?

Siti Nurmaisyah: It’s really hard for us. Maybe all over the world, we have some experience and since COVID almost 90% of I lost my students. So sad and frustrating. For almost two months I didn’t have any students. But I still try to contact my previous students. How do we have an online lesson? I asked them. And some students said sorry Ibu Siti, I cannot have your online lesson because I enjoy offline lessons.

Okay, no problem I tried to contact another student, but he was so busy. So he told me sorry Ibu Siti, I cannot have your lesson online I said okay. And many times I tried to contact my earliest students but I thought that once I contacted them they didn’t want to have the online lesson. I don’t want to push them to have my lessons and then suddenly one of my previous students sent me WhatsApp. She asked Ibu Siti how are you? How have you been? How about your family?

And I said yeah, I’m good. Thank you. And how about you and she had my lesson at her apartment for almost one and a half years, but stopped because she was really busy because she is a scientist about environment in Indonesia and she told me why don’t you try an online lesson and she introduce me about Preply, Preply is a platform online lesson all over the world so everybody can join as a student or even a tutor in Preply.

Amit Ray: For live lessons, right?

Siti Nurmaisyah: Yes. And then finally, I could join Preply as an Indonesian teacher in June 2020 about two years ago. It was a little hard for me to apply and do many things for applying as a tutor on Preply. And, of course, all documents are in English. So I have to change my document in English. For example, I needed to profile it and submit some documents and make an introduction about me as a tutor. And also explain my teaching style.

Amit Ray: So what kinds of documents did you need to submit?

Siti Nurmaisyah: I need to upload my degree certificate and some training and workshop certificates. And I need to make my introduction as a tutor in three languages in Bahasa Indonesia, Indonesian English, and Japanese. So it took time for me. And I need to make a different way to explain my introduction and my teaching style.

Amit Ray: So, you said that it was a little hard to make those videos, but people are making videos all the time. So what was hard about it?

Siti Nurmaisyah: Actually I submit or register to Preply as a tutor in May. And then all documents already uploaded. Just one thing upload video. It makes me Oh, why video, why not just write or introduction, but probably need some videos. And then, I tried to make videos with my daughter really helpful. And she helped me with how to set it. I use my phone.

But the problem is when I was recording my video, because my house was near the main road there was a lot of noise, sometimes the noise of the bike and that voice get recorded in my video, and I have to cut and re-record many times. It’s hard. I almost quit. Give up. Okay, give up. And then I didn’t finish my video for about one month or almost two months.

Amit Ray: Yeah, actually, that’s true. I mean, all these people on YouTube, etc. they make it look so easy because the video looks natural, all of that. But they have a lot of practice. And I’m sure the first time they tried to record something must have been difficult for them also. And like you’re saying there are so many issues that you don’t realise, like background noise, the fact that it’s hard to read out an entire script in one take.

So things like that. I think those are challenges in doing all this. And it’s interesting to hear from you the real-life experience of signing up for the platform, where funnily enough the documents were not the difficult part, the introduction was harder.

Siti Nurmaisyah: Yeah, but one of my motivations was that other people can do it why I cannot. This is maybe my character. I always say other people can do it and I think I can do it as well. And that’s why I will try to make the video again. And just one thing while I was reading I was reading the text and my daughter set the headphone to record my videos. Yes, finally, just for two or three minutes’ video Oh my God, it took two months. So it’s hard. But it’s a good experience.

Amit Ray: Yeah, and very patient daughter I have to say.

Siti Nurmaisyah: Yeah, she is cute, she is helpful. I love her.

Amit Ray: So, now you’ve got your documents uploaded, your video has been done, and stuff. So you’re ready to go. So how do you get your first few students so this is on Preply right? How did that work?

Siti Nurmaisyah: I had to live a full two months to get the new student for the first time. Because there are so many tutors not in Indonesia, maybe outside Indonesia who are living abroad. And I still remember I got a notification from Preply that a new student was interested to have a lesson from me. And now, he was your friend. And thank you so much I always remember you as my first student on Preply of course.

Amit Ray: Yeah, that’s interesting, actually, that you sign up to these platforms with so much hope. And then for two months if you don’t get anything, I mean, you must have been quite depressed at that time. No offline students, no online students. So how did you feel when you got that message saying that you got this student?

Siti Nurmaisyah: First I got that message I was really nervous Oh my god, what should I do? What should I do?

Amit Ray: How do I log in?

Siti Nurmaisyah: Yes, how do I log in? But before I had the first class Preply suggested to new tutors to join their webinars for training. And I joined more than 10 times. I thought I had good knowledge about how to conduct the lesson on Preply. But of course, this is the first time I had an online lesson. So it makes me nervous. But it’s so nice. It helped me learn how to conduct the lesson on Preply. I don’t know who is the Teacher, who is the student.

Amit Ray: So this is interesting. I mean, of course, you were patient. But then after that you also had the, I guess the interest to learn from the platform’s resources. So they’re telling you how you can teach best. And you took advantage of those resources, which I think is good learning.

The fact is you can’t join a platform and just become immediately successful. And platforms do give you resources. And it’s good to use them if you can. So now you’ve started and you’ve got one student who’s helping you use Preply. So what are some of the other challenges that you faced with online learning versus your previous offline experience?

Siti Nurmaisyah: Honestly I prefer having lessons face to face, I mean, offline lessons, not online lessons. But since COVID, I lost my offline lesson. So, I have to conduct my online lesson. When I have offline lessons face to face I get more benefits than online because not just the lesson fee I get, but I can sell my own textbook to them. But online lessons, I cannot sell the textbook because online lessons, I just give them as a service my textbook. And online lessons are a bit cheaper than offline lessons. Sorry, I said that.

Amit Ray: No, that’s true, maybe. And also, I think it’s, again, for people who are trying to make this transition, it’s good for them to know these things, which is you’re doing one on one lessons, they are probably going to be cheaper than trying to do a small group lesson. And also you can’t sell in these other things that you would have otherwise done.

So it’s actually interesting to me also, that when you’re doing face-to-face, you’re actually able to sell things in person. And usually, if somebody’s in front of you can say, hey, here’s my textbook, it’s part of the thing, please buy it, and they’ll buy it and they’re going to pay you in cash. So it’s easier to do this whole transaction, whereas online, you’ll have to now do an entire e-commerce transaction to sell a textbook to one student so obviously, that is a challenge. So are there other issues that you face as well?

Siti Nurmaisyah: Actually, I don’t have much problem with my students. I tried to give my attitude and speech so that the student will respect me so we have to respect each other. But I think the problem is usually internet connection problems, especially and recently sorry, probably I need to say this when I started to enter the Preply classroom, suddenly the internet network was not good. I just lost my internet and my student as well lost their internet. And when we face this situation, I ask or suggest to my students to use Zoom. And almost all my students agree using Zoom is better than Preply classes.

Amit Ray: I think everyone’s used to it now. And Zoom obviously does video better.

Siti Nurmaisyah: Yeah. I don’t know why when I enter classrooms, suddenly, it breaks the Internet, not green. I don’t know, maybe because, at the same time, all tutors and all students use the same platform.

Amit Ray: No idea. But obviously video conferencing is a thing in itself and Zoom only does that. So obviously they will be better at it.

Siti Nurmaisyah: Oh! I see. I remember sometimes I have problems managing my schedule. Because I have students not just from Preply, I also joined another platform like Italki. You know Italki?

Amit Ray: Actually, I don’t but yeah, I’m sure there are multiple like this.

Siti Nurmaisyah: Italki same platform, as Preply online lesson platform. And of course, I have my own students as Preply. And sometimes it makes me confused about the schedule. And I need to check, recheck every day, sometimes three times a day. I have to check, not double booking, but sometimes double booking, oh, I need to contact my family student, I mean more kind. So they can understand my situation. But I don’t contact my new student. It’s kind of rude to always change schedules.

Amit Ray: Yeah, I think that makes sense. Essentially, you’re saying that if you have a relationship with a student, it’s easier for you to agree on a different time with them versus a new person because you want to keep the new person and kind of keep them happy. Okay, this is an interesting point, also, which is that when you’re on multiple platforms, it’s hard to synchronise all of these schedules. And what you’re saying is you’re trying to manage all of this on your own, like through your phone, maybe through diaries or something like that.

So, you said early, when you first started, you didn’t get any students for two months, because there are so many tutors on the platform. And at that time, you must have been bottom of the list at that point. But now you’re pretty much near the top of the list over the last two years I think you’ve done obviously a very good job, and you’re one of the top tutors on Preply. So how did you differentiate from the others and make this whole thing happen that you went from the bottom to the top?

Siti Nurmaisyah: It’s hard to explain, but I think I have one advantage, which is that I can speak Japanese well, and can speak English. And usually, Japanese people will feel comfortable learning from a teacher who can speak their mother tongue even though they can understand English. But they are more comfortable having a lesson in Japanese for the first time, especially for beginners.

So, therefore, more than maybe 70% of my students are Japanese. And then based on the Preply rule you can ask your student to leave a review about tutors or even the tutor’s teaching style. So this review can make you number one on the top because a good review is helping you as a tutor.

Amit Ray: Yeah, that’s right. Reviews definitely help. And that’s the case for all platforms. I mean, food delivery reviews, Freelancer platform reviews, Preply, and so on. So now that you’re near the top, let’s say. I’m sure you’re getting new students frequently, maybe every month or every week or something like that. How do you handle your new students so that they stay with you and become longtime students?

Siti Nurmaisyah: Because I like teaching. When I am teaching, I get super, super energy from my students so they feel I am full of energy tutor. And they can enjoy their lesson, even for the first time. And they don’t feel this is not the lesson. But just like having a nice conversation and nice discussion and sometimes we have disagreements. But we do enjoy it. So, this is just fun.

Amit Ray: It’s like a conversation you’re saying versus a lesson. And that’s actually interesting as well because maybe that is one of the secrets to your success, which is that you’re not saying okay, here is today’s lesson like on a board. And I’m going to now do one, two, three, and then let’s just follow along and do exercises and homework and all of that stuff. Instead, you’re trying to make it more conversational. So people feel like time is passing by and having fun.

Siti Nurmaisyah: Yeah, sometimes I forget about time. I forget about the time I’ve got. And luckily after the next three lessons, it is my responsibility. He was thinking you had the lesson. But this is the first time I was so late, about 20 minutes. Oh my gosh. It’s like I’m careless. I didn’t check my time to have the next lesson. And if I missed the schedule myself, and as soon as possible I contact my student saying, “I’m really sorry about my mistake. And you have to wait for a few minutes.

I always say sorry. And say thank you to my students. And then oh, I need to tell you. I think not everybody feels sad. But I think people like quick responses. If a new student comes or contacts me, I immediately respond to them politely. And usually people like a fast response. And I also treat or serve all my students well, based on the Preply rule, please reply or respond to your students so please, contact them as soon as possible. It’s my principle.

Amit Ray: Actually I think that’s a very good principle because I remember when I first started looking for tutors on Preply, I think I wrote to maybe four people who all had maybe good ratings or rather maybe I think three had good ratings one was new something like that. So I wrote to them, and two of them responded after so many days that I had already selected someone and it is part of a competition as well.

If you take too long to respond, the person would have already made a decision and you might be a better teacher as well, but the student will never know because they never got a chance to talk to you. So I think the prompt response sounds very simple, but it is very important in a service business, I think. So now that you have a fair number of students, how do you handle all of them? And are you planning to expand your business in some way?

Siti Nurmaisyah: Actually, I have been thinking about this to expand my business, but I think right now, I don’t know how to do it. Because until now I enjoy working alone. Because if other people work for me, and I can’t be satisfied with their work, it must be stressful.

Amit Ray: Welcome to the business world.

Siti Nurmaisyah: So I just like working alone. And then, actually, it’s my dream. I think I have some plans, in some projects maybe which are creating my own dictionary. And last time you suggested a dictionary, Ibu Siti make your own dictionary and you can sell it to online shops or something. Yeah, it’s a good project, but I don’t know how to start it. And I want to record my voice, especially for my students. And can I sell my recording to my student, my recording, I don’t know.

Amit Ray: Overall, I like the idea of selling supporting material. Because look, as a tutor, you have limited hours, I mean, only 24 hours in a day. And you can only teach for maybe 8 hours or 10 hours. So, therefore, the income potential is limited, because you only have so many hours, so you can only earn so much. But if you make products, you can sell them to the whole world. And you can earn a lot more. And you suggested making recordings to improve listening skills, I would actually totally buy that.

Because right now, if I want to learn Bahasa, and I want to practice my listening, one option is to try and talk to someone, and it’s a little bit annoying for them if I can’t understand what they’re saying. Another way is to try and watch Indonesian shows or something like that. And those tend to be a little complicated because obviously, it’s not for a learner, it’s for Indonesian speakers. But getting something simple that I can listen to and improve I think I would buy that. So I think it’s a really good idea.

Siti Nurmaisyah: Yeah, it’s good motivation for me.

Amit Ray: Yeah, actually, speaking of motivation, what keeps you motivated? Because talking into Preply or Zoom all day long I mean, I know I do meetings, and I get tired after some time. So how do you keep your energy up and so on?

Siti Nurmaisyah: Yeah, as a human you know, I’m not a robot. I feel tired. And sometimes, you do something all the time. I think you can get bored. But when I feel tired and get bored, I always think about my students. They are my inspiration, my motivation. And then when I’m so busy with my lessons, I think I need to manage my schedule because my family sometimes warns me not to be too busy.

Because I like teaching when I’m teaching. I forget about my problems and my time with the family, really, when I have a lesson and talk to my students I forget all. After death I get tired. But as long as my students enjoy their lesson that’s enough for me. And for badasses, they can understand my lessons so I’m so grateful.

Amit Ray: So, look, we’ve talked a lot about how you got started, all the stuff that you’ve been doing, and it’s been two and a half years of online and 20 years before that of teaching. So what is some advice that you’d like to give to other people who might want to do online teaching either they want to convert from offline to online, or maybe they just want to start online? Any thoughts or tips for them?

Siti Nurmaisyah: First, you have to learn how to use a platform or how to use a laptop, of course, to conduct the lesson by Zoom, or maybe Google Maps, or maybe another platform, you have to learn first. Because if you don’t learn and you don’t research, it is like a bad reputation as a tutor, you look like a not well-prepared person. And of course, as a tutor, be well prepared for the lessons, be smart and of course, you have to be kind to all your students, even if some students are annoying you.

But be patient and be kind, keep smiling. Keep smiling even if you have a tough problem in your head in your life, and teach happily and enjoy it. And give your students good motivation, but spirit, good experience maybe. And don’t forget, please answer and respond to your students as soon as possible, respond quickly. And then as entrepreneurs give them good services, make them satisfied with your services. And don’t forget, just do your best and do your duty by heart.

Amit Ray: Yeah, I guess ultimately it boils down to that. I mean, just listening to you makes me feel like you really enjoy what you’re doing. And that’s the most important thing. If you don’t enjoy it, then how would it actually work? I mean, I don’t think I’ve had anybody on the show so far who has laughed so much.

So you clearly enjoy your work. So thank you so much Ibu Sidi. This was a fantastic conversation, I learned quite a lot about how to succeed as an online tutor. And honestly, I actually think it applies to other solopreneurs as well. So if you’re a fitness instructor trying to do online lessons, or you’re a freelancer who’s trying to set up on any of these freelance platforms, service businesses of all kinds, I think for everyone, there are lessons here that work, not just for online tutors.

So let me just take a few minutes to summarise some of the lessons I was writing them down while you were speaking. So first thing is, anyone can learn to do business online. So it’s not about you being a youngster, or tech-savvy or something like that anyone can learn to do it, you just have to try. And just get started. Start with the basics, like how to use a laptop, like you said, or maybe ask for help like with your daughter, and you will find that it’s possible and you can get started.

The second thing is, when you join a platform, make a good profile on that platform. So if the platform is asking you for a video, however long it takes, make a nice video, because that will help you stand out and help you also may bring forward your unique qualities. And so therefore you can attract an audience because they like the uniqueness that you’re bringing to that whole thing.

The third one was that many of these platforms offer resources and training. So use it, don’t just assume that you know how it’s going to work. They’re giving you all of this material for free. To learn how to do things the right way using the platform.

The fourth one is to think of how you might be unique and target an audience that appreciates that uniqueness. So in your case, it was this Japanese Indonesian thing which is obviously quite unique. But what it tells me is that you know, everyone is probably running after the English to the Indonesian market. So someone like me who speaks English wants to learn in Bahasa Indonesia. And so everybody is trying to attract me.

But nobody is trying to attract the Japanese person trying to learn Bahasa or the Bengali person who doesn’t speak English, but wants to learn Bahasa or Malaya because they need it for work or something like that. And that uniqueness is going to make you stand out because you don’t need 1 million people to be potentially your students, you can’t handle them, you just need 20 or 30 students. So why not reach a small market, which appreciates your unique quality?

The fifth point is offering good service. So be quick to respond, be friendly, and be respectful. And your customers will therefore love you. And they will leave you good ratings, which is obviously important for online platforms.

And the added point to this is number six, which is don’t be shy to ask for ratings, they do make a big difference to your ranking on every platform, and to your profile. And other students want to see highly rated tutors, they don’t really want to go to somebody with no ratings at all.

I think the other one, which I liked very much was once your business is stable, think about how you can sell subsidiary products, and try to increase your income beyond the hours that you’ve put in. So I know you’re not quite doing this yet. But the fact that you are thinking about it is really nice. And it means that it can expand beyond your actual working hours.

And the last one, always be thinking about your customers. I think this applies to every business. But you really take a lot of care and attention over individual students. And I think it’s something that every solopreneur would do well to kind of appreciate and adopt as well.

So these are my takeaways from this conversation. And thanks a lot. I think this was really good learning for me. And I hope for all our listeners as well. So, so thanks a lot Ibu, we really appreciate you being here with us. And for everyone listening, thank you so much for tuning in. So in case you feel like learning Bahasa from a top-rated tutor, you could definitely get in touch with and do remember to follow and subscribe to the show. And if you liked this episode, this was definitely one of the more fun ones with a lot of laughter and enjoyment. So if you liked it, please show your appreciation with a five-star rating. We were Siti and Amit with ShopTok. See you next time.

Siti Nurmaisyah: Yes, and thank you so much, Amit, for this amazing experience to have a talk and to discuss my experience as a tutor. Thank you so much.

Amit Ray: Yeah, this was great.