TakeLessons helps the smallest enterprises be more productive, profitable
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TakeLessons helps the smallest enterprises be more productive, profitable
Both functions are managed in the company’s mobile application, which instructors can access via their smartphones or the company’s website. The scheduling is done week to week, which gives instructors a lot of flexibility. Meanwhile, TakeLessons collects money from students’ accounts as soon as the instructor indicates that the lesson has been completed; according to Dameron, students are required by TakeLessons to keep a certain amount of money in their accounts.
Zac Bradford, a Bloomfield, N.J., instructor who gives piano, guitar and speech lessons, agreed with Cox about the importance of these functions.
“Not having to chase payments and keep track of it all is great—collecting especially takes a lot of time,” Bradford said. “People would get 2-3 months behind on payments. I would lose a lot of time, and time is money. Also, when you’re working Monday through Saturday, you don’t want to spend Sunday chasing money.”
Dameron chimed in, saying, “Collecting money can be awkward for a teacher. You don’t like to press your clients for payment.”
The fact that instructors receive payment every two weeks is especially nice, Dameron said.
“It makes it easier to budget,” he said. “That’s a lot more difficult, when you’re getting paid in small bursts.”
Another feature that Dameron loves is the ability to conduct lessons online. In fact, it is precisely this feature that allows him to teach at all. He is an aspiring actor—he’s appeared in some commercials and a few off-Broadway productions, as well as the Chicago production of “The Buddy Holly Story”—and his career requires him to split his time between New York and Los Angeles. If not for the online interface, Dameron would have to do what a lot of aspiring actors have to do—wait tables.
“You can get really tired when you go the waiter route, which can have a negative impact on your performances,” he said. “Plus, waiting tables doesn’t allow you to exercise your ‘performance muscle.’ But now, my day job—teaching piano, guitar and voice—helps me stay sharper to pursue my professional goal.”
According to Dameron, he can split the video screen, so students see his face on one screen and his hands on the other. Giving a lesson online is more challenging and he has to steel his focus, because sound quality isn’t as good as it would be if he were plying his craft in a studio or his residence. But that still beats not being able to give lessons at all, which would be the case without the online functionality.
TakeLessons takes a 15-20% cut of each lesson—the percentage decreases with volume—which both Bradford and Dameron said was very fair. Instructors who receive positive reviews from students are paid bonuses, because TakeLessons uses that feedback to market itself, Dameron said
“I would recommend this to any independent teacher,” Bradford said. “It’s easy to be skeptical, but based on what they deliver and what they charge, it’s worth taking a look.”
So there you have it. This is not the typical business enterprise story that we do, but I got a kick out of it and hope you did, too. Communications technology ideally makes people’s lives better—and by that measure, TakeLessons has succeeded.