How Chalkful Empowers Solo Tutors with Affordable, Feedback-Driven SaaS

The realization that current tools are not built with the self-employed tutor in mind. Oftentimes, expensive and unnecessarily complex products that are meant for institutions and organizations - everything on the market was either too far removed from the admin challenges a tutor faces daily or only solved one pain of many, resulting in the need for many subscriptions and therefore, again, higher prices. So I went and made a solution that tackles the most pressing matters for a monthly fee that is substantially lower than that of other comparable tools I have found. It also serves as an interesting case study for me, personally, "Will my tool positively influence the lives of the users?" Of course, I want Chalkful to be lucrative. After all, I sink many, many hours into making it great! But I want to create things that benefit people, and that is a vibe I rarely get from the market (sadly).

To be frank, Chalkful.app has just started out and I am still desperately looking for beta testers. Feedback drives development, so beta testers are one of the most significant influences on the trajectory of Chalkful. And that also means, Chalkful will ultimately be a tool built in good part by the direct influence of its users, which I think is amazing! My current realization is that general outreach (mostly LinkedIn) is barely viable for a single person with another job and a baby boy to attend to. "Flopped" is too much; I did end up making good connections and some people may well end up testing Chalkful with Pro Access free of charge, but I need more people to really guide development and so far, that is not happening. But eyes are already set on other channels to reach more people. Also, the fact that I am currently focusing heavily on the US but am situated in Germany, the timezone difference adds another hurdle.

First realization, invoicing is oftentimes costing precious hours and demands some knowledge of business. That was the main complaint. So we made sure Chalkful.app takes care of that. But other time drains (scheduling, parent/student communication, etc.) have also been tackled with functionalities. With every bit of feedback, Chalkful becomes more complete! In general, and that I am very proud of, most changes to the app and its functions were driven by feedback and implemented within 1-3 days. So I can safely say that "Your feedback drives development!" is not just a phrase, but actually how things work for Chalkful and me! A complaint that now reaches me more is taxation and people having dedicated CPRs for that. So of course, I now have a new feature in mind and the list just goes on. I am curious to see when the app is truly finalized with everything a solo tutor might hope for.

People sometimes believe that solo tutoring "isn't demanding" and "essentially admin-free." That is far removed from the truth. Solo tutors and teachers have a plethora of daily tasks behind the scenes that cost multiple hours a week. Considering that many tutors are also still in education or working another job entirely, "multiple hours a week" is a daunting thing. Having a tool is almost mandatory, but it needs to make sense financially and in functionality. That's where Chalkful.app comes in. While it is legit to focus on bigger ICPs, the ignorance towards "less lucrative" groups (e.g., the self-employed tutors and teachers Chalkful is built for) sometimes frustrates me. Everyone deserves access to quality tools that make business and life more manageable. But for that, going for maximum profit is just not the correct answer. You need to understand that you are working with a normal human being. Someone who might need a tool but is unwilling or straight-up incapable of paying larger sums for it. I want to take on that issue and provide quality solutions for cheap prices so virtually everyone has access to help they can benefit from!

Acquiring beta testers and letting feedback shape the roadmap. Chalkful is meant for the tutors, and their opinion and needs will set the navigation on where the tool will ultimately head. I expect a full go-live (even though the tool is already 100% use-ready) in the next 2-3 months after testers have been introduced to the app. As for functionalities, I have some more ideas (e.g., handling taxation just to name one) that I want to solve for tutors and teachers.

Some semesters studying IT helped, but ultimately, I have started from scratch. Having a sales background helps in making financially responsible decisions for both the target audience and myself. Other than that, I have always liked drafting ideas but until now, lacked the drive and knowledge to actually implement anything. With that changing, I am both eager and ready to provide streamlined and easy-to-use solutions for the everyday challenges of as many groups as possible! But and that is very important to me, growth doesn't stop there. I learn new things every day, and every bit of feedback, every experience will make my tools stronger and smarter.

I deep-dove into making the tool especially US-friendly, but now I am being contacted by tutors from all over the planet. I will have to redirect Chalkful a little bit to make it more accessible for EMEA and the EU. While that won't affect the state or current usability of the app, that means weeks upon weeks of bonus work for me. But I will take that as a good sign, I did not anticipate people outside the US to be interested in Chalkful, but apparently it can solve problems everywhere. So yes, more work, but for a very good cause!