Episode 43: On Providing Valuable and Relevant Subscriptions with John Edelson, Founder & President at Time4Learning

In this week’s episode of Subscriptions: Scaled, we sit down with John Edelson, Founder and President at Time4Learning.

In the episode, discover everything from how to create and maintain strong connections with customers, to how to develop a successful subscription model. Keep reading to learn more.

John Edelson

The episode begins with John explaining more about his background and how he first established Time4Learning in his living room. 

John had already run several companies before, and the idea of Time4Learning was to create something beautiful and valuable for children and parents. He had been through the mill in previous companies—with all types of boards of directors and difficulties and compromises—and wanted to do something different.

He wanted to start something that he found meaningful and try to build a successful business around it. John believed that online education was getting better and wanted to create a subscription business for kids, providing high-quality education at home.

John wanted to spend his time, money, and limited resources trying to create innovative new software to produce a special subscription service. He started licensing software that was going into schools and from that developed an audience. 

Before he started Time4Learning, John researched the market to truly understand its needs. He hoped that when he started to develop software—a long-term, expensive commitment—he would know exactly what he was doing because he was in touch with the right market.

John started Time4Learning in his living room in 2004 and within a few years was earning a living. Since then, the company has grown successfully.

Time4Learning

Time4Learning offers a subscription-based curriculum for students to learn, allowing them to progress at their own pace.

Children can use Time4Learning when homeschooling at home or for tutoring or skill-building outside school lessons.

The subscription company is web-based and accessible from any computer or device with an internet connection. Customers receive 24/7 access to a year’s worth of material, so children can start the program at any time and can learn at their own pace.

Time4Learning’s automated system grades and assesses lessons, tracks progress, and saves reports for parents. These reports can be accessed at any time via the parent administration page and can be searched by date or subject.

Parents also have access to resources, including printable lesson plans, teaching instruments, activity scheduling, and parental support on the online parent forum.

Education with Time4Learning

In the episode, John explains the key differences between students learning at school and using the Time4Learning subscription. He also describes how parents can stay involved in their children’s learning using the subscription service.

Time4Learning is a complete curriculum, but John emphasizes that a complete curriculum is not a comprehensive homeschool program. John explains that Time4Learning involves a certain amount of instruction, so the lessons stick for children. A lot of follow-up to lessons involves critical thinking, so children can think through their classes and absorb what they’ve learned.

Every lesson involves a little assessment, to ensure that the children have learned the lesson correctly. The whole process takes the kids through multi-stage instructions, practice, critical thinking, reinforcement, and review, so the company offers a complete curriculum in that sense.

Homeschooling 

When Time4Learning was first established, the focus of the company was tutoring a relatively suburban crowd. This would be in addition to school learning. Within the first few years, various parents who were homeschooling their children reached out to ask if they could use the service for homeschooling.

After building interest in homeschooling, the team at Time4Learning decided to give it a try. John soon learned more about homeschooling and the parents, including what they’re trying to achieve with homeschooling and why they’re doing it. Soon, John started focusing on these customers.

Today, Time4Learning is 90% servicing homeschooled kids and 10% tutoring children who are still attending school. Some people use Time4Learning as a summer program to provide their kids with some enrichment during the summer.

John explains that many children have trouble following what’s going on in lessons at school, and follow-up lessons with Time4Learning help immensely as a supplement. It allows them to keep up with their school’s program.

The Secret to Subscription Success

John goes on to share his secret formula for subscription success: Customers need to get their money’s worth and receive a high-quality service. It’s also important to fill a need in the market.

He explains that Time4Learning has always strived to be a meaningful and valuable part of children’s lives, providing necessary and engaging education. The secret is to focus on quality and relevance for the customer.

Connecting with Customers

Staying connected with and providing an excellent service to his customers is essential to John, and he explains how he creates and maintains a great connection with his clients. He talks about how important it is to receive feedback from parents on the subscription service to retain his customers and keep the children engaged in learning.

According to John, time, enthusiasm, insight, and humility are essential for creating and maintaining customer connections. Even though the company is big, John still finds it invaluable to speak with customers and ask them how they like the service, especially new customers.

When the company worked in an office, John loved to get involved in the support side and speak with customers on the phone. At the end of the conversation, he would ask a few questions about their experience with Time4Learning.

Time4Learning is constantly surveying its customers, such as in small groups every week, to ensure that they remain happy and that the company is providing a high-quality, valuable service.

Pricing Time4Learning Subscriptions

Towards the end of the episode, John also discusses the pricing of the Time4Learning subscriptions and how the product is excellent value.

John believes Time4Learning provides some of the best education available as well as tremendous customer service. However, the team has never raised prices—it has kept the same pricing structure since 2004.

Since the team is offering such a high-quality product, John admits that it may be time to reconsider the pricing and business model.

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