Today we’d like to introduce you to Dapo Oremade.
Dapo, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
I was a pre-med student in college, who ended up going to grad school for plant research, resulting in a degree in Molecular Biology and Biochemistry. During my days in college, I offered private tutoring to students in Math and Biological Sciences (I still do today). When I wasn’t doing that, I was buying stuff at the auction to re-sell on eBay or Craigslist. And then, I did what I thought I would never do… I joined the US Army! I was trained as a Physical Therapy Specialist. It was a great experience working at the hospitals, brigades and even when we were on the field. Then, almost two years after joining the Army, one of my best friends, Ryan Ogbeide reached out to me, asking if I was interested in co-founding his company, NachoBirthday. Yes, of course! It was an easy decision for me. In fact, this decision has been one of the best decisions of my lifetime (besides getting married to my wife of course)! I learned firsthand the challenges of running an online platform, networking experience, better entrepreneurial basics, and most of all learned quickly how to write a couple of computer programming languages myself.
Once I was done with the Army, I moved back to Fort Worth and got an adjunct professor job (I figured I paid so much in college, they might as well pay me back). So, it was NachoBirthday and networking during the day, and teaching students in the evening. And then one day with life, as usual, some thoughts popped in my head, “Is there a rate my private tutor platform?” “How do you know the tutor you find on Craigslist is good enough before spending $30 for your first session?” And, “how come all these student’s get to rate me as a professor, and I can’t rate them as a student (I mean, some student really sucks)”. As funny as it might sound, those thoughts were the seeds that germinated to AssignmentMe. After more thought, and researching the market space, I thought a freelance platform dedicated to online tutoring, and learning (and of course a two-way review system) will solve most of the problems I found. So last year, we officially launched AssignmentMe, to accommodate college students, homeschoolers, K1-K12, musicians, language learners, and more. We have been adding more features since then and we are about to launch courses. Our goal is to match and maintain our catchphrase “AssignmentMe, the premier freelance platform for tutoring and learning!”
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Smooth what now? Just kidding. Thanks to my experience with NachoBirthday, many of what would have been a potential challenge, get addressed before it even shows up. That being said, the financial constraint has been the biggest drawback. There are many tasks that don’t meet their deadlines because there isn’t enough manpower to tackle them. To deal with this, we are working on getting more people on board equity-based. I really think there are more struggles we have had along the way that I don’t see as some will see it. I remember, the proprietor of the secondary/boarding school I attended as a kid, had a saying: “May your road be rough.” The idea being, by the time you reach your destination, you will appreciate it, and be fit for the position (Of course, you could be injured as well!). All I am trying to say is that I have found that obstacles can be either a stumbling block or a stepping stone, depending on how you approach it. I try to see stepping stones.
Please tell us about AssignmentMe.
AssignmentMe is a platform for tutoring and learning. Although there are platforms out there like Fiverr, Upwork, etc. that allow freelance work, they don’t have an actual online platform for online tutoring. And platforms like Chegg, and tutor.com usually require a subscription and limited in areas that could buttress tutor-student relationship. AssignmentMe allows free rein of both parties (tutor and student) within the limit of legality with features that ensure convenience and satisfaction. The skeleton of our platform basically is a student goes on AssignmentMe.com and post an A.Me request, which is what they need tutoring for (online or offline written help). Registered freelance tutors that teach this subject (as stated in their profile) receives a notification to bid, and the student’s budget for the request. The student also has the option of browsing the list of tutors, and directly inviting them to bid on their A.Me request. Once tutors bid, the student then looks at the rate, experience, and reviews of each of them, and accepts the bid of the best-suited tutor to him or her. Before the tutoring session begins, the student pays for the agreed-upon session into the AssignmentMe Escrow Account. This gives the tutor the confidence that they will get paid after each session. But in the case the tutoring is not completed as agreed upon, the student also has the confidence that they will get their money back. If it’s an offline session, the tutor and student can share files in an automatic generated shared online workspace for that request. If an online session is required, the tutor will give the student access to his or her tutoring room (Tutors get to create their online classroom), and the tutoring gets done. Once completed, the student clicks on a button in the workspace stating the session was completed as agreed upon, and the money gets released to the tutor. Both the student and tutor review each other and are better for it. Every communication between the parties is on our platform, so no need to share personal information or worry about stalkers. This structure is applied to and expounded on with the different categories on our platform (mainly, college students, homeschoolers, musicians, K1-K12 students, language learners, and exam prep students).
Including the convenience, and security of transaction we provide, we are very proud of the features that come with AssignmentMe. One of them is the ability to do 1-on-1 or group tutoring. In the case of group tutoring, students can be put in break-out rooms for mini-group or individual work. Our multi-user whiteboard allows students and tutors to write at the same time on the whiteboard if the tutor enables it. Our message center allows communicating with anyone on the platform regardless of the country they are in (and if they permit it on their account), leading to collaborations as necessary. The list goes on, but my personal favorite is the ability of parents to view their kid’s tutoring session online from anywhere. For example, a parent could go grocery shopping, and just watch on their phone the live tutoring session of their kid at home. They can even send a “silent” comment to the tutor during the session, without their kid knowing (e.g. She is only playing shy, she knows the answer), or to their kid without their tutor knowing (you better pay better attention, before I drive home and…). You get the idea!
One of our main specialize use of AssignmentMe is with the homeschooling community. They use AssignmentMe for co-op sessions. One parent can group tutor other kids that belong in their co-op group history, and another biology, and so on. Another specialized use is by musicians. We are currently working on making our platform more conducive for people trying to teach or learn to play musical instruments. Our current platform accommodates it, but we are working on making it even better!
Our newest add-on are courses. Test takers can take practice exams on AssignmentMe. Also, parents of homeschoolers and K1-K12 can also find courses (e.g. Grade 3 math with tutorials and lots of fun designed practice questions), to help their kid learn the materials with little effort from them in that course. Our goal is to keep improving on giving tutors and students out there the best platform for their eLearning experience, and we don’t plan to stop. So, please share the word, and remember this: “AssignmentMe, the premier freelance platform for tutoring and learning.”
Do you look back particularly fondly on any memories from childhood?
That is definitely a tough question! I mean it in a good way. I have lots of good childhood memory, but I guess I can give you one out of them. My parents weren’t the financially wealthy type, but they offered us great experiences money cannot buy. But as a kid, I still wanted some material gratification (don’t blame me). The major one was my parents owning a car. To get around, we had to take public transportation vehicles (not your UBER or Taxi idea), or ride with a neighbor that owned a car. So, on this faithful day, I saw a car in front of our apartment, with my dad in it. “God, what is going on? My little about-10 year’s old mind is racing.” So, of course, I run to him to ask whose car it is. And with a beam in his face, he told me the “who knows what year” Mitsubishi Galant was his. And my response, “If it is truly yours, drive me around in it”, and he did! Just thinking about it now is giving me the chills. It definitely is one of my favorite childhood memories.
Pricing:
- For Tutors: 15% of what you get paid by a student goes to AssignmentMe and transaction fees (Thanks for the love)
- Course prices: Range from Free to Reasonable
Contact Info:
- Website: https://assignmentme.com
- Email: [email protected]
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/assignmentme/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/AssignmentMe
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