Violet Singer – Task 7

Innovative Design

One of the biggest complaints from my peers and myself surrounding education has always been that we never actually learn how to live. What I mean by this is we learn a lot of useful topics but most of us are let out into the world with very little knowledge about taxes, credit, mortgages, loans, the list goes on. Transitioning into an adult is very overwhelming as is, and many of us are lacking the tools to set ourselves up for success. This is where my new platform comes in, “LifeCoach”. This would be a Reddit-style platform with different forums for different categories of life skills. People would be able to scroll through tips and explanations, given by verified “Coaches”, as well as post questions of their own. The coaches would be adults who work in a related field who are looking for a side hustle and an opportunity to teach the next generation. They would also be given a quiz before verification to be sure that they have the correct knowledge to thoroughly give users advice. Not only would people be able to get clear information without having to dig for it, but this platform would also create a community of people who are in similar stages of life and dealing with a lot of the same things. This platform would run off of a subscription model, around five dollars a month. This payment would do two things, first, it would serve as income for the coaches to offer an incentive to become one, and it would make it so only those who are truly interested in learning take part. If the platform was free it would be much more likely to have nasty comments and unproductive questions cluttering the site. 

Upgraded Criteria

This idea supports both sensemaking and decision-making criteria. It supports sensemaking by teaching what some may consider some of the most valuable knowledge to be successful in a very complex economy. I and others often feel so overwhelmed by what we don’t know as we approach the times in our life that we have to utilize this information. Having a hub to refer to would help people feel grounded and less all over the place. LifeCoach also supports decision-making by offering the knowledge needed in order to make well-informed, strategic financial decisions as opposed to just winging it creating a much higher level of intent. It also helps in a more literal way by being a place people can go to get specific advice when making financial decisions. A non-digital practice that supports these would be Public Education. K-12 schooling satisfies these criteria in every way, but as mentioned above, lacks the major category of economic skills. One of the major harmful factors towards these criteria in general media is the spread of misinformation which leads people to make wrongly informed decisions. LifeCoach combats that through the process of verified coaches, and the subscription model which weeds out users who are not there for the right reasons. 

Supportive Context

The community that would support this platform ranges. Mainly, users would-be college students and those who are coming out of college and beginning to integrate themselves into the economy. It would be kids who are transitioning into adults and starting to run into adult situations such as having to pay taxes or hearing that it’s time to start building credit (whatever that means). Though this is the target audience, there would be no limitation as to who can join. High School students who are ambitious and want to get a head start, adults who are realizing they don’t know as much as they should or could be doing things better, everyone can benefit. LifeCoach helps the community by offering side hustle-worthy pay to coaches as well as users who would get the long-term financial return of making well-informed decisions and investments. People would also benefit socially by being in a space with other like-minded people looking to enrich themselves on the same topics. Seeing questions that other users ask would help to make people feel less alone and that it’s not just them being behind in knowledge. This platform also has no harmful environmental effects.

Weigh Costs

Some costs that I can foresee would be the cost of acquiring high-quality coaches that are going to be knowledgeable, positive, and reliable. The success of LifeCoach falls onto the coaches and their ability to give timely thorough feedback. Another cost in making this successful would be the customer acquisition cost. In order for this platform to work there needs to be users on the site. Getting the idea out there and making it so people know there is a place that they can go to gain tools to use for their future would take time and materials, and someone who has a decent background in marketing. Someone would also have to build the platform which would likely be a website as apps limit the audience to those who have a smartphone. At a price of five dollars a month, Lifecoach would be affordable to most people, especially since the knowledge you gain could save you far more money in the long run.