- Young Chinese student earns 270,000 yuan teaching cycling while studying sports education
- Li teaches bike riding to about 700 people aged 4 to 68, mostly women aged 20-30
- He offers two-session adult courses costing 800 yuan in open spaces near clients’ homes
A young student in China has turned a simple life skill into a successful business, surprising many people online. By teaching others how to ride a bicycle, he has helped hundreds of learners and earned a large income while still studying, reported the South China Morning Post.
A master's degree student from China is currently making headlines on social media, having earned 270,000 yuan in the past two years by teaching children and adults how to ride bicycles. According to The Cover, the young man, named Li, is a third-year master's student in sports education at the Shanghai University of Sport.
Li explained that a few years ago, he and a friend realised the number of people learning to ride bicycles was quite high, and they decided to start a business together. Later, his friend got a permanent job in Shanghai, leaving him to leave his job. After enrolling at the Shanghai University of Sport, Li continued teaching cycling lessons in his spare time. He also shared training videos on social media, which earned him his first client within two months.
For classes, Li chooses open and spacious locations near his clients' homes. He offers a course for 800 yuan, promising that students will learn to ride bicycles by the end of the course. Adult courses typically consist of two sessions, each lasting one and a half to two hours. Children typically require more sessions, as their classes are typically shorter than one and a half hours due to their reduced physical abilities.
So far, Li has taught cycling to approximately 700 people, ranging in age from four to 68. Most of his clients are between 20 and 30 years old, and approximately 70 percent are women. Li said he did not expect such a large number of people to be interested.
He explained that many people learn to cycle to make their daily commute to work easier, while others need quick learning, such as employees of companies whose team-building activities involve cycling.
One female client explained that she wanted to learn cycling to fulfill an unfulfilled childhood desire. She said that as a child, she always walked to school and never had the opportunity to learn cycling. Last year, when she saw her daughter learning to ride a bicycle, her desire was rekindled. She didn't ask her husband for help because it would have required him to run alongside her, which was impossible for him. After just an hour of training, she learned to ride, and she happily called her daughter to share the news.
Li says that his studies in sports education allow him to quickly identify where a student is struggling. He explained that after working with a student for just ten minutes, he can estimate how long it will take, and sometimes students learn sooner than expected. He also said that patience and encouragement are his greatest strengths, as many people are afraid of cycling due to childhood experiences with falls, so he tries to alleviate their fears through conversation.
Li hopes to complete his master's degree in June this year. He wants to further refine his bicycle training methods and plans to expand his work in Shanghai as well as surrounding provinces such as Zhejiang and Jiangsu in eastern China.
