[PRACTICE] First Service Idea to Turn "English in Business" into a Community Business
How “Mock Meetings” sparked the first service idea for English in Business and what I’m planning to do next to bring it to life.
As you may know, I’ve started building a community called English in Business about a month ago. And I’ve also been sharing the journey to get your thoughts and feedback. You can check the latest part here.
Since the beginning, I’ve spent around 50 hours figuring out the purpose, the people, and the connections. I kicked things off with a LinkedIn page and a subreddit to spread the word, and had the chance to chat with over 40 people. Last week was packed with conversations and the first real activity: “Mock Meetings” with early folks. These helped me see how what I’m doing could actually turn into a community business.
So in this post, I want to share what happened in the mock meetings, how that gave me the idea to turn this activity into a service that different people in the ecosystem can benefit from, and my next steps to test it.
This post isn’t a pitch or a polished roadmap. It’s me thinking out loud as I move from community building into something that might grow into a business.
Hope you’ll enjoy the ride. I’d love to hear your thoughts and questions. As I said before, we’re building this together.
Finding the Mock Meetings Idea
My focus is finding things my people don’t know but actually want. And the easiest way to start is checking my needs, because I’m also one of the members.
One thing I struggle with is speaking up in meetings. Not just big presentations, even in regular team calls. It’s something that shows up almost every day, and I know I’m not alone.
So I started asking others and digging around Reddit. What I kept seeing was people looking for 1-1 speaking partners. But many of those chats don’t really go anywhere. No structure, no shared focus, that’s how the Mock Meetings idea came up.
So what is it?
It’s a role-playing meeting where participants join as if they’re teammates building an app. Everyone brings ideas for features. Then with facilitation, we vote and choose two or three of them, and talk through how they might work.
I announced the idea on Reddit and LinkedIn. I also left comments and sent a few DMs on Reddit. That helped me run three sessions. All of them went better than I expected. I got to meet seven new people and also hear ideas I wouldn’t have thought of on my own.
Mock Meetings was one of the concepts I had in mind. Thanks to these sessions, I believe it can really turn into something.
Mock Meetings as a Service
The sessions gave me more than just good feedback. They helped me see how this one simple activity could actually bring different ecosystem players together and create value in different ways.
It’s not just for non-native speakers like me who want to feel more confident in meetings. It could also be useful for native speakers who want to practice speaking up. English teachers and professionals could run their own versions. Organizations could show up with real ideas or prototypes and get feedback. And maybe some participants could even become facilitators themselves.
Because I had the chance to think how people can benefit from it, I started thinking about turning it into a service. One that could be the starting point for turning English in Business into a community business.
For me, a community business should be a space where different players in the ecosystem can benefit. Not just by paying, but by earning, collaborating, and leveling up to take on different roles. This is the kind of space I want to nurture.
When I ask myself:
“How can we turn Mock Meetings into a service that can be scalable, sustainable, and create value for all ecosystem players?”
Here are three main mechanics come to my mind to try first;
Participants Become Facilitators
This space can be for both native and non-native speakers. And every participant should have a way to become a facilitator if they want.
Here’s how I’m planning it:
Join 5 meetings as a participant.
Join a “Facilitators Meeting” to understand what’s expected and how they can benefit.
Organize one free meeting with the support of a facilitator.
If the facilitator gives a positive vote, they’re ready.
From there, they can run free or paid sessions.
If they run paid sessions, 10% of the revenue goes to the community.
This is just the start for this mechanic. In the future, I’m planning to build more around it and make a few changes, like:
Organizing facilitation workshops for facilitators
Creating public profiles so people can find and follow them
Requiring one free session each month
Opening up sessions on different topics
Adjusting the revenue share or number of meetings needed to become a facilitator
Coaches and Professionals Become Facilitators
This space is also for professional facilitators, coaches, managers, and business English teachers. They can organize their own activities by adding their own styles and experiences.
Here’s how I’m planning to collaborate with them:
Join a “Facilitators Meeting” to understand what’s expected and how they can benefit.
Organize 2 meetings with the support of a facilitator.
If the facilitator gives a positive vote, they’re ready.
They can run free or paid sessions.
They’ll need to give 2–3 feedback notes to participants.
If they run paid sessions, 10% of the revenue goes to the community.
This is just the beginning. In the future, I’m planning to:
Let them open a coach account.
Offer one-to-ones, courses, and different activities.
Collaborate with sponsored organizations.
Create and share content.
Join or run workshops.
Businesses Become Funders
With Mock Meetings, we’re actually opening a space where people discuss, ideate, and iterate. I thought, this could be a way for startups and brands to interact with real users and learn from their experiences. They can bring their needs, problems, or prototypes to start the conversation.
Here’s how they can get involved:
Pay $90 to fund a session or with a different offer.
Facilitator gets $30, and participants get $10 each.
10% of the revenue goes to the community.
They get matched with a facilitator to create the program.
Depending on the audience, we’ll definitely need to adjust some things and make additions:
Choosing who should join the sessions. (UX designers, people who use Mac, etc.)
Organizing different kinds of activities.
Changing the revenue sharing model or sponsorship price.
Testing the Idea
In the next couple of weeks, I’ll focus on building this into a real service, by testing it more, reaching out, and getting feedback from different players in the ecosystem. Here’s what I’m planning to do:
Share the idea with previous participants - Hear what worked for them, what didn’t, and whether they see themselves running or joining sessions in the future.
Refine and expand the Mock Meeting concept - Explore new prompts, different meeting types, or topic-focused sessions to see what formats people enjoy most.
Connect with facilitators and English teachers - See how they’d see themselves in this, what kind of support they’d need, or what ideas they have.
Build a simple interface for the activity - A simple space (maybe a Notion page or a landing page at first) to explain how it works, showcase upcoming sessions, and start testing signups.
Curious to see where this journey takes us. I’ll keep experimenting with new activities, learning from the people I meet, and sharing new ideas and tests with you.
And of course, I’d love to hear your thoughts and feedback along the way.
Stay tuned :)