The Way TCommerce Powered Tongue-Tied Academy to Raise Money for Charity

Jun 28, 2024

in Birmingham, Alabama, pediatric dentist Richard Baxter, DMD, MS can help dental professionals to detect and treat tongue and lip tie.

This journey, catalyzed through the birth of twin daughters in 2014, resulted into the birth of Tongue-Tied Academy  A platform that aims to address an issue that is often ignored and not recognized.

Since launching the course in 2020, he's had over 1,500 learners enroll and has given all of the profits to local and international charities.

The author explains how he developed the online course company, and how TCommerce was instrumental in boosting his success.

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He found his niche

When his girls were babies when they were babies, he noticed that they had tongue ties and this was hindering their ability to nurse. After finding a dentist who could do a laser treatment on the tongues of their children, they were able to take a much easier nap. "The dentist advised me to watch for tongue ties in youngsters because it's more frequent than we think. About one in four kids have one," Baxter tells .

Then, people started asking his opinion on tongue and lip tie. In search of more information and more, he delved into each course and publication on the topic but realized that there weren't many sources available. After that, he was able to do the laser tongue tie technique. After assisting patients and answering the mom's questions and he decided to write blog posts about it. As time went on, more and more clients contacted him seeking his knowledge and he finally decided to write and publish a book, Tongue Tied, in 2018. "People have read the book but still wanted to learn more," Baxter says. Baxter.

He determined that his next move was to build his online academy on . In 2020, when the dental clinic shut down due to the outbreak, the dentist had written the script, which was over 200 pages long. He then hired an film crew to film the flagship course of 25 hours during the time that his office was closed.

He signed up with

One of the main factors that has contributed to the success of Tongue-Tied Academie is the partnership it has with providing a seamless platform for the delivery of courses.

"What's great is the ability to arrange the class into lessons and modules," Baxter shares.

He could offer his content in bite-sized pieces as well as add quizzes at the end of each module. Additionally, he adds chapters from his book to the software. "I like that lets me include different kinds of content to the lessons rather than just videos," he reveals.

He's an avid user of's function that lets him to generate an automatic certification for his students. "I don't have to do much for the course in a day, other than answer discussion questions because everything is completely automated," he says.

The checkout process was made easier through TCommerce

Moving to TCommerce from Stripe has been a huge help in improving the checkout experience for the students of Tongue-Tied Academy. Baxter believes using TCommerce resulted in him losing more sales. However, since moving away from Stripe integration that process, checkouts have been made much simpler, according to Baxter.

With support for various payment methods, including Apple Pay and Google Pay, Baxter says that TCommerce makes transactions seamless, facilitating accessibility and convenience for users worldwide.

"You can now literally hit a button, use your facial ID to purchase a course," Says Baxter. "It's an a lot simpler than having to put all your data into a ."

Moreover, 's automated calculations of sales taxes eases administrative burdens and ensures that compliance with the requirements of regulators across various states. Baxter also says that the funds earned from his classes gets deposited with more ease as compared to his previous payment company.

"I never even think about this because it's easy," he says. " Payments handles everything for me, and then the cash shows up in the account of the bank. ."

With plans to launch an updated version of his bestselling course later this spring, Baxter plans on using an order bump feature which will enable purchasers to purchase additional courses for a reduced price, without ever slowing the process of purchasing.

He was able to make an impact with charity

Once the money lands in his bank account the banker donates 100 percent of the profits to charity.

From supporting clean water initiatives throughout Africa and Asia as well as assisting rehabilitation and preventing human trafficking, Baxter's commitment to community welfare illustrates the Academy's wider goal of social care. "I do not need any more stuff," he says. "We own a house, we have cars, we're in good ."

"If I can help the baby that couldn't feed previously or is difficult to feed and has a difficult time, it makes it the effort worthwhile," he continues.

He introduced various versions of his course

In recognition of the diverse requirements within his audience, Baxter launched a condensed version of the course tailored to professionals like speech therapists and lactation consultants. The LITE Version course, priced at $495, provides an easy, yet effective examination of the subject accommodating a larger range of learners.

Each of his courses is a perpetually updated format meaning that people are able to sign up anytime they'd like. "Teaching the course on the internet has made it as feasible as it can be," he says.

Plus, the courses offer American Dental Association-approved continuing education credits. "We employ an accredited CE provider, meaning they can use it towards their license," Baxter explains.

The flagship course, however, cost $2600, the content--combined with CE certification--helps users see the ROI.

He developed a very simple customer journey

Despite his success, Baxter says that he doesn't have much of a marketing strategy.

The typical customer experience is initiated when a person reads the book. If they decide to learn more, the book guides them to the Tongue-Tied Academy.

When he speaks at events and conferences, usually, attendees are likely to sign up. When people join his email list, they're sent an email sequence from MailChimp which directs people to his blog posts.

He defined success for himself

Baxter defines success as being able to increase his expertise. "It's not just me doing this," Baxter states.

"We have 1,500 people who have taken the course. If each of them sees at least one patient per day, that's more than I can ever manage alone. ."

Furthermore, his definition of success includes educating healthcare providers, helping parents and making sure that more patients receive care, all while utilizing the money to support charities all over the world.

In the process of designing an online course he recommends that creators seek out their passion. "It could be anything," the author declares. "And whatever the case it is, you could create the course you want to with it. ."

"Just take it on," Baxter encourages. "I'm not an online course man. I'm a dentist. But I just put it on the market, and last year we had the honor to be among the top 10 courses on ."

Prior to the creation of Tongue-Tied Academy, he created two of the courses himself. Each was priced at $99that about 10 people attended. "I gained knowledge from this experience," he says. I got higher-quality video and developed a flagship course with Tongue-Tied Academy ."

"You could fail a few of instances," he adds, "but it's an element of learning. There's no way to avoid a mistake when you don't take the lessons learned from it. ."

The HTML0 Tongue-Tied Academy continues to evolve, fueled by a steadfast dedication to both education and service and its history of empowerment and altruism serves as a beacon of inspiration for aspiring educators and changemakers alike.