“Teacher, can you build a stable API environment yourself? We trust you.”
I had never written a line of code. I was just a Chinese teacher. But my student's AI project was stuck.
I have been a Chinese language teacher for over ten years, teaching Chinese to international students. My income is not high, but my job is stable and I enjoy it.
You might be curious: How did a liberal arts teacher without a technical background start providing AI API services? The story begins with a request from a Korean student.
1. The Origin: A Student's Request for Help
At the beginning of this year, a former student from South Korea approached me and said, "Teacher, our school's artificial intelligence project wants to use OpenAI's API, but it's too expensive. We want to try Chinese LLMs, like DeepSeek. Do you know where we can find a reliable supplier?"
At that time, I knew nothing about API gateways or large model invocation, but seeing the student's expectant eyes, I agreed.
I started searching everywhere on Taobao, Xianyu, and domestic AI communities. The results were:
- Unstable connections, frequent timeouts and disconnections
- High response latency, seriously affecting the development progress
- Unclear charging, with additional fees popping up all the time The student finally said, "Teacher, why don't you set up a stable API environment yourself? We trust you." As a liberal arts teacher, I took on the challenge despite my reservations.
2. Process: Learning from Scratch
It took me a few weeks to learn by translating English documents and studying:
- How to set up a gateway using Cloudflare Workers
- How to register official API accounts for DeepSeek, MiniMax, and Zhishu AI
The document was all in English. I looked up every single word. After staying up for more than ten nights, I finally set up the basic framework and got the test running smoothly. The student project was successfully completed and I could finally breathe a sigh of relief.
3. Transformation: From "Helping" to "Serving"
A few weeks later, that student came to me again: "Teacher, my classmates and seniors also want to use your API. Can you provide it officially and set a stable price?"
From then on, I gradually started to operate the service. I handled everything myself, from the domain name to the technical documentation and the website's UI/UX (with some help from students). It was busy, but very fulfilling.
4. My Principles
Having been a teacher for many years, I understand one thing: what users pay for is not the complexity of the technology, but the certainty of problem-solving.
That’s why my service focuses on three things: stable gateway, PayPal payment, and real human support. No hidden fees, no marketing gimmicks.
5. Current Status and Invitation
Currently,the first paying user was a classmate of that student. We have been making improvements based on feedback.
In the future, we will continue to transparently document the entire entrepreneurial process and grow together with the developer community.
What’s the hardest part of your first API project? Drop a comment – I read every single one.
Thank you!
Top comments (1)
When writing this article, the part that I was most conflicted about was whether or not to include the details of the student's request for help. I was worried that some might think it was a made-up story, but at the same time, I felt that it was precisely because it was true that it had value to share.
I'd like to ask the friends who are reading this article: If you also started a business without a technical background, what is the one technical problem that keeps you up at night the most?
I will reply to each one carefully. Thank you for being willing to read my story. 🙏