I really enjoy learning. Unfortunately being a professional student not only doesn’t earn an income, it is also very expensive. I often try to find a balance by finding ways where my learning can lead to earning.
Sometimes it’s not even in ways that I planned. For example, in college I took a guitar class just for fun. I had experience in music but was a complete beginner in guitar. I really enjoyed it so I kept practicing and learning on my own. After performing at a talent show years later, I had several people ask if I gave lessons. And just like that I became a guitar teacher. I’m not a guitar expert by any stretch of the imagination, but I was at least a couple steps ahead of my students.
What if you can learn a skill that you can then turn into a business? Maybe you already have a skill that you could teach others to earn some extra income.
The internet is full of knowledge (and time sucks, but we’ll stay away from those). You can find out how to do just about anything by scouring the internet. The problem is that sometimes you don’t know what you don’t know (do you know what I mean?). Maybe you’re entirely overlooking an important angle or you aren’t getting the big picture. Plus, searching for useful and accurate information also takes time.
I’ve found that when you are serious about learning something, it’s helpful to invest in a course. When Elite Blog Academy came out, my blog was just around a year old. I decided to invest in that learning opportunity and am so glad I did! Since then I have more than doubled my blog traffic and income. Elite Blog Academy is an investment I recommend to any blogger.
If you’re not sure about the course, here are some wothwhile freebies on the topic:
7 Surefire Ways to Boost Your Blog Income Overnight
Goal Setting Workbook for Bloggers
A Great Opportunity
I know that lots of you are looking for ways that you can earn some extra money to put toward your financial goals, so I wanted to share a great opportunity with you to learn a new skill (or polish up an old one) and turn that into an earning possibility.
Right now, over 10,000 Udemy courses are on sale for just $10-$15. These are courses with hours of video content, reading material, assignments, quizzes, and other interactions that normally cost in the hundreds of dollars.
If there is a skill you are interested in developing either for personal enjoyment or as a way to start earning money, now is a great time to invest in a course. Even at the $10 sale price, you get lifetime access to the videos and course materials.
Some Examples
Here are some courses that stood out to me as learning that leads to earning. They all received excellent ratings.
Learn Photoshop, Web Design & Profitable Freelancing by Barin Cristian Doru — This course includes over 17 hours of video to teach the ins and outs of Photoshop. You don’t need any prior Photoshop experience. He also teaches how to monetize your work. Nearly 40K people have enrolled in this five-star class which is normally priced at $300.
Running A Web Design Business by Rob Cubbon– If you have graphic design, web design or web development experience already, you could turn it into a business. Rob goes through all the steps that you should take to create your business.
Replace Your Job Selling Used Items on eBay by Charity Cason– If you love frequenting thrift stores and garage sales already, learn what items to look for and a proven strategy to resell those items for a profit on eBay.
Learn & Earn: Make Passive Income Selling eBooks & Courses by Rob Cubbon– I have been getting Rob’s emails for a while and am intrigued by his success. Just reading through the topics of the lectures and watching the previews is inspiring. You could turn just about any skill you already have into an income by teaching it to others through an online course or ebook.
There are thousands and thousands of courses available, so this is really just the tip of the iceberg. As you browse through the courses, you can read reviews from other students who have taken the course as well as watch previews of different parts of the course.
I just signed up for a course on photography so I can finally learn how to use my DSLR on manual instead of auto. My husband and I decided it would be fun to do the course together since we are both interested in learning!
Take a look through the courses offered on Udemy. Whether you would like to learn a new skill, start a business, prepare for a certification exam, dabble in the arts, or learn a new language, I’m sure there will be something that interests you. Get lifetime access to the course for $10 now and then get started at your convenience.
Note: This post contains affiliate links. For more information, see my disclosure policy.
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Thanks for the heads up, Stephanie!
I bought the Photoshop class and am so excited to get a better understanding of the software. I have learned how to do specific things through online searches and tutorials, but I think it makes a big difference to have a solid framework as well.
One of these days I’m going to learn Photoshop too. We have it and my husband does some things with it, but it’s a little overwhelming for me!
Is the sale over? I was a little behind on my blog-reading, and the course I’m interested in looks like it’s full-price now.
The current coupon code is FLASH682.
I’m a notorious learning addict. I love to learn new skills whether it’s a diy, IT or personal finance. I always have to remind myself that I don’t want to be a mile wide and an inch deep. It’s important to continuously learn but even more to make sure that you have an expertise in something.
“learning addict”– love it!
I like the principle of “Earning while Learning”. It’s a great help especially for students or volunteers who are not being paid yet. With the “$10 versus FREE” thing, of course I will go for free. However, I also agree with Stephanie. If you really want an in-depth lesson to learn a skill, (and you can afford it), then take the course.
Yep! It depends on the depth you want. Like another commenter said, with a course you get the complete framework.
Thanks for the great tip! I love learning as well and what some of the commenters might not realize is that there are also free courses available! I just signed up for several free courses for now and then will decide whether or not they are worth the money.
While I also promote frugal living, spending $10 instead of $100 is a huge savings if that is something you had already been budgeting for! But if it’s not for you, maybe check out the free courses? 🙂
Yes! They have lots of great free courses! You can’t go wrong there!
Why pay good money for courses/tutorials that you could find for FREE on youtube and other places????? That is just ridiculous. A search for “dslr photography lessons” on youtube pulled up 55,000 results. Surely you could learn from those. Likewise, a youtube search for “photoshop tutorials” pulled up 543,000 results.
Although I can agree with the general sentiment (why pay money for stuff you can find for free?), the answer is that some people are just way too busy to take the time to do that. I don’t mean that in the sense that customers of these courses are all lazy people (though I’m sure some are); I mean it in the sense that someone could be working two jobs and they want to invest in something and make a change as soon as possible. Some other people may just want to instead use that time to spend time with their kids.
If I chose, I could weed through the credible and less than credible resources on the internet, make some mistakes than enable me to learn to tell the difference between the two, and then finally be effective at using what I’ve learned….or I can pay someone who has already done that and not waste the time. If you have the money and it is an investment, then why not? There is nothing wrong with taking either the free, time-consuming approach or the paid shortcuts. There is definitely a market for the latter.
Yes, but this is a blog about being frugal so telling people to spend money on things they can get for free makes absolutely no sense. For example: yes, plenty of people go buy prepared meals, go out to restaurants, buy fruit already cut up in containers at the grocery store, etc but this blog talks about cooking from scratch all the time, growing your own food, canning, etc….everything to save a dollar. These are all things that take time.
It’s no secret that I am also a fan of FREE. In fact I wrote a post about learning new skills for free. Looking for blog posts and youtube videos is great, especially if you have more time than money. Often it’s also an exercise in frustration to find exactly what you’re looking for and sift through 543,000 results.
A couple months ago I was looking for a tutorial for altering my husband’s suit pants a certain way. I had to go through dozens of videos before I found one that was what I was looking for, gave clear instructions with good images and one that offered the entire video (many, at least with sewing, are just teasers for you to pay for their video courses). On the other hand, there have been lots of experiences where youtube videos have helped me do things though!
Taking a course is different than finding random free youtube videos. There are lots of separate videos in an organized outline with written material and other resources as well. You have access to the instructor if you have questions or problems. You don’t have to go searching for another video each time you get to the next step. If you’re learning something entirely new, you might not even know what you don’t know. I’d argue that you’ll get better quality in a course you pay for, since the instructor has an expectation to meet (especially when there’s a money-back guarantee).
Like TBF says, there is a place for both. For me, if it is just a quick “how do I do this” question (adjust the white balance, add text to an image, understand my analytics) I’ll go to youtube. If I really want to dig deeper and learn a big skill (photography, photoshop, blogging, etc) I’ll take a course. It just depends on what your preference is. Depending on your situation, you can choose what works for you!