There should be no surprise to anyone who’s already started out in business when I say it’s not easy for most people. It takes a lot of dedication and persistence to take an idea and turn it into a profitable business. In my opinion you should first choose to do something you at least ‘like’, because when it starts to get tough you’re more likely to stick with it, this podcast is about the things I’m genuinely interested in and spend much of my time researching and learning about. So even if the posts seem a bit random at times, they are in fact close to my heart!
Knowing that to establish a successful business is not easy is a driving force, because that means when you are successful, you’ve done it despite the challenges and hurdles which stood in your way. There are lots things in life which are easy, and there is nothing wrong with focusing on them instead. But if your goal is to set up a business, particularly an online one there is likely still allot you have to learn before it become a hit.
With this in mind, and despite being a marketing veteran myself, I have to say it’s important to keep investing in yourself and your education because the more you know, the faster you will arrive at your destination. I’ve had this mindset for years which has lead me to invest fully in books, I read allot of self help and business books then slowly drifted across to the world of online courses. I have to say I’m glad I did because there are some great online courses available on websites like Udemy, where you can learn about business, finance, writing, running ads, email marketing and video production. There is no end to how much you can learn online now.
I have taken a few courses on different platforms but I would have to say the majority of the courses so far have been with Udemy, you will likely always learn at least one thing on a course that will help you improve your results significantly. I’m in the middle of an Ad Words course at the moment which has been good and allowed me to update my skills with the platform.
The very first course I did on Udemy was an HTML5 and CCS3 course to help improve my web design skills. The course was reasonable, and I learnt a few things which were helpful and allowed me to brush up on specific skills that I felt were getting rusty. After taking the course I had filled a skill gap and was able to finish off a website build I was working on. That £15 course saved me time and money by getting my skills up to scratch.
The next course was a completely different subject, and I have to say I really enjoyed it. There was allot of information, and I learnt some practical and useful skills which have since been used in daily life. This was a Life Coaching Certification course by Kain Ramsay. The course covered allot of information, and instead of doing it with a focus on how I could set up a coaching business I did with the goal of improving my own mindset and to takeaway any tools which I could use to shape my own life. What was even more rewarding was using the skills to help and support other people close to me. Because of this I think everyone should do a similar course at some point.
The next Udemy course was a Click Funnels course. This one had good reviews and so I decided to try it. There was some good information, and as a beginner to Click Funnels at the time it was useful for understanding the layout and available options. I would do it again if I was a beginner, mostly because the trainer covered allot of layout related stuff which was good and it was overall good value for money. If you’re an entrepreneur, business founder or just looking to make some extra income online it’s good to know how Click Funnels works. I will leave links at the bottom to all the courses I mention here.
Following the Click Funnels course I went on and booked an NLP practitioner course. I had already learnt allot about NLP from reading books, online seminars with Richard Bandler and I have been to a few NLP training seminars. I think NLP is a great personal tool set for anyone to know, it’s unfortunate so many people don’t learn these life transforming skill sets. The course I did was long, I remember about half way through starting to get impatient, but it was still good and covered everything you would need to learn for the NLP practitioner certification. Like many skills it’s not always apparent how and when it will help you, but what I have learned is that change takes time.
Next up I purchased a further two courses, the first was a Facebook ads course followed by a Google Ads course. I am currently working my way through these. I have allot of experience running ads, but I still think it’s worth investing the time to stay up to date with the latest changes in these platforms, I currently manage ad campaigns for these platforms on a daily basis so making sure I know everything I can means I generate better ROI from ads.
There are allot of options available for online training, interactive and one to one training is best, because coaching will always get you better results. A course like those I have mentioned above on Udemy are good for gathering information, and further understanding a subject. It wont make you an expert if you have no prior experience or knowledge but you can walk away with a better grounding for the subject which will be a good starting point. I always recommend doing your research before choosing a course.
Let me know about the courses you choose and what you think of them!
