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"I worked as an accountant for the past eight years, and used Microsoft Excel every day for many hours." The course is Google Sheets and Apps Script an expert teacher Ben L Collins. "Almost everything I did was accomplished in Excel however, I didn't have any background. I'd written code but I'd not completed anything with spreadsheets.

"Pretty just at the beginning of my career, my boss asked me to do a range of tasks that required Excel such as 'Combine the tables" etc. The problem was that I had to complete everything by hand!" He was shown a few formulas that can assist in speeding up the process. Ben was able to see one of the fundamental skills that every finance professional is the capability to alter the data.

"The those who are able to do it really well have a lot more success than those of us who struggle." Ben continues. I thought, "Okay it is, I'm likely to have to improve my capabilities.' I then looked through several websites on the internet including mrexcel.com along with chandoo.org They had the exact abilities that I do, only working with Excel approximately 15 years earlier."

The longer Ben played with formulas and spreadsheets, more intrigued he was: "It was this rabbit hole that was just getting deeper and more." He realized that some of the knowledge he gained in the university years could be utilized with programming languages that handle databases, such as VBA.

Throughout his career as an accountant He began to become more interested in the area of technology in contrast to finance and accounting. "After eight years of work I realized that I've had enough to have enough I've had enough!'. I wasn't sure what to do next however one of my first ideas was that I should become an engineer." Ben tells me.

It's called yWYQFjXiawUjOZ9 Ben L Collins speaking at an evening.

He was enrolled in a handful of courses and after which he began applying for jobs. "It was not getting any attention when I was in college, but I started constructing my own website and writing pieces. The initial content I made were stored written in Google Sheets and they're the ones that got taken up from Google Search." The result was the appearance of clients asking for payment for freelancers.

"In 2014 and in 2015 there was plenty of outbound calls asking, "Hey, could you assist me in creating the dashboard with spreadsheets? or "Can you review the spreadsheets I have created for my company and assist me in determining how to improve the formulas? ? '."

The work involved Excel, Google Sheets, SQL as well as Tableau. "It wasn't an actual job, but it's enough of an opportunity to consider"Maybe it's possible that something can be discovered in this article. There is a possibility for you to be a freelancer instead of being a returnee to your previous job . I'm not looking forward to going back to the accounting department!" Ben smiles. "I want to be ahead of the curve in technological advancement and innovating."

Goodbye accounting, hello education

The education website General Assembly was just a company that was just starting and planned to launch training programs for developers as well as Data analysts. "They developed an online database analysis program which was part-time. As I'd been part of a class as a student in one of their programs for programmers and had an excellent connection with their team when they started the program. The initial time they introduced the data course was when they first began to recruit instructors. The course included Excel, SQL and Tableau," Ben continues. "I said to myself "Hey, this is exactly the way I've always been working since I was eight years old. ! '." He applied for the position and was subsequently offered the job as well as the opportunity to teach the course several occasions throughout the year.

"That made me want to return to teaching," Ben recalls. "I'd taught at the college level as a mentor to young students when I finished my academic year." He added business training to the online course, as well as the sale of courses and tutorials. "As I was beginning to gain audiences, in the year 2017 I thought I'd start my own online course to test the waters."

) A course on the Query function in Google Sheets

The course's instruction was appreciated quite well - well enough to convince Ben to launch a second course. "I made use of a platform named Teachable because I wanted to build a relationship immediately with my viewers and be in a position to manage the relationships, instead of turning the course over to an online platform like Udemy."

I searched and the name that kept coming to my mind was the name of the person who is the editor of the magazine for tech news Stratechery, Ben Thompson. Ben Thompson is known as the OG!" Ben smiles. "I have been a member for a few months to check out how other members use Flowing Data and Craig Mod has done exactly the same." Ben was looking through their newsletters for quite an extended period of time, and was fascinated by their methods used in establishing their membership business. I was thinking "I would like to create a similar experience.'. I was awed at it was easy to sign up and the ease of signing up - I was thinking"I would like to have similar experience as a user..'

Moving forward in a way that is sustainable

In order to give an overview of the Ben subscription service is comprised of high-quality (or "gated") details in WordPress and an email newsletter, which is delivered via email via Kit (formerly ConvertKit). For more specifics, it's built upon Google Sheets that includes new functions for the product along with innovative features as well as ways to maximize the benefits of it.

"The forthcoming newsletter dives into a variety of the most recent technologies that Google have introduced in the last year's holiday season." Ben adds. These are extremely helpful tools for modify data. There'll be a demonstration on this, which includes a link to an Google Sheet template that people are able to download. Additionally, there will be a live session about the use of Google Sheets will be a live session. "I utilize the newsletters to share information regarding the session, as well as to share my Google Meet link for the live sessions."

In response to questions about what direction the future will take for him, Ben believes that membership will become the major area of the company. "I sure would like to get more people in since I'd like my membership to be my primary product," he says. "I will provide an archives of my material for at the price of a monthly subscription. Then, you are able to join my pro membership and join my group and get further information."

0.WZ6fYkdbv3adzawtsO Simulating a game of Chess by using Google Sheets

The author also discusses the way the previous times he offered consulting as well as publish ads within his monthly newsletter. But, he's trying to get away from these: "if I can build the amount of subscribers to a sufficient size then it's a great idea to remove all the other things. There are a few small issues to address. but increasing the amount of subscribers is the most important thing. "

He acknowledges that he's thought of diverse ideas of expanding his offerings. "I've thought about how I can improve with live broadcasts of these events. We also have plans to bring in new members for the event next year. The program itself is going to evolve. It's not going to alter much, but there's going to be more items to live."

Another member recommends to discover a better method for members to share the data concerns they're facing and issues they'd like tackle. One option is "That could be via 'office hours or a better method of asking questions" so long the method is implemented in a timely and sustainable manner to everyone affected.

Ben confirms that, in the moment, all communication with his followers takes place via emails. "I actually encourage people to send me a message that says, 'Hey Let me know how you're up to'. I love the idea because it's manageable.

The forum he was in used to provide chats and "cohort courses" that let participants work to solve Google Sheets issues online together in a group. "We did two of them in 2021 when they were the talk of the town. The course was very efficient, but it was also extremely stressful for the entire five months. It was like being a "firehose' of questions. It's been a while since I've done a community like this, and as I'm anxious about what happens when I start it, it's hard to shut off. I'd like to look it over and think about how I could ensure that this is sustainable?

"I didn't have any live shows in mind when I began, because I was thinking"Just begin, and then determine what the response would be. Check to see if I am comfortable doing it prior to making promise after promise. The system is doing well! He is keen on adding live sessions "They're fun and the public benefits lots from these sessions. We'll see how it goes!"

HTML0Ben is hosting an online conversation with his participants

"Right this moment, I'm teaching classes like: I'll pick an area of study to cover and then we'll be discussing live via a chat," he continues. If the class was built on groups, it became more of an open forum "People came in to ask questions like, 'Hey, there's an equation I'm not sure with.' It was a live discussion and others would watch. We'll be examining this throughout the coming year. It's an excellent possibility for everyone to be engaged."

A final idea, Ben thinks there's a possibility that there is a forum for Q&A that could be possible, but he says: "I just want to ensure that I'm prepared to handle the situation with a level of ease that's not overwhelming me." The statement suggests Ben is on the road to establishing the longest-lasting, lasting friendship with his peers. Maintaining connections is vital for a successful involvement "Little steps is what we'll do to build it as time goes by!" The man smiles.

More details

Ben Collins is an educator author, designer, as well as co-founder of The Collins School of Data. Ben Collins develops online classes and writes on Google's Workspace tools. My primary focus is study as well as analysis of the data and automated processes using Google Sheets as well as Apps Script.

Ben L Collins' website

He is a lover of developing simple and program that are data driven and can be added to the Google stack. Google Sheets, Looker Studio, Google Apps Script, Forms, Docs, Gmail and many more. For more details, visit benlcollins.com.

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