It isn’t all about cat videos. YouTube generates billions of views a day across news, music, movies, shows, live streams, and vlogs, covering just about every topic you can think of.
Among the millions of hours of uploaded video, you can find a host of educational guides dishing out advice, tutorials, lessons, and more. Which means you can learn a myriad of skills from the comfort of your couch. Here are 8 abilities you can start learning for free.
HOW TO MAKE A SIMPLE CAKE
Needless to say, you can learn to cook just about anything in the world with a little help from the likes of YouTube. But, for now, let’s start with the basics. Everyone should really know how to make a simple sponge cake. With Bake Off back on air (albeit on Channel 4), there are sure to be a load of people out there aspiring to make some tasty treats in the kitchen. And why on earth shouldn’t they?
Here’s a video on how to make a sponge cake, but don’t stop there. After you’ve mastered this art, there are a whole bunch of other videos you can check out that are way more advanced. Get ready…. BAKE.
GRAPHIC DESIGN
If you have an eye for color schemes and good design, love art as well as computers, you may consider becoming a graphic designer. Like many other computer-related professions, this one is in high demand and not going to lose its ground in the years to come.
On the contrary, the number of job listings for graphic designers is growing continuously. The job market is competitive, but if you manage to land a job, you will easily earn your living with graphic design.
As a freelance designer, all you need to start working is a portfolio showing your good design taste. To enrich your knowledge and develop your designing skills, you can employ a countless number of courses available on the Internet, for free or for money.
But before you get into it, you should realize that your work is not going to be all about “pure art”. Moreover, your everyday duties may include such things as designing logo concepts, billboards, creating menus, business cards, flyers, posters, etc. If you are an artistic person who is okay with doing some donkey work as well, then this professional field can give you a truly marvellous way to make a living in a world that gets digitalized at lightspeed.
For informative and free online courses in graphic design, check out SkillShare, Alison, Coursera, or Udemy. At Canva, you will also find some useful graphic design tools.
DIGITAL MARKETING
In a highly competitive environment, companies struggle desperately for new customers and look for new effective instruments to promote their services and products. In fact, approximately six billion people reach the digital world via their smartphones to access information, goods, or services. And that is why the Internet has become a crucial marketing medium for millions of successful brands all over the globe.
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Digital marketing is continuously evolving and growing bigger and bigger as days pass by. Sooner or later outcompete traditional advertising like newspapers, magazines, street banners, radio broadcasts, and TV commercials. Some of the commonly used forms of digital marketing are email advertising, online videos, websites, blogs, SEO content, web banner ads, PPC advertising, mobile marketing. It also includes advertisements in social networks such as Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, VK, or LinkedIn.
Since people worldwide tend to consume digital content for many hours per day, data-savvy marketers who know how to handle the digital environment effectively are really in high demand. Apart from this, digital marketing skills are critical to entrepreneurs and will prove beneficial to the majority of businesses.
Some of the best free online courses in digital marketing are Google’s Online Marketing Challenge, Social Media Quickstarter, Alison Free Diploma in E-Business, and PPC University.
DANCING
An in-person teacher is not necessarily required to learn how to dance. Some types of dancing may require a partner, but for most types all you need is YouTube.
Learning the skill of dancing is impressive, fun, challenging and rewarding. It’s also a great way to get fit. Dancing can also be a creative outlet and a form of therapy.
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HOW TO SPEAK CONFIDENTLY IN PUBLIC
We can be honest for a second here. No one in the history of the world has ever liked public speaking. Okay, I’m exaggerating. Perhaps there are some people out there who love the limelight, but for the rest of us, this chore is hard. Whether you’re giving a wedding speech or a presentation at university, it can be difficult to get your nerves together and get up there to talk!
Of course, no one is going to wave a magic wand and get rid of your fears for good, but having a little advice may be just what you need. There are lots of videos on this very topic (because of course there are!) and so you shouldn’t have an issue finding some support, tips, and general help.
PHOTOGRAPHY SKILLS
You got a sweet deal on a nice DSLR on Facebook Marketplace and are ready to get your side hustle off the ground. Now you just need…some skills to learn. Luckily, the internet has your back. YouTube is an amazing resource in this department. The popular website FStoppers expanded into YouTube and both the channel and the website are a great resource to learn basic skills, and commune with other shutterbugs. They offer tutorials, equipment reviews, and they have a regular video feature where photography pros review amateur photos in a helpful manner.
Be open to experimentation! You don’t have to limit yourself. Try out different things. Set deadlines and see what happens.
You can learn any skill you put your mind to. With consistent effort, you’re very likely to see results!
