Skillshare makes it easy to learn a new skill.

Being that this is the first post of 2018 I thought it would be fitting to share on the topic of learning a new skill. Some of you have already started and others are struggling to nail down which new year resolution they want to commit to. I believe there is something in the heart of humanity that desires to learn more, to be better, or get a fresh start. Setting a goal to learn something new is a great way to start the new year, but it doesn’t come without its own challenges and fears. Last year I had made the decision that I wanted to refine and expand my design skillset so that my business could become more profitable. I ended up joining the online learning platform called Skillshare. In the first few months after joining, I had taken some classes, created a few projects, learned and applied some new concepts.

It wasn’t too long before I had someone from the Skillshare team reach out and invite me to teach a class myself (Create A Craft Brewery Logo) to share my knowledge on the topic of logo design. Upon receiving this invitation I had many reservations, not because I thought I couldn’t teach the concepts, but more that I wouldn’t be able to produce the class. All my fears aside, I ended up deciding to take them up on the offer. I am so glad that I did. In learning the new skill of teaching a class, I was able also to better understand my own logo design process, learn Adobe Audition and Premiere Pro, and more in order to produce the class.

Now I realize that not all of you are going to end up teaching a Skillshare class. However, I would like to invite you, in the same way, to challenge yourself to learn a new skill.

Check out some of the trending skills on Skillshare:

• Animation
• Logo Design
• Photography
• Web Design
• Social Media Marketing
• Leadership
• Writing
• Freelance Essentials
• and much more

Learn from teachers who are leaders in their industry:

• Aaron Draplin
• Jessica Hische
• Jake Bartlett
• Jon Contino

There are three things that I like about the Skillshare’s learning platform.

01 Classes are easily digested: I have found that the classes on Skillshare are great for learning at your own pace and also in short bursts. Each class is typically 20 to 60 minutes and is broken down into smaller sections, so if you only have five minutes, that is okay.

02 Apply what you learn: The Skillshare teachers and community understand the importance of putting into practice the concepts and skills you are learning. Each class is structured to have a class project that comes out of the teaching content (i.e. homework).

03 The Community: Skillshare is its own social network. You can interact with your teachers, classmates, and anyone else on the platform. Share your class projects, get feedback, show some love, and follow your favorite content creators. This social aspect of this platform will help you to follow through on your class projects.

What is holding you back from learning a new skill?

There are two likely answers to this question. The first is that you don’t have enough time. I get it, time is one of the hardest commodities to manage.  I am not going to lie, learning a new skill can be time-consuming. Learning at your own pace is helpful, and learning online makes the content readily available. You will get out of it what you put in. The second is fear. To this, I would say we all struggle with fear in one way or another. I will encourage you to stop living by the “what if’s” and start doing. You will never know how it could have been if you don’t try.

If this post has encouraged you to learn a new skill, I would love to hear from you. Feel free to post a comment or shoot me an email to let me know what skill you have decided on learning and/or how it is coming along.