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"I was an accountant for 8 years and used Microsoft Excel every day for many hours," starts Google Sheets and Applications Script professional educator Ben L Collins. "Almost everything I did was performed with Excel however I didn't have an understanding of. I'd done some programming but I had not done anything that involved spreadsheets.
"Pretty quite early in my career, my manager required me to complete a lot of tasks using Excel for example, 'Combine tables', etc. But I was performing the entire process manually!" His boss showed him some formulas that could aid in saving time. Ben realized then and there that one of the fundamental skills in any financial career is to handle information.
"The people who have the ability to achieve this feat are leagues ahead of those who stumble along." Ben continues. I thought, "Right. I'll need to brush up my skills and I came across several websites such as mrexcel.com as well as chandoo.org These people were doing what I'm doing today, only they were using Excel about 15 years ago."
The more Ben was able to study formulas and spreadsheets, the more enthralled he got: "It was this rabbit tunnel that seemed to get higher and further." Ben realized that applying a portion of the coding training that he had received in college could be a good option to blend other databases-related programming languages including VBA.
Over the course of his profession as an accountant, he found himself becoming more interested in technologies and less intrigued by the accounting or finance. "After eight years I decided that I'd had enough to have enough!'. I was not sure of the next steps were, however one of my initial ideas was to switch jobs and be an engineer," Ben tells me.
Ben L Collins speaking at an event
He took a few classes and started to submit applications for positions. "It was not a big business in the beginning, however I started my own website along with writing articles. The first few posts I wrote on Google Sheets and were those that were noticed via Google Search." They led to a variety of customers requesting and paying freelancers for tasks.
"In 2014 and 2015, we had some inbound calls asking, "Hey, could I have help creating a dashboard with Sheets?' Or "Can you take a look at my company spreadsheets and assist me in figuring out ways to improve these formulas ? '."
The task comprised Excel, Google Sheets, SQL and Tableau. "It was any work really however it gave me a reason to consider if there's something in this. Maybe I can be freelance instead of going back to my previous job . I didn't want to return to accounting!" Ben smiles. "I would like to stay up in the field of technological advancement and innovating."
Goodbye accounting, hello education
In the beginning, the education site General Assembly was just a startup and was launching classes specifically designed for data analysts and developers. "They launched a part-time data analysis course. Since I had taken a class together as a participant in one of their programming classes and I was familiar with the group at the time. When they introduced this course about information, they had been looking for instructors and it included Excel, SQL and Tableau," Ben continues. "I I thought"What a great idea! This is my job over the last eight years! '." The applicant went through the procedure and was eventually granted the position. He taught the class for a few versions in 2015.
"That made me want to start teaching once more," Ben recalls. "I'd been a college teacher as tutoring for kids when I was in the final year." Ben began including company training in his online offering that included courses for sale and tutorials. "As I started to grow the number of people who were interested in my content, in 2017, I decided to create my own course, and then test the waters."
) A course on the Query function in Google Sheets
The teaching of the course was well received and enough to inspire Ben to design a new course. "I made use of a website known as Teachable because I was looking to create an intimate relationship with my viewers and take control of the relationship, rather than handing it over to an online marketplace such like Udemy."
I did some searching and the name that kept coming to mind was that of the man who is the editor of Stratechery, a tech-related newsmagazine. Stratechery, Ben Thompson. Ben Thompson is known as the OG!" Ben is laughing. "I have signed up for a couple of members myself in order to observe how other businesses like Flowing Data and Craig Mod have done it." Ben was getting their newsletter free for a long time and wanted to know the ways they'd implemented their membership businesses. I thought, "I want mine to be just like that.'. It was amazing to sign in a very easy and seamless way It was like I wanted to experience that..'
The goal is to continue in a forward pace
As a matter of fact, Ben's subscription service currently comprises premium (or "gated") content that is hosted on WordPress as well as an email newsletter that is sent via email through Kit (formerly ConvertKit). It's built on Google Sheets that includes product functions, updates, and more information, as well as ways to maximize the value out of the program.
"The following newsletter takes an in-depth look at certain innovative features that Google released in the last period," Ben adds. They are very useful that allow you to alter data. There will be a tutorial about that including a link to an Google Sheet template that people can then download themselves. There will also be live discussions regarding the topic. "I make use of newsletters to provide specific times as well as the Google Meet link for the live discussion."
If asked about the future of his company, Ben believes that membership will become the core of his business. "I definitely would like to get many more members since I'd like that membership become the main product," he declares. "I am able to offer a library of gratis content, however you have the option to join as a professional member to assist me and get more content."
0.WZ6fYkdbv3adzawtsO The simulation of a game of Chess using Google Sheets
He also explains how it was his practice to offer advice and put advertisements within his newsletters. However, he is now looking to stop this "if I could increase the amount of subscribers to a sufficient size and it's a great idea to stop the other things. There's a couple of small issues to be worked on However, growing the number of members is vital. "
He claims he has a variety of ways of broadening his offerings. "I've got some ideas currently and am thinking about the best job of broadcasting these live events as well as initiatives that will bring new members on board within the calendar year to come. The service itself will develop. I don't think it'll be radically different however we'll do more live events."
The person also says that he'd like to develop an easier way for the members to communicate information about the kinds of issues they're working on and what they'd like to do about this in the future "That could be via 'office hours' or an easier method to ask inquiries" So long as it's a reliable and sustainable manner for everyone involved.
Ben claims that at present, his interaction with followers is carried out via email newsletters. "I recommend that people respond with a message saying "Hey, tell me about what you're currently working on'. I enjoy it because it's easy to manage.
He would offer forums chats as well as "cohort classes" which involved working on Google Sheets issues online together in a group. "We took two of these in 2021, when they were all the rage. The course was very successful But it was extremely stressful for the entire five weeks of the course it consisted of a "firehose of questions. I haven't done this community in this way before, as I'm worried that once I've turned on the system, it will be impossible to really switch off. I'd like to think this through and determine how to accomplish this in a sustainable way?
"I didn't have any live sessions when I initially started. I was thinking, "Just launch and observe what the response will be. Check if I like making it happen before I make promises all the time. The launch has been successful! The founder is looking forward to adding live sessions "They're entertaining and people get plenty of value from of these sessions. It'll be fascinating to see what happens!"
Ben hosting the Zoom session for his attendees.
"Right currently, I'm teaching subjects: I'll pick a topic and then we'll discuss it in live classes," he continues. In the course with cohorts there was more open discussion "People came in to say, 'Hey, I've found a formula that I'm stuck in this formula', and we'd have a live discussion while other participants could also observe. That's something we'll look at in the coming year. It's an ideal way for students to participate."
In the final analysis, he believes the possibility of creating a Discord Q&A forums is possible, but he states "I just want to ensure that I'm able to accomplish this in a way which doesn't overburden me." It sounds like Ben has already started in the process of establishing the foundation of a continuous and strong connection with his community. It is vital to maintain the relationship is the key to a long-lasting participation "Little acts We'll grow it in time!" He smiles.
More details
Ben Collins is an educator author, designer, as well as co-creator of The Collins School of Data. Ben creates online training courses and writes about the use of Google Workspace tools. I focus on data analysis and automatization using Google Sheets and Apps Script.
Ben L Collins' website
He loves creating lightweight and data-driven applications for use on the Google stack. There are a few such apps: Google Sheets, Looker Studio, Google Apps Script, Forms, Docs, Gmail and much more. To learn more, go to benlcollins.com.
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