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An Excel Course?

AceVentures

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This is an excellent idea.

An excel breakdown can help many people understand the concepts put to practice.

What I would like from an Excel course, but of course my field of practice is different from marketing, are methods to simplify my computations. I have my own go-to functions and methods of sorting/calculating, but they're not always efficient. I have excel files that exceed 70MB and crash often.
 
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Andy Black

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I have my own go-to functions and methods of sorting/calculating, but they're not always efficient.

I have excel files that exceed 70MB and crash often.
I'd have to see what you're doing.

I had to redesign various spreadsheets used by that team of 35 Google Ads specialists so each team filled in their own spreadsheets and then I'd open each, open a master sheet that would pull in all their data, but summarised, and then work through a series of spreadsheets that I'd open, calculate stuff, then close. We planned on creating a database application and automate all of this but that never happened.

You want to try to get things written to disk regularly and move onto the next computation rather than do all the computations in memory.
 

Andy Black

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Knocked up a brand new YouTube channel just now and uploaded this 6 minute-ish video I've recorded before bed.

Curious what you think.

View: https://youtu.be/MzJ5MCcDyd4


EDIT: Updated with an edited version of the video that has room for calls-to-actions on the end.
 
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Conscripted

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I feel these courses are for people who want to "learn excel". I want my course to be for people who want to get sh*t done with Excel.
The course title could be "Excel to get sh*t done" or maybe "Excel for productivity" let them know what to expect.

The video was very good. Direct without wasting time. I would love to see you build a dashboard. I'm also interested in learning more about data scraping that someone mentioned above.
 
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NMdad

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I use Excel a ton for my "day job" doing automating stuff for clients who use an on-premise/non-cloud database.

Virtually every client I've worked for has had me create automated Excel workbooks--basically snagging data from a database, and cramming it into Excel.

Sometimes I pretty-up the data with filters & charts, but mainly it's the ol' snag-n-cram into Excel. I use VBA to connect to the database, and SQL for creating the dataset that gets returned to Excel.

I've also created tools that use Excel as a front-end application, where users enter a few parameters, click a button, then the VBA & SQL do things like change the data in the database, or create & send email via Outlook from an auto-generated dataset in Excel.

Clients frigging love these things because they automate hours & hours of tedious work--work that's typically required for creating management-type reports.

I think the whole use-Excel-to-automate is unknown or unappreciated by most folks. Macros are nice, VBA can create way more powerful automations.
 

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Andy Black

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I use Excel a ton for my "day job" doing automating stuff for clients who use an on-premise/non-cloud database.

Virtually every client I've worked for has had me create automated Excel workbooks--basically snagging data from a database, and cramming it into Excel.

Sometimes I pretty-up the data with filters & charts, but mainly it's the ol' snag-n-cram into Excel. I use VBA to connect to the database, and SQL for creating the dataset that gets returned to Excel.

I've also created tools that use Excel as a front-end application, where users enter a few parameters, click a button, then the VBA & SQL do things like change the data in the database, or create & send email via Outlook from an auto-generated dataset in Excel.

Clients frigging love these things because they automate hours & hours of tedious work--work that's typically required for creating management-type reports.

I think the whole use-Excel-to-automate is unknown or unappreciated by most folks. Macros are nice, VBA can create way more powerful automations.
Yeah, I love Excel and I don’t even do VBA. My thinking was if we’re going to write code then shove it into a database (mostly as an excuse to not learn VBA.)

PS: My day job for about a decade was writing Korn shell scripts on UNIX Systems to automate tasks to do with Oracle Databases. I thought of doing a course on that too.
 

Andy Black

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Thanks. Got to love those shut-up and take my money moments. People have been asking me to create that course for years.

Maybe I’ll have two Excel streams? A "Practical/Foundations Excel", and then an "Excel With Google Ads"?People who buy the Google Ads stream would have access to the Practical Excel stream.

Hmmm... they might have to have bought my Google Ads course. Hard to show how to create campaigns in bulk without giving away how I build them by hand.

(Side note: Did anyone read the post tags?!?! LMAO)
Yeah. I have an extreme distaste for the phrase “idea extraction”. I think it indicates a poor mindset and how you view the people you’re trying to help.
 

Andy Black

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journeyman

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How do you mean?

I suppose it's quite hard to explain without seeing the actual sheet. Basically, a sheet with ~2000 rows contains different products. Which products are included changes frequently based on news/updates resulting in deletions/insertions.

Which part? The input part, or the output/report part? Do the clients use the model, or just look at the output?

Clients just look at the output. When I first joined, I couldn't make a lot of sense of the report, so I don't see why it's any different for clients. There is room for improvement.
 

Andy Black

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Which products are included changes frequently based on news/updates resulting in deletions/insertions.
I try not to delete rows, but update a column that indicates the data is live or not. That column could be populated with a formula maybe, where you do a vlookup of the products listed in a “Live Products” tab?
 

Andy Black

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The video was very good. Direct without wasting time.
Yeah. I can’t stand time-wasting intros when it’s training. (I ramble a lot in my other kind of videos, or recorded chats with folks.)

That old adage for writing essays or presenting annoys me: “Say what you’re going to say. Say it. Say what you’ve said.”

That’s great for school where you’re being marked by the script. Not helpful if the student wants to get sh*t done.

I’d probably write some notes under the video explaining various little bits I did, like how I selected all the way to the millionth row, etc.
 
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Andy Black

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Clients just look at the output. When I first joined, I couldn't make a lot of sense of the report, so I don't see why it's any different for clients. There is room for improvement.
Eugh. Sounds like the output needs improved. Chip away at it?
 

Nicoknowsbest

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@Andy Black I'd definitely take an Excel course from you tailored to Google Ads.

I'd want it to be as compressed as possible.

If I can learn a skill that I can get return on quickly fast, I'd be willing to be premium for it as well.

Let's say you had an Excel course that teaches your magic for Google Ads that is < 2 hours, I'd be willing to pay anything between $47 to $297 actually.

If your course saves me a few hours per week analyzing data and my hourly fee for clients is $100+, I'd recoup my investment on the first day.

Forget courses for $9.99 really, except when Udemy does a promotion. I have taken countless courses at all price points and nothing good ever comes out of a course that doesn't make people pay a respectable amount for the work invested.
 

gryfny

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I used Excel quite a lot for my previous job, making and working with financial models.
I did this free course, which was very good. I still use a lot of what I've learned (locking cell references, shortcuts, etc). It's not only about how it works, but also discussed best practices which are very important if you want to have a consistent and error free financial model.
 
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Andy Black

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I used Excel quite a lot for my previous job, making and working with financial models.
I did this free course, which was very good. I still use a lot of what I've learned (locking cell references, shortcuts, etc). It's not only about how it works, but also discussed best practices which are very important if you want to have a consistent and error free financial model.
Nice. I don’t know whether to have a free course delivered by email, or go straight to a paid course.
 

Jambro

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I enjoyed this thread and there are some great ideas. I just wanted to put my two pence in. I really think with Udemy a short paid for course of 1-2 hours would be great.

I wonder if the masses that are scrolling through Udemy looking for a similar course would think they’re being short changed when for 9.99 they can get 36 hours of content with 80% of it irrelevant nonsense.

The usual greed mindset of wanting more when more is not required.

I would 100% go for a course that gives quality of quantity and gives me something actionable straight away.


It's interesting how that price point is almost a throwaway price point.

Both? Haha. I'm thinking of setting up my own simple version of Udemy, where I'll do the courses initially and then get other courses created that are actionable and to the point. No fluff allowed unless it's in bonus sections.
 

Andy Black

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I wonder if the masses that are scrolling through Udemy looking for a similar course would think they’re being short changed when for 9.99 they can get 36 hours of content with 80% of it irrelevant nonsense.

The usual greed mindset of wanting more when more is not required.

I would 100% go for a course that gives quality of quantity and gives me something actionable straight away.
There's two types of people:
  1. Those that put a value on their time
  2. Those that don't.

I'd rather help those who value their time.
 
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Andy Black

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Here's a video showing how I'd use a Google Sheet and Google Docs to manage a project and create repeatable processes.

The project discussed is how to sell a course (basically the project you’re following in this progress thread).

View: https://youtu.be/Jkn6yEFFU-k
 

Andy Black

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This progress thread is just 24 hours old.

I've had some shut-up-and-take-my-money validation. (No sales yet so no true validation.)

I've created a brand new YouTube channel for some Excel videos.

I've created a couple of videos already to answer people's suggestions (complete with thumbnails from a couple of new thumbnail templates I created in Snappa.com).

My webmaster is setting up an email address for a new domain.

My developer is setting up a simple squeeze page.

I'll figure out what email service provider to use. Maybe MailCheat(Chimp)? I'm not sure (see here).

And I already spun out a couple of new threads based around those two videos:
  1. How to create NEAT Excel spreadsheets - that other people can understand and use!
  2. How to validate and sell a course - my draft project plan (in Google Sheets)

Logging out so I don't spam the forum any more this evening. Haha.
 

John Clancy

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Hey @Andy Black - really enjoying the videos so far!

If you're going down the Google Sheets rabbit hole at some stage, you might be interested in Glide.

I have little experience with it, but seems like it could be quite powerful if you took a little time to learn how it works.
 
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JAJT

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Have you considered "niche-ing down" into specific (but large) user bases and offering niche-tailored advice? For example (since we're all here) - solo entrepreneurs.

Almost nobody wants to learn the entirety of Excel - they want to learn how to use it to accomplish 'something'. Entrepreneurs, if they were your target, would benefit from skills like learning how to create and manipulate data within financial statements, inventory reports, sales reports, etc...

By tailoring your course to a niche you also increase retention because the examples "talk" to the users in ways that generic or simplistic examples don't. You remove the friction caused by having to apply an example to your own situation. By learning it within a situation you already are familiar with though, you understand the logic better and can apply it better to other situations.

Instead of being the "learn excel" guy with 16 hours of "F*cking everything", you'd be the "learn excel for solo entrepreneurs guy" with 1-2 hours of highly relevant information. What's nice is you could spread it around and take those exact same "learning templates" and tweak the examples to a ton of different niches. You'd get multiple hour long courses out of a single curriculum, tailored to different niches.
 

Andy Black

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Have you considered "niche-ing down" into specific (but large) user bases and offering niche-tailored advice? For example (since we're all here) - solo entrepreneurs.

Almost nobody wants to learn the entirety of Excel - they want to learn how to use it to accomplish 'something'. Entrepreneurs, if they were your target, would benefit from skills like learning how to create and manipulate data within financial statements, inventory reports, sales reports, etc...

By tailoring your course to a niche you also increase retention because the examples "talk" to the users in ways that generic or simplistic examples don't. You remove the friction caused by having to apply an example to your own situation. By learning it within a situation you already are familiar with though, you understand the logic better and can apply it better to other situations.

Instead of being the "learn excel" guy with 16 hours of "F*cking everything", you'd be the "learn excel for solo entrepreneurs guy" with 1-2 hours of highly relevant information. What's nice is you could spread it around and take those exact same "learning templates" and tweak the examples to a ton of different niches. You'd get multiple hour long courses out of a single curriculum, tailored to different niches.
Yes, that’s exactly what I’m considering doing. I’m already knocking up the cover art for the new YouTube channel I created. I’ll drop it in here in a moment.
 

Andy Black

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Here's the YouTube Cover, avatar, and a video thumbnail - knocked up in Snappa.com just now.

Lol... this is what happens when a direct response marketer creates a logo.

I'll be redoing that video to have 20 seconds on the end where I encourage people to subscribe and watch the next video (which I'll try to create tonight ... I'm just off to give Maths grinds to a niece).

30021


@JAJT ... great minds think alike.
 
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Andy Black

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Haven't read all the responses, so it may have been said, but one of my favorite features in Excel is pivot tables...

I used to work for a guy who was one of the main architects of Excel, and while 90% of the "fun" features he taught me I'll never use again (and most I don't even remember), pivot tables always seem to provide value!
Agreed. Pivot-Tables are awesome.
 

Andy Black

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GoodluckChuck

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I had coffee with a friend this morning. He said he’d need to get up to speed with Excel if he gets a job he’s in the running for.

Hmmm...

1) Excel features in the top 5 best-selling courses online if I’m to believe this:
2) I’d very much like to sell a course teaching non-media buying skills *using* my media buying skills (rather than just sell a course *teaching* media buying skills).

3) I’ve been using Excel almost every day since 1993 and even did a stint in a college teaching Excel to complete computer newbies in 1994.

4) I did weekly Excel classes when I was the analyst and head of a team of 35 Google Ads specialists spending €120k/day. Those classes were always standing room only - because everyone knew the top 10% of that team were those best at Excel.

5) Lots of people over complicate Excel and use too many functions when probably 80% of what most people need can be done with 20% of Excel’s functionality - and the right way of thinking about Excel.


Sooo... is anyone currently considering purchasing an Excel course?

If so, what do you hope to get from taking it?


To be clear, if I go ahead with this then I plan on selling the course using Google Ads, YouTube Ads, and maybe even Facebook Ads. I’m only asking in the forum in case there’s people here who are struggling with Excel.

Regardless, it could be an interesting progress thread.

I tell you this literally every time we do a video call. Your excel skills make you 10x faster at data analysis than everyone else. Please teach us peons lol
 
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One of my continuing ed classes for my commercial real estate appraiser's license was all about Excel pivot tables. I'm not sure how much of it stuck with me after the class.

I've used Excel for years -- but Andy is right. Most spreadsheets use very few of the features available in the program. The place where many features become important is where one is setting up a template for a specific result. I like to fill in some basic numbers into a set of cells, which are linked to the calculation cells -- sometimes in several linked spreadsheets or infographics. I want the program to do the heavy lifting for me.

I have one spreadsheet that figures my Borough sales taxes for my rentals. I fill in the basic numbers and the spreadsheet run those numbers by applying the tax rules and exemptions. It saves me hours every quarter when I must write those reports. BUT, setting up the calculation cells took a lot of time -- and then I had to do the critical testing to make sure the cells were both working and working together correctly. That seems to be the sticking point for most people who haven't use Excel that much. They don't understand the testing aspects when setting up a new spreadsheet. That may be a place where a class would be useful.
 

Andy Black

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I tell you this literally every time we do a video call. Your excel skills make your 10x faster at data analysis than everyone else. Please teach us peons lol
Lol. You do indeed. Thanks for the reminder @GoodluckChuck.
 

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