MORE POWERFUL SKILLS

There are several more skills that give a lot of Power, even if you are very young. Again, I’m sticking with tech for the moment. 

The next one on the list is Web Development. This is a fancy word for building websites, and it is something that a 12 year old can learn. (Heck there are people younger than that who have learned this skill). It’s also highly in demand, and there are many opportunities for freelancing. 

You may have already built a website yourself, but it mystifies many people. Did you know that a huge number of Small Businesses in the US still don’t have a website?

According to a CNBS Poll, almost 45% of small business owners don’t have a website. I’ve seen this first hand, just travelling across the country as a consumer. Sometimes I’ll be looking for a restaurant or a haircut in a town and find that many of the search results don’t have a website at all, just a phone number and a Google listing. 

I showed you the message above from Christopher Graphing who sold a $3,500 website to a Dentist Office. Other students have had similar experiences because I show them how to build a website as part of the Digital Marketing Course. 

That’s Nicholas Schulaner, one of my students in Washington State. He started building WordPress websites – sold his first site for $800 and is being paid $400/month to maintain it, which only takes him a few hours a month. That’s more money than most college grads make in a week working full time. 

When it comes to Web Development, it sounds more complicated than it is. It involves “Coding”, but not the super geeked out kind of coding that you’re used to seeing in the movies, like the guys who program Facebook or GPS Tracking Satellites. 

There are two basic types of Web Development —- Easy (WordPress Development) and Everything Else (php, Front End Development, Javascript). Let me explain. 

Okay, so websites are built on code. The original Code is called HTML or Hyper Text Markup Language. This language was first used on the original websites back in the 1990s, and it’s still used in an updated form today. 

There are also new codes that have been invented like Javascript, php, etc. that allow websites to do all the fun things we enjoy, from auto populating search terms when you shop on Amazon to the way Netflix shuffles and organizes your suggested movie titles. These more complex codes for credit cards and banking transactions. 

You can learn all of these codes from online courses or in person bootcamps that are cheaper and faster than college. 

However, I recommend starting with WordPress. So what is WordPress? 

Well it’s an amazing open sourced Architecture. Basically, WordPress doesn’t about 80% of the coding of a website for you. I’m not talking about opening a WordPress.com or Blogger.com account, which is kind of like a glorified Facebook or Tumblr page. I’m talking about being able to build a Professional, Customizable Website without having to learn intense code. 

This is a site Nick built for his own Digital Marketing Business. 

Many Businesses websites are built right on WordPress. Once you do an initial installation of WordPress, you can customize it very easily using a “Theme”. There are literally thousands of themes available that allow you to basically co-opt someone else’s coding and put up a Professional looking website very quickly. 

There are themes for Dentist’s offices, Auto Repair Shops, and more. You can even set up your own Agency website. 

All my Online Courses are I’ve built on WordPress as well. 

You can learn to build basic websites or get more advanced and learn about the many plugins, add ons, and customizations available for WordPress blogs. This involves a certain degree of Analytical ability and learning, but it’s not as in depth or complex as learning to code php, Javascript or other web coding languages directly. 

You can see there are plenty of jobs in Web Development. 

And right there, you can see WordPress listed among the skills required. And if you want to Freelance, there are many opportunities on Upwork – which is the world’s largest platform to find freelancing gigs. 

The cool thing is all of this can be learned online, through Self Directed learning. 

You can learn how to setup a WordPress site in my course. And there are other resources for learning these skills, which I’ll get into now. 

There’s a few different types of online learning platforms — there’s sites like Lynda.com, Udemy, and Skillshare. They are decent sites which usually have a ton of courses and information on a variety of topics. The problem is, there isn’t any quality control or guidance. They can be good for introductory level courses on topics you aren’t familiar with, but for more in depth training they usually aren’t of the highest caliber. And it’s easy to get lost in the vast libraries of Skillshare or Lynda.com. 

Treehouse and Pluralsight only teach Tech Skills, mostly coding. I like Treehouse the best, because they offer a sensible plan that offers guidance at a low price. Their “degree” programs (not a $30,000 BA) are about $200 a month, month to month and provide a course structure with projects and feedback. 

By the way, this seems like a good time to disclose: I’m an Affiliate for both Treehouse and Pluralsight, and a lot of the other programs and books I’ll be recommending. A lot of these links in the upcoming sections are affiliate links. This means if you purchase their courses through my link, I get a commission, at no cost to you. I only endorse products and platforms that are high quality and I believe in. 

(Funny how this kind of disclosure is required to protect the public from $20 online courses, but no such disclosure is required for College Admission officers or Colleges!).

If you’re reading a paperback version of the book, visit skipcollegeforsuccess.com/resources for links to the resources mentioned!

Front End Web Development, UX, and iOS Development are great skills to learn. You can research more about these skills on Google and go to Linkedin and check out the kinds of jobs and opportunities they can get you. 

You can take this same approach with Pluralsight — they offer tech training in Coding and other related fields like Cyber Security, SQL, Data Science, and Cloud Data Engineering. 

Data Engineering also has a large percentage of which are Entry Level positions. 

Now I am not a Data Engineer. But I know the same Principles I used to learn PPC and SEO can be used to learn Data Engineering, Cyber Security, C+, etc. It’s a matter of diving into these topics and getting your hands dirty. 

The main thing about these fields is this: tech grows faster than any other sector. As jobs like these open up, because the colleges are so out of touch with reality, there are usually more opportunities to get your “Foot in the door”. There aren’t 45,563 job openings in a field when there is a surplus of skilled workers. 

Just like in Digital Marketing you can get yourself up to speed, get some practical experience and begin exploring and applying to Entry Level jobs. 

Same thing with Cyber Security. There are a ton of openings there as well. 

Some colleges have caught on to the fact that their typical BA programs are an absolute waste of everyone’s time, so they have started putting together their own incredibly overpriced degree and certificate programs related to some of these skills. 

Full Sail University, for example, offers a 2.5 years Bachelor’s Degree program in Digital Marketing. It costs students upwards of $80,000. Full Sail also offers programs in Cloud Technologies and Mobile Development —- all costing over $80,000. It’s an insane amount of money to pay, even if the skillsets are in demand. 

I actually analyzed and broke down the entire Full Sail Digital Marketing curriculum, and it’s absolutely mind blowing how bad it is. It’s slow, inefficient, and terribly organized. 

Students have to wait 3 years before they get their hands into an actual business and advertising account, something my students do within a couple weeks of taking my course. 

I’m not an expert in Mobile Development or Cloud Technology, but I understand the nature of learning in the modern era. You don’t want to waste your time or money in an outdated classroom environment. Learning directly through an online course you are going to get access to the same, if not better, information than you would in an overpriced Academic program. 

If you feel you do want to have an In Person experience, I suggest a Boot Camp or Intensive Program. A popular choice is General Assembly. They provide in person trainings on a variety of tech topics – you go into a real classroom with a teacher and they often have connections to companies in their respective fields. 

Bear in mind this will be a pretty big investment – most of their courses in Software Engineering, User Experience Design, or Data Science cost about $10K to $15K. More than any Online Course but still less than a worthless college degree. 

Remember how I said Self Directed Learning is like having a Power, and it’s also something that can be weird? In Reality, going through an online course is usually more valuable than paying through the nose for an “Accredited” program. Unfortunately the cultural conditioning is so intense, many people just apply to these expensive programs because they seem more “legit”. 

But as every graduate soon learns, employers don’t care about a degree or certificate. 

Let’s talk about what they do care about. 

DEMONSTRATING YOUR SKILLS

Some people ask me if my Digital Marketing Course comes with a Certificate of Completion.

No, it does not. Because Employers could give two hoots about your course certificate or degree. I don’t insult my student’s intelligence by offering them a meaningless certificate. Certificates are like getting a Gold star for using the potty when you were a kid. 

Employers care about Skills, not Certificates, and they care about skills that can be put into action to do the job and solve problems. 

The most valuable component of my course training is how I show my students to “Generate Their Own Experience” – to put together Projects and actually Manage live ad accounts. They build a website, they do SEO on it, they run ads, they get clients. This is very different than what happens in most Academic environments. 

In College, students do theoretical case studies. I’ll give you an example. In a Marketing Curriculum, a student might have to do a sample proposal for a new Product Line for Apple. They write papers evaluating strategy of million dollar corporations. And then they graduate, and end up making copies and answering phones. 

It’s very much in alignment with Academia’s love affair with the impractical. Rather than having students actually demonstrate and execute small but real world projects, they have them blather on and on in the world of theory – as if they are going to graduate and become the new CTO at Apple. 

So here’s how you get a Client or get a Job Interview and Wow the Employer. 

Do a Project as a Demonstration of Your Experience. 

It communicates your Soft Skills and Hard Skills and impresses most employers or clients. 

For instance, instead of telling an Employer on a resume that you’re good at Coding and also Creative and a good Collaborator, you’d actually design a Program in a creative way with a team. The Program itself would be the demonstration in Reality of your Hard and Soft skills versus a canned and empty explanation of it. 

Austin Belcak, of the website Cultivated Culture, has a good free course on this. He talks about unconventional, actionable, and innovative ways to impress employers and stand out from the rest of the applicants. A lot of his advice has to do with solving problems for a company and being proactive vs. just submitting a resume. 

Charlie Hoehn also has a good website on this: demonstrating value as a skillset in and of itself for getting jobs. 

The only thing missing from his advice is any mention of the actual skills you’d need to demonstrate your abilities. And it’s a bit vague about the kinds of jobs you’d be applying to with some of these techniques. 

The answer is this: get the skills I’ve discussed here. And then, whatever skills they are, do something with them. Build a website, write a program, enhance someone’s Cyber Security, put together a Data Visualization presentation. Do something that shows the employer that you are one of the rare young people who can actually problem solve, think creatively, and that you also understand at least the basics of the skills required for the job you’re applying to. 

I’ve heard from so many Employers and Clients that are just thrilled then they encounter a candidate that actually thinks out of the box vs. following all the normal ways of doing things.

It’s really that simple. 

THE MOTHER OF ALL SKILLS

You’ve just ingested a ton of information, and now I am going to share a secret with you that will make your life a heck of a lot easier. 

All of these Hard Skills I’ve shared with you are incredibly valuable, and will help you stand out from everyone else your age with only a degree and a hope and a prayer. However, there is one skill set that is more powerful than any of these skills. 

Remember how I said that “Everybody Needs Marketing”? It’s true. Every business does. 

And so do you. 

You, as an individual or as a Professional, need to learn how to Market and Sell yourself and your services. This can include getting a job, but more often includes how to get Clients. 

A person who understands Marketing and Sales can learn literally any of the aforementioned skills and do great with it. Heck, they could even learn less in demand skills and do well. But even the most talented Graphic Designer, Coder, or Bookkeeper will have trouble if they do not know how to communicate their value to other people. 

This vexes people in all fields and from all walks of life. 

I’ll give you an example. One of the programs I’m going to recommend on Bookkeeping is called “Bookkeeper Business Launch”. The founder, Bob Robinson, is a CPA with 20 years experience, and he’s helped thousands start a profitable bookkeeping businesses from scratch. (You don’t need a degree to be a Bookkeeper). 

But a lot of Bob’s clients aren’t newbies. They are people with Accounting Degrees and CPA Licenses. People with years of education and experience, who do not know how to get clients for their business. So they are sitting there with all of these credentials and education but no knowledge of how to actually build their business. 

Now, this is a problem not only with the traditionally terrible college education, but with some online programs as well. The programs I have recommended are very, very good places to learn the skills you need. But most of them will not include guidance on what to do with those skills once you have them in order to turn that into a job. 

Now, that’s fine. You’re paying $35 for something like Pluralsight which offers you a wealth of knowledge. Or you’re paying $199/month for Treehouse, where you get mentorship and professional support on the technical skills you’re learning. You’re not $50,000 in debt and told “Good luck!” by your college and kicked out the door. 

I hate to keep tooting my own horn, but the reason you’ve seen so many great testimonials from my Digital Marketing course is because I actually teach people exactly what they need to do in order to get the job. Or the client. I show them how to put together a resume, how to speak with hiring managers. That is actually part of the course, not a quick little sidenote or elective after the fact. 

So I invite you to consider taking on Sales/Marketing as a skillset to learn on its own. 

Sales has a crappy reputation because of tools like Jordan Belfort (“The Wolf of Wall Street”) and Car Dealers. I lease all my cars through a broker — I don’t have to deal with a salesperson. I tell him which car I want and he plays all the dealers against the each other to get the lowest rate. I once walked into a Lexus Dealership to see if I could get a better deal than through my broker. Within 10 minutes I had three salesmen all surrounding me, pressuring me to lease my car now because the rates were going up. They threw numbers at me, tried to confuse me. 

It absolutely sucked. 

Sales has also been tainted by Telemarketers. Your phone rings and it’s an automated message or it’s someone reading from a script pushing a crappy product on you. 

Sales has been co-opted in the collective mind by these pushy, overzealous, aggressive frat boy type jerks. I also know of some “Closing” programs that have good information but can turn people into pushy and manipulative douches themselves.  

The sad thing is a lot of great people, like you, who aren’t crazy pushy jerks and have quality ideas and services to offer – avoid sales because of these misperceptions. 

So let’s set the record straight. Sales isn’t about any of that. 

Sales is simply about Communicating Effectively. It’s about persuading people to your ideas. This can be done with integrity, enjoyably, and without being pushy. I used to hate sales… when I was broke. Now that I understand and embrace Sales and what it is truly about, I enjoy it and use it to help people, and make money. 

There’s a great book called “The Introvert’s Edge: How the Quiet and Shy Can Outsell Anyone” by Matthew Pollard. Now, I’m a pretty outgoing person, but the lessons in there apply to everyone. It’s about being transparent, honest, relaxed, and straightforward when you want to persuade someone to work with you or buy your product. 

All the life changing stories I’ve shared with you were only possible because of sales. If I hadn’t packaged my expertise and information and guidance into an online course, and used sales to illustrate its value, none of these people would’ve heard about it or gotten these skills. 

It’s not the result of being pushy or disingenuous. I usually just interview people about their experience with the program, explain the value, and let people decide for themselves if they want to buy. I usually interview people over Google Hangouts, but in 2018 we had the pleasure of meeting four of our students who all got jobs at the same agency. 

3 of the 4 students were college grads who had no idea what to do with their life. (Davit was actually a Marketing major and was passing out flyers when he found the course!)

I mentioned Freelancing in an earlier chapter. And we’ll talk more about Freelancing in an upcoming chapter on Taxes. But one missing ingredient for so many Freelancers is how to actually go about building their client base. 

That requires the ability to sell. 

A colleague of mine, Danny Margulies, runs a website called “Freelance to Win”. He has a lot of great articles specifically about pitching and writing proposals to prospective clients. He also talks a lot about how to make sure you don’t underprice yourself (a big problem lots of newcomers have).  

He also runs an in depth Mentorship and training program, much like my Digital Marketing course. It’s called “Secrets of a Six Figure Upworker”. Danny teaches from his experience making over $100K annually as a freelancer on Upwork (the online platform).

Source: freelancetowin.com From Danny’s First Year as an Upwork Freelancer

I recommend this course specifically because it is so practically oriented and Danny has had as many authentic success stories as me. (FYI, I’m an Affiliate of Danny’s. If you click any of these links and end up enrolling in his training, I get a small commission at no cost to you. If you’re reading a paperback version of the book, visit skipcollegeforsuccess.com/resources for links to the resources mentioned!) He’s teaching sales and positioning as an actual skill itself, on top of whatever hard skills you may have acquired.  He’s also been featured widely in the media. 

Source: freelancetowin.com

Some links to his free material: 

• A Guide on How to Get Your First Freelance Client. 
• An Article on How to Raise Your Pricing when Freelancing. 
• A Link to Samples of his Actual Winning Upwork Proposals. 
• A Case Study a Student’s Success as a Freelancer with No Experience. 

And here’s a comforting thought: I’ve found that people who engage in Self Directed Learning naturally do well when it comes to sales. There’s a simple reason. You’ve gone from a passive sheep student into an active learning. That ownership and energy translates and impacts your entire manner of thinking speaking and communicating with people. 

A lot of my students just get so interested in what they are doing and enthusiastic about sharing it that they naturally persuade people to work them. Their Self Directed mindset also frees them from one of the many pitfalls of compulsory education: the childish practices of “grades”. The grading system makes people into little babies, eagerly seeking approval from a Parent figure and fearful to fail. The more you distance yourself from that way of thinking the easier it is to just naturally talk to people and win them over. 

Lastly, here are a couple of sales books I recommend. One good habit to get into is reading, reading, and more reading. Leaders and Successful people are always reading and exposing their mind to ideas and thoughts from people who are more successful than them. These are the top two books I recommend when starting out. 

The first book I recommend is called “All Marketers Are Liars” by Seth Godin. I love Seth Godin’s work, not just because we have the same first name, but because he knows how to shake things up, motivate, call out stuff everyone else won’t talk about, and explain things in ways that click. 

The title actually causes a lot of controversy when it came out (people thought it was too harsh), leading him to change it to “All Marketers Tell Stories”.  The book’s title is a bit tongue in cheek, but it speaks exactly to what I was saying before: in a world where “sales” has a bad reputation, where people are naturally suspicious being sold to and/or lied to by marketers, authenticity is most powerful tool available to connect with an influence people. 

I also suggest “The Psychology of Selling” by Brian Tracy. Brian is an industry leader in the field of motivation, leadership, and sales. The book is a bit old school, but that’s a good thing when you’re just starting out: he covers a lot of the fundamentals and his work is known for being effective and in integrity. It’s a good place to start. 

 

LEARN TO COMMUNICATE & BE A LEADER

There is another Magical Skill that is in the same arena as Sales: Communication. I’m not talking about Majoring in Communications in School, where you study a bunch of useless information for 4 years. I’m talking about the ability to powerfully get across your ideas, desires, and thought to other human beings. Ultimately, to be able to influence and inspire.

Sales is really a form of Effective Communication. But even if you don’t work in Sales, or don’t have to actually close clients yourself, you want to enhance your communication skills.

The ability to communicate underlies pretty much every human endeavor – in relationships and in business. It doesn’t matter if you’re a CEO, Analyst, or Receptionist, you have to communicate with colleagues and customers. Communication is where a lot of young people are very, very weak. It’s one reason why Job Interviews are so daunting. 

In a Job Interview, you’re face to face with another person. You can’t hide behind your phone, there’s’ no texting. You have to make eye contact and make a case for why you should be hired. 

In Digital Marketing (and most fields), you will at some point have to Communicate with clients – whether you’re at an agency and you’re reporting on the results of your latest changes to their Campaign, or you’re prospecting and trying to win them as a client. 

Powerful communication is a form of Leadership. Leadership is a funny word. It doesn’t mean running for political office or being a CEO. It simply means that you’re a person who “takes the lead” in their own life and inspires others to do the same. 

A Leader can just be the first one to have the guts to do something. Have you ever been with a group of friends trying to decide what movie to watch or where to eat? And everyone has a different opinion or nobody can decide what to do, so you just end up hanging out and doing nothing. We had a group like that in high school, and I remember one of the girls would get fed up and go, “Look, we’re going to Perkins. Okay? Let’s move!” 

And we all followed her and went to the 24/7 Diner we liked. 

You’ve been trained to be a Follower in life, via school, so it takes work to be a leader. Just by reading this book you’re already acting like a leader, because you are taking the lead on exploring advanced ideas that most people won’t. 

To follow the path I’ve outlined in this book requires you to be a leader, not a follower. And a great tool you will need is Communication. Communication is overlooked in schooling. I highly suggest enrolling in some kind of Leadership Training or Seminar. At the very least look up your local Toastmasters club and join to become a good Public Speaker. 

Did you know that Public Speaking is the #1 Fear, even worse than Death? 

Seriously. Most people are terrified. Compared to other things that people are afraid of like snakes, being shot, and skydiving, it’s pretty weird. I mean, it’s just standing up in front of a room full of people and talking. But there’s so many internal reasons why people are afraid of public speaking. Lack of confidence, fear of being disapproved of, looking silly – these are the things that stop people from taking risks and pursuing their passions in life. 

So if you actually stand up to that fear and encounter it, the positive impact on your mind, your psyche, and your entire way of being is phenomenal. It’s transformative. It can also alleviate anxiety and give you more confidence and enjoyment in your day to day life.

Karen C., who I’ve mentioned before, didn’t just stumble into having a freelance client that pays her $52K a year. Karen took leadership courses and did public presentations in high school. This gave her a confidence that most young people do not have. She is able to have professional conversations and give advice to men 3 times her age because of the confidence she got from public speaking. 

Toastmasters is a Nationwide Organization that trains people in Leadership and Public Speaking. In this case, I’m not talking about an online training program. Toastmasters has clubs in nearly every city in the US. When you join, you will have a chance to actually speak in front of large groups and overcome that fear, which is beneficial in every way. 

Toastmasters has a Youth Leadership Program for people under 18. If you’re in high school, I highly recommend checking them out. Just taking the action of standing up in front of a group of people and speaking will prompt you to strengthen and grow as a leader. 

I also suggest a 3 day long intensive seminar called “The Landmark Forum.” It’s an incredibly powerful and transformative conversation where you basically examine all the craziness that goes on inside your mind and clear it out, leaving space for new possibilities. I highly advocate Landmark’s work, though it is very intense and confronting, and even controversial. 

Anytime you start messing around with people’s beliefs, assumptions, and limitations (and challenging or eliminating them), you’re going to get controversy. Just like there are people who are going to cry bloody murder over the title of this book “Skip College for Success”. How dare you say that! It’s not allowed! It’s dangerous for people to think that!

When people do the Landmark work they go through a process of self examination that shines a light on unseen thoughts and behavior (critical thinking) that are usually learned at a young age and enforced by the culture around them/families/teachers/friends. When people go through this process and see some of this self limiting behavior they become freed up. This often leaves people deliriously happy and excited. 

This throws people off. How could you be so happy and excited after a weekend seminar, just by examining your life with a critical eye? I mean people don’t leave the psychotherapist’s office happy and engaged in life, so it seems really weird. 

People come out of the Forum more freely self expressed, less inhibited, less anxious, less easy to control. Sometimes people reconciles with family members or quit their job and and start the business they always wanted to, or ask someone out they had been afraid to.

Personally, I did a Landmark Course about a year after moving to LA. I had become very shy and withdrawn from other people. I didn’t know anyone really when I moved to LA. I’d go to my Accounting job then go home. I had a hard time making friends or dating. I knew this wasn’t my true self but didn’t know what to do. 

I did this weekend intensive and confronted some limiting beliefs I’d put in place when I’d moved. I won’t go into the details, but by the end of the weekend I felt more like “myself” than I had in years. I was making jokes, talking with people at my office, loosened and lightened up. I wore a sombrero to work and started talking back to my boss (which is more of my natural personality. Ironically, the more I talked back the more I was promoted at that job.) I found it easier to be social, make friends, and date. It also helped me get closer with my Parents. 

 Landmark has a Business Division called the Vanto Group, that does Leadership and Communication training for companies. They have worked with Apply, Reebok, Lockheed Martin, Walgreens, NASA, J.P. Morgan, Western Union, Mercedes, Johnson & Johnson and More. While not for everyone, Landmark is a legit organization that has made a huge difference in a lot of people’s lives. 

When it comes to books on Leadership – I have two recommendations. The first is from Seth Godin, and it’s called “Linchpin: Are You Indispensable?” Seth also points out the terrible impacts of compulsory education on people’s hearts and minds, and the book is an inspiring ass kicking into how to break out of the passive sheep like mentality you’ve been indoctrinated into via school to unleash your creativity and leadership. I was inspired that one of my film mentoring students Chris Foster (who shot a feature film at age 19, but that’s another story), read this book at my recommendation and went on to name his Production Company “Linchpin Films.” 

The other book is called “The Three Laws of Performance: Rewriting the Future of Your Organization and Your Life” by Steve Zafron & Dave Logan. Zafron is the CEO of Landmark’s Vanto Group. This is a high level book – anyone in a senior position who hears that a teen has read this book will be shocked and impressed. It’s not just about speaking or confidence, it’s about the entire paradigm of leadership and creating a Future. It’s based on Landmark’s methodologies and helps you discover unproductive or ineffective ways of thinking and approaching things that are holding you back from achieving your goals, and how to disappear them, and create new possibilities in their place. 

I know I’ve been gushing about Landmark, and I’ll shut up in a minute. But this is what Warren Bennis, Founding Chairman of the Leadership Institute at USC and widely considered to be the Father of modern Leadership Training said: 

“I believe this book may be one of the most important written in many years. The ideas are much larger than we normally see in business books…”

And Archbishop Desmond Tutu, recipient of the Nobel Peace Price, said, ““An inspiring, practical book that will assist all who seek to rewrite the future of our world.”

So, I think it’s a pretty good book. 

Plus, the co-author Dave Logan is a Professor at USC’s Marshall School of Business. You can get access to his teachings for $10 instead of dropping $6,500 on a class. 

Look into other local organizations or clubs that give you a chance to get in front of other people and/or connect with Professionals. And you can also work your way into a Management Position even at a Retail Job. Having the experience of being “The Boss” and leading other people, even if it’s while you’re making coffee, is a great learning experience and communicates value on a resume. 

Having good communication skills will naturally make you qualified to work in Sales. This can mean upselling a family of four on Appetizer while waiting tables, bringing in a $20 tip, or working on commission selling pretty much anything. While I don’t think being a salesman is a great long term career, it is a field where your performance determines your pay. That’s a great lesson for anyone to learn. 

When I worked as a telemarketer, I was given a script and made 70 to 100 calls a day. It sucked. But it also built a muscle in me that helped my development. I learned not to be afraid of people, to clear make a pitch, and to be persuasive. It helped me with my confidence when I was looking for my own Digital Marketing clients and selling my own products. 

And remember, Sales jobs are some of the most common for college grads. 

Source: AfterCollege.com

Those are just a few high income powerful skills you can get without college.

We’ve been talking mostly about sales and tech skills, and later I’ll talk about the best 5 Non Tech High Income Skills you can get.

But before that – we’re going to talk about the other bullshit reason people think you need college: Networking. And I’ll show you how to do it quicker and more directly without going $100K into debt.