5
Totally
FREE
WAYS
to Learn
New Skills
by Becky Mollenkamp
F
ortune 500 companies have monster-size
budgets that allow them to offer employees
loads of options for continuing education,
from attending a conference to earning a college
degree. That perk is awesome enough to make you
green with envy, but not so great that you’d ditch
your business for a corporate desk job.
Sure, you don’t have a few grand laying around to
spend on education, but that doesn’t mean you
can’t find creative ways to keep learning. Here
are five ways to get better at your field or to learn
a brand-new skill—and not one of them costs a
single penny.
It doesn’t get better than free!
1. VISIT THE LIBRARY
Many people haven’t been to a public library since
they were a child. That’s a crying shame. There is
pretty much nothing you can’t learn at your local
library.
Whether you want to master Photoshop or become fluent in French, you’ll find plenty of books
and tools to get you started—and all you need is a
library card. It’s self-directed learning, but you’re
a capable adult, right?
BONUS: Many library systems offer digital lending. Without stepping foot in the building, you can
gain access to hundreds of thousands of titles via
Kindle or other e-reader. Also, your branch likely
offers free classes on a variety of topics, so check
the events calendar on a regular basis.
2. TAKE AN ONLINE CLASS
Prefer a more structured approach to education?
Take a class through a free online academy, such
as:
SKILLSHARE
Focused on creative skills, such as writing or
fashion, this site offers more than 500 classes for
free (there are thousands more available with a
premium membership). Most of the video classes
are less than an hour and many are shorter than
15 minutes. There’s a rating system to help you
choose only the best courses.
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