COURSE REVIEW 2 Business Courses

          In this blog post I want to review two courses I took on SkillShare. Skillshare classes are not very long video lessons are between 1 minute and 20 minutes long. And usually they don’t have too many lessons in the class. Basically they are bite size classes rather than in-depth ones. They are a good way to get introductory information on a skill you want to learn and get to know instructors so that you could follow their other activities and classes pertaining to the same subject matter. 

START YOUR BUSINESS ONLINE FROM SCRATCH

          This is the first class I took on Skillshare that deals with starting a business online. The full length of the class is around 18 minutes divided into 10 videos. Usually in Skillshare classes there would be downloadable files and/or a class project to see if you understand the material, there was none in this class. Some of the information in the class was specific enough to be useful but for the most part this class was an outline of what things you need to think about if you were planning to start an online business. I found it to be only a little helpful to someone who really knows nothing about starting an online business.

ENTREPRENEURSHIP BOOTCAMP: GUIDE TO START AN ONLINE BUSINESS

The name says it is a bootcamp but it didn’t feel like one. The class had 3 hours and 44 minutes total of video time divided into 34 lessons. It is one of the longer classes I’ve seen on SkillShare. It had no downloadable files and no class project. It started out well with information on how to pick a business and what places you can have your business through but then the information seems to be repeating itself after that. This class was a good way to get some common sense advice from someone who seems to be doing okay working for himself (the teacher shows you some of his earnings on the websites he has businesses at).

With these classes I won’t say that I know everything but there is a goodish amount of information that seems to repeat and some sound advice. Just be aware of what the limitations of Skillshare classes are and how to use them to your benefit. 

          

BOOK REVIEW How To Make Money Teaching Online

          At the end of 2019, I decided that one of my goals for 2020 was to make extra money online while also doing something that I loved; teaching. So I went on Amazon to look for books on the subject. One of the books that caught my eye was How to Make Money Teaching Online. After reading the book, which didn’t take long at all, I decided to write a review of it for my blog. 

          The book has around 13 chapters, with some chapters having multiple sections. It looks like a self-published book, nothing wrong with that, but for someone who talks in their book about publishing online the author could have used a good editor and a typesetter. It was not so bad that I couldn’t read it but it was a little annoying. 

          The writer does a good job of explaining some of the platforms where you can teach and publish online as well as the equipment he uses in his own life to publish his books and courses. However, I did feel like some chapters, like the one for Course Production needed to be more in-depth, especially when it came to writing a syllabus and then turning that syllabus into course material.

          Overall, the book is not bad, I’d give it around 3/5, both for content and aesthetics of the text. I hope this review helps others. 

Cultivate What Matters Power Sheets

          The end of 2019 brought with it a lot of thinking and a lot of decisions that had to be made and goals that had to be set. Being the planner girl that I am I was surfing YouTube to look for ideas on spreads or sections that would help me set goals and track them. While I was searching I found a video by Cindy Guentert-Baldo starting her prep work for the Cultivate What Matter planner.

It made me go looking for the Cultivate What Matters website. I read a few of their blogs and viewed a few of their videos. Some of their posts are a little Christian Centric but that is a minor issue and can be ignored if that is not your cup of tea. After some thought, I finally took the plunge and bought the planner (as I already mentioned in a previous post). While I waited for it to arrive and knowing that it was going to take a while to get it thanks to our postal system in Kuwait, I worked on the preparation work by working through the videos on their website. It is a 5 part series that walks you through the material in the beginning of every Power Sheets planner.

          My planner arrived on January 4 and I spent the whole day and part of the next getting used to the planner and transferring the preparation work I did before into the planner.

So let's take a look at what the planner looks like. Apparently, I actually bought the planner and a sticker book as well...I had forgotten about that.

I got the flower cover, the cover itself is hard and the edges have the metal bits that protect the corners.

The sticker book has interesting stickers in it. I don’t know if I am going to use all of it this year but I can always use it with my other planners.

The front inside cover has a pocket and I put the cards that came with the planner in it. The cards can be used as post cards and to put your word of the year on so that you can keep it with you at all times without flipping to the relevant page in the planner.

It has a title page and a sticker page as well. 

These pages are the pages of the preparation work. They make you look into yourself, and think about how to look at your goals and how to realistically break down your goals into manageable chunks. 

Then comes the monthly pages, a prep page, the calendar pages, a goal focusing page, and tending list. The tending list is your actions for that month. Finally, a month review page.

Then every three months there is a review of the last three months and reevaluation of your goals.

I have been using the Power Sheets for almost a month now and I am loving it even though falling sick made me fall behind on my goals. I am using the monthly calendar to record my daily wins and it is working well for me. It also helped me realize that one of my goals needs more work than I actually thought and the first step is actually research this goal. 

I'll be doing the end of month review of my planning system and re-evaluate some stuff.