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Updated: March 9, 2022 @ 2:19 am
Some skills can be used to generate six-figure incomes without a formal education.
Coding, app development and software development are some high-income fields that don’t require a college degree.
Creating online courses — such as yoga tutorials — can be a lucrative career choice.
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Some skills can be used to generate six-figure incomes without a formal education.
Coding, app development and software development are some high-income fields that don’t require a college degree.
Creating online courses — such as yoga tutorials — can be a lucrative career choice.
The cost of college tuition has increased almost 170% since 1982, while over those same 40 years, average income for those freshly minted college graduates has barely gone up 20%. Meanwhile, a report from Georgetown University shows a college education is more important than ever before to compete in the job market.
Most everyone will agree that doctors, lawyers and engineers are careers with high-income potential. But all of these require at least four years of college, if not more. Because these specialized skills require a formal education, it’s understandable why they demand a high income.
However, did you know you can learn skills to generate six figures without a formal education? Here are seven valuable skills and how you train for them.
Copywriting is a specialized form of writing intended to sell a product. There are examples of copywriting all over the web. However, if the words are designed to inform, it is a form of copywriting. As you will see, this is a relevant skill and is related to many of the other skills listed here.
How you can learn this skill: Several companies and organizations teach copywriting on the web. Some even offer certifications for the skill, which are helpful when starting as a novice copywriter.
How you can use this skill: You can use this high-income skill almost anywhere. Good copywriters are few and far between, and if you master this craft, you will never have to worry about money again. Some copywriters make seven-figure incomes merely by getting a percentage of their copy’s sales. Earning potential depends on the amount of time and effort you’re willing to use on networking and writing content.
Content creation or marketing is when you write informative content and sell the content itself or sell advertising on the site you’ve created content for. Content marketing is actually what many people think of when they picture blogging.
However, blogging is not a business. It is a means to attract visitors to a site where you will sell them something. If you blog without any content marketing associated with it, you have a hobby of producing free content for the fun of it.
Besides creating content for an online company or blog, paid speakers routinely present actionable information during conferences and events. As a result, top-level experts in their field with real-life experience can make a substantial income by traveling to give their information in person.
How you can learn this skill: If you have graduated from high school, you have the skill required to become a content creator or content marketer. You don’t even have to have expertise in something to create content. You need common sense and the ability to research any given topic.
There are also online companies that will provide specific training in content marketing from a business perspective, but the base skills are research and writing.
How you can use this skill: You are a content marketer if you can write compelling content that will bring people to your website to sell them e-books or advertise on your site. This is closely linked to affiliate marketing, but the difference here is that the content you are selling is your work, not the work of others.
One of the hottest trends in online marketing these days is online course creation. This is where you create an online course and sell it to people who want to learn about what you know and how your knowledge can fix other people’s problems. Of course, first, you have to have a related skill that you can teach, but this can be overcome with extensive research.
Have you taken an online course that you liked? Do you have personal experience to add to the content of the original course? Then you can emulate the system and rewrite the material in your own words, based on your own experience with the topic.
Online courses offer a high opportunity, especially with the recent increase in online events. However, even if existing resources exist on the internet for free, people will pay for the work you have done to curate and present the information in an easy-to-understand format.
There are several learning platforms and software that make course creation simple. Of course, the hardest part is the “expertise” piece, but even that can be overcome.
How you can learn this skill: You can learn how to create a course and increase your yearly income by following the tutorials on any learning platform such as Udemy. Each specific platform has its course creation method, and other software companies have course-builder software you can implement on a website.
How you can use this skill: Once you learn how to use the various tools to create online courses, you can sell course creation services to those who have the expertise but do not have the technical skills to complete a course. If you have any skills as a video editor, you can quickly push yourself into the next income bracket with a substantially higher income.
Graphic designers create the visual elements of both online and offline advertisements. They are the logo creators, banner designers and artists who draw cute characters that sell products. They should not be confused with web designers who can create websites without drawing a lick. However, graphic design requires some artistic talent.
Graphic designers are great at helping small-business owners creatively display their brands.
How you can learn this skill: You can learn graphic design principles online or at your local community college or university. You do not have to complete a degree program to benefit from college-level graphic design classes. However, you can learn design skills from many accessible online sources with a high school diploma. There are also technical colleges that may offer programs in graphic design.
How you can use this skill: Graphic design is a highly marketable skill. You can hang out your shingle as a freelancer or work for an ad agency, newspaper or magazine. Anything that requires a visual element requires a graphic designer. There are multiple freelance sites to display your work and land jobs portfolio.
In this context, a web designer creates websites using website builders such as WordPress, Wix, Squarespace and others. They do not make custom CSS or JavaScript.
That is included in the following skill, web development. Web design is tightly integrated with graphic design, but a web designer does not create images. Instead, they can use someone else’s work.
How you can learn this skill: There are multiple online courses, and each individual website-building platform will usually have free tutorials on how to use their software. There may also be classes at your local community college available.
How you can use this skill: This is another highly desirable freelance skill to have. Of course, you could also work for a large company and design their website, but you are unlikely to command the same salary that you could obtain by doing this as a freelancer.
The high earners in this field are usually freelancers who can charge a substantial rate due to the high value and rare skill sets they offer. In addition, advanced networking through digital media and word of mouth can add credibility to the web design services provided.
Web developers are the technical gurus behind websites. They are versed in CSS, JavaScript, and other platforms like Joomla or Ruby on Rails and can build a website without a website builder like WordPress or Wix. This is a much more technical approach to websites than web design.
Microsoft boasts some of the highest median wage salaries for web developers in the corporate sector.
How you can learn this skill: Online classes will teach you the technical skills encompassed by web development.
How you can use this skill: Again, this is an excellent skill for freelancers. There are jobs for web developers at most major companies as well. However, if you have the resume and work experience to back up freelance pricing, you can make even more as an independent contractor.
Software developers create apps. They can also contribute to web development by providing back-end databases and external applications interfaces. Of course, software development is relevant everywhere computers are used. Software developers are the people who bring ideas to life and command computers to do their bidding. However, mobile app development is a niche in the software developer world.
How you can learn this skill: You can teach yourself to program using online classes. This is the one skill on this list that might benefit from a formal college education, but many programmers are self-taught. These days, even app-building software can help you bring your app to life without knowing how to code.
More than likely, if you do not want to freelance, you will need to take college classes in one or more programming languages, such as Java, JavaScript, Python, etc., to learn app-building skills. CodeAcademy is another excellent resource for gaining these tech skills and building a solid foundation.
How you can use this skill: You can use this skill to build an app that you can think of and then sell the app on an app store such as Apple or Google, or freelance as a coder for others who have ideas for applications. Of course, you can also work as a coder for companies like HP, Apple, etc., but most employers require a college degree.
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