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"I was an accountant for eight years and I used Microsoft Excel every day for lengthy hours." starts Google Sheets and Apps Script the experienced instructor Ben L Collins. "Almost everything I did was executed in Excel but I didn't possess any previous experience. Although I was a programmer, I had not completed any spreadsheet-related work.

"Pretty in the early days of my professional career, the boss requested that I do several things with Excel"Combine the tables' so on - yet I was completing everything with my hands!" The boss gave him some formulas that could help simplify things and Ben immediately recognized that the most important skill required by any professional in finance is understanding how to manipulate the data.

"The those who have the ability to accomplish this feat are miles above the others, who are a mess," Ben continues. I thought "Right. I'll have to learn what I know and came across numerous websites such as mrexcel.com and chandoo.org These were the same websites that did the same thing I do today by using Excel 15 years ago."

The more Ben was able to look at spreadsheets and formulas, the more enthralled he became: "It was this rabbit tunnel that appeared to go deeper and deeper." Ben was aware that the coding lessons he learned during his time at college could be utilized in conjunction with different programming languages that can be integrated with databases, like VBA.

Through over the span of his life being an accountant started to become more involved in the field of technology as opposed to the accounting or finance. "After nearly eight years I had the realization that "I've done enough to be able to do enough!. I wasn't sure which direction to take the next step. However, one of my initial plans was to switch the direction of my career and be a developer." Ben tells me.

Ben L Collins speaking at an occasion

He enrolled in a few classes prior to applying for jobs. "It was not received well, however, I was developing my own web site and creating essays. The first article I composed was written on Google Sheets and were those that were discovered via Google Search." These posts led to many clients seeking and paying for freelance work.

"In 2014 and 2015. In 2014 and 2015, there was an inbound flow of individuals asking "Hey can you help me in creating the dashboard using spreadsheets?' or "Can you look at my spreadsheets for my company? And help me find the right way to enhance these formulas? ? '."

The project was made up of Excel, Google Sheets, SQL and Tableau. "It was not really work at all but it was a sign that I could say"Maybe there's something to this. Perhaps it's possible to work as a freelancer instead of returning to the same job I had previously held . I wasn't planning returning to the accounting job!" Ben smiles. "I I am excited about keeping on top of advancements in research and technology."

Goodbye accounting, hello education

At first, the website for education General Assembly was just a company that was just starting and had plans to launch training courses specifically for developers and researchers. "They are launching the Data Analysis part-time program. Because I took classes with them when I was an instructor on a few of their developer courses, I was in a good relationship with the group back then. The team introduced their Data course and they were in search of instructors. The class was comprised consisting of Excel, SQL and Tableau," Ben continues. "I thought, 'Hey, it's exactly my job for the past eight years. ! '." He was able to pass the test to get appointed and to instruct on the course a variety of times during the year 2015.

"That led me to teach in the future," Ben recalls. "I'd taught in college as a tutor for the young students while I was in my end of the year." He began integrating an element of corporate training into online courses, including tutorials as well as classes. "As I started to build a following, in 2017 I thought I'd create my own online course to test the waters."

) A course on the query function of Google Sheets

It was an absolute success and students enjoyed the course thoroughly. It was enough to prompt Ben to develop a sequel course. "I employed Teachable the website I found on Teachable because I was looking to establish a solid rapport with my students as well as take charge of this relationship instead of leaving it up to an online marketplace similar to Udemy."

I was compelled to do some digging and discovered that the name that kept coming in the search results was the individual who manages the magazine for tech called Stratechery, Ben Thompson. Ben Thompson is the OG!" Ben is laughing. "I joined a few accounts myself, to learn what other people like Flowing Data and Craig Mod were doing exactly the same thing." Ben is a subscriber to their monthly newsletter free of charge since the age of a baby and I was intrigued by the method they used to establish their membership-based companies. I thought to myself "I would like my business to be exactly like the ones they have.'. It was simple to sign-up and I was able to think"I'd love that experience as a member.'

Going forward in a sustainable manner

In context, Ben's subscription service offers high-quality (or "gated") information which is hosted on WordPress in addition to the electronic newsletter delivered via email through Kit (formerly ConvertKit). To give you more information, the service is based on Google Sheets and provides information on the latest features of the product as well as ways to get the most out of the application.

"The coming newsletter will be an in-depth look at some of the features which Google launched in the last calendar year." Ben adds. This is a really helpful function for manipulating information. A demonstration will be provided of this subject, along with the link to the Google Sheet template that people might download to them. The writer also mentions the online discussions on the topic. "I employ newsletters to communicate information regarding the date and time in addition to share details about the Google Meet link for the live event."

When asked about the future of his business, Ben thinks membership could become the primary source of revenue for his venture. "I certainly would like to have new members because I'd like for membership to be the most important item of our business," he says. "I am able to offer archived material at no cost that you could then join as a premium member and aid me in my work and to receive more details."

A recreation of the sport Chess with the help of Google Sheets

He said that he was capable of providing consultation services, as well as put advertisements on the newsletter, but he wants to end that "if I am able to create an audience sufficient, it will be ideal to eliminate all other things. There's some small things to improve, but increasing the number of readers who sign up for the publication is vital. "

He reveals that he's had several ideas on how to increase the range of services offered. "I've come up with some ideas on how I could do more efficiently delivering these live events to members as well as we've plans to introduce members for the upcoming calendar year. The software itself will change. It's not going drastically different, however, we'll be able to continue live streaming."

He says he'd like to devise ways to enable members to talk about the kinds of challenges they're currently working on as well as challenges they'd like to address in the near future "That might be through 'office hours' or a better method to ask queries" insofar as they're done in a sustainable and beneficial manner for everyone that are involved.

Ben claims that, at present, all interaction with his readers are done through email newsletters. "I would actually like individuals to get in touch with me by sending a message saying 'Hey tell me what you're currently working on' - I like it because it's manageable.

Forum chats will be provided along with a "cohort training" where participants went to solve Google Sheets issues online together in a small group. "We took two of these in 2021,"" the man said. Google Sheets were the talk of the town. This course was extremely successful but was intensive in the first five weeks that the class was in of a "firehose" of questions. It's been a while since I've done this group on my own, as a result of I'm apprehensive that after I've turned on the computer, it'll not be possible to turn it completely off. It's something I'd like to think through, how can do this by looking at the long term?

"I didn't have any assurances about live streaming when I first thought 'Just launch and observe how it responds. Make sure I'm happy doing it right before I commit to every day.' But it's going great! He's eager to add live sessions "They're enjoyable and the attendees benefit a lot from these sessions. Let's see what happens!"

Ben is the host of Zoom sessions for his clients.

"Right now I'm giving things to students like picking a topic that we'll be discussing during the live classes," he continues. However, in the group courses it was more like an open-forum "People would come in and inquire, "Hey, this is my issue.' We would then discuss the issue in real-time and other students were allowed to watch. We'll be looking into it in the coming year. It's a great opportunity to inspire people to get involved."

The author concludes that a Q&A forum in Discord could be a viable option however Ben states that "I only want to make confident that I'm capable of doing this in a way that isn't overwhelming me." It appears that Ben is working on creating the most lasting and long-lasting connection within his group. We believe that maintaining a relationship over a period of time is crucial for a successful experience "Little step - we'll increase the number as time goes by!" He smiles.

Additional information

Ben Collins is an educator and author, programmer, and creator of The Collins School of Data. Ben is the creator of online training courses as well as writes about Google Workspace tools. My focus is on the analysis of data and automating it using Google Sheets as well as Apps script.

Ben L Collins' website

He enjoys creating light-weight apps that use data in order to integrate using Google's Google stack. These include: Google Sheets, Looker Studio, Google Apps Script, Forms, Docs, Gmail, etc. For more details, go to benlcollins.com.

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