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This blog post may be me going off on a bit of a tangent, but it’s something that’s been on my mind recently.  I do a lot of advertising on Facebook.  I’ve tried doing mobile ads, newsfeed-only ads, ads targeting doctors, ads targeting business school students, ads targeting veterinarians, ads targeting women who are likely to purchase luxury goods, etc.  I’ve seen Facebook’s advertising platform from a whole bunch of different angles.

Why am I saying to invest in Facebook?  It’s mainly because the potential for success in advertising on Facebook is absolutely massive, and yet currently it can be very difficult to use the platform effectively.  Facebook makes it very difficult to have a lot of success advertising on its platform.  If and when they get these issues figured out, the advertising revenue that they will be able to command will skyrocket.  That is why you should invest in Facebook now.

I’ll try to give a few examples.  Let’s say you want to target dentists only on Facebook.  There’s a few dental associations that you can target on Facebook, so you would maybe try to say “show this ad to anyone who “likes” any of these dental associations.”  That could work, but you are definitely going to target a lot of people who aren’t dentists and who just so happen to “like” the associations on Facebook.  How do you think you could get around this?  Well, you might say that a dentist would be more likely to “like” a bunch of different dental-related associations.  Currently, Facebook does not allow you to target people by saying “target people who like this AND this AND this.”  You can only target OR and not AND.  Luckily, a new tool was developed outside of Facebook that allows you to fix that problem, but this goes to show that Facebook advertising has a long way to go.

This was just one example.  I could go off on a rant and provide a whole bunch of examples where Facebook simply falls short in my opinion.  Just understand that if Facebook ever fixes these problems, and I anticipate that they will, the revenue they will be able to command from advertising will skyrocket.

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A lot of people who want to learn to code do so because they want to get a job as a programmer or front-end developer somewhere, whether at an established company or at a startup.  Going down that road can take a while, but it can also be very financially rewarding.  Another route that you could take is simply to learn web design and do it as a hobby.  Freelance web design work can be very financially rewarding as well, and it doesn’t have to take up too much of your time.

So many companies, professionals, and small businesses need to have websites.  There is never a shortage of work to be done within web design.  If you know what you are doing, you can spend just a little bit of time creating really cool-looking websites for people and get paid really well to do so.  A dentist might be willing to pay $10,000-15,000 for a nice-looking website.  If you have experience making similar websites, you can leverage that experience and get the web design done in less than a week.  You of course don’t need to tell the dentist how quickly you can actually make the website, but this is definitely a realistic possibility.  I have one friend who built a website for a law firm for something like $15,000 and he only needed three days to get everything done.  Seems like a pretty profitable deal for him and a good return on his time.

There are varying degrees of learning that you can undertake when learning about web design and development.  You don’t need to learn the ins and outs of Ruby on Rails, for example, if all you want to do is build static websites for people.  You can build yourself a pretty nice-paying hobby in under 6 months if you work hard and learn web design well.

If you have a job already and are looking to supplement your income, building websites for people can be a great way to earn extra cash each month without you having to spend too much time doing so.

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Workplace learning is growing in popularity around the world. In England, learning and skills in the workplace refers to need for employers to improve the skills of their employees to maintain a competitive edge. Continuing education or learning and skills is a part of this process. Education and sixth form colleges, local authority and adult education institutions, and offender learning are all a part of learning and skills in the workplace. In general, learning and skills are considered vital to maintaining competitiveness, productivity, and sustainable employment in the UK and other areas around the world.

Evolution of Workplace Learning

Learning and Skills Council (2001 – 2010) managed most of the skills improvement in the UK area until it was replaced by the Skills Funding Agency and the Education Funding Agency. As these departments evolved, they were able to address more of the needs of employees requiring workplace learning to improve skills and productivity in the workplace.

In the UK, further education colleges may offer subject in drama, dance, agriculture, and horticulture. Specialist colleges cater to students who may have a disability or learning disability. Schools with sixth forms will vary significantly in size. They have courses or facilities that will help to prepare employees for their positions.

The Details of Workplace Learning

Workplace learning includes the training required for people who are looking for work. It teaches them how to do a job through classroom training and apprenticeships. When people are learning how to do a job, they are focused and participating in what is deemed workplace learning or continuing professional development.

In the UK, they have programs such as Train to Gain and others that will ensure that employees are getting the information they need to move forward and be successful in their given professions.

Offender learning teaches former prisoners skills necessary to be integrated into society. These people serve in their communities until they are more equipped to perform the jobs and tasks they are assigned when they are in the workforce. This is ideal for employers who want to their workplaces to be competitive and to work.

Programs offered by learning and skills providers are diverse. They teach all types of skills ranging from basic skills to Foundation Degrees. The courses leave employees well-prepared to excel in their professions. Most of the programmes offered are diverse and accredited by award-winning organizations. The awards are distributed according to the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority.

Update Your Workplace Learning Today

Always keep your skills updated to perform well in the industry. It’s one of the best ways to improve productivity, maintain quality production, and to remain competitive. If your employees are struggling with job satisfaction, this is one way that employee morale can improve. Contact a local training facility to get started.

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So, I just heard about Code Babes for the first time.  I went over to YouTube and watched a few of their videos.  As a guy, my reaction should be predictable (something like “oh my god it’s so awesome.  I want to learn to code so badly!”).  I’ll admit that was in fact my initial reaction.  The concept is that learning to code can be really fun and to keep your attention, the people teaching you to code are very, very attractive women.  If you are a guy and are on the fence about whether you have the time and/or motivation to learn to code, watching one of their videos will certainly persuade you to learn.

I didn’t get too much into the material, but the videos and courses do look like pretty good introductory material.  I don’t think that you will become a coding mastermind by going through their courses, but it could definitely be a way to get your foot in the door and set you off on a journey to learn more afterwards.  I imagine that a lot of people won’t like the approach of having beautiful women in very little clothing being the teachers.  While I can understand the sentiment, the goal is to get more people to learn to code and this is definitely going to get more people to do exactly that.  It would certainly hold my attention more than a boring old man teaching me.

For that reason, I’m on the side of Code Babes.  I like what they are doing and I think I will look into their material more going forward.  I don’t think the intention is to be a coding bootcamp where you can immediately get a job as a programmer after completing their courses.  If it gets people excited about learning to code, then I’m all for it.  I took a look, for example, at the SEO Virgin class.  Knowing what I know about SEO, this is definitely for beginner’s only, but it’s enough to get people’s feet wet.  I think that’s the point of the site.

You can check them out at http://codebabes.com.

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I get a lot of comments from people who want to learn how to make a simple website.  My answer is always the same: it’s never been easier to do exactly that.  I like to use Weebly as an example, but you should know that there are certainly many other sites that have been create in the past few years that are really great too.  Weebly provides the ability to make a website with a drag and drop editor.  You literally can know zero html and css coding, and you can still make a pretty sharp looking website.  If you are really into it and want to get aggressive with things, you can watch some videos on Youtube and learn how to make your website look extra sharp.

I’m a big proponent of learning by doing.  The only way you will really get to know these digital skills is if you just get out there and start practicing as much as possible.  With Weebly, it’s pretty hard to mess up.  I would look around the site and try to find examples of nice-looking websites.  Then I would try to replicate the look of them on your own.  It probably won’t be too hard to do.  If you want a block of text, you simply drag a new text icon over onto the page.  If you then want an image, you just drag the image icon over onto the page.  Then you can rearrange all the elements by further dragging the elements you want to their desired location.

It certainly can help a little bit if you know html and css, but you truly do not really need it when using Weebly.  If you are looking to get started with a simple website, then definitely give Weebly a good, hard look.  You won’t be disappointed.

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No matter what skill you are trying to learn, you are going to face some challenges.  You may go through all the material and think you just don’t get it.  You may think you get it, but then you start to try things out and it just doesn’t work out very well for you.

This is probably going to happen to you.  I’m here to say that the way to get around this by putting in a ton of effort.  If you are watching a video course on a specific skill, I recommend you go through the course 2-3x more than you think you have to.  If you are learning how to code, I would recommend practicing 2-3x more than you currently are practicing.  If you really want to be successful, you are simply going to have to put in a ton more work than you ever imagined.  We all marvel at the best professional athletes and musicians.  Those people make their craft seem easy.  What people don’t realize, however, is how much effort they put into practicing.  The best pianists put in several hours of practice a day.  I can guarantee that Bill Gates practiced coding for hours on end.

It isn’t until you are willing to put in that extra effort and really stretch yourself that you will make great achievements.  I’ve realized this slowly over my life.  I’ve had a few moments where I had to prepare for some big event, whether it was a major test or a piano recital.  I made a special effort to practice and prepare more than I ever felt possible.  That extra effort is what made me be successful.  This is the same effort you are going to have to put in for you to see the same success.

If you want to improve your situation, whether that means getting a better job or just making more money, let their be no illusions.  You will have to work extremely hard.  You need to also work smart (and read our reviews, like the one here), but it’s going to be your effort that pushes you to where you need to go.

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One little piece of advice that I would give to you on how to learn to code is that you should be practicing every day.  Practicing for 30 minutes every day is much better than practicing for 8 hours one day a week.  You can learn all the theory that you want, but really knowing …

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There’s plenty of skills that you could learn.  Heck, you could learn pottery if you wanted to.  I want to focus on skills that will make you money and keep you valuable going into the future.  I’m going to go through a list of these skills now.

Web Design- People need websites.  Pretty much everyone wants a website and not many people know how to make a good-looking website.  Companies are willing to pay a lot of money to people who have really good web design skills.  This is one area where you can really add value.  Furthermore, it’s not that hard to learn web design and you can be a ninja within several months.

SEO- People need traffic to their websites.  This is where SEO comes in.  If you know how to do this well, companies are willing to pay a whole bunch of money to you.  My suggestion would be to learn by doing.  Only by going through your own site and trying to rank it well for keywords can you really start to understand how SEO works.  This is a really valuable skill.

Softward programming-  Right now, you can make a whole bunch of money coding software.  Right out of college you could $100K.  That’s a whole lot of money.  After a couple of years, you can demand a salary and benefits that’s even way higher than that.  Does that sound enticing to you?  I bet it does.  You can teach this stuff to yourself on your own or you could go to some bootcamp classes.  Either way, it’s a good idea to look into something like this.  You will be rewarded with a financially awesome career that is also challenging and mentally stimulating.

These are just a few ideas of what you can do with yourself and learn new skills.  There are certainly a whole bunch more out there, so do some brainstorming.

Related article: https://learncamp.wordpress.com/2014/09/14/23-thats-a-wrap/