Level Up Your Skills

I pride myself on being a constant learner; from recording high-quality audio for my podcast to navigating the endless editing features in Adobe Premier as I prepare my latest video for Stay Tuned Motor Co I enjoy teaching myself new skills. With that said, I frequently become overwhelmed by the idea of learning something that has a reputation for being really difficult; however, thanks to the gig economy I no longer need to tackle these tasks alone.

As the economy changes and people with side hustles become more common, we all have access to some of the most talented individuals on the planet who are coaching people like me and you in their free time. Using freelancers was a key to my success at my last company and they are still helping me today.

Your next question might be: How do I get started with a freelancer? There are services like LinkedIn Profinder and Gigster that specialize in pairing you with a freelancer. Personally, I have had the most luck reaching out directly to creatives that I stalk on Instagram, then sliding into their DMs. Just because someone doesn’t exclusively state they are open to coaching opportunities doesn’t mean that you can’t ask them for a Zoom learning lesson where they spend an hour teaching you a technique.

I find it most valuable to have a base knowledge regarding a software, normally learned by watching YouTube videos or taking a beginner’s course online. Then, I seek to schedule one-hour meetings to get help on specific issues (For instance: How do you set up a timeline to optimize your workflow? Why aren’t my motion graphics popping on the screen?). By scheduling monthly meetings like this, I am able to polish the skills that are important to my latest projects and have a path to learning new ones as I master my craft. 

Collaboration in 2020 is drastically different from what it was when I first started my career—but in an amazing way. Social media has given us access to creatives from around the planet. These are people that we wouldn’t otherwise have the opportunity to connect with. By asking them to be your virtual coach, you can level up your game at a record pace.

Until next time,

Michael