All right, so have you ever thought about making money with Excel?
Like actually turning those spreadsheet skills into cash?
Yeah, not something you think about every day, is it?
No, not really.
But that's why we decided to do a deep dive into this YouTube video.
It's called How to Make Money with Excel Right Now, Work from Home, Ingle.
Free training.
Catchy title.
Oh yeah, definitely attention grabbing.
It's from a channel called Superhuman's Life.
And let me tell you, it is packed with ideas.
Like seriously, who knew you could do so much with Excel?
I mean, it's one of those programs that everyone kind of knows,
but I think a lot of people don't realize it's full potential.
Exactly.
So basically they break it down into three main paths.
Freelancing, making and selling templates,
and even landing a traditional nine to five job, all using your Excel skills.
I have to admit, I'm intrigued, especially about that freelancing part.
Like how much can you really make just from knowing Excel?
Right, well, we'll get to that.
But first, they actually start by talking about free resources
for people who want to, you know, level up their Excel game.
Makes sense.
Gotta have the skills before you can make the money, right?
For sure.
They recommend the Microsoft Support website, which I mean, that's pretty standard.
But then they mentioned this other site, GCFLalernfree.org.
Have you heard of it?
Can't say I have, but I'm all for free learning resources.
What do they have?
Well, apparently tons of courses on data analysis, all completely free.
Now that's interesting.
Data analysis is one of those skills that you can apply almost anywhere.
Yeah, like it's not just about number crunching, right?
It's about understanding trends, making predictions.
Exactly, telling a story with those numbers.
And those are valuable skills no matter what industry you're in.
Absolutely.
So even if you're not trying to become like an Excel master,
learning data analysis can still be a huge boost for your career.
Totally.
Oh, and get this, they even mentioned this free Udemy course on Excel for beginners.
It's something like almost 50,000 reviews.
Wow, OK, that's a lot of people learning Excel.
It must be good.
Right.
So OK, let's say you've got the skills you're working on getting them.
Now, how do you actually make money with this stuff?
That's where freelancing platforms like Upwork and Fiverr come in.
OK, yeah, I've heard of those, but I always imagine people,
you know, like graphic designers or writers using them, not really Excel experts.
Right.
But apparently there's a huge demand.
They said that on Upwork, some Excel experts are making over $200,000.
Wait, seriously, $200,000 just from Excel.
I know, right?
It's mind blowing.
And it's not just like super complex financial modeling or anything.
People are hiring freelancers for everything, like cleaning up messy
spreadsheets, building dashboards, you name it.
I'm starting to see the possibilities here, but I have to admit,
I'm not super familiar with the more advanced stuff in Excel.
Like what's VBA?
Oh, yeah, good point.
VBA stands for Visual Basic for Applications.
And it's basically a programming language built into Excel
that lets you automate all sorts of tasks.
OK, so like instead of doing things manually,
you can write a little program to do it for you.
Exactly.
It's super powerful.
You can generate reports, send emails based on certain conditions,
even build interactive forms within your spreadsheets.
Wow.
OK, suddenly those high paying gigs are making a lot more sense.
Right.
Now, on the other hand, you've got Fiverr,
which seems to be more for quick, affordable Excel help.
The video mentioned people offering everything from simple formula help
to like full blown automation, all for just a few bucks.
So it's kind of like, you know, task rabbit, but for Excel.
Yeah, exactly.
It's really interesting because it shows that you don't necessarily need
to be this Excel wizard to find work.
There's a market for all levels of expertise.
Definitely.
And for people just starting out, it sounds like a great way to get
some experience and build up a portfolio.
Totally.
OK, so freelancing sounds pretty promising, right?
But what if you wanted to make money with Excel,
even when you're not working?
Like while you sleep, enter the world of passive income.
Passive income.
OK, now you've really got my attention.
I know, right?
Apparently, it's all about creating and selling Excel templates.
You know, like those pre-made spreadsheets for things like invoices,
budgets, trackers, that kind of stuff.
Yeah, yeah, I've definitely downloaded my fair share of those.
I never thought about the people who actually make them, though.
Well, according to the video, there's a whole market for it.
People are busy.
They don't always have time to build these things from scratch.
So they're willing to pay for the convenience of a well-designed template.
Makes sense.
Time is money, right?
So where do you sell these templates?
Well, the video highlighted two main platforms, Etsy and Envato Elements.
Etsy.
Wait, isn't that for like handmade crafts and vintage stuff?
I know, right?
That's what I thought too.
But apparently, they had a whole section for digital downloads,
and that includes Excel templates.
Huh, learned something new every day.
What kind of templates did they show?
All sorts.
Budgeting tools, bookkeeping dashboards, even stuff for freelancers.
And the prices seem pretty reasonable, like between 10 and 25 bucks.
OK, that's not bad, especially if you can sell a lot of copies.
Exactly.
The dream is to create it once and then just have it generate income over and over again.
Now that is the dream.
But what about this other platform they mentioned?
Envato Elements.
Yeah, that one seems a little more, I guess, professional and maybe more competitive too.
Hmm, yeah, I can see that.
Like, I think the templates on there tend to be a bit more complex, more sophisticated.
So if you're really looking to make those high quality, professional grade templates,
that's where you'd go.
Exactly.
OK, so we've covered freelancing, we've talked about passive income.
Both pretty cool ways to make money with Excel.
But I'd love to see some actual examples of people who are out there
like doing this, actually making this work.
Well, the YouTube video, the one we're doing the deep dive on,
they actually had some pretty inspiring success stories, especially on Upwork.
For example, they featured this Excel expert from the UK.
And they charge $27.50 an hour.
And they've already made over $200,000 on the platform.
No way.
$200,000 just from Excel.
I mean, that's incredible.
That's pretty impressive, right?
It definitely shows the potential.
If you've got the skills and you know how to market yourself.
I'm sure.
And then they also featured a freelancer from the US who specializes in VBA.
They're charging $60 an hour and have made over $100,000.
Yeah, that makes sense.
VBA is seriously powerful.
Like, I remember when I first learned how to use it,
it was like this whole new world opened up.
Right.
It's like suddenly I could automate all these tasks that used to take me hours.
It's interesting though, because the video really emphasized
that a lot of those higher paying gigs on Upwork, they involve VBA.
You know, creating those complex spreadsheets,
providing beta analysis and visualization services.
It's like these are all skills that a lot of businesses need,
but they don't necessarily have that expertise in-house.
Right.
So it makes sense.
There's a big opportunity for freelancers to step in and fill that gap.
And it sounds like specialization is key, right?
Like you don't have to be a jack of all trades.
If you can really become a master of like a specific skill set within Excel,
that can make you super valuable.
For sure.
And then shifting gears a bit to Fiverr,
they actually showcase some examples where people are offering like very specific Excel services
for fixed prices.
Oh, interesting.
Yeah.
And one that stood out to me, someone was offering to do anything with Excel and Macros VBA
as fast as possible for just $10.
Whoa, $10.
Really?
Yeah.
I wonder what kind of volume they must be doing to make that worthwhile.
Right.
I mean, it does highlight that Fiverr can be a great way to just, you know,
get started with freelancing, start building a client base.
And even if you're not charging like premium rates,
you're gaining that experience, getting testimonials,
which could lead to those higher paying gigs later on.
Yeah, that makes sense.
And it's not just like individuals using Fiverr.
They mentioned that some all businesses are increasingly turning to the platform
to outsource those Excel tasks.
Yeah, I could see that.
It's got to be more cost effective than hiring a full time employee, right?
Exactly.
And that's what I find fascinating is like this kind of democratization of skills.
You know?
Yeah.
Platforms like Fiverr, they're leveling the playing field, giving small businesses
and even individuals access to expertise that they might not have been able to afford otherwise.
It's true.
OK, so speaking of small businesses, the video actually made this really interesting point
about, you know, a lot of small businesses, they're still using paper based systems.
Oh, yeah.
And there's this huge opportunity for someone with Excel skills to help them transition
to, you know, like a more digital organized system.
Right.
I mean, I think there's still so many businesses out there that are just, you know,
they're kind of stuck in those old ways of doing things and they could really benefit
from the efficiency and the organization that Excel can bring.
Totally.
And that's where our like template creators come in, right?
Yeah.
Like if you can create a template that solves a specific problem for a particular type of business,
let's say like a restaurant that needs to manage their inventory or a contractor who
needs to keep track of their expenses, that's a really valuable service.
You know, businesses are willing to pay for that.
For sure.
And the video actually, they went into some examples from Etsy, which, you know,
as we talked about earlier, has become this kind of surprising hub for Excel templates.
And they had templates for everything like budgeting, bookkeeping, project management,
habit tracking.
Wow.
Okay.
What about the pricing on Etsy?
Like what kind of range were you seeing?
Yeah.
So most of them were priced between, you know, 10 and $25, which seems like kind of that sweet
spot.
It's affordable enough for most people, but it also allows the creators to, you know,
generate some decent income if they can sell a decent volume.
Yeah.
That makes sense.
But what makes a template stand out in such a crowded marketplace?
Well, from what I saw, I think the most successful templates, they were well designed, easy to
use, but most importantly, they solved a very specific problem.
Right.
For like a particular niche.
Like, you know, instead of creating a generic budget template, you might create one that's
specifically for freelancers or, you know, specifically for people who are, you know,
trying to track their, you know, side hustle income or something.
Okay.
Yeah.
That makes sense.
It's all about finding a niche and providing a tailored solution.
Yeah.
So you could like really build a whole business around selling Excel templates if you had like
the creativity and the marketing savvy, right?
Absolutely.
And if you were looking to create those even more, you know, sophisticated professional
grade templates, they also mentioned that, you know, Envato Elements is a good option.
Right.
It's just a more competitive platform, but you know, the potential for higher earnings
is definitely there.
It's really interesting.
So whether you're, you know, a freelancer, a template creator, or even someone who just
wants to, you know, boost their career prospects, Excel skills are clearly like in high demand.
And the best part is you don't have to be the spreadsheet wizard to get started.
Nope.
There are so many free resources out there.
And you can always just, you know, start small and build your skills over time.
I think the key takeaway here is that Excel, it's not just this boring spreadsheet program
anymore, you know, right?
It's a really powerful tool that can be used to make money, solve problems.
And yeah, I mean, even build a successful business.
Totally.
But before we wrap up our deep dive into the world of Excel, there's one more avenue we
need to explore.
Yeah.
And it's a little bit unexpected.
I'll say that.
Okay.
So we've talked about freelancing, right?
Making templates, even that traditional nine to five route.
But this video, it threw in this last suggestion that I was like, wait, what?
They said you could use Excel to make money on, get this, YouTube.
YouTube, really?
It sounds a little out there, I have to admit, but I mean, I guess anything's possible on
YouTube these days.
Right.
And at first I was like, how does that even work?
Right.
But then I started thinking about like all those free training resources we were talking
about, there are clearly a ton of people out there who want to learn to Excel.
So maybe YouTube is the perfect place to, you know, teach them.
Yeah.
Actually, that makes a lot of sense.
You could create tutorial videos, walk people through different functions, maybe even offer
like entire courses on YouTube.
Exactly.
And you don't even need to be like the world's greatest Excel expert.
I think people appreciate, you know, authenticity.
You could even just like document your own learning journey, sharing tips and tricks
as you go.
Oh yeah.
Like, hey everyone, I'm learning this new function today.
Come along with me.
Right.
That way people feel like they're learning with you.
And it taps into, I think, a different kind of demand.
It's not businesses needing spreadsheets built.
It's individuals who want to improve their skills, maybe for their careers, or even
just for personal projects.
And here's where it gets even more interesting.
You could use Excel to create content beyond just tutorials.
Remember we were talking about how data analysis is like a really valuable skill across so
many industries.
Yeah.
Well, that applies to YouTube too.
Wait, are you saying I could become like a data visualization YouTuber?
It's a little niche, but I kind of like it.
Think about it.
You could use Excel to create these really cool charts and graphs that tell a story.
Like you could analyze data from trending topics or popular games or even break down
complex research papers in a way that's visually engaging.
OK, yeah.
So it's not just teaching Excel.
It's using Excel to create actual content that people want to watch and share.
Exactly.
Wow.
It's like combining two skill sets, the data analysis and the content creation.
That's how you really carve out your own space on YouTube.
And I mean, honestly, it makes sense because people are just overwhelmed with information
these days.
So if you can make data digestible, entertaining, that's a valuable skill.
Absolutely.
And that's what I'm taking away from this whole deep dive.
It's not just about the spreadsheets themselves.
It's about the thinking behind them.
It's the problem solving, the logic, the organization.
Yeah.
And those skills are useful way beyond just finance or accounting.
We've gone from freelancing to passive income to YouTube stardom, all thanks to Excel.
And it's been quite a journey.
I bet our listeners feeling pretty inspired right now.
I hope so.
This is just the beginning, right?
The cool thing about a tool like Excel is that it's really only limited by your own creativity.
So what unique problem can you solve with a spreadsheet?
What story can you tell with data?
Such a good question.
It's been great exploring the world of Excel with you.
And we hope this deep drive has given our listener a lot to think about.
Go forth and spreadsheet, everyone.