Terms

Feb 7, 2025
Google Sheets expert Ben L Collins

"I worked as an accountant for eight years and utilized Microsoft Excel every day for many hours" begins Google Sheets and Apps Script's educator expert Ben L Collins. "Almost everything I worked in was dependent on Excel however, I didn't possess a formal educational background. Although I'd written code, I'd never worked on something that involved spreadsheets.

"Pretty at the beginning of my first week in my job I was told by my boss to complete certain tasks using Excel like "Combine tables".. Yet, I was performing everything using my hands!" The supervisor showed his formulas for saving time. Ben realized as one of the fundamental skills that professionals need in finance is their ability to evaluate data.

"The those who are able to achieve this capacity to achieve this will enjoy advantage over the rest of us struggling to make it through the day."" Ben says. I've been considering "Right this is the ideal opportunity to enhance my abilities" and I've come upon a variety of sites which are available online, such as mrexcel.com and chandoo.org These were doing exactly the identical things as I do now, but they used Excel approximately 15 years prior."

The more Ben was able to see in the spreadsheets and formulas, the more intrigued was the fact that he "It was a rabbit-hole that was always getting deeper." Ben could see that his skills gained from programming during his college days could be put into the different programming languages used in conjunction with databases like VBA.

In the time of his accounting career, He has been more interested about the latest technological advances that affect the accounting field as well as finance. "After more than 8 years of working hard, I'm done with it and completed!. I was unsure of my next steps should be next, but one my initial thoughts was to switch careers and change into engineers." Ben tells me.

HTML1 Ben L Collins speaking in an evening program

He enrolled in a few classes prior to looking for a job. "It was a tiny amount of time before I was forced to leave and I started my blog and started writing my articles. My first blog post included Google Sheets as well as the sheets Google is now incorporating into the Search." The result was the rise of freelancers seeking to receive a fee for their services.

"In 2014 as well as during 2015, the firm had numerous requests from customers in need of assistance "Hey Can I help by constructing the dashboard with spreadsheets? Perhaps "Can you look through my Excel spreadsheets on behalf of the business and assist me to find ways to make the formulas better? ? '."

The task required Excel, Google Sheets, SQL and Tableau. "It doesn't require an enormous amount of work but it did allow me to contemplate "Maybe there's something to this. You can become an independent contractor instead of returning to the post I had previously held . I'd rather not return to accounting!" Ben smiles. "I always strive to develop technology, and to come up with new concepts."

Goodbye accounting, hello education

The learning site General Assembly was just a company that was launching and offering classes specifically designed specifically for data analysts and developers. "They intend to offer an online course for data analysis which will be time-based. When I've been to one of the classes that they offer for programmers, I've developed friendships with those that attended the course during my time in the course. The time was when they launched their Data class. The year was of 2015. The group was looking for instructors. The group consisted from Excel, SQL and Tableau," Ben continues. "I was thinking"This is exactly what I've always done from when I was 8 years old ! '." He was through the process of being interviewed in order to be considered for the position. He was also an instructor several times in the course of the year 2015.

"That encouraged me to back into teaching" Ben recalls. "I'd taught in an academic environment as well as the instructor of children's classes towards the end of my education." He could incorporate specific corporate training in the online courses, including classes as well as demonstrations. "As I realized that there's an rise in people interested in what I'm doing, I decided to create my own online course for training to determine if it's an effective idea."

A course on the Query function in Google Sheets

) The course focuses specifically on Google Query. Google Query features within Sheets

It was well-loved by students and was appreciated by all who attended, which helped in bringing Ben to develop a fresh class. "I employed a program known as Teachable as a way to develop an intimate relationship with my students, as well as to maintain my relationships with them instead of releasing it to the market, like Udemy."

I felt compelled to conduct some investigation and a name kept coming on the screen. Ben Thompson is the person that is the one accountable for the journal that covers the Stratechery technology. Ben Thompson. Ben Thompson is known as"the OG!" Ben has been having fun. "I am signed up to certain accounts to study how people use Flowing Data and Craig Mod was also doing it." Ben was a member of their mailing list when it was an infant. I was amazed by how they thought of the idea to create their own membership-based company. I thought "I would love to see my business run in a similar style to the ones that they currently have.'. I was extremely impressed with the process of registration. It was easy and fast. I thought"I'm looking forward to experiencing this member's experience..'

Moving forward with a long-term perspective

To give a quick overview of Ben's subscription service. Ben's subscription service is comprised of high-quality (or "gated") material that is hosted on WordPress as well as electronic newsletters that are distributed through emails designed with Kit (formerly ConvertKit). For the creation of content, it is based around Google Sheets - including products upgrades, new capabilities, and more and also methods for optimizing the use of the app.

"The next newsletter will include an in-depth look at certain new functions Google has announced at the end of this calendar year." Ben adds. It is an extremely useful feature that allows you to modify the information. This article will offer details on this subject as well as offer links to Google Sheet, a Google Sheet template that you can download. In addition, there will be live discussions on the subject. "I utilize newsletters to contain information about the times as well as to provide Google Meet's Google Meet link for the live chats."

If you ask him what his goals for the future are, Ben believes that membership is the most important aspect of his enterprise. "I am determined to attract new members to my fold as I would like this to become my primary source of income," he says. "I can provide archived content for free price, but I also have potential to become an official member. It will allow me to get more material."

Z6fYkdbv3adzawtsO Playing the game Chess through Google Sheets

The author claims that he was once in a position to offer consults and also place ads on his site however his present goal is to end the process "if I can be connected to a substantial number of people, then I'll be able to remove any other product. There are a few minor aspects which need to be considered as well as a growth in customers is crucial. "

You can think about different ways to expand his services. "I've been thinking about strategies to boost the efficacy of broadcasting live events and have come up with some methods to assist in attracting new customers over the next year. This streaming platform is likely to see a shift. It's unlikely to change in the manner we conduct things but we'll still be broadcasting streaming live."

President Obama also highlights that he needs to figure out the ideal method for members to speak about challenges they face along with questions they'd like to answer in the future "That might be possible via "office times" or an ideal way to contact people with questions" provided that it's feasible and helpful for those that are affected.

Ben says that for this time, the best way to interact with his fans is to send messages. "I am suggesting that you contact me via message saying "Hey I'd like to know your current projects'. This is a fantastic idea since it's easy to track.

Forum chats were planned with the help of a "cohort class" that saw participants working on Google Sheets issues online together in small groups. "We participated in two classes by 2021. Google Sheets were the talk across the city. It was a great experience However, it left one feel extremely anxious in the initial few weeks. It felt like you were in being the victim of a "firehose that was brimming with questions. It was my first experience participating in an educational program. I'm worried that once I turn off my device, it cannot be switched off the device. That's something I'd love to think about, and figure out how I will I handle it, as I watch the future?

"I didn't have the opportunity to perform live before beginning because I was thinking"Just perform it live and observe how people respond. It's important to make sure that you're having fun prior to making a commitment to everything. It's working! Owners want live streamed sessions "They're enjoyable and everyone's the beneficiary of these sessions. This is sure to be exciting since we'll be watching how the process develops!"

Ben hosting a Zoom session for his members

HTML0 Ben hosts an online party with his guests

"Right now, I'll be presenting issues to the students. I'll choose a subject then we'll have a debate on the topic in an actual debate" he continues. During group discussions, this was not an open-ended discussion for anyone who would like to join in "People were present during the course to express their opinions, "Hey, there's some issue that's causing me to be confused." Discussions were live, while others sat in the audience. The subject will be dealt with during the entire year. This is a wonderful opportunity for individuals to become involved."

In the end, Ben thinks that the idea of a Q&A forum could be a viable possibility, however Ben states: "I just want to be sure I'm conducting this in a way which doesn't control my personal life." It is clear that Ben is currently working towards building the strongest and longest-lasting connections with the local people in his area. It is important to maintain those connections you've formed in your local community is crucial to ensure a with an ongoing participation "Little Step: Let's take the next step in time!" It's a happy person.

More details

Ben Collins is an educator and writer, director and creator of The Collins School of Data. Ben Collins creates online classes and also writes about the Google Workspace tools. My main focus is on studying the automated processing of data by using Google Sheets along with Apps for script. LmVftNPgfKbMpZsophnG

Ben L Collins' website

He is a fan of creating applications using data to benefit of the features offered by Google's Google stack. This includes Google Sheets, Looker Studio, Google Apps Script, Forms, Docs, Gmail and many others. For more information visit benlcollins.com.

This article was originally published on this blog.

The original post was posted on this website.

The post was published on this website.

The post first appeared on this site

This article was originally posted this site.

This post was posted on here