Continue your education with Skillshare
The well respected Internet pioneer Marc Andreeessen argued that software is eating the world, essentially every industry is being disrupted and fundamentally changed by the web. I totally agree with this idea, but I think many of most important interactions we have are still are going to occur offline, although they might be facilitated by the web. There is a relatively new company based out of NYC called Skillshare. Skillshare is a community marketplace to learn anything from anyone. This community is quickly spreading to new cities across the country. The basic premise is all of us have skills that many people would love to have, and now Skillshare has created a community where you can teach a class for your skill, and get paid for it. The timing for this company could not be better. As the country is suffering from high unemployment rates, many people want to work to acquire new skills to keep themselves attractive to employers. The majority of the classes that I have come across range from five to thirty dollars, which is very affordable considering the amount of value you can extract from a 60-90 minute class.
When you buy a ticket for a class, you will receive a reminder before the class, often the instructor will have you do minimal prep work before the class (watch a video, read an article, write a letter), after the class you are able to leave feedback for the teacher through the Skillshare website. One of the unadvertised benefits of taking a Skillshare class is the classmates you are given an opportunity to interact with. You can assume that if you are in a voluntary class that people signed up for, that your classmates might have a level of passion on a particular subject that matches your own. After Skillshare classes people stick around to speak with one another, exchange contact information, and form email groups to continue the conversation outside of the classroom, this is my favorite part of the Skillshare experience- it is like nothing I ever experience in high school or college. I will write separate posts on each class I have attended in the near future.
So far all the classes I have taken have been focused on startups, investing, and mentorship- but I plan on attending a wine tasting class, a dumpling tour, and whatever other interesting topics pop up on Skillshare. I encourage everyone to visit Skillshare's site and browse the classes that are being offered, as more time goes by I am sure there will be an even wider array of classes. For the price of a drink at a swanky hotel bar in NYC you could take a 90 minute class from an expert in a certain field, that is incredible. If you have any good skills, or great insight on a certain subject you could even sign up to teach your own class to make some extra money. Learning is a lifelong journey that has just become more enjoyable with the creation of Skillshare.
