When it comes to number crunching, spreadsheets is the best bet anyone can have. However, Microsoft Excel is (in my opinion) the best spreadsheet program we have today. Once you get down to mastering all the features and functions that come with this program, you will be set to become Master Shifu version of Excel.
Without much further blurb, let’s get into it:
The Official Excel Video Training by Microsoft: So you reached into your wallet, and yanked out your hard earned dollars and gave it to Microsoft for the Office Suite; which does not come by cheaply. Congratulations! The good thing about the company is that they will not run away with your money and leave you by yourself to figure out how the program works.No, they want you to get your money’s worth out of their software. Microsoft has an Excel video training pages on its Office website. You can access the learning material anytime, anywhere at no cost.
GCF LearnFree: The Goodwill Community Foundation’s LearnFree online academy is an excellent complement to Microsoft’s Office course. GCF LearnFree breaks it down to 29 section, with each section having a video and long article tutorial complete with recommended exercises. The site has other great tutorials on other software other than Excel.
Zapier’s Guide to Mastering Excel Online: FYI, Microsoft does have a slimmed-down version of Excel that runs entirely online and on the browser. There is no need to install any software, runs in the cloud, and is free to access as long as you have internet Although the Excel Online is not as robust as the installable software program, it is more than enough for your basic spreadsheets needs on the online version of Excel.
Excel-Easy.com: There are numerous paid courses offering Excel tutorials online. The funny thing is that you can get all those lessons for free at Excel-Easy.com. The site features the introduction to the very advanced Excel functions such as Excel VBA.
The importance of mastering Excel
You have probably heard that in today’s world, you gain your competitive edge through big data. The people who speak these way are probably big corporations with Statisticians and actuaries using advance number crunching software. However, as a small business person, Excel provides the perfect and most affordable platform to store, retrieve, tabulate, and interpret your ‘small’ big data. It just might give you an edge over your competition in your little niche.