As my friend Fernando Raymond says…”You have to learn the digital skills to pay the bills.”
Fernando is a proponent of the true digital and nomadic lifestyle — he travels the world promoting his company SeekaHost, as well as the ability for anyone to truly live and independent life from their laptop and smartphone.
His latest venture, SeekaHhost University, teaches people how to learn the necessary skills to live the life he subscribes to and to kick off the new year and decade, he has kindly offered one hundred people free access to his courses to learn the necessary skills.
I am happy to say that my son Sam, who is twelve is one of the hundred and he has already spent the last two days going through the modules, taking notes and putting it all into practice.
Sam’s age is a huge advantage as he can literally suck up the knowledge quickly and apply it even faster.
Kids today are growing up in a digital age and embrace technology far quicker than people of my age and when you combine the fact that he also has a love of coding, you can see the fit.
I have talked about the importance of everyone getting online in this digital age when by 2030, 90 percent of the population is expected to be online and in this article I detail 3 key reasons.
But let’s get back to young Sam:
He is totally obsessed with becoming a professional footballer and although the chances of success are slim, with only a handful making it, in my mind, there is no reason why he cannot be one of those people and also I would never deny any of my children the chance to live in accordance with their dreams.
In fact, I am lucky that all of my children have the same focus — Sam’s brother Louis wishing to follow his big brother and my daughter Sofia, who has her sights set firmly on being a classical singer.
But Sam can balance out his life by learning new skills and that will in turn, open up new opportunities.
He may have made his career choice early, but there is always a chance that it could change direction and for a multitude of reasons, so learning other skills will never do him any harm…just as it won’t do you any harm either.
Digital skills
Now although my children have firm dreams and aspirations, you have to have a fall-back position and that is easy for each of them — work in some capacity in the industries or sport and arts in their case, related to their dreams!
But with the Internet still growing at warp speed, wouldn’t it also be a good idea for them to get familiar with the skills to learn how to make a living online, as there are literally thousands of opportunities to do so and still keep it relevant to their dreams?
So we have so far:
Sam — he is going to launch his personal blog which will be centered around football as you can imagine.
Louis — he already has a YouTube channel talking about football, gaming,! and even his latest haircut.
Sofia — she loves art and creativity and will be launching an e-commerce site to sell creative jewelry among other items.
Now sitting behind all of the creativity, products, and information is the real component of everything — marketing.
As a sales and marketing person since the age of nineteen, I can tell you it is the most important skill that everyone needs to master and starting with the ability to sell and market yourself!
Learning digital marketing is the natural, follow-up step to being able to market yourself and as long as you remain forward-thinking, you can stay ahead of the curve and start to predict the next trend or technology advancement.
Remember…we are moving at warp speed technology-wise and you cannot stand still…whatever your age!
What my children really have is an opportunity to earn some serious income (compared to pocket money) by learning serious skills that will at the least, give them an advantage in life and at best, an income stream that is independent of their life and career choices.
Everybody could and should do the same and with people like Fernando, you are here to help, there is no reason why it cannot be done.
Digital retirement
We must also not forget those who are retiring from their careers and the elderly.
In the case of the elderly, it is a good idea to learn basic online communication skills to keep in touch with the outside world.
My late Mother was using Skype and email late in life to communicate with us on the other side of the Atlantic when we were living in the US and even the most basic of digital skills are better than none!
If you are retired or nearing retirement, then think of all of the knowledge you have accumulated over your life.
Think about the knowledge you could share with everyone and the benefits they could receive.
Online learning has only just begun and there are huge opportunities for everyone to share their knowledge, but you have to start by learning the basics of digital marketing.
So what are you waiting for?
Neil
Digital Marketing digital skills e-learning
Last modified: January 3, 2020
