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"I worked as an accountant for eight years and utilized Microsoft Excel every day for hours," begins Google Sheets and Applications Script professional teacher Ben L Collins. "Almost all of my work was done with Excel however, I did not have an Excel background. I'd coded, but I'd never worked with spreadsheets.

"Pretty very early on in my career I was being asked by my boss me to complete a variety of tasks by using Excel - "Combine these tables" and I was doing everything by myself!" His boss showed him a some formulas for reducing time to a minimum, and Ben immediately realized that the main ability for anyone in a professional in finance is the ability to work with data.

"The individuals who are able to accomplish the feat will be a long way beyond those who fail," Ben continues. I was thinking "Right now, I'm going to need to build up my skills Then I researched a bunch of websites online such as mrexcel.com and chandoo.org It was exactly what I'm doing now, only using Excel, 15 years ago."

The more Ben was able to study formulas and spreadsheets and spreadsheets, the more interested he got: "It was this rabbit tunnel that seemed to go further into the depths of dark." He realised that a portion of the programming education in college could be used in conjunction with other programming languages for databases such as VBA.

Through over the span of his career working as a bookkeeper, he became much more interested in the field of technology, as opposed to finance and accounting. "After more than eight years working I realized that I had enough enough!'. I wasn't sure of what my next step was, but one of my first plans was to switch careers to become an engineer." Ben tells me.

     Ben L Collins speaking during an evening party    

He attended a few classes, and began applying for jobs. "It wasn't a huge success, but through that time I started my own website as well as writing posts. The first article I wrote about Google Sheets and they're those which were indexed in [Google] Search." This led to a lot of customer requests as well as a freelance work.

"In the years between 2014 and the year 2015 we had a good amount of an outbound flow of traffic saying, 'Hey, could you help me with designing my dashboard using spreadsheets and spreadsheets?' or 'Can you have an overview of my business spreadsheets to assist me in finding methods to enhance these formulas? ? '."

The task involved Excel, Google Sheets, SQL and Tableau. "It was not a huge amount of work, however it was an indicator that I should think"Maybe there's something in this. Perhaps I could be a freelancer rather than returning to my old job . I never planned to go back to accounting!" Ben smiles. "I was determined to continue in my quest to learn and improve my technology."

Goodbye accounting, hello education

The website for education General Assembly was just a startup and was providing training courses specifically to developers and data analysts. "They presented the idea of a full-time data analysis course. Because I've taken a class within their course as part of one of their courses designed for developers, I had a connection with the staff that was there. The first time they launched this data-focused course and needed instructors. The class was Excel, SQL and Tableau," Ben continues. "I thought, 'Hey this is precisely what I've done for the last eight years ! '." Ben went through the application procedure, was then offered the position and taught the course for a couple of versions in the year 2015.

"That inspired me to get into teaching," Ben recalls. "I'd taught at the college level, as tutoring for the younger students when I was in the final year." He started incorporating corporate training in the online offerings, such as providing tutorials and classes. "As I began to build an audience, in 2017 I decided to create my own online course, and then find out the outcomes."

) A course on the query function of Google Sheets

The course was a hit and the students appreciated it well - well enough to spur Ben to create a follow-up course. "I used a site known as Teachable because I wanted to build a strong relationship with my students. I wanted to become the person who owns the relationship, rather than giving it to a marketplace, such as Udemy."

I would do some research and one name that stuck in my thoughts was the one responsible for the tech magazine Stratechery, Ben Thompson. Ben Thompson is one of the OG!" Ben laughs. "I have joined a couple of accounts myself, to find the ways other organizations like Flowing Data and Craig Mod were able to do this." Ben has been receiving their newsletter free for a while and wanted to find out how they developed their membership service. I was thinking, "I want mine to get the same service.'. I was amazed by the fact that it was easy to sign up, and it was so easy - I was thinking, "I'd like that member experience.'

Going forward in a sustainable manner

For context, Ben's membership offer currently includes premium (or 'gated') content that is located on WordPress and a newsletter that is sent via email via Kit (formerly ConvertKit). Content is centered around Google Sheets and includes information about product features and updates - as well as tips for getting maximum benefit out of the service.

"The following newsletter takes an in-depth look at the most recent technologies that Google introduced last the year." Ben adds. They are very useful tools which allow you to modify data. You'll find a guide on this, as well as a link to Google Sheet, a Google Sheet template that people can download. In addition, there will be an online discussion about the subject. "I make use of newsletters to inform people on times as well as using the Google Meet link for the live sessions."

When asked about the future of his company, Ben imagines that membership is going to be the mainstay of his company. "I certainly would like to draw new members since I'd like for membership to become my sole option," he says. "I already have an online library of the free content. After that, you could become a professional member, and help me out to get more material."

     A game similar to Chess with Google Sheets    

He claims that it was possible to offer consulting services and also include ads in his newsletter. He is looking to get rid of this: "if I can build the subscriber base to become large enough I'd like to eliminate everything else. There are minor areas that need to be focused on, however increasing the amount of subscribers is crucial. "

He says he's got various ways to expand his services. "I've had some thoughts at the moment and I'm thinking of doing better at hosting these live events for members. We also have plans to attract members coming to next year. The software will be updated. It's not likely to alter much, but we'll be doing more live work."

He's also stating that he'd like to come up with a more effective method for members to communicate what kind of data concerns they're working with and what they'd like to do about it -for example "That may be done through "office hours' or a more convenient way to submit inquiries" - as long that the method is done in a feasible and beneficial manner to all concerned.

Ben claims that for the time being, all the conversations with his followers are conducted via electronic newsletters. "I would actually like people to reply with a note saying "Hey, tell me know what projects you're working on'. I enjoy this because it's easy to handle.

He had a reputation for facilitating discussion forums as well as "cohort classes" in which participants worked through Google Sheets questions online in a group. "We took two of these in 2021 while they were all the rage. This course was extremely successful. It was however very intense throughout the five weeks It was like an "firehose of questions. This is the first time I've participated in a class as yet, because I'm wary that once I've turned on the knob, I'll be unable to completely shut it off. I'd like think it through and determine how to accomplish this sustainably?

"I did not have any commitments to live sessions when I first began, thinking"Just go live and see what reaction can be. See if I enjoy making it work before I make promise after promise.' It's working very good! It seems like he's keen to include live sessions "They're fun and participants enjoy a lot from these sessions. We'll see how this goes!"

     Ben hosting the Zoom session of his clients    

"Right now, I'm teaching subjects like choosing a topic and we'll cover that for the live lesson," he continues. But in course, group classes were more of an open-forum "People would come in and inquire, "Hey, I've got some formula I'm struggling to understand.' The problem would be discussed in real time. People could also observe. We'll think about doing next year; it's a great way for people to be involved."

For a last thought Ben believes that the idea of a Discord Q&A forum is definitely possible, but Ben states that "I would like to make sure that I'm capable of doing the task in a way which doesn't overwhelm me." It seems to suggest that Ben has already begun on the road to building the foundation of a solid and ongoing friendship with his group. We agree that sustainably is crucial to the growth of a membership "Little steps, we'll gradually build up!" He smiles.

Additional information

Ben Collins is an educator writer, designer, and the founder of The Collins School of Data. He creates online courses as well as writes for Google's Workspace tools. I concentrate on analysing data and automating, using Google Sheets and Apps Script.

     Ben L Collins' website    

He loves creating lightweight apps that are data-driven and work in conjunction with Google's Google stack. They include Google Sheets, Looker Studio, Google Apps Script, Forms, Docs, Gmail and many more. For more details visit benlcollins.com.

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