For years, I was definitely only surviving with my limited Excel skills. Every position I held since college heavily relied on Excel as the primary tool for data and financial analysis. Unfortunately, I had learned only the bare minimum needed to perform my job and had not invested the time to be more efficient in the program. As a result, my work product was not as effective as it could have been, not to mention the hours of wasted time and frustration as I fumbled through the program.
At a certain point as an experienced accountant, I realized that I was working with interns that had developed a mastery of the program and were incredibly efficient at building reports, organizing complex data sets into meaningful and easy-to-read summaries, and quickly calculating financial scenarios that would have taken me twice as long to create. At that point, I realized I was doing myself a disservice by not investing the time to learning how to use Excel more effectively.
Over the past several years, I have taken multiple Excel courses, watched countless YouTube videos and am constantly learning and sharing new tips and tricks with my colleagues. There is always more to learn in any program (or in any field for that matter), but I can honestly say that I am no longer just scraping by, I am confidently utilizing the program daily and am helping others to create solutions and get the most out of the program.
Although a lot of new programs have surfaced such as PowerBI and Tableau for data analytics, Excel is still a very practical and widely used program. Many organizations rely on Excel for a variety of functions from managing payroll, to building financial models
How are you or your small business leveraging Excel? Do you feel like you are Thriving, or just Surviving with your current Excel skills.
Please leave me a comment and reach out if I can help!
-Orlando
Trainer & Advisor
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