I have always advocated a ME Economy (see Businessday of 29 July 2023) for survival and quality living in Nigeria. For those who may not know what the ME Economy is, here’s a quick precis. The concept was my call to Nigerians, particularly the youth, to take their destinies into their hands. What that means is that regardless of socio-economic and other challenges in the country, the citizens should devise a way to navigate these challenges and maximise their talents or potential.
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It must be understood though that the ME Economy is not in any way advocating that the citizens should overlook or condone the recklessness, excesses, and irresponsible behaviour of political leadership. No. On the contrary, I am a strong advocate of participatory politics, where every citizen is actively involved in the choosing of their political leaders to ensure incompetent or callous people are not empowered to run the nation’s affairs. In fact, just last week, on this platform I called for not only active participation in politics and electioneering but an equally fervent monitoring of elected leaders to ensure they do not go off track once they resumed office.
Sometimes, even when you have done your best to elect people you presumed to be knowledgeable, competent, and honest enough to lead the country well, the economy may still experience some headwinds from poor decisions and or from external factors. The beauty of the ME Economy is that irrespective of the socio-economic or political situation, good or bad, you are in total control of your life and you determine how well or how poorly you live.
A key plank of the ME Economy is that you are constantly in self-development mode to ensure you remain in tune with current trends to boost your market value. In line with that mindset, I have taken a look at some very hot marketable skills in today’s digital economy that will not only help an individual boost his/her income in the present but also long into the future.
The skills examined below are some of the top skills that are in high demand across the world today. From right here in Nigeria, all the way across Europe, Asia, Africa, the Far East, the Outback, to the Americas, these skills are in hot demand. What are these skills?
Several years ago, in 1996, Bill Gates wrote an essay he titled ‘Content is King’. His argument in the essay was that content creation on the internet will be a huge money spinner. “Content is where I expect much of the real money will be made on the Internet, just as it was in broadcasting,” Gates wrote in that profound essay. And he has been proving right over and over again. Content is very broad and may include software, videos, writings, images, graphs, and so on. But whatever aspect of content creation you pick, they are all in high demand today, and will remain so into the foreseeable future. Blogging sites are in constant need of individuals who can write interesting pieces on any topic that will engage readers. Businesses require well-crafted copies for advertisements, product descriptions, case studies, reports, video scripts, captions, labels, press releases, thought leadership pieces, opinion pieces, e-books, creative writing, and many more. They want content that will excite customers and prospects, help them generate quality leads that could lead to conversion. If you are gifted in writing, then you are in luck. If not, it is a skill you can develop and hone. Sites such as Write to Done, Writers in the Storm, Writers Helping Writers, Language is a Virus, Tumblr, and Story a Day, among others, will help your writing journey.
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If you are looking for writing gigs that will pay you good money, you can visit sites such as Freelancer, Upwork, FlexJobs, Copyhackers, Medium, Bustle, Make a Living Writing, Freelance Mom, and A.V. Club. In spite of artificial intelligence’s intrusion into writing, demand for actual human writing is still very strong. Related to writing are editing and proofreading skills.
This is another viable skill needed in the digital age. The rise of EduTech has made online tutoring skill very marketable. Today, online course platforms such as Coursera, Udemy, 360Training, OpenLearning, edX, and SkillShare have openings for quality tutors.
For instance, SparkXplorer, an after-school practice and tutoring platform designed to help school children achieve academic excellence, has over 4,000 tutors in more than 250 subjects that children on the programme can utilise. Many schools today have very robust online off-campus learning platforms for distant learning. Some schools like Nexford are even now completely online.
Many smart Nigerian tutors are also offering comprehensive tutoring services online for students across the world in Mathematics, Languages, History, Sciences, etc. These tutors are creating their own course contents and teaching tools and selling them for a fee to clients. You may want to visit Tutor.com or Chegg Tutors to get started if this skill excites you.
This is a very hot skill right now. A proverb says a picture is worth more than a thousand words. Indeed, the power of visual communication is undeniable. People react quicker to what they see than what they hear or read. The digital world is visual driven and everywhere you turn online, you are confronted with pictures and images from content creators, sellers, advertisers, promoters, and individuals who desire to promote their brand.
Thus, there is a high demand for graphic design skills, individuals who can create great images in infographics, cartoons, e-magazine covers, artworks, for landing pages, etc. Attention spans are getting shorter and so people engage less with lengthy copies. As such, organisations have learnt to tell their stories more effectively using fewer words and more telling images to capture attention and engage their audience to create better brand recall. Canva is a leading platform for both budding and experienced graphic artists.
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The World Wide Web is a huge market of close to six billion people. It is no surprise, therefore, that organisations and businesses are anxious to tap into this humongous market. To break into the market, one must be able to attract netizens, engage them and sustain their interest. This is where content comes in. Organisations and businesses generate loads and loads of information that they need to push in people’s faces to promote their brands, products, activities, and initiatives. The skill to distribute the information created to prospects on social media, websites, and mobile devices is what is called digital marketing. And that skill is in high demand. Hootsuite and Fiverr are among the platforms you may want to visit to get started on your digital marketing skill journey. Other high-demand skills are data analysis, video editing, podcasting, and e-commerce.
The beauty of these skills is that they can be learnt fairly easily, and there are numerous tools and resources online to get an interested individual started. The skills can be deployed as a side hustle or as your main job, fetching you a sizeable regular income. And they are globally marketable skills. Today, I urge you, do not limit your potential; optimise the opportunities these skills present to build long-lasting wealth and become financially independent.
