Investment Done Right

In the era of AI, the only way to stay employed is if you are constantly upskilling yourselves. Now you might be thinking, well obviously we know that. But how to do that?

There are so many options today that it is very easy to lose focus. We open our laptops today thinking we will finally find that awesome video on Youtube and finally start learning that skill we know will help us progress in our careers.

The only problem is, that YouTube is not a career upskilling site. It’s a place of random videos on multiple topics. The algorithm constantly tries to understand your likes and dislikes and keeps tempting you to watch more dopamine-rewarding videos.

So if you are looking into upskilling, the best place would be to join a learning platform like Udemy. The problem is that Udemy is expensive. In India, their monthly subscription plans start at above Rs. 1000 per month. This is still affordable today. But the catch is people usually buy Udemy as an impulsive decision. They buy, they study for some time and then their motivation dies away. And the money is lost.

Plan B

After a couple of times losing money, 4 of us decided that this time we would share the subscription. The benefit is, we only pay 1/4th of the cost and we have each other to motivate us in case one forgets to upskill. Here is what we did —

1. We created a WhatsApp group where we added all 4 of us.
2. We created a common Gmail address and shared the credentials in that WhatsApp group.
3. We created a Udemy account and shared the credentials in the group as well.
4. We used one of our debit cards to sign up for a subscription.
5. We divided the cost amongst us and each of us paid Rs. 250 per month
6. Inside Udemy we created lists with our names and added the courses we want into those lists.
7. And we started learning.
8. Any time a new member joined our group, the cost per month got reduced further.
9. Anytime a member decided to leave our group, we changed the passwords so that their access is terminated.

And that is how we got over our excuse that upskilling is expensive. If you feel spending Rs. 250 (3$) per month on education is expensive, well next time maybe you can skip that weekend beer.

Happy Learning! May the Force be with you.