5 Steps to Mastering Excel [Resource Guide]

You NEED to master Excel. Being a management consultant has made me well aware of this fact.

But that’s not all. You need to learn Excel whether you’re designing the financial strategy of your company for the next 5 years, planning your sister’s wedding or just making your monthly household budget. It is the go to planning tool for millions around the world.

The core beauty of Excel is that one moment its doing simple arithmetic calculations for your “back of the napkin” business plan and acting as a database for 50 million rows of data for a multinational the next. Excel is probably the only tool in the world that is as useful to a 14 year old doing his homework as it is to a VP of a multi million dollar corporation.

What You Need to Learn in Excel

But, Excel’s vast capabilities also present a problem. Most of us get lost on how to start mastering it. Not knowing where to start, we often give up and fall back on what we know, stagnating our growth.

But no more!!!

These are the 5 broad skills you need to gain in Excel in order to be comfortable in it. And once you do, you’ll find yourself using it more than any other tool in your arsenal.

So here goes.

The 5 Skills You Need to Master Excel

The Only Place You Need to Go to Learn It 

And the good news is that there is only ONE resource you need to master all of the 5 skills.

And it is the Excelisfun YouTube Channel.

That’s because

• It’s absolutely, no strings attached, no email address required FREE
• They give you Excel files that you can work on as you see the videos, giving you REAL WORLD experience
• They have THOUSANDS of videos on every Excel topic imaginable (who knew you could make a thousand excel videos?)

Click the image below to check out the awesomeness!! 

The Playlists You Need for Each of the 5 Skills 

Basic Operations

Link to the follow along workbook (they link to the files to follow along to at the beginning of each video in case you’re confused).

Pivot Tables

Link to the follow along workbook (they link to the files to follow along to at the beginning of each video in case you’re confused).

Macros 

Link to the follow along workbook (they link to the files to follow along to at the beginning of each video in case you’re confused). 

Dashboards

Link to the follow along workbook (they link to the files to follow along to at the beginning of each video in case you’re confused). 

Financial Analysis 

Excel is the app that makes the world go around. From planning your wedding to growing your company, this one tool is the be all and end all for anyone who gets things done.

This article lays out all the resources you need to mastering Excel from Basic Operations all the way up to building Dashboards and performing Financial Analysis.

Short, concise and just about all you need to master this essential skill.

to the follow along workbook (they link to the files to follow along to at the beginning of each video in case you’re confused).

Now Get Cranking!!

Remember, you won’t learn Excel just by watching videos. Here are the steps you need to follow in order to become a true master. 

• Watch the videos above
• Practice in the linked follow along Excel sheets 
• Work on Excel every chance you get (get married just to practice Excel budgeting if you have to)
• Use Excel as your daily planner
• Download free templates and experiment with them as much as you can (some good ones are provided below)

Additional Resources 

Excelisfun Videos Excel Basics Playlist 

Excel Pivot Table Playlist

Excel Macro Playlist

Excel Dashboard Playlist 

Excel Finance Class Playlist

How to Use Excel for Big Data (More Than 1 Million Rows)

Templates 32 Free Excel Spreadsheet Templates

Cheat Sheets Top 10 Cheat Sheets to Help You Master Microsoft Office

Analytics Vidya Excel Tutorial (This is also a great resource for Data Science)

This article was originally published in Techonomics. A blog on strategies in career and business. For more strategic goodness, subscribe to our soon-to-be released newsletter, The Strategy Pill.