25 High-Income Skills That Will Make You Rich $$$ (Without a Degree!) ٩(⁎❛ᴗ❛⁎)۶

Photo from Yuri Khlystov

Originally Posted On: https://jobsandcareer.tips/high-income-skills/

I spent many years thinking that the only way to succeed in life is to have a high-paying job. That’s the dream, right? A spouse, a couple of kids, and a six-figure income?

Ah, but that’s not really true. No matter how well-paid, a job is here one moment and potentially gone the next. However, a high-income skill is something that stays with you forever.

Some of the best high-income skills that will give you an upper hand on the job market and don’t require a degree are:

1. Software Development
2. App Development
3. Web Design
4. Programming
5. Cloud Computing
6. Cybersecurity
7. Sales
8. Lead Generation
9. Copywriting
10. Digital Marketing
11. Affiliate Marketing
12. Graphic Design
13. Consulting
14. High Ticket Sales Expert
15. Investing
16. Coaching
17. Public speaking
18. Marketing
19. Content Creation
20. Video/Audio Production and Editing
21. Photography
22. Project Management
23. Financial Management
24. Fashion Design
25. Entertainment

Now you might think that the skills I’m talking about are unattainable or complicated. But the truth couldn’t be more different. Although you do need to work hard to learn them, high-income skills are within anyone’s reach.

That’s why today, we’re talking about the 25 best high-income skills that will make you rich (without a degree). Yes, you heard it right! You don’t actually need a fancy diploma to ensure that looking at your bank statements won’t make you weep.

Do you know which skills are your ticket to wealth? To be able to cash in on high-income skills, you first have to recognize them. Take this quiz and test your knowledge!

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You don’t need a high-paying job; you need a high-income skill!There comes a day in everyone’s professional life when they turn their faces heavenward, let out a momentous sigh, and think, “Mom, why didn’t you push me harder to be a doctor or, even better, a plastic surgeon? I could have nipped and tucked my way to wealth!”

Ah, but we can’t all be wealthy plastic surgeons. We’d saturate the market. What’s more, it takes more than a simple desire to be rich to motivate a person to pick up a scalpel, right? Not all of us have the means to pursue such a complicated and expensive field of study. In fact, not all of us have the means to pursue any degree at all.

Luckily, we don’t have to.s

Degrees don’t guarantee anything, and they aren’t irreplaceable on the job market.

The choices we make early in life define our future. I found myself cursing my teenage-self many times. Why couldn’t I have made better decisions? I could have studied something lucrative, something that would have made me rich.

Many people think this way. They regret picking the wrong college majors or not going to college in the first place. But degrees aren’t everything. It’s absolutely possible to get rich without having a degree. All you need is one marketable, profitable skill.

When I say this to people, they look at me in shock. “Nothing is more important than high education, nothing! That’s the only way to get a good, well-paid job,” they say.

Oh, how wrong they are! I intend to prove just that in this comprehensive guide on high-income skills.

A lot of people ask me, “What are high-income skills?” because they sound dream-like. Skills that allow you to earn a lot of money and don’t require a degree sound fictional.

But do they really?

Just think about all those stories about titans like Google and Facebook hiring people out of college or without them ever setting foot on a college campus. Those aren’t legends; they are real stories about people who had a marketable, high-income skill.

High-income skills are those skills that will get you the top dollar. Some employers are willing to pay a pretty penny for people who can do specific things. Those employers don’t care about your educational background. They only care if you can do the job or not.

By mastering these particular skills (well, one or a few, not all of them, of course), you’ll be well on your way to earning that six-figure bank account balance I mentioned earlier.

Getting a high-paying job is all about having leverage. If you have a skill that allows you to offer a specific solution to a particular problem, then you have leverage.

To get your foot in the door, you need leverage.

One significant difference between job positions that pay well and high-income skills is scalability. When it comes to earning money, regular jobs, even well-paid ones, often come with a fixed salary. That salary, which determines how much an hour of your time is worth, is not determined by you.

Instead, it’s determined by your boss, manager, handler, etc. Therefore, you don’t really have as much room for improvement as you’d like. You can’t dramatically increase your earnings. You can’t even slightly increase them, at least not without someone else’s approval or initiative.

Note for the graphic designer — the tip below can be visually represented as a checklist on a piece of yellow note paper.

• High-income skills:
• Give you more leverage on the job market.
• Offer more opportunities for earning extra money.
• Allow you to determine your own value.

If you have a high-income skill, that automatically means that you’re in demand. You’re the hot stuff everyone’s trying to get a piece of. The job market is practically weeping for you! That is excellent news because it means that:

• You’ll rarely be out of work;
• You can decide how much your time is worth;

Being a commodity presents a unique opportunity. You can decide how much to charge people for your skill, which will allow you to earn more money.

Now, I’m not saying that getting a higher education won’t get you a high-paying job. However, the fact that the job market is full of college-educated people waiting to be employed isn’t a good sign.

There’s an oversaturation of the job market when it comes to high education. Young people get out of college bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. They are ready to conquer the job market and get those high salaries they think they deserve! However, although they usually aren’t lacking in enthusiasm and theoretical knowledge, they often don’t have the necessary skills.

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A college degree is no longer the essential item in your CV. Whether you have one or not, your skills and experience will most likely be the determining factor when it comes to employment.

There’s a huge difference between knowing the theory behind doing something and actually knowing how to do it. People with high-income skills with no degrees usually have more hands-on experience in the field.

If you don’t know how to do the job, the degree you have is nothing more than a piece of paper. Sure, you’ll learn the practicalities of the skill later on, right? Yes, but if you’d learned that particular skill before, you could have saved yourself a whole mountain of student debt.

Since the days of feeding a family of four on a factory worker’s salary are long gone, you need to be competitive. Make yourself a unique and irreplaceable piece on the checkerboard that is the job market. Use all the skills you have to hone a high-income skill or start from scratch and learn a high-income skill as soon as possible.

• High-income skills have many advantages:
• They offer more security than high-paying jobs.
• They provide a chance for a higher income.
• Having a high-income skill will turn you into a hot commodity on the job market.
• Specific skills that are valued more than others indicate that there’s a deficit in the market. You can use that to your advantage (to determine your own worth).

If you’re still wondering which skills are the ones that will earn you a high income, here are the 25 best ones.

Software development is a vast field that includes much more than what we, mere mortals, call coding. This particular high-income skill is all about improvement.

If you have a knack for figuring out how computer programs work and a burning desire to fix the existing issues, then software development might be your ticket to wealth. It’s a competitive field that, as a collective, doesn’t really care about degrees and college-level knowledge. As with anything else IT-related, you either got it or don’t, so the degree is inconsequential.

Because technology, specifically computers, are our future, ironing out all bugs in the existing technology as well as developing new ones is paramount. That’s why this field is so highly-paid.How to learn it:
Everyone is more than capable of learning software development at home. With all the tutorials, blogs, books, and play-by-play testimonials of other developers, you’ll surely have no trouble learning about software development.

As a software developer, you can work as a system information manager, an analyst, support specialist, database administrator — the world is your oyster! Depending on the role you choose, your income will range anywhere between $90,000 and $150,000.s

Although a degree doesn’t matter, to be a successful software developer, your skill and general knowledge have to be top-notch.

Like in my previous entry, app development is a field that can bring you a lot of money. However, there’s a massive difference between these two. While software development requires technical knowledge, app development leaves room for everyone (even technologically unenlightened). All it takes is one good app idea, and you might get rich.

Nowadays, almost every major company that provides services has a mobile app, which means that app development is lucrative. And, if you’re skilled enough to give the company exactly what it’s looking for, then you might even see companies fighting for your attention.How to learn it:
Basic knowledge of graphic design as well as a thorough knowledge of coding is a necessity here. Luckily, you can learn that at home!

As an app developer, you can work in pretty much any sector you can think of — business, public sector, finance, etc. Alternatively, you can team up with other IT professionals or even be a part of a think tank. App developers’ salaries range from $60,000 to $100,000.

Not every company has an app, but they all have websites. The beauty of being skilled at web design is that you know how to do something that people know they need. Companies know they can’t survive without a functional and aesthetically pleasing website. Their clients would flock to their competition otherwise.

So, you have the upper hand. They need you, and you can use that to your advantage.How to learn it:
A bit of curiosity, some time to poke around website builders, and maybe a course or two — that’s really all you need to learn how to be a web designer.

Web design is another of those glorious high-income skills that leaves you with plenty of choices. You can work in any sector because everyone needs a good website. If you find a place to cash in on your skills, you’ll earn anywhere between $60,000 and $90,000.

Programming is one of the most lucrative niches in the IT field. Competent programmers who can think on their feet are extremely sought after. And who better to think on their feet than the person who learned programming on their own, by poking around their computer and learning by trial and error?How to learn it:
To be a successful programmer, you need to know at least a few programming languages. Luckily, not only do you have that info readily available online, but you also have no limits when it comes to experimenting and practicing (as long as your system supports it).

Aside from working as a programmer, when you know your way around code, you can also work as a web and app developer, a systems engineer, computer systems analyst, business intelligence analyst, QA engineer, network system administrator, etc., and bring home anywhere between $90,000 and $150,000.

Companies are slowly but surely moving away from storing their data on physical servers. Nowadays, many companies opt for cloud storage. Therefore, professionals who understand how the Cloud works and who can make the transition from servers to the Cloud seamless and painless are the actual hot commodity on the market.How to learn it:
Cloud isn’t a complicated platform but managing and transferring data to it, especially in huge companies, is an almost Herculean task. Thus, cloud computing is a high-income skill, but it does require intimate knowledge of the platform. It’s not enough to know how it works; you also have to know how to apply that knowledge and adapt the project accordingly.

Because the cloud became such a widespread and all around accepted platform, experts in cloud computing can work in small and large companies (and even enterprises) as engineers, developers, and architects, among other things. The average annual earnings range from $120,000 to $200,000.

The cloud industry is rapidly expanding. By the end of 2020, it will become a 241 billion-dollar market.

As you can see, the first five entries on my list of high-income skills are all closely related to computer and communications technology. With such huge parts of our lives (both private and professional) going online, it’s only natural that there’s a strong universal desire for the online space to be protected.

Companies, enterprises, and even governments are going digital, and they all have data that needs close protection.How to learn it:
If you already know a thing or two (or a million) about programming, then you’ll be able to build upon that to learn the skill of cybersecurity.

As mentioned, cybersecurity experts can work practically anywhere. The leading positions for those with these particular skills are cybersecurity managers, architects, analysts, administrators, etc., and their earnings range from $60,000 to $120,000.

IT-related skills will give you the biggest advantage in the current job market. However, that doesn’t mean those are the only high-income skills.

I know that I might have caught you off-guard by this swift transition, but, given how lucrative it is, it’s a wonder sales aren’t at the top of my list.

Now, I know you might be wondering why on earth I would even include sales. Everyone has been a salesperson at least once in their lives, right? It’s nothing special, and the salaries are average. Right?

Wrong. Just because we’ve all worked in sales doesn’t mean we’re all good at it.

A gifted, silver-tongued salesperson, who has a great pitch and a way of endearing themselves to their clients while also maintaining a figure of authority and expertise is a rare beast. And that beast has a chance to get their hands on so many performance bonuses that their “average” salary doesn’t even matter anymore.How to learn it:
Practice makes perfect. Sales pitches are basically white lies, and the only way to effectively lie is to repeat the lie so many times, it becomes the truth.

The beauty of sales is that job opportunities are everywhere. And, although the average starting salary is somewhere around $50,000, potential maximum earnings practically have no limit.

If you don’t think sales is your thing, then go a step backward in the pyramid scheme we call “doing business” and see if you can become a lead generator. If salespeople are closers, lead generators are openers. They know exactly how to start a conversation with a potential client and make them receptive to the sales pitch.How to learn it:
The situation here is pretty much the same as it is with sales. You have to practice your attitude and your pitch in order to succeed.

Most companies that do sales need lead generators. Depending on the depth of pockets of the company you land as a client (or employer), you’ll earn more than $50,000 per year. And, if you land several clients, then there really are no limits on your earnings.

Copywriters who can write a persuasive, engaging, killer copy can make a small fortune in today’s job market. With the average human’s online presence rising, companies are rushing to make or perfect their websites so they could drive traffic (and potential profit) toward themselves.

To achieve that, every one of them needs a good copywriter. Copywriters are those who write witty, sharp, and concise calls to action that turn online clients from visitors to shoppers. They are the reason people spend money online.How to learn it:
Although there are quite a few courses on the topic of copywriting out there, you can hone this skill on your own. With a vast amount of knowledge available on the internet, there’s no doubt that you’ll find the necessary information.

Because the cloud became such a widespread and all around accepted platform, experts in cloud computing can work in small and large companies (and even enterprises) as engineers, developers, and architects, among other things. The average annual earnings range from $120,000 to $200,000.s

Copywriting is one of the skills that are easiest and quickest to learn. You can start by learning the fundamentals and practicing your way to the top of the field.

In a world where brick-and-mortar shops are slowly losing the battle with their digital brethren, digital marketing is everything. Knowing the perfect way to establish, build, and maintain a business’ online identity was definitely one of the most sought-after high-income skills in 2019.

In 2020, the situation is even better for those who are truly skilled when it comes to digital marketing. Thanks to the global pandemic, companies had to be more vocal online to attract as many clients as possible. Not to mention, they had to tread carefully and measure every word they say (or get a strong-worded reprieve from the HR department).

Digital marketing isn’t that difficult, especially for the younger crowd and the Gen Z-ers, who are yet to hit the job market. We already spend so much time on social media; learning how to use them to our advantage shouldn’t be hard.How to learn it:
Unfortunately, digital marketing isn’t just one skill. To be a successful marketer, you have to juggle a lot of balls in the air and keep an eye on all of them. Digital marketing isn’t just Facebook ad campaigns and Instagram giveaways. It requires an intimate knowledge of SEO, social media managing, content marketing, etc. In other words, to beat the final boss in the game (digital marketing(, you’ll first have to beat quite a few smaller bosses.

When you work in digital marketing, you wear a lot of hats. You can be a content manager, a social media or community manager, and SEO specialist, content producer, digital influencer, a designer, or fulfil one of the many other roles in digital marketing. On average, a person in digital marketing can earn between $60,000 and $120,000.

Affiliate marketing used to be the sweetest piece of fruit in the garden of online jobs. However, many people started catching on with time, and the profits are no longer as lucrative as they once were.

However, affiliate marketing is still a fantastic opportunity to earn money. If you manage to develop the high-income skill of persuading people to buy what you’re promoting (or at least get interested in it), as well as a strong social media following, then you’re in for quite a bit of cash!How to learn it:
Unlike some other high-income skills, affiliate marketing doesn’t require any preexisting knowledge. As long as you learn how to persuade people to click on your links, you’ll be golden!

To start working in affiliate marketing all you need to do is pick a niche and find suppliers to collaborate with. After that, if you have the necessary skill and know-how, you can earn anywhere between $300 and $3,000 per day.

Affiliate marketing has a global revenue of over 12 billion dollars.

Graphic design, as well as animation and design in general, require a bit of an artistic streak. However, as I mentioned, talent won’t be enough to turn this skill into a high-income one. Graphic design is a field that has an excellent supply-demand ratio, which means that you’ll never be out of work.How to learn it:
You can become a graphic designer even if you don’t have one artistic bone in your body. Still, keep in mind that that will require a lot more effort. Talent or no talent, learning graphic design will probably also need some courses as well as semi-expensive equipment.

When you’re savvy in the field of graphic design, you can sub specialize in logo, brand identity, web, flash, or layout design. Aside from that, you can be an art director or an editor, and you can work at pretty much any role that has anything to do with design. Depending on where you land, you’ll earn between $60,000 and $70,000.

Consultants offer one-on-one or group sessions where they offer their opinion based on knowledge and present information. If there’s something that you’re particularly good at, or that you consider yourself an expert in, then being a consultant isn’t that big of a leap.How to learn it:
Being a consultant means being a trusted advisor. It’s more about the relationship between people than it is about anything else (except your expertise, of course).

Depending on your level and field of expertise, you can work as a business, resource planning, project, productivity, practice, staff utilization consultant (among other things). In other words, no matter where your strengths lie, you’ll be able to find an employer willing to pay top dollar (between $150,000 and $200,000) to hear what you have to say.

High tickets are items or services of high value. Because of that, the clientele (or the target audience) is a bit different than it is with regular sales. That’s why the salesperson’s approach has to be different.

If you know how to sell luxury, expensive items to those who consider money to be a commodity instead of a necessity, then you’ll be rolling in cash! The bonuses and commissions, as well as the original salaries, are usually pretty high.

Being a sales manager, representative, or executive that deals with high ticket sales is a lucrative endeavor. It can bring in anywhere between $50,000 and $70,000, not counting the bonuses (and you should really count the bonuses, because they are out of this world!).

The beauty of investments is that anyone can do it. Of course, not anyone has the skill to recognize which investments might flop and which won’t. Moreover, not many people have the patience and brainpower to analyze the stock market in such great detail.

Perhaps the most vital fact about investing, one that makes it such a high-income skill, is that very few people do it nowadays. That leaves a gap in the market and increases the chances of earning a lot of money.How to learn it:
For starters, do your research and see where the best investment opportunities lie. The stock market and real estate are old news at this point. Now you have the option to invest directly in companies and services.

Investing analysts, associates, and executives earn a lot of cash. That, of course, depends on the market, fields of investment, and your level of skill. Still, investing can bring you between $100,000 and $300,000.

Similarly to consulting, coaching requires you to share your expertise with another person or a team. Unlike consulting, the role of a coach is a bit more invested.How to learn it:
Coaches and consultants get called in when companies, boards of directors, and managers believe that their expertise and experience might help them out. It’s not really easy to learn to be a coach. Instead, you have to earn it.

Career, life, business, and executive coaching can bring in between $60,000 and $120,000.

If you’re known in your circle of friends as the “motivational speaker”, and if you enjoy eloquently sharing your thoughts out loud with others, the public speaker’s role is ideal for you.

Now, you might be wondering why this is a “high-income” skill. Well, a lot of people are afraid of public speaking. This phobia is so well-known and spread out that people frequently have nightmares about it.

If you think of public speaking as a thrilling adventure instead of a gut-wrenching nightmare, then you might have a shot to cash in on your skill.

When you’re in the business of public speaking, you can work as a motivational speaker, spokesperson for a brand, or even a religious leader (although that one is a little far-fetched). Either way you’ll bring home around $100,000.

Good old marketing will never let you down. As long as we live in a capitalist society, if you have fantastic marketing skills, you’ll never be out of work. If you’re a wizard of presenting the product to your target audience in a way that will make them burn with desire for it — then you have a high-income skill.

If marketing isn’t your thing, you can always switch to digital marketing. Although I already spoke about it, digital marketing has some amazing options for high profit. For example, growth marketing is a field that can easily bring six-figure salaries. Because you have to work fast and show extraordinary results, growth marketing isn’t something that averagely skilled people try to tackle.

Marketing has been a high-earning field for decades now which is why experts (and some associates as well) can earn between $70,000 and $140,000 every year.

We live in a world of Instagram and TikTok, where instant fame and success are no longer rare stories. Content creators go viral every day, which propels them to stardom. And with stardom usually comes wealth.

Content creation isn’t what it used to be back when YouTube wasn’t the industry titan it is today. Now, it requires not only effort and time, but also equipment, employees, a budget, etc.

If you know which audience to target and have something substantial, innovative, and entertaining to put out there, content creation can make you super rich (we’re talking hundreds of thousands of dollars here, people).

If content creating isn’t your cup of tea, you can always earn money by editing and producing someone else’s content. As I mentioned, creators are everywhere and they film hours and hours of footage of themselves every day. Someone has to sift through that and make the video watchable, entertaining, and engaging. Why not you?How to learn it:
If you’d like to become an audio and video editor, you’ll need a few programs to get you started. As always, the internet has plenty of information on how to actually go about it.

Professional editors that go after content creators and make their work not only presentable but also potentially viral, can earn anywhere between $60,000 and $100,000.

Photography is part talent, part hard work (just like anything else in life) However, in this aforementioned time of Instagram and daily vlogging, you can earn a pretty penny by being someone’s videographer and photographer. Daily vlogs sound fun until you realize that you have to haul the camera everywhere with you, right? What’s more, the angle is off, and the shot is usually wonky.

Ah, what are you gonna do? Well, hire a professional, of course.

Just like other art-oriented high-income skills, photography varies when it comes to profits. It’s something you’re either highly skilled at (and thus highly paid for), or something you shouldn’t pursue. If you can make a name for yourself in the field of photography, you’ll be able to earn between $50,000 and $60,000.

Project management is all about the organization. It’s about planning, organizing, executing, and closing a project.

Some people have a natural proclivity to being organized. They simply always have all their ducks in a row. If you’re one of those people — I have good news. Project management pays well and doesn’t actually require a diploma (as long as you have ample experience).How to learn it:
Making strict schedules and sticking to them seems like an adequate trial run for project management. Although it’s about coordinating people and teams and getting them to work together like one, project management also has some theoretical components. Luckily, you’ll quickly find those online.

Every business field and, consequently, every company, no matter the size, has projects. Thus they are all in need of a project manager. That’s also why they are willing to pay between $90,000 and $130,000 for them.

Managing someone’s money and making sure they achieve their financial goals sounds like a dream-come-true to some of us. You guys know who you are. You’re excellent with both money management and organization and you love to budget.

Lucky for you, it can also be quite lucrative.How to learn it:
Just like anything else, financial management can be learned. By practicing, keeping books, and doing finances for fun and then for practice, you’ll be an expert in no time.

Accountants, auditors, business consultants, budget and financial analysts, as well as insurance officers earn between $100,000 and $170,000 every year.

Fashion design isn’t a particularly lucrative field. However, it has the potential. Famous and even semi-famous designers really have no money troubles, especially if they dress celebrities in unique garments and make ready-to-wear clothes that’s mass-produced.How to learn it:
As long as you have a vision, you don’t need anything except materials and equipment. Of course, if you don’t have a vision or idea of how to become a fashion designer, you can look up patterns and design tutorials online and get acquainted quickly.

Fashion designers are known as struggling artists but once their art gets recognized, they can earn between $60,000 and $80,000.

Being a celebrity means being multitalented. It’s not enough to just sing or just act. No, you also have to be a public speaker, a role model, a perpetually happy person who’s got their hands in way too many charity organizations.

OK, I painted a pretty depressing picture. However, the point still stands. Entertainers need to have more than one skill in order to cash in on their high-income skills like singing, dancing, and acting.

Entertainment and show business are fickle beasts. You have to have that special something to be noticed. what’s more, even that doesn’t guarantee high earnings. However, if you do manage to navigate the muddy waters of entertainment and make it big, you just might become a millionaire.

All of the high-income skills I previously mentioned require a lot of hard work and just a smidge of talent. For some of them, you’ll need to put in a lot of time and effort until you hone them, while others are the perfect high-income skills to learn at home, in your spare time.

If you think that you don’t have a high-income skill and you never will — think again. All skills can be learned if you apply yourself in the right way. So what’s the magic formula to earning six-figures per year? In other words, how does one learn a high-income skill?

Although they all sound like golden tickets that will open the doors to the chocolate factory, not every skill will be an excellent choice for you. Sometimes, no matter how much effort we put in, things just won’t go our way.

The same goes for skills. You either have the necessary talent that you’ll build upon, or you don’t. If not talent, then you at least need to be highly interested.

Therefore, when you’re making a game plan and deciding which skill to hone, chose carefully. Also, remember that no amount of talent can save you from hard work. Perfecting a skill to such a degree where you’re irreplaceable in the job market takes a lot of effort and dedication.

High-income skills come without the noose around your neck that usually follows college education. There’s no student debt to drown in and no loans to refinance. However, that doesn’t necessarily mean that you’ll learn high-income skills completely free.

While you’re working on broadening your skillset, you need to be willing to invest in yourself. That means paying for books, reading materials, courses, and workshops that will get you one (or a few) steps closer to where you need to go.

Thanks to the internet, you have practically everything you need to learn a new high-income skill within your hand’s reach. All you have to do is dig a little deeper than you usually would.

It’s entirely possible to learn a high-earning skill just by reading blogs and articles on the internet. It’s also quite possible to learn it through social media — by reading other people’s experiences online. Of course, watching YouTube videos is still one of the most popular ways of learning any skill (yes, even a high-income one).

Websites like Skillshare and Udemy might also come in handy. Skillshare is an affordable platform that serves as a community for those who want to learn. It holds around 18,000 lessons and lectures taught by professionals from various fields and industries.

Udemy is a bit pricier than Skillshare but also more extensive. It offers highly detailed courses and classes that cover various topics and skills.

People say that it takes 10,000 hours to perfect a skill. That might not be the case for every skill, but it’s a good rule of thumb that highlights how much practice actually matters.

If you’re building new skills, you need to work on them every day. That means having a strict daily schedule and not deviating from it. Skills don’t magically grace people out of nowhere — there are no shortcuts.

I know I heavily accented that high-income skills make you a hot commodity, but opportunities won’t fall in your lap just because you honed a skill or two. After you learn a skill, you need to do your best to find opportunities to apply your newly-acquired knowledge.

Those opportunities don’t necessarily have to be paid jobs. Of course, that would be ideal. However, you might also have to work on a project (or ten) for free. Well, for free might be a bit of a misleading term, as you’d be gaining valuable hands-on experience.

Pro tips for learning a new skill:

• Be ready to learn.
• Follow the learning method that works best for you.
• Practice what you learn.
• Teach what you learn.
• Ask for help wherever you can.

Although a high-income skill will get you an opportunity and maybe even a lucrative job offer right from the start, you also need to perfect some soft skills that will help you keep your job and make a name for yourself.

Just imagine being able to quickly and efficiently develop iOS apps. That sounds lucrative, right? Surely you’ll be snatched right away, maybe even by Apple!

OK, now imagine running late for work every day. Or getting into fights with coworkers. It sounds like a recipe for disaster, right?

Soft skills aren’t as crucial as high-income ones, but they’ll be immensely helpful to you along the way.

Skills all of us should always work on:

• Thinking ahead — anticipating a problem and solving it before it happens will make you a more valuable employee.
• Being a perfectionist — in a professional environment, those who are detail-oriented and strive to meet all demands are sought after.
• Reliability and consistency— having a skill means nothing if you can’t deliver the results in a consistent and timely fashion.
• Staying driven — people who motivate themselves leave a better impression on their coworkers and clients than those who don’t
• Communication — communicating your capabilities, needs, and grievances professionally and adequately is vital for everyone looking to build a career.

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1. Many companies don’t care about diplomas anymore, which is why having a skill is more important.
2. All high-income skills require learning. None of them will be your ticket to wealth if you don’t put in the work.
3. You don’t have to spend a lot of money to develop your skills. However, you also shouldn’t be afraid to invest in yourself.
4. Finding a high-income skill that fits your current skill set as well as your interests is paramount.
5. Once you learn everything there is in theory, you need some practical knowledge.
6. High-income skills make you an asset. If you have one, don’t hide it. Instead, try to cash it in.
7. If you’re broadening your skillset, make sure to stick to a schedule and practice every day.
8. Many high-income skills fall under the IT umbrella. Still, that doesn’t mean that other, less technical skills are just as profitable.
9. Don’t underestimate specific skills just because they seem mundane or non-lucrative. A salesperson who knows what they are doing and are skilled in sales will probably earn more money than a subpar graphic designer.
10. While developing your high-income skills, don’t forget to brush up on your soft skills as well. What good is a skill if no one is willing to stick around for long enough to see it?