In today’s world, clients don’t pay you for what you know; they pay you for what you can do. That is, the value you bring and your ability to solve problems using skills you’ve learnt and mastered over time.
However, some skills pay more and are needed more valuable than others, these are called high-income skills. This article will show you the high-income skills of 2023, how to learn, and the best places to discover and master these skills.
Described as the art of using persuasive words to sell products and services, copywriting is the primary skill of marketing (digital and physical), which is utilised in writing marketing copies, sales copies, advertisement copies, email copies, landing pages, and web copies.
With copywriting, you will be important in any field you find yourself in and can decide to specialise in any niche because all products and services need copies in order to be marketed and sold.
Content Writing is geared towards creating informational and educational content using storytelling, emotional cues, research, analysis and perceptiveness. Anyone who masters copywriting and content writing in 2023 will be in crazy demand. You can learn more about copywriting and content writing here.
Data is the “blood” of business, and those who possess the ability to analyze and use data to understand and predict customer behavior will be in high demand in 2023.
While data analysis uses large blocks of data to identify trends and develop predictive models and visual demonstrations for businesses to make strategically profitable decisions, data science is much more sophisticated and uses analytics, predictive models and algorithms to design new data products and systems.
This article will help you understand the difference between the data analysis and data science and how to learn them.
Most businesses right now needs a website or an app, and if you can learn and master how to build websites /webapps from scratch, have good responsive design skills, know how to use HTML/CSS, JavaScript/Python, and database systems for storage of users information, you will make good money.
The great thing about this skill is that it can be applied to any business in any niche in any industry, so you are not limited in its application. You can learn more about web development here.
User Experience and User Interface Design skills are in crazy demand in 2023. Born from the need to make customer use of digital products and software easy, pleasant and highly productive, the job of a UX and UI Designer is paramount for any digital development to be profitable.
Within the field of UX/UI (relatively new), specializations like UX writing, Information architecture, UX research, and Usability analysis have been carved out over the past decade. You can learn more about UX/UI Design here.
This skill is critical for creating any digital product or service, from ideation to delivery for customer use. It’s the perfect balance between creating a product that meets the needs of its target audience while also providing profits for the company.
Typically involving product visioning, road mapping, market research, and business modelling, product management is a skill in high demand in 2023. Learn more about product management here.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO), which focuses on gaining organic traffic to a website via search, and Search Engine Marketing (SEM), which focuses on gaining traffic using paid advertising, are high-demand skills in 2023.
Every business with a website wants to rank as high as possible on search engines; these skills allow you to create and manage website content towards the upper ranks of user searches on search engines, and they are not niche specific. Learn more about S.E.O and S.E.M here.
Every business selling a product or service requires a graphic designer to introduce their business to their target audience.
From stickers to logos, digital mock-ups, landing pages, social media posts, visual presentations, annual reports, magazines, SEO image creation and all brand visual communication, graphic design is a high in-demand skill in 2023 required for creating and preserving brand identity.
You can learn more about graphic design here.
The best form of content right now exists in the video form, especially in the short-form video (people’s attention span in the 21st century has reduced drastically).
This is why video creators and editors will be in high demand in 2023. They are responsible for creating high-quality, educative, entertaining video content that drives business growth, customer engagement and profits upward.
Learn more about video creation and editing here.
This highly specialised and in-demand skill in 2023 involves building, designing and maintaining blockchain systems, including decentralised systems (dApps) and smart contracts.
Blockchain developers either work on core blockchain systems like Ethereum or build blockchain apps to provide products and services to end consumers.
You can learn more about blockchain development here.
Artificial intelligence is on the rise in 2023, and there’s probably no more explicit evidence than the recently released ChatGPT, which is on a collision course with search engines like Google.
Creating machine learning software will be vital in the future, and demand for it is skyrocketing as employers look for blockchain developers possessing core concepts like cryptography, programming, smart contracts, data structures, blockchain architecture, and multiple programming languages.
Want to understand AI and Machine Learning better? Click here.
1- YouTube: This is the best place to start, especially if you’re a beginner and need a basic overview of your learning skill. Many free and easy-to-understand videos on YouTube are dedicated to each of the top 10 high-income skills of 2023.
You just need to open your app, search for it (start with beginner-level styled videos) and start learning.
2- Coursera: This is easily one of the best free high-value learning platforms for you online in 2023. It provides access to multiple free and paid courses on high-income skills across various career paths like data analysis, copywriting and content writing, blockchain learning, product management, UX/UI Design, Software development, and so much more.
You can begin learning on Coursera today.
3- Udemy: Udemy is a fantastic place to learn and master high-income skills in 2023, as it covers a broad range of learning.
It offers a wide range of free and heavily discounted courses covering multiple industry areas such as marketing, sales, business, design, video creation and editing, and cryptocurrency, taught by highly skilled professionals.
You can begin learning on Udemy today.
4- Alison: Providing multiple free and paid, extremely detailed courses to learners on various high-income skills and disciplines, Alison is a comprehensive learning platform you need to try out as it provides a good starting base for beginner learners and people seeking to upgrade their knowledge and earning capacity.
You can begin learning high-income skills on Alison today.
5- edX: Similar to Udemy and Coursera, edX offers free and paid courses with certifications in partnerships with universities like Havard, Berkeley and the University of Chicago and is a great place to start learning high-income skills in 2023. Start here.
6- Skillshare: With over 27,000 free and paid classes on multiple courses such as productivity, visual arts, creative writing, marketing and tech, Skillshare offers small-sized lessons that can be covered in just 15 minutes per day.
Offering a 7-day free trial and then 14 dollars per month to continue learning, Skillshare is a great place to begin your path towards discovering and mastering 2023 high-income skills.
Start learning on Skillshare today.
7- FutureLearn: With free and paid courses that cover mental health, marketing, tech, AI learning, video creation and editing, literature, web development, medicine, psychology and blockchain technology, FutureLearn is a fantastic platform with courses taught by various universities and learning-focused organisations.
Start learning on FutureLearn today.
8- Udacity: With a major focus on software development, Udacity offers free and paid courses around 2023 with high-income skills such as digital marketing, product management, coding, data analytics and science.
Start learning on Udacity today.
9- LinkedIn Learning: Providing access to thousands of courses that will teach you 2023 high-income skills in business, marketing, engineering and many other learning areas, plus a certificate that can be displayed on your LinkedIn profile, LinkedIn learning also allows you a 1-month free trial to go through their programs.
Check it out here.
10- Adobe: Do you want to learn graphic design software like Photoshop or InDesign? You should check Adobe’s free Creative Cloud tutorials on all its software.
Start learning on Adobe Creative Cloud today.
1- Research: The first step to learning a high-income skill is research. Read articles and watch videos explaining the core concepts you need to learn to master the skill, time requirements, and expected salary range, as shown above beneath each high-income skill listed in this article.
You will want to research the best professionals within your field to see how they are using the skill and their thoughts on how you can best position yourself within the industry and research possible career specialisations.
2- Aggressive learning: You must dedicate time, energy and effort to aggressive learning. This is where you read until you feel your brain is full, take a break and return to continue reading and learning.
There is no shortcut around it; you must constantly learn to master the skill and gain practical knowledge of core concepts. Make sure to practise each concept as much as possible and work on real-life problems while learning.
3- Internships and Free Projects: After taking multiple free courses and paid certifications, the next phase is getting internship training and working on projects with your newly learnt skills, paid or free.
This is where you build confidence in yourself, make mistakes and build up your portfolio by using the skill. It might hurt at first not making money, but you would be gaining valuable experience that will prove very helpful in your future career.
1- Skipping core concepts: Behind all high-income skills are core concepts you must learn; to skip learning any is setting yourself up for failure in the future.
One of the worst mistakes you can make is thinking one concept is less important than the rest and skipping it because you think you can find ways to avoid using it.
2- Non-practical Learning: Above all else, you must practise what you have learnt. There’s no way around practising all the knowledge you’ve learnt and applying it to real problems that challenge your thinking.
In the 21st century, there’s a premium on those who’ve mastered the practical application of knowledge to solve real-life problems; if you skip practice, you won’t master the high-income skill.
3- No Portfolio Development: Not building your portfolio, mainly through internships, case studies, and free projects, will be a terrible mistake to make. Most employers will choose whether to give you a job based on the quality of your portfolio and how well it demonstrates your mastery of the high-income skill you’ve learnt within the career path you’re applying for.
This is why creating a portfolio demonstrating your skill level is paramount to your career success. Learn how to build your professional portfolio here.
4- Poor Soft Skills: Within your career path, apart from the high-income skill you need as the primary requirement, there are soft skills like communication, teamwork, time management, stress management, conflict resolution, critical thinking, openness to criticism, leadership and creativity.
Your core high-income skill might get you into the job, but these soft skills will keep you in it and increase your chances of career success. Find out all the skills you need to excel in 2023.
5- No Networking: While learning, it makes sense to network within your field by subscribing to newsletters by professionals within your field, joining professional communities, actively speaking about your learning journey on social media channels, getting a mentor, and going to physical and remote events within your field.
Doing this will help build up your confidence and get internships and projects to work on, and it’ll come in handy when you’re ready for your first job.
You can learn how to network professionally here.
1- Get a job: After you’ve gone through the stages of learning (research, aggressive learning and internships), the next phase is getting your first job. If you did your networking right and built up your portfolio to show your skill mastery, getting your first job shouldn’t be too hard.
There’s no specified time limit to it, but most times, your first job will come from your established network; this is why networking during your learning phase is very important.
2- Continue learning: One of the mistakes people make is getting comfortable once they get their first job, don’t make the same mistake. The knowledge within every field in the 21st century is increasing at a crazy rate; never stop learning.
Make sure to add certifications, continue networking, position yourself as a thought leader on social media, open your website for your brand, speak at events (physical or remote), mentor and get mentors, and never stop learning.
Learning a high-income skill in 2023 is one of the easiest ways to attain financial freedom and lifelong satisfaction. It might take you a while to go through the learning process, and it might be uncomfortable, but investing in yourself is the best investment you can make. Start learning today!
Charis Black Projects is a youth empowerment organization in Nigeria committed to the empowerment of African youths, eradication of youth unemployment & poverty, and the transformation of the African Youth narrative in the world.
Charis Black Projects is an initiative of Goodness Nwachukwu Youth Empowerment Foundation