Amost everyone will agree that doctors, lawyers, engineers, etc. are careers with high income skills. But all of these require at least four years of college, if not more. Because these specialized skills need formal education, it’s understandable why they command a high income.
However, did you know there are skills you can learn to generate six figures without a formal education? In fact, there are a lot of valuable skills you can learn that will improve your income potential. Here are the skills you need to make good money without a college degree.
But first, what is a high income skill?
What is a High Income Skill? The Difference Between a Skill and a JOB
A skill is something you do. Hard skills are concrete things like being able to type, whereas a soft skill would be something more nebulous like “good communicator.” Soft skills are often much more challenging to learn than a hard skill, partially because everyone’s perception of what constitutes a “good” mastery of a skill is subjective.
It is easy to see if you can type 65 words per minute with no errors, while it is not easy to know if you will be able to get along with members of your team.
A job requires you to trade time to start making money. It is where the acronym J.O.B. (Just Over Broke) comes from. You are expected to employ skills to perform work for an employer. In the end, it still is directly trading time for money unless you are being paid for piecework (i.e., x dollars for x pieces of work).
There are very few high-paying jobs that do not require a college degree of some kind. Even for something like project management, most employers will expect some type of underlying college degree.
While there are many ways you can save money on student loans and your college education, a formal education is difficult to swing for many. But, that doesn’t necessarily mean you can’t make good money.
The Economics of a ‘Six-Figure’ Income
If you want to determine your take-home pay from a $100,000 job, here is a nifty online calculator that figures it out for you. If you play around with it a bit, you will find that where you live matters. Money just goes further in some states, especially when you look at the cost of living calculators.
As you will see, the majority of the list focuses on becoming an entrepreneur. The tax advantages of owning your own business are substantial and can lead to a high income. Not only that, but most of the skills listed can also be used exclusively in an online business, with no brick and mortar storefront required (with a couple of notable exceptions).
Therefore, if you can work from virtually anywhere, there are significant advantages to living where the cost of living is low while earning a six-figure salary. Your money will go much further.
How do you Develop High-Income Skills?
Even if you avoid formal college classes (not full-time or for a degree), most high-income skilled workers attend a trade or certificate-specific training. Almost everything in life requires time and money to learn. There are only a couple of the skills in this list where good looks and charm will get you the money you desire (being a con man is not recommended).
Not every skill will be worth $100k from the start. You will most likely need to suffer through the school of hard knocks to get to the top level of the skill. There is no substitute for hard work. To earn top dollar, you have to BE top dollar. These are not “get rich quick” schemes.
Break out of the 9 To 5: Becoming an Entrepreneur
You will find that many of the skills on this list are interrelated. This is the reason the “related skills” section has been included. If you become an entrepreneur, be prepared to start out doing everything on your own until you can afford to hire out some of the more mundane work.
Being an entrepreneur allows you to break out of the J.O.B. by working at your own pace. No other team members are slowing you down, no endless, pointless meetings, no other corporate distractions. It also allows you the freedom to figure out how to create something once and sell it to multiple customers.
This will enable you to break free from trading time for money. If done correctly, the result is usually more time and more money.
The Top 20 Best High Income Skills
These skills are presented in no particular order. For each skill, the training involved and the business ideas where it could be utilized have been provided. There is also a “related skill” section to link skills together that appear on the list. Some are only loosely related, while others are tightly integrated.
1. Copywriting
Copywriting is a specialized form of writing that is intended to sell a product. There are examples of copywriting all over the web. If the words are designed to inform, then it is a form of copywriting. As you will see, this is a very relevant skill and is related to many of the other skills listed here.
How You Can Learn This Skill
Some several companies and organizations teach copywriting on the web. In fact, some of them even offer certifications for the skill, which are useful when starting as a novice copywriter.
How You Can Use This Skill
You can use this high income skill almost anywhere. Good copywriters are few and far between, and if you master this craft, you will never have to worry about money again. Some copywriters make seven-figure incomes merely by getting a percentage of the sales that their copy generates.
I write for several large companies, and they pay me per article. Because I can type faster than the average person, I can quickly produce quality content that converts into money in my pocket. Your earning potential depends on the amount of time and effort you’re willing to use on networking and writing content.
People can make decent money by listing their services on Fiverr and writing articles for bloggers. You can also learn more about becoming a full-time freelance writer.
Related Skills
Content Creation/Content Marketing, Online Course Creation, Social Media Marketing, Affiliate Marketing, Digital Marketing, Email Marketing, Podcaster, YouTube Creator, Real Estate, Public Speaker
2. Content Creation/Content Marketing
Content creation or content marketing is when you write informative content and sell the content itself or sell advertising on the site you’ve created content for. Content marketing is actually what many people think of, like blogging.
However, blogging is not a business. It is a means to attract visitors to a site where you will sell them something. If you blog without any kind of content marketing associated with it, you have a hobby of producing free content for the fun of it.
Besides creating content for an online company or blog, paid speakers are routinely compensated to present actionable information during conferences and events. Top-level experts in their field with real-life experience can make a substantial income by traveling to give their information in person.
How You Can Learn This Skill
If you have graduated from high school, you have the skill required to become a content creator or content marketer. You don’t even have to have expertise in something to create content. You just need common sense and the ability to research any given topic.
There are also online companies that will provide specific training in content marketing from a business perspective, but the base skills are research and writing.
How You Can Use This Skill
If you can write compelling content that will bring people to your website to sell them e-books, or advertising on your site, you are a content marketer. Note: this is closely linked to affiliate marketing, but the difference here is that the content you are selling is your work, not the work of others.
Related Skills
Copywriting, Online Course Creation, Social Media Marketing, Affiliate Marketing, Digital Marketing, Email Marketing
3. Online Course Creation
One of the hottest trends in online marketing these days is online course creation. This is where you create an online course and sell it to people who want to learn about what you know and how your knowledge can fix other people’s problems. Of course, you have to have a related skill that you can teach, but this can be overcome with extensive research.
Have you taken an online course that you liked? Do you have personal experience to add to the content of the original course? Then you can emulate the course, making sure not to copy it, but to rewrite the material in your own words, based on your own experience with the topic.
Online courses offer a high opportunity, especially with the recent increase in online events. Even if existing resources exist on the internet for free, people will pay for the work you have done to curate and present the information in an easy to understand format.
There are several learning platforms and software that make course creation simple. The hardest part is the “expertise” piece, but even that can be overcome.
How You Can Learn This Skill
You can learn how to do course creation and increase your yearly income by following the tutorials on any learning platforms such as Udemy. Each specific platform has its method of doing course creation, and other software companies have course-builder software you can implement on a website.
How You Can Use This Skill
Once you learn how to use the various tools that allow you to create online courses, you can sell course creation services to those who have the expertise but do not have the technical skills to complete a course. If you have any skills as a video editor, you can quickly push yourself into the next income bracket with a substantially higher income.
Related Skills
Copywriting, Content Creation/Content Marketing, Web Designer, Social Media Marketing, Affiliate Marketing, Digital Marketing, Email Marketing
4. Graphic Designer
Graphic designers create the visual elements of both online and offline advertisements. They are the logo creators, the banner designers, the artists that draw the cute characters that sell products. They should not be confused with web designers who can create websites without drawing a lick. Graphic design requires some artistic talent.
I also routinely hire graphic designers to create infographics for my pages to illustrate a point I am trying to make. Graphic designers are great at helping small business owners creatively display their personal brand.
How You Can Learn This Skill
You can learn the principles of graphic design online or at your local community college or university. You do not have to complete a degree program to benefit from taking college-level classes in graphic design. If you have a high school diploma, you can learn design skills from many free online sources. There are also technical colleges that may offer programs in graphic design as well.
How You Can Use This Skill
Graphic design is a highly marketable skill. You can hang out your shingle as a freelance or work for an ad agency, newspaper, or magazine. Anything that requires a visual element requires a graphic designer. There are multiple freelance sites where you can display your portfolio of work and land jobs.
Related Skills
Web Designer
5. Web Designer
In this context, a web designer creates websites using one of the website builders such as WordPress, Wix, SquareSpace, or many others. They do not make custom CSS or JavaScript. That is included in the next skill, web development. Web design is tightly integrated with graphic design, but a web designer does not have to create their images. They can use someone else’s work.
How You Can Learn This Skill
There are multiple online courses, and each individual website-building platform will usually have free tutorials on how to use their software. There may also be classes at your local community college available.
How You Can Use This Skill
This is another highly desirable freelance skill to have. You could also go to work for a large company and design their website, but you are unlikely to command the same salary that you could obtain by doing this as a freelancer.
The high earners in this field are usually freelancers who can charge a substantial rate due to the high value and rare skill sets they offer. Advanced networking through digital media and word of mouth can add credibility to the web design services provided.
Related Skills
Graphic Designer, Web Developer
6. Web Developer
Web developers are the technical gurus behind websites. They are versed in CSS, JavaScript, and other platforms like Joomla or Ruby on Rails. They can build a website without a website builder such as WordPress or Wix. This is a much more technical approach to websites than web design.
Companies such as Microsoft boast some of the highest median wage salaries for web developers in the corporate sector.
How You Can Learn This Skill
There are online classes that will teach you the technical skills encompassed by web development.
How You Can Use This Skill
Again, this is an excellent skill for freelances. There are also jobs for web developers at most major companies as well. However, if you have the resume and work experience to back up freelance pricing, you can make even more as an independent contractor.
Related Skills
Web Designer, Software Developer
7. Software Developer
Software developers create apps. They can also contribute to web development by providing interfaces to back end databases and external applications. Of course, software development is relevant everywhere computers are used. Software developers are the people who bring ideas to life and command computers to do their bidding. Mobile app development is a niche in the software developer world.
How You Can Learn This Skill
You can teach yourself to program using online classes. This is the one skill on this list that might benefit from a formal college education, but many programmers are self-taught. There is even app-building software these days that can help you bring your app to life without knowing how to code.
More than likely, if you do not want to freelance, you will need to take college classes in one or more programming languages such as Java, JavaScript, Python, etc. to learn app-building skills.CodeAcademy is another excellent resource to gain these tech skills and build a strong foundation.
How You Can Use This Skill
You can use this skill to build any app that you can think of, and then sell the app on an app store such as Apple or Google, or freelance as a coder for others who have ideas for applications. You can also work as a coder for companies like HP, Apple, etc., but most of these employers will require a college degree.
Related Skills
Web Developer
8. Social Media Marketing
Social media marketers use social media such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc., to sell products and services. Typical clients include motivational speakers, life coaches, and other professionals who don’t have the time to offer clear communication and networking through social media.
How You Can Learn This Skill
You can learn social media marketing skills by taking online tutorials on the various platforms you want to advertise. In addition, there are lots of online courses available on social media marketing as well to become a sales funnel expert.
How You Can Use This Skill
Social media marketers are in high demand by individuals and companies who want someone to manage their social media presence. Most social media marketers are freelances, and they may have products or services of their own that they promote in addition to working for others. Although there may be some corporate jobs out there for this skill, most openings are designed for freelancers.
Related Skills
Copywriting, Content Creation/Content Marketing, Online Course Creation, Affiliate Marketing, Digital Marketing, Email Marketing
9. Affiliate Marketing
Affiliate marketing is what most people think of when they consider making money online. Affiliate marketing occurs when you receive a commission for selling someone else’s product or service online. Most people think of Amazon when they think of affiliate marketing, but platforms like eBay, Walmart, and many manufacturers also offer affiliate commissions to those who sell their products.
How You Can Learn This Skill
There are many course providers online that will teach you the ins and outs of affiliate marketing. Many of the affiliate programs themselves have tutorials on how to be a good affiliate.
How You Can Use This Skill
You use this high income skill to sell products and services on your website.
Related Skills
Copywriting, Content Creation/Content Marketing, Online Course Creation, Social Media Marketing, Digital Marketing, Email Marketing
10. Digital Marketing
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