Last week, the flock hosted its first guest speaker who generously and enthusiastically shared her story of redirection and re-education.  After a career and a masters degree in the unrelated field of publication design, this chick changed course and is now pursuing a Doctorate of Natural Health. For her, it just seemed the natural thing to do.

For the rest of us, who are just trying to keep pace with technological advances within our industries, the need for continuing education is clear.  In the words of my late mother:  “What are you a dummy?  You don’t want to learn?”  Take a class, call a friend, google a question to the virtual universe….the information you need is out there.

I have become a huge fan and ardent student of the on-line instructional series lynda.com. For a monthly ($25) or yearly ($250) subscription fee, one can access about a trillion different self-paced software training tutorials as well as a selection of FREE courses.

I have been enlightened (or simply acquainted) with topics ranging from:

HTML CODING ESSENTIALS to

CREATING MAIL LISTS & LABELS IN MICROSOFT WORD to

EXPORTING EXCEL CHARTS TO INDESIGN to

PORTRAIT RETOUCHING TECHNIQUES IN PHOTOSHOP.

This distance learning system works for me.  I can start and stop, go back, take notes, go back, go back, go back til I get it.

The founder of lynda.com, Lynda Weinman, is also an inspiring example of a successful free bird who continues to soar to new heights. Here’s her common-sense advice to the aspiring entrepreneur:

“Stick to your core competencies – don’t just start a business to make money or leave a job you don’t like. Find your passion. Follow it, and the universe will open!”

Check out this short interview with Lynda Weinman on WomenandBiz.com, an e-Magazine dedicated to the woman-owned business.

To see Lynda live, check out this video of Lynda Weinman:  The lynda.com Story on lynda.com. And for all you birds trying to make ends meet, this video lesson is FREE.