If you had $100 or less, what would be the first thing you would do with it? Go out to eat dinner? Buy yourself something special? Save it, perhaps?

You would do well to consider that the best investment you could ever make in life is the investment you make for yourself and your career. Taking time to learn new skills, embrace challenges, take risks, and grow and develop while polishing your existing skill set is honestly the best personal and financial commitment you could ever make, because it sets you up for long-term success in business and in your career for the rest of your life.

While today, $100 may not seem like that much when it comes to covering expenses, this same figure will more than multiply with its return on investment.

Online courses accomplish much more than you might realize. Not only do they add to the aesthetics of your resume through demonstrating that you’ve completed extra training or that you now have a certificate, but they teach you life-long skills and high-income skills that you can use to generate revenue through freelancing and side hustles, full-time work, and even major business partnerships.

The cool thing about the accessibility of online courses, or e-learning as it is most commonly referred to, is that many of them won’t cost you any more than the price of a night out with your friends.

Additionally, it helps when you have to put some money towards an online course, because then you are more motivated to continue studying and completing it. When things are provided to us for free, we tend to value them less, and our corresponding effort and interest declines. But when you know (as is the case with Coursera) that you need to pay every month for your subscription, this drives you to complete the course sooner and be more disciplined and motivated with your learning.

7 Low-Cost (And Free) Online Courses

Below are seven low-cost online courses that will instantly boost your resume, add value to your LinkedIn profile, and most importantly, enhance your career growth. (For Udemy courses, there are always discounts happening, with courses priced at $74.99 being as low as $13.99 for example; because of the fluctuation in prices, the main, non-discounted price is given here as a guide for the maximum amount you should expect to spend.)

1. The Complete Python Bootcamp From Zero to Hero in Python—provided by Jose Portilla of Pierian Training, via Udemy (currently the course’s full price without the discount is $74.99)
2. Microsoft Excel – Excel from Beginner to Advanced by Kyle Pew of Office Newb, via Udemy (currently the course’s full price without the discount is $74.99)
3. The Complete 2024 Web Development Bootcamp by Dr. Angela Yu, via Udemy (currently the course’s full price without the discount is $74.99)
4. Video Editing With Adobe Premiere Pro For Beginners (2024) by Jordy Vandeput, Skillshare (pricing is around $32 a month, depending on your region and what pricing option you select)
5. Meta Front-End Developer Professional Certificate, via Coursera (you can access this for free if you require financial aid due to your circumstances, or pay Coursera’s subscription fee of about $39 a month)
6. IBM AI Engineering Professional Certificate, via Coursera (you can access this for free if you require financial aid due to your circumstances, or pay Coursera’s subscription fee of about $39 a month)
7. Microsoft Project Management Professional Certificate, via Coursera (you can access this for free if you require financial aid due to your circumstances, or pay Coursera’s subscription fee of about $39 a month)

Start your learning journey and begin investing in yourself today. Your career and your future self will thank you for it.

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