We’re often told that degrees and credentials are the keys to a good salary, but what matters more is your skillset. If you’re looking to earn over $100k, you’ll need high-income skills that allow you to stand out from the pack. That means not just the technical skills that can get you a job, but also soft skills like leadership, communication, and creativity.

Luckily, there are many ways to cultivate these skills, and it doesn’t even have to be in a formal setting. Online resources like YouTube and Skillshare offer free content from experts who teach how to do just about anything you can imagine – from software engineering to sales. Alternatively, you can enroll in classes at local community colleges and businesses that focus on those areas of expertise.

Once you’ve cultivated these skills, there are many ways you can use them to earn more money. One of the most popular is affiliate marketing, where you receive a commission when someone buys a product or service from you. Many manufacturers and platforms have their own affiliate programs, or you can find independent ones online that will help you set up and manage your business.

Another way to turn your skills into a source of income is to use them in freelance work. Many freelancers offer services that can help small businesses grow or expand their operations, such as web design, copywriting, social media management, and more. You can also sell your skills as a speaker at conferences or on podcasts.

If you’re a skilled chef, you can earn extra money by catering events or selling your food products at local markets from extracasheachmonth.com. In addition, you can increase your earning potential by launching a line of high-end box lunches for executives and other clients who might want to treat themselves.

In the long run, it’s important to continue to cultivate and hone your skill set, but short-term, you can always earn more by using the skills that you already have. There will be times when you need to supplement your income, whether it’s due to a pandemic or because you’re saving for a dream trip, so don’t let the opportunity pass by.

So take some time today to list all of your existing skills and then think about how you can leverage those skills into a source of income. Remember, there are thousands of people out there who don’t have those skills – and they would love to have them.

This is an example post, originally published as part of Blogging University. Enroll in one of our ten programs, and start your blog right.

You’re going to publish a post today. Don’t worry about how your blog looks. Don’t worry if you haven’t given it a name yet, or you’re feeling overwhelmed. Just click the “New Post” button, and tell us why you’re here.

Why do this?

• Because it gives new readers context. What are you about? Why should they read your blog?
• Because it will help you focus you own ideas about your blog and what you’d like to do with it.

The post can be short or long, a personal intro to your life or a bloggy mission statement, a manifesto for the future or a simple outline of your the types of things you hope to publish.

To help you get started, here are a few questions:

• Why are you blogging publicly, rather than keeping a personal journal?
• What topics do you think you’ll write about?
• Who would you love to connect with via your blog?
• If you blog successfully throughout the next year, what would you hope to have accomplished?

You’re not locked into any of this; one of the wonderful things about blogs is how they constantly evolve as we learn, grow, and interact with one another — but it’s good to know where and why you started, and articulating your goals may just give you a few other post ideas.

Can’t think how to get started? Just write the first thing that pops into your head. Anne Lamott, author of a book on writing we love, says that you need to give yourself permission to write a “crappy first draft”. Anne makes a great point — just start writing, and worry about editing it later.

When you’re ready to publish, give your post three to five tags that describe your blog’s focus — writing, photography, fiction, parenting, food, cars, movies, sports, whatever. These tags will help others who care about your topics find you in the Reader. Make sure one of the tags is “zerotohero,” so other new bloggers can find you, too.