5 productive skills students can learn during ASUU strike

It’s no longer news that The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), has advised students to learn a skill and find something to do during this long break. There are skills to learn during ASUU Strike, and quality time to learn them. ASUU knows this and has emphasized this in one way or another. 

For some students, this is unsolicited advice because even while in school they already had things they were doing. Things like learning a skill, working remotely, doing business, building a brand, interning at organizations, working on big projects etc. 

However, while it is true that people have something to do already, there are still some who don’t have anything to do, some who are confused about what to do, and others who have decided to complain and do nothing.  

Since February 14, when students have been forced out of school no one knows what ASUU has in mind for the students or what plans they have for them. Either you are in the category of the ones doing nothing or you’re in the category of the ones who have something doing already, but want to do more, there are skills you can learn. Skills that will earn you money and good experience for the future.  

5 productive skills you can learn and their benefits 

Below are five skills you can learn during the ASUU strike and the basic information you need to know about them. Of course, there are more than five skills you can learn, but we’ll narrow it to five in this article. 

• Product Management
• Content Creation

• Copywriting
• Graphic Design
• UI/UX design

1. Product management

According to Productfolio, product management is about making sure that we build the right product for the market. It is having an idea for a product, and working on it till it is developed, and sent to the market. 

 It is the process involved in defining a product, and managing the product. Managing the product will help you understand what is important and what is not important as pertaining to the product. 

Benefit:

• You get to manage products that the market has access to.
• You get to solve people’s problems by proffering worthwhile solutions to the problems of consumers of a particular product

• You earn while solving problems. People prefer to give their money to people who have tangible solutions to offer.
• Project management helps to reduce the risk of a failing product. So, there’s the tendency to record successes per time.

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2. Content Creation

In simple terms, this is a skill that entails identifying what content you want to create, the aim of the content and the medium through which you want to publish it. It could be through podcasts, YouTube videos, blogs, skits etc. A content creator is someone who is involved in the process of content creation. He or she conceives an idea, creates content revolving around the idea, distributes the idea and if it is what the audience wants, it would connect the creators brand to its target audience or market. 

What is the goal of a content creator? The goal is to create contents that are interesting and the target audience can engage, create contents that would drive traffic, and stir up social media and other available media. 

Benefits:

• Content creation is cheap. Most of the tools for creation are free and easily accessible.
• Every industry can use content creation. It is not particular to any industry.
• It is easy to build trust and forge a relationship with your audience provided your contents are relatable and you’re honest.

• It gives your website visibility and boosts your SEO.
• You can batch create contents and they would still be relevant for whenever you release them.
• It helps to ensure a stable mental health as you get to decide when to work and when not to work .
• You can earn money from endorsements and collaboration with other brands. For instance, YouTube gives money to the owner of the channel when people watch ads on the videos.
• Helps you build a strong social capital.

3. Copywriting

According to Dan Lok, The King of High ticket closing, Copywriting is “Closing in Print”. It is the ability to persuade, influence, and engage. He said it is about writing not closing. Why? If it was about writing, all the teachers, English teachers, and professors would be successful copywriters.  

However, it is commonly mistaken for the word, “Copyright”. But they are not the same. A copyright is a type of intellectual property that for a given period of time gives the owner the exclusive right to copy and distribute a creative work. 

Copywriting is a form of writing that informs, encourages and persuades people to take action. It could be to buy a product, join a masterclass, using a call to action at the end of the writing. Call to action could be links, phone number, email address or any other thing that drives you to take action immediately; and not at a future date.  

Benefits:

• Connects you with potential clients on different platforms. This means more jobs, more money.
• It is time-saving as long as you follow due process.
• It is a valuable skill. You offer value and you get paid for the value.
• Opens you to other opportunities like marketing, designer, content creator etc.
• You don’t need to be a certificate holder to learn the job.

4. Graphics Design

This is creating designs or visual contents to communicate ideas to an audience in a bid to meet their needs. Designs can be created using computer software like laptops, MacBook, and Android phones. Graphic designers make logos, posters, mockups, and flyers. They help you with branding and other things related to design.  

Benefits:

• You don’t need too much to start just the basic devices. A phone and laptop and of course, data.

• There are free tools you can use to create beautiful and sellable designs.
• You contribute to giving a brand a good and sellable identity.
• It helps to bring out and fully utilize the creative side of you.
• You can earn more through referrals. People see your good work and want to engage your services.
• Interaction with cool colours could be therapeutic for you.

5. UI/UX Design

UI means User Interface and UX stands for User Experience. UI design involves people interacting with a product because of its aesthetic elements like buttons, menu bars, colour, icons; while UX design refers to the experience of the User while interacting with a product. It involves how the User feels, his or her motivation, environment, and what they want while interacting with a product. A UX designer does research in order to understand human behaviour and find ways to improve the experience of the User of the product.  

Benefits of UX Designs

• UX designs have what it takes to give customers a positive experience that would keep them on your website. That way, they could become potential customers. And that would mean good earnings.
• Beneficial for your mental health as you understand the best way to relate with customers without losing yourself to the insensitive ones.

• You could contribute to making life easy for users of your product.

Benefits of UI Designs

• When you offer good designs that make your customers feel good and comfortable they will stick with you, and that would mean retention of customers.
• It could be a good financial boost for you if your customers refer more people to your brand.
• There’s the tendency to have your customers stay loyal to your brand if you give them the best.

• There’s a mental satisfaction that comes with having to satisfy customers and get earnings from it.

A bonus point

Baking

Baking is one of the numerous skills to learn during ASUU strike. It requires a step-by-step process of mixing ingredients in the right proportion to achieve what you desire to – cake, cookies etc. You don’t just mix things anyhow without following the right procedures and expect to get a result. In baking, you must pay attention to details. You have to decide what flavours will go with what recipes, you learn what happens when you Improvise ingredients, or what happens when you create your own recipes or recipes that your customers want.

Baking is not a guess game. It’s a skill that helps you develop how to effectively make decisions.  

Benefits:

• It helps you save money, as you do more baking to eat instead of eating out. Although, this doesn’t happen to everyone, at least not every time.
• It is a source of income. Cakes, cookies, and other baked foods make people happy; especially cakes. You could contribute to putting a smile on people’s face while you earn.
• It helps you showcase your creativity. It also pushes out the creative side of you that you probably didn’t know existed.
• Cakes and other baked goods are always in demand. People celebrate birthdays, people eat biscuits, cookies etc.

Learning these skills is not hard. However, they require your time and attention, and sometimes your money – You will buy data right. Exactly. 

 You could make use of free sources like Blogs, YouTube, free resources on platforms like Coursera, Udemy and the likes. These resources can help you with at least 80% of the grounds you need to cover.  

These are skills you can learn during the ASUU strike. You have a choice to complain about the strike and do nothing, or focus on what you can do to make things work in this situation and come out as a better person. The ball is in your court. 

What skills will you start learning if you haven’t started? If you have something you’re doing already, what skills are you currently learning?