Who

First of All, I Am Not a Professional Teacher. I Am an Excel Doer, Then Excel Instructor.

There is a huge difference between the two. A professional teacher learns Excel in order to teach Excel, and often teaches many other software too. As an Excel doer who uses Excel day in and day out as a senior analyst, my desire for excellence drove me to put all my efforts into mastering Excel very well. I then started to help people around me, and eventually helped thousands of people who came across Super Excel since 2009. I teach only Excel, nothing else. I do only one thing, but do the one thing very well. I teach only what I am good at using, and good at teaching.

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You Are Taught by an Excel Doer Who Is Good At Teaching Excel, Not Somebody Who Is Only Good At Using Excel

Yes, you heard me right. Being good at using Excel, and being good at teaching Excel are two completely different skill sets. Being good at using Excel does not automatically make one a good Excel trainer. My strength is, as told time and time again by my training attendees, having a very good knack of explaining complex formulas and making it easily understood by ordinary people.

A couple of years ago, at the end of the Super Excel Data Processing & Analysis course I taught at CPA Ontario (Chartered Professional Accountants Ontario), Yolane approached me with excitement: “After so many years, I finally understand those Excel formulas!” If you connect with me on LinkedIn, you can read the LinkedIn recommendation she provided to me. 

There is a difference between knowing something and knowing how to teach others to understand something. I first noticed that while I was in high school. One time, I had difficulty understanding a topic in my physics class. I asked a classmate who understood this topic well to teach me. He was quite patient, and spent twenty minutes explaining to me. However, I couldn't understand it. I asked many questions, and he answered them to the best of his ability. But, I still couldn't get it. I was frustrated, and he was frustrated as well, because it was a very simple concept to him, and after so much explanation, I still could not get it. After a long back and forth discussion, I suddenly understood it. I remember telling him: “If you explained to me in this way originally, I would have understood it in the first three minutes.”

So, in my teaching, I take the time to explain the background, the scenario, the context, so the attendees understand why we have the need to use certain features and formulas. When I do explain a feature or formula, I start from small thing that is easy to understand, and then build upon that to add more things bit by bit. This makes it easy for ordinary people to follow and understand. It is not just how to do it. Equally important, is knowing when and where to use what, and why use it. This is a common shortcoming from many of those Excel help videos on the YouTube. They are more of providing tips, rather than systematic teaching.

Even though three people in my family are long-time teachers, I had never thought I would end up teaching until when I did, by accident. When my oldest brother was teaching mining engineering as college professor, his students were his raving fans. I was amazed on how he made such technical teaching interesting to his students.

This has been the case for me too since I started teaching Excel in 2009. Many of my Excel training attendees have become my raving fans. Around 2012, one gentleman took my Excel course and was so impressed with my course design and teaching method, and he got interested in the idea of investing into my Excel training company if I was willing to accept it. One time when I was conducting on-site Excel training at a company in Toronto for my first level SE1-A Super Excel Tables & Formatting course (my first level, not the conventional Basic level though), in the middle of the training, one lady shouted: “Wow, I thought this would be a boring class. It is actually quite interesting!”

You Are Taught by Somebody Who Is Passionate About Helping Others Learn Excel, Not Somebody Treats It Just as a Job

In terms of how I got into teaching Excel, the fact is, that was never my plan. I was purely spending time on things I was most interested about at the time, helping people around me, helping more people in my profession. Gradually my helping involved teaching supply chain management, and Excel. Everything just flowed, one led to another, and life put me in the position of teaching Excel, which I really enjoy, and feel passionate about. When I acted on my highest excitement to the best of my ability, I enjoyed my life the most, I grew myself the most, and I contributed to other people’s lives the most.

I remember quite some years ago while I was still working at LCBO full time…

One winter Wednesday early morning, just after midnight, my young son developed high fever, so I took him to downtown Toronto Sick Children Hospital. In the past, we could go in and get checked, and leave within 2 to 5 hours. This time, we did not get to leave until noon 12:00 PM. I had to call my workplace for one day off. When I was driving home it was snowing quiet heavy. It took much longer than usual to drive back to Oakville.

I anticipated it would take even longer during the rush hour to drive from Oakville to North York Toronto for my regular Wednesday evening 7:00 PM Super Excel class. After getting my son home, and having a quick lunch, I decided to leave home right after for North York Toronto. It took me nearly 4 hours to get to North York on this snowy day, and I only arrived just in time for my class with no opportunity for supper. Despite a sleepless night in the hospital, more than 5 hours crawl driving on the highway, and with an empty stomach, once I started teaching Excel at 7:00 PM, I found myself full of energy and passion throughout the entire 3 hours class.

In all these years teaching Excel, I have found so much joy, happiness, fulfillment. Some activities might be draining our energy, and some activities recharge our energy. To me, teaching Excel energizes me.

I was once given an advice from a professional Excel teacher (who learned Excel in order to teach Excel). The advice is that, at the end of the Excel training, do not leave any of your contact information to your students, so they have no way to contact you and ask questions, and waste your time. I was speechless! That’s completely contrary to who I am. The meaning of life is in the relationship. To live a meaningful life, I need to create meaningful relationship with students I encounter by contributing to their growth.

My success is not about how many students going through my classes. My success is about how many students improved their Excel skills, and becoming more effective and efficient at work, being promoted as a result, being happier, gained more time for family and kids rather than working overtime.

Although I am teaching Excel, but I consider I am helping people to grow and improve the quality of their lives. Actually, I am not really teaching Excel. I am teaching people how to manage, process, analyze, present business data effectively and efficiently. I hope you see the difference, one focuses on what the software has, and mine focuses on how to use a tool properly for a purpose. And my purpose is to help you to succeed in your career and life.