Top 43+ Free Best Skillshare Classes For 2024

If you are trying to find some of the best Skillshare classes in 2024, you’re in the right place! In addition to these top-rated online classes, the Skillshare learning platform offers unlimited access to more than 39,000 online courses as part of their premium membership.

Below, you will find a HUGE range of Skillshare classes that will help learners quickly develop new skills in photography, logo design, public speaking, social media marketing, graphic design, cooking, entrepreneurship and 1,000’s more!

I picked these particular classes as they demonstrate Skillshare’s wide selection of course topics and show that they can range from foundational learning to deep exploration of niche topics. These free courses are also highly rated, have been taken by millions of e-learning students, and are extremely fun!

For roughly the same cost as a Netflix subscription, you can invest in your own learning and have an enormous range of course content at your fingertips.

Side note: Skillshare is currently running a promotion where new students can try all their 39,000+ classes on their Skillshare Premium 1-month free trial!

What can you learn this month?

Top 43+ Free Best Skillshare Classes For 2024!

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Create With Skillshare Courses

Let’s start with the best Skillshare courses focused on creating. This is probably where Skillshare shines the brightest. If you have a creative passion, Skillshare has not only a course, but probably several. You can learn writing, illustration, filmmaking, cooking, music and more. And most of those courses include collaborative projects you can share the work you create with others taking the course.

As you’ll see from the below, my biggest passion is photography.

1. Fundamentals of DSLR Photography (Skillshare)

First on my list is a great introductory photography class that will teach you the fundamentals of taking incredible photographs. Ideally, you should have access to a DSLR, point & shoot, or even a smartphone where you can control the camera’s settings.

Some of the lessons Justin Bridges teaches in this class cover shutter speed, aperture, ISO, balancing exposure, preparing to shoot, editing tips and tricks, and how to buy the right camera and lens.

After this class, your DSLR won’t seem confusing at all and you’ll be inspired to keep learning and increasing your knowledge of photography!

Strengths:

• Low time commitment: 1h19m, 12 lessons
• Beginner friendly, suitable for all levels
• Very popular: 102,600 students
• Approval Rating: 99%

2. iPhone Photography: How to Take Pro Photos On Your iPhone (Skillshare)

These days, phone technologies have gotten so advanced that some people forego owning a camera and choose to use their iPhone for all of their photography needs. It is definitely possible to take quality photos on your iPhone and this course will give you a good idea of how to do so.

The lessons in this course cover the following topics: turn off live photo; turn on HDR and the grid; focus tapping/exposure control; shot composition: perspective, vantage point, rule of thirds, dead space, creating depth; surrounding light and filling the frame; shooting macro on the iPhone; and more.

You’ll also learn how to edit your photos in a way that really makes them pop. These skills can help with capturing your own memories or translate into better photography for social media posts.

Strengths:

• Very Popular: 119,420 students
• 470 student projects
• Beginner level
• Skillshare “staff pick”
• Instructor Dale McManus is a “Top Teacher”
• Approval Rating: 97%

3. Instagram-Worthy Photography: Shoot, Edit & Share with Brandon Woelfel (Skillshare)

There are millions of photos posted on Instagram every day. Making your social media posts stand out is hard. Better photography is key. This class is taught by photographer Brandon Woelfel (who has 3 million followers on Instagram) will teach you how to make the most of your photos at the concept, shooting, and editing stages.

Brandon will also take you through the whole process from start to finish. Topics that cover equipment, settings, shooting at golden hour, shooting at night, retouching in photoshop, editing nighttime photos, exporting to share, and sharing on Instagram.

So if you want to capture stunning photos for Instagram and really upgrade your social media posts, you can’t go past this Skillshare class!

Strengths:

• Tons of class projects have been posted to the course page, so you’ll have lots of inspiration
• Suitable for all levels
• 40,340 students
• Approval Rating: 88%

4. Documentary Photography: Capturing Places and People (Skillshare)

Who better to teach you about documentary photography than Ami Vitale, photographer for National Geographic magazine? National Geographic is pretty much the highest standard in documentary photography, and they are famous for being able to tell a compelling story through photographs.

In this class, Ami will walk you through her process on a visit to Venice Beach, CA. You’ll learn how best to approach your subjects and how to capture the essence of a place with your photos. Lessons in this course cover topics such as shooting sunrise, equipment, perspective, shooting a sunset, and more.

Strengths:

• Great class project: document a place in 2 photos
• Popular: 26,795 students
• Superb instructor!
• Intermediate level – not a photography 101 course!
• Approval Rating: 90%

5. Nightscapes: Landscapes Astrophotography (Skillshare)

The focus of this class is to teach you how to photograph stunning nightscapes. It’s suitable for beginners who are just getting started with photography or seasoned photographers who want to get into astrophotography. You’ll even learn some astronomy!

Topics covered in this course include finding a dark sky location, basic astrophotography gear, setting up your first astrophoto, exposing the Milky Way, composing astrophotography, painting with light, and processing landscape astrophotos.

The course will teach you how to combine astronomy and photography skills in order to locate and capture unbelievable images of the Milky Way!

Strengths:

• 11,692 students
• Beginner-friendly
• Over 30 class projects posted online
• Low time commitment: 9 lessons, 29m
• Approval Rating: 89%

6. Creative Writing: Crafting Personal Essays with Impact (Skillshare)

This course, thoughtfully led by Roxane Gay,  presents an opportunity to improve your essay writing in roughly one hour. She is a writer, professor and editor who is well known for her New York Times best-selling essay collections Bad Feminist and Hunger. Her work has also appeared in McSweeney’s and Tin House.

This lesson can really be helpful to writers at any stage in their careers. In the opening session, Gay reminds us that for many, the stumbling block in writing a great essay is feeling that what you want to say matters. She encourages each writer to deeply explore their why and to commit to capturing their story on paper. This course walks through each phase of the process from idea to publication with a number of helpful exercises. Students can also receive feedback from classmates. This course could truly sharpen your writing skills.

• Popular 35,207
• Efficient: 1 hr, 1 min
• Student reviews highlight the course’s actionable steps and engaging instructor
• Approval Rating: 98%

7. Creative Nonfiction: Write Truth with Style (Skillshare)

This course will teach you how to craft a compelling and engaging creative nonfiction story. The instructor is an acclaimed American journalist and long-time New Yorker staff writer, Susan Orlean. You’ll examine her article “The American Male at Age Ten” and learn what makes it so successful.

First, you’ll learn how to find your topic, how to use research to prepare for reporting, and how to organize your notes. Then Susan will walk you through the elements of a story and give you tips on writing dialogue and quotes; writing descriptions; and editing, revising, and collaborating.

For more information, you can see my review of Skillshare and see if it’s worth it.

Strengths:

• Popular:17,526 students
• Awesome class project: write a 1000-word profile on someone you find mysterious
• Suitable for all levels
• 48 student projects have been uploaded to the class page – great inspiration for your own story
• Approval Rating: 95%

8. Digital Illustration: Learn to Use Procreate (Skillshare)

Procreate is a fantastic iPad program that you can use to bring your artwork to life digitally! It’s also incredibly easy to use! Talented digital illustrator Jarom Vogel will be your instructor as he teaches you the ins and outs of Procreate and has you feeling like a pro in no time.

In this class, you will be guided on how to get started with Procreate, using brushes to draw thumbnails, sketching on a new layer, using the selection tool, adding color, shadow & texture, making the background, final effects & tweak, and exporting your design.

You can check out my full guide on the best online Procreate courses to learn more about Procreate!

Strengths:

• Very popular: 146,570 students
• Beginner level
• Very low time commitment: 10 lessons, 1h7m
• Approval Rating: 92%

9. Mastering Illustrator: 10 Tips & Tricks to Speed Up Your Workflow (Skillshare)

Moving onto my Skillshare class list is one that focuses on Adobe Illustrator and how to use it for design. Some of the topics covered are how to use global colors, create custom guidelines, work with live corners, and target layers.

You’ll also learn how to give depth to simple shapes, create a custom pattern stroke, create a vector halftone pattern, customize the blend tool, and use an opacity mask.

So if you want to create stunning designs, UX/ UI, or logos, this is one of the top Skillshare classes in 2024!

Strengths:

• Very popular class: 58,426 students
• Intermediate level
• Class is demonstrated on a Mac, but the class material includes a cheat sheet that will teach you the equivalent keyboard shortcuts for PC
• Approval Rating: 93%

10. Creative Digital Illustration: Learn to Use Adobe Fresco (Skillshare)

Adobe Fresco can allow you to express your own artistic style in exciting and creative ways. It’s definitely a program worth familiarizing yourself with if you enjoy creating digital art. Instructor Lisk Feng is an Adobe Fresco expert and she will share her unique take on color, sketching, and art!

The lessons in this course will cover the following topics: you have to like what you make; learning adobe fresco: brushes; learning adobe fresco: other tools; sketching your dream studio; the limited color palette method; building rich colors; adding texture; and putting it all together.

Strengths:

• Intermediate level
• Taken by 13,997 Students
• 50 student projects are posted to the course page
• Low time commitment: 13 lessons, 1h11m
• Approval Rating: 97%

11. Low Budget Filmmaking — Tips and Tricks for an Indie Look (even with your iPhone!) (Skillshare)

Next we take a look at a great short course on filmmaking that could motivate anyone with an iPhone to complete this project. Instructor Matty Brown inspires students in the opening few minutes of his course. He encourages us to shoot freely with our cameras (any level of equipment works!) and then edit your work creatively. He shows students how an everyday walk to a coffee shop in New York City can inspire the creation of a short film that conveys big emotion and tension.

We highly recommend checking this out for storytelling inspiration.

• Students: 15,931
• Quick lesson: 6 lessons in 29 minutes.
• Approval rating: 88%

12. The Paper Cutout Look in Adobe After Effects (Skillshare)

In less than one hour it is possible to sharpen a new skill. This course is led by Jake Bartlett, a popular instructor on Skillshare.  Here students can benefit from a very focused walkthrough of how to create shadow-box style paper cut-out effect inside of After Effects.  A few skills covered here include: adding textures using track mattes, customization of color, working with 3D cameras (for shadow effects and layers), and many more.

• Intermediate level
• Student: 14,572
• Approval rating: 97%
• Popular instructor who earns high marks for being organized, engaged, and clear

13. Italian Chef Secrets: How to Make Perfect Thin Crust Pizza (Skillshare)

Executive chef, Nick Anderer, is here to share his secret to making the perfect thin-crust pizza! You’ll be able to taste the authenticity – the first bite will transport you straight to Italy. This course will teach you the step-by-step process for creating a pizza and invite you to add your own creative twist!

Nick will start by teaching you to make dough, roman style, and give you an overview of the ingredients. There are lessons on rolling the dough; dressing your pizza; cooking your pizza; getting creative with ingredients, and pizza steel (for crispy crust at home). Grazie mile, Nick! To learn more, check out my guide on online cooking courses and training!

Strengths:

• Popular: 11,212 students
• Low time commitment: 9 lessons, 52m
• The class project consists of making your very own pizza, yum!
• Approval Rating: 95%

14. Easy Chocolate Making: All the Basics from Bean to Bar (Skillshare)

Calling all chocolate lovers! This quick and easy class will teach you how to make your very own homemade chocolate. By following the steps laid out in the course, you’ll not only learn how to create your own chocolate, but you’ll also gain a greater appreciation for the effort that goes into making it.

You’ll be taught by the Head Chocolate Maker at Raaka Chocolate how to prime your palate and explore potential flavors as well as which tools you’ll need to make this delicious treat. You’ll get an in-depth look at how to choose and grind beans, temper the chocolate, and package it with care. It’s up to you if you want to share it!

Strengths:

• 5,328 students
• Low time commitment: 10 lessons, 28m
• Great class project: make your own chocolate bar
• Approval Rating: 95%

15. Getting Started with Wine: Buy Smarter, Taste More (Skillshare)

There is definitely such a thing as bad wine, OK wine, good wine, and better wine. Wine guru and marketing influencer, Gary Vaynerchuk, is here to teach you how to tell the difference. You’ll learn the fundamentals of sparkling, white, and red wine so that you’ll be able to make an informed choice when you’re next in the wine aisle.

Gary will also teach you how to taste wine correctly, select a great bottle of wine, and shop for wine. He’ll go on to share some valuable recommendations on which wine goes with which flavor palette and how to shop within your price range. Cheers and happy tasting!

Strengths:

• 8, 450students
• Beginner level – no prior experience needed
• Low time commitment: 10 lessons, 55m
• Approval Rating: 95%

16. Learn Guitar (Acoustic or Electric): The Complete Beginners Guide (Skillshare)

Perhaps you are skeptical about the ability to learn to play guitar online. This may be just the right fit for you. Marc Barnale‘s course has a  100% approval rating. This course works beautifully to get a beginner to quickly start to learn chords and feel that you are truly playing!

The course progresses through scales, picking exercises, strumming patterns, and learning a few songs and riffs. The goal is to get you playing confidently and creating your own piece. An amazing progression for beginners in under 2 and half hours. 

Students can access several PDFs detailing string names, chord boxes, scales, tabs, and songs mentioned.

• 5,797 students
• Beginner level
• Approval Rating: 100%

17. Ink Drawing Techniques: Brush, Nib, and Pen Style (Skillshare)

This course will allow you to learn from award-winning Japanese illustrator, Yuko Shimizu. Yoko will open your eyes to the world of brush and ink illustration and provide you with a collection of valuable techniques and skills that you can add to your tool kit – or paint palette!

Yoko will give you an in-depth look at the following topics: brushes and nibs; ink and paper; Asian brushes vs. watercolor brushes; brushstroke and nib techniques; calligraphy with Ai Tatebayashi; illustrating textures; sketching and scanning; inking your sketch; and final touches and tips.

Strengths:

• Popular: 47,108 students
• Beginner level
• A whopping 345 student projects have been posted to the course page – so inspiring!
• Approval Rating: 91%

18. Character Illustration: Drawing Faces, Figures & Clothing (Skillshare)

It isn’t easy to draw expressive and dynamic characters – at least not at first. With practice and some pointers from this course, you’ll be well on your way to drawing Disney-worthy characters without fail!

You’ll learn what materials you need for drawing on paper or on a screen and some warm-ups you can use to get the creative juices flowing. Some of the skills covered in the course are: drawing your character’s pose, drawing female vs male faces, and drawing the four core expressions.

You’ll also learn how to add color, clothing, and style to your characters.

Strengths:

• Popular! 94,060 students
• Intermediate level
• 277 student projects – lots of inspiration
• Approval Rating: 86%

19. Fantasy Maps: The Art of Exploring Imaginary Worlds (Skillshare)

Do you have a love of maps and a good imagination? Instructor and graphic novelist Ira Marcks will give you the skills and methodology you need to create a map using your own imagination. He will provide you with prompts and techniques that will allow you to create a meaningful and personal work of art.

You’ll get to explore the following topics: a history of map symbols and icons; the fundamental elements of map design; how maps represent the fantastic; how maps use metaphor; how to create map landscapes; creating symbols, icons, and type; adding ‘artifact’ color and texture; and much more!

Strengths:

• “Staff Pick” on Skillshare
• Instructor Ira Marcks is a “Top Teacher” and takes the time to reply to student comments
• 2,704 students
• Suitable for all levels
• Approval Rating: 99%

20. Instagram Poetry: Create Personal, Visual Vignettes for Self-Expression (Skillshare)

Instagram has become a highly popular platform for sharing art and photography in creative ways. This course, taught by poet and performer Alison Malee, will teach you how to capture meaningful moments using poetry and create beautiful vignettes that can be posted to Instagram for all to see.

There are less than 10 lessons in this brief course, but they will give you some really handy advice on how to make a “like-worthy” post. Topics include: describing a moment, writing your poem, extracting your line, creating your visual, and more!

Strengths:

• 7,439  students
• Great class project: create your own poetry vignette post
• 110 class projects have been posted online – good inspiration
• Low time commitment: 9 lessons, 26m
• Approval Rating: 94%

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Build With Skillshare Courses

Next, let’s look at another strength of Skillshare: courses centered on building. If you’re a freelancer, entrepreneur, or small business owner, they have a catalog that can help you quickly build the skills you need to overcome common challenges and thrive.

As you’ll see, this is where I learned a lot about web design and social media.

21. Social Media Strategy in a Noisy Online World (Skillshare)

Moving onto my next pick is a great Skillshare class that will teach you how to effectively tell your brand’s story across various platforms. Each social media platform is slightly different, so what works for Facebook may not necessarily work for Twitter. This course will help you tailor your strategies accordingly!

Your instructor for this class is none other than Gary Vaynerchuk, CEO of Vaynermedia, who will teach you how to adapt your brand’s story for Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Tumblr, and Twitter. Not to mention building audiences!

Another benefit of this class is that it includes various case studies and prompts to help you understand the big picture regarding social media strategies.

Or check out my guide for even more social media marketing options.

Strengths:

• Popular class: 50,677 students
• Suitable for all levels
• Low time commitment: 24 lessons, 1h31m
• Approval Rating: 81%

22. Graphic Design Basics: Core Principles for Visual Design (Skillshare)

This course will teach you how to define and identify the 5 basic principles of graphic design. Knowledge of design principles can be useful in all sorts of projects – any creative project that uses images and type.

Some of the topics covered in this course are symmetry vs asymmetry, scale, framing, hierarchy, grids, and demo: bringing it all together. You’ll learn how to assess the effectiveness and balance of your work and apply the basic design principles to future projects.

Power duo and design gurus Ellen Lupton and Jennifer Cole Phillips, will be your instructors in this quick 36-minute course that’s jam-packed with tips to acquire new skills for making great designs!

Strengths:

• Popular: 132,867 students
• Beginner level
• 264 class projects have been uploaded to the course page – lots of inspiration

23. Move from Graphic Designer to UX DESIGNER (Skillshare)

Are you a graphic designer who is looking to upskill? Importantly, this course does not require any prior understanding of UX. Top instructor, Daniel Scott is also an Adobe certified trainer. He points out that a Senior UX designer has the opportunity to double their income. 

This course walks through: relevant tools for UX designers, how to research a UX project, key differences between UI and UX, strategies for testing, fundamentals for building wireframes, how to use InVision for building mock-ups, and much, much more.

• Popular course: 22,374 students
• Beginner level
• Approval Rating: 86%

24. Customizing Type with Draplin: Creating Wordmarks That Work (Skillshare)

Follow along as designer Aaron Draplin teaches you the essential skill of customizing type. In this course, he will show you how to create one-of-a-kind typefaces that will stand out from the crowd. Aaron will use antique typography as a reference point for creating a brand-new original type of treatment.

Some of the topics covered in this course are: playing with shapes, chopping and extending letterforms, custom type sketching, digitizing sketches, preparing for print, adding texture to type, and rebuilding script.

With the skills you learn in this course, you’ll be well on developing your signature style!

Strengths:

• Popular! 40,947 students
• 309 student projects uploaded to the course page – lots of inspiration
• Intermediate level
• Approval Rating: 97%

25. Vintage Hand-Lettering: Styling Phrases for Timeless Appeal (Skillshare)

In this class, you’ll get to create your own packaging project that is inspired by vintage design. You’ll be guided through the process step-by-step by instructor Mary Kate McDevitt. The project will allow you to practice your hand lettering skills and find vintage reference materials that speak to you!

The lessons in this course will cover finding inspiration, creating a mood board, sketching with reference, sketching from memory, sketching thumbnails, looking at your sketches critically, and more!

Strengths:

• Popular: 17,817 students
• Beginner-friendly
• Low time commitment: 13 lessons, 1h25m
• Approval Rating: 88%

26. Digital Poster Design: Combining Images & Type for Powerful Visuals (Skillshare)

This course will teach you how to make an eye-catching digital poster that is sure to make a statement! You’ll learn how to use Adobe Photoshop to realize your poster concept, take photos that can be used for your poster, and combine images with type in a cohesive way.

The class project will be to create a digital poster that celebrates someone you love while incorporating an animal into the design. You’ll be challenged to convey emotion and your loved one’s personality through your poster and to make the animal fit naturally into the design.

Strengths:

• 230 student projects – amazing for reference and inspiration
• Suitable for all levels, but it is a slightly more challenging course
• 12,624 students
• Low time commitment: 14 lessons, 1h24m
• Approval Rating: 97%

27. Intro to Surface Pattern Design: Learn Adobe Illustrator (Skillshare)

Surface patterns are a really fun way to approach design. It’s easier than you think to create your own original repeating pattern! In this course, instructor Bonnie Christine will teach you how to use Adobe Illustrator to make a surface pattern and motivate you to keep creating and exploring design in your own way.

You’ll learn how to feel comfortable with Illustrator and some essential tools and skills like setting up a new workspace; zooming in and out; using the direct & indirect selection tools; using pencil, pen, and blob brush tools; scanning & importing photos; creating custom color palettes, and more!

Strengths:

• Popular: 33,949 students
• Instructor Bonnie Christine is a “Top Teacher” on Skillshare
• Comprehensive class: 26 lessons, 3h43m
• Approval Rating: 97%

28. Introduction to HTML: Build a Portfolio Website (Skillshare)

HTML is a super handy skill and it’s a great introduction to the world of coding – which can sometimes seem daunting. Instructor Jenn Lukas is an HTML lover and front-end developer, and she can’t wait to share her passion for coding and teach you how to create your own website using HTML.

This course will help you build a strong foundational knowledge of HTML – and teach you what HTML even is if you don’t already know. Some of the topics covered are HTML tags and common elements, creating and previewing your first page, links, blockquote, code formatting, and troubleshooting.

Strengths:

• Introductory level
• 11,202 students
• Great class project: create a semantic HTML-only portfolio site
• Approval Rating: 98%

29. Full Stack Web Development for Beginners- Part 1: HTML, CSS, Responsive Design

Are you wondering about the first step to learning web development from scratch? Chris Dixon designed this course to take a beginner through a series of lessons on building a full stack website and applications. This is a hands-on course where students will build their own site using the new skills they have learned. Part 1 is focused on the fundamentals of web development.

• 9,681 students
• Beginner level
• Efficient: 5 hours, 36 minutes
• Approval Rating: 98%

30. Introduction to SEO: Tactics and Strategy for Entrepreneurs (Skillshare)

Once you’ve built a website for your online business, you need to get traffic. This means paying for expensive ads or relying on organic traffic from search engines. The latter sounds easy, but the craft of creating trending content that also factors in Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is complicated. Google alone factors in more than 200 inputs to its rankings.

Why not learn from SparkToro’s CEO and Moz founder Rand Fishkin to get started? You’ll complete 14 projects and 90 minutes of lessons to go from novice to a culture focused on SEO.

• 71,963 students
• Beginner level
• Efficient: 5 hours, 36 minutes
• Approval Rating: 98%

31. How to Make a Podcast: Plan, Record, and Launch with Success (Skillshare)

You might believe you have missed the chance to create a winning podcast, but you’d be wrong. The podcast industry is expected to grow from 2 billion to 4 billion dollars over the next 2 years. Wouldn’t it be great to get a small slice of that growing pie? John Lagomarsino is the Head of Production at Spotify-owned Anchor.fm and this is exactly what his course is designed to do. You’ll move through podcast basics all the way to publishing your first episode via 42 tightly connected projects.

• 19,985 students
• Beginner level
• Efficient: 1 hour, 4 minutes
• Approval Rating: 97%

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Thrive With Skillshare Courses

Finally, let’s look at the courses that allow an individual to thrive. From health and wellness to personal development and productivity, they have courses that let you optimize your life.

As someone juggling multiple projects, you’ll see a lot of focus on building out my personal system to keep all the plates spinning. It’s still a work in progress.

32. Productivity Masterclass: Create a Custom System that Works (Skillshare)

This wildly popular class taught by YouTuber, author, and entrepreneur, Thomas Frank, will teach you how to make the most of your time and talents! You’ll also learn how to create a personalized productivity system that will keep you on the right track no matter how busy your life gets!

Lessons included in this class cover how to manage your tasks, set up your calendar, organize your digital files, organize your physical files, get better at email, use quick capture, and schedule a review day.

These techniques will help you streamline and manage your tasks effectively – it’s a recipe for success! Check out my list of top online time management courses to learn more!

Strengths:

• Very popular: 112,481 students
• Suitable for all levels
• Low time commitment: 10 lessons, 1h5m
• Approval Rating: 94%

33. Real Productivity: Create Your Ideal Week (Skillshare)

This course is taught by co-founder of Skillshare, Michael Karnjanaprakorn. If anyone knows how to teach an awesome Skillshare course, it’s probably him! In this class, he’ll teach you how to become the most productive version of yourself using a series of plans, rules, and tools.

Michael will give you a demo of what an ideal calendar looks like for a productive person. He’ll help you implement a “plan, do, review” strategy and teach you useful exercises for prioritizing tasks. Lastly, he’ll introduce you to 4 app types that can help to organize your life and take your productivity to the next level.

Strengths:

• Very popular: 48,326 students
• Beginner level
• Low time commitment: 6 lessons, 23m
• Approval Rating: 90%

34. Entrepreneurship Hustle: From Business Plan to Real Success (Skillshare)

Have you ever harbored a secret dream of opening your own bakery? Coffee shop? Café? Well, maybe it doesn’t need to be a dream. There are a lot of tangible, real-world steps you can take to find out if your dream is feasible and a lot of ways to make that dream come true.

Instructor Michael Chernow is an entrepreneur in his own right and has a wealth of personal experience to share with you as an owner of one popular New York City restaurant and a co-founder of another. He’ll teach you a few key fundamentals including how to create a business plan, pitch your idea, find a location and define your brand.

We also have a range of other in-depth course reviews for entrepreneurs.

Strengths:

• Popular: 19,609 students
• Beginner level – no experience needed
• Low time commitment: 10 lessons, 45m
• Approval Rating: 89%

35. Going Freelance: Building and Branding Your Own Success (Skillshare)

The idea of going freelance can be pretty daunting! This Skillshare course will fill you in on some of the things you should know before taking the leap. Founders of Working Not Working, Justin Gignac and Claire Wasserman, will share personal anecdotes about their own exciting freelance journeys. What could be better than learning directly from these digital nomads?

You’ll learn how to craft a great portfolio that is sure to catch the eye of potential investors or partners. You’ll also learn how to market yourself and practice authentic networking strategies. Justin and Claire will also give you a rundown of business fundamentals and advice on how to achieve financial success.

Strengths:

• Very popular: 67,627 students
• Beginner level
• Low time commitment: 9 lessons, 51m
• Approval Rating: 88%

36. Writing for Self-Discovery: 6 Journaling Prompts for Gratitude and Growth (Skillshare)

Perhaps you have heard that journaling is an excellent practice for self-care, a habit of highly effective people or something you have wanted to try, you may have even ordered a journal… but never quite got around to opening it.

We love this course provides a great roadmap to get you started cultivating self-care through writing. Finding time for this self-care exercise and enjoying the “single-task” focus on your own happiness and development can be incredibly fulfilling. Yasmine Cheyenne walks you through specific writing prompts that could be a helpful nudge to take journaling from something you have “been meaning to try” to a habit that reduces stress and brings joy. Sometimes we need that nudge!

• Popular: 29,868 student
• Beginner level – no experience needed
• Low time commitment: 12 lessons, one hour 12 mins
• Approval Rating: 97%

37. Discovering Success: 7 Exercises to Uncover Your Purpose, Passion & Path (Skillshare)

This course will help you come to terms with where you are at in your life and give you some guidelines for thinking about where you want to go next. Instructor and polymath Emma Gannon will invite you to dive deep into the world of personal reflection using worksheets and methods included with the course material.

One of the most helpful things you’ll learn is how to break free from expectations and define success on your own terms. This is a big concept but she helps students begin small and craft a realistic “first step plan.” The lessons in this course include exercises that will help you to go back to the beginning, listen to what you love, and choose a direction.

You’ll also learn how to manage your time, deal with money, and gain confidence!

Strengths:

• Popular: 42, 244 students
• Suitable for all levels
• Low time commitment: 11 lessons, 1h
• Approval Rating: 85%

38. Personal Branding: Crafting Your Social Media Presence (Skillshare)

This class is for people who want to learn how to craft an engaging and authentic online presence. You’ll be taught by instructor Kate Arends, who is definitely an expert on the matter as she was able to grow her own blog following to more than 3 million readers!

Kate will provide you with “purpose worksheets” that will help you define your purpose. You’ll then define your character using another worksheet. The rest of the course follows the same method you learn to define your content and channels.

This course will teach you how to put yourself out there – with confidence!

Strengths:

• Popular: 37, 182 students
• Suitable for all levels
• Low time commitment: 14 lessons, 1h8m
• Approval Rating: 94%

39. Drawing as Self Discovery: 5 Ways to Start (Skillshare)

In this course, instructor and illustrator Mari Andrew will share her endearing drawing style and the methodology behind her drawing, which she uses to deal with what is going on in her life, process her emotions, and promote self-discovery. With Mari’s guidance, you can try it too – and you may be surprised by what you find!

The topics covered in this course include healing through art, getting started, drawing a pie chart of resilience, drawing your heart or brain, drawing a grateful list, drawing a comic from your life, and drawing a future self-portrait.

Strengths:

• Popular: 31,917 students
• Suitable for all levels
• 400+ student projects have been posted to the course page – lots of inspiration
• Approval Rating: 94%

40. Visual Thinking: Drawing Data to Communicate Ideas (Skillshare)

Do you want to learn how to tap into your creativity in a unique and effective way? This course will teach you how to use the power of visual thinking and drawing in order to communicate and organize your ideas.

Catherine Madden will teach you about different ways to bring your data to life on the page, such as mind mapping, two-factor bar charts, three-factor bar charts, scatter plots, and charts that tell a story. Sometimes putting your ideas on the page can help you to connect dots you didn’t even realize were there!

Strengths:

• Popular: 40,161 students
• 60+ student projects on the class page – good point of comparison
• Low time commitment: 1h5m, 13 lessons
• Approval Rating: 83%

41. Storytelling 101: Character, Conflict, Context & Craft (Skillshare)

The focus of this course is to teach you all about the fundamentals of narrative storytelling. Everyone has a story to tell and this course will set you up with a reliable framework that will make your story flow logically and come alive on the page.

Instructor and New York Times bestselling author, Daniel José Older, uses his own short story “Salsa Nocturna” to demonstrate how the 4 C’s of storytelling function and how you can put them to use in your own stories. The 4 C’s are: character, conflict, context, and craft.

With practice and commitment, you’ll be able to apply what you’ve learned to write a captivating story that will grab any reader’s attention.

Strengths:

• Popular: 36,717 students
• Beginner level
• 155 class projects online – awesome inspiration
• Great class project: write a short story about something that happened in a specific place in your hometown
• Approval Rating: 98%

42. Modern Leadership: Give & Get Honest Feedback at Work (Skillshare)

Interpersonal skills are vital at any workplace, especially when acting in a leadership position. This course can help you develop some strategies for dealing with difficult moments and teach you how to communicate with employees in an authentic and honest way.

Claire Lew will teach you why a healthy feedback loop is important and give you 7 different strategies for getting and giving honest feedback from your co-workers. You’ll learn how this open communication policy will create a better and more productive work environment.

Strengths:

• Suitable for all levels
• 11,898 students
• Very low time commitment: 6 lessons, 32m
• Approval Rating: 97%

43. Art of the Start: Turning Ideas into High-Growth Businesses (Skillshare)

Maybe this list of courses has inspired you to go after your own dreams or pursue a hobby that you’ve been wanting to try for years. Well if you’re feeling extra-motivated, this last course can teach you how to turn your inspiration into a business of its own.

Guy Kawasaki, chief evangelist for Canva, will teach you how to create a business plan for aspiring businesses and how to successfully pitch your plan to potential investors. The core concept you’ll learn in this course is to embrace the philosophy of setting out to make meaning rather than setting out to make money.

If you have a business idea that you are truly passionate about, success will follow naturally.

• Great class project: build a pitch deck for your business
• Popular: 28,327 students
• Famous instructor!
• Approval Rating: 94%

44. Email Productivity: Work Smarter with Your Inbox (Skillshare)

You might not think that organizing your email inbox can make much of a difference in your life. But why not take this course and find out? Instructor and productivity guru Alexandra Samuel claims that an organized inbox can lead to a more productive workspace and a less cluttered life!

Alexandra will teach you how to set up your folder system, use automated filters, and overhaul your daily email routine for success. You’ll learn how the act of proactively addressing the disorder of your inbox will flow through to other aspects of your working and daily life. Investing 45 minutes in this class could save you from hours of email distractions.

Strengths:

• 7,856 students
• Low time commitment: 9 lessons, 45m
• Suitable for all levels
• Approval Rating: 88%

Alternatives To The Best Free Skillshare Classes

If, after reviewing these courses, you haven’t found the right fit, there are other online learning platforms that offer free classes and tutorials that you can check out. 

Looking for more professional content to accelerate your career? Try LinkedIn Learning

Perhaps you’d prefer to only purchase one course instead of a subscription? Check out Udemy courses.

Maybe you’re looking for inspiration from A-list names and high-production “edutainment”? MasterClass is your best bet for that. 

Or perhaps you’re looking to start a tech career or accelerate your growth as a programmer? Then a Udacity Nanodegree or a certificate from Coursera are the obvious choices.