What giving gives with Excel wizard Sam McIntire

Sam McIntire likes to wrangle Excel. He’s so good at it, in fact, that he makes a living out of teaching people how to use this beast. Today, Sam shares why he started his company and the feedback he gets on the daily.

Tell us a little about yourself, what do you teach and is there something special you want us to highlight?

Having worked in the business world for a number of years after graduating from college, I realized that many employees aren’t equipped with the skills they need to succeed in the workplace. So, I started Deskbright, a website dedicated to helping people succeed at work through online business education. Since then, we’ve helped educate thousands of people on business skills like basic Microsoft Excel, helping them become happier and more effective in their jobs.

Could you tell us about some of the feedback you have gotten from your community that you are extra proud of?

We recently had a professor from a local university write to us saying how much he loved the site and asking whether he could use it as a primary source of information for an upcoming professional training class at his school.

It was incredibly gratifying to hear that our resources are being used in an academic setting to help students achieve their career ambitions.

What’s the highlight of your “teaching career” so far?

A visitor to our site once e-mailed to ask about Index Match, which is one of Excel’s more useful (but complex!) functions. After a few e-mails back and forth, we managed to fix a problem in a spreadsheet she was working on. A few months later, we received a note from the same visitor, thanking us for our help and crediting her recent promotion on what she learned from our site.

If you were to boil it down to a few sentences, what would you say you get from giving (away knowledge)?

I’m driven by the opportunity to empower others to achieve their career goals.

There’s really nothing more satisfying than helping somebody learn information and skills that will have a tangible impact on their professional success. At Deskbright, we believe that by continuing to teach people, we can make work — such a large part of our daily lives — both fun and fulfilling.

Thanks for joining us, Sam!

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