Comparing Custom, Paid Training to Generic, Free Training

At first glance, you're probably thinking - uh - free - duh? But is it that simple? Let's take a look. 

First, free training is ideal if you know exactly what you're looking to learn, for example "How to write a basic formula in Excel" or "How to send a meeting invite in Teams" or "How to create a signature in Outlook". These are each specific and generic requests. When I say generic, I mean it doesn't matter if you work in retail, banking, insurance or healthcare - you won't need a unique setup of instructions based on your job or industry. You can easily google these phrases and get hundreds of decent to good quality instructions and/or videos. 

Much of the time free training is also static and asynchronous (not live). It is already written and recorded. Free training also tends to be more basic. The more complex what you're learning, the more important it is to apply it to your unique industry, job-type or...