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Introduction
The world is getting more cutthroat every day. The competition is growing, jobs are shrinking, and AI is replacing us with inferior humans. To not fall behind, you need to learn high-income skills today. I’ll be covering six that can earn you more money, give you more freedom, and make you irreplaceable by AI. Instead of being terminated, you’ll be the Terminator. Let’s dive in.
Skill 1: AI
It’s pretty obvious— to not be replaced by AI, you should learn AI. But everyone says that. What does that mean? AI is vast; there’s so much that it can do, yet most people don’t know all the things that it can do. Besides the common chat GPT and AI art, there are many other AI tools out there that are just as useful and mind-blowing.
The first step to learning AI is to simply be aware of what it’s capable of right now. Explore all the AI tools currently available and their use cases. Read some articles, and watch some videos— it’ll put you one step ahead of everyone else because you’ll be able to recognize what AI is replacing and what it isn’t. Most importantly, spot opportunities to use AI to your benefit and make money.
That leads us to the second step of learning AI: learning the AI tools themselves. It will allow you to put AI into action and give you an edge over others. But here’s my hot take: don’t invest too much time mastering any AI tool right now because it’s kind of pointless. Let me explain.
AI Tools Evolution
This was what AI video tools could generate 1 year ago. Now imagine back then, you decide to spend hours figuring out the best prompts and settings to get a slightly less messed-up Will Smith. Fast forward to today, and this is what AI video tools can generate with less difficulty too. I’m pretty sure most of the tips and tricks you learned for Will Smith are now outdated.
Right now, we’re just at the beginning of the AI revolution. Every day, AI tools are advancing so fast that most of the AI tools we know now will soon be outdated in ways that we can’t even comprehend. For example, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang (whose side note has the same first name as me—that’s kind of cool) has said that kids should not learn to code because AI will do it for us in the future. It seems crazy, but we also got a catchy AI Drake diss track recently, so at this point, anything is possible.
Learning AI Tools
So for now, feel free to learn only what you need to learn when you need to learn it. As AI technology matures and becomes a bit more stable, that’s when I’d consider truly mastering AI tools and learning the ins and outs of them.
I will say though, if there’s one AI tool that I think has developed enough to be worthwhile to dive deep into, it’s ChatGPT. It’s the most popular one for a reason. If you want to unlock its full potential, I’ve linked in the description a free bundle of ChatGPT resources that you should check out. It includes a flow chart that lets you know when it’s best to use ChatGPT, a step-by-step guide to integrating it into your workflow, a prompt template that helps it write in your brand voice, a checklist to follow to get the best results, and an eBook covering creative ways to use ChatGPT and 100 prompts to try.
Skill 2: Marketing
I studied marketing back in University and remember it being looked down upon by my classmates. Marketing was seen as a worthless and low-income skill compared to other skills like finance and accounting. Having since graduated and gone to work in the real world, I’ve realized that view was just plain wrong. Marketing is without a doubt one of the most valuable and high-income skills that one can have today and has made me much more money than I was led to believe.
The Power of Marketing
You see, we live in an attention economy. Everyone and everything is fighting to grab your attention, especially businesses. It’s not enough to just have a good product or service anymore. Businesses constantly need to find ways to stand out, because those who do win. That’s where marketing comes in. It’s the skill of promoting a product or service, and it’s in heavy demand. Every year, businesses are investing more in marketing, such as content marketing, digital marketing, social media marketing, and more.
Having marketing skills can open you to working in these growing fields. As AI grows bigger, marketing skills will also become more valuable because it’s a human-oriented skill. Marketing deals with humans, and humans are weird as hell. We’re unpredictable. We get bored easily. Our imperfections will keep marketing skills in demand and irreplaceable by AI, as products and services will always need new human ways to attract our ADHD brains.
Marketing Beyond Jobs
Even outside of marketing jobs, the skill is extremely useful to have these days. It’s more important than ever to have a personal brand. If you think about it, every person is essentially their own business. If you want to be known in your industry, be considered by employers, or grow a social media following, you need to market yourself well and shape how others see and think of you.
Where marketing skills pay off and can bring you the big bucks is through entrepreneurship. When it comes down to it, a lot of entrepreneurship is just marketing. Running a business involves building a brand, analyzing data, identifying niches, designing products, and attracting customers—all of those fall under marketing. When you pair marketing skills with entrepreneurship, you’re not only promoting a business—you’re promoting your business, and you get to reap all the rewards and profits that come with it. This is how I primarily leverage my marketing skills.
Learning Marketing
So how do you learn marketing? You could go to school for it, but honestly, the best way to learn is by doing it. Start with your brand as your first project and gradually expand your knowledge from there. On your journey, you might also pick up skills from other areas.
Skill 3: Sales
Now, sales can seem the same as marketing. Both are related to selling products and services. However, there’s a slight difference between the two. Simply put, marketing is building awareness while sales is closing the deal. It’s the process of finding leads, pitching, and negotiating, handling objections, and ultimately securing the bag.
Sales as a High-Earning Skill
Many sales jobs offer high salaries in the six figures, specifically those in the tech, financial services, industrial, medical, and pharmaceutical industries. A lot of these jobs are also tied to commission— the more you sell, the more you make. So there’s a lot of money in sales if you’re good. Just like marketing, sales is a transferable skill that can be used in other fields.
Learning Sales
In fact, I would say sales is one of the most transferable skills because if you think about it, we’re all selling things all the time, every day. We sell to others our ideas and opinions. We sell to others our worth for a job, for a raise, for a cute girl’s number. For entrepreneurs, sales skills are needed not only to sell a company’s value to customers but also to employees and investors.
At its core, sales is about building trust with people and addressing their needs. It’s not just a business skill, it’s a life skill. Because of how human-oriented it is, it’s going to be tough for AI to replace.
Skill 4: Communication
If sales is one of the most transferable skills, communication is in my opinion the most transferable skill. Almost everything involves some form of communication. The reality is that with the world living more and more behind screens, fewer people are developing strong communication skills. It’s kind of sad, to be honest, but it presents an opportunity.
Those who do learn how to communicate well will stand out. There are two types of communication: writing and speaking. Starting with writing, it’s an essential skill to have and can lead to work in copywriting and freelance writing. The thing about writing though is that AI has a grip on it. Tools like ChatGPT are making writing easy for everyone. Just ask the high school kids in English class.
Speaking Skills
I don’t think AI will replace writing entirely, but it might make writing skills less valued in the future, at least in terms of the technical aspect. This brings us to the second type of communication: speaking. While AI voices are sounding realistic these days, I believe it’s less likely that AI will directly replace our voices unless you’re like Stephen Hawking or something.
So, I’d say it’s worth investing in speaking skills. It’s not like other skills. You don’t sell speaking, except if you’re a voice actor or ASMR streamer. Most of the time, money from speaking is made indirectly. Think of the most successful people out there. One thing they all likely do is speak a lot, whether they like it or not.
Learning Speaking Skills
Why? Because speaking is a great tool to influence and connect with others. It’s not the act of speaking itself that makes money, but what it can make someone do: buy a product, invest in a company, and become a loyal customer. You can change the world with the right speech.
To learn how to speak well, it’s all about practice. You gotta yap a lot. And if you think being shy or an introvert means you can’t be good at speaking, think again. I used to be very shy and introverted. Still am sometimes. The first time I spoke in front of my class in grade three, I was terrified. But I gradually learned how to control my voice, my body language, and my delivery. The key to good speaking is confidence, not talent.
Skill 5: Leadership
This one might be a bit obvious, but leadership is a valuable skill in today’s world. People look to leaders for guidance and inspiration. If you can lead a team, make important decisions, and motivate others, you will be hard to replace. AI may replace jobs, but leadership requires empathy and a human touch— qualities that machines can’t replicate.
Skill 6: Financial Literacy
The final skill is financial literacy. To truly become wealthy, it’s not just about earning more money; it’s about knowing how to manage it. This includes understanding investments, taxes, budgeting, and savings. Financially literate people make smarter decisions, avoid bad debt, and grow their wealth over time.
Conclusion
These high-income skills are powerful and are essential in today’s fast-paced, tech-driven world. Don’t wait for AI to replace you— take control and learn these skills today. Whether it’s AI, marketing, sales, communication, leadership, or financial literacy, mastering them will set you up for a future that’s bright and secure.
