These 5 Skills Can Boost Your Income -- and You Can Learn Them for Free

The latest data shows that 61% of American workers live paycheck to paycheck, and Americans' credit card debt recently topped $1 trillion. It may be an understatement to say that many people may be looking to boost their income and improve their personal financial situation right now. 

The good news is that you can increase your salary or add some additional income from side projects by learning new skills -- all without having to spend any money. 

Recent data from the employment website Indeed listed some skills that tend to earn people a higher-than-average salary. Here are five to consider to help boost your earning potential.  

1. Project management

One of the first high-paying skills Indeed mentions is project management. This may involve managing deadlines, organizing company resources, managing budgets, and communicating project goals with a team. 

If you're an organized person and like to help others stay organized to achieve a goal, developing this skill set could be an excellent avenue to help you increase your income. A quick search on Khan Academy comes up with a long list of videos and courses on various project management focuses available for free. 

2. Video production 

Many different skills fall under video production, including on-location video shoots, general social media content, video editing, or even being a social media influencer. 

I can attest that learning some basic video editing and production skills -- all for free -- has helped me boost my income. I taught myself basic video editing skills years ago by watching videos online, and I've used the skill to earn extra money from making PR videos, social media content, and YouTube videos.

There are some great free video tools out there these days, including DaVinci Resolve for video editing and even the free version of Canva for easily creating video content.

3. Web development 

I have one friend who taught himself web development, slowly building his skills over a few years. He started out doing it as his hobby, then learned enough to switch careers (improving his income), and now works for a Fortune 500 company overseeing other developers. 

One popular website is CodeAcademy, which has a free version of its membership that gives you basic access to some of its coding courses. Khan Academy also offers free courses for learning computer programming. 

4. Communication skills 

Improving your verbal and written communication can help you in a variety of jobs, whether you're in sales, marketing, management, or running your own company.

Communication skills are so essential that billionaire investor Warren Buffett says that workers who improve their written and verbal communication can drastically boost their value. “The one easy way to become worth 50% more than you are now -- at least -- is to hone your communication skills -- both written and verbal," Buffett said in an interview several years ago.

The online learning company Udemy, has free writing and verbal communication courses, and you can find a long list of communication courses on Khan Academy as well.

5. Social media marketing ​​

Many companies need people to create content for their social media channels and manage the publication schedule. If you like creating content and are also good at diving into audience metrics and managing long-term projects, this could be a good route to explore. 

If you haven't done social media marketing before, there are many online resources to help you. The popular online marketing software company HubSpot has a free course to help people get started in social media marketing, with five hours of instructional videos on topics like developing a social media strategy, building an inbound social media marketing plan, how to create content, and measuring return on investment (ROI). 

A few suggestions for getting started 

I know what it's like to use a new skill to improve my personal finances, but sometimes it can be hard to know where to start. Here a few suggestions that might help you get started:

• Focus on something you enjoy: If possible, try to develop a new skill in an area you already have an interest in. It'll be easier to learn and you'll have more fun putting in the effort.
• Build on something you already know how to do: You may already have a job that involves a new skill you can expand. For example, if you're a copywriter, then spending a little time learning social media marketing could help you use your writing in a new way.
• Set a financial goal: Set a goal for how much additional income you want each month with your new skill. I've done this when I've taken on new freelance jobs to help me stay focused, and it could do the same for you while you're learning a new skill.  

Learning a new skill can seem overwhelming, but spending a little time each week to build up your expertise will help you expand your skill set faster than you realize and help improve your chances of finding a new side hustle or even making it easier to ask for a raise.