Graduation season is upon us, and that means college graduates everywhere are preparing to enter "the real world." But chances are your liberal arts degree, as hard-earned and valuable as it is, doesn't equip you with every digital skill you need.


We've put together a short list of fundamental skills that every college graduate should possess, from simply branding yourself online to learning basic coding. They're guaranteed to increase your overall digital know-how, and you can learn them all on your own.

Did you graduate college a long time ago, or never attended? Don't worry — it's never too late to learn these skills. They're useful to anyone.

1. Setting Up a Wi-Fi Network
These days, most students are lucky enough to go to colleges that already have wireless Internet set up in the dorms. By simply typing in a password on the provided network, the web magically appears on your laptop. But once you graduate, that's no longer the case. To save yourself from this harsh reality, learn what it takes to get working Wi-Fi: setting up the modem, launching a new network and researching local companies and pricing.

2. Backing Up to the Cloud
With all those photos of your friends, your music library and a copy of your 40-page thesis, your entire world exists on the hardware of your computer, phone or tablet. You're going to want to back all of that up to the cloud, either to preserve it, or so you can access your information anywhere. Whether you're interested in iCloud or Dropbox, research the various services that are available and find the one that's right for you.

3. Basic Photo Editing (Photoshop)
Even if you don't plan on using Photoshop regularly after graduation, it doesn't hurt to know the basics. More and more careers require Photoshop skills, whether it's journalism, marketing or even non-profit work. Snag a cheaper copy of Elements and learn your way around a paint brush, layers and color correction.

4. Basic Video Editing (Final Cut Pro)
Just like photo editing, video editing can come in handy, too. Check if a friend or someone well-versed in multimedia at one of your school publications or libraries can teach you the basics of Final Cut Pro. At the very least, you'll be able to cut some sweet YouTube videos.

5. Google Drive and Microsoft Office (Seriously)
These tools may seem obvious, but knowing the ins-and-outs of Google Drive and Microsoft office is a digital skill you shouldn't go without. Learning how to make a proper Excel spreadsheet actually takes effort, and it's still a specific qualification for many job listings. Google Drive includes docs, spreadsheets and forms, and it's easy to collaborate with other users at the same time. Slideshow presentations still haven't gone out of style, so re-familiarize yourself with Microsoft PowerPoint, Google Presentations or other sites like Prezi.

6. HTML and Basic Coding
Since our culture is increasingly web-centric, you should know the basics of crafting online content — and how to control the look and feel of it. HTML5 is the standard markup language used everywhere from web design firms to newsrooms. Other types of coding can help you make programs and easily get information from your computer (check out Codecademy and Khan Academy for beginners' tutorials).

7. Setting Up a Website and Domain
Every college graduate should have a website, whether it's to brand himself (see number 10 on this list), showcase his original work (art portfolio, writing samples, etc.) or just to learn for future instances. Coding can help you out here, but you can also use various website-building services, such as Wordpress and Squarespace.

You should also learn how to create a custom domain: for example, "yourname.com" rather than "yourname.wordpress.com." This looks more professional (and cleaner overall). Namecheap and GoDaddy are two popular domain name services and hosting sites.

8. Converting File Formats
Sometimes you'll have a file format different from the one you need — DOC instead of PDF; WMA instead of MP3 and so on. Knowing how to convert these files is useful, especially when you're trying to send your resume (or at least, getting that movie to play on your Roku USB Media Player). Certain programs, like Microsoft Word, will do the legwork for you, but you can find a variety of file conversion programs for those other tricky file extensions.

9. Online Banking
Who needs to balance a checkbook when you're living in the digital age? Major banks like Bank of America and Chase feature very intuitive online banking systems and mobile apps. You can manage your finances anywhere you have an Internet connection. Instead of waiting in long lines at your local branch, deposit checks and make transfers right from your phone.

10. Branding Yourself
Companies are screening prospective employees through Google searches and social media — and since 94% of users click on the first page of results, it's in your best interest to brand yourself properly before going on any big interviews.

What does this entail? Google your name and see what pops up on the first page. If you see anything problematic, learn how to fix it. In addition to setting up a website and claiming a domain name, you should establish a social media presence, especially on LinkedIn and Twitter, and post positive content. If there's anything you wouldn't want prospective employers to see (e.g., Facebook photos), make sure it's completely private

By Matt Petronzio

There are times where you are just bored or simply just lack in motivation and enthusiasm and want to check some quotes to keep you going. We all get burnt out, so whenever your thinking to yourself: how can I keep going? Just read some of these quotes from the greatest business men in the world.

Here is one to get you started : “A bank is a place which will lend you money when you do not need it.”  The reasoning behind this quote is simple really: banks are just like any other investors, they want to ensure that your idea is unique and profitable. Therefore they only want to invest when they know that the business could potentially be profitable in the near future without taking the banks investment.

1. A business has to be involving, it has to be fun, and it has to exercise your creative instincts. – Richard Branson
2. The entrepreneur always searches for change, responds to it, and exploits it as an opportunity. – Peter F. Drucker
3. No enterprise can exist for itself alone. It ministers to some great need, it performs some great service, not for itself, but for others.. or failing therein, it ceases to be profitable and ceases to exist. – Calvin Coolidge
4. Live daringly, boldly, fearlessly. Taste the relish to be found in competition – in having put forth the best within you. – Henry J. Kaiser
5. Winning is not a sometime thing; it’s an all time thing. You don’t win once in a while, you don’t do things right once in a while, you do them right all the time. Winning is habit. Unfortunately, so is losing. – Vince Lombardi
6. In all realms of life it takes courage to stretch your limits, express your power, and fulfill your potential. It’s no different in the financial realm. – Suze Orman
7. The expectations of life depend upon diligence; the mechanic that would perfect his work must first sharpen his tools. – Confucius
8. The first one gets the oyster the second gets the shell. – Andrew Carnegie
9. Hire character. Train skill. – Peter Schutz
10. The first rule of any technology used in a business is that automation applied to an efficient operation will magnify the efficiency. The second is that automation applied to an inefficient operation will magnify the inefficiency. – Bill Gates
11. Look well to this day. Yesterday is but a dream and tomorrow is only a vision. But today well lived makes every yesterday a dream of happiness and every tomorrow a vision of hope. Look well therefore to this day. – Francis Gray
12. Surviving a failure gives you more self-confidence. Failures are great learning tools.. but they must be kept to a minimum. – Jeffrey Immelt
13. Whatever the mind of man can conceive and believe, it can achieve. Thoughts are things! And powerful things at that, when mixed with definiteness of purpose, and burning desire, can be translated into riches. – Napoleon Hill
14. It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change. – Charles Darwin
15. Industry is the soul of business and the keystone of prosperity. –Charles Dickens
16. I don’t pay good wages because I have a lot of money; I have a lot of money because I pay good wages. – Robert Bosch
17. People are definitely a company’s greatest asset. It doesn’t make any difference whether the product is cars or cosmetics. A company is only as good as the people it keeps. – Mary Kay Ash
18. In business, I’ve discovered that my purpose is to do my best to my utmost ability every day. That’s my standard. I learned early in my life that I had high standards. – Donald Trump
19. In the business world, everyone is paid in two coins: cash and experience. Take the experience first; the cash will come later. –Harold Geneen
20. To be successful, you have to have your heart in your business, and your business in your heart. – Thomas Watson, Sr.
21. The absolute fundamental aim is to make money out of satisfying customers. – John Egan
22. There are a lot of things that go into creating success. I don’t like to do just the things I like to do. I like to do things that cause the company to succeed. I don’t spend a lot of time doing my favorite activities. – Michael Dell
23. I have found no greater satisfaction than achieving success through honest dealing and strict adherence to the view that, for you to gain, those you deal with should gain as well. – Alan Greenspan
24. You must be the change you wish to see in the world. – Mahatma Gandhi
25. Let’s be honest. There’s not a business anywhere that is without problems. Business is complicated and imperfect. Every business everywhere is staffed with imperfect human beings and exists by providing a product or service to other imperfect human beings. –Bob Parsons
26. You need to be aware of what others are doing, applaud their efforts, acknowledge their successes, and encourage them in their pursuits. When we all help one another, everybody wins. – Jim Stovall
27. The only way around is through. – Robert Frost
28. You only have to do a very few things right in your life so long as you don’t do too many things wrong. – Warren Buffett
29. The noblest search is the search for excellence – Lyndon B. Johnson
30. The man who does not work for the love of work but only for money is not likely to neither make money nor find much fun in life. –Charles M. Schwab
31. You must remain focused on your journey to greatness. – Les Brown
32. Far and away the best prize that life offers is the chance to work hard at work worth doing. – Theodore Roosevelt
33. Where there is an open mind, there will always be a frontier. –Charles F. Kettering
34. Whether you think you can or whether you think you can’t, you’re right! – Henry Ford
35. You must either modify your dreams or magnify your skills. – Jim Rohn
36. Who likes not his business, his business likes not him. – William Hazlitt
37. The new source of power is not money in the hands of a few, but information in the hands of many. – John Naisbitt
38. The man who will use his skill and constructive imagination to see how much he can give for a dollar, instead of how little he can give for a dollar, is bound to succeed. – Henry Ford
39. It’s through curiosity and looking at opportunities in new ways that we’ve always mapped our path at Dell. There’s always an opportunity to make a difference. – Michael Dell
40. If you work just for money, you’ll never make it, but if you love what you’re doing and you always put the customer first, success will be yours. – Ray Kroc
41. Winners take time to relish their work, knowing that scaling the mountain is what makes the view from the top so exhilarating. –Denis Waitley
42. Management is nothing more than motivating other people. – Le Iacocca
43. Motivation is the art of getting people to do what you want them to do because they want to do it. – Dwight D. Eisenhower
44. The most serious mistakes are not being made as a result of wrong answers. The truly dangerous thing is asking the wrong question. –Peter Drucker
45. Why did I want to win? Because I didn’t want to lose! – Max Schmelling
46. To succeed in business, to reach the top, an individual must know all it is possible to know about that business. – J. Paul Getty
47. I wasn’t satisfied just to earn a good living. I was looking to make a statement. – Donald Trump
48. To succeed… You need to find something to hold on to, something to motivate you, something to inspire you. – Tony Dorsett
49. Statistics suggest that when customers complain, business owners and managers ought to get excited about it. The complaining customer represents a huge opportunity for more business. – Zig Ziglar
50. To win without risk is to triumph without glory. – Pierre Corneille

By Lee Haxhiu

Do you have any motivational quotes to add? Please comment below and let us know and also remember to follow us on twitter.