Hello World!

My name is Dan and I'm an Excel addict.  I absolutely love learning how to do new things in Microsoft Excel.  My specialties are in creating templates, dashboards, scorecards, automation of processes, analysis, and writing macros in VBA. Before I continue though, I'd like to share some of my favorite sources I've used over the years for my questions:

www.mrexcel.com
www.ozgrid.com
www.peltiertech.com

My goal for this blog is not to have a forum for users to ask for help, but to simply share some of the experiences and knowledge that I've gained over the years.  I will also add new formulas and how-to's for every level of user.  This is not a problem solving forum, so if you need help with a specific problem, try the sites listed above.

My journey toward Excel greatness began very simply... 10 years ago, I had a job I didn't like!  I was a unit clerk on a hospital unit and I wasn't very good at it and didn't really enjoy it.  For those that may be sympathizing at this point, there are a few choices available when you feel like you're backed into a corner and can't get out:

1. Curl up into a ball, cry, and blame everyone and everything around you.
2. Continue with the current situation
3. Get educated, make yourself better, and get the heck out of there!

Personally, I prefer #3 so I began by using the following process:
1. Finding a question
2. Asking the question
3. See it - Do it - Teach it.

1. Finding a Question:  Well, for my first "Big" Excel question, I wanted to know how to make the cells below my formula have a similar formula but for the cells in the row below (Sound familiar?)... In other words, I wanted to automatically fill ("AutoFill") the cells below my current, active cell with the same formula but have the references change with the row.  Yes, I wanted to use Auto-Fill.  No, I had never used it.

2. Asking the question: I've found the the biggest part of solving a problem is asking the right question. When I started on my quest for knowledge ten years ago, I knew enough to look in the help files - not really helpful, but enough to get me where I needed to go.  Nowadays, I prefer to consult "The Google" and see what results come back.  A tip for a good search is to determine what the key words are.  In the case of my first question, I would use the words Excel, Automatic, fill, and Formula [Give it a try and see what you get!]

3. See it, Do it, Teach it:  This is a method of learning that seems to work very well for me.  Everyone is different, but I find this is a pretty solid way to learn things.  See it: Watch how to do it, or read how to do it. Do it: Try it out! Teach it: Teaching someone else often requires a lot of forethought and detail oriented instruction.  If you can teach someone else to do it, you've got it figure out.

In closing, I'm hoping this blog will help others in their quest for knowledge.  I know that through hard work and dedication we can all become AWESOME in whatever we're trying to do.

Cheers!