Childhood Dream comes true [personal story]

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I am free...Some of you know that I have a full time job as a business analyst with one of the largest IT companies in the world. I help insurance companies do their IT better in that job. Almost a week ago, I have resigned from my day time job.

Back story:

As far back as I can remember, I have always wanted to run my own company. It is one of the reasons why I pursued MBA. But over the course of years, the part in me that is curious, risk taking and stubborn has vanished and was replaced by cautious, calculated and flexible self. May be it is all the education and social set up, or may be it is just me. The change has been subtle but very powerful. So much that when I finished MBA in 2006, I did not consider setting up my own company, even for a second. I was bending backwards to impress the recruiters and get a steady 9 to 5 job.

Year 2007 – the year of change:

The transformation from cautious to curious has been gradual and began in 2007. I went to USA for the first time in my life and met several interesting and enterprising people. I also realized the potential of web based startups. They are low cost, easy to setup and run and can be managed on part-time basis. Around the same time , my crush with Excel happened. So I started writing about it on my personal blog (yes, PHD used to be a personal blog before 2007. Dig deep in to archives and you will find a lot stories, experiences and trivia). But I also started a small website in the movie domain. The movie site didnt go that well, but PHD kept on rocking.

In the meanwhile, my day job kept me busy and gave me lots of challenging assignments. So I pushed PHD to the side track and worked on it in the nights and weekends. But somewhere in my heart I knew that I would have to quit my job and pursue PHD as a full time venture. But the cautious side of me never let it happen.

Years 2008 and 2009 – Foundation years:

Along the years (in 2008 and 2009) I cleared my student loans and most of the mortgage (house loan). I also made some buffer money by working in foreign locations and monetizing PHD’s traffic thru ads. All this was poured in to our bank accounts to create little cushion for us. Even then I wasnt thinking about quitting my job and starting a company.

Then I became dad in late 2009. Simultaneously I launched excel project management templates for sale. As my kids grew, the sales of PM Templates also went up. This was encouraging.

Year 2010 – Finally,

So in year 2010 I took some of the money made from PM Templates and invested in the Excel School program. Again many of you have welcomed the program with both hands and I saw a generous boost in part time business. But even then I wasn’t quite sure if working on PHD alone is a good idea.

Then something strange happened. Between day job, work on PHD I was spending very little time my family. My work demanded that I be in Denmark for extended time and I could hardly find any time to be with Jo and the kids. I was being a bad dad and husband. And that feeling was killing me inside.

So in March 2010 I came back to India on vacation. My initial plan was to take a 6 month sabbatical from day job and spend that time with my wife and kids. But after spending a month with them I couldn’t imagine going back to work. So I sent in my resignation last week.

What next?

And then it dawned 2

I jokingly tell my wife that instead of working for one boss, I have now 9500 bosses. Each with different and very high expectations. 🙂

  • Well, I will devote more time to PHD and update it regularly. I will strive to maintain the quality of posts and interaction here.
  • I will also launch few new products (may be one product every 2 months) to keep the income stream trickling.
  • I will be running Excel School on regular basis (or make it as an on-demand product).
  • I will be doing more Excel Consulting work (Do you need a dashboard or report to be done? Drop me an email to get a quote).
  • I will be able to conduct on-site training sessions any where in India.
  • But most importantly I will be there to smile when Jo, Nishanth and Nakshatra wake up from sleep, and when they go to bed. every day. And that makes me happy 🙂

PS: I am planning to chronicle my journey as an entrepreneur at startup desi. Follow me there if you like to know how to run a one man shop online.

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30 Responses to “18 Tips to Make you an Excel Formatting Pro”

  1. Hui... says:

    For my 2 cents worth:
    Less is more !
    Keep styles simple and in line with the corporate requirements of your employer/client

  2. Deb says:

    The table formatting is really useful, but I have found two sticky points:
    1. Cannot move or copy a sheet with a table in it.
    2. Cannot 'table format' multiple sheets at once.

    May be ways around these issues, but these are what keep me from using the table format more than I already do.

  3. Ulrik says:

    Remove gridlines in sheet
    Use dotted lines as internal borders in tables
    And just keep it simple - it's the substance that matters and there's already way too much eye candy out there

  4. Stephen says:

    I write a lot of financial reports conveying complex data in a userfriendly manner. I don't use colour (as it costs 7p/sheet verses B/W at 1p/sheet). The trick is to generate a table that someone will skim over for "the story" and then can refer back to understand it. very muck like Ulrik said, keep it simple.

    Some simple guidelines that I use:
    (a) align headings based on data (if data is text that means left, if data is numbers that means right)
    (b) do not align central numbers (unless all similar) i.e. how hard is it to read a column of numbers that contains €1.25 and €125
    (c) use borders to group columns and rows, don't format every line/column but allow the data to draw your eyes along it. "White lines" are as useful as borders
    (d) thin borders are better than fat borders - the fatter they are, the more they draw the eye... so use them to draw attention to key numbers (like a total) only.
    (e) use units to make numbers easier to read. Generally people cannot skim numbers with more than 3 d.p or 5 significant figures. so report in millions/thousands (or the other way as in ml)
    (f) avoid making text too small or too big. too small (less than 10) and people can't read it. too big (>14) and people struggle to skim over it (their eyes have to move too much)

    • Manjunath says:

      ......I don’t use colour (as it costs 7p/sheet verses B/W at 1p/sheet).....

      Not necessarily..
      Don't compromise on how good a sheet can be made to look on monitor. To print black and white, simply configure in page setup to print in black and white.

  5. Istiyak says:

    Like This post !!

    I m always using ALT + EST, not verymuch confirtable with cell style. will try to use color schemes (new feature)

    Regards
    !$T!

  6. Winston says:

    Hi Stephen,

    Do you have some non-proprietary samples you may share on drop box or Windows Live SkyDrive?

    Thanks
    w

  7. Carsten says:

    Great post!

    Which key ist EST from the shortcut "ALT+EST".
    I am using a german keyboard layout and have never heard something about an EST key.

    Thanks
    Carsten

    • Chandoo says:

      Hi Carsten...

      If you are using English version of Excel, then press ALT+E then leave the alt key, E key and then press S, then press T
      For German version of Excel, the keys would be different. I am not sure what they are.

  8. Fred says:

    it was nice MS come up with all the color schemes. However, corporate culture (or your boss) sometimes dominate or predetermine what style a spreadsheet should look like. So I hardly get a chance to use #1 to #3 shown above.

    Most of the times, it is someone else who wants a certain report or analysis gets to decide how s/he wants it to look like. I see myself more like a line chef or engineer. Others get to be the architect and I'm just a builder transforming a design into a real home. I don't get much say in it unless they are asking me to build a multistoried building on a single tooth pick as foundation.

  9. Carsten says:

    Hi Chandoo,

    thank you for your reply. Now I understand. It's something like searching for the ANY Key, because some program is displaying "Press any key to continue..."

    But to find the german version of this shortcut:
    ALT+E calls the Edit-menue? And for what are the S and T. Just tell me the english names of the menueitems, please.
    I think then I will find it.

    Carsten

  10. Adam says:

    @Carsten

    Alt+EST is
    (E)dit;
    paste (S)pecial;
    forma(T)s

    Excellent post guys!

  11. SARAN KUMAR says:

    @Carsten,

    Try to know how to find the shortcuts in the excel menu bar itself.

    You click Alt + any of the underline character in the menu bar, then excel will take you to that particular menu field.

    Now you can find different options in the dropdown menu. And each option has the name. Each name has underline in any of the characeter. That underline character is nothing but the shortcut key to execute that option.

    Like this you can find in excel all the options and their shortcut keys.

    Coming to the above example..

    Once you click alt + E, it will take you to the "EDIT" drop down menu. Under Edit there are so many options like cuT, Copy, Paste, paste Special, fIll.... etc., I think you can find underline under 't' in cut..'p' in paste..'s' in paste Special. You need to click the underlined character for the required options...Here the 'S' underlines for Paste Special option...

    Once you click 'S' it will open paste special options box...again you will find the same underlines in each of the names...here you can find different opetions like All, Formulas, Values, formaTs...etc. 'v' is nothing but Values option. Once you click V in the key board..it will execute paste special values option.

    As Summary Alt + (E)dit + paste (S)pecial + (V)alues

    Now you can find the shortcuts your own. all the best.

    Regards,
    Saran
    lostinexcel.blogspot.com

    • Manjunath says:

      You can also customize the quick access toolbar.. Once you find the icon you regularly use, right click and then select Add to quick access toolbar and once you are done, when you press Alt key it will be highlighted 1,2,3,4 etc depending upon the sequence of the icon..

  12. sixseven says:

    Ctrl-ES is sooooo 2003.

    Ctrl+Alt+V all the way baby!!!

  13. Jinesh says:

    You can DOUBLE-CLICK Format painter button to copy the formatting multiple times. Once you are done, press ESC key.
    //

  14. satheesh says:

    Hi,
    How to apply the custom styles for cells from the sql table, by using c# program.

    Thanks & Regards,
    Satheesh

  15. […] You can use the Page Layout section in Excel to apply colour themes to your reports. Chandoo.org has some useful Excel tips.  […]

  16. sujit says:

    Hi i want to print a page which have bottom line to print on each page end how to do that pls explain

  17. jay sharma says:

    Thanks Sir

  18. Srinivasan says:

    Thanks alot

  19. Srinivasan says:

    Very useful thanks

  20. mohamed salah says:

    thank you too much

  21. VIJAI S says:

    your tips are awesome.

  22. Kiran says:

    How to show a table with around 20-25 columns in the dashboard in the first page itself? I mean, within the dashboard area.
    Is there anyway we can add a horizontal scroll bar for the table?

    • Hui... says:

      @Kiran

      You never add tables directly to a dashboard

      You add cells that reference a table
      By reference I mean it gives you the ability via Formula or VBA to scroll up/down, Left/right or re-order the data
      Think of it as a window into the table

      This is discussed regularly in Chandoo's dashboard samples
      Have a look at the 2 links in Item 1: http://chandoo.org/wp/welcome/

      I'd then suggest asking a specific question in the Chandoo.org Forums and attach a sample file for a specific answer.

  23. sandra says:

    love it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  24. Venkat says:

    I have a table of value for a month, with no data for few dates.
    I created a chart basing on above data.
    In the chart I find calendar dates, even though few dates with no data are not available in the table.
    How to remove the dates in the chart for those without data?

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