Spreadsheets 101 for True Beginners

Can I just tell you, it makes my heart so happy that you clicked on this post?! Why? Because I am so excited to share my passion for spreadsheets with you! I have seen a bazilion spreadsheet tutorials, but none of them seem to be for true beginners.

So, if you are a true beginner at spreadsheets, this post contains a few basic steps to help get you started.

A spreadsheet is nothing more than a screen full of blissful little boxes, just waiting for you to fill them full of knowledge! And once you key your knowledge in, they turn into lean, mean calculating machines! And, in the monument world, spreadsheets can be used to calculate absolutely every aspect of your business.

Want to calculate market share ? You can make a spreadsheet for that!

Need to calculate your setting truck’s pay load? You can make a spreadsheet for that!

Interested in organizing your month end process? You can make a spreadsheet for that!

But, how do you create such a fun little slice of data-crunching heaven? Well, friend, I am about to show you.

Step 1: Open up the Program

It’s kind of like “step 1: plug in your computer”, right?! Of course the program needs to be open if you want to use it!

But, what if you don’t have spreadsheet software? Or, what if you think you have a program like that on your computer, but can’t find it?

If either of those scenarios fit you, then keep reading! If you already have your software and know how to open it, move along to the next step.

Microsoft Excel

I grew up in rural Oklahoma, where teachers literally make nothing. They put in long hours pouring into students who don’t truly appreciate them until they are much older, yet still, are resolved to equip kids with the skills they will one day need.

I find that I appreciate my secondary teachers more now than I ever did before. And the one class I truly hated at the time but use nearly every day of my professional life….is Coach Higby’s Ten Key Class.

So, first of all, coaches really get a bad reputation as teachers. But, at Ada High School in Ada, Oklahoma, I can honestly say some of the most impactful teachers I had were coaches. And I really didn’t think I would say that about Coach Higby’s Ten Key Class. But…here I am!

Anyway, it was there in that hot, sunny classroom, that I learned to blindly and confidently key data into an old, but hot, little 1990’s program: Microsoft Excel for Windows.

How to Find Excel on Your PC for True Beginners

In the nineties and early 2000’s, this handy program often came pre-installed on Microsoft PCs. Now I am not certain that it does. But you will want to look for it on your computer to see if you have it. I have circled the logo for you below.

To open Microsoft Excel, just find that logo and click on it.

If you can’t find the logo, go to your desktop’s search bar and type in “Excel”. If you have the program, an option for it should populate and you can click it.

If it doesn’t populate, then you likely need to purchase the program and can do so in your Microsoft 365 account.

Is it worth purchasing? If you are planning to run a more data-driven monument business, then you absolutely need this program. You can export your company’s data from StoneSpot and Quickbooks into Excel and have the data you need, exactly when you need it.

Sure, you can use one of those old, yellow legal pads instead, but a spreadsheet will save you time and help you compare data year over year.

Just buy it.

Open, Sesame!

Now that you have Excel and know how to find it, double click the icon and world of endless data possibilities will unfold before you.

Step 2: Understand Those Beautiful Boxes

These eager little boxes are just waiting for you to fill them with all kinds of information. But, before you start, there are a few things you should know.

They Line Up in Columns and Rows

It is simply spreadsheet nature- the boxes (technically called cells) line up in perfect vertical columns and horizontal rows. And, while they are each different, they appear to be the same. But, just like identical twins, there is a way to tell them each apart.

They Have Names

It may be difficult to tell these little cells apart, but the makers of Excel made it easier by assigning each cell a name. If you look at the top edge of the boxes, you will see alphabet letters. And, if you look to the left edge of the cells, you will see numbers.

The letters represent columns and the numbers represent rows. And each cell is a member of both a column and a row.

In the example below you will see cell A1 is highlighted in red.

They Speak a Language

There is not an “official” Microsoft Excel language, but the cells do “speak”. And if you want them to understand you, you must use their “language”. To start “speaking” to Excel, you begin the conversation by clicking on the cell you want to use and then entering either an equal or a plus sign. That tells the program you need it to do something.

= or + tells the program you need it to perform a function.

Once you enter the = or + sign, you enter an open parenthesis. This tells the program you are about to start talking about what you need it to do.

=( tells the program you are about to enter a command.

Then you type the word or abbreviation that describes what you need. Now, you may or may not know the word or abbreviation. For example, to add data, the word is “sum”. But, if you don’t know the word, you click the fx button circled in red below and find it in the box that pops up.

=sum( tells the program you need it to add data together

Naturally, the next step is to tell the program what you want it to add together. For the sake of learning, we will just enter some figures to add together. After each number simply add a plus sign to indicate the numbers will be added.

=sum(120+40+80 tells the program to add these numbers together

Finally, adding an end parenthesis tells the program that you are done communicating. After adding the end parenthesis hit the enter button and your calculation will appear.

=sum(120+40+80) tells the program you have entered the entire command.

They May Be Re-Sized

Sometimes you need a cell to be longer or taller than the default size. For example, if you have a long line of text in cell A1 and a line of text in neighboring B1, the A1 text becomes hidden. See the example below.

To avoid this, we can re-size our cells to fit our text.

Double Click to Re-Size

If you take your cursor and move it to sit directly on top of the vertical line separating column A from column B, a little cross shape will form.

When it forms, double click your mouse (click two times on the left side of the mouse) and the cell will widen.

Now, if you want to resize cell B1, we would simply repeat the steps we just took.

Try it Out!

Learning Excel takes time and fearlessness.

Why fearlessness?

Because you have to be willing to play around in the program and not fear messing something up. I like to do that by creating a test sheet.

To do that, simply go up to the word “File” in the bar across the top and click on it.

A new screen will appear and you need to select “New Blank Workbook”.

A screen will populate and ask you what you want to name your new workbook. Name it “Spreadsheets 101” and save it somewhere you can find it.

Now, we are going to use row 1 as a heading. So click on the numeral 1 and the entire row will darken. This means the row has been selected.

The reason we selected the entire row is because the text in this row needs to be formatted identically. So, to do this, click the “bold” and “underline” buttons.

Then click in cell A1 and it will look like this.

Now we are ready to input our headings! We are going to make a list of the most common flat markers we sell. We can organize the data a million different ways, but I want to keep it easy and organize by size. It will look like this.

You will notice I resized the columns E and G and centered the labels to make the row look nicer. Now we are ready to enter our data.

If you look at my example below, I only entered one line of data and left the square foot data blank. That is intentional.

Calculate Square Footage

We want to find the square footage for a 2×1 marker. But, instead of pulling from memory and just keying the data in, we are going to have the program calculate it for us. You’ll recall that we have to speak “Excel Language” here.

If you click in cell I2, underneath the label “Square Foot”, you will enter the following equation:

=(D2xF2)/144

This equation is telling the program you want to first multiply the number in cell D2 by the number in cell F2. Then you will divide by 144. Hit the enter key and your square footage will appear!

Note: We didn’t need to enter the word “sum” into the equation because the equation involved more than just simple addition. Rather than enter the word, we simply entered the equation, and that’s okay!

You know what is really cool about doing it this way? If you click in cell I2, where we just calculated square footage, and then hit CTRL+C (copy) and then hold down the shift key and the down arrow key at the same time, the cell underneath it will darken. Keep holding down SHIFT + the down arrow until you have selected several cells and then hold down CTRL+V (paste).

This will paste your formula into multiple cells.

Now your spreadsheet is ready to automatically calculate the square footage of any additional markers you enter! Isn’t that beautiful?!

Give it a try! Enter some marker sizes and watch as your spreadsheet does the calculating work for you!