If you were never interested in literature, you probably don’t know why Shakespeare’s “Othello” is considered a masterpiece. But even if you had zero interest in Shakespeare, you might have been motivated to study literature if you decided that you could benefit from this knowledge. When knowledge  can directly benefit us, that’s definitely something that sparks our interest. And if this knowledge (for example, knowing CSS coding) is useful and perhaps moneymaking, then we become the most dedicated, knowledge-thirsty self-motivated learners possible.

The Internet is an invaluable source of knowledge, and it’s a shame to not know how to use it to your advantage, especially when it comes to self-guided learning. Yes, the useless, irrelevant and plain wrong information  currently online often outnumbers the useful parts, but if you know your resources then the Internet can be the only teacher you’re ever going to need.

It’s important to remain constantly on top of new developments and trends, especially for startup companies, but also for older, established online companies. The Internet is undoubtedly a valid and useful source of  information, but given the volume of information and the always insufficient time most of us has available, unless you have advanced speed reading skills you won’t have a chance at making your way through the entire web page by page. However, you can use specific sites to your advantage. So sharpen up your speed reading and prepare to take in large amounts of knowledge from these outstanding online resources.

University Webcasts and Lectures

Who said you need to mortgage your house in order to get into MIT or UCLA? You can watch and read leading lecturers on topics ranging from Human Rights to Nuclear Science Engineering right from your laptop. Webcasts are provided by many top universities, including MIT, Yale, Harvard and Berkeley.

Entrepreneurship and Business

For startup online businesses to new entrepreneurial concept implementation, there are numerous, first-class online resources for putting you on just the right track.

Resources like Investopedia, the U.S. Small Business Administration Training Network and My Own Business, Inc. offer valuable tutorials and lessons for aspiring entrepreneurs, investors, and e-traders.

Computer Technology

Luckily for anyone who wants to  learn computer programming and anything else related to computer science, there is an impressive collection of free, high-quality resources online.

Both New York State University and MIT offer outstanding tutorials and educational material on computer engineering. Advanced web design courses are also available from respectable sources such as the Google Code University, w3Schools and Dream.In.Code Tutorials.

Everything Else You Could Possibly Want to Learn About

Fiction-writing? MIT took care of it. World History? Covered by Washington University. Sign language tutorials? Covered here too.

iTunesU, Youtube Edu, TED and the UN University are four great resources on a variety of subjects. Here you can find inspirational stories, mind-blowing ideas, and a wealth of gathered wisdom.

If you’re more of a book reader than a tutorial person, there’s a vast collection of e-books, textbooks, and classic literature as well, from sources like Project Gutenberg, Textbook Revolution, and Wikibooks. Ultimately, what you need is a generous amount of free time to take in all the knowledge – or just great speed reading skills!