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Keep Your Skills Sharp or Start a New Career with Online Education

Allie Marini|May 6, 2025

National Online Learning Day, observed on September 15, honors America’s online learning communities – which is especially important in 2020! This national day originated to celebrate the accessibility, personalization, and convenience of online learning. This year, COVID-19 has prompted many schools – to take the classroom online, expanding the horizon of possibility. Here’s how beauty and fitness professionals can go online to renew, expand, and keep their skill set up to date.

Online Cosmetology Education Makes Learning Convenient

Are you looking to renew or earn a cosmetology license online? It’s important to keep up with continuing education in order to keep your license valid. Every state’s board of cosmetology’s licensing and accreditation regulations vary, so before you decide on an online cosmetology school, make sure you know your state’s requirements. You may need to earn additional hands-on hours through an apprenticeship to meet your state’s licensing standards.

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues, many states have temporarily granted cosmetology schools permission to migrate in-person training to online training. However, before enrolling in any online cosmetology school, make sure that it’s accredited by at least one US Department of Education recognized organization.

Remember, you’ll need to renew your license every 2-3 years. Staying on top of your online coursework saves time, and it’s also cost-efficient!

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Online Education for Fitness Professionals

If you’re on the fitness side of things, online certification is a convenient way to start a career in personal training, sports medicine and nutrition, yoga instruction, or nutritional counseling! Online education is also available for specialized fitness disciplines, such as strength coaching, indoor cycling (spin cycling), group fitness instruction, DNA-based fitness, and corrective exercise. If you’re already fitness certified, online education is a great, low-cost method of continuing your education, adding new areas of specialization, and expanding your skill set. Here are a few of the top nationally accredited fitness organizations who offer online certification across a variety of fitness professions!

To maintain a competitive edge in the fitness industry, adding new skills helps expand your client base and keeps you from falling into a professional rut. Who knows – you might even discover a new discipline that redirects your whole career!

Online Continuing Education

Learning is an action verb, and in dynamic professions like cosmetology and fitness, continuing education is vital to maintaining a professional edge. Additionally, depending on your state requirements, you may need to perform a certain number of continuing education hours when renewing your license. There are also scores of voluntary certification courses available – from cosmetology and fitness to graphic design and digital marketing – available online through Udemy and Coursera. These options are flexible, affordable ways for working professionals to expand their horizons.

Not all learning happens in a classroom! Online learning can happen anywhere that you’ve got a mobile device and a WiFi connection. Vagaro’s Support Forums, Blog, Facebook Community, and YouTube channels Vagaro Videos and Vagaro Support are full of tips, tricks, and information to give your business a boost!

Images: Giorgio Trovato via Vagaro

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