How to Save Thousands in Overhead Expenses

Prior to training as a VBA, David Noel had previously achieved success in building a real estate business.  Next, he joined his dad in building a construction business which is still in operation today.  However, even with the level of success David achieved, he was still not satisfied with the type of work he was doing.  That was until he found the field of virtual bankruptcy assistants and decided to make it his chosen career.

David followed the same path as many beginners to this field.  He purchased the training materials and self-trained himself in the basics of a Chapter 7 bankruptcy petition.  Next, he began spending a great deal of money.  His first expense was $1,500 to have a designer make him a website.  Next, he invested money into designing a company logo (also called: business branding) as well as about $2,000 in printing letterheads, business cards and envelopes.  After making this investment, David finally scheduled his private training with me in Colorado.  That training took place on November 23 and 24, 2009.

During the training session I discovered that David had made several crucial mistakes that cost him several thousand dollars.   This is the reason I decided to write this article and help you avoid some of those same mistakes if you are a beginner to the virtual bankruptcy assistant field.

LESSON NO. 1:  PROBLEMS WITH THE WEBSITE

Copying and Pasting Information From Another Website

When I first reviewed Davids VBA website I noticed he had copied and pasted information from another VBA website.  This is a bad mistake.  All the material on your website should be original.  If you do not know what words to use, just design ONE web page containing your contact information for the time being.  As you learn and advance your knowledge you can add links and information to your website that is a reflection of you and your ability to be unique and different.  Therefore, your website should be continually changing to achieve higher rankings in the search engines.  If a search engine visits your website and finds that no update has been made to the content, your website will appear lower on the search engine list.  To prevent that from happening, update your website as often as you can with new and original information.

A QUICK LESSON IN SEARCH ENGINE RANKINGS

Search engines rarely read Meta Tags any more these days. This is because many web designers placed bogus keywords in their Meta Tags in order to trick the automatic robots controlled by search engines.  Therefore, search engines grew more sophisticated to combat this fraud.  One of those new tools is that search engines can now read the words on your website in order to rank it in the proper category.  This new way of categorizing websites is also helping to combat the criminal act of phishing.

WHAT IS PHISHING?

If you copy and paste information from another website, your website could be suspended while an investigation for phishing is conducted.  Phishing is a criminal act and it is important to understand.  For more information on phishing, visit:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phishing

which states in part:

… Phishing is typically carried out by email or instant messaging and it often directs users to enter details at a fake website whose look and feel are almost identical to the legitimate one. Even when using server authentication, it may require tremendous skill to detect that the website is fake.

LESSON NO. 2:  NEVER PUBLISH YOUR PRICES ON YOUR WEBSITE

Most attorneys are not going to take a virtual bankruptcy assistant seriously if they publish their prices on their website.  I have even found some VBA websites that break down their prices based on the number of debts in the bankruptcy petition.  This only cheapens your website and makes you appear as a beginner. Why?  Because a VBA is a service business.  A service business personalizes services for attorneys and debtors, which means that prices should fluctuate from one petition to the next.  If all attorneys are charged the same amount for bankruptcy petitions, your company appears as a paper mill.  If that is okay with you, then continue doing what you are doing.

But if you are not satisfied with the results of your business efforts, start seeking out and patterning your VBA business after successful professionals in the legal field.  Why copy someone who has no experience and is at the same level you may be at?  Instead, you should always be looking for professionals who have more knowledge than you do; people who are more successful in the field.  Learning from successful people is the only way you can obtain success.

To help you start connecting with professionals, join MeetUp and interact with business professionals in your area:  www.meetup.com

Also, go to Google and type in the search words:  attorney legal services

LESSON NO. 3:  NO COST WEB PAGE DEVELOPMENT

Joomla is the web page development tool that major companies (such as Burger King and Microsoft) use to build and maintain their websites.   Joomla is open source software that is free to install and use.  Designers and developers develop modules and templates that you can purchase to enhance your website if you like, but there is a lot of free stuff that is professional also.  The best thing about using Joomla is that you are in total control and updates are done instantaneously.  You NEVER have to pay anyone for web design again and you can get millions of ideas from predesigned templates that you install with a simple click.  Joomla has taken web design to the next level.

To have Joomla installed on your present website, call your web host and ask them if they will install Joomla for you.  If they want you to download Joomla and do the install yourself, feel free to use the company I use: Blue Host at www.bluehost.com.  I pay $6.95 per month for the hosting of all my websites and I clicked a button and Joomla was automatically installed.  This way, Joomla is installed on my server and automatically updated online.  There is nothing to install on my computer and I do not need to be bothered with updates.

What is Joomla?  The best way to find out is to view some free videos to find out more:

Visit: http://www.myjoomlacast.com/
Click on BEGINNERS and select THE 5 MINUTE SITE

The direct link is:
http://myjoomlacast.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=78&Itemid=98

This information alone could save you literally thousands of dollars.

SUMMARY

Other than the mistakes regarding Davids website, he learned a great deal about the day to day operations of his VBA business while training in Colorado.  I also provided him with resources that he can use to save him time as well as money.  David said that if he had to do it over again, he would recommend the following process to beginners of the VBA field:

1.   Purchase the Complete Bankruptcy Training Kit:
http://www.713training.com/shop/cart.php?m=product_detail&p=59

2.  Schedule Private Training with Victoria Ring:
http://www.713training.com/shop/cart.php?m=product_detail&relate=1&p=98

3.  Start the VBA business with no further investment.

It is interesting to note that before David left Colorado to fly back to California, he already had secured work from a bankruptcy attorney.  The attorney was sending him three petitions by email as soon as he returned.   Where did the attorney find him?  From the NAVBA website at: www.navba.org

CONTACT DAVID NOEL

To find out more about Davids experience and to verify any of this information, visit:
http://www.ebankruptcyassistant.com/

Click on CONTACT US and contact David by phone or email.

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