713Bankruptcy.Com's Blog

http://www.vbacertification.com/

News Release for January 4, 2010

The first online exam has been developed for virtual assistants by Victoria Ring, Certified Paralegal and Bankruptcy Specialist.  The Virtual Bankruptcy Assistant Certification Exam is comprised of fifteen separate quizzes that measure a variety of skills including an accurate analysis of the bankruptcy petition preparation skills of the virtual assistant.  This all important skill is a must for debtor bankruptcy attorneys, which is a fast growing segment in our society at this time.

Chapter 7 and Chapter 13 bankruptcy filings are increasing at an alarming rate.  According to PACER (public access court electronic records), for the 30-day time period covering March 1, 2009 through March 31, 2009; a total of 134,282 bankruptcy petitions were filed in the United States with 99,575 of those being Chapter 7 and 33,123 being Chapter 13.  The bankruptcy court was open 22 days during the month of March 2009, so this averages out to be 6,104 petitions filed per day, 254 per hour or 10.58 per minute.

That is why a test to determine the skill set of virtual assistants who work for bankruptcy attorneys needed to be developed.  It is imperative to protect debtors, attorneys and the court system from poor quality work that can result in innocent people losing their homes and other assets.  In the past, the debtor bankruptcy field has been neglected when it comes to training and furthering their education.   Bankruptcy attorneys were forced to learn from other attorneys and the office staff simply learned from making mistakes and fixing them.

Now that debtor bankruptcy is becoming such a growing field, many attorneys are starting new practices or adding a bankruptcy department to their current law firm.  But with the lack of educational training materials, the job may seem impossible for most attorneys.

713Training.Com, a company that is dedicated to the training, education, and support of Chapter 7 and Chapter 13 bankruptcy attorneys nationwide is the leader in the development of training materials specifically for this market.  The VBA Certification Exam can be used by the virtual assistant who needs certification to work for bankruptcy attorneys; as well as attorneys who want to use the exam for pre-employment testing of their office staff as well as virtual assistants.

For more information, including a complete overview, visit:
http://www.vbacertification.com

If you are seeking to find more jobs working from home as a virtual assistant, you will find the new Virtual Assistant Job Directory on the 713Attorney.Com website to be extremely beneficial.  You can start using this free directory right now by visiting:

http://www.713attorney.com/links/jobs.html

10 Tips for Improving Your Virtual Assistant Skills

#1 — Allow clients to tell you what THEY want. Never tell them what YOU want.

#2 — Never allow a client to know they are interrupting your work. If you are too busy to answer the phone or property do a job, do not do it until you can give it your full and dedicated attention.

#3 — Never answer the phone or emails when you are upset and angry.  Breathe deep 10 times and close your eyes for 15 seconds. This helps to prevent taking out your frustration on potential clients.

#4 — Within 1 hour after receiving work from a client, acknowledge the receipt and provide them with an estimated completion time.

#5 — Always return phone calls within 24 hours. If you do not have the time to return phone calls hire a virtual assistant or someone to answer them for you.

#6 — Always check your business email many times every day. More than 82% of work is lost by virtual assistants who rarely view their email to respond to requests from potential clients.

#7 — Always follow up with every potential client who contacts you. For example: if they send you an email, invite them to be added to your LinkedIn or other social networking group that is BUSINESS related. Your personal and business life should always be kept separate.

#8 — Never discuss personal business with your customers and potential clients. However, be willing to listen to any personal problems they want to share because it helps you to better solve their problem and get the job.

#9 — Always remember that you work for your client. They do not work for you.

#10 — Treat every client in the same manner as you would be treated if you stayed at the Ritz Carlton or the Waldorf Astoria and you will never be without work.

Many of you are aware that I maintain an internal Inner Circle list of virtual bankruptcy assistants who have passed the VBA Exam and Chapter 13 Concepts Exam with a score of 90% or higher.  I use this Inner Circle list to distribute bankruptcy petition work when I receive the work from attorneys.

Bankruptcy petition work is distributed in order of your final score.  For example, if you score 95% on the VBA Exam and 100% on the Chapter 13 Concepts Exam, you will receive an assignment of work sooner than someone who has lower scores.  Therefore, it is important for you to study, practice, read and follow all directions within the Exam in order to obtain the highest score possible.  All answers to both Exams are provided in the training materials you can purchase online at:
http://www.713training.com/shop

In the meantime, please check the list below to see if your name is on the list.  If not, you may become eligible to be on the Inner Circle list by:

1.  Downloading and purchasing the VBA Exam and pass it with a score of 90% or better:
http://www.vbacertification.com/test/vba_certification.pdf

2.  Downloading and purchasing the Chapter 13 Concepts Exam and pass it with a score of 90% or better:
http://www.713training.com/shop/cart.php?m=product_detail&p=101

Note: If you attend a Chapter 13 Concepts Seminar, you can take the Exam without cost. To view upcoming seminars, visit:
http://713training.com/workshop/

NAMES OF VBAs ON INNER CIRCLE LIST

Clayton Holland
Sidney Findley
Gary Ostad
Geraldine Dinkin
Sherri Homen
Louise Hurwitz
Melissa Henry
Judy LaBoda
Sherri Nash
Lonie Rosekelly
Susan Guinn
Lake Elsinore, California
Alexiss Harris
Scott Graham
Charloma Banks
Tim Backstrom
Necol Alexander

BANKRUPTCY PETITION WORK STATUS

We currently have 24 bankruptcy attorneys who have signed Agreements to send their bankruptcy petition work to 713Attorney.Com for preparation.  All 24 attorneys have been issued a set of Client Intake Forms (personalized with their law firm name and contact information) as well as an Instruction Sheet explaining the step by step process.  At this time, we are waiting to receive work. As soon as a petition is received, it will be distributed to a VBA within 24 hours.

Please be aware that the normal slow down points for law firms who practice in Chapter 7 and Chapter 13 consumer bankruptcy are:

(1)  November 15 to February 15; and
(2)  June 1 to September 15

The reason for this is because during the Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year holidays, the average consumer is using their credit card to make purchases and is not thinking about filing bankruptcy at this time.  The same is true during the summer months when the average consumer is on vacation and spending time with their family.  Again, they are not thinking about filing bankruptcy during these two periods of time. The only consumers who normally file bankruptcy during these two periods of time are consumers who are forced to; such as a threat of foreclosure, wage garnishment, lawsuit, etc.

This is why we anticipate law firms will begin sending us Chapter 7 and Chapter 13 bankruptcy petitions within a short period of time.  713Training.Com wants to be prepared to meet the workload and we would be honored to add your name to the Inner Circle list.

NOTICE TO ATTORNEYS

If you would like 713Training.Com to prepare your Chapter 7 and/or Chapter 13 bankruptcy petitions, download your free Bankruptcy Attorney Start-Up Kit at:
http://www.713attorney.com/bankruptcy_attorney_startup_kit.pdf

This kit will provide you with details about the services we provide as well as an explanation of costs.  Our services are available to bankruptcy attorneys nationwide.  We serve your petition preparation needs no matter how large or small.  Discounts are available for designated quantities.

Victoria Ring

Locate a Virtual Bankruptcy Assistant in your area
http://navba.org/FindaVBA

Attorneys will use this directory to locate virtual bankruptcy assistants in their area. Virtual bankruptcy assistants will use this directory to network with other virtual bankruptcy assistants in their area. Bookmark this web page now.

To find a Virtual Bankruptcy Assistant in your area, begin typing your ZIP CODE in the search box. You DO NOT NEED TO TYPE IN THE FULL ZIP CODE to find Virtual Bankruptcy Assistants in your area. You may also search by STATE by typing the first 2-3 letters of your state name in the search box.

To find a specific NAVBA member, click on ADVANCED SEARCH and search for the Virtual Bankruptcy Assistant by a wide range of search criteria.

WANT TO BE LISTED IN THIS DIRECTORY FREE?

Join the NAVBA and gain immediate access to $1,500 of products and services for members only. Upon joining, you will be listed in the VBA Directory at no charge for the entire length of your NAVBA membership.
Visit http://navba.org/JoinNAVBA
Check out the member benefits here: http://navba.org/MemberBenefits

BONUS:

As soon as you join, you will be entitled to save 10% on all future purchases of bankruptcy training products and services offered at http://www.713training.com/shop

The amount of your discounts often exceeds the cost of your membership. It is a fantastic deal for those interested in growing their businesses in the virtual bankruptcy assistant field.

Victoria Ring
Founder of the National Association of Virtual Bankruptcy Assistants
http://www.navba.org

http://www.vbacertification.com

We are happy to report that the popularity of the VBA Certification Exam is growing. In fact, it is growing so rapidly that we have had to implement a change in the way Part 2 is graded. We hope these changes will result in a better turnaround process as well as a better grading system for our Certified VBAs.

In the past, people downloaded Best Case software, prepared a bankruptcy petition and emailed the Best Case file to us. Next, we scheduled a live conference and graded the bankruptcy petition skills of the VBA.

One of the major problems with this process was that some people did not use Best Case software. They were forced to learn another software program versus the one they were using. We do not believe it is fair to force a VBA to test on software they are not familiar with. Besides, we only need the print out of the bankruptcy petition itself. It does not matter to us which software program you use for the Exam.

Secondly, scheduling conflicts prevented us from meeting with the VBAs and conducting the meetings at convenient times. In many instances, we would go back and forth with scheduling conflicts for 1 or 2 weeks while the VBA waited for their grade. Also, due to heavy call volumes, Victoria Ring would try to schedule Part 2 VBA reviews in the evenings. Due to time zone changes, the evenings could be very late for some VBAs and early mornings were also a problem.

The Solution

The solution to these problems has now been solved. VBAs can now use any bankruptcy software program they want to take their VBA Certification Exam and VBAs will no longer need to schedule a meeting to review Part 2 of the Exam. Instead, VBAs will prepare the petition in the software program they are most comfortable with. When finished, they simply print the bankruptcy petition as a PDF and the actual Federal Forms and Schedules are graded on 40 specific areas.

After the grading of Part 2, an average score is obtained by adding up the score for Part 1 and Part 2; then dividing by 2. Also, a 10% bonus award is granted on Part 2 if the VBA successfully can send the document by email in PDF format. The reason this step provides bonus points is because in the real world, a VBA will normally email a PDF to the attorney for review. We need to ensure the VBA has this skill and this step in the grading process will verify that.

VBA Scores Appearing on the Front Page of the NAVBA Website

A complaint we had with VBAs who passed the VBA Certification Exam is that their score was listed on the front page of the NAVBA website. This is okay for people who achieved a score of 90% or higher; but if a VBA earned a lower score, they were not happy that it appeared for the entire world to see.

For a better understanding, let me explain the reason why the VBA Certification Exam scores appeared there in the first place. In the beginning I listed people who passed the Exam in alphabetical order. But people complained. They wanted to be listed near the top and would name their company something like AAA Petitions just to be there. I felt this was creating unnecessary competition and tried to come up with a solution.

Next, attorneys were calling, asking me who scored the highest on the VBA Certification Exam. I could not remember off the top of my head the scores for everyone, so I had to tell them to go through the list. Naturally, the attorney started at the top of the list and those who were near the bottom were never contacted for work. Again, the system was unfair and I knew I had to come up with a solution.

That is when I decided to start listing VBAs in the order of their score on the VBA Certification Exam. But now, this has caused a problem for those scoring lower than 90%. In fact, we actually have people who try and manipulate their score just to get near the top. For example, some people will take up a great deal of our time, arguing with us that the answers we have are wrong. Even after explaining why their answer was wrong, they will try to force us to give them bonus points, or they will change their answer and try to manipulate credit.

It is amazing what people will do for a score when the solution is simple: Study and improve your skills, then take the test. However, some people feel it necessary to cut corners because they believe they are going to make money much faster. It is unfortunate they do not realize that attitudes like this actually lower their score. We believe that people who take short cuts with their own self-interests in mind will not be caring to debtors and will be inflexible when working with attorneys. Both of these qualities are very important to have as a virtual bankruptcy assistant.

The Solution I Have Implemented

To solve these problems I have decided to list the name, link and point score only, if the person achieved a grade of 90% or higher. Anyone who scores lower than 90% will still be listed on the NAVBA website but their exact score will not be mentioned and they will be listed in a separate area. Hopefully, this will prevent these past problems and help to keep the VBA Certification Exam an honest evaluation of the skills of a virtual bankruptcy assistant.

I am in the process of redesigning the front page of the NAVBA.ORG website now to implement these changes. In the meantime, take a moment and download the new VBA Certification Exam at:
http://www.vbacertification.com There is no cost to download and review it.

Thanks to all of you who are in various stages of your virtual bankruptcy assistant career. Do not hesitate to email me or call the office if we can help you in any way. Our organization is growing very strong and very large. I am proud of the accomplishments many of you have made and I wish all of you continued success.

Victoria Ring