Accountability or "Do as you say"

Accountability is a huge word. Not because it has 14 letters in the word. Because it means you will "do as you say".

Our position of Virtual Bankruptcy Assistant comes with responsibility. We must be accountable to the attorney, which in turn must be accountable to his/her client.

When we decide we want to pursue the career of Virtual Bankruptcy Assistant, we make a decision to take on a certain amount of responsibility.

When I decided to start AAVBA, I knew I would be accountable to a group of individuals who would look to me for answers. In this position, accountability would have to be #1 priority, followed by service and support to those who chose to join our organization.

There would be straight forward talk about the VBA industry.

There would be straight forward talk about the potential to make money and how much. Which, by the way, you cannot consistently make $15,000.00/month which in turn is $180,000.00/year . If that happens, I want to see a tax return. That is the only way I will be convinced of the potential to make more money than the attorney who practices law.

That is not to say you can't make a decent living preparing petitions. There are some VBA's who have been able to quit their jobs and do this full time. They also put in long hours of marketing and planning and preparing so this could become a reality for them. They (VBA's) are accountable for the success of their businesses. My accountability lies in that I promised to market directly to attorneys on behalf of VBA's. So far, so good.

I don't claim to be an expert in this field. To do that, I would have to be working in this field a minimum of 5 years. But I do have 25 years of Corporate experience. Also, I have been a successful Independent Contractor for 10 years.

I do a variety of work. Field Service Inspections, Notary Signing Agent, Writing papers for college students, assisting students fill out the FAFSA forms, Translations, and Bankruptcy Petition Preparation.

In every assignment, I am accountable. I'm accountable to take the correct measurements of the building when I do Inspections. I am accountable when identifying signers on Loan documents. I am accountable to the students. I am accountable to Translate the correct words from the doctor to the patient. I am accountable to the attorney that I will do my best to submit a deficiency free petition. This is not to say I'm perfect, I'm not.

I've made mistakes. And I had to acknowledge those mistakes. Which is never easy. But if I don't acknowledge what I have done wrong, then nothing about my business is honest.

I believe those who are in a position to teach and lead have a higher expectation of accountability. Especially when individuals put their hard earned money and belief in that individual or business.

Once, I had thought about doing an online $.99 cent store. The woman I was going to go into business was a very nice lady. We got along immediately. Before I signed the papers to start my online store, she sent me her tax returns. She wanted to show me how much money she lost. The first year. In the same envelope, was the tax return for the following year and then the most current year. Talk about accountability. Long story short, she made a good return after one year of doing her online store.

By the way, I never opened my Online store. It was not for me. But I know my friend is still doing her online store and quite successfully. And she became a friend.

I had not made a return on my VBA business up until February of this year (2008) when an out of state attorney contracted me to prepare his clients' petitions. I had been marketing to attorneys since 2006 with no return. My business took a turn for the better when I hooked up with my "core" group of VBA's. When I saw how successful we were together, I knew I had to do something for other VBA's who; like me, had not been successful in this business.

Much like I believed in this VBA business, I believe we can get all VBA's working for an attorney, maybe more than one. I also know it takes a lot of work. For those VBA's who put in the time and with the marketing efforts of the AAVBA, we can do this.

In October, I head out to South Carolina for the Bankruptcy Attorney Fall Conference. Along on this trip are 4 AAVBA members. I'm happy that AAVBA decided to offer this. Now, every VBA will have the opportunity to market "face to face" with attorneys.

This will be a good experience. For the VBA's and for myself. I will get to know the AAVBA members on a more personal level.

My hope is that the Fall Conference in South Carolina will bring assignments to VBA's during the winter months when most work slows down for every Independent Contractor. No matter what industry they're in.

Until next time,
Vikki