Are you a good student?

Many Virtual Assistants find themselves, at one time or another, looking around for various types of training to help them enhance their businesses.

If you have taken any training courses or programs... have you been a good student?

There are many ways that you can evaluate yourself as a student:

1. Is the timing right? When you decide to take a course, is it something that you will be able to implement in your business right away? If not, the timing is probably not right for you to take the course at this time. The material and lessons that you will come away from the course with need to be brought into your business immediately in order to be effective. If you have taken a course in something that you haven't put to use yet, you have probably wasted your money and your time.

2. Do you consider how you will implement the program into your business? This is probably the most important piece of considering whether to take a course or not. You need to be able to see where this piece of training will fit into your business, and how you will use the information you will gain from the class. If you are taking a class that teaches you a skill (ie ecommerce), what is your plan to bring that service offering on board in your business? How will you gain the experience to offer this as a service to clients?

3. Do you actively take part? If the course has live classes, or if it has Question & Answer time, do you join in, or do you tune in to replays of the calls on your own? Most classes that are set up with live calls are set up that way so that you have interaction in the program. If you were just required to listen to audios and do homework, you could purchase a self-study (or home study) program. If a class is being held live, you should try to attend the live classes as much as possible. This also keeps you accountable to be 'in class' at a certain time to ensure that you don't fall behind in the lessons.

4. Do you do the homework? Many training programs have homework lessons that you are supposed to work on between lessons, so that you can practice the lessons, and follow up with the instructor for any questions you have. If you don't do the homework assignments, you may not realize what you don't understand until the class is over (and then you won't have the opportunity to ask questions). Doing the homework during the program also helps to reinforce the concepts you have just learned, and that information usually gets built upon in the next lesson. If you don't do the homework, you can fall behind faster.

5. If you purchase a home study, do you set up a schedule for your own classes? If you pick up a self-study program, do you set up a calendar for each lesson, with time in between to do homework assignments? If you purchase a self-study program that has 8 lessons, and is intended to be completed over 8 weeks, you should schedule it in your calendar accordingly so that you are progressing through the course at that pace. I have heard of many people who have taken six months to complete self-study courses because they don't have the right discipline. You will lose momentum by stretching out the learning for so long. Complete the program in the time it's supposed to be completed in, and you will reap more benefits from its content.

6. Are you a serial 'free class' attendee? I know many people who attend every free class they can, in the hopes of learning everything they can from free calls (I have attended probably close to 100, so I get it!), but it is important to note that these free classes, although they often provide good information, are usually just a very small piece of the puzzle. The person holding the free class generally offers more in-depth paid programs that will give you the entire formula of whatever they are teaching. So, attend free classes to check out someone's teaching style, but don't rely on them to learn all you need to know.

There are so many different courses that you can find on the internet... there are strategy classes, how to classes, and so many more. So, be a good student. Do your research to see what is going to fit with your business (or the direction you want your business to go in), and make the decision to implement that information into your business at the earliest opportunity.

Being a good student means knowing what training you need at any given time (and what can wait for another time), and knowing how to implement that new knowledge into your business to enhance it.