The Assignments

Last month, I seize the opportunity to learn the ropes of becoming a Virtual Assistant(VA).

Thru an email entitled "Just in Case You Want to Work From Home" by my favorite local author, Bo Sanchez, I visited the websites of Jomar Hilario: http://www.jomarhilario.com and www.filipinova.com. The words "work from home", "virtual assistant", "online seminar" and "working in your pajamas" surely are enticing to my eyes. I wasted no time and immediately signed up for the online seminar. Having a baby has shifted my goal orientation from an "8-to-5-career woman" to a "wanna-work-at-home-mom". I believe becoming a VA is my ticket to this dream - to spend every moment with my daughter and work at the same time.

SOURCE: denverrealestateandrelocation.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

All training materials were sent to me via email. I was so eager like a child on Christmas day to listen to the webinar, carefully run through the slides and summarized the assignments I need to fulfill in two months time. With a month to go before my deadline to submit the assignments, I am so glad that finally I finished the Powerpoint tutorials of 10 web tools I self-studied. More than completing the tutorials, a greater satisfaction I have is that I have learned something new. I discovered that there's so much websites other than Facebook, Hotmail and Yahoo. I feel slightly smarter when it comes to web surfing. I now have more power on using the internet technology yet I am so sure there's so much to learn and discover. And all of these I have done with great joy. 

In retrospect, I realized that these assignments blessed me with 3 things: knowledge, determination and passion. Blessed me.

May my dreams come true.

Easy Tutorial on How to Use Yugma.com

Easy Tutorial on How to Use YUGMA.com by Isabel Del Rosario

Easy Tutorial on How to Use XE.com

When I was younger, the only foreign country my ears had heard of is Saudi. I remember relatives coming home from this Middle East country, garnished with gold all over their neck and ring fingers. With my young mind, I formed a deep admiration for the work they do even if I don’t really understand. Young as I may, I knew that working abroad entails sacrifices.

According to news I heard some time ago, there are 4 out of 10 Filipinos who work overseas. For the last decade, there has been a sharp increase in the purchasing power of the Filipinos because of inflow of remittances abroad from our kababayans who have chosen to survive the distance in exchange of greener pastures. I must know, for I am married to an OFW.

One particular interest we, OFW and beneficiaries alike, pay the most attention is on the foreign currency exchange rate against the peso. There are numerous currencies in existence but the universal yardstick used is the US Dollar. Most overseas Filipinos earn wages in dollars. Our purchasing power relies on the strength or weakness of Philippine peso against the US dollar.

We were taught in school that the appreciation of peso is good for our country. But in a country with a big population as the Philippines, my opinion is that this single appreciation of Peso against the USD has the advantages for some and a downside for others. Families relying on OFW remittances may suddenly find themselves with lesser money to spend with a stronger peso. When the peso is strong, that means the USD exchange rate is lower. Relatively, this is bad news for most OWF beneficiaries but sounds good to the government because it takes lower amount of USD to pay for its foreign debts. Likewise, peso depreciation affects certain groups in the society while it benefits some, like OFW beneficiaries. In a scenario of a weak peso, exporters regard the higher exchange currency for the USD payments they receive. The same is the benefit for the OFW and their families.

Whatever the currency exchange rate is, may every Filipino value the hard work and sacrifice their family-member exerts just to send home the money.

Prudent spending begins in knowing how much you have available for disposal. An ideal equation is income less savings is equal to expenses. The XE currency converter tool is most useful to anyone who needs to determine money in a certain currency. Be it Peso, Dollar, Pounds, Euro, Riyal, Ringgit or others, XE.com can help you convert your currency from one to another. To find out more on how easy this works, you may refer to the embedded presentation below.


Easy Tutorial on How to Use XE.com by Isabel Del Rosario

Easy Tutorial on How to Use Surveymonkey.com

There is a TV program that uses survey results as the main answers to their questions. This was later on developed into a computer game as well. The process of collecting their survey results is unknown though.

Years ago, a popular way of conducting survey is by personal interaction with the participants. During my college thesis days, my partner and I went as far as Quezon to personally conduct interviews and survey to indigent women to find out the impact of their livelihood programs in their economic life. During that last semester in college, we prepared a series of questions aimed in identifying their demography. A detailed questionnaire follows asking them to choose from a Richter scale format as to the corresponding answer that fits them. My sister used the random survey in completing her college business paper. She hand outs their questionnaire to just anyone who happens to lend some of their time to participate in her survey.

Nowadays, there are online sites dedicated in providing free, easy and convenient survey facilities. Survey Monkey is a useful tool in creating surveys and analyzing the results afterwards. Not only businesses benefit from it, but also students, researchers, product managers members of the academe and professionals. This is done in 3 simple steps. First, you have the liberty to choose your designed theme. Next, you formulate the questions guided by the various formats already devised in the website. Collecting survey results can be done in multiple ways, all offered at the convenience of your own office or home. You can send the survey via weblink, an email broadcast, and posting thru your website or you can share it on Facebook. This greatly saves you on manpower cost, time and resources. Survey Monkey will even let you analyze, tab or download the responses with just few clicks of your mouse.

Next time you need to conduct a survey, remember Survey Monkey.

You may refer to the easy tutorial I have made below.

Easy Tutorial on How to Use Survey Monkey.com by Isabel Del Rosario

Easy Tutorial on How to Use Skype.com

Easy Tutorial on How to Use Skype by Isabel Del Rosario

Easy Tutorial on How to Use Scribd.com

Just a few weeks ago, I had a reporting task in my graduate school class. Thanks to my VA assignment, making the Powerpoint presentation was not a problem at all. I finished the slides in a matter of minutes. You see, as a VA, it must be really important to practice doing more in less time. That is perhaps the reason why our VA guru, Jomar Hilario, required us VA-wanna-be to learn and study 10 web tools before he can recommend us to potential clients. I even applied my newly-revived-making-slidepresentations-skill during a client call. I personalized the presentation indicating my client’s business name on the first slide. With that simple thing, I managed to shine above the rest. My client felt valued and important just seeing his company name on my presentation materials.

Visual aids, in any form, most especially using slide presentations, make a huge difference.
This is something I have learned from working and studying SCRIBD.

SCRIBD is a slide-sharing site that allows you to upload, read and publish anything. The topics are varied, anything under the sun. There are film reviews, book and movie commentaries. Some publish tutorials on How to/Guides or manuals. There are also those who upload their chapter summaries, report summaries, or original manuscript. There is something for everyone in SCRIBD. Any field of interest, be it economics or management, are available in this site. You can browse countless slides at your own pace.

SCRIBD helped me learn how to embed a Powerpoint presentation in blogger. To see the proof, check my embedded easy tutorial on how to use SCRIBD below.

Easy Tutorial on How to Use Scribd.com by Isabel Del Rosario

Easy Tutorial on How to Use Logmein.com

Easy Tutorial on How to Use Logmein.com by Isabel Del Rosario