As I type we are knee deep in our first Certification Week for the awesome folks in the inaugural Online Business Manager Certification and Training program.
So how are we actually certifying these Online Business Managers?
Together with Andrea Lee (biz partner extraordinaire) we really thought about all angles of the certification process. I have to be quite honest, alot of the certification processes out there annoy me… i’m not a big fan of the ‘take a test and you are certified’ approach. Does that really set someone up for success? Not to mention giving us all flashbacks to the ‘all night cramming to prepare for a test’ college days (shiver).
One thing we asked ourselves is “what is most important when it comes to being certified?” There are two sides to consider of course:
- If I put myself in the shoes of the business owner who wants to hire an Online Business Manager, what they really want to know is “can this person do the job?”
- If I put myself in the shoes of the Online Business Manager what is important to them is to feel confident that “Yes, I can do the job!”
A good certification process addresses both of those.
And so we are taking the approach of giving the OBMs the opportunity to tackle ‘real client situations’ – giving them a) the chance to demonstrate that yes they can do the job and b) the confidence that they can handle these projects.
We have enlisted the help of real business owners who have so graciously ‘donated’ a project to the cause. These are actual projects that these business owners need help with *now*, and we are giving them the opportunity to get some OBM level help via this process. A win-win all around, the biz owners get some help and the OBMs get the experience.
What are these projects you ask? Nice try… we aren’t going to tell you! That would be taking away the surprise for those in the Certification process, hehe. 😉
But here for the ever curious are a few of the savvy, and should we say lucky business owners who have seized the opportunity to provide us with the trial-by-fire projects – a big thank you to one and all. We look so forward to getting your responses to all the work being done for you… on its way by the end of the week.
- Elizabeth Marshall of www.AuthorTeleseminars.com
- Terri Zwierzynski of www.Solo-e.com
- Barbra Sundquist of www.HowtoWriteBio.com
The responses are starting to come in, and it’s clear the participants are taking it very seriously. Andrea and I are looking forward to the thorough review and recommendations we’ll be making to not just pass or not pass the candidates, but help them see even further into their professional mastery. It’s what we want for the OBM professional – the very best service possible, with a commitment to ongoing evolution.
So what’s the upshot? A rubber meets the road, ‘reality-based’ real life process that will truly allow the cream to rise to the top in the OBM Certification process.
There’s no better acid test than asking real clients if they were helped, is there? And, of course, this is a historical moment! As of next week we’ll have our first group of Certified OBMs ready to rock the virtual house. If you are interested in hiring an OBM pop me a quick email – we are putting together a simple process to connect biz owners with the OBM help they need.
Oh – and we are doing it all again for Certification Week Part 2 in September… if you have a project you would like to donate to the cause let me know. We still have a few spots available for that session and hey, your business might get JUST the boost it needs with a piece of stellar work done by one of the first OBMs in the making.