One recommendation to service providers who are trying to grow their business is to outsource things that don’t have time to do or don’t like to do. This could include anything from cleaning your house to writing your content.
Even though this advice is good, extra help isn’t the only thing that’s needed to grow your business. Instead, you need to look at hiring people whose skills are the same as yours or complement yours. You can often find skilled subcontractors at multi-VA firms.
Hiring Service Providers Like You
Hiring an accountant or bookkeeper will give you more give time but you still won’t be able to complete all your business tasks by yourself. It will eventually decrease the quality of your work.
A reliable subcontractor that’s capable of performing the same level of work you do is an asset to your business. You know exactly what you want done. You can mentor them with any specifics of your project. This will help with communication and help insure consistent quality for your clients. It also will allow your company to accept more work.
For example, if you are an affiliate manager, you may have enough time to write 3 promotional articles, create two graphics and answer a certain amount of questions in a week. Hiring a subcontractor will give you more control over your time and allow you to produce more work. At the same time, your subcontractor is also answering questions and creating articles and graphics as well.
Give a subcontractor a try and you can see how much more work you can get completed.
Hiring for Complementary Skills
Imagine the benefits of hiring a subcontractor with complementary skills?
If you’re a virtual assistant who specializes in website management, you might hire a subcontractor who is really good at writing. She writes the content and you add it to the website. Your client is happy and you know you’re developing a good reputation.
You could even expand your services to email marketing, article marketing and other areas of website management and Internet marketing. Your business will attract the attention of more clients because you’ll be offering a wider variety of services, which may put you ahead of the completion. This means an increase in your income.
Hiring Process
After you thought about the kind of qualities you want in a subcontractor, you’ll need to find the right person. This includes:
1. Asking for recommendations or references from your colleagues
2. Carefully studying portfolios of potential candidates
3. Interviewing subcontractors
4. Asking for and following up with referrals
5. Evaluating if you and the candidate’s personality are suited to work together.
6. Determining the subcontractor’s work ethic
After you’ve decided you want to outsource work to someone, even if they’re from a multi-VA firm, make sure you go through a trial period. There’s always a risk when you give someone the responsiblity of a project when you don’t know them well.
It’s vital that you and your subcontractor sign a contract. It’s a protection for both parties and lists details of responsibilities and expectations. It also gives a professional and fair way for either party to exit the contract.
You can find several sample contracts online – but an attorney who specializes in contracts should look it over for you to make sure everything is correct and legal. Following these procedures will help you make the right choice when hiring a subcontractor.
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