Nov
05
Valuable Tips On Using Serious Strategies Within Business
You undoubtedly drafted a business plan when you started off your operation. Undoubtedly, you considered expanding in the future as part of this plan. Now is the time to put those plans in place.
Don’t wait until it actually happens before thinking about expanding your business. If you take action at the right time, it will all happen a lot more easily and seamlessly. Part of expanding is outsourcing.
Now you are ready for a VA team. No longer are you just a one-man or one-woman operation, as you have thankfully grown too large for this. To keep moving upward, you’ll need others to make it happen. Take action on this today and here are a few thoughts to help you:
Choosing your Team
The team will be comprised mostly of other virtual assistants. These aren’t just any virtual assistants – they think like you do and have a similar work ethic. This requires a careful process of selection, similar to the process that your clients engaged in and will require an amount of research and interviewing to find the best people.
You may have already thought about what jobs you will outsource. Don’t get too complicated until you have found exactly how your team will work best together. Interviewing is only the first step. Keep in mind that you may want to outsource more delicate matters later. The people that you hire should have a number of different skills. The more skills that they have, the more useful they will turn out to be to you.
Starting off the Right Way
Get all of your ducks in a row from the beginning. Make sure all your instructions, agreements and legal contracts are in order. Each new virtual assistant will need a contract with the job description, their remuneration and the payment schedule included. Agreements between you and your subcontracting VAs stipulating confidentiality and non-compete clauses are essential. You don’t want to be fleeced for your client list right under your nose.
Written instructions about how to do what you ask avoids as many mistakes as possible later. Even though your subcontractors know how to say, write a report, they don’t know how you write reports for your clients. Remember that the client is always right, here. And to take advantage of this quickly, seriously consider taking on someone looking to become a virtual assistant, or even a team looking to become a virtual assistant business, to maximise your efforts in a very short span of time, at a really great price!
Cross the T.’s and Dot the I.’s
One “T” in particular is taxes. This extends to both your situation and others who work for you. Hiring subcontractors is considered freelancing. Make sure that this is clearly spelled out in your legal contracts with your virtual assistants. As a subcontractor, they will be responsible for their own taxes and insurance. In the United States, you will be responsible for a 1099-MISC form, within which you will tell them what you have paid them and they will in turn file this with their tax return.
You must factor the cost of subcontracting into your appropriate, agreed rate with your clients. The last thing you want to do is undercut yourself because you are paying your contractors more than you are getting paid yourself.
Planning ahead for business growth will make you healthy, wealthy and wise.