Think about this. Before you get married or have a close friendship you have learn more about the person. Same holds true for subcontracting. It's important to get to know more about the VA you want to subcontract for. Not necessarily on a personal level but finding what their business is all about, some of their practices and what their values are for a few starters.

How can we get to know a VA prior to subcontracting for them? This can be a touch question for a lot of subcontractors and one they never thought about.

I would do the same type of background research on VA that I wanted to subcontract for as I would any regular client. I personally have more trust in working with the established and successful VA's than I do in PC's (a draw to sub-contracting).

• Check out their website, social media: Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc.
• Google their name and business
• Review their contracts & policies carefully.

__________________
Crystal Coleman, The Northern Edge

I have to agree with Edge VA:
Check out their website and social media outlets
Call them and talk to them personally (sometimes what we say in an email does not reflect what we say with words.
Review their confidentiality agreement, policy, procedures etc.
Make it a point to see if they are apart of the VAF and if so get to know them here on the VAF.
If you know they are apart of a social outlet you don't use, join it and add them as a friend.
Use common since and make sure you have what it is they are looking for.

__________________
Action Jackson Virtual Assistant|

A great VA I came across offered me to follow her everywhere. Whether it be twitter, linkedin, facebook etc., It's a great way to see how they operate.

I'd like to keep this question going. Remember subs, this is a big one for making or breaking a relationship. If you don't research the potential VA you could lose them for good. It's very important to do your research.

One big one I can think of I'll give a hint to. Think contact list Any guesses?

I think a great way to find out how the VA operates is to simply as that VA if she has subbed any work out to any others. And if she has, ask for that persons contact information and drop them and email or give them a call.

Is that along the lines you were getting at Collette?

Robin
_____________________
Virtually Robin

That's not the one I was thinking of but you've got the idea. That one is VERY good. It can help you as a subcontractor to get feedback from others too. It would be similar to a live testimonial for them.

There are so many different ways that's why it's nice to bounce things off of each other like this.

Yes I agree... sharing ideas and putting our heads together on things is very effective. I have learned a ton of information reading this site in the past few weeks. It is also nice to have someone to talk to that can relate the pains we go through... as well as share the good things too!!!

Robin
_____________________
Virtually Robin

I agree with the below and also feel a phone call would be great! If you get on the phone with them you can get a sense for their personality and they can get a sense of your personality. A phone call is how I would be able to better determine the personality of a VA and if I would consider working with them and if we would be a good fit working together!

Originally Posted by CMColeman

I would do the same type of background research on VA that I wanted to subcontract for as I would any regular client. I personally have more trust in working with the established and successful VA's than I do in PC's (a draw to sub-contracting). Check out their website, social media: Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc. Google their name and business Review their contracts & policies carefully.

Brandy

__________________
Brandy Ellen's Business Solutions

As someone who would like to be a person that will be subcontracted to- I found this question very enlightening. As also the responses, are what I expect from someone who is serious about subcontracting their work out to others. However, regarding the "following" people on facebook, myspace, twitter, linkedin, is a great way to get to know other va's, especially those who want to be subcontracted out to, like myself, I would hope that one would realize that there is a professional and personal life of people, and those could be vastly different. I think if you want to get to know someone, that is great, but please don't base your opinion of a person, by their personal webpages, especially if their professional one is more along your lines of what you expect out of a va. For example: I have my supervisor from on of my jobs on my facebook, and she put up mud volleyball pictures the other day- now..she's a supervisor for a place that houses kids with tremendous mental health kids, she is great for dealing with these issues, is very calm in a bad setting, but those pictures portray a vastly different person. It isn't fair of me to think, that just because of those kinds of pictures, she isn't good at what she does at her job professionally. Sorry, this is just my opinion! (And hopefully those that are on my facebook, will understand what I mean about professionally and personally- though hopefully you join my Online Assistant2Go fanpage, and not just my facebook personal page! )

I would suggest that another way to get good insight into a potential subcontractor is to read their forum posts - note the way they interact with their fellow community members, do they adhere to community rules and standards of professionalism, etc.

A sub has to be a team player, so their behavior in a community of their peers would be a great source of information.

__________________
Stuck in startup? Stop dreaming. Start DOING!
Get the Become a Virtual Assistant eBook for just $29

Great posts in this thread. Especially about keeping personal social media pages separate from business.

There is so much insight here.

__________________
Sandra Milligen
SJ Milligen VA