Re: Screening a subcontractor?
Deb, that is a great way to look at things - hiring another VA to "be the best VA possible." That is the right attitude. What I hear in that is that you would consider hiring another VA to "fill in" areas where you may not have the expertise on a client assignment. Or, where you are swamped and need another pair of hands to assist you so that you can maintain your relationship with your client.
I'm just starting out and am currently taking the VA Certificate program at Red Deer College. It is fantastic! I don't graduate until June 2011 and already have vision, mission and core values statements, a business plan and a marketing plan.
What really concerns me here is that so many people want to learn from the "lead" VA. Yes, of course you will learn things from them but you should not want to learn how to be a VA or a business owner from them. But it so often sounds that people are looking for a mentor/coach to teach them how to be in business and they think a "lead" VA will do that. I don't think that is what being a VAs VA is all about. It is about having your own business, your own goals, your own strategies and the "lead" VA becomes your client like any other client. If you need a mentor/coach, hire one - there are many qualifed coaches to VAs out there.
Thinking that you can learn the business from a VA who you subcontract to puts you in a subordinate position and the "lead" VA in a position that they don't want to be in either. As a business owner doing work for another business owner, it should be a "partnership." The "lead" VA hires the "sub" VA to do work, the work gets done, the invoice is received and the "lead" pays the invoice. It should be as straight forward as that.
If you have the administrative skills necessary to be a VA and you are interested but don't know where to start - start by researching. This is a great profession and the community is so willing to share. Google "Virtual Assistants." Look into VA training if you don't feel confident about the business end. Educate yourself before you start out. Check out VA websites, read blogs, look at VA associations and join forums such as this one. "Virtual" is the point and the internet is a wealth of information.
As for being a business owner, again start on the internet reading articles, blogs, forums, etc. I am in Canada and the government has lots of information on starting a business on their website. The US government has the Small Business Administration, right? I bet there are lots of federal and regional programs that people can look into for getting the education/information on how to start a business, like community colleges, the local learning annex or even evening courses through the locas school board. If you don't know software, take courses. There is a cornucopia of information out there.
We all need to remember that being a VA is a profession. We all need to be professionals as VAs and VA business owners. You can easily start part time without quitting your day job. It takes time and effort to educate yourself but it doesn't necessarily need to be expensive. Taking the time to learn (often from other VAs through their blogs or articles) before jumping in is worth your while. Hoping to learn business "on the job" while subcontracting to another VA, sets up everyone for failure. "Lead" VAs get burned by "subs" disappearing. "Subs" get burned by accepting lower pay. Knowing your value comes from taking time, learning, thinking and being serious about what it is that you want from the endeavour.
I don't know much about it but it seems to me that if you just want some extra cash and have the skills, the idea of freelancing may be a better fit. There are lots of freelance sites where you can bid on jobs and that may be a good place to start.
If "lead" VAs are posting "jobs" on freelance boards and not doing their due diligence, then they may be getting what they are asking for. I have checked freelance boards and wanting to pay $7-$10/hr is, in my opinion, heinous. Don't devalue yourself, your client or the work. And in these cases, remember that you get what you pay for.
Through the process of networking online or off, VAs know other VAs and should find working with each other a satisfying experience, not something where you want them to work for free to see if they are any good or give them trial work and that kind of thing. Going in, you aren't trusting them and devaluing them from the get-go. And they are accepting much less than they are worth too.
Just my opinion, of course.
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Sandra Milligen
The VA Success Coach
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