As a successful home-based service provider you will soon realize, if you haven’t already, there are not enough hours in the day for all the projects you could be working on. You also may have discovered that you don’t have the skills necessary to complete every task your clients – or potential clients – need.
You may have already turned away clients when your project calendar filled up, sent clients to a colleague or tried to meet their needs with disastrous results. Have no worries, it’s happened to the best of us, but that doesn’t mean you’re stuck with too much work, not enough time and There is a better way.
1. Subcontractors Can Take the Extra Work
By hiring subcontractors, you can increase your workload exponentially. For example, let’s say you schedule twenty hours of work in one week for two clients. By hiring a subcontractor, you can schedule in two more clients for another twenty hours of work that week.
Because the subcontractor charges less than what the client is paying, you still make a profit on those extra hours, even though you did not do the work yourself. In this situation, you serve as a project manager, quality control officer and client liaison. In other words, you hand out assignments, inspect the work to make sure it’s up to standards and communicate with the client and with the subcontractor.
2. Subcontractors Can Add New Skills
Hiring subcontractors with a complementary skill set can also help you expand your services. For example, if you are a virtual assistant specializing in writing blog posts for your clients, you could hire a web design subcontractor to help those same clients set up new sites or change the design of existing ones. This way, the client can continue to work with you, the trusted VA, and you can meet more of the client’s needs. This means more money for you, money for the subcontractor and happier clients.
3. Subcontractors Mean Less Paperwork
Subcontractors also come with a special set of benefits that you wouldn’t get from hiring employees. A subcontractor comes with her own office, her own equipment and her own training. She often is running her own service business and therefore has a stake in making a good name for herself – and for you. The subcontractor is also responsible for her own taxes, sets her own hours and is usually self-motivated. You only pay her for the actual work she does and you are also usually not her only client.
On the other hand, an employee needs space in your office and you need to provide her with equipment and training. While there are good employees available, you could easily end up with someone who simply wants a paycheck, regardless of whether or not she worked for it. You would also need to set her hours and pay her for the hours she’s “on the clock” even if she’s reading a book half the time.
In other words, if there is no work, you still have to pay the employee. And then there is the whole business of withholding taxes and Social Security and other paperwork that goes along with employing someone.
Growing Your Business with Subcontractors
Hiring subcontractors can be a relatively inexpensive way to grow your business quickly and efficiently. It’s a win-win situation for you, the service provider who gets the help she needs, and the subcontractor, who gets the work she needs.
So why don’t you give Lighthouse Virtual Solutions a chance to service YOUR subcontractors needs. Please contact us at 704-995-3048 for your FREE 30-minute consultation.
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