Many business owners of thriving businesses describe their experiences with subcontractors as disappointing and frustrating. Although their thriving business could continue to blossom and grow, they choose to step back and halt their growth rather than deal with the issues of employees or subcontractors. So what is a business owner to do to ensure that their subcontracting experience is positive?

Do Your Homework
Take the time to get to know potential subcontractors. Conduct interviews and obtain references before agreeing to work with them. Never, ever be afraid to test the waters with a “test project” to ensure that the outcome is in line with the standards you have set for your business. Even more importantly, find someone that you feel comfortable being a representative of your company.

Get it in Writing
Even more important than getting a signed contract (which of course I knew that you would do), each and every project should be outlined in detail with no room for interpretation. Make sure that you provide clear and concise instructions and do it in writing. Have the subcontractor review the terms of each individual project and return an acknowledgement to you. Don’t be afraid to ask them to summarize the project in their own words to you and ask probing questions to ensure that they understand what is required of them.

Set Deadlines
When setting a deadline for your subcontractor to complete a project, be sure to allow yourself enough room to correct any errors or omissions that may be made. Many times business owners fall victim to cleaning up subcontractor “messes” at the eleventh hour. Also, don’t be afraid to check in periodically for an update as to the progress of the project and, if at any time you are concerned, let the subcontractor know and never be afraid to “pull the plug” on the project if things are not living up to your expectations.

Set Quality Controls
The most important key to a successful relationship is to set good quality controls. Although it might seem like more work for you, from time to time, ask your subcontractor to show projects to you prior to submission deadlines. If your subcontractor is dealing directly with your client, have them send you copies of the projects when they are complete and, if they are to have no direct contact with your client, make sure that the work is proofed and approved by you.

Honesty is Important
Don’t try to hide subcontractor relationships from your clients and potential clients. In many cases, potential clients will respect you even more if you can admit you can’t do it all. After all, isn’t that what they are admitting by contracting for your services?

Treat Your Subcontractors with Respect
Ensure that you always treat your subcontractors with the same respect you expect from your clients. Give them adequate deadlines and pay them within their payment terms. Once you find quality subcontractors, you will want to do everything you can to keep them.

By putting these six keys in place within your subcontracting model, I am sure that you will quickly see that subcontracting can be a wonderful opportunity to grow your business into the thriving business it is meant to be. Good luck!!

Congratulations! Your thriving business has been so successful that you can no longer keep up with the demands of your clients. You now have two choices: 1) start turning clients away or 2) start looking for subcontractors that you can honestly depend on. As small business owners, we invest ourselves into our business so how could we ever find someone that will have the same qualities and work ethics that have made our businesses so successful?

Develop a Model
Just as any successful business or product needs a working prototype, so too do you need a “prototype” of what your ideal subcontractor will look like. Start writing a wish list of the qualities you want that subcontractor to have: honesty, solid work ethics, skills, etc. If you are having problems with determining which qualities are important to you, take a different approach and start by deciding what it is you definitely do not want. For example, I don’t want someone that is lazy, turns in below par work and misses deadlines. From determining this you will know that you are looking for a subcontractor that works hard and produces quality projects on time.

Interview Your Candidate
You wouldn’t think of hiring a new employee without an interview, so why is it that many business owners don’t feel it is necessary when hiring a subcontractor? By interviewing your candidates, you have an opportunity to ask those tough questions that probe into the qualities of the candidate. Ask probing questions that are based on real-life experiences and ask the candidate to provide examples based on situations they have dealt with. Describe a situation where… Tell me about a time when… How would you handle…? These are all examples of probing questions. Another good idea is to have a trusted colleague interview your candidates on your behalf as well and offer their opinion. They don’t have as much at stake and are likely to give you some real honest opinions.

Give a Test
Don’t be afraid to test the waters by providing your new subcontractor a small task or project to see the results. Perhaps you have completed a project in the past that you know what the results should look like and the approximate time it should take to complete. Maybe a project needs to be complete for your business that you can have them tackle. Before you have them work on projects for your clients, it is good to have a solid understanding of the quality of work they are capable of providing.

Personality Clashes
Personalities are the key reason that most subcontractor/contractor relationships fail. Take a good long hard look at yourself and figure out what is going to work for you. If you are the type of person that finishes projects well ahead of deadlines, how will you work with someone that works better under pressure? If you are a morning person, can you work with a nighthawk? If you are single, can you work with a mother of young children? For many it works best to find someone with similar personalities and values and for others it works to find someone that is the polar opposite to you.

Get References
Last but not least, the most important step to finding a good subcontractor is to get lots of references and follow up with those references. Look at past projects they have completed and talk to others that have worked with them. The best indicator of future performance is past performance so it is very important to know how they have performed on similar projects, in similar situations and for other clients.

Now that you know the best approach to finding subcontractors, you can truly take your thriving business to the next level and ensure it continues to thrive. Don’t look at success with fear and trepidation. Look at it as the honor and joy it is meant to be. Good luck!!

Having financial stability is important to everyone. Passive income is a great way to increase the bottom line without increasing your workload. Coming up with ways to do this through your business can be difficult. Here are a few suggestions for you to consider so that you can spend more time with family or do something that you enjoy and stop worrying about making enough money to make ends meet.

Subcontracting
If you have enough work coming in to keep you busy, why not subcontract some of the work out? It’s a win-win situation for everyone. The work gets finished in the timeframe requested by the client, the subcontractor is able to have an income and possibly learn new things to add to their services and you still have money coming in for all your marketing efforts for obtaining new clients.

Remember at some point your busy is going to get so busy that you won’t have time to keep up. At that point you will have two choices; turn down work or utilize subcontractors. By putting in systems now before you truly need their help, you can find subcontractors that you can depend on when you truly need their help.

Affiliates
Affiliates are another form of passive income. If you find products geared toward your target market, start doing some research to make sure that it’s a product that you feel you can truly stand behind and will help your clients. Sign up to be an affiliate so that, not only do your clients gain knowledge of products that they may need, you also receive money when they purchase them.

Also, if there are products that you’ve used or read and you would definitely promote these products, sign up to be an affiliate. Since you have used these products or read these ebooks, you can show individuals how they’ve helped you and what they can do for others. People will rely on your judgment and your knowledge and purchase these products through your affiliate link.

Ebooks
Write an ebook or a special report on a topic you know about or have learned about. You can add your own affiliate program for the ebook so that others can sell it. That way, the ebook is not only making money for you but for your affiliates as well. Everyone has something to say so take a good long hard look at what you are an expert in and profit from that knowledge. Although there is a lot of work to writing an ebook, if you write on a topic that others are interested in learning about, the income can be generated for an unlimited amount of time after the book is released to the public.

Advertising
Offer advertising space in your newsletter, ezine or ebook. The more subscribers you have, the more individuals or businesses will want to advertise. Remember that as your subscribers list increase you can keep increasing the advertising rates, after all the more potential targets the advertising company can reach the more they will be willing to spend on advertising.

Google Adsense
If your site is reaching a lot of individuals, add Google ads to your website. Each time someone clicks on these ads, you receive a commission.

Photography
If you’re a great photographer (or even an amateur with a repertoire of really great shots) you could check into selling your photographs to a stock photography clearinghouse and then receive royalties from your photos.

So remember, there are a number of ways to add passive income to your business and free you from working so hard. After all creating a business wherein you continually have to work harder to bring in profits is not healthy; use your imagination and start profiting from those things that take little to no effort to get those dollars flowing into your bank account. You just need to put forth a little effort to reap the rewards and start thriving.

When we start a business we spend a great deal of time in the planning cycle to make sure that when we “open our doors” for the first time nothing is overlooked. We do this so that we can attract clients and ensure that our business will succeed. What, however, are we doing to ensure that our businesses continue to succeed and thrive in this busy world? Remember that there are three components to the business cycle; birth, growth and death. So what are you doing to ensure that you remain in the growth stage and your business continues to survive? There are six key points to remember to ensure that your business continues to thrive and grow.

Expect Perfection
You worked hard to gain your clients and you should expect nothing less than perfection for your clients. When you complete a project be sure to go back and review the work you did. After all it is better for you to find an error before the client does isn’t it? If you feel better have someone else review the work as well since sometimes a second set of eyes can see things you have overlooked.

Put Your Business First
This may seem like a backwards statement and you might be thinking that you should put your clients first, but I do not agree with that perception. If you are not working to ensure that you have a strong and thriving business of your own then you can’t possibly work consciously knowing that your business is struggling. Be sure to set aside a dedicated amount of time each day, each week or each month to solely work on developing and implementing new strategies and plans for your own business.

Equilibrium
Learn to find balance as it is one of the most important things you can do for the growth of your business. You need a good balance between work and play, work and family and billable and non-billable time. For each person this balance will be difference, but the key to determining if you have found the balance is through the knowledge that there is not a facet of your business or personal life that is suffering as a result of another.

Marketing Never Ends
Remember to always be persistent with your marketing. Even when your business is booming, don’t give up on your marketing efforts. This is the only true way to ensure that your business will continue to grow and thrive. If you were to lose a client tomorrow you want to know that you have already planted the seeds for new clients to walk through those doors.

Don’t Go it Alone
You can’t possibly be everything to everyone and the same holds true in business. There are bound to be areas of your business that you are not as proficient, not as motivated or lack the time to complete. Don’t ever be afraid to ask others to help you in those areas. Reach out and ask others that might have the knowledge you are seeking and the answers to the questions you have. You will spend a lot more time struggling to find the answers that aren’t right in front of you.

Be Yourself
The easiest way to ensure a thriving business that is most overlooked is to simply be yourself. Don’t ever try to be something you are not and pretend to be what you think the client wants you to be. It is way to hard on both you and your business to have to act a certain way or portray a certain role that is just not you. If someone doesn’t like who you are or what you stand for in business remember they are NOT the client for you. If you can’t be true to yourself and your business always, there is no way you can expect to have a thriving business.

By remembering these key points, you are sure to become a person and a business that everyone will want to do business with. Potential clients will respect you more if you are running a successful and thriving business.

We all know that the people that succeed in business are called the movers and the shakers. So what are you doing to become a mover and a shaker and really create yourself a thriving business?

Most people look at goals as being divided into the categories of short term and long term, but I am suggesting that we start looking at goals in a new direction. For every goal that we set for our business, we can fit them under two separate categories: “The Movers” and “The Shakers”.

The “Movers” are goals that entice you to “get a move on”. These are new goals – ones that cause us to want to start or try something new. They get us “moving” towards our visions.

The “Shakers” are goals that come from wanting to make a change and wanting to “shake things up”. By creating this change in something that isn’t working for us we, again, move towards our visions.

To define what new goals or changes need to be made to existing goals, look at your vision and what you want your business to become. What’s going to move you in the right direction? What needs to change to get you in the right direction?

The “Movers”

Do you need to add new marketing and networking goals to grow your client base? Have you thought about joining organizations, whether they are online or local to your community? Do some research to find out where your target market hangs out. If the organizations you’re looking at cost money, research them to make sure that is where you dollars are going to be best spent.

Have you thought about passive income? Why not make this a new goal? Writing an ebook or special report on something you’re knowledgeable about is great for passive income. Once you’ve written an ebook and people have seen that you know a lot about a particular subject, it may move your closer to your vision.

Finally an important “mover” goal could be to get training on a new piece of software that may assist with your client-base. It shows you’re trying to stay on the cutting-edge of things.

The “Shakers”

Do you not have enough hours in the day, week or month to get everything done for your clients?

One “shaker” goal that a lot of businesses are going to is subcontracting. This does change the way your business operates but, by subcontracting the work out, you can get move done in less time and continue to keep your clients happy.

Another goal that could shake things up would be to change your target market. If you’re targeting Real Estate professionals but you aren’t qualified or don’t offer the services they really need, you might want to take a look at your services and see what other professionals may need them.

Your “Mover” and “Shaker” goals don’t have to be major ones either. They can be very minor goals that you add or change to keep in line with the vision of your business. Whatever you do, just make sure that they’re goals that you’ll be able to meet and start “getting a move on” and “shaking things up” for your business – that will keep your business thriving.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Yvonne Weld is the author of The Ultimate Guide to Creating a Thriving Business and is the owner of ABLE Virtual Assistant Services. Have you truly created a thriving business? Could your business survive any obstacle thrown at it? Start now to create a thriving business by creating your own business manual. To download your free copy of the 13 areas you should consider when creating your own business manual visit http://www.ableva.com.

I took a much needed break and met some of my virtual friends on a camping trip. We picked a central location and packed up our tents, coolers and families and hit the road. The one condition of our trip was that no one was allowed to work, however it was important that we found a campsite with internet!! I tell you it was hillarious when we realized that we had six (6) laptops there at one point and only fifteen campers in all (including children).

Of course it wouldn’t be “normal” as a virtual assistant not to be able to check in on what was happening in the virtual world. We even joked about the fact that some of our virtual friends that couldn’t join us could camp virtually. I guess the point I am trying to make is that I didn’t realize how far technology has come until I realized that it is possible to camp and keep in touch with the world!!

Oh and the very best part of the whole camping trip was that even though I wasn’t working I still made money!! Some of my affiliate links had been used by others to purchase items I was promoting on my website. So before you, as a professional say that you can’t take time off because you can’t afford it, start putting some things in place to allow you to make money while you are off enjoying life!!

When we look towards creating a strong and thriving business, we sometimes forget we can’t do it alone. Just as a baseball team has essential players each with their own role all working together to win the championship game, so too must you have all the necessary players in your business. No one person can cover all the bases without feeling tired and stressed which is why a good team learns the dynamics of each of the nine players and works towards emphasizing each others strengths. So who are the key players that can help you reach the success you are dreaming about and help ensure you create a thriving business.

Banker
Opening a bank account is an easy process, but taking the time to truly get to know your banker and to become visible to them is essential to good business growth. With the onset of online banking and ATMs, we have lost that “personal touch” in a number of cases. Many times spending some time with and getting to know your banker can be an important step to creating a thriving business. Your banker can suggest products and services to replace or enhance the services you already have.

Lawyer
A lawyer is a good person to have on your team even if they are not someone that you use frequently. At the very least, your lawyer can assist you to create the necessary contracts to protect you from possible lawsuits. Another thing your lawyer can do is be the “sound of reason” during a tough situation and provide you with the information to make the best decisions for you and your business.

Accountant
Many of us like to prepare our own income taxes, especially when we are a small business and just starting out. By consulting an accountant and bringing them onto your team, you can learn what it takes to maintain proper accounting records and what deductions are or are not acceptable in your business.

Insurance Agent
Business insurance is an important investment to make in your business. Before starting any business one should consult with an insurance agent to ensure you are covered for any eventuality. If you are in business already and don’t have an insurance agent on your team, now is the time to find one. As they say “better safe than sorry.”

Mentor
Who is it that you look up to? Who inspires you to make the business decisions you make. Every successful business owner can tell you the name of the person or persons who fill that role for them. Many may not have personally met their mentor and others may have a mentor who is not necessarily a business owner themselves. Your mentor will become a valuable player in providing you with a direction for your business.

Coach
The person you utilize to fulfill the role of coach may or may not be a professional. The coach role I am talking about is the person who gives you the push to think further and harder. They are the person you go to with your ideas and who provide you with support and encouragement to make your dreams come true. After all, if we aren’t working towards fulfilling a dream for our business, why be in business at all?

Supportive Family
A supportive family is one of the most essential players to your business success. Having someone to stand behind you through the ups and downs of your business and cheer you on towards success will be the key to truly creating a thriving business.

An Assistant
We can truly never “go it alone” if we want to create a thriving business. You need to have an assistant even if they are simply someone who helps you when you are sick or on vacation. Your assistant could take the role of employee, subcontractor, spouse, virtual assistant or perhaps something as simple as an answering machine message or autoresponder set to answer your messages during absences.

You
Finally we have gotten to the most important player in creating your successful team. Without you, your business would lack the vision, determination and skills to “go the distance”.

Keep in mind that even if you are playing more than one position at any one time, the roles and requirements for a successful business team never change. By ensuring your business has at least one of each of these players, you will have truly created a thriving business and are well on the way to winning the championship game.