Four years ago this month, Solo-E hired its first contractors: 3 fabulous VAs. Between them they handled the details of hundreds of items of content for the website, scores of newsletters and uncounted correspondence with subscribers and clients. Two of them still work for me (the third took time off with her third child and is now pursuing a career in financial planning!)

Having a long and successful working relationship with a team of contractors is somewhat of an anomaly among solo entrepreneurs. In many ways I’ve been very fortunate to have such talented and caring people working for me. But I also recognize some critical pieces of making it work that can be planned for — because it’s not just luck!

Part I: Setting up the relationship

1. Hire people that are a good fit for you. Seems obvious, but sometimes our criteria can hinge too much on things like cost and not enough on “can I see myself working well with this person?” Establish upfront what is important to you — consider skills, work habits, communication style, friendliness, etc. — make a list and use it when interviewing and making your hiring decision.
2. Establish written expectations on both sides. Do you expect emails answered in 4 hours or 48? Want a weekly update? Not interested in chit-chat? You may have talked about these things in the interview, but getting them down on paper gives you both something to refer back to. And this should be a two-way street: what are their expectations? Do they need to hear from you when they are doing a good job? Is it ok to contact them on the weekend?
3. Keep the lines of communication open. Talk ahead of time about the best way to let each other know when things aren’t working (even better, put it in writing so you don’t forget). Think about how you best receive feedback — on the phone, via email, scheduled ahead of time or on the spur of the moment, etc.
4. Life happens. If you work with another solo entrepreneur for any length of time, it’s likely that one of you will face at least one personal issue that takes you away from the business at hand for some period of time. These issues can be difficult to talk about…illness, depression, family issues, death. But not telling the other person will leave them frustrated because things aren’t getting done and they don’t know why. Most people are very understanding and willing to accommodate changes in deadlines, leaves of absence, etc., but you have to communicate first. Talking about “what would we do if” ahead of time may help.
5. Show me the money (plan). This is one place to be absolutely crystal-clear. How often are invoices sent, how much detail do you need to see, what are the payment terms, how do they want to be paid. Do they want a minimum monthly commitment? Do you want to set a monthly maximum? What about referral agreements, profit-sharing, etc.

In Part II of this series I’ll share what I’ve found to be the most important ingredients in keeping a long-term working relationship with your support team running smoothly!

Last 5 posts by Terri Zwierzynski

• 3 Tips to Make Your Website Sell - October 10th, 2008
• Building a Service Business is All About Building Relationships - September 21st, 2008
• The How and Why of Twitter -- It's All About People - September 13th, 2008
• Email Marketing: 5 Keys to Gold Medal-Winning Thank You Pages - September 7th, 2008
• Can You Use Twitter to Build Your List? - September 3rd, 2008

This entry was posted on Thursday, April 10th, 2008 at 3:04 pm and is filed under Virtual Teams, Delegation. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.