Subcontracting is something everyone in the virtual IT business needs to think about.  Your goal is to provide virtual IT services profitably.  To do this you have to consider all the soft costs that are involved.  

This means looking at the time investment to recruit contractors, subcontractors, and partners.  When you are thinking of subcontracting you really need to have a good base of steady clients that are on service agreements.  This steady income will give the luxury of time - time you need to do all the preparation for subcontracting work.  

Once you decide that subcontracting is what you need to do to move your business forward, the process can take four to eight hours and even more per subcontracting candidate you consider.  

Subcontracting is very much like recruiting and hiring an employee. When subcontracting you need to:

  • search out subcontractors
  • identify good candidates
  • screen these candidates
  • create a short-list
  • verify references of contractors on the short list
  • enter into a subcontracting relationship
Bottom Line on Subcontracting
Before deciding to use subcontracting in your virtual IT business, you need to make sure you have the time to do it right.  You can’t just hire any old subcontractor.  You need time to make sure the person you are subcontracting with is going to represent your company in a way that will get you more, and repeat, business.  Always look at the soft recruitment costs before going ahead with subcontracting.

In this article, you’ve been introduced to Subcontracting. To learn more about how you can improve your knowledge about Subcontracting, just click here now to get access to a free one-hour audio training program on 5 Easy Ways to Grow Your Computer Consulting Business.