SMac To The Rescue is in the process of transitioning into a Multi-VA practice, and I’m deciding on which model is the best one for me and my style of business. When you find yourself in this position, there are a bunch of things you need to consider before you decide on your new structure:
1. Just how anal are you, really? – I think as VAs there are a lot of us that would laughingly call ourselves “anal”, or in other words, organization freaks. You need to think about whether this is a trait that you wish to nurture or to try to let go of. Do you want to maintain complete control of every product and service that is going in and out of your business?
2. Are you willing to share? – Consider whether you’re willing to share your clients and their information fully, or whether you’d prefer to keep it under wraps as much as possible.
If you’re super duper anal and you want to keep everything within your own personal sphere of knowledge, then it sounds like you might work best with the type of model that has you as the “Manager” and essentially standing between your associate VAs and your clients. Hold on to your hat because you’re going to be a busy bee, and you’d better be prepared to become the Ultimate Multi-Tasker in order to keep track of all your clients, associates, and projects that are on the go.
If you’re willing to relinquish some control then you might be leaning towards the more open of the two models where you essentially “assign” one of your associates to a client and then let them work directly together to get the job done. You’re still involved, of course, and although you don’t have to be a super-active go-between for your clients and associates, you must be able to trust your associates and know that they can do the job and do it well.
So, which model suits your business style the most? I know I’ll have to do some serious thinking before I decide which model will work best for me!