May 4-8 2015 is National Small Business Week.
I’m going to mark this occasion by posting some business tips (for small businesses) and articles each day geared toward small businesses.
Delegating. Today another tip from my own archives, how to find a relialble service provider.
Here are three tips that should help you whether you’re looking for a plumber, a lawyer, or a virtual assistant:
- Just ask. Ask everybody you know. Ask your friends, ask your neighbors, post a request to Facebook. Rest assured, if you don’t know somebody, you know somebody that knows somebody.
- Do background checks. I’m not talking about the background checks that go with hiring bank employees or Sunday School teachers*. But if you do a Google search on a name, look at a service like Angie’s List, or look at a person’s profile on LinkedIn. Not only will this give you an idea of their professional persona, you can see if you have any common connections.
- Interview. Most reliable service providers, in any area, are more than willing to sit down and talk to you for some amount of time for free (or at a greatly reduced rate) so that you can see if a working relationship is possible. You can use Skype or other services to “interview” someone virtually.
I honestly can’t think of a single time I’ve made a decision based solely on cost that I’ve been happy with that choice. On the other hand, I’ve often been happy with work done by people that have come with strong personal referrals.
Related articles
- Making the most of LinkedIn (careeractually.com)