Once you’ve defined the needs, you can look for people to fill those roles. We are asked all the time how business owners can find people to join their team. We always recommend that you look first to your own network – start with who you know. If you need someone to create a video for you, simply send a note to your network asking if anyone knows a good A/V professional. 90% of the time someone will have a recommendation of someone they have used themselves or heard good things about.
Likewise, they may also be able to warn you against using certain people and save you some potential headache.
Most likely, as an OBM you probably have your own core team of contractors who you’ve used for projects in the pasts. I have my own rolodex of specialists in various areas who I can call on to use with any of my OBM clients – I know them, trust their work and because we have an established relationship they are quite responsive to my needs and will often “bump me up the list” even if they are super busy.
If you aren’t able to find someone via your network, then you will need to reach out to other sources. Elance.com and Guru.com are great places to find contractors for all kinds of online skill sets and projects. In fact, some of our best team members came from Elance. Another one of my best team members came from a Craigslist.com posting. Being that you aren’t hiring a full-time employee, I wouldn’t look towards the traditional strategies of posting a job ad in newspapers or via online job boards such as Monster.com. Not only is that an expensive option, chances are that you will not attract contractors as most people who peruse job ads are looking for full time employment.
If you haven’t check out my Thrive Hiring System Job Board.. you might want to do that were there are over 400 virtual support professionals available for connecting with: http://thrivehiringsystem.com/home/directory-job-board/