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Thriving

How to select the perfect vendors for your hub model

Happy Day! 🥳

“Who the hell wants to hear actors talk?” – H.M. Warner, 1927

Vendor Selection for the Hub Model

(Or: How Not to Spend Your Life Putting Out Fires)

Vendor selection is critical.

Why?

Because as CEO of a virtual company, your job is not to be Chief Firefighter.

If you are constantly extinguishing small operational disasters, you are not building a company — you are babysitting one.

The whole point of the hub model is this:

Other people handle the functions.
You handle the future.

That means you must choose vendors who quietly, competently, and independently get on with the job. Minimal supervision. Minimal drama. Minimal “urgent” emails at 9:47 p.m. on a Sunday.

For this reason, intuition matters just as much as analysis.

Spreadsheets tell you what a company charges.

Your intuition tells you whether they will call you before a small problem becomes a large one.

If you were a micro-manager in a previous life — the kind who liked to peek over shoulders and “just tweak a few things” — the virtual model may initially feel like skydiving without checking the parachute twice.

You must allow others to operate — often out of sight.

You must trust your vendors.

And you must trust your own inner signal that tells you when to step in… and when to stay out of the way.

Remember: You Are Not Their Only Client

Keep this in mind:

To you, your company is your life’s work.

To them, it is Tuesday.

You are one of several clients. At the beginning, you are probably not their largest account.

So part of vendor selection is choosing companies that will still care — even when your invoice is modest.

You must remain visible, engaged, and respected in their ecosystem.

What You’re Actually Outsourcing

In a traditional business, departments are organized by function:

Accounting & Finance
Legal
Administration
Manufacturing & Distribution
Sales & Marketing
Purchasing & Inventory
Human Resources
Sometimes R&D, Regulatory, Quality Assurance

In the hub model, you outsource all of it.

Yes. All of it.

You become the orchestrator, not the operator.

Your vendors are not “helpers.”
They are your departments.

Choose accordingly.

Why This Model Is So Powerful

1. Immediate Professionalism

Customers are not sympathetic to start-ups.

They do not say, “Oh, you’re new? That’s adorable. Take your time.”

They expect competence from day one.

By outsourcing to experienced providers, your small company instantly behaves like a large one.

Calls are answered professionally.
Invoices are accurate.
Orders ship on time.

Your customer experiences quality — not your learning curve.

Satisfied customers return.

And they refer.

2. You Look Bigger Than You Are

When outsource providers answer the phone under your company name, you appear established.

Stable.

Structured.

You may be working from a spare bedroom — but your infrastructure feels corporate.

No one needs to know your “head office” is ten feet from your coffee machine.

3. Flexibility Protects Cash-Flow

In the first few years, demand fluctuates wildly.

One month feels like the beginning of global domination.
The next month feels like everyone forgot you exist.

Outsource contracts allow you to scale up or down.

Pause projects.
Reduce volume.
Delay non-critical initiatives.

Try doing that with full-time employees and fixed overhead.

Flexibility is oxygen in a start-up.

Look for vendors who understand turbulence — and who are willing to offer flexible terms, delayed payments, or scaled pricing structures.

They know something important:

One day, you might become very successful.

And they would like to still be there when that happens.

4. Expertise Without Supervision

Outsourced providers are specialists.

They live and breathe their function.

You do not need to educate them on industry standards or manage junior staff development plans.

(And yes — never having to conduct another annual performance appraisal is a deeply underrated entrepreneurial benefit.)

However — do your homework.

Assess the knowledge level of the team handling your account.
Ask about staff turnover.
Visit the facility if appropriate.
Talk casually to employees.

People will tell you more in a hallway conversation than in a formal boardroom presentation.

Happy vendor staff usually equals happy vendor clients.

5. Templates, Systems, and Experience

You do not need to build operating procedures from scratch.

Vendors already have them.

You edit and adapt.

They also serve multiple clients, which means you gain access to accumulated experience across industries. That reservoir of knowledge is extremely valuable — and you get it without paying for a full in-house department.

6. Menu-Based Growth

Good vendors offer tiered services.

Start with the basics.

Upgrade as revenue grows.

You are building a modular company.

Add capability when the market justifies it — not before.

A Simple Example

When I started one company, I searched online for an accounting firm. After a positive call, they offered to work free for two months just to prove their value.

They also offered references.

We worked together for seven years — until I sold the company.

My business was in one state. They were in another.

It did not matter.

Competence travels well.