Virtual assistant rates
. where you are in the world - virtual assistants in major cities tend to charge more than others, some countries charge more, etc. . the demand for the particular service that you provide. . your experience in a particular service. For example I charge more for financial markets transcription work than I do for general transcription work, because that's my specialty having worked in an investment bank for so long in my prior life. However setting your price is so important to your business surviving. One of the biggest decisions a new virtual assistant makes is what to charge for her services. I am not a fan of charging lower rates just to get a client. Yes you can charge a lower rate for a while if you are taking on a job that is not your niche service, but then when you are up to speed up the rate accordingly. Undercutting rates drags the name of the virtual assistant industry down I'm afraid. And you will not be seen as capable professional business owners if we offer too cheap rates. There are websites out there charging unbelievably low rates, but who knows what quality of work is produced. If a prospective client asks for a discount, I explain that I am a very fast worker, I produce quality output and that my set rate is my set rate. To a client you may look expensive, but you may end up costing them less than someone who can take twice as long to complete work than you could.
So what virtual assistant rates do I charge? Well you have got to make enough money to at least cover your monthly expenses. Make sure that the rate you set multiplied by the hours of billable time you have available per month can cover those expenses at least. Take a look at what other virtual assistants are charging. Have a look at their websites or this topic may be brought up in a virtual assistant forum or discussion group. This is a touchy issue though. Some virtual assistants charge by the hour, some by half hour, some down to 15 minute increments or even down to five minute increments. This should be explained to a client as some clients don't like being charged for a full hour's work when only half an hour was used to complete the work in. Virtual Assistant Networking has a great free worksheet you can download to help you calculate your virtual assistant rates
Click here! Different virtual assistant rates for different clients and services I charge different clients accordingly. I don't advertise a set list price as I charge micro businesses less than what I would charge a major corporation. Also students can be charged at a lower rate, but you don't want to price yourself out of any profits either. Also you may have a service that is high demand, but is also in high supply. In this instance stick to the ballpark figure that other virtual assistants are charging for this service. However you may be specialised in a field that not many other virtual assistants are offering, and here you can set your price accordingly.
Virtual assistant rate rises Don't forget to raise your rates every year or so in line with inflation, the consumer price index, your increasing costs and your new greater experience. I send out a letter four weeks before a rate rise to my clients so that they know what they are in for. It's always difficult to know by how many dollars to raise the rate, but I usually do a $2 a year rate rise, but again this could vary greatly in individual circumstances.
Transcription virtual assistant rates Virtual assistant rates for transcription work can be worked out in several ways, such as: . Charge the client by the hour Your client may already have a preference. I used to use a free software called MPCount a couple of years back to create and generate my own invoices for transcription work and I used to generate the invoice according to specific cents per line, say 15 cents per line and the system would generate it for me. It was very easy. Check it out at
mpword.com.
Transcription is sometimes difficult to price as you may have an easy file with two very audible speakers and a nightmare file with a six person focus group that takes you much longer to complete. So you can adjust your rates accordingly and don't quote the client until you have heard the sound quality. Also this is a dicey area, but an exceptionally fast typist can type a good audible quality one hour voice file in three hours or even less. But files may take up to five or six hours to type up per one hour of voice file if the file is not very audible, bad quality or if the client wants verbatim transcription for instance. So be careful quoting prices up front. If you are working with a transcription company they generally pay you higher rates for more difficult files.
Subcontractor virtual assistant rates You may be in a situation where you are too busy and may wish to subcontract work out to another virtual assistant. In this instance you pay the other virtual assistant a subcontracted rate, a lower than usual rate, to perform the job for you. You may charge the client the full normal rate, but remember you may take a small cut for yourself, but this is really not money for nothing as you should really spend time checking the work properly before submitting it back to your client. There are virtual assistants that are happy to take subcontracted rates, especially those starting out in the industry and it's good experience for them. Virtual assistant networks are popular for broadcasting out to their members such job leads. Lisa Taliga has provided extended information on
subcontracting to grow your business Virtual assistant rates for travel to pick up/drop off work A difficult area to consider is if you will in fact charge a client for travelling to and from their premises to pick up/drop off work. This depends on any agreement that you made with your client up front as to whether travel time is chargeable to them or not. It also depends on how your business was set up, ie: sole trader, a company, etc. Some ladies do not charge for the travel time and factor that into their virtual assistant rates quoted for that client, but some ladies do charge the travel time. If you decide to charge for travel you may wish to charge it at a lower rate, so if your work was charged at $30 an hour, you may wish to charge $20 an hour for travel time. This is just a thought. If it's only a short trip you may not bother, but for a longer trip you would charge accordingly. Also depending on the way your business is set up and your country's taxation/company rules, you may run your vehicle through your business and run a log book and claim back petrol, mileage and all associated costs, so there is a taxable benefit to you. (Speak to your accountant on the best way to approach this issue).
Virtual assistant retainers Some virtual assistants prefer retainers, as opposed to just billing your client for work completed. Some clients are reluctant to go with retainers where some are ok with this. A retainer agreement is a contract between the VA and her client where the client reserves a block of the VAs time. The agreement includes the virtual assistant rates to be paid, the period of time to be reserved (eg: one week per month), and details on the type and scope of work to be done by the VA. Advantages of a retainer for the client are they have already booked your services and know you will be available to undertake their work. They also know how much money they are to pay out every month. And a VA can offer a slight discount on her rates, ie: 5% discount for 10 hours of work per month, 10% discount for 20 hours of work, and so on. Advantages of a retainer for you are that you know you will have guaranteed income for the month and exactly how much that income would be. Some VAs, depending on the client, will still earn the amount of monies per month even if they didn't actually do the entire (eg: one week per month) worth of work, or they would refund the unused hours. Retainers are also paid in advance. Disadvantages for the client are they may not know how much work they will be sending your way and the work will be more sporadic, so a retainer is not a choice for them. A client without a retainer is not guaranteed that you are available for them. Some VAs do not refund unused retainer hours back to the client or don’t carry unused hours over to the next month. Disadvantages for the VA are that retainer clients may take up all your available time and you miss out on other jobs. These other ad hoc jobs may lead to bigger jobs and referrals, etc, and you may miss out on other opportunities. Also depending where you are in the world, some client are reluctant to go with retainers. You can purchase a great
virtual assistant retainer
agreement or a per project agreement at this link and whilst you're there, there are 18 other virtual assistant forms that you may be intersted in.
So virtual assistant rates are not easy to set and don't undercut yourself, but also don't overcharge. A virtual assistant can lose clients on the rate issue alone. She can also gain clients by charging a lower rate. If you feel you must charge a lower rate, stipulate to the client that it's only for a few months until they are comfortable with your services or work that discount into your retainer as explained above. Industry Production Standards Having said all the above, you may also wish to look into industry production standards when setting your rate. These standards help you calculate "standard" time taken to complete work. Therefore a client is not penalised by paying more for a slower VA who will bill for more hours of work. Equally a very experienced efficient VA won't miss out by only billing for minimum hours. The standards set out the "standard" time taken to complete the work and that is what is used when quoting and billing your clients.
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to go to my IPS page for more information on this resource.
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