Rates to Charge as a Virtual Assistant

Internet Business Model Series
Service Business / Charge by Hour or Project

What rates do new virtual assistants charge their clients?

This is a hard question to answer. To charge what is considered a high rate, the virtual assistant must possess the expertise to back-up the rate and if that match is not present, return business will be impossible to get. On the other hand, charging a rate that is too low will not only hamper the VA from making a profit, but it will appear to potential clients that the experience and skills necessary to do the job may not be present.

New virtual assistants need to consult with professionals that are already in the business to learn what the market rates are in their locale or field of specialization. One way to do this is to join a forum for virtual assistants. There are many forums available but those where a membership is required is a better place to find answers to questions such as this. One great membership forum is VA Insider Membership Club. There is a fee for membership but the cost is well offset by the information available. When asking questions that are sensitive to your business such as what rate to charge clients, a “closed” forum will keep your questions and the answers private from your potential client base.

Another option for learning about the appropriate rates to charge your clients is to become a member of a virtual assistant association. Associations are there to help their members and surveys of rates charged in certain locales and for areas of specialization may be made available by the association to its members. Also, other more experienced virtual assistants within your association often volunteer or charge by the hour to provide mentoring and support to those who are just getting started. A few associations within the virtual assistant industry are:

• International Virtual Assistants Association (ivaa.org)
• International Association of Virtual Assistants (iava.org.uk)
• Virtual Professionals (virtual-professionals.com)
• International Association of Virtual Office Assistants (iavoa.com)

Credentials and certifications heavily influence the rate a virtual assistant can charge clients. Most clients will pay more for a virtual assistant who has taken the time to study and test to obtain recognition from notable associations. Certifications can certainly make a huge difference in being able to find new clients and the ability to charge a decent rate, especially when first starting your business. A few credible certifications are:

• VACertification.com
• AssistU.com

Pay rate is also dependent on training and the skills offered. A virtual assistant who can type fifty or sixty words per minute, knows how to transcribe audio files, and can create documents for marketing campaigns is considered to have minimum skills and will only command the minimum hourly rate. By adding skills like website design, internet marketing, graphic design, real estate knowledge and the like, a virtual assistant can increase her hourly or per project rate substantially.

For the most part, depending on expertise, virtual assistant rates vary from twenty to fifty dollars an hour but can go quite higher when more expertise is offered within a specific field. Specialization in a certain field can really help increase the rate a VA charges. For instance, a virtual assistant with real estate experience will command a higher price within that specific group of clients.

In order to get the hourly rate that is deserved, a virtual assistant must start his or her business with as many skills as possible and attempt to specialize as quickly as possible into a field of interest. The more the VA knows, the faster and further the business will go. With this in mind, I’m going to once again talk about Tawnya Sutherland’s Virtual Business Start-Up System.

If you are interested in starting a virtual assistant business and think you have qualities that would make a good virtual assistant, it’s worth your time to get as educated as possible. As discussed in this article the more skills you have the higher the rate you can charge. In addition to your skills, you really need to consider how you’ll market and conduct business as well and Tawnya’s Virtual Business Start-Up System can help you with that.  Tawnya Sutherland not only started her own virtual assistant business from scratch but built it up to the level where she now earns over $100,000 a year. She has assisted numerous corporate administrative workers and mentored various business people who are in career transitions working towards self employment. She also works directly with new and experienced virtual assistants.

If you want help starting your virtual assistant business check out Tawnya’s Virtual Business Start-Up System.

The next article in this series will be the last. We’re going to discuss how to collect money.

Ciao!

Reba

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