How To Collect Money for Virtual Assistant Services

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

When setting up the structure of a virtual assistant business, the owner must decide how he or she will collect the money earned for the services performed. There are several ways to set up the payment process and each individual virtual assistant will need to decide what is best for their business.

Traditional Invoicing/Net 30 Days – If the virtual assistant does a lot of work for larger corporate clients, she may find that her clients will only do business with her if she extends Net 30 Day terms. With this arrangement, the virtual assistant will issue an invoice at the specified time periods or at the end of a project, whatever is agreed to prior to starting the project.

Speaking from experience, large corporations normally do not pay invoices within the 30 terms, it’s normally at least 45-60 days before the check is cut plus time for it to arrive in the mail. Virtual assistants who extend Net 30 Day terms should be aware and prepared for the late payment, however, these large corporate client accounts can be quite lucrative and may be worth the trouble. Issuing a Purchase Order or signed contract/agreement prior to accepting the job will help with companies that cause collection problems.

Traditional Invoicing/Due Upon Receipt – Issuing the purchase order or having an agreement where the terms are Due Upon Receipt will help the virtual assistant to get paid much quicker. Just like Net 30 Day terms, the virtual assistant will send an invoice at specified times or at the end of the project and wait for the company to send a check.

Credit Card Payment – The virtual assistant can set-up a merchant account and collect payment from the client using a credit card. An invoice will usually still need to be given to the client, but payment can be processed immediately at specified times. The virtual assistant can keep the client’s credit card number on file and charge it as soon as a project is completed and the invoice is approved. Credit card payments can also be processed through PayPal without setting-up a merchant account.

Retainer – Many virtual assistants collect a retainer from their clients. Often a discount is given when the client agrees to a certain number of hours of work per month charged if it is used or not. Since the client has already paid, they will most likely use the time, however, this is a nice way for the VA to estimate how much he or she will work in a month because the client as already committed to a certain number of hours.

The virtual assistant who decides to use credit cards can set-up a secure page on their website to collect and process the credit card information. This will make it easy for the client to pay on their own, especially for those who use the retainer method. The VA should be sure the flow of the website leads the customer to sign (virtually or by scan or fax) a contract or agreement.

This is the last article in the Virtual Assistant Series – Pay By Hour or Project. You can view all the articles in this series by clicking on this link – Internet Business Models/Virtual Assistant.

Our next series will be about setting up a business on the internet selling your own informational product.

Until next time…

Ciao!

Reba

Tweet This Post

Setting Up A Virtual Assistant Office

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

For a virtual assistant, being organized and having the right equipment to do the job is vital to success. Here’s a list of a few of the necessities to set up a successful virtual assistant office.

Computer with Internet Access – A computer is the heart of a virtual assisting business and the one chosen should be powerful. A state of the art computer will cost more than the ones advertised but is an investment in the future of the business and most often can be claimed as a deduction on to following year’s taxes. Even though the bottom of the line or outdated computer will not work for most virtual assistants, the highest end computer is not needed either. Just be sure to purchase plenty of RAM so multiple software programs can be run simultaneously and not cause freeze-ups. The computer with Internet access is the major means of communication with clients so a high-speed internet connection is most often a necessity.

Telephone - A separate phone line for the business prevents personal calls from getting mixed in with business calls. Children should be kept from answering business calls and having a separate line will help in this regard. For the virtual assistant, communication is paramount and quite often a phone call is needed to communicate with a client. An easy and inexpensive way to add a phone line is to set up a separate number with VOIP (voice over internet protocol) through a company like Vonage. VOIP accounts are inexpensive and allow you to add a toll-free number for just a few dollars. Additionally, domestic long distance is usually included at no extra charge.

Fax machine – Some clients will prefer sending documents by fax verses email, sometimes it’s because they don’t have a scanner, other times it’s just their preferred method. Specs for work and documents that need a signature are sometimes easier to deal with when sent this way and this method is always faster than snail mail. It’s not necessary to have a separate fax machine, the all-in-one scanner/printer/fax is quite inexpensive and a scanner is necessary anyway. If the VA office is equipped with a scanner, an online fax service like E-Fax can be used instead of a fax machine.

File cabinet – Most of the information a virtual assistant receives from clients is in the form of virtual documents. For privacy and business purposes, contracts and other documents can be printed and filed. A file cabinet needs a secure lock so all business communication is safe.

Comfortable desk and chair – Most of a virtual assistant’s time is spent working at a desk. The environment must be kept comfortable in order for the body to be able to work for long hours and to prevent physical problems that can occur. The chair must be a proper fit and the desk the proper height. Don’t over look the height of the computer monitor and placing it straight ahead from the chair will help prevent neck pain.

Separate work area – For tax purposes, it is essential that the home office be separate. With so much sensitive data coming in and out of your hands, a virtual assistant needs an area dedicated to the business and nothing else. Use a den, garage, spare bedroom, or construct a small office behind the house (if finances permit).

All-In-One Printer – Simple printers are a thing of the past for virtual assistants. A printer that has the capability of scanning documents, sending faxes, and copying documents is more of value and cheaper than purchasing each separately. A virtual assistant will utilize all of these features. Many printer manufacturers now offer wireless versions of their all-in-one printers, this is convenient if work is done on a laptop from varying locations in the house.

Software – A virtual assistant is nothing without the software to do the job. This includes website design software, desktop publishing software, Microsoft Office, accounting software, and the like. At bare minimum the most recent version of Microsoft Office is necessary but if the VA is considering any specialization, the software to facilitate that specialty is necessary.

The virtual assistant’s office is his or her main workspace. It not only must be functional but comfortable as well. It’s important to purchase quality products that will last and help project a perception of professionalism to the client.

Tweet This Post