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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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.

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Virtual Assistant Skills

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

A virtual assistant is a business professional who provides a service for other businesses and as such, the skill set of a VA must be exceptional. The area of virtual assisting has grown by leaps and bounds over the last several years and so has the competition to get hired. The skills that a virtual assistant brings to the table make a huge difference between getting hired and being passed over.

The survival of a virtual assistant falls on the strength of his or her skills. When a client is considering a virtual assistant for a project, the VA that understands that the client has a choice will normally be the one hired. Why is that? Because understanding that the client has a choice entices that virtual assistant to expand on her strengths and keep her skill set updated.  By working on and improving the skills that the virtual assistant likes and is strong in, she will naturally be led to a niche where she can stand out and set herself apart from the rest.

When the virtual assisting industry first began, the only skills needed were those that were used by executive assistants. These mostly revolved around tasks like transcription, mass mailings, mail merge documents, proofreading, and such.

As the industry grows and evolves so does the types of people becoming virtual assistants. Many former executive assistants have become virtual assistants, but now you also find business executives, paralegals, graphic designers, copywriters, and many other types. The skills developed during their careers are assisting these people in developing new niches for the virtual assisting industry.

A good example of differentiating your skills to serve a niche would be the virtual assistants who have built their businesses by extending their skills to include the maintenance and upkeep necessary to have a website. Most businesses have an online presence and managing that enterprise can be a lot to handle. Having a skill set that involves the internet will interest clients looking for someone who can help in that regard.

Internet skills include all areas of website management and upkeep. Website skills include but certainly aren’t limited to skills like:

• website design
• website hosting
• blog management
• affiliate management
• copywriting
• internet marketing

A virtual assistant who can take a set of email addresses and handle an email or viral marketing campaign is a valuable asset to any business. Basically, anything that’s needed to maintain a website right down to answering email will be considered for website maintenance type projects.

Website skills are not learned overnight. They require overcoming a learning curve and in some cases, lots of classes. Many businesses are in search of people skilled in this area. Since the product sold by virtual assistants is their skill set, when a virtual assistant adds website skills to what he or she offers, there will be much more opportunity in the marketplace for that virtual assistant.

Adding website skills to a skill set isn’t the only way to set yourself apart from the crowd, other niches can be served with different skill sets. Take the paralegal for instance, many attorneys and corporate legal departments can use the skills a paralegal offers. Anyone wanting to become a virtual assistant just needs to recognize what strengths they possess and then create a plan for marketing those strengths.

If you can type, transcribe, master Microsoft Office tools, and respond to emails you can probably start your own virtual assistant business as these are valuable skills. But by adding a skill set that appeals to a particular niche, you will be desirable to many more potential clients. The secret to being a highly successful virtual assistant is providing skills beyond what is proven to be “customary.” So, if you have to, return to school and take a few classes to increase your skill set. Even a novice can succeed if they have the right skills and the drive to be a virtual assistant.

P.S. If you’re interested in upgrading your internet skills and want to take some classes, check out the following website, they offer online classes for $69.  I personally have not taken any of these classes but the syllabus appeared to be comprehensive and I know a lot about building websites, I’ve built many. One class alone will not teach you everything you need to know but after a few, you should possess enough skill to set-up and/or maintain a website.  Follow the links below for the classes I would recommend, and just for your info, HTML is very necessary (see free course link below):

• Free HTML Training Course
• Web Design & Graphics Series
• Web Publishing and Design with HTML 4.01 and XHTML Series
• Running An Online Business

Lastly, if you’re interested in learning internet marketing, don’t waste your time with a class from E-Learning Center. Learn those skills from top internet marketers like John Reese, Internet Marketing Center (IMC), and StomperNet. Follow the links to reviews on this website.

Cheers!

Reba

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Who Needs a Virtual Assistant?

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

A huge percentage of the marketplace today is made up of small and home-based businesses. Some of these businesses are so small the term solopreneur was coined to describe them. The owners of these businesses are quite often stretched to their limits to get everything done and administrative work is often left to be done last. These businesses are prime candidates for virtual assistants.

On the other hand, large corporations are good candidates for virtual assistants as well. With new technology and the internet, work can be completed and turned in by a person working in a totally different location than the person assigning the work. Many large corporations are taking advantage of this ability to use offsite workers and saving thousands on not only payroll but office space, equipment and benefits.

When it comes to home-based and smaller businesses where the owner is the person who handles most, if not all the work, a virtual assistant can help that business owner focus his or her efforts where they will be most productive. By allowing a capable virtual assistant to take over some of the administrative tasks, the business owner can add value to their own time by spending it on the tasks that will grow their business.  Time spent on marketing, customer service, and planning will have a much higher pay-off to their business than time spent on administrative duties. And smart business owners know this and understand the price of a virtual assistant is small in comparison to the alternative. These small business owners realize that spreading themselves too thin by trying to it all is not the wisest use of their time and as their business grows, either the marketing and managing of the business or the administrative duties will suffer.

In addition to the small business population, corporate clients are in constant need of administrative help as projects present themselves and growth occurs. The virtual assistant with the necessary skills to handle a particular project is the perfect choice for the same reasons it’s a good choice for a small business owner. The cost of a permanent employee goes way beyond the hourly rate paid to that employee. Although most large corporations are solvent and can afford to hire a permanent employee when the need arises, they are also held accountable for the bottom line and hiring someone permanently when the work could be done on a contract basis is not prudent. For this reason more and more companies are looking to the virtual assistant to handle projects and duties that used to be done in-house.

Basically many kinds of companies, from the “one-man show,” right up to the largest Fortune 500 company, are using virtual assistants. The market is wide open for the skilled professional to start and grow a successful virtual assistant business.

Now, just think how all your years of experience and the skills you’ve accumulated over the years will translate into a successful virtual assistant business. This is a business where baby boomers who have worked as executive assistants can really trump. As a boomer you not only have years of experience and the skills necessary to do the job, but you’ve had so many dealings with people in so many situations, that you’ve learned patience, time-management, client relations, and myriad of other things that will work to your advantage. What a great industry in which to grow a boomer business.

In my last post I told you about a program by Tawnya Sutherland that will help you break into the field and teach you how to start your marketing program to gain a clientele. Today I want to show you her other website and message board where you can go to learn and get your questions answered.

The link here will take you to a page on her site that sells her VA Insider Membership Club. I’m leading you to that page so you know it exists and you can see the differences between the free membership and the paid membership. The page is pretty clear showing in a table the benefits of the paid membership. Personally, I’d look around a bit, join the free membership board, and then later if you decide you want to start your own virtual assistant business, consider the paid membership only after you purchase the Virtual Business Start-Up System, well, that is, if you plan on buying the VBSS. The reason I say this is because the VA Insider Membership Club is half-price is you own VBSS. Do definitely don’t do anything right this moment, first use the free membership and then make your decision only after you’re sure you like what you see.

Next we’ll talk about the skills necessary to consider starting a virtual assistant business.

Cheers!

Reba

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What is a Virtual Assistant?

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

All businesses from time to time need administrative help beyond their current payroll. Often an unplanned project will present itself and since the need for help is temporary, it’s better to outsource the work than hire more personnel. In the case where a business is small and doesn’t need much administrative help, the owner may decide it’s less expensive to outsource than take on the expense and benefits associated with an employee. Whatever the case, smart administrative professionals are capitalizing on the need in the market and starting businesses to fill that need.

So what is a virtual assistant? A virtual assistant, or VA for short, is the equivalent of an executive assistant but instead of working as an employee for one company has taken his or her expertise and created a service business.  VA’s usually work for more than one client on a project by project or retainer basis.

As the forms of communication and sharing of documents has been made easier by the internet, the virtual assistant industry has evolved and VA’s are offering a much more varied menu of services. In addition to word processing, some VA’s have branched out and started offering other services like bookkeeping, web design, and internet marketing.  Some companies are even forwarding their phones to their VA’s to handle customer service calls. Specialization in one particular area of expertise or industry is quite common and a smart move by the virtual assistant.

Virtual assistants normally charge either by the hour or by the project. Some allow a discount for customers that pay for a number of hours in advance. Since a VA is a business owner, growing the customer base in an effort to make a profit is essential. For this reason most VA’s have a website that outlines their skills and describes the type of work they are comfortable accepting.  VA’s who have internet marketing knowledge or offline marketing knowledge, will have an edge over those that don’t since sales and marketing the business is how their client base is built.

A VA’s experience can range from brand new to many years in the corporate world prior to going solo. Experience needed to start a virtual assistant business doesn’t matter as much as the skill level in the area of expertise of the VA along with the ability to keep the customer happy. Building a reputation of not only quality work but ease of relationship and communication is important for getting and keeping customers. Even though a VA will normally work for many clients, they work hard to give the perception to each client that they are the only one.

If you are interested in starting a virtual assistant business and think you have qualities that would make a good virtual assistant, you can find help breaking into the industry. 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.

Next post in this series will cover “Who Needs A Virtual Assistant?”

Cheers!

Reba

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Internet Business Models and Strategies

In the upcoming months, October through December to be specific, we’re going to discuss the various internet business models and strategies to consider when deciding what kind of internet business you want to start. There are many ways to make money on the internet and I’m sure I don’t know them all, as surely some haven’t even been invented yet. However, there are some basic models and I plan to cover them in this series of posts. Unless you have a new innovative idea that hasn’t been tested, usually one of the models we’ll be discussing will translate to your interest and be adapted to your business.

My plan is to discuss various types of businesses and in the process explain how those businesses make money. This way I’ll be “killing two birds with one stone” as the saying goes. I’ll not only cover all the different business models you can use, but I’ll also be giving information on different types of businesses and in doing so you may find the exact business you want to start.  So throughout the series we’ll cover different types of businesses each using a different model to make money. You can then use the information on how that business makes money, apply your own imagination, passions, and desires, and have a good foundation for setting up your own business.

I’m going to start with a sevice business that collects money based on an hourly wage. I haven’t chosen which model I’ll discuss next but here’s a list of the ones I’ll be covering in no specific order.

• Service business that makes money charging by the hour
• Affiliate Marketing
• Having a content site that makes money with Adsense ads and selling advertising
• Charging for Advertising using a Directory
• Ebay and other auctions
• Selling information products
• Selling copywriting sevices
• Website development
• Selling your knowledge with a membership site

I’m going to start by examining how to become a virtual assistant and the internet business model and strategy a VA business uses to make money is the first on our list ~ a service business that makes money charging by the hour.

As soon as I get a few articles posted in this series, I will post a page where you can go to see links to all the articles. Also you will be able to find everything listed in the “Build A Business” category under the “Internet Business Models” sub-category.

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