Virtual Assistant Rates
August 8, 2008 by yelena
Filed under Working with Virtual Assistant, blog
What are rates for Virtual Assistant services? I’m sure this one question is commonly asked not only by prospective clients, but by VAs themselves. First of all, how much an employer should expect to pay for virtual services? Apparently, too many clients set their budgets at less than $10/hour. At least that’s the impression you get after reviewing requests for quotes on Elance and Guru.
It might be a fair rate for some types of projects, particularly the data entry and data conversion ones that allow for lots of automation. But most tasks that can and should be outsourced to a virtual assistant do not fall into this category.
For example, I came across a recent job post on Elance looking for a VA with executive assistant responsibilities. The proposed duties included documents review and co-authoring, project management, meeting coordination, and communicating with clients. The budget was set at $10-15/hr.
Another employer is looking for a VA to help out with SEO tasks, including content writing, while offering less than $10/hr!
Yet another employer wants a VA who is “fluent in English” to help out with research and marketing tasks. This one is prepared to pay… $10/hr or LESS! And there are scores of job offers like this.
Do virtual assistants respond to these offers? Yes! Of course, there are plenty of overseas agencies claiming that they offer quality services for as little as $3/hr.
But what surprises me is how many US-based virtual assistants are willing to set their rates at under $15/hr even for the rather involved and skills-specific projects. Do they make any money? I doubt it, not after paying all the taxes and business expenses (and don’t forget to include phone, Internet, Elance and Guru monthly membership fees, just to name a few).
At the same time, surveys of virtual assistants in the US show that LESS THAN 5% of VAs charge $10-15/hr and the majority charges $20-30/hr for their services.
P.S. There was a great LinkedIn discussion about the merits of hiring cheap virtual assistants and how virtual assistants in US and Canada set their rates.
Technorati Tags: virtual assistant rate, LinkedIn
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Mike Harmon on Fri, 8th Aug 2008 10:37 pm
I finally decided to write a comment on your blog. I just wanted to say good job. I really enjoy reading your posts.
Donna Caissie on Sat, 9th Aug 2008 3:28 pm
Yelena,
I share your dismay over the rates charged by some Virtual Assistants. However, I don’t think the answer is to encourage lower rates for so-called lesser services. Just because it takes less time to accomplish a particular task doesn’t make it any less valuable. Savings are realized when the task is accomplished in less time than it would cost the client to do it himself/herself.
For example, if the client bills his/her time at $100/hr. and it takes him/her 2 hours to do a task that it takes a Virtual Assistant 1 hour to do, and the Virtual Assistant charges $35/hr., the Virtual Assistant has saved the client $165.
There’s no need to lower your rate because the task can be accomplished quickly.
The industry standard minimum rate for a professional Virtual Assistant is $35/hr. Encouraging all Virtual Assistants to use that rate as a baseline will eliminate much of the angst some of us feel and will go a long way to elevating the value of Virtual Assistant services in the mind of the public.
=>Donna Caissie, Virtual Assistant & Owner
ExtraOrdinary Assistance
http://www.extra-assist.com
dcaissie@extra-assist.com
VA Rates - The Savvy VA on Sat, 9th Aug 2008 8:31 pm
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Shubhranshu on Thu, 14th Aug 2008 5:02 am
I think the selection of Virtual Assistant doesn’t solely depend upon commercial factor but there are many other factors also like experience, good will, clientele and tech. know-how etc. To know more about selecting the best Virtual Assistant at a competitive rate, http://outsorcerer.com/blog/?p=46 may also be a good source.
Lisa Salem on Thu, 14th Aug 2008 9:42 am
I think the way VA’s market themselves will make the difference on what a client is willing to pay. We need to educate the clients from a different perspective….instead of saying the benefits of hiring a VA is to save money on employee costs, like insurance, taxes, etc. (which in essence the client is paying for anyway because VA’s include these expenses in their rates to cover their own costs), why not convince the the client on the Value of using a VA — they get what they pay for; Value-added benefits like convenience (instead of doing the work themselves, working on non-billable tasks, they could be working on revenue-generating activities); what is their time worth, vs. what they pay a VA ($100/hour vs. $35/hour); instant availability (when they travel, they can call their VA anytime for assistance; VA’s are on call, always ready to help, go above and beyond, dedicated, loyal, customer-service oriented, quality driven)… They have to be because their business success is in direct proportion to their clients satisfaction, .etc.etc. You can’t get that kind of service or dedication with an employee. Sell value-added benefits, and the hourly rate may sound a lot better to them.
Borlok Virtual Assistants on Fri, 15th Aug 2008 11:43 pm
Please don’t knock virtual assistants that sometimes lower their rates. They may have valid reasons for doing so. If you are just starting out or have been out of the picture for awhile, you have to request lower prices to build clientele. In addition, competition is fierce on sites such as Elance, Guru, or iFreelance. The buyers on those sites do not and usually will not pay what they consider to be a too high of a price. They all want it cheap. Bid high and you price yourself right out of work. VAs can keep their rates lower and still provide excellent quality, enjoy the work they do, and put bread on the table.
Borlok Virtual Assistants on Sun, 17th Aug 2008 11:56 am
Ah, the right to disagree opens the door to elements of agreement. Yes, competition is fierce out there. The hungry wolves will snap up a tidbit of value, even if that value is a lower price. Here in the States, individuals are concerned with PRICE, the lowest and cheapest they can get. Oftentimes, they will not care if the quality is not up to par. Our belief is that if you are fair, quality-minded, and customer-service oriented, you will have clients come back again and again.
Thank you for providing your article. It has some very good points in it.
Maximum Virtual Solutions on Sat, 23rd Aug 2008 6:01 pm
I really enjoy reading your information. I just want readers to know that the cheapest VA is not always the best. If you want quality work pay for your assistant. You know the old saying you get what you pay for. This is true. Now, on Elance sometimes you have to bid low for job. The majority of the time that I have went on there they are asking for a big job but want to pay you little money. I’m a virtual assistant, and if the job is not asking for too much and it is between 12-15, I will ask for the assignment. I think paying between 16-35 an hour for a job would still save an employee money. No fringe benefits to pay, no office equipment to buy.