My main focus is to attract retainer clients. Am I limiting myself if I only want to focus on retainer or per project clients? I also do not want the hassle of having to worry about tracking my time. What are your thoughts?

I've started going away from the hourly rate. It seems to me that if you work faster than expected at a project, you may be short changing yourself if charging by the hour. You may want to create packated rates for services you provide to entice retainer clients. However, I would still keep your hourly rates for those one-time only clients.

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All the best,
Jennifer Gallaher, Virtual Assistance by Jen - Owner

I am also getting away from hourly rates. Most of my clients are retainer so I do not offer hourly anymore. I am keeping the few per hour clients that I have but I am finding that those small projects just do not work for me anymore.

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Lee Drozak
My Office Assistant

Hi Ladies,

I came across this post while researching a little about rates. I currently bill a majority of my work by the hour but I want to get away from that. How has it been transitioning from hourly rates? Have you moved to a retainer instead? Do potential clients seem to prefer or accept this way of billing? Any advice you would give as I start to restructure my charges?

Sorry to pick your brain and ask so many questions.....

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Angie Fisher, www.virtuallythere.us

I do both depending on the client's needs. One client is an HR consultant who needs word processing help from time to time on a (usually huge and horrendous) manual or report. She's hourly. Another client is a small law firm for which I do overflow transcription. That is a retainer contract as the workflow is uneven depending on how busy they are or if someone is out sick or on vacation.

Personally it works for me right now so I prefer to go on a client by client basis.

Lynne

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The Wordpro Wizard
www.wordprowizard.com

I still track my hours, however, even for retainer clients, because I don't want to short-change either myself or my client. Knowing how long specific projects take helps to properly create retainer packages.

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Lily Chambers, The Virtual Office Goddess, LLC
Author "How to Do Your Own Small Business Bookkeeping"

I try to stay away from billing hourly and rather charge per project. I have a good idea of how long things generally take now, so don't find myself being shortchanged. In saying that, I do however still bill hourly on the odd occasion for small once-off projects.

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Ann du Plessis
www.virtuallythere.co.za