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#1 (permalink)   02-05-2009 MondayMorn Contributing Member Company name: Monday Morning VA Latest blog post: do YOU follow? a {new?} blogging movement My latest Twitter: The 3 Rules of Target Markets ? http://t.co/nbHtVn...   Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Windsor, ON Canada Posts: 112 How do you manage Retainers? I've been giving some thought to retainers. A lot of company websites say that retainers are billed at the beginning of the month. That's what I'd like to do as well to make things much easier on my end. Question: How do you handle the first month if they're not starting at the beginning? Do you give them extra time to use those hours in the first month (my retainers are only valid for the month)?

#2 (permalink)   02-06-2009 MissMichelle Contributing Member Company name: Miss Admin Latest blog post: Snow Day VA My latest Twitter: Late-night Scenes From The Beijing Hackathon http:...   Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: St. John's, NL Posts: 79 Re: How do you manage Retainers? I would assume you could either roll over the hours onto the next month for the first month only or charge them less for the first month only. __________________ Miss Admin

#3 (permalink)   02-06-2009 leedrozak Resident Member Company name: My Office Assistant Small Business Practical Times: Web Security: Password Protection My latest Twitter: This is a great weekend to support #SBW2012. I wi...   Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: Western Pennsylvania Posts: 2,263 Blog Entries: 13 Re: How do you manage Retainers? I usually start off with a getting to know me package where I pro-rate the hours based on the tasks they need for that month and if they go over give them the discounted rate for the additional hours on the next months invoice. Or if they choose to pay the whole months retainer then I will do a one time only carryover of the hours. I have only had one client who started mid month and he had so many small tasks that he used up his allotted hours. __________________ Lee Drozak My Office Assistant