I am a new virtual assistant still trying to get my first client. I have two different payment plans. Project work which is hourly with a minimum of 5 hours and 3 different monthly packages with discounts applied based on the amount of hours of the package. The project work is for 1 time jobs. There is no discount for them. Should I have a set amount of hours built into the project work? My project work is $.. per hour for 5 hours. Am I on track or should I increase the amount of hours?

Hi Linda1988,
Just a couple of questions - How did you decide on the min 5 hours for project work? If a potential client wanted to hire you for a couple hours a week to start, would they have to go with the project work or is one of your packages for new clients? I am not sure what the more seasoned VA's do. I am interested to see the responses.

On a side note, do you ever respond to a post and during that post, you get a great idea? That just happened. I am thinking of the possibility of a retainer package for the potential new client.

Best of luck to you!

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Fatima Arnett, CAP - Virtual Admin Connection
Typing & Transcription Services

linda1988,

I am confused about the project rate minimum of 5 hours. What types of services does this include? The reason I am asking is if you have a client who does not have 5 hours of work are you not going to take it?

I have project rates and retainer rates. Retainers are where my set hours come into play. Projects are just that, one time deals or the occasional help such as editing a video or audio, formatting a special report or eBooks. Sometimes they may only take only and hour but these projects help fill in the retainer gaps.

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Lee Drozak

I agree with Lee -- by setting a minimum of 5 hours upfront, you might scare off your one-time client, or those wanting to test the waters and wet their feet. Task/Project rates are just that -- for one-time tasks and projects; projects can take 30 minutes or several hours, so enforcing a minimum number of hours might be going against what you are trying to do -- bringing on board new customers.

We have two rates -- pay-as-you-go (project) rate and a retainer rate. The "pay-as-you-go" rate is paid for at the end of the project; this is for customers that are not sure of their needs in time and want to wet their feet by throwing out a project or task here and there. Or it could be a retainer client that has a big project, that doesn't want to use up their retainer hours on that one project. And then we have the retainer clients, the ones that need consistent support throughout the month for a set number of hours, with the flexibility of sending over most type of work within that set number of hours.

So, while having a rate structure is good business sense, you still need to maintain flexibility to adapt to your clients' needs.

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Janice Deckers | Owner
www.otbas.com

I agree with the above comments. With project work, most offer a fixed price usually because they can gauge how many hours it will take to complete. When offering an hourly rate I have seen that many say that a minimum of one hour is always charged even if it only took you thirty minutes to complete. Whether you decide to go with 15 minute or 30 minute intervals after that is another decision but I think you'll put a lot of potential clients off by establishing a 5 hour minimum on projects and you stand to lose work because of it.

I offer three payment schemes myself: hourly (as I act as an interpreter and I never know how long a job might take), fixed price and retainer packages. The only limitations I place is a one hour minimum for projects paid by the hour but I offer reduced rates on retainer packages. I try to let clients see that I am aware of their individual needs and I'm willing to find the right rate to suit them.

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Sabrina L. Williams
Your Property and Admin Needs Made Simple

I recently set a 5-hour minimum for hourly (pay-as-you-go) clients with the intention of dissuading one-off clients or piecemeal work. It's a calculated decision for me as I figured by the time I get them setup, prepare contracts, and so on, it is not worth my time unless I have that guaranteed minimum. If they only have a small initial project but plan to have more work for me down the line, we could work out the 5-hour minimum as a deposit.

I am focused on attracting retainer clients and while I see the benefit of having one-off projects in between, I prefer to concentrate my time and efforts on building long-term client relationships, hence my policy.

I believe you have to do what works best for you. As long as you realize, like others have said, that you may lose a few potential clients. If you need the extra income to pay the bills, you may want to have less restrictions.

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Linda
Clockwise Virtual Assistance

The reason that I set a minimum is I thought that after I paid taxes if I only had 1 hour to bill that I would be left with nothing. Some other posts agree with you, so if you think I will loose business, then I ' ll take that out of my payment plans.

The retainer packages are also for new customers.

Thanks for the advice. I was concerned that I wouldn't have anything left after paying taxes if I only charged for 1 hour. I am taking that out immediately.

Good comments. I have good results with the fixed rate because I do a lot of project work and the clients like knowing what it will cost them. Just be sure you are good at estimating how long it will take you, but this is something you will also learn as you go.

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Bonnie
Protege Business Solutions, L.L.C.