What is your minimum rate? - Page 3 - Virtual Assistant Forums

Girl Friday · #31 (**permalink**) 11-25-2007

I charge $XX (AUD) per hour for pretty much everything. Which is about $XXUSD or thereabouts depending on the exchange rate.

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Violet Wayman · #32 (**permalink**) 02-05-2008

Hello JRunner !

I am living in Idaho as well and I support your model. New to the VA space and very excited to kick off our new services. We start around XX - XX depending on the back office task and up to XX.00 hour for more specialized web and marketing stuff. Any way glad to see you here and thank you for your honest approach!!

Violet

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#33 (**permalink**) 02-14-2008

Originally Posted by Office Goddess

Don't shortchange your value because of your physical location or because you are a rookie VA. You wouldn't be able to work as a VA unless you were a skilled professional and, keep in mind that although you may LIVE in a lower wage state, as a VA you can work anywhere.

I was thinking the same. Mainly that I doubt that I will have customers from Romania very soon (in here, the business owners prefer to have their neck-feet secretaries bringing them the coffee in the morning, rather than working with a VA, and yes, a lot of them told me from the beginning, as an "encouragement" that I will not be successful with such a business). So, I set up my rate at $XX with some discounts for more hours. However, to my surprise and discouragement, even if when contacted by some customers I told them that the $XX rate is subject to negotiation, I have been told: "Your rate is not affordable to us (from people in UK and US), and you are in competition with another VA from India, or Phillipines, or Malaysia, who are charging $5 per hour!!!" And yeah, what hurt most was that one of the potential customers from US is actually a Romanian woman living and working there.

I have no lack of consideration for any VA from anywhere in the world! But you see, it was them getting the job and not I!

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Prime Admin Solutions · #34 (**permalink**) 02-14-2008

I tend to work with clients locally so it's not an issue. Perhaps you should focus on that and market to businesses in your area.

#35 (**permalink**) 02-14-2008

Not sure I can add much new to the thread; but I will say this.....

My base rate in ND is $XX per hour; altho my specialty is HR services & I charge more for that at $50 an hour. I have not worked outside the region, yet, and so far no one has blinked at my fees. Also, I have "bartered" my services for work I need done by others.

Jim Rohn said something to this effect... "It is not what you get for the hour of work; but the value I bring as a result of the hour of work."

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Violet Wayman · #36 (**permalink**) 02-15-2008

I too have posted on my site and resume the hourly rate I wish to make and then work with the client based on their needs. But I feel if a client wants quality work they will be willing to pay for it

#37 (**permalink**) 03-14-2008

I've set my min rate based on what I would be making if I was working in my area right now. My biggest client base is in my local area, so I want to be within their range.

virtual writing · #38 (**permalink**) 03-14-2008

Wait a minute. Charging what you'd be making as an employee won't work if you're in business for yourself. If I'm understanding you correctly, cjmccall. Had to throw in this comment of caution: your expenses to create and maintain your business have to be covered by your income. If you only charge what you'd make as an employee, you'll have to work a whole lot of overtime to make up the difference. Guess that's ok if you have lots of energy and enough time for it. But doing it that way is kind of beside the point. I mean, you should make enough in fees to cover all your business expenses and to give you a decent living, within a reasonable number of working hours per week. At least start there. Don't set yourself up to be behind from the start.
This is NOT to pick on you, I just don't want you to realize too late that undercharging doesn't make sense.

Rebecka Melson · #39 (**permalink**) 03-14-2008

Mary is right. You need to factor in that you will be paying your own taxes as well as any business expenses. I also factor in retirement and health insurance. You also need to factor in how many hours per week you "want" to work to make the income.

tildavirtual · #40 (**permalink**) 03-14-2008

I used a spreadsheet to calculate my break even point. That is, how much per hour I need to charge to be able to cover all my expenses. I pretty much charge double that rate as my hourly rate but it makes me feel better knowing for sure that I have all my expenses covered (including my employee and subbies).

kathiemt · #41 (**permalink**) 03-15-2008

I believe you need to look at the big picture, or at least the annual one. If you were earning say $30K per annum, then you should not be looking to earn any less in your business if working fulltime. So you really need to look at working backwards from this figure, take into consideration leave, sick leave, tax, etc and then work out your hourly rate from there. This should then become your basic hourly rate for basic work. Anything that requires extra brain power should have a higher rate. And don't forget to add in expenses such as printing, postage, etc.

Tess · #42 (**permalink**) 03-15-2008

And don't forget health insurance! That was one thing we didn't have/need while abroad (it was so inexpensive to just walk-in there...) but HERE it's a whole different ball game.

#43 (**permalink**) 03-15-2008

Thanks for the feedback. I just recently found a worksheet to help determine my rates. I'll go back and go through it to see how far off I might be. Thanks for looking out for me!! I'll let you know!

#44 (**permalink**) 03-15-2008

Okay. After doing the worksheet, I was definitely on the short side!! Who knew I was worth so much!! heehee. I'l definitely rethink things. What I came up with seems like a lot to charge, but I do need to make it worth my time.. Thanks everyone. This is what I'm here for -- to learn from the best!! Thanks again.

kathiemt · #45 (**permalink**) 03-16-2008

Originally Posted by cjmccall

Okay. After doing the worksheet, I was definitely on the short side!! Who knew I was worth so much!! heehee. I'l definitely rethink things. What I came up with seems like a lot to charge, but I do need to make it worth my time.. Thanks everyone. This is what I'm here for -- to learn from the best!! Thanks again.

We knew!