About the VAF Customizable Calculator - check here for answers to issues, etc.

It does look great! I like that you customized it to match your website's background.

We're talking about adding the ability to change the background color of the calculator body, as opposed to just white...any thoughts?

I can't take the credit as the person who designed my site had installed a couple of blank pages for me so it was a simple task to just add the link.

It would look good to have an invisible back ground that blends in with your site though. But I'm not sure how you would achieve this.

I think it is fine how it is.

I can't get the calculator to work on my blog...I'm using Wordpress..I've tried both versions. I don't think wordpress accepts this type of code...could you look into that for me Hamid and see if its me or just not compatiable with wordpress.....

Thanks

Hamid and Tess- You guys are superb!!

We've added the mini calculator my website, it fits in just great!!

Thanks

It works great on my website! Thank you both so much! I was using the VANA calculator but I like yours better. The only request I have is that you change the bottom end employee $ to go as low as $15. Unfortunately, there are still people that think $12-$15/hour is reasonable for a bookkeeper!

I got the calc installed on my web site too! It looks so cool and really makes my site interactive. Thanks for the great tool!

Everyone's calculators look great! So cool that it's been immediately useful (that's what we were hoping for).
Deb, I've answered your question in the other thread but will post a note here too - for anyone installing the calculator on a blog - it will need to go in your sidebar (your blog's text editor doesn't understand code).

Lily, I'll definitely give it some thought - while I understand that's what some people think I'd be inclined to disagree on the premise that you can't hire truly qualified help at that rate....also, if we set the calculator to go that low, again it doesn't really reflect the point that a VA saves you money - with or without taxes, if you do the math the 'deal' wouldn't appear to be there.

Thanks to everyone for posting your links and for the great suggestions!

while I understand that's what some people think I'd be inclined to disagree on the premise that you can't hire truly qualified help at that rate....

Yes, you CAN hire qualified help at that rate. However, when qualified people work for less than a reasonable, self-supporting wage, they drive down the rates for those of us who depend on these wages for our living.

Tess - That's way cool, and I would love to use it. However, it seems that the in-house rate won't set below $20. Is that true, or am I missing something? Because in-house wages where I am (NC) are a lot below $20 for the most part. I'd like to set the calculator to something more like $15 or even $12.
You may think that shows the VA cost to be more expensive, but I would suggest that work done by a VA takes about half as much time as work done in-house. So the calculator would be saying, As business owner, you're obligated to your in-house employee for this salary per year, while with a VA you pay only for work completed. The client has to assess how much of in-house employee time results in work completed.
In a way, I'd use the calculator to show that a VA turns around the same work as your in-house employee, in less time and therefore for less cost even tho the VA's hourly rate is higher.
Does this make any sense at all?

Hi Mary,
We talked about this very issue at the time we launched the calculator. In any case, I'll definitely give this some more consideration - and we'll think about rewriting the chunk of code that handles that portion of the calculator (and it would have to be recoded in the content portion to automatically populate text that's relative to the dollar amount the VA enters...not a huge undertaking but certainly a good day's work) but we are so booked up right now it's not something I can promise sooner than later I'm afraid...

But I do understand what you're saying and agree that it's reasonable - we'll add it to the top tier of our to-do list for the forums

Ok I'm thinking about adding the calculator to my page. I see that the hourly rate for in-house defaults to $20 an hour. I am actually marketing locally, $20 is way too high for our area (I know you are thinking why market here) but I've had success with the VA idea for my local clients. How do I get the hourly in house to calculate for them lower than $20 an hour?

Thanks!

Lisa