You have come to the realisation that you not only need to free up your time, but you also need space to focus on generating more revenue for your business. You’re eager to hire a virtual assistant and curious to know how much you should expect to pay for top-notch support from a virtual assistant.
There are a lot of different variables that will affect how much you spend on hiring a VA for your business. We recommend you consider these 3 factors when comparing virtual assistant prices:
1. Virtual Assistant prices vary – widely.
Most VAs offer core services such as administrative duties, diary scheduling and bookkeeping, while others have refined other skills. Depending on what a virtual assistant can do and their knowledge of the task, he/she may feel comfortable charging more – which is why you’ll find a huge range of prices that Virtual Assistants charge.
VAs that are just starting off in the industry or on their own will likely charge a lower rate than a more experienced VA. This is also a strategy for newbie VAs to gain experience and some training in the industry. Most new VAs will charge a lower rate than more experienced VAs. This is because new VAs are typically just starting out and may not have as much experience or training as more experienced VAs.
You will find that some VAs have prices per project instead of billing per hour.
Something worth mentioning, don’t try to cut corners and hire a Virtual Assistant just because their hourly rate is lower than the next VA’s rate and you think you’ll get more for your money, especially as a small business owner.
2. How much of YOUR attention is required?
Yes, we all want a VA who can take initiative and solve problems on their own, but that means he/she will need to have more experience, and in turn, will likely charge a higher pay rate.
Often Virtual Assistants who charge less need a little more hand-holding, nudging, moulding, training or attention (call it what you will) in relation to a more experienced/higher-priced VA.
Although the cost of an inexpensive rookie Virtual Assitant seems appealing, keep in mind that the level of management required by you is also a cost calculation.
Inexperienced VAs tend to work slower. While it could take a higher-priced VA one hour to complete a task or project, a lower-priced VA may take twice as long to do the same job – it may end up costing you more, in the long run, to work with a lower-priced VA than it would to just spend more upfront when you hiring a virtual assistant. This is because the VA may not be as experienced or as skilled as a more expensive VA, so you may have to spend time training them.
3. Special Skills = Higher Price
Pricing for a Virtual Assistant is not based only on the volume of skills s/he poses but also a certain sought-after skill set like social media management. These skills are associated with paying premium prices for your virtual assistant services. You can (and should) expect to pay top-dollar, for projects that have required your VA to undergo some form of training or at the very least a large chunk of her time – making her knowledgeable in let’s say, data entry, transcriptions, graphic design or marketing strategy execution. The tasks you are hiring a virtual assistant to free up for you may include:
- Arranging travel arrangements
- Organizing and managing your time
- Processing and organizing paperwork
- Creating and managing your email inbox
- Creating and managing your to-do list
- Running errands
The Bottom Line
VAs offer a diverse set of skills and knowledge and they charge an incredibly wide range of hourly rates, depending on their experience and know-how. So, the virtual assistant cost depends on whether they are full-time virtual assistants or offer virtual assistant services at an hourly rate.
Our Advice?
Instead of hiring a Virtual Assistant based on price alone really focus on the quality of work you want to be delivered by virtual assistants and your ROI in the long run. Keep in mind, that you are hiring a Virtual Assistant to free yourself from certain tasks to gain more control of your time whether they are a full-time virtual assistant or not.
