Setting Your Virtual Assistant Fees – Part 1

Setting your fees is something that you should think through thoroughly before you start your business. It is difficult to lower your rates once you have set them. You need to consider a number of factors to come up with a pricing structure that is right for you and your circumstances.

Some of these include:

How many hours do you want to work?
When deciding how many hours you want to work, you need to remember that your time will include chargeable client work, and your non-chargeable, but nonetheless essential, administration and marketing work. When setting up your business, much of your time will be taken up with this non-chargeable work as you build up your client base. However, the ratio of non-chargeable to chargeable time will diminish as your client base grows. It is important that you factor this in when working out the figures for your business plan.

What is the maximum number of clients with which you can work?
This may seem a strange question to consider when you are just starting out. But, it is a very important that you know your working capacity. You are in trouble if you calculate that you need 20 clients to break even, when you have time to fit only 15 into your schedule?

How much do you want to earn each year?
This is the most important question of all. Once you know the answer to this, you can work backwards and calculate how much you will earn each month, each week, or even each day. You can then draw up an action plan to show how you are going to achieve these targets.