Think about the last time you went out to eat or bought a latte from Starbucks. Now imagine that you skipped that meal or coffee and redirected those funds back to investing in your business.
That’s the cost of a reliable virtual assistant for your business. A virtual assistant is an investment.
You have to decide for yourself whether it’s worth your time to spend 8 hours YouTubing how to edit that webinar masterclass you just presented or whether you should shell out $30 (the price of a dinner, plus tip and taxes) to hire a virtual assistant to make the video professional for you.
Then you can take that single video, package it as a freebie for e-mail sign-ups, and use it forever! A simple $30 investment is a professionally edited video that’s helping you to drive more and more leads to your e-mail list indefinitely.
It’s an investment that keeps on giving.
Hourly Rates vs. Fixed-Price Rates for a Virtual Assistant
The stressful part about hiring a virtual assistant is knowing how to pay them. The pay has to be worth their while, but it also has to be within your budget. Let’s take a look at two ways virtual assistants commonly charge.
Hourly Rate Virtual Assistants
Hourly rates work for retainer virtual assistants. They do various, different tasks for you throughout the month and are generally long-term relationships. Their prices begin at $5 and can range as high as $100.
If you go through a third party, such as Upwork, the virtual assistant bills you upon work completion.
For independent virtual assistants, they will generally ask you how many hours you need for the month and bill you immediately, before beginning any work. Upfront payment is standard practice for independent virtual assistants.
Hourly Rate Breakdown
$5-$15/hour: Entry level virtual assistants. English may not be a primary language. Little tech experience. Require training and management. Often working with multiple clients so they might not be as quick to deliver work.
$20/hour: Experienced virtual assistants who know necessary software (WordPress, Leadpages, Drip, etc.) for your business. Requires some management and training but generally self-sufficient.
$30/hour: Virtual assistant who needs minimal training or management. Is a self-starter and knows how to work the majority of your software.
$40/hour: Expert and seasoned virtual assistant. They work quickly, efficiently, and know their specializations so well that they could teach it if they wanted to. They’re generally in your time zone and can sometimes do same day turnaround.
$50/hour: Top of the line virtual assistant. Extensive and impressive resumes with a proven track record. Makes your money right back and can actually pitch you money making ideas to better your business. Treats your business like their own and their level of expertise makes them an invaluable member of your team. They charge high to take fewer clients and can give you undivided attention.
There are some factors to consider when scouting virtual assistants:
- What country are you hiring from? Keep their cost of living in mind.
- How much money per hour or project can you realistically budget out?
- How often would you need this assistant?
- What qualifications should this virtual assistant have?
- Are you willing to train the virtual assistant?
- What type of availability should the virtual assistant have?
If you have the money but not the time, go for a higher end virtual assistant. If you have the time but not necessarily the money, train a cheaper virtual assistant.
Fixed Price Virtual Assistants
Fixed priced rates are for virtual assistants that work short-term or by project. Virtual assistants that fall into this category are assistants that do one-off tasks.
You might end up paying $800 for a full website redesign with branding and a logo. You might pay $30 for someone to edit your YouTube video. It doesn’t matter how long the task is, you will pay a fixed rate.
Budgeting for your First Virtual Assistant
Ready to take a baby step in outsourcing to a virtual assistant? Think of a minor annoyance in your business that you don’t want to put much effort into. Maybe it’s your disorganized inbox. Perhaps a bunch of autoresponder e-mails that you can’t figure out how to put into MailChimp. Consider how much money it’s worth to you, to ask someone else to do it for you.
Right before hiring, make sure that your business is prepared to work with a virtual assistant. Enter your e-mail address below to download our FREE Pre-Hiring Checklist. I’ll send it right to your inbox so you can get started with your hiring process.
