For starting businesses, pricing is one of the things you learn through the process. In order for you not to go through that trial and error stage, I decided to share 5 most important things to consider in pricing your virtual assistant service.
First: I don’t believe that virtual assistants or any freelancers should be priced according to where they’re located. That’s why they’re called “V-I-R-T-U-A-L” assistants! They work wherever, using the internet and computer so I find it UNFAIR to give value to your service based on where you are, not to mention the color of your skin, gender,etc.
My Time Has The Same Value as Yours And It’s NOT $2 An Hour!
Sheila J. Davis of leapfrog VA Network once told me, “My time has the same value as yours and it’s NOT $2/hour!” It has become my mantra ever since and I want to encourage everyone to do the same. If you can charge $20, $30 or more, why accept $2? There may be a lot of work involved, but it can be done only if you’re willing. are you?
Second: When you set a price, prove that your service is really worth it! More and more clients are now looking for “cheaper VAs” because of advertisements and business models that only give $2-5/hour. There’s nothing we can do about that.
Company owners already chose that as their business model. Meaning, they’re hiring VAs at the lowest rate possible. What we can do is to keep our ground and look for our ideal clients AWAY from those bidding or agency sites.
But how? I’ve been answering these questions since I started making Free VA Training Videos so please, click this link and watch Modules 1-5 and the Free VA Coaching Batch 1 and 2 if you want to learn more. https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=rochefel+rivera
Third: Creating a Virtual Assistant Business is very FAR from applying for a job. DON’T expect that you’ll get a client for a week or two because you have to learn the system first and like any other business, it requires a lot of time, practice and actually DOING it!
Fourth: Don’t study for too long. Know when to stop LEARNING and start EARNING! You don’t study and learn the system for four years because you aren’t going to graduate no matter what you do. Learn enough and go to the battle while continuously learning. That way, you’ll be able to practice what you’ve learned and earn at the same time.
I did mine for 3-4 months and continue with my training even if I already have clients and I’m not yet stopping until now. The more I learn, the more I realize how little I know.
Fifth: Stick with your day job unless you have enough number of clients to cover twice as much or even more than what you’re currently earning as an employee.
I know, you’re asking, “WHY?” Why twice as much or more?
Because when you’re on your own, nobody is going to cover for your hospital benefits, vacation, sick leaves, 13th month pay and bonuses so you have to set something for that. Everybody gets sick, has to take a vacation at times as a reward for your efforts, too.
I would have to continue discussing the actual computation for your initial pricing but it has to be on the next post. It’s a very big topic that I need more space to cover all aspects that I want to share.
For the meantime, if you’re a virtual assistant and don’t know what is it, you may watch my videos in my Youtube Channel or go back to my previous blogs and you’ll see more information from there.
If you’re also curious about what services to offer, it’ll be answered in our training videos so I hope you’ll take time to watch them. All powerpoint presentations are shared in slideshare, just follow me there and download them for your reference.
You may also share them with your friends and relatives who might want to learn how to earn from home by offering their skills so feel free to do so. Share away! Leave me a comment below if you have questions and see on Friday for the next post.
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