Considering hiring a Virtual back-office assistant in Florida but unsure of your financial situation?
How much a virtual assistant will cost you is a key concern for the majority of business owners wishing to outsource their tasks.
Although a number of things affect virtual assistant costs, it’s simple to choose one that matches your budget.
The main elements influencing virtual assistant expenses are broken down in this post to assist you. We’ll also go over some of the most reliable ways to compensate people for their services.
What Functions Do Virtual Assistants Serve?
A virtual assistant offers online services to businesses and entrepreneurs. They still have access to the information and resources they need to complete their jobs while working remotely.
The majority of virtual assistants have a specialized skill set and work independently or as freelancers. However, there are other virtual assistant companies that offer virtual assistants for a variety of tasks including:
- Task administration
- Managing email communications
- Setting up your calendar
- Input of data
- Financial Preparation
- Customer service
- Design for print
- WordPress website administration
- Internet advertising
Virtual Assistant Cost: Important Considerations
A part-time or full-time virtual assistant can be paid anything from $1 to over $100 per hour; there is no set rate for either.
However, the price of a virtual assistant is heavily influenced by several important elements, like:
- The nature of their work
- The scope and length of your project, their level of experience, and where they are based.
So how much will hiring a virtual assistant set you back?
Here’s a careful look at the most crucial elements to assist you in estimating how much you’ll have to pay for a virtual assistant.
- The Work That They Do
Do you need someone to handle your social media accounts? Or do you need someone to write copy for you?
Your virtual assistants’ compensation is primarily based on the services you receive from them. You would pay about $8 to $12 per hour for a service like answering the phone or making appointments, for instance.
Examine virtual assistant job descriptions carefully when exploring VA markets to understand the types of work that each VA performs. The rates they’ll presumably charge you will depend on this.
Here are four main categories of virtual assistant services together with their typical hourly costs to get you started.
Administrative Services: A virtual administrative assistant handles standard administrative and clerical duties such
- Upkeep of contact lists
- Taking calls and responding to emails
- Plus more.
You should expect to pay a virtual administrative assistant in the US $10 to $20 or more per hour.
Executive Services: Many of the duties carried out by administrative assistants are also done by virtual executive assistants. Executive assistants typically also carry out high-level administrative duties including
- Managing project schedules
- Creating commercial proposals
- Organizing corporate events
A virtual executive assistant from the US typically charges between $30 and $40 per hour.
Bookkeeping and accounting services: Most businesses employ virtual financial assistants to carry out duties like
- Creating balance sheets and ledgers
- Invoicing
- Tax reporting for sales
- Taking care of bill payment
Virtual accounting and bookkeeping services from the US typically cost $12 to $25 per hour.
Additional Services: Some of the typical ancillary VA services required by SMBs and entrepreneurs, including real estate agents, are data entry and marketing.
Among the typical other VA services are
- Enter product details for e-commerce
- Social media management
- Researching real estate, SEO, Email marketing, etc.
You would have to pay between $10 and $20 per hour for such virtual assistants who are located in the US.
- Level of Experiencel
The level of expertise a virtual assistant has is a significant component in determining their pay rate.
Virtual assistants with a lot of expertise typically charge more. This is as a result of their extensive expertise and proficiency.
However, you can also work with less expensive, less qualified virtual assistants. Even while it could appear to be less expensive, this could sacrifice expertise. You could even need to spend money on training them for the position!
Determining how experienced your virtual assistant should be is so crucial.
Hire a VA with three to four years of experience, for instance, if you’re outsourcing a work like social media marketing. While their fees may be higher, they’ll be able to immediately grasp the social media landscape and get you results more quickly.
You can engage a virtual assistant with zero to one year of experience if all you need is someone to upload social media updates, and it should be acceptable even if you are their very first client.
Paying Your Virtual Assistant
When you hire a virtual assistant through a firm that provides virtual assistants, you’ll probably pay the agency, who will then pay the virtual assistant. The payment structure in this case is quite typical because the VA business will have its own approved payment format.
However, if you’re working with a virtual assistant independently, the payment terms may differ from case to case.
The majority of VAs prefer to be paid online and on an hourly basis for their services. Though some virtual assistants favor working on a retainer and even accept checks and credit cards, others prefer to be paid on a salary.
What about paying your virtual assistant?
Select the Appropriate Payment Structure
The basis on which virtual assistants charge potential clients is determined by a VA payment structure. You must decide on a payment structure that both of you are comfortable with because each VA may have a different one.
Here is a brief overview of some of the common pricing models utilized by virtual assistants.
Each hour
In this case, you pay the virtual assistant for each hour that is billed. You might pay a virtual assistant $6 per hour, for instance. This is more suitable for virtual assistants conducting routine activities like answering the phone.
By the project or assignment
The rate in this case depends on the project or task. As an illustration, you might pay a virtual content writer 5 cents every word typed.
Fixed price You provide them a defined salary on a weekly or monthly basis in exchange for a specific number of hours worked. For instance, a monthly or weekly fixed rate of $150 for 10 hours of work.