When you need help, hiring a virtual assistant is usually the most cost-effective solution. This is like hiring an actual assistant, only it’s someone working remotely.
These contracts and working arrangements are usually simpler, giving you more flexibility and a way to increase your business’s capacity temporarily.
Still, every guide goes on and on about how this is cheap and cost-effective, but how cheap is it really?
What are the factors determining how much hiring a virtual assistant will cost you? Here’s what you need to understand!
1. How Much Do Virtual Assistants Usually Make?
Virtual assistants earn between $1 to $100 per hour. This depends on where you’re hiring from and who you’re hiring.
One of the main reasons people choose to become virtual assistants is that their hourly rate grows with the experience and services they learn to perform. With every new knowledge, there’s an additional justification for a higher hourly rate.
On average, hiring a virtual assistant as a full-time employee will put them on a salary of approximately $75,000 per year.
Also, there’s really little difference between how much you pay them and how you employ them (we’ll dig a bit deeper into types of employment in the next segment).
For the same amount of work (or the same number of work hours), you’ll pay them the same, regardless if they’re working part-time or as a full-time employee.
As you can see, any calculations here are pretty difficult to make, mostly because the discrepancy between one virtual assistant and another can be so great.
On Upwork, virtual assistant rates usually go between $10 and $20 per hour (on average).
2. Type Of Employment
How much you pay your virtual assistants often depends on the type of employment and their pricing. Now, these vary greatly, but the four most common are:
1. Hourly Rate
This way, you agree on the hourly rate of the VA, usually based on their skill level and experience, as well as the task that they’re expected to perform.
Now, while the number of hours you expect them to pull may seem fixed, the bottom line is that their actual number of hours may vary greatly. Not to mention the difference in the percentage charge for overtime, holidays, etc..
2. Monthly Retainer
You can also set a fixed pay for a fixed number of monthly hours. This method is usually the simplest to calculate. Add this figure to your other fixed expenses like rent and monthly subscriptions. People in your accounting are just going to love this arrangement.
3. Subscription
You can also find an agency and agree to hire a virtual assistant or several assistants as a service. The best thing about this model is that it’s simple (even simpler from the administrative standpoint) and incredibly scalable.
4. Project
Lastly, you can hire a VA as a freelancer for this single project. This is usually a fixed cost, leaving you more freedom regarding what you’ll do next. After the project, you can renew the contract for the next one.
Overall, the payment model will be one of the most important factors in the overall price, and it definitely affects your calculations and estimates.
3. Compared To Other Specialists
Another thing you need to bear in mind is the fact that VAs do the work of many other specialists. Therefore, you need to consider the alternative when you compare how much you’re paying them. What would paying an alternative specialist to do this work cost you?
First, they’re often hired to perform all administrative tasks, from email management to calendar management and organization.
In other words, they’re performing the work of a regular assistant, with the difference that they’re working remotely, meaning there are no travel expenses.
They also perform a lot of analytical work. This greatly depends on the industry, but in real estate (for instance), most of their work revolves around looking for leads and prospecting properties.
Social media management is one of their core functions, and it’s not uncommon for all your profiles to end up in the hands of a VA.
Content creation and curation is another one of their tasks. Sure, a virtual assistant may not be as proficient as professional copywriter, but they can do a decently good job with modern generative AI tools.
They can also proofread and edit content. With just some technical SEO training, they can do an incredible job for your content’s ranking.
Ultimately, they’re often in charge of data analysis and reporting. However, how this process will look mostly depends on the analytical tools you decide to use. Remember that their competence with these tools may be enough to warrant a rate rise.
4. Geographic Location
We’ve previously already discussed this, but the region they’re from might greatly determine the cost of their services. People from areas with a lower purchasing power parity tend to charge less for their services.
Sure, some employers wouldn’t pay the same to someone who is not a native speaker, but most of the time, this is just one’s undervaluing of their worth.
After all, most people work under a persona online, and as long as you have the necessary skill set and a decent experience behind you, this shouldn’t make a difference.
Be that as it may, people from areas with lower standards, at least, start with lower wages. However, the quality of service they perform doesn’t have to be any lower for it.
People from half a world away have one hidden perk that we should mention. They can work odd hours without charging it as overtime, mostly due to the time zone difference. This is a passive cost reduction that you should consider exploiting.
Wrap up
Hiring a virtual assistant will usually end up being cheaper than the alternative. You get a temporary increase in your work capacity, a boost to your business image (you can direct the client to your assistant, who will get the details), and a lot more.
The key thing with any cost is to see what kind of value you are getting and how much it would cost you to get an alternative. In these sorts of comparisons, virtual assistants always get ahead.
