The True Cost of Hiring a VA

The True Cost of Hiring a VA

by Edward Ragpala | Friday, September 14, 2018

Your job will become much easier when you hire a virtual assistant. But how much money do you have to shell out initially?

Worrying about time-consuming tasks will be a thing of the past when you seek the services of a virtual assistant (VA). But how much does it cost you to actually hire one?

Hiring a VA is an investment and therefore something you may have to prepare capital for. But, generally speaking, getting an online professional is not that expensive. It will all depend on your company’s overall budget and the size of the tasks that you need your VA to do for you.

If you want to learn more about the breakdown of some primary cost factors when hiring a VA, please read on.



Cost factors

One assumption that some business owners make is that VAs are only paid for the services they render to you. While this is technically true on your end, you also have to remember that VAs have their own ‘operational’ costs such as work equipment, Internet subscription, electricity, among others.

If you hire through a company that provides legal contracts to its workers, you have to factor in government-mandated benefits and taxes as well.

The rate you’ll be setting should be one that enables your VA to provide for their everyday needs, and allow them to live well on what they are earning from.

Additionally, the rate will also be dependent on the following:

  • Location - One crucial factor to consider is where your assistant is located. When you work with someone who is not from your region or time zone, rates will vary, which will hinge on the locale’s cost of living.
  • Work background and skills  - The VA’s specific set of skills and their work experience play a very important role on their work rate. The more work experience and skills they have, the higher their rate will become.
  • Job description - Rates will depend on what and how many tasks you require them to do on a daily basis.
  • Additional work time and tasks- Although this is optional, you might want to consider this factor, especially if you frequently encounter emergency tasks or you want them to work on tasks outside their scope.


Benchmark

When you have considered all these factors, you would see that the average monthly cost of hiring a virtual assistant would be between $600 and $2,000. For those online workers who have extensive expertise and experience, be ready to pay around $3,000 to $5,000, especially if they hold an advanced marketing or financial position.

You may think it’s a little overwhelming or you may have thought rates would be lesser. But if you try and compare the rates with an office-based worker, you would be able to tell the vast difference. A regular office secretary may be paid at least $6,000 a month, which is really far from shelling out $600 when you hire an online worker. And that's not including the expenses associated with running an actual physical office.



Consider the above as your guide when you’re trying to assess how much you should pay a virtual assistant. If they don’t have enough experience yet, you can pay them with a substantial minimum first, then gradually increase their pay when they’re doing well.

Eventually, you will see that the initial investment you prepare for hiring a VA will be all worth it.

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