Charge By The Hour

There’s a lot of talk out in the world about how great it is to offer packages to clients when you’re a Virtual Assistant.

You’ve likely heard that the faster you get at the tasks you’re offering, the more money you’ll make. You’ve heard that you’ll have a dependable source of income every single month. You’ve heard that this is the best route to take.

This is a mistake.

By offering packages, you are limiting your earning ability. By offering packages, you are going to continuously have to speak with clients about what’s included and make adjustments as they have new requests. So instead of just asking you to do more work, there will need to be another conversation about money.

Or you’ll just keep packing on the new work at the same rate and never get paid for it because you’re afraid to talk about money.

You want to avoid this.

Do this instead…. Charge by the hour and get paid upfront. I call this the Debit Card System.

Here’s how this works:

1. Clients buy time from you. I suggest either 5 or 10 hours at a time. They can pay you using Stripe, Square, PayPal, or any other online payment method. Even by check. The key is to get paid before you start working.
   
   
2. Track your time. Keep track of all the time you are doing work for your clients. That means even if “it only takes a sec” or is really easy for you to do.
   
   You can be at your desk all day and never make a cent if you don’t pay attention to how you’re using your time and charging for it. Use an online program like Toggl and track your time as you do each client’s work.
   
   
3. Report time spent back to clients. On Monday mornings, email your clients a quick and to-the-point note letting them know how much time they have left, and provide them with a link to buy more time and to get on your calendar. Do this every week whether or not they have used any of your time. You want to stay top of mind with your clients.
   
   
4.  Clients buy more time. As your clients notice that they need more time, they will buy more. If they don’t and you still have work to do for them, stop working and send them an email like this:
   
   Hi client, I’m working on XYZ and have run out of hours. Please reload your debit card so that I can jump back in. Here’s the link in case you need it. Thanks!

And then #stoptalking. That’s all you need to say.

Using this simple system makes it easy to get paid for all of your working hours and clients love the simplicity and ease.

Stop overthinking and overcomplicating your payment system and use this time-tested approach in your VA business. You’ll be glad you did.

If you’re not already a member of our Facebook Group, The Virtual Assistant Connection, and would like to join, here’s the link: https://www.facebook.com/groups/thevaconnection/