Task 3 of the Sticky Business Contest asks us to outline how we will price our products or service. Just a reminder I’m not actually participating in the contest, I’m just following along and completing the tasks myself. Which you can also do, you’ll find all the tasks by visiting Men with Pens and looking at the posts having to do with the Sticky Business Contest. Here is how I determined the rates for the services provided by Gem’s Virtual Office.

“Deciding what to charge for your services,  is probably one of the most important decisions you’ll  ever make when it comes to your business. You of course want to make a profit, but at the same time you don’t want the per hour charge to be set so high that it turns potential clients away. In deciding how much to charge per hour for Gem’s services I relied on several different sources:

The first thing I did was to start researching the virtual assistant industry. On both Virtual Assistant Forums and VANA,  which are two forums I belong to,  rates are discussed almost on a daily basis. Someone always has a question on what they should charge. I spent a lot of time going through the numerous threads on the subject and asking questions. I then began looking at other Virtual Assistant’s websites to see what they were charging. I looked for VA’s that had comparable experience and services to mine and took an average of that.

In reading all the threads on the forums, I came across a recommendation for Freelance Switch’s Hourly Rate Calculator. It’s a pretty simple tool to use and only takes about a half hour to complete after you gather the information to fill in all the blanks. So I did all the math and came up with their suggested rate.

I then took another step and researched rates in my local area to see if what I had come up with rate wise was within reason. And they were, so finally, I took the average from my virtual assistant research and the suggested Freelance Switch rate, which were pretty close in number, and decided to vary the rate depending on the services that a client requires. Determining your rates should not be a quick decision. Do the research first and use one of the many rate calculators that are available online to help you.

On Gem’s website you will find a Rate Comparison Chart, which compares the rates of working with a Virtual Assistant vs. hiring an employee.  Take a look at it and see how working with a Virtual Assistant can save your business money today!”

That’s it for Task 3, can’t wait to move onto Task 4. I’d love to know if you’ve been following the contest and participating yourself. And if you haven’t why not get started today! Thanks again to Men with Pens for letting everyone benefit from this contest!