When I was just starting up, I had a decision to make on what I was going to charge. Now this was quite difficult for me, since the services I was offering, while I knew I could do them and do them well, I had never ‘actually’ done them online before.
I was new to the virtual scene, I was used to the office environment and also a fixed salary, I also had the rather outdated employee mindset, so the idea I had in my head, was that I would price myself as cheap as I could possibly go, without really considering the profit I would be making and how this would affect me long-term. I just wanted clients, and I wanted them fast... My brain told me to be as competitive as I could be in price, and then everyone would come to me.
Crikey – Was I An Idiot!
Okay, so when I was ready to pounce with my business, I came in at a really, really low rate for a UK VA – this was back in 2007, and my hourly rate for administration was £10.50 per hour. This was much lower than any other VA around, in fact I think I had an old neighbour who was an ironing lady who got paid more than that.
So my first potential client contacted me – and he really saved my bacon.
He was looking for 2 VA’s who could work together on his business, ongoing, and he was a lovely guy – he’s still a client now, and I have so much respect for him. We had a call together and he said he had calls arranged with other VA’s and that he would call me back when he had made his decision on who he was going to hire. He also asked me my rate – I told him and that was that.
Well, he did call me back, and when he did he very kindly told me that I was one of the best potential VA’s he had spoken to, and asked why my rate was so low... (I realise now he was probably thinking, “what’s the catch?” – or “what’s wrong with this girl!”) I explained that I wanted to remain competitive.
To cut a long story short – he told me that the other VA he had chosen was charging £4.50 per hour more than me, and that if I was going to work with him, he would have to raise my rate to £15.00 per hour.
Well, you can imagine how I was feeling at this point - on the one hand, like Christmas had come, and on the other hand, like a pratt.
My advice when you’re considering choosing a rate for yourself, is to look within yourself – look at your skills, your work ethics, your commitment to your business and then decide what your service is WORTH, not what you’re going to charge...
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