DigiWorks

How Much Does It Cost You to Hire a Virtual Assistant in 2022?

Jan 17, 2023 • 11 min read

Virtual assistant services are becoming more popular among businesses. They are used for several purposes including customer support, managing social media accounts, marketing, and administrative work. In fact, according to a survey conducted by HubSpot, almost half of small businesses use a virtual assistant.

Executive assistants are very useful because they allow companies to scale up quickly without hiring additional employees. However, there are quite a few things to keep in mind when it comes to paying for one.

Here are the most common ways people hire virtual assistants:

Monthly subscription

This is probably the easiest way to go about it. Companies charge monthly fees ranging from flexible schedules to full-time virtual assistants.

You’ll learn:

  • What Does A Virtual Assistant Do?
  • How Much Is A Virtual Assistant: Three Key Factors Involved
  • How To Pay Your Virtual Assistant

Ready to build your remote team?

Use the DigiWorks platform to hire, manage, and pay remote talent from all over the world.

What Does A Virtual Assistant Do?

A virtual assistant helps people accomplish tasks like scheduling meetings, booking travel reservations, managing email, and organizing documents. You can use one to schedule appointments, so basic graphic design for you, book flights, check flight status, cold call potential clients and even pay bills. These digital helpers make it easier to complete everyday tasks and can pretty much cover all your administrative tasks.

Virtual assistants work remotely, making them flexible and easy to find. And because there aren’t physical offices, they don’t require expensive office space. This makes them ideal for small business owners.

There are many different types of virtual assistants available, such as administrative assistants, customer service representatives, personal assistants, and more. Here’s what each type does.

Administrative Assistants

An administrative virtual assistant uses her skills to organize paperwork, files, and records. She might keep track of client information, handle billing, or answer questions about policies and procedures. Administrative assistants often work in law firms, accounting firms, insurance companies, and hospitals. Administrative assistants generally cover a wide range of daily tasks and have an array of skills to offer.

Customer Service Representatives

Customer service reps provide support via phone, chat, email, social media, and live chats. They listen to customers’ concerns and troubleshoot problems. Customer service reps typically work for large corporations, banks, financial institutions, retailers, online business and telecommunications providers. Having someone with good customer service skills is super important for client retention.

Content creators

These virtual assistants usually have copywriting skills and manage things like email campaigns, blog posting and social media profiles or Facebook groups. They can even help create marketing materials and create content or cold email copies for your online marketing campaigns.

How Much Is A Virtual Assistant: Three Key Factors Involved

There are many different types of virtual assistants, including transcriptionists, writers, marketers, etc. Each one offers a unique set of skills and responsibilities and as a result assistant salaries vary. While, virtual assistants don’t usually require benefits like health insurance or training courses, these prices still depend on relevant skills and how you choose to hire. Some offer just one or two types of services while others focus on multiple areas. Here are three key factors you’ll want to consider when determining how much a virtual assistant costs.

1. What Type Of Work Do You Need Done?

The first thing you’ll want to determine is what type of work you need done. Do you need help with routine tasks or do you require more specialized skills? There are a wide variety of tasks a virtual assistant can do for you and some of the daily tasks you can assign to your virtual assistant include writing blog posts, transcribing videos, creating graphics, editing documents, etc. If you don’t know exactly what you need, you can always contact a few different Virtual Assistant companies and ask them about rates. However, it’s best to narrow down your choices before contacting anyone.

2. How Many Hours Will Your Virtual Assistant Be Working?

The second factor you’ll want to take into consideration is how many billable hours per week your VA will be working. Obviously, some VAs will be working fewer hours than others. In fact, some people prefer flexible working hours because they like being able to spend more time with family and friends. On the other hand, there are those who love having flexibility and enjoy working long hours. Either way, it’s important to find someone who works within your budget and schedule. If you’re looking at working with a freelancer, salary negotiation may be necessary.

3. Where Are Your Virtual Assistants Based Out Of?

The third factor you’ll want to consider is where your VA is located. While most VAs operate remotely, there are certain industries where people prefer to hire local VAs

If you’re looking for a more affordable and sustainable option you might consider making use of a hiring platform like DigiWorks. Virtual assistant companies or platforms like DigiWorks are amazing as they not only match you with pre-vetted and assessed admin assistants that can take care of all your business needs but they will also handle all onboarding and payroll needs as well. Since DigiWorks’ talent are from emerging countries, the rates are much lower than the US minimum wage and you don’t have to deal with the risk of dealing with scammers or incompetent freelancers.

Factor #1 – The Type Of Work They Do

Virtual assistant jobs vary depending on what type of work you want them to perform. Some virtual assistants offer general assistance such as scheduling appointments and organizing email. Others specialize in one area like customer support or data entry. Still others focus on marketing or sales to other ongoing tasks.

There are many different kinds of assistants available online. These include personal assistants, transcriptionists, proofreaders, writers, editors, social media managers, and even virtual receptionists.

The pay rates depend on the type of job and the skill level required. For example, someone looking for a writer might make around $20 per article while someone working as a virtual receptionist could make up to $50 per hour.

Some virtual assistant companies require applicants to go through extensive training programs. You must learn how to use the software program, understand the nuances of the industry, and know how to communicate effectively. If you don’t have experience in the field, it’s best to start off with a low paying job to gain some real world experience.

Once you feel comfortable with the basics, look into taking courses to further develop your skillset. Courses cover everything from basic computer usage to specialized topics like writing articles or creating videos.

Factor #2 – The Experience Level

The second factor is about hiring people based on skill level. This one is tricky because it requires you to know what skills are needed for each job. If you don’t know what skills are required then you won’t know how much experience someone needs. You might hire a college student thinking he/she is ready for work, but they aren’t. They need training. You might hire a seasoned professional thinking they are ready for work, but again, they might need some training. As you look around your office, think about the skills that are needed for each position. Then, start looking for candidates who match those skills.

Factor #3 – The Location They Work From

Companies often choose to outsource to countries that offer lower costs. This makes sense since it saves money. But there’s another reason why companies might pick low-cost locations over high-quality ones.

The cost of living in some areas may seem cheaper than others. For example, you could pay less to live in a city like Bangalore, India, than in San Francisco. However, many people don’t realize that the quality of life in one place isn’t necessarily better than another. In fact, sometimes it’s worse.

There are several reasons why companies might choose to hire remote workers in places like India. One of the biggest reasons is that employees in those countries tend to be willing to accept lower salaries. Another factor is that workers in certain parts of the world are easier to find. When looking for remote workers, companies can easily look up job listings online and see what jobs are available in different cities around the globe.

But even though there are fewer qualified candidates in some regions, there are still plenty of good options. If you want to make sure you’re hiring the best possible candidate, consider taking into account the following three factors:

1. Cost of Living

2. Culture

3. Quality of Life

woman working remotely as a virtual assistant

How To Pay Your Virtual Assistant

Virtual assistants are becoming increasingly popular. They can help you manage tasks like scheduling meetings, booking travel, managing email, creating spreadsheets, etc. There are many different types of virtual assistants. You might use one type for personal use and another for commercial purposes. For example, some virtual assistants are designed specifically for small businesses and others are geared towards individuals.

Here are some things to consider when choosing a virtual assistant:

1. Hourly vs Retainer

Most virtual assistants are billed per hour. This is fine for occasional projects. If you want to hire someone full-time, it makes sense to pay them on a retainer basis. A retainer fee covers multiple months of work.

2. Payment Options

Some virtual assistants accept payment via PayPal, Venmo, Dwolla, Stripe, Square Cash, Apple Pay, Bitcoin, Amazon Payments, or Google Wallet. Others require checks or money orders.

3. Contract Length

A. Choose The Right Payment Structure

Payment structures determine how much money you will pay out to your VA. There are several types of payment structures, including flat rates, hourly rates, retainer fees, and contingency fees. Each type of payment structure offers advantages and disadvantages.

Flat Rates

Flat rates are usually lower than hourly rates because there is no additional cost associated with paying for hours worked. If you choose a flat rate, make sure it includes everything you need to cover your expenses. For example, if you plan to use a VA for social media management, you might include social media marketing tools like Hootsuite and Buffer into your monthly fee. You could also add a few extra dollars per month for domain registration, hosting, and email accounts.

Hourly Rates

If you prefer to work with a VA on a project basis rather than on a fixed monthly rate, hourly rates are great. Hourly rates allow you to pay for each hour worked individually. This makes it easy to budget for projects and avoid overspending. When setting up an hourly rate, consider what tasks you want completed, such as writing blog posts, editing documents, creating graphics, or managing social media.

Retainer Fees

When working with a VA on a retainer basis, you agree to pay them a certain amount every month regardless of whether they complete any work. Retainers are typically used to secure ongoing support for a specific task. For instance, if you need help with email marketing, you might ask a VA to provide ongoing assistance for one month.

B. Use Popular Payment Platforms

PayPal is one of the most popular ways people pay online. With it, you can receive money from anywhere in the world. You don’t even need a bank account. Plus, you can use it to send money too.

Stripe is another option. It’s a way to process credit card transactions without having to set up a merchant account. It’s especially useful for small businesses because it doesn’t require a lot of setup work.

Amazon Payments lets you accept payments from anyone who already uses Amazon. If someone buys something on Amazon, they might want to pay you later. This way, you can collect those funds via Amazon Payments.

1. PayPal

PayPal is one of the most popular online payment methods. With over 200 million active accounts worldwide, it’s easy to see why. But did you know that you don’t even need a bank account to use PayPal? In fact, there are several ways to make purchases without ever needing a credit card. Here are some of our favorite tips and tricks for making the most out of PayPal.

2. Wise, formerly Transferwise

Wise is an international money transfer system that allows people to send funds anywhere in the world. You don’t need to use a bank account, and there are no fees. You simply download the app, choose how much you want to send, enter the recipient’s email address, and hit “send.”

The app works with over 30 currencies and 200 countries worldwide. Sending money internationally used to mean waiting days for wire transfers or paying high fees. Now it takes minutes and costs nothing.

Ready to build your remote team?

Use the DigiWorks platform to hire, manage, and pay remote talent from all over the world.

Conclusion

The modern workforce is evolving into a hybrid model. With the advent of technology, we now have access to a plethora of tools and resources that allow us to collaborate effectively and efficiently. But how do we define success in our digital lives? What does it mean to be productive in today’s world? How do we measure productivity? And what role does artificial intelligence play in our future? Join us as we explore the impact of AI on the workplace.

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About DigiWorks

DigiWorks is an easy-to-use platform that helps small businesses and start ups hire amazing remote talent from around the world. DigiWorks offers a way for you to hire, manage and pay people from all countries. If you find an amazing virtual assistant from Philippines, a content writer from Nigeria, or operations manager from South Africa – manage and pay your entire team from one platform with no hassle.

If you’re looking for a more affordable and sustainable option you might consider making use of a hiring platform like DigiWorks. Virtual assistant companies or platforms like DigiWorks are amazing as they not only match you with pre-vetted and assessed remote workers that can take care of all your business needs but they will also handle all onboarding and payroll needs as well.