May 29, 2025 • 26 mins
Laura Nicole gets real about the income potential of working from home as a virtual assistant. She breaks down how much new, intermediate & advanced virtual assistants can earn! Laura Nicole also dives into what factors contribute to your rate, ways that you can scale your income and use your past experience to your advantage.
Join her in this podcast as she equips aspiring VAs with the mindset and practical steps needed to build a thriving business from home.
In this episode, Laura Nicole will discuss:
- How much money you can make as a VA
- How to set your rates as a new VA
- Factors that influence VA Income
- Real life examples of income that Superstar Assistant Academy members are making
Whether you're just exploring the VA world or ready to land your first client, this episode is packed with inspiration and actionable tips to help you take the next step with confidence.
Grab her free Income Calculator to see what your personal income potential could be!
What can you expect from this podcast and future episodes?
- Bite-sized episodes that give you quick, actionable insights into the Virtual Assistant industry
- Learn how to build skills, boost your confidence, and create a profitable VA business
Get the show notes and transcription here: https://www.laurajtraining.com/podcast-ep03-virtual-assistant-income-whats-actually-possible
Find Laura on social media:
Instagram: @hey.lauranicole
TikTok: @hey.lauranicole
Facebook: Superstar Assistant Academy
Interested in earning sustainable income on YOUR terms, working as a Virtual Assistant? Register for FREE and Click Here to Get Started
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Laura Nicole (00:02):
Welcome to your Virtual Assistant Coach, the
podcast for moms who want tomake money from home on their
own terms.
I'm your host, laura Nicole, asuccessful six-figure earning VA
and coach, who replaced mycollege professor salary in just
five months back in 2020, aftermy daughter was born, and I
have never looked back.
I'm here to help you build aprofitable, flexible VA business
(00:24):
that fits into your family'slives, so you no longer feel
like you're living just to work.
Let's dive in All right.
So you're here hanging out withme today because I know that
you are really consideringvirtual assistants as a path of
earning income on your own terms, but you're also really curious
about how much money you canactually be making as a virtual
(00:48):
assistant.
Whether you are just wanting tomake an extra five or $600 each
month to have some cushion forgas and groceries, or to be able
to take your kid out with someteammates after their last
baseball game of the season, orif you're wanting to make $5,000
, $8,000, $10,000 a month andreplace your full-time income,
(01:08):
both ends of that spectrum areextremely possible as a virtual
assistant.
So today we are going to talkabout what kind of income is
actually possible to be makingfrom your home on your own
schedule without forfeiting timewith your family.
In the United States, the likeindustry standard accepted
starting rate for new virtualassistants is between 20 and $35
(01:33):
per hour, but that is just thestarting point.
Okay, that is not.
You're not capping out at $35an hour, but personally I think
20 to 35 as a starting rate foran industry that you're brand
new to is pretty freaking good,especially when you consider
that you don't have to go backand get a new degree or pay to
get any certifications oranything to become a virtual
(01:56):
assistant.
You can just do it because youwant to do it.
And then what we would considerlike an intermediate virtual
assistant who maybe has someother skill sets that they're
bringing to the table or hasbeen doing this for a little bit
longer.
Their range is going to besomewhere between $30 and $50 an
hour and no, we're still notcapping out at $50 an hour.
(02:16):
Really experienced VAs or VAswho are offering higher level
skill sets, those things thatare offering like direct ROI for
their clients, they can becharging between $50 and $75 an
hour.
And now, just to be fullytransparent with you, I can
guarantee that you will hearother VA coaches say that
(02:37):
virtual assistants can make upto $100 per hour, but that is
not something that I subscribeto.
I do believe that virtualassistants, with that as your
actual title, does have a cap ofaround $75 per hour, because if
you are making more than that,then you're probably not
actually still a virtualassistant.
(02:58):
You've probably graduated andlike moved up a level to
something that's called anonline business manager, which
that's a different topic for adifferent day.
But I just want to kind ofpoint that out because I know
that out there and on socialmedia, you probably will hear
other coaches say that you canbe making $100 per hour as a
virtual assistant, andpersonally I just think that's a
(03:20):
little bit of false advertising.
So I just kind of like to pointit out so that it's on your
radar.
One thing that I also want totouch on in regards to pricing
which, yes, we will also have awhole other podcast episode
about how to actually price yourservices but when you are
starting as a virtual assistant,just because you're new to
being a VA, I do not want you tounder price yourself or
(03:44):
undervalue your services.
Okay, I hear this from women whoI coach all the time, who they
could confidently easily pricetheir services at $30 an hour or
at least $25 an hour.
But they tell me I'm just goingto do $20 an hour for my first
client, because they're my firstclient and I just haven't done
this before.
And they're coming from a placeof saying, right, that they
(04:08):
want to just kind of dip theirtoe in and not start too high
because they're new to this.
But if you are having thatthought process, I want you to
really look inward and be realwith yourself, because
oftentimes when we do that, it'snot for the reason that we say
it is.
It's actually because we'rescared, right?
We're scared that nobody'sgoing to pay us $30 an hour or
(04:29):
pay us $25 an hour, and thenwe're just going to hear no, and
then we're not going to sign aclient, and we let that fear
override what would actually bea good decision and in line with
your experience and the skillsthat you bring to the table.
Just because you're brand newto the VA space does not mean
that all of your otherexperience just disappears.
So if you've been a paralegalfor the last 20 years or you've
(04:52):
been an office manager for thelast 10 years, then I better not
catch you out there startingyour VA rates at $20 an hour.
Now, I mentioned at the top ofthis podcast that your income as
a virtual assistant can trulybe what you want it to be,
whether that's $500, $5,000,$10,000 a month.
It's just another perk of theflexibility that comes with
(05:16):
being a virtual assistant.
Because you are an independentcontractor and you are your own
boss, you have the ability tocreate the income that you want
and or need in any given seasonof life.
There are over 800 women insideof my coaching program, the
Superstar Assistant Academy, andwe have such a wide variety of
income goals across them.
(05:37):
We have a lot of women whosegoal literally long-term goal is
to just work five hours a weekand bring in five or $600 as a
cushion to their budget.
We have a lot of stay-at-homemoms who want to just add in
that cushion.
We actually have a lot of womenwho are either nearing
retirement or recently retiredwho just want to have that extra
buffer so that they can travelmore and just have that ease of
(06:00):
life.
We also have a huge chunk out ofthose 800 plus women who are in
that kind of middle range.
They want to have a healthysupplemental income.
Right, maybe they're astay-at-home mom, but they're
looking to make a couplethousand dollars a month.
They want to be able tocontribute to the vacation fund
or paying off debt or paying offa car, or they have a full-time
(06:23):
job, but they also have thingsthey want to save for, and so
they're not wanting to work 40hours a week or make $8,000 a
month right, but they're in thatmid-range.
They would definitely like tohave a few thousand dollars in
their pocket every month for thework they're doing with clients
.
And then, of course, we havethe women, who want to fully
replace their nine to five,which is completely doable.
(06:44):
If you listened to episode two,you heard my story about how I
was able to replace my collegeprofessor salary in five months.
The amount of income that you'rebringing in on a monthly basis
as a VA is based on thecombination of a few different
factors.
Okay, so we have the two mainfactors, which are the rates
that you're charging and howmany hours you're working, but
(07:07):
you have control of those things, because those are going to be
determined in your contract.
They are paying you for thoseservices and then also how many
hours you will be working forthem on a weekly and monthly
(07:29):
basis on average.
So if you truly only want to beworking five to 10 hours a week
, then you're most likelysigning one client who needs
five to 10 hours a week.
If you talk to a potentialclient and they tell you that
they really need 15 hours a weekand they know that that's the
minimum, then it's your choiceto just not sign that client,
because that's not the amount ofhours you're looking to work or
(07:52):
the money that you're wantingto make.
And on the flip side of that,if you're wanting to bring in
more income, then you can addmore clients to your roster, but
you have control over how muchincome you're bringing in and
how many hours you're working.
It's just another aspect ofvirtual assistants that really
lends to the idea of it beingincredibly flexible, because you
(08:12):
can scale up and down both withyour hours worked and the
income that you're coming in,based on the season of life that
you're in, right.
So summer break is here, right.
And if you were working withclients and you knew that your
kids were going to be home allsummer and that you really
wanted to be pouring into thattime with them, then you could
adjust your client contracts inthe couple of months heading
(08:35):
into the summer season, or ifyou have a baby, obviously
you're probably going to need toadjust your hours with your
clients for the first couple ofmonths after that little bundle
of joy arrives.
And on the flip side, if youwant to increase your hours,
maybe you've had your baby homewith you all this time and
they're starting kindergarten inthe fall.
Number one don't cry, I'm sorryI mentioned it.
(08:56):
But number two you're suddenlygoing to have more free time
available, right, more timewhere you don't have your hands
busy with your kiddo, that youcould be adding more hours or
another client to your rosterand increasing that income.
I have had a couple of differenttimes in my five-year career as
(09:17):
a virtual assistant that I havereally adjusted how much I was
working or the clients that Iwas carrying on my roster in
order to achieve a certain goal,and One example of that that
really sticks out to me is whenwe had moved out of my mom's
basement.
I kind of if you haven'tlistened to episode two, go back
.
We had moved out of my mom'sbasement, we had moved into our
(09:39):
new home, we had been able toget our backyard landscaped
Again.
If you've ever built a newbuild home, you know the beast
that is getting your backyarddone, and we actually it has
been really fun and did aCalifornia closets install in
our master closet.
That was actually like one ofmy favorite rooms of our house.
But once we had those thingsdone, I didn't have to be in
(10:03):
such a high gear hustle modewith my virtual assistant income
.
I had been working 40, 45 hourweeks because we had these big
goals that we needed thecashflow for, but once we had
paid those bills and we hadfinished those projects, I
didn't have to stay in thatspace.
If I didn't want to andhonestly I didn't want to your
(10:26):
girl was tired, and the beautyof this is is that I was able to
adjust my contracts.
I actually, at that point intime, ended up dropping a client
who was someone I just reallydidn't feel aligned with anymore
, and so it was a win-win allaround.
One thing that we definitelyneed to touch on right is what
actually impacts your rates.
(10:46):
I briefly mentioned it earlier,but I want to give you a little
bit more detail so that youhave a solid understanding of
what kinds of factors can havean impact on the rate that
you're able to charge as avirtual assistant.
Okay, so number one is theservices that you're offering,
right?
Not all services are pricedequally.
If you're offering a set ofservices, that truly is like
(11:11):
general basic administrativetasks which are incredibly
freaking important and everysingle client needs them, so
they're fantastic to offer.
It would be things like inboxmanagement, calendar support,
customer service, you know,doing Facebook group moderation,
scheduling out your client'ssocial media content, things
(11:31):
like that.
Those type of admin servicesare typically going to fall in
that $20 to $30 per hour range.
But then more specializedsupport, right?
Things that are a little bithigher level skill you have to
have learned and probably hadsome experience so that you're
efficient at them.
Things like doing tech setups,like building automations or
(11:52):
funnels, or doing launchassistance if you work with a
client who does launches intheir business, helping with
podcast production likeuploading their episodes or
writing their show notes, or ifyou maybe do some copywriting
for your client, whether that'swriting some emails for them or
putting together a newsletter,or maybe you have bookkeeping
(12:12):
skills from the full-time jobyou've had for the last 20 years
those more specialized supportservices can command $40 to $60
per hour.
Essentially, the morespecialized the services, the
more you can charge and also themore directly that your service
creates an ROI for your client,the more direct path from your
(12:35):
service to the client bringingin more revenue, the higher rate
that you can charge for thatservice.
So just an example of asuperstar Assistant, academy
student A, who is new to being avirtual assistant but she has
decades of copywritingexperience in a professional
setting and she's offeringcopywriting services to her VA
(12:58):
clients and I can promise youthat she is damn sure not
charging $25 an hour for thoseservices because they're a more
specialized skill set andthey're a skill set that likely
is going to bring direct ROI toher clients.
Kind of going hand in hand withthat is your experience.
Okay, your past experienceabsolutely counts and should be
(13:21):
factored in when you are settingyour rates as a virtual
assistant.
All right, even if thatexperience was not in a virtual
assistant role.
If you have years of adminexperience, if you've been an
admin assistant or an executiveassistant or an office manager,
if you have been a teacher orworked in healthcare and been a
medical assistant or a vet techor a dental assistant, or you've
(13:43):
worked in customer service orin retail y'all.
All of that experiencetranslates into professionalism
and initiative and reliability.
That brings value, which meansthat it has to be considered
when you are deciding your rate.
In addition, right incombination with the services
(14:05):
that you're offering, and as yougain more experience as a VA,
your rate is going to go withyou.
Remember we talked at the top ofthe episode about how new VAs
are going to be making $20 to$35 an hour.
Intermediate VAs can bebringing in $30 to $50.
And then the more experiencedadvanced VAs can be bringing in
$50 to $75.
Because the thing is is thatyou're going to learn so much
(14:29):
just by being a virtualassistant.
You're going to learn newsystems and new softwares.
You're going to find thingsthat a client might say like,
hey, I want to have you help mewith my podcast, because my
normal girl for the podcastspecifically is out, but she can
train you really quick and Iwant you to take it over for the
next month and you say, cool,that sounds really fun.
(14:49):
And then you learn it andyou're like, oh my gosh, that's
actually really fun.
I want to get better at that sothat I can offer podcast
management as a service.
So that experience has taughtyou a new skill set that you can
now turn around, add to yourresume and raise your rate.
And I know that from firsthandexperience.
(15:10):
Okay, right now, five years intothis, as a virtual assistant, I
specialize in offering launchsetups for clients.
I work with course creators wholaunched their course, whether
it's through a masterclass orthrough a live challenge, and I
handle the tech and the backend.
I build out their funnels, Ibuild out their automations, I
(15:31):
set up their sales pages, Icreate their products that
people can purchase.
And when I tell y'all that Idid not know at all what a
funnel or an automation even wasjust three years ago?
I had no freaking clue, but Ilearned from the work that I was
doing with clients and now myexperience and my skill set is
(15:54):
worth so much more.
And yes, obviously right, asyou gain experience, as you
learn new things, then when yousign a new client, you can raise
your rate for them.
But I do want to reassure you,too, that just because you sign
a contract with a client at,let's say, $30 an hour, that
doesn't mean that you're nowstuck working for that client
(16:16):
forever in perpetuity for $30 anhour, as you work with clients.
As you grow with clients, astheir business grows right and
your responsibilities increase,your rates are also going to
increase with those clients.
Your rates are also going toincrease with those clients.
Sometimes it's because youbring to the table a
conversation of hey, I'm doing alot more, now we need to get
(16:37):
this compensation in line withthat.
But from my experience, mostoften clients, when they
recognize that hey, I've added alot onto Laura's plate and
she's killing it, they'll goahead and offer you the rate
increase because they value youand they appreciate you and they
want you to feel wellcompensated for the work that
(16:58):
you're doing and the value thatyou're bringing to their
business.
So just because you sign aclient at X number of dollars
per hour does not mean thatthat's still what you're going
to be making from them in sixmonths and a year and two years
down the line.
The third and final componentthat I want to mention to you
that can affect the rate thatyou charge is less tangible, and
(17:19):
that is your confidence.
Clients and potential clientswill pick up on your energy,
okay, and when you show up withconfidence and when you
articulate what you do clearlyand you position yourself as a
solution for them, not just ahelper, not just a task rabbit,
but as the solution that isgoing to help them propel their
(17:42):
business forward.
Clients are going to be sofreaking happy to pay you for
that, happy to pay you for that.
But on the flip side of that,if you're second guessing
yourself, if you're feelingunsure, if you're kind of
shrinking down, if you're saying, well, my rate is usually $25
an hour, but what they are notgoing to feel confident, or that
(18:05):
you feel confident, right,they'll recognize that they will
clock that and they're notgoing to want to pay you that
rate or maybe even work with youat all, because they're going
to be concerned that you don'teven have the confidence in
yourself.
Confidence in yourself buildstrust with your potential
clients and that trust is whatgets you paid.
(18:28):
One question that I get askedall the time from women who are
asking me about virtualassistance and they're trying to
figure out if it's somethingthat they want to look into is
how quickly can they actually bemaking money?
And there's not a magic number,right.
There's no specific timelineand it's going to be different
for every single individual.
So the only way really that Ican speak on.
(18:50):
It is based on the data that Ihave from the women that I've
coached over the past two yearsand of those 800 plus women, on
average my students are signingtheir first client within four
to six weeks of when they startand they make the decision like,
hey, I'm going to become avirtual assistant.
And that's not to say that it'sgoing to take four to six weeks
(19:12):
, right.
I have had so many women comethrough who signed clients way
faster, like Elle who did one ofmy four-day Discover your
Superstar VA skill events andshe left that event with her
skills, her services and herresume and went and hopped in
her local Facebook group andshared it and literally had her
first discovery call four dayslater and signed that client on
(19:34):
the freaking spot.
So it could be four days, itcould be four weeks, it could be
four months.
It is so different and sounique to everybody and their
process and their journey, butit truly is not something that
has to take like six months.
Right, it could really behappening very quickly.
And a lot of women who I coachwhich I am totally on board with
(19:58):
this I recommend this to them,even if their ultimate goal is
to replace their nine to five.
Most women still want to startout with just like five or 10
hours at first.
Right, so that you can kind ofdip your toe in and get used to
it, because it is a whole newthing that you're starting and
you want to be able to have thetime to really acclimate your
(20:19):
schedule, figure out when it'sgoing to work, how it's going to
work with your family, get usedto that first client and get
your system.
You know, like when it's newand it's the first time there's
going to be hiccups, right,there's going to be things that
you're like ah, that didn't goexactly how I wanted.
And so when you start small andyour first goal is like okay,
my first goal is to work fivehours a week at $25 an hour to
(20:43):
make 500 bucks this month Pleasedo not clock me on that math
y'all, because I am notoriouslyterrible at math, but I think I
did that right.
But even when you're startingsmall, that income coming in is
going to make a difference.
Like Jay who joined the Academyin February and literally
(21:03):
exactly 30 days from when shestarted, she signed her first
client.
That was 10 hours a week for$25 an hour, so that's $1,000
now coming into her family'sbudget every single month.
I really want to reinforce that.
Becoming a virtual assistant isnot a get rich quick scenario.
Okay, there's so much money tobe had here.
(21:26):
If you want to make $10,000 ayear or $110,000 a year, we can
make that happen, but it's not asprint.
So if you are one of thosewomen who's listening and you're
like, yes, laura, I need to getthe hell out of my nine to five
.
I cannot do this anymore, kudosto you.
(21:46):
I know that you can accomplishthat.
But I do want to encourage you,when you're thinking about your
monetary goal, to break thatdown into phases so that it
feels less overwhelming, right?
Because if we're sitting herethinking, oh my gosh, I need to
replace $60,000 or $80,000 or$100,000, like no shit, that
obviously is going to feelimpossible when you're starting
(22:09):
at zero.
But if you break it down andthink, okay, my first goal is to
make $1,000 a month, my secondphase goal is to make $3,000 a
month, and you kind of split itdown into smaller segments of
income that are going to beeasier to focus on and just feel
way more possible and way moredoable, then all of a sudden
(22:32):
you're going to be in phasethree, making 6k a month and
realizing that you can go quitthat job.
Okay, I know I promised thatthese episodes were going to
stay brief and I haveaccidentally turned into a
chatty Kathy this time, whichI'm sure is bound to happen time
and again.
But I just want to leave youwith a couple of examples and
(22:54):
other stories of women who havecome through the Superstar
Assistant Academy, just as reallife examples for you of what
this can look like.
It is not to brag, it is not tosell you on anything.
It's just because I know howpowerful it is to hear about
other women, other women, othermoms who are in the same boat as
(23:15):
you, who took this chance onthemselves and now they're
making real money as virtualassistants.
These few stories that I wantto leave you with are not one in
a million right.
They're also not overnightsuccesses.
They are just real women whodecided to go for it and now
they're getting paid, and thisis just the proof that this path
is doable, and if it's doablefor them, then it's doable for
(23:38):
you too.
So I hope you will feelinspired and motivated.
So I was just catching up withour SAA student S, who is now
five months in to her journey ofbecoming a virtual assistant.
She is currently charging $35an hour.
She has two ongoing clients andshe's working about 15 hours a
week.
So at the moment she's alreadybringing in $2,000 a month.
(24:02):
And then there's A, who added aclient to her roster over the
winter.
That was for 30 hours a week at$35 an hour, which was an
additional $4,200 a month comingin on her journey toward
leaving her corporate job.
I just recently got an updatefrom Jay, who had joined the
(24:23):
Superstar Assistant Academy ninemonths ago as just a little
baby VA At the time she wasbarely making $1,000 a month and
she just sent me a message theother day to update me that she
now has $5,000 set in monthlyretainers.
So every month on the 1st herclients are paying those
(24:43):
invoices and she has $5,000coming in the door.
And she still has inquiriesflowing in consistently from new
clients who want to work withher inquiries flowing in
consistently from new clientswho want to work with her.
E has a full-time job that sheabsolutely loves and she's been
using VA work as a supplementsuccessfully for the past two
and a half years.
Just recently she raised herrates by 40% and signed a new
(25:05):
client a week later who was morethan happy to pay her that
higher rate.
A is a grandma with a full-timejob who has created 9K in
supplemental income in just sixmonths, and K is one of my
students who recently did atrial month with a new client at
$25 an hour and then theybumped that rate to $30 an hour
(25:26):
after 30 days.
She's a single mom who'sworking 15 hours a week with
this client, which means thatshe's bringing in just shy of
$2,000 a month from one client,and it's a client that has
infinite potential to growtogether and increase her
responsibilities and her rate.
I could keep going, but we wouldliterally be here all day.
(25:47):
These are just stories ofupdates that I've gotten from
women in the last couple ofweeks.
Hopefully that's leaving youfeeling inspired, and if you
want to see how much you couldmake, I want you to grab my free
VA income calculator so thatyou can play around with what
your income could look likeright now, based on a starting
rate and how many hours youcurrently have available.
(26:07):
But then you can also run itagain and see what you could be
making in six months from now ora year from now, right as you
know, your rates would probablyhave gone up and how much
availability you think you wouldhave.
I'll leave that link in theshow notes for you.
Thanks for hanging out with metoday on your Virtual Assistant
Coach.
If you loved this episode, besure to share it with your best
(26:28):
friend, your sister or even yourfavorite coworker, who you know
wants to start making aflexible income.
I'll see you all next time.
Welcome to your Virtual Assistant Coach, the
podcast for moms who want tomake money from home on their
own terms.
I'm your host, laura Nicole, asuccessful six-figure earning VA
and coach, who replaced mycollege professor salary in just
five months back in 2020, aftermy daughter was born, and I
have never looked back.
I'm here to help you build aprofitable, flexible VA business
(00:24):
that fits into your family'slives, so you no longer feel
like you're living just to work.
Let's dive in All right.
So you're here hanging out withme today because I know that
you are really consideringvirtual assistants as a path of
earning income on your own terms, but you're also really curious
about how much money you canactually be making as a virtual
(00:48):
assistant.
Whether you are just wanting tomake an extra five or $600 each
month to have some cushion forgas and groceries, or to be able
to take your kid out with someteammates after their last
baseball game of the season, orif you're wanting to make $5,000
, $8,000, $10,000 a month andreplace your full-time income,
(01:08):
both ends of that spectrum areextremely possible as a virtual
assistant.
So today we are going to talkabout what kind of income is
actually possible to be makingfrom your home on your own
schedule without forfeiting timewith your family.
In the United States, the likeindustry standard accepted
starting rate for new virtualassistants is between 20 and $35
(01:33):
per hour, but that is just thestarting point.
Okay, that is not.
You're not capping out at $35an hour, but personally I think
20 to 35 as a starting rate foran industry that you're brand
new to is pretty freaking good,especially when you consider
that you don't have to go backand get a new degree or pay to
get any certifications oranything to become a virtual
(01:56):
assistant.
You can just do it because youwant to do it.
And then what we would considerlike an intermediate virtual
assistant who maybe has someother skill sets that they're
bringing to the table or hasbeen doing this for a little bit
longer.
Their range is going to besomewhere between $30 and $50 an
hour and no, we're still notcapping out at $50 an hour.
(02:16):
Really experienced VAs or VAswho are offering higher level
skill sets, those things thatare offering like direct ROI for
their clients, they can becharging between $50 and $75 an
hour.
And now, just to be fullytransparent with you, I can
guarantee that you will hearother VA coaches say that
(02:37):
virtual assistants can make upto $100 per hour, but that is
not something that I subscribeto.
I do believe that virtualassistants, with that as your
actual title, does have a cap ofaround $75 per hour, because if
you are making more than that,then you're probably not
actually still a virtualassistant.
(02:58):
You've probably graduated andlike moved up a level to
something that's called anonline business manager, which
that's a different topic for adifferent day.
But I just want to kind ofpoint that out because I know
that out there and on socialmedia, you probably will hear
other coaches say that you canbe making $100 per hour as a
virtual assistant, andpersonally I just think that's a
(03:20):
little bit of false advertising.
So I just kind of like to pointit out so that it's on your
radar.
One thing that I also want totouch on in regards to pricing
which, yes, we will also have awhole other podcast episode
about how to actually price yourservices but when you are
starting as a virtual assistant,just because you're new to
being a VA, I do not want you tounder price yourself or
(03:44):
undervalue your services.
Okay, I hear this from women whoI coach all the time, who they
could confidently easily pricetheir services at $30 an hour or
at least $25 an hour.
But they tell me I'm just goingto do $20 an hour for my first
client, because they're my firstclient and I just haven't done
this before.
And they're coming from a placeof saying, right, that they
(04:08):
want to just kind of dip theirtoe in and not start too high
because they're new to this.
But if you are having thatthought process, I want you to
really look inward and be realwith yourself, because
oftentimes when we do that, it'snot for the reason that we say
it is.
It's actually because we'rescared, right?
We're scared that nobody'sgoing to pay us $30 an hour or
(04:29):
pay us $25 an hour, and thenwe're just going to hear no, and
then we're not going to sign aclient, and we let that fear
override what would actually bea good decision and in line with
your experience and the skillsthat you bring to the table.
Just because you're brand newto the VA space does not mean
that all of your otherexperience just disappears.
So if you've been a paralegalfor the last 20 years or you've
(04:52):
been an office manager for thelast 10 years, then I better not
catch you out there startingyour VA rates at $20 an hour.
Now, I mentioned at the top ofthis podcast that your income as
a virtual assistant can trulybe what you want it to be,
whether that's $500, $5,000,$10,000 a month.
It's just another perk of theflexibility that comes with
(05:16):
being a virtual assistant.
Because you are an independentcontractor and you are your own
boss, you have the ability tocreate the income that you want
and or need in any given seasonof life.
There are over 800 women insideof my coaching program, the
Superstar Assistant Academy, andwe have such a wide variety of
income goals across them.
(05:37):
We have a lot of women whosegoal literally long-term goal is
to just work five hours a weekand bring in five or $600 as a
cushion to their budget.
We have a lot of stay-at-homemoms who want to just add in
that cushion.
We actually have a lot of womenwho are either nearing
retirement or recently retiredwho just want to have that extra
buffer so that they can travelmore and just have that ease of
(06:00):
life.
We also have a huge chunk out ofthose 800 plus women who are in
that kind of middle range.
They want to have a healthysupplemental income.
Right, maybe they're astay-at-home mom, but they're
looking to make a couplethousand dollars a month.
They want to be able tocontribute to the vacation fund
or paying off debt or paying offa car, or they have a full-time
(06:23):
job, but they also have thingsthey want to save for, and so
they're not wanting to work 40hours a week or make $8,000 a
month right, but they're in thatmid-range.
They would definitely like tohave a few thousand dollars in
their pocket every month for thework they're doing with clients
.
And then, of course, we havethe women, who want to fully
replace their nine to five,which is completely doable.
(06:44):
If you listened to episode two,you heard my story about how I
was able to replace my collegeprofessor salary in five months.
The amount of income that you'rebringing in on a monthly basis
as a VA is based on thecombination of a few different
factors.
Okay, so we have the two mainfactors, which are the rates
that you're charging and howmany hours you're working, but
(07:07):
you have control of those things, because those are going to be
determined in your contract.
They are paying you for thoseservices and then also how many
hours you will be working forthem on a weekly and monthly
(07:29):
basis on average.
So if you truly only want to beworking five to 10 hours a week
, then you're most likelysigning one client who needs
five to 10 hours a week.
If you talk to a potentialclient and they tell you that
they really need 15 hours a weekand they know that that's the
minimum, then it's your choiceto just not sign that client,
because that's not the amount ofhours you're looking to work or
(07:52):
the money that you're wantingto make.
And on the flip side of that,if you're wanting to bring in
more income, then you can addmore clients to your roster, but
you have control over how muchincome you're bringing in and
how many hours you're working.
It's just another aspect ofvirtual assistants that really
lends to the idea of it beingincredibly flexible, because you
(08:12):
can scale up and down both withyour hours worked and the
income that you're coming in,based on the season of life that
you're in, right.
So summer break is here, right.
And if you were working withclients and you knew that your
kids were going to be home allsummer and that you really
wanted to be pouring into thattime with them, then you could
adjust your client contracts inthe couple of months heading
(08:35):
into the summer season, or ifyou have a baby, obviously
you're probably going to need toadjust your hours with your
clients for the first couple ofmonths after that little bundle
of joy arrives.
And on the flip side, if youwant to increase your hours,
maybe you've had your baby homewith you all this time and
they're starting kindergarten inthe fall.
Number one don't cry, I'm sorryI mentioned it.
(08:56):
But number two you're suddenlygoing to have more free time
available, right, more timewhere you don't have your hands
busy with your kiddo, that youcould be adding more hours or
another client to your rosterand increasing that income.
I have had a couple of differenttimes in my five-year career as
(09:17):
a virtual assistant that I havereally adjusted how much I was
working or the clients that Iwas carrying on my roster in
order to achieve a certain goal,and One example of that that
really sticks out to me is whenwe had moved out of my mom's
basement.
I kind of if you haven'tlistened to episode two, go back
.
We had moved out of my mom'sbasement, we had moved into our
(09:39):
new home, we had been able toget our backyard landscaped
Again.
If you've ever built a newbuild home, you know the beast
that is getting your backyarddone, and we actually it has
been really fun and did aCalifornia closets install in
our master closet.
That was actually like one ofmy favorite rooms of our house.
But once we had those thingsdone, I didn't have to be in
(10:03):
such a high gear hustle modewith my virtual assistant income
.
I had been working 40, 45 hourweeks because we had these big
goals that we needed thecashflow for, but once we had
paid those bills and we hadfinished those projects, I
didn't have to stay in thatspace.
If I didn't want to andhonestly I didn't want to your
(10:26):
girl was tired, and the beautyof this is is that I was able to
adjust my contracts.
I actually, at that point intime, ended up dropping a client
who was someone I just reallydidn't feel aligned with anymore
, and so it was a win-win allaround.
One thing that we definitelyneed to touch on right is what
actually impacts your rates.
(10:46):
I briefly mentioned it earlier,but I want to give you a little
bit more detail so that youhave a solid understanding of
what kinds of factors can havean impact on the rate that
you're able to charge as avirtual assistant.
Okay, so number one is theservices that you're offering,
right?
Not all services are pricedequally.
If you're offering a set ofservices, that truly is like
(11:11):
general basic administrativetasks which are incredibly
freaking important and everysingle client needs them, so
they're fantastic to offer.
It would be things like inboxmanagement, calendar support,
customer service, you know,doing Facebook group moderation,
scheduling out your client'ssocial media content, things
(11:31):
like that.
Those type of admin servicesare typically going to fall in
that $20 to $30 per hour range.
But then more specializedsupport, right?
Things that are a little bithigher level skill you have to
have learned and probably hadsome experience so that you're
efficient at them.
Things like doing tech setups,like building automations or
(11:52):
funnels, or doing launchassistance if you work with a
client who does launches intheir business, helping with
podcast production likeuploading their episodes or
writing their show notes, or ifyou maybe do some copywriting
for your client, whether that'swriting some emails for them or
putting together a newsletter,or maybe you have bookkeeping
(12:12):
skills from the full-time jobyou've had for the last 20 years
those more specialized supportservices can command $40 to $60
per hour.
Essentially, the morespecialized the services, the
more you can charge and also themore directly that your service
creates an ROI for your client,the more direct path from your
(12:35):
service to the client bringingin more revenue, the higher rate
that you can charge for thatservice.
So just an example of asuperstar Assistant, academy
student A, who is new to being avirtual assistant but she has
decades of copywritingexperience in a professional
setting and she's offeringcopywriting services to her VA
(12:58):
clients and I can promise youthat she is damn sure not
charging $25 an hour for thoseservices because they're a more
specialized skill set andthey're a skill set that likely
is going to bring direct ROI toher clients.
Kind of going hand in hand withthat is your experience.
Okay, your past experienceabsolutely counts and should be
(13:21):
factored in when you are settingyour rates as a virtual
assistant.
All right, even if thatexperience was not in a virtual
assistant role.
If you have years of adminexperience, if you've been an
admin assistant or an executiveassistant or an office manager,
if you have been a teacher orworked in healthcare and been a
medical assistant or a vet techor a dental assistant, or you've
(13:43):
worked in customer service orin retail y'all.
All of that experiencetranslates into professionalism
and initiative and reliability.
That brings value, which meansthat it has to be considered
when you are deciding your rate.
In addition, right incombination with the services
(14:05):
that you're offering, and as yougain more experience as a VA,
your rate is going to go withyou.
Remember we talked at the top ofthe episode about how new VAs
are going to be making $20 to$35 an hour.
Intermediate VAs can bebringing in $30 to $50.
And then the more experiencedadvanced VAs can be bringing in
$50 to $75.
Because the thing is is thatyou're going to learn so much
(14:29):
just by being a virtualassistant.
You're going to learn newsystems and new softwares.
You're going to find thingsthat a client might say like,
hey, I want to have you help mewith my podcast, because my
normal girl for the podcastspecifically is out, but she can
train you really quick and Iwant you to take it over for the
next month and you say, cool,that sounds really fun.
(14:49):
And then you learn it andyou're like, oh my gosh, that's
actually really fun.
I want to get better at that sothat I can offer podcast
management as a service.
So that experience has taughtyou a new skill set that you can
now turn around, add to yourresume and raise your rate.
And I know that from firsthandexperience.
(15:10):
Okay, right now, five years intothis, as a virtual assistant, I
specialize in offering launchsetups for clients.
I work with course creators wholaunched their course, whether
it's through a masterclass orthrough a live challenge, and I
handle the tech and the backend.
I build out their funnels, Ibuild out their automations, I
(15:31):
set up their sales pages, Icreate their products that
people can purchase.
And when I tell y'all that Idid not know at all what a
funnel or an automation even wasjust three years ago?
I had no freaking clue, but Ilearned from the work that I was
doing with clients and now myexperience and my skill set is
(15:54):
worth so much more.
And yes, obviously right, asyou gain experience, as you
learn new things, then when yousign a new client, you can raise
your rate for them.
But I do want to reassure you,too, that just because you sign
a contract with a client at,let's say, $30 an hour, that
doesn't mean that you're nowstuck working for that client
(16:16):
forever in perpetuity for $30 anhour, as you work with clients.
As you grow with clients, astheir business grows right and
your responsibilities increase,your rates are also going to
increase with those clients.
Your rates are also going toincrease with those clients.
Sometimes it's because youbring to the table a
conversation of hey, I'm doing alot more, now we need to get
(16:37):
this compensation in line withthat.
But from my experience, mostoften clients, when they
recognize that hey, I've added alot onto Laura's plate and
she's killing it, they'll goahead and offer you the rate
increase because they value youand they appreciate you and they
want you to feel wellcompensated for the work that
(16:58):
you're doing and the value thatyou're bringing to their
business.
So just because you sign aclient at X number of dollars
per hour does not mean thatthat's still what you're going
to be making from them in sixmonths and a year and two years
down the line.
The third and final componentthat I want to mention to you
that can affect the rate thatyou charge is less tangible, and
(17:19):
that is your confidence.
Clients and potential clientswill pick up on your energy,
okay, and when you show up withconfidence and when you
articulate what you do clearlyand you position yourself as a
solution for them, not just ahelper, not just a task rabbit,
but as the solution that isgoing to help them propel their
(17:42):
business forward.
Clients are going to be sofreaking happy to pay you for
that, happy to pay you for that.
But on the flip side of that,if you're second guessing
yourself, if you're feelingunsure, if you're kind of
shrinking down, if you're saying, well, my rate is usually $25
an hour, but what they are notgoing to feel confident, or that
(18:05):
you feel confident, right,they'll recognize that they will
clock that and they're notgoing to want to pay you that
rate or maybe even work with youat all, because they're going
to be concerned that you don'teven have the confidence in
yourself.
Confidence in yourself buildstrust with your potential
clients and that trust is whatgets you paid.
(18:28):
One question that I get askedall the time from women who are
asking me about virtualassistance and they're trying to
figure out if it's somethingthat they want to look into is
how quickly can they actually bemaking money?
And there's not a magic number,right.
There's no specific timelineand it's going to be different
for every single individual.
So the only way really that Ican speak on.
(18:50):
It is based on the data that Ihave from the women that I've
coached over the past two yearsand of those 800 plus women, on
average my students are signingtheir first client within four
to six weeks of when they startand they make the decision like,
hey, I'm going to become avirtual assistant.
And that's not to say that it'sgoing to take four to six weeks
(19:12):
, right.
I have had so many women comethrough who signed clients way
faster, like Elle who did one ofmy four-day Discover your
Superstar VA skill events andshe left that event with her
skills, her services and herresume and went and hopped in
her local Facebook group andshared it and literally had her
first discovery call four dayslater and signed that client on
(19:34):
the freaking spot.
So it could be four days, itcould be four weeks, it could be
four months.
It is so different and sounique to everybody and their
process and their journey, butit truly is not something that
has to take like six months.
Right, it could really behappening very quickly.
And a lot of women who I coachwhich I am totally on board with
(19:58):
this I recommend this to them,even if their ultimate goal is
to replace their nine to five.
Most women still want to startout with just like five or 10
hours at first.
Right, so that you can kind ofdip your toe in and get used to
it, because it is a whole newthing that you're starting and
you want to be able to have thetime to really acclimate your
(20:19):
schedule, figure out when it'sgoing to work, how it's going to
work with your family, get usedto that first client and get
your system.
You know, like when it's newand it's the first time there's
going to be hiccups, right,there's going to be things that
you're like ah, that didn't goexactly how I wanted.
And so when you start small andyour first goal is like okay,
my first goal is to work fivehours a week at $25 an hour to
(20:43):
make 500 bucks this month Pleasedo not clock me on that math
y'all, because I am notoriouslyterrible at math, but I think I
did that right.
But even when you're startingsmall, that income coming in is
going to make a difference.
Like Jay who joined the Academyin February and literally
(21:03):
exactly 30 days from when shestarted, she signed her first
client.
That was 10 hours a week for$25 an hour, so that's $1,000
now coming into her family'sbudget every single month.
I really want to reinforce that.
Becoming a virtual assistant isnot a get rich quick scenario.
Okay, there's so much money tobe had here.
(21:26):
If you want to make $10,000 ayear or $110,000 a year, we can
make that happen, but it's not asprint.
So if you are one of thosewomen who's listening and you're
like, yes, laura, I need to getthe hell out of my nine to five
.
I cannot do this anymore, kudosto you.
(21:46):
I know that you can accomplishthat.
But I do want to encourage you,when you're thinking about your
monetary goal, to break thatdown into phases so that it
feels less overwhelming, right?
Because if we're sitting herethinking, oh my gosh, I need to
replace $60,000 or $80,000 or$100,000, like no shit, that
obviously is going to feelimpossible when you're starting
(22:09):
at zero.
But if you break it down andthink, okay, my first goal is to
make $1,000 a month, my secondphase goal is to make $3,000 a
month, and you kind of split itdown into smaller segments of
income that are going to beeasier to focus on and just feel
way more possible and way moredoable, then all of a sudden
(22:32):
you're going to be in phasethree, making 6k a month and
realizing that you can go quitthat job.
Okay, I know I promised thatthese episodes were going to
stay brief and I haveaccidentally turned into a
chatty Kathy this time, whichI'm sure is bound to happen time
and again.
But I just want to leave youwith a couple of examples and
(22:54):
other stories of women who havecome through the Superstar
Assistant Academy, just as reallife examples for you of what
this can look like.
It is not to brag, it is not tosell you on anything.
It's just because I know howpowerful it is to hear about
other women, other women, othermoms who are in the same boat as
(23:15):
you, who took this chance onthemselves and now they're
making real money as virtualassistants.
These few stories that I wantto leave you with are not one in
a million right.
They're also not overnightsuccesses.
They are just real women whodecided to go for it and now
they're getting paid, and thisis just the proof that this path
is doable, and if it's doablefor them, then it's doable for
(23:38):
you too.
So I hope you will feelinspired and motivated.
So I was just catching up withour SAA student S, who is now
five months in to her journey ofbecoming a virtual assistant.
She is currently charging $35an hour.
She has two ongoing clients andshe's working about 15 hours a
week.
So at the moment she's alreadybringing in $2,000 a month.
(24:02):
And then there's A, who added aclient to her roster over the
winter.
That was for 30 hours a week at$35 an hour, which was an
additional $4,200 a month comingin on her journey toward
leaving her corporate job.
I just recently got an updatefrom Jay, who had joined the
(24:23):
Superstar Assistant Academy ninemonths ago as just a little
baby VA At the time she wasbarely making $1,000 a month and
she just sent me a message theother day to update me that she
now has $5,000 set in monthlyretainers.
So every month on the 1st herclients are paying those
(24:43):
invoices and she has $5,000coming in the door.
And she still has inquiriesflowing in consistently from new
clients who want to work withher inquiries flowing in
consistently from new clientswho want to work with her.
E has a full-time job that sheabsolutely loves and she's been
using VA work as a supplementsuccessfully for the past two
and a half years.
Just recently she raised herrates by 40% and signed a new
(25:05):
client a week later who was morethan happy to pay her that
higher rate.
A is a grandma with a full-timejob who has created 9K in
supplemental income in just sixmonths, and K is one of my
students who recently did atrial month with a new client at
$25 an hour and then theybumped that rate to $30 an hour
(25:26):
after 30 days.
She's a single mom who'sworking 15 hours a week with
this client, which means thatshe's bringing in just shy of
$2,000 a month from one client,and it's a client that has
infinite potential to growtogether and increase her
responsibilities and her rate.
I could keep going, but we wouldliterally be here all day.
(25:47):
These are just stories ofupdates that I've gotten from
women in the last couple ofweeks.
Hopefully that's leaving youfeeling inspired, and if you
want to see how much you couldmake, I want you to grab my free
VA income calculator so thatyou can play around with what
your income could look likeright now, based on a starting
rate and how many hours youcurrently have available.
(26:07):
But then you can also run itagain and see what you could be
making in six months from now ora year from now, right as you
know, your rates would probablyhave gone up and how much
availability you think you wouldhave.
I'll leave that link in theshow notes for you.
Thanks for hanging out with metoday on your Virtual Assistant
Coach.
If you loved this episode, besure to share it with your best
(26:28):
friend, your sister or even yourfavorite coworker, who you know
wants to start making aflexible income.
I'll see you all next time.
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