But being confident in your abilities and experience is just as important. Even when adversity is faced in any professional industry confidence and perserverance is key. You have proved that even as you move on better opportunities arise. Everything should be a learning experience.

This is something that our clients at http://www.charlijane.com can learn. As professionals in the speaking industry they can learn that sometimes free speaking engagements are forums that lead to better opportunities and that you just have to pick yourself up and move on.

Thank you!

I get many potential clients contacting me and their first question is, “What are your rates?”. First of all, my rates are on my Website but besides that don’t they want to know if I can even do the job they need done?

People still need to be educated on how fast VAs work. Generally, if working with a qualified VA you get a lot more in one hour than you would from an in house employee.

Mary - you’ve used a great analogy. Of course, I checked out this person’s website and it was pretty professional looking. This VA was advertising how affordable it was to work with them (trying not to disclose gender) so I think they are trying to beat out others with this low rate. If someone’s working a full time job and doing this to make extra money then I can see them charging lower rates. I don’t know. It just really bothered me to see that dollar figure because it’s almost exactly the amount an admin assistant would get paid as an employee. Another thing that sticks out is the fact that this VA didn’t have their own agreement - hence them using mine. It seems like an employer/employee relationship to me. Of course it was attractive to the client. Maybe there needs to be more education done so the public knows why some of us fetch the rates we do. Fodder for another article…

Mark - I’ve learned long ago that if someone makes a fuss about my rate from the beginning it’s just not going to work out. You’re right that with a team of wonderful VAs (like yourself) we can take a 20 hour project, split it up and get it done yesterday sometimes.

Moe - I am glad that I have clients like you who understand the value a seasoned VA brings to a business owner

I honestly do wish that fellow the best with his project, and I really hope the VA he chose to work with can deliver. He’s in business to turn a profit like the rest of us are and I completely understand his decision. I just hope his VA realizes that when you start out doing work for free it sets a dangerous precedent. And charging such low rates will make it extremely difficult to sustain a business.

Oops. Fell off my soapbox. Better run

Funny thing is with your network and experience it probably would of saved them money since you would be able to handle a lot more in lot less hours then a cheaper VA.