How much could you charge as VA here on BHW?

[bogdy23]

Hello,

If you are a noob but have a college degree and a master's degree and live in Romania, could you charge 7$ an hour for VA services?
Also, we need to take into consideration that I have to pay 147$ to become a JR.VIP, then another 30$ to post a job ad in the marketplace?

And how do people avoid getting scammed here and get paid? Do they pay you in advance? Or do they pay you half upfront and half after the work is completed?

How does that work in order to avoid getting scammed? Also, how do you track the hours? Do I have to buy a piece of software that tracks my computer so that the VA buyer sees that I've worked for those hours and not slacked?

 

[RichMedusa]

Could you charge 7$ an hour for VA services?
Yes, you are free to try to charge it. Conduct a market research here to see if it's a competitive price or not.

Also, we need to take into consideration that I have to pay 147$ to become a JR.VIP, then another 30$ to post a job ad in the marketplace?
Yes, take it into consideration. If you don't have $147, you can also upgrade and become a premium account ($97), so you can apply for freelancing jobs, but you won't be able to create a BST. You can judge if it worth it or not.

And how do people avoid getting scammed here?
Prioritize dealing with reputable members (Jr Vips, members with aged accounts and several useful posts). If it's a completely new account, try to receive the payment in advance.

And get paid?
That's up to you. I would prioritize crypto, PayPal, wire transfer, Payoneer, Wise, etc.

Do they pay you in advance?
Maybe. You can talk about it with your potential customer, if you both agree with it, you can be paid in advance.

Or do they pay you half upfront and half after the work is completed?
Some of your potential customers will be more comfortable doing that, take it into consideration.

Also, how do you track the hours? Do I have to buy a piece of software that tracks my computer so that the VA buyer sees that I've worked for those hours and not slacked?
I will let someone else answer it, since I don't feel ready or experienced enough in this matter to give a proper answer.

 

[roydan]

Your degrees don't matter as a VA, unless it's relevant to what your'e offering. If you have experience in any IM related activity you can maybe charge something closer to $5/hour. I honestly can't see $7/hour happening as an entry level VA.

Your Jr. VIP and $30 for opening a thread don't change anything because this is something everybody need here. This is your cost of setting up a business, which is among the cheapest options on the internet, so...

 

[SirTop]

Absolutely mate... If you’re confident in your skills and can back it up with solid work, start with $5-7/hour and adjust based on demand and reviews.

Good tracking software is worth it for transparency. Cheers !

 

[BlogPro]

I'd begin by doing a bunch of things -

Research & Market Analysis

Head to Sheets.new - pop open a new Google Spreadsheet.

You are lucky in that the size of your market is extremely limited. Just the marketplace of this forum.

Now go through the marketplace.

In your first iteration, find every thread you can find that offers VA services.

Make a note of the following

- Hourly cost
- Services offered (Create a new column for each service you uncover and simply add "1" if they offer the service under it or "0" if they don't)
- Popularity Metrics (Time since the OP was posted, number of replies)
- Method of ordering (Hosted forms, own website etc.)
- Payment methods accepted

Now move on to your second iteration, this is where you find "service" threads that offer labour tasks.

We're looking for labor intensive tasks, and not skilled tasks - so web design, graphic design, video editing are out of question. Look for task which busy entrepreneurs like to outsource.

- Manual Link Building (Cloud Links, Crowd Links, Reddit/Quora solutions)
- Account Creations
- Social Account Creations
- Script Installations
- WordPress setups + theme configuration
- And more...

Introspection

Now prepare a list of things that you can do.

First begin with services that don't require skill

- Form filling
- Account Creation
- Script Installations
- WordPress Setups
- Any form of Data Entry
- Charting/Spreadsheet related work

Prepare your own samples, install WordPress, set it up some place, apply a nice theme, add some content and pages. Use it as a showcase.

Create a bunch of social accounts, use it as a showcase

Download a link list, manually create links to a random site, use the report as a showcase.

Deciding your Value

You cannot charge a premium hourly, if you're coming in new to this service spectrum.

Your pricing depends on your dependability, your familiarity with the tools in question (your skillset), you experience with this, and finally your capabilities to get the job done.

So first decide on a monthly income that you deem is comfortable. Take into account the average salary of your country, consider your living expenses, consider any travel/vacation expenses, consider your expense for purchasing hosting, internet, domains, software etc.

Then figure out the time you can allocate dedicatedly every week to working online.

This should give you a fair idea on what is your base figure per hour.

P.S - In the initial days, you will most likely not be able to fulfill all your allocated hours. That's no problem. Account for them and keep husting.

Upskilling

Pick a skill that interests you, and then allocate time daily to upskill yourself in it.

For instance, social is all the rage right now.

You can try to learn Canva or Photoshop to create basic graphics.

Or you can learn Capcut (it's free) to make shorts and edit videos or make compilations.

You can also learn WordPress or Programming/Web Development in general.

Or learn AI content creation. Familiarise yourself with tools that offer different kinds of AI content.

The idea is to learn something that people need. And become the best version of yourself in it.

The Launch

Contribute well on the forum. Get your Jr. VIP

Now based on your skill, start a thread offering your VA services.

Be crystal clear on your offers. Explain your skillset. Offer to show samples. Establish proper conversations with clients who show interest.

Be extremely polite. But be precise and to the point in your communication.

Offer trial hours to new clientele. Offer discounts to people who can hire you for a long term.

Be honest in your communication. If there's a availability issue, inform the client beforehand.

Don't be a "Yes Man". If you cannot do something, be honest about it.

--

As you upskill, you can start more threads offering more targeted services specialising in a niche.

Payments

Get as many payment processor accounts as are available in your country. The idea is to make payment an effortless process for clients.

For clients, you can offer a 50% upfront to clients who have been her for some time and have a history of being buyers. For new members, ask for upfront payments.

Try to keep payment related terms within the BHW DM system.

In case, the client wishes to discuss on Skype or Slack or Telegram. Finalise your terms there.

Then before doing anything, write a small message and mention the deliverables and the payment terms and any other agreement you guys made and send it to them as a DM on BHW - insist that they acknowledge it there in the DM.

--

Congratulations on thinking about starting. No time like the present. Remember to show up everyday. That's very important.

Good luck

 

[theeyeinside]

Europeans can never beat the Asian vendors

Who will pay $7 an hour when experts from the Philippines charge $2 per hour

Sincerely,

The Eye

 

[roydan]

I'd begin by doing a bunch of things -

Research & Market Analysis

Head to Sheets.new - pop open a new Google Spreadsheet.

You are lucky in that the size of your market is extremely limited. Just the marketplace of this forum.

Now go through the marketplace.

In your first iteration, find every thread you can find that offers VA services.

Make a note of the following

- Hourly cost
- Services offered (Create a new column for each service you uncover and simply add "1" if they offer the service under it or "0" if they don't)
- Popularity Metrics (Time since the OP was posted, number of replies)
- Method of ordering (Hosted forms, own website etc.)
- Payment methods accepted

Now move on to your second iteration, this is where you find "service" threads that offer labour tasks.

We're looking for labor intensive tasks, and not skilled tasks - so web design, graphic design, video editing are out of question. Look for task which busy entrepreneurs like to outsource.

- Manual Link Building (Cloud Links, Crowd Links, Reddit/Quora solutions)
- Account Creations
- Social Account Creations
- Script Installations
- WordPress setups + theme configuration
- And more...

Introspection

Now prepare a list of things that you can do.

First begin with services that don't require skill

- Form filling
- Account Creation
- Script Installations
- WordPress Setups
- Any form of Data Entry
- Charting/Spreadsheet related work

Prepare your own samples, install WordPress, set it up some place, apply a nice theme, add some content and pages. Use it as a showcase.

Create a bunch of social accounts, use it as a showcase

Download a link list, manually create links to a random site, use the report as a showcase.

Deciding your Value

You cannot charge a premium hourly, if you're coming in new to this service spectrum.

Your pricing depends on your dependability, your familiarity with the tools in question (your skillset), you experience with this, and finally your capabilities to get the job done.

So first decide on a monthly income that you deem is comfortable. Take into account the average salary of your country, consider your living expenses, consider any travel/vacation expenses, consider your expense for purchasing hosting, internet, domains, software etc.

Then figure out the time you can allocate dedicatedly every week to working online.

This should give you a fair idea on what is your base figure per hour.

P.S - In the initial days, you will most likely not be able to fulfill all your allocated hours. That's no problem. Account for them and keep husting.

Upskilling

Pick a skill that interests you, and then allocate time daily to upskill yourself in it.

For instance, social is all the rage right now.

You can try to learn Canva or Photoshop to create basic graphics.

Or you can learn Capcut (it's free) to make shorts and edit videos or make compilations.

You can also learn WordPress or Programming/Web Development in general.

Or learn AI content creation. Familiarise yourself with tools that offer different kinds of AI content.

The idea is to learn something that people need. And become the best version of yourself in it.

The Launch

Contribute well on the forum. Get your Jr. VIP

Now based on your skill, start a thread offering your VA services.

Be crystal clear on your offers. Explain your skillset. Offer to show samples. Establish proper conversations with clients who show interest.

Be extremely polite. But be precise and to the point in your communication.

Offer trial hours to new clientele. Offer discounts to people who can hire you for a long term.

Be honest in your communication. If there's a availability issue, inform the client beforehand.

Don't be a "Yes Man". If you cannot do something, be honest about it.

--

As you upskill, you can start more threads offering more targeted services specialising in a niche.

Payments

Get as many payment processor accounts as are available in your country. The idea is to make payment an effortless process for clients.

For clients, you can offer a 50% upfront to clients who have been her for some time and have a history of being buyers. For new members, ask for upfront payments.

Try to keep payment related terms within the BHW DM system.

In case, the client wishes to discuss on Skype or Slack or Telegram. Finalise your terms there.

Then before doing anything, write a small message and mention the deliverables and the payment terms and any other agreement you guys made and send it to them as a DM on BHW - insist that they acknowledge it there in the DM.

--

Congratulations on thinking about starting. No time like the present. Remember to show up everyday. That's very important.

Good luck

This should have been a thread.

 

[bogdy23]

Europeans can never beat the Asian vendors

Who will pay $7 an hour when experts from the Philippines charge $2 per hour

Sincerely,

The Eye

I'm considering 5.4$ an hour. 432$ a month.

 

[bogdy23]

I'd begin by doing a bunch of things -

Research & Market Analysis

Head to Sheets.new - pop open a new Google Spreadsheet.

You are lucky in that the size of your market is extremely limited. Just the marketplace of this forum.

Now go through the marketplace.

In your first iteration, find every thread you can find that offers VA services.

Make a note of the following

- Hourly cost
- Services offered (Create a new column for each service you uncover and simply add "1" if they offer the service under it or "0" if they don't)
- Popularity Metrics (Time since the OP was posted, number of replies)
- Method of ordering (Hosted forms, own website etc.)
- Payment methods accepted

Now move on to your second iteration, this is where you find "service" threads that offer labour tasks.

We're looking for labor intensive tasks, and not skilled tasks - so web design, graphic design, video editing are out of question. Look for task which busy entrepreneurs like to outsource.

- Manual Link Building (Cloud Links, Crowd Links, Reddit/Quora solutions)
- Account Creations
- Social Account Creations
- Script Installations
- WordPress setups + theme configuration
- And more...

Introspection

Now prepare a list of things that you can do.

First begin with services that don't require skill

- Form filling
- Account Creation
- Script Installations
- WordPress Setups
- Any form of Data Entry
- Charting/Spreadsheet related work

Prepare your own samples, install WordPress, set it up some place, apply a nice theme, add some content and pages. Use it as a showcase.

Create a bunch of social accounts, use it as a showcase

Download a link list, manually create links to a random site, use the report as a showcase.

Deciding your Value

You cannot charge a premium hourly, if you're coming in new to this service spectrum.

Your pricing depends on your dependability, your familiarity with the tools in question (your skillset), you experience with this, and finally your capabilities to get the job done.

So first decide on a monthly income that you deem is comfortable. Take into account the average salary of your country, consider your living expenses, consider any travel/vacation expenses, consider your expense for purchasing hosting, internet, domains, software etc.

Then figure out the time you can allocate dedicatedly every week to working online.

This should give you a fair idea on what is your base figure per hour.

P.S - In the initial days, you will most likely not be able to fulfill all your allocated hours. That's no problem. Account for them and keep husting.

Upskilling

Pick a skill that interests you, and then allocate time daily to upskill yourself in it.

For instance, social is all the rage right now.

You can try to learn Canva or Photoshop to create basic graphics.

Or you can learn Capcut (it's free) to make shorts and edit videos or make compilations.

You can also learn WordPress or Programming/Web Development in general.

Or learn AI content creation. Familiarise yourself with tools that offer different kinds of AI content.

The idea is to learn something that people need. And become the best version of yourself in it.

The Launch

Contribute well on the forum. Get your Jr. VIP

Now based on your skill, start a thread offering your VA services.

Be crystal clear on your offers. Explain your skillset. Offer to show samples. Establish proper conversations with clients who show interest.

Be extremely polite. But be precise and to the point in your communication.

Offer trial hours to new clientele. Offer discounts to people who can hire you for a long term.

Be honest in your communication. If there's a availability issue, inform the client beforehand.

Don't be a "Yes Man". If you cannot do something, be honest about it.

--

As you upskill, you can start more threads offering more targeted services specialising in a niche.

Payments

Get as many payment processor accounts as are available in your country. The idea is to make payment an effortless process for clients.

For clients, you can offer a 50% upfront to clients who have been her for some time and have a history of being buyers. For new members, ask for upfront payments.

Try to keep payment related terms within the BHW DM system.

In case, the client wishes to discuss on Skype or Slack or Telegram. Finalise your terms there.

Then before doing anything, write a small message and mention the deliverables and the payment terms and any other agreement you guys made and send it to them as a DM on BHW - insist that they acknowledge it there in the DM.

--

Congratulations on thinking about starting. No time like the present. Remember to show up everyday. That's very important.

Good luck

Hello, Thanks for the long thread. Definitely gonna use some of the advice here. But here is a question: can I look up 5 online time tracker tools? And have the client pay for whichever he likes for the amount of time that we work together?

Do you that is ok?

If I work for 80 hours a month and make 400$ then I`m happy. I`m gonna use the money and save it, and, in 2-3 years, open a dropshipping business or start trading, but dropshipping seems like a better fit.

Do you think that I can charge the cost of the software just so we are on the same page and clear about the hours?

The services I can offer are:
Social Media Management
Social Media Account Creation if I have (email and phone provided by the employer)
Data Entry
Customer Service
Writing Articles with CHAT GPT
Creating Art with MidJourney
Social Media Marketing( if they have an ad budget)
Google Adwords(again, if they have an ad budget)
Using the basis of CANVA for Social Media( buy a picture or create it with Midjourney and stick a quote on in. This is what I mean with basic)

And yeah, that`s about it. I think the minimum that I would be comfortable with is 5.4$ an hour or 432 dollars a month for 80 hours of work.

Do you think this is reasonable?

Also, when you create your sales thread, once it gets approved, can you modify it? Say not charge 5.4$ but change it to 5$ an hour and stuff like that?

Also, can you bump up your sales thread the same as on Facebook? Like, say up, and it gets back to the first page of the subforum?

 

[roydan]

Also, when you create your sales thread, once it gets approved, can you modify it? Say not charge 5.4$ but change it to 5$ an hour and stuff like that?

Each update to your thread would cost $30, and a price change of over 15% per year would require a re-review as well.

 

[bogdy23]

Each update to your thread would cost $30, and a price change of over 15% per year would require a re-review.

So changing the price from 432$ to 400$ would be for free? Because it`s less than 15% if my math is correct?

 

[roydan]

So changing the price from 432$ to 400$ would be for free? Because it`s less than 15% if my math is correct?

Changing from $432 to 400 would cost $30, but won't require an additional review.

 

[bogdy23]

Changing from $432 to 400 would cost $30, but won't require an additional review.

Oh I got it thanks

 

[BlogPro]

Hello, Thanks for the long thread. Definitely gonna use some of the advice here. But here is a question: can I look up 5 online time tracker tools? And have the client pay for whichever he likes for the amount of time that we work together

Your client will provide you with the time tracker tool they prefer. You don't have to worry about that.

Please download and install any .exe files from the official website only.

You'll also find clients that'll just want to pay for the work done. For example, "I want xxx accounts created by Monday. I'll pay you yyy for it."

If I work for 80 hours a month and make 400$ then I`m happy. I`m gonna use the money and save it, and, in 2-3 years, open a dropshipping business or start trading, but dropshipping seems like a better fit.

I am not going to tell you what do with your income, but $400 a month sounds pretty reasonable.

Do you think that I can charge the cost of the software just so we are on the same page and clear about the hours?

As I said, not your expense.

The services I can offer are:
Social Media Management
Social Media Account Creation if I have (email and phone provided by the employer)
Data Entry
Customer Service
Writing Articles with CHAT GPT
Creating Art with MidJourney
Social Media Marketing( if they have an ad budget)
Google Adwords(again, if they have an ad budget)
Using the basis of CANVA for Social Media( buy a picture or create it with Midjourney and stick a quote on in. This is what I mean with basic)

That's a pretty comprehensive list. I'd personally remove social media marketing (ads) and Google ads from that list. As these are pretty specialized services, there's a lot of moving parts. I, myself, took about 5 years of spending a lot of money on this before I could offer this as a service.

There's extremely comprehensive tracking involved. There's a lot of nuances.

You can offer Social media ads and Google ads adjacent services

- Researching keywords using Keyword Planner/Semrush
- Preparing comprehensive negative keywords lists
- Preparing variations of ad copy using AI
- Preparing Ad creatives using Canva etc.

And yeah, that`s about it. I think the minimum that I would be comfortable with is 5.4$ an hour or 432 dollars a month for 80 hours of work.

That sounds reasonable. Make it a round figure. $5.5 an hour sounds better.

Also, be upfront about your long term availability. (4 hours a day, Monday to Friday etc.)

Also, when you create your sales thread, once it gets approved, can you modify it? Say not charge 5.4$ but change it to 5$ an hour and stuff like that?

You're allowed to offer discounts, yes. You can also run promos.

But you cannot make a major upgrade or introduce a new service without having it reviewed first.

Major modification require you to submit a request, and your service will be retested and a fee will be charged.

You can read the thread edit rules here - https://www.blackhatworld.com/seo/the-black-hat-world-marketplace-rules.1295700/post-13962694

Also, can you bump up your sales thread the same as on Facebook? Like, say up, and it gets back to the first page of the subforum?

BHW has a an automated bump management system. And bumping rules as well.

This allows you to engage with customers in your thread without worrying about bumping it.

Every 24 hour, you can make a post that bumps your thread to the front page.

Reading this thread by BHW admin @Zwielicht in detail should answer almost all of your questions - https://www.blackhatworld.com/seo/the-black-hat-world-marketplace-rules.1295700/

 

[indianmojojojo]

Hello,

If you are a noob but have a college degree and a master's degree and live in Romania, could you charge 7$ an hour for VA services?
Also, we need to take into consideration that I have to pay 147$ to become a JR.VIP, then another 30$ to post a job ad in the marketplace?

And how do people avoid getting scammed here and get paid? Do they pay you in advance? Or do they pay you half upfront and half after the work is completed?

How does that work in order to avoid getting scammed? Also, how do you track the hours? Do I have to buy a piece of software that tracks my computer so that the VA buyer sees that I've worked for those hours and not slacked?

Choose a set of tasks, dont spread too thin. Focus on 3-4 tasks

You have three options:

1. Sell your time(you will be limited to getting just the hourly pay
2. Sell it as a service and land multiple clients
3. Do both and do it inbetween your hours. 4 hours a day as a VA and spend the other 4 hours selling those service ala-carte to the clients

You need to do your research and find out what your service is, demand, supply etc

About payments, trust is two a way street. Do part payments to avoid getting scammed and also this will make your clients comfortable.

In the beginning be prepared to do free-trials and factor this as your marketing cost.

Build a simple one page website with your resume and have a google form for the signup.

However BHW is a beautiful place to network your way around to land clients

Good luck

 

[MR.Spuf]

I'd begin by doing a bunch of things -

Research & Market Analysis

Head to Sheets.new - pop open a new Google Spreadsheet.

You are lucky in that the size of your market is extremely limited. Just the marketplace of this forum.

Now go through the marketplace.

In your first iteration, find every thread you can find that offers VA services.

Make a note of the following

- Hourly cost
- Services offered (Create a new column for each service you uncover and simply add "1" if they offer the service under it or "0" if they don't)
- Popularity Metrics (Time since the OP was posted, number of replies)
- Method of ordering (Hosted forms, own website etc.)
- Payment methods accepted

Now move on to your second iteration, this is where you find "service" threads that offer labour tasks.

We're looking for labor intensive tasks, and not skilled tasks - so web design, graphic design, video editing are out of question. Look for task which busy entrepreneurs like to outsource.

- Manual Link Building (Cloud Links, Crowd Links, Reddit/Quora solutions)
- Account Creations
- Social Account Creations
- Script Installations
- WordPress setups + theme configuration
- And more...

Introspection

Now prepare a list of things that you can do.

First begin with services that don't require skill

- Form filling
- Account Creation
- Script Installations
- WordPress Setups
- Any form of Data Entry
- Charting/Spreadsheet related work

Prepare your own samples, install WordPress, set it up some place, apply a nice theme, add some content and pages. Use it as a showcase.

Create a bunch of social accounts, use it as a showcase

Download a link list, manually create links to a random site, use the report as a showcase.

Deciding your Value

You cannot charge a premium hourly, if you're coming in new to this service spectrum.

Your pricing depends on your dependability, your familiarity with the tools in question (your skillset), you experience with this, and finally your capabilities to get the job done.

So first decide on a monthly income that you deem is comfortable. Take into account the average salary of your country, consider your living expenses, consider any travel/vacation expenses, consider your expense for purchasing hosting, internet, domains, software etc.

Then figure out the time you can allocate dedicatedly every week to working online.

This should give you a fair idea on what is your base figure per hour.

P.S - In the initial days, you will most likely not be able to fulfill all your allocated hours. That's no problem. Account for them and keep husting.

Upskilling

Pick a skill that interests you, and then allocate time daily to upskill yourself in it.

For instance, social is all the rage right now.

You can try to learn Canva or Photoshop to create basic graphics.

Or you can learn Capcut (it's free) to make shorts and edit videos or make compilations.

You can also learn WordPress or Programming/Web Development in general.

Or learn AI content creation. Familiarise yourself with tools that offer different kinds of AI content.

The idea is to learn something that people need. And become the best version of yourself in it.

The Launch

Contribute well on the forum. Get your Jr. VIP

Now based on your skill, start a thread offering your VA services.

Be crystal clear on your offers. Explain your skillset. Offer to show samples. Establish proper conversations with clients who show interest.

Be extremely polite. But be precise and to the point in your communication.

Offer trial hours to new clientele. Offer discounts to people who can hire you for a long term.

Be honest in your communication. If there's a availability issue, inform the client beforehand.

Don't be a "Yes Man". If you cannot do something, be honest about it.

--

As you upskill, you can start more threads offering more targeted services specialising in a niche.

Payments

Get as many payment processor accounts as are available in your country. The idea is to make payment an effortless process for clients.

For clients, you can offer a 50% upfront to clients who have been her for some time and have a history of being buyers. For new members, ask for upfront payments.

Try to keep payment related terms within the BHW DM system.

In case, the client wishes to discuss on Skype or Slack or Telegram. Finalise your terms there.

Then before doing anything, write a small message and mention the deliverables and the payment terms and any other agreement you guys made and send it to them as a DM on BHW - insist that they acknowledge it there in the DM.

--

Congratulations on thinking about starting. No time like the present. Remember to show up everyday. That's very important.

Good luck

Awesome and detailed guide, if you would have made it as a thread, it would have been in the next newsletter. Maybe compile them all in a separate thread?!?

 

[Draky]

Europeans can never beat the Asian vendors

Who will pay $7 an hour when experts from the Philippines charge $2 per hour

Sincerely,

The Eye

Hi, where do you find philippines? Are there sites like Fiverr, but only for them?

 

[tylerShift]

Usually around $3–$10/hr, more if you’ve got specialized skills.

 

[PetraAnn]

I'm shutting this down and locking it. A) old thread B) not allowed

https://www.blackhatworld.com/seo/where-can-i-sell-xxx-how-much-is-my-xxx-worth.1040780/