Dear Gritty VA:
What is your hourly billing increment? ~ KD
If you’re asking me personally, I bill in 15 minute increments. I know there a lots of Virtual Assistants out there billing in one minute increments. I think they’re nuts because they’re actually sabotaging their business by doing so for a number of reasons.
First, we aren’t employees punching time clocks anymore. As a business, any time you lift a finger, it has to be worth your business while to do so. Billing in 15 minute increments or 10ths of an hour are perfectly acceptable, ethical, customary business practices, and just about every service has some kind of per-hour minimum standard.
Plus, if you are persnickety about minutes, you are training clients to be persnickety about them also. It puts undue attention on the hours instead of focusing clients on the true value of Virtual Assistance which is the skill, knowledge and convenience of the service.
If you don’t expand your thinking and try to gain a deeper understanding of the true value you are providing in your practice, you will forever be locked into trading hours for money instead of trading value for money. And that is going to limit your ability to serve your needs and those of your clients, as well your ability to make more money.
