This is an unfortunate misconception brought on by virtual assistants sourced overseas (in particular India). Yes, you can get a virtual assistant to work for you for $8.00 or less an hour. But odds are they're going to be from India, and you will truly get what you pay for taking that avenue. I have no sympathy for you when you are horrified by the quality of your work if you take that avenue.

And yes, you can find the American virtual assistant willing to work for pennies simply to get business. Usually these are people who are just starting as virtual assistants and are so desperate to begin and to work from home that they will accept any price. This is great if you only need a virtual assistant once.

But if you want ongoing service or service again the future, guess what? This VA is either not going to be in business long or will have upped the rates by the time you go back to use them again. They won't stay in business, because when the IRS comes to take their self-employment taxes (usually 25%) out of their $5.00 to $8.00 per hour, they will be put out of business. Most people who charge this little do not realize they have to pay self-employment taxes, and the IRS WILL catch up to them at some point. Now if they manage to stay in business, it will be because they've upped their rates from lessons hard earned.

Think about this - a virtual assistant is NOT an employee. They have things to pay for that an employee does not such as business insurance, health insurance, utilities, hardware, software, training, supplies, and more. Their rate is going to naturally be higher per hour than an employee.

Where you will be saving money by using a virtual assistant is that you carry the full cost of the health insurance. You don't pay for the whole cost of a copy of software. You don't pay for a whole computer. You don't pay payroll taxes (including matching social security). You don't pay for hours not worked - how often do your employees take breaks during the day? How often do they stand or sit at their desks talking and being unproductive? A virtual assistant ONLY charges you for the time they are actually working for you.

So please remember not to balk at your VA for charging $16 or up per hour. They have business expenses to pay, and you will STILL be saving tons of money in the long run.