Success in Sweatpants

So your rate has to account for overhead time and expense, which can be significant in a local market.

Virtual jobs don’t require anywhere near the same amount of time to procure, can be won without traveling, and don’t require changing out of your sweatpants  (or whatever you wear around the house).

I can bid on more virtual jobs in an hour than is possible with local business development. Because I spend more time at the keyboard than driving around town, I can log more billable time in a work week with virtual work. With savings on the expense side and additional dollars on the billing card, my virtual rate at least equals (if not exceeds) my on-the-street rate when it filters to the bottom of my profit/loss statement.

There is one more reason why you need to charge lower rate onlin: It’s the amount that my market will bear.

Even with all of the logic I’ve laid out about virtual versus local, if I could charge my on-the-street rate for virtual jobs, you better believe that I would do it. 

Virtual service buyers expect a lower rate. It’s part of the value proposition of online service procurement.  They are giving up the in-person aspect of traditional service procurement in exchange for a lower price.

That’s the value proposition of the online service boards from the buyer’s side: Virtual service gets provided with no muss, no fuss, and at a savings over comparable in-person services.

I am not suggesting that you have to cut your local rate by 50% to compete in the online service market—I am, however, suggesting that you allow for the better value propositions for you and the buyer when calculating your VSB charges.