The Differences Between a Lead VA and an Associate VA
Let’s dive into the differences between an Associate VA and a Lead VA.
I started out on £15 an hour, laughable now right? But within 9 months I had more clients than I had hours for, so by my one year anniversary I came back to the UK and hired my first associate.
Within 18 months I had made my £40k London salary working for myself, it surprised the sh*t outta me, but also lit a fire of possibility inside me.
In the years since, I’ve built a boutique VA agency and we now serve incredible 6& 7 figure Global CEOs who are positive change makers, industry disrupters and some of the nicest people I’ve ever had the pleasure of working with.
I’ve grown a small team of associates that ebb and flow with the client load.
I’ve met, interviewed and hired dozens upon dozens of associate VAs.
When I hire, I also train each Associate VA to my standards and expand their knowledge and support them so they can do their best work, whilst having a good time doing it (did I mention that’s not hard because our clients are freaking amazing and kind?)
So I know what makes a rockstar associate or lead VA - the kind that my clients can’t wait to work with, it’s my literal job to spot, hire and train them now.
So as I kick this season of the podcast off talking all things Vas and Agency life, I thought I’d start by sharing the differences between an associate and a lead VA and the benefits of both.
Lead VA aka me
Either still does hands on VA work herself and has her own clients
Or delegates all work to her team and doesn’t do any hands on client work - this is me now, so I get to run both my businesses and look after my clients and team
Charges more than an Associate VA.
Depending on the VA it can be anything from £30-£50 ph
Pays an associate the majority of that £ph and takes a cut of it.
If delegating all work, needs a chunky amount of clients to make her monthly income decent.
Responsible for her own consistent marketing and sales to land and on board clients and bring cash in
Her team are either client facing or deal only with the lead va and the lead va checks all work and sends onto client
If the lead VA has a team, she’s responsible for finding clients, client management, team management plus the usual - invoicing, contracting the clients, on and off boarding.
You can start small but outsourcing some non facing client work to your first associate to flex the trust in them and yourself muscle - like I did.
Lead VAs who hire associates can build an agency with an uncapped income - ability to scale and work less if hands off client work
This is me. I grew a team, whilst building it out I was still serving clients myself until a couple of years ago where I stepped back to focus on revenue generating stuff - marketing, client liaison, team and system.
Associate VA
takes a lower fee than a lead VA
I’ve seen associates ask for too little around £18 which honestly shouldn’t be allowed for high level associate work, but here we are…the industry is unregulated.
Through to the average sitting around £23-£26 an hour, I’ve seen it up as high as £35 for super skilled or specialist Associates (think tech VAs or tri-lingual) but the lead VA needs to be £45-£50 ph to make that viable.
Why is it lower? To gain clients as an associate VA you basically don’t need to market yourself you just need to find a Lead VA or agency owner to hire you and gets given a client to work on.
Being an associate works well if you don’t need a huge income by yourself, or if you are the second income earner in your household
Or works well if they want to monetise part time work
Also works brilliantly for newbies - to gain experience and confidence without having to market themselves before they’re ready to do so. Ie the lead VA does all the hard marketing work.
If they find a good lead VA she’ll often mentor and train you/ give you advice as it benefits her and her clients to do so and that’s knowledge you can use yourself for your own direct clients
Can take on a mix of lead VA work themselves and associate work, or purely associate work.
Means you’re not working alone, as you’ll have a lead VA and sometimes her team too.
If you build a strong and successful working relationship with a lead va, she’s also always going to give you new clients if you have space.
If you’re planning to do associate work for someone, make sure you treat the process like you would if you were signing a client and that means the lead VA should be sending and asking you to sign an associate contract.
You should be on-boarded properly and know how the lead VA likes to work with her clients, so you can do the same and withhold her standards.
Don’t be afraid to hold your boundaries around working hours turnaround times and prioritising things.
And one of the most important things I’d say as an agency owner is tell the lead VA if you’re struggling with the client or the work, or have questions.
Don’t sit silently hoping it gets better, the beauty is the lead VA is your inbetween, so use that if needed.
I can’t tell you how many times in the past I wished my associate had told me there were problems before it turned into a client crash and burn situation, one that could have been solved months before, if the associate had communicated with me, because sometimes its a simple misunderstanding that can be fixed.
If you’d like to work with me as an associate, I am always on the look out for experienced VAs to work with my future clients.
I’ll leave the application form below for you.
https://form.fillout.com/t/9VK4qrUdRrus
And my Instagram DMs are always open for a chat if this has sparked questions for you, come find me at https://www.instagram.com/thelifestyleva_agency/
I’m also utterly loving Threads right now, so I’ll link that here too
https://www.threads.net/@thelifestyleva_agency
If you’re a service provider and you’re in need of clarity about your offers, keen to launch something new, find more clients or want to figure out how to break beyond the £2k ceiling and work a little less we can create a tailored plan for you inside one of my Intensive sessions.
