There’s a customized mattress commercial on television that talks about your number. You’ve probably seen it. As the camera pans from actor to actor each smiles broadly and says, “My number is __.” As a virtual assistant I’ve heard similar statements when the question of “How many clients do I need to make it?” comes into conversation. And then you see numbers scroll past on the chat screen. Seldom are any two numbers the same. I always wonder if the individual posing the question leaves feeling more confused. I would.
The truth: there is no magic number.
It boils down to risk. How much risk feels right for you? What level of chance are you comfortable with taking?
If you’ve never thought of it as risk then let’s have a little conversation.
If you fill your practice with clients needing a minimum of 20 hours monthly and one leaves, can you survive that loss of income until it’s replaced? Compare the same if a 5- or 10- hour monthly client leaves.
This is the risk factor. It’s one part of what determines the right number for your business.
If replacing 20 hours monthly is no headache then the risk is minimal for you. If the thought of replacing 20 hours monthly makes your heart race and your palms sweat you may want to bump up your on-going marketing and Plan Bs. Some jump for joy when they have a client needing 20, 30, or 40 hours monthly on-going support. Remember with a client need of this size the total number of clients in your current client base is small compared to clients needing 10 hours monthly (when working as a solo VA compared to having a multi-va practice).
Do the math: if your goal is working 100 hours monthly then you can fill that in any one of these combinations:
- 20 clients at 5 hours monthly
- 10 clients at 10 hours monthly
- 5 clients at 20 hours monthly
As a solo VA, working with fewer individuals monthly has its perks.
When deciding how many clients to take on at any given time I consider these factors:
- How much time will their projects take in a given day/week/month?
- Do these projects fit into my available time openings in a given day/week/month?
- Am I willing to add time outside my designated allotment of time, if needed?
While there are additional questions for consideration these big three come foremost. Time is a finite thing. We each get the same amount in a 24 hour period. How we use it, that’s where the magic comes in.
Now, the number of hours worked monthly and an earning potential are vastly different so understand that what I’ve shared above speaks only of the number of hours you desire to work monthly.
Not all hours are equal: You can fill a single hour with one client project at X hourly rate. Or, you can fill that same time space with multiple mini-tasks each having varying rates. Or, you may have a project rate that promotes value over time usage. Whichever way you fill time openings will factor in how you replace openings.
Here’s a relatable example for how 60 minutes can be filled:
Working for one client at $45/hour will earn you $45. Easy enough.
Working for one client for 30 minutes at $50/hour, another for 15 minutes at $40/hour, and another at a set project rate of $25 (for 15 minutes) will earn you $60 in the same time period.
As neat and tidy it would be that each client needs exactly one hour of this or that for their project it rarely works out to be an hour for everything you ever do. Some need 15 minutes, or 3 minutes, or 42 minutes. And equally not every service you ever do will have the same price because the skills needed will vary as well.
But all this is best saved for another blog post on another day. For today, the point is that there is no magic number for how many clients you need?