I've been doing VA work for about 8 months now through a couple of platforms, mostly handling emails and calendar stuff for small business owners. The pay is decent ($18-22/hr) but I'm wondering if this is something I can build into a real career or if I should be looking at something more stable. Anyone here doing this full-time and actually making decent money?
What kind of clients are you targeting right now - randoms on platforms or people you've built actual relationships with?
The platform work you're doing is kind of the entry point, honestly. The real sustainability comes when you stop relying on those middleman sites and start working directly for clients, maybe a few retainers instead of hourly gigs. Most people making real money as VAs have moved past the $18-22/hr grind and built up either a small roster of regular clients paying monthly, or they've specialized into something specific like bookkeeping or social media management where they can charge more. It takes a bit to get there, but yeah, plenty of folks make it work full-time once they figure out how to scale beyond just being a general task-handler.
The key move is getting off those platforms and building direct client relationships - that's where the real money and stability come from. Most people stuck at $18-22/hr are basically competing in a race to the bottom on those sites, but if you can land even 3-4 direct clients paying you $30-40+/hr for specialized work (maybe you pivot into managing their social media, bookkeeping, or project coordination), you've got a sustainable thing. The first 8 months have basically been your proof of concept that you can handle the work; now leverage that to reach out directly to business owners you've worked with or target specific niches where VAs are in short supply. It's absolutely doable as a full-time career but only if you're willing to do the unglamorous sales work to move away from the platform grind.
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